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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 2438023" data-attributes="member: 2020">Ah yes, 8th level spells.  Powerful beasts.  When one considers they have to beat out Prismatic Spray in terms of sheer power, they must be powerful spells indeed.  The Wise will explain that it is most foolish to arrogantly, pridefully challenge a true wizard before you are truly ready, if indeed it is ever possible for you to be truly ready.  The 8th level Flensing spell makes their case.  Indeed, it makes their case very well, as many snide, overeager, would be Mage Slayers have learned to their terrible cost.  -  FLENSING (Alteration, Necromancy, Evil)  8th level  Range:  Touch - Components:  V, S, M - Duration: Special  Casting Time: 1 standard action - Area of Effect: One creature - Saving Throw: Special  This spell has the Evil Component in it, in 3rd Edition.    If Evil is not used in the campaign, then any mage can use this spell, and the force driving it is not evil per se ... although whatever force that DOES drive the spell, is as violent and absolute as the evil described below is.  Employing their understanding of the sweet, viscious, enveloping Dark Magic, evil mages casting Flensing summon the Primordial Magic of Darkness, Pure Magic and Evil Manifest.  This black might stuns the very air as it appears, the Weave reels, midnight Darkness roars in thunderous glee and unholy delight, and all the colossal might of power and magic and evil descends upon the hapless victim.   Thousands of tiny shards of Pure Magic, Pure Evil, the mightiest of all forces in the multiverse being pure magic - unstoppable, invincible, unassailable and world rending force - tear into the victim, slicing through flesh, blood, and bone;  methodically, slowly, and gleefully stripping the flesh layer by layer by layer from his bones, flensing him as an onion is flensed, with incalculable precision and unimaginable cruelty.  With the physical destruction of the victim, layer by layer, comes pain:  pain beyond imagination.  This is not merely the pain of being butchered, flensed like a carrot.  This is the pain delivered by the malevolance of Evil itself, and that malevolance is insatiable, unquenchable, and eternal.  So long as the spell lasts, and the victim lives, the pain is delivered, delivered by physical torture and multiplied by Evil, inflicted with delight and remorseless pleasure.  Perhaps being burned alive can compare to the pain caused by the first stage of this spell;  perhaps it cannot.  Beyond the first stage, the pain inflicted by a Flensing would do justice to the devils themselves, and a certain character from the Hellraiser films would bow his head in appreciation.  The Flensing cannot be stopped by most known forces.  Most psionics cannot stop this spell or protect from the pain it inflicts.  For psionic effects that might work, compare them with those magical spells that might protect against Flensing.  No mundane effort will avail the victim.  Running, immersing oneself in water, sand, earth, stone, or solid adamantite are all gestures in futility.  Few known substances will stop the Pure Dark Magic of the Flensing (Krell steel is one of those few, if the character could somehow obtain it ...)  Teleport, Worldwalk, Dimension Door, Plane Shift, Blink, and other such spells are useless.  The Flensing will travel with the victim wherever he goes, even if that is into the heart of the Sun, the depths of the Abyss, or the Mists of Ravenloft.  The Flensing will continue, it's virulence not stopped, slowed, or appeased by the victim's travails.  Even travelling to the Upper Planes will not halt the Flensing, although the intervention of the Planars will, and they will intervene, since the Flensing is an affront of Evil upon their native Planes.   (Directly Worldwalking to the Seventh Heaven WILL stop the Flensing spell.  But the character will not return, since nothing that travels to the Seventh Heaven ever returns, except for the Angels themselves.)  There are a lot of defensive magical spells and spell-like effects, and most of them are quite useless against Flensing.  Mantle, Wall of Force, Fire Shield, Stoneskin ... all of these will fail, and the Flensing will shred a Wall of Force, instantly dispel a Stoneskin, and laugh at the returned damaged caused by a Fire Shield.  The Dark Shards of the magic of the Flensing are ever renewed, ever restored, by an endless torrent of Darkness, a cascade of thunderous magic pouring down out of the Weave.  A Limited Wish will not stop a Flensing or the pain it causes (although a properly worded Wish or Miracle spell will.)  Such is the power of Flensing that only the mightiest of spells have any hope of defending against it, beyond the power of mere Limited Wishes.  Temporal Stasis and Imprisonment will not stop a Flensing, although they will stop the pain:  the Flensing will shred the Stasised body of the victim while his sentience sleeps.  Powerful necromantic spells like Hide Life, Lifeproof, Remove Heart, and Stone Form will, conversely, save the life of the victim without mitigating any of the pain.  