Spells with that creepy Alienist Flavor

[Morrow]

I'm playing a Conjurer 6/ Alienist 2 in Paizo's Age of Worms adventure path. My DM has challenged me to find weird Alienist-appropriate spells in WotC sources (outside of the PHB). I'm having some trouble finding spells that are both thematically appropriate and useful enough to actually use. Does anyone have any specific suggestions? Thanks.

Morrow

 

[NiTessine]

Dragon #330 has a Far Realm article, and has a couple of feats that give access to a number of thematically appropriate feats.

Dungeon #107 has Evard's all-seeing worm.

A Living Greyhawk character of mine can summon kaorti, a Far Realm creature from Fiend Folio with summon monster II. You might look into getting other Far Realm creatures than pseudonaturals to summon.

Finally, Spell Compendium has a number of appropriate spells, such as spirit worm, ebon eyes, dissonant chant, gutsnake and wracking touch.

 

[Vorput]

I'm playing a Conjurer 6/ Alienist 2 in Paizo's Age of Worms adventure path. My DM has challenged me to find weird Alienist-appropriate spells in WotC sources (outside of the PHB). I'm having some trouble finding spells that are both thematically appropriate and useful enough to actually use. Does anyone have any specific suggestions? Thanks.

Morrow

My alienist just uses PHB and spell compendium spells but modifies their flavor text to fit the far realms... Picture the fireball not being so much a sphere of fire, but living tentacles of flame, twisted into obscene shapes which lash out attempting to drag the creatures they hit back to their own twisted realm.

Summoning pseduonaturals not being so much as a *poof* and they are there, but rather spending that full round cummoning action literally ripping open holes in the multiverse- which the creatures tumble out of... looking through them offers a brief glimpse into madness itself for a thankfully brief second...

Etc. all.

The spells have the same effects- but why not customize them a little bit to fit the flavor of your mage... beats the heck out of spending weeks and thousands of gold to create your own spells (which might be an option too).

Vorp

 

[sniffles]

The Spell Compendium's got quite a number that sound good to me:
Amorphous Form - turn the target into an amorphous blob
any of the Anarchic spells
Avascular Mass - turn the target into a mass of pulsating,squirting blood vessels.
Avasculate - the target's blood vessels squirt out through his skin.
Babau Slime - cover the target with acidic slime that protects the target and does acid damage to attackers.
Bonefiddle - a ghostly fiddle causes plays on the target's bones, causing sonic damage .
Fuse Arms - the subject's arms fuse into one massive limb.
Maddening Scream - the subject can only run around screaming.
Maddening Whispers - the subject can become panicked, hysterical, hallucinate, or fall into a stupor.
Miasma of Entropy - target's equipment rots.
Otyugh Swarm - create a swarm of otyughs.
Phantasmal Assailants - phantasmal nightmare creatures attack the subject.
Ray of Entropy - subject takes -4 to STR, DEX, and CON
Reality Maelstrom - you tear a hole in reality.
Sensory Deprivation - the subject loses all sensory input.
Slime Wave - send out a wave of damaging slime.
Subvert Planar Essence - damage extraplanar creatures.

Unfortunately a lot of them are high level. I might have got some cleric spells in there by accident, too.

I'd suggest you take a look at Tome of Horror. It's got some spells that seem appropriate to an Alienist, at least to my mind.

 

[Gold Roger]

From the Spell compendium, sorted by level (sadly I don't know your forbidden schools):

lvl0:
Stick: Make it appear as weird oily goo. If allowed to stick stuff to skin it makes for some pretty excentric fashion choices, which is always good for alienists.

lvl1:
Benign Transposition: Make it appear that the two targets transform into each other. Inbetween they appear for a split second as horrific aberrations as their features melt and mutate.

Buzzing Bee: instead of a Bee it's a little alien

Corrosive Grasp

Distract Assailant: Sends the impression of being attacked by a roiling mass of tentacles just behind the corner of your eyes.

Persistent Blade: Make it appear as something different from a blade, connected by a long incorporeal tentacle to your tounge.

Babau Slime

Slide: Instead of simply moving the object space itself twists.

2nd lvl:

Balefull Transposition: see benign.

Cloud of Bewilderment and Malevolent Miasma: Usefull, in school and quite alieny.

Chain of Eyes: Subtle, but fits the flavor.

