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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 2403592" data-attributes="member: 2020">Mad's BaneDuring the Golden Age of Netheril, an archwizard by the name of Mad rose to power and created his own Flying Enclave.  Mad was quite insane, and indeed the modern term madness is derived from him.  He invented many spectacular, strange, and bizarre spells in his day, from 1st through 10th level.  His greatest and final spell was Mad's Challenge Temtemptuous, which he cast immediately after he created it.    Everyone else but Mad called it Mad's Bane, after it's first and only casting by said archwizard.  Everyone speculates Mad must have been bored.  And everyone in Mad's Enclave was terrified of Mad's boredom.  When Mad became bored, he looked for challenges.  If he could not find challenges worthy of his power, he artificially created challenges that were worthy.  Thus this spell.  Mad's Bane was an 11th level spell (in 3rd Edition, it would be an Epic Spell with at least a DC of 200.)    Mad's Bane (Alteration, Evocation)  Range:  Worldwide  Area of Effect:  One hurricane, see below  Casting Time:  1 hour, with one day of preparation required  Duration:  See below  Saving Throw:  Not applicable to this spell  Development:  For a typical modern mage, about 10 years and several million gold pieces  This spell imbues a hurricane that is currently in progress somewhere on the mage's world with full sentience, genius intelligence, a chaotic evil spirit, and the hurricane in question is then taunted by the magic into an absolutely insanely violent rage which cannot be appeased by anything short of complete eradication of the spellcaster from existence.  The hurricane, regardless of it's location, will immediately change directions and begin moving across the world towards the spellcaster, in order to kill him or her.  It will not veer around any obstacle of any sort, nor will any obstacle that normally stops hurricanes stop this hurricane.  The hurricane travels fast, at 60 miles per hour, and does not slow down for any reason.  If the hurricane remains over water over 80 degrees, it will strengthen to a strong category 5, with winds of 180 miles per hour, gusting to 200 miles per hour.  It will have a narrow eye of 7 miles in diameter, hurricane force winds (74 mph sustained or greater) out to 100 miles from the eye, and tropical storm force winds (39 mph or greater) out to 200 miles from the eye.  Needless to say, anything in it's direct path is likely to be destroyed, as the evil and angry hurricane deliberately whelms coastal areas, levels forests, floods whole regions, and what it cannot destroy with water and wind will be assailed by swarms of tornadoes and endless barrages of lightning.  If the hurricane passes over areas that cannot sustain hurricanes or would break up hurricanes - such as a large stretch of dry land, continental landmasses, cold ocean, arctic regions, or mountain ranges - the hurricane draws magical energy directly from the Weave to sustain itself.  Even so, it weakens to 100 miles per hour with gusts to 120 mph in it's core, it's hurricane force winds extend out only 40 miles from the eye, and tropical storm force winds only extend out 80 miles from the eye.  It's outer spiraling bands of thunderstorms remain potent, though, producing heavy rain and occasional tornadoes out to 200 miles from the center.  The hurricane retains it's heat if it moves into cold regions.  It's rain will be warm rain, and the temperature within the eyewall out to 100 miles in all directions (near the surface) will be in the upper 70s or warmer.  Over the arctic, this sudden warmth could cause quite a mess.  Once the infuriated hurricane reaches the spellcaster, it will center over him, the eyewall will close completely (but the hurricane will not weaken) and it will throw every possible form of climatic destruction at him at it's disposal:  rain, hail, wind, tornadoes, and lightning in mad succession until the wizard is utterly erased from existence.  After the wizard is killed and his body completely obliterated, the hurricane will seek out any stasis clone or clone that suddenly activated, knowing immediately the exact location of such a stasis clone or clone.  The hurricane will form an eye again as it moves, but the eye will close over the clone, and the hurricane will extirpiate that clone from existence.  This wretched process will go on for as long as it takes to destroy every stasis clone, clone, simulacrum, and other duplicate of the wizard (even one created by a Mirror of Opposition!)  The infuriated and evil hurricane will travel all over the world, over and over, for as long as it takes, to accomplish the extirpation of the mage from existence.  It will never stop as long as one scrap of his lifeforce exists anywhere on the planet.   At the beginning of every day the hurricane is over an area that would not sustain hurricanes or would break them up, the hurricane must make a DC roll.  One the first day, this DC is 1, and every day the hurricane REMAINS over a region that could not naturally support hurricanes the DC increases by 1.  So, if the hurricane spent 15 days over continental Faerun, for instance, it would have to make 15 DC checks, the first at DC 1, and the 15th at DC 15.  A failed DC check ends the spell.  The hurricane immediately loses all sentience, alignment, and intelligence, becoming a mundane weather system.  It then dissipates as a hurricane normally would, over the area in question.  However, if the hurricane reemerges over a sizeable body water of 80 degrees or warmer, the DC difficulty is RESET to 1, and the progression must start all over again.  Thus, the hurricane - moving at 60 miles per hour - could cross a continent, then a warm ocean, then move to the center of another continent to kill the mage.  After doing that, it could recross that continent, cross another warm ocean, then assail a clone of the mage on yet another continent.  And so on, until either the spell is broken (the DC check fails) or the caster of Mad's Bane is extirpated from existence upon that world.  Rendering unconscious or imprisoning the caster will do no good:  the hurricane will keep coming (it will most certainly NOT be appeased by the actions of others angry at the caster for casting this spell!)  Killing the caster will only dispel the magic if the caster has no stasis clones, clones, or the like.  If any of these exist, the hurricane will redirect towards the one that activates.  Trapping the caster's soul will not end this spell.  The hurricane will 'know' where the receptacle of the caster's soul is, and move towards it.  Killing the caster's soul will end the spell.  If the caster moves or teleports around, the hurricane will 'know' this and 'know' his new location, and change direction, heading directly towards the new location.  If the caster hides underground, the hurricane will move to the point on the surface directly above where he is belowground, and pound the surface until the spell ends or the caster is drowned.  If the caster worldwalks to another planet, crystal sphere, or plane, the hurricane will stop where it is (unfortunately for those who happen to be under it) and remain there, waiting for the mage to return.  If this is over land or cold water, the spell might well end before the mage returns.  Epic Dispel Magic might break this spell.  Under the 3rd edition rules, breaking this spell is an epic feat in itself (the DC of 120 to balance one's self on a cloud comes to mind here.)  Divine intervention will not occur to halt this spell, for some reason, despite the pleas of desperate clerics and druids to summoned Planars (although the Planars might attempt to protect local areas from the hurricane.)  Perhaps the wisest idea is to kill the mage who cast the spell.  However, it was shown that  Mad could not easily be killed:  he had too many Contingencies, Stasis Clones, Clones, and other backups to protect him.  His soul he had stored away where nobody could find it, and never did find it later on, so it remains hidden to this day.  Mad was imprisoned in a Temporal Stasis by his fellow archwizards after a truly epic battle between himself and the hurricane in which Mad won the day.  Mad's spells mostly survive in hardcopy to this day, in undiscovered tomes.  Mad's Bane is among them.  And Mad himself is still out there, in Temporal Stasis, and one day some group of adventurers is bound to find him and awaken him.</blockquote>

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