Discern Shapechangers: He who sees behind can't be easily decieved.

Rebuke: Shows a short vision of the far realms.

Slapping Hand: change to slapping tentacle.

Snowball Swarm: Takes the form of icy cold goo or little stinging horrors that disappear on contact.

Dark Way: Hell, it's a roiling mass of shadow that's somehow able to hold weight, though it shouldn't be.

Phantasmal Assailant and Phantom foe: more visions of far realmshorrors a la distract assailant.

Wall of gloom: It shows what's Behind instead of what's behind.

Death Armor: Roiling aura of necromantic tentacles.

Earthen Grasp: The ground itself is soiled with far realm essence and grows into a mad violent force.

Scale Weakening: The creatures skin mottles, becomes soft and oozes.

Greater Slide: see slide.

lvl3:

Acid Breath

Nauseating breath

Mesmerizing Gaze: Those that meet your gaze look directly into the far realm.

Manyjaws

Shatterfloor: A scream from the far realm repulses the ground itself.

Junglerazer: Foe of the natural.

Mind Poison: You share your mental meladies.

Amorphous Form

Girallons Blessing: Extra Limbs, trademarc of aberration inc.

Mass Snakes Swiftness: Time and space twist, giving your allies time for that one extra strike.

Stony Grasp: See earthen Grasp.

lvl4:

Bloodstar: A bloodsucking mass in space sound good to me.

Wall of Water: TThe water is tainted and has a totally wrong color.

Greater Rebuke: Seee rebuke.

Defenestrating Sphere: Just have mallicious forms appear in the whirlwind.

Vortex of Teeth

Shadow Well: Instead of a shadowy pocket plane it's an alien pocket plane.

Corporeal Instability

Entangling Staff: Your staff turns into a mass of aberrant limbs.

lvl5:

Viscid Glob

Wall of Limbs: Screams alienist to me.


I hope some of these help. Not all of these are ultra good spells, but some are quite good. If you want I can do lvl 6+ as well.

 

[Morrow]

Good show. Feel free to do 6th and up if you'd like. My barred schools are enchantment and illusion. Thanks everybody!

Morrow

 

[Enkhidu]

...The spells have the same effects- but why not customize them a little bit to fit the flavor of your mage.

I second this: flavor text for a spell effect is a must. Some examples:

Magic missle becomes ravenous worms: a handful of ghostly white, finger-width worms that burrow into the flesh of the target, each causing 1d4+1 points of damage. After bgurrowing into the target, they dissipate.

Spectral hand becomes A'araku's scuttling servant: the caster vomits up a translucent tentacular mass that alternately hops and flys at the caster's silent behest. For as long as the spell lasts, any touch range spell of 4th level or lower that you cast can be delivered by the scuttling servant.

The key is that the mechanics don't need to change, only the visuals (audials, tactiles, etc.)

 

[heirodule]

Lords of Maddness has "Undualant Innards" which isn't as good as it sounds, but is a defensive spell that makes you immune to sneak attacks and crits because your guts are not where they're supposed to be

 

[Agent Oracle]

From PHBII

1st level:

-Blade of Blood Your weapon does +1d6 damage, or +3d6 if you take 5 points of damage (the weapon literally drips with the corrosive blood of an alien creature)

-Bigby's Tripping hand: A hand trips the target, you could make it a tentacle fairly easily

2nd level:

-Increase Virulence: Increase the save DC of a poison by 2. (nastier stuff from another dimension?)

-Stretch weapon: Your weapon gains 5 feet of reach for one attack, It could easily turn into a tentacle (heh heh)

-Vertigo: Target has to make balance checks to move. (a maddening vision of impossible heights through open portals?)

-Black Karma Curse (Subject damages themselves with a melee attack)

- Cloud of Knives: Releasing a haze of razor-sharp spikes out of nowhere? perfect for the alienist.

-Drifts of Shalam: Create difficult terrain of Snow, leaves, or ash. or whatever alien landscape you can conjure up.

-Dimension Hop: A short-distance teleport.

-Kelgore's Grave Myst: Causes 1d6 cold / level, fatigue, ignores some SR (you could make it a eerie cloud of ethereal tentacles)

that's some good stuff there.

-

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Although they're necromany spells, I really think the Necrotic Cyst spells really fit for an alienist.

Ken