Trap the Soul and Magic Jar will do neither:  the Flensing will shred and kill the victim, while using the power of Primordial Evil to send the body's pain to the imprisoned soul (and ALL the pain will be felt by the consciousness of the victim.)  Victims somehow caught in Mirrors of Life Trapping and similar items will find the Flensing has entered their prison with them, and although it might not (or just might!) be able to harm their bodies it can certainly still inflict it's pain on them.  Contingency is not powerful enough to ever protect the victim from the pain inflicted by Flensing, although the victim's life might be saved.  Chain Contingency is strong enough to halt the pain and save the victim's life, if properly done.  Either way, the Flensing chases the victim wherever the Contingency spells take him, and it continues it's ghastly work on the victim thereafter.  If further help, or clerical healing, or something else reasonably potent, is not available, even a Chain Contingency is unlikely to save the victim at that point.  Clones and Stasis Clones will activate after the Flensing spell is finished with the victim.  One must stress the AFTER part, because Flensing does not kill quickly:  it's Dark Magic prevents death through shock, death through massive damage, and prevents normal unconsciousness (not that normal unconsciousness would help - the Flensing would direct the pain into the inner part of the mind, striking at the fleeing consciousness), and in all ways works to keep the victim alive as long as possible, so that the greatest possible suffering can be inflicted, and every last cut of the Shards of Darkness can be gored across the red ruins of what was once the victim's body, before death finally arrives as a mercy and a blessing.  (In 2E terms, the victim remains alive and fully aware, to - 10 hit points, whereupon death is instant.)  Note that passing into Temporal Prime will not protect against a Flensing spell, which will simply chase the hapless chronomancer into that Plane, and travel up and/or down the timestream with him.  Needless to say, being incorporeal, astral, ethereal, out of phase, or anything else of that sort will be totally useless against a Flensing spell, once the mage touches the creature and sets off the spell (or, if she has obtained a Ranged Touch attack via Feats, then a successful Ranged Touch attack from the mage!)  Spell Resistance works normally against a Flensing spell, and if successful dispels it before it can attack.  The Srinshee's Spellshift, 10th level, will stop this spell instantly, and/or protect against it.  The 9th level phaerimm spell Mystic Sphere will also halt this spell, if the Flensing was directed at the caster of the Mystic Sphere.  Time Stop will halt the spell in progress, but it will resume it's work after the Time Stop expires (if the victim is moved in that time, the Flensing will move to the victim's new location.)  Prismatic Sphere will protect against a Flensing spell.  Many other protective 9th level spells will work, if properly employed (such as Transforming Tune.)  Shapechange could enable the caster to assume a form immune to physical damage and pain (such as a Nilbog.)  Gate could be used to scream for help from one's diety.  A Dispel Magic can halt a Flensing.  Epic Dispel Magic is likely to halt it.  Counterspell can halt it normally.  Mordenkainen's Disjunction and Eye of Mystra will instantly dispel it.  Spell Turning can cause it to reflect back on it's caster.  Spellfire will feed on it, dispelling it.  Anti-Magic Shell has a 50% chance of dispelling a Flensing.  If it fails, the Shell itself is dispelled.  An Amulet of Life Protection will save the victim, but will not spare him the pain.  An Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location will do better:  it will enable the caster to escape via Teleport, Worldwalk, Contingency, Dimension Door, and the like, as the dark magic of the Flensing becomes confused and unable to follow the caster.  A Ring of Regeneration (or the spell) will prevent death, but not the pain.  An Anaethesia spell (and most other spells that protect against pain under 9th level) will fail, unless it is combined with Mind Blank in which case the victim will be shielded.   Effects:  On the first turn (1 minute) of the Flensing, the spell inflicts no hit points of damage, per se.  It merely horribly disfigures the victim as it inflicts hundreds of cuts across every part of the victim's body.  The unearthly pain begins for the victim, and the Evil gorges itself off that pain and the physical and psychological trauma and the gushing blood, growing and flourishing and sighing with delight to the victim's unending screams, evolving into a hideous black cloud of destruction carving up the very air, sending a confused plethora of shocks and blasts of outraged wind in all directions.  Every item worn and/or carried by the victim must make Item Saves versus Disintegration - at the beginning of the turn and the onslaught of the Flensing -  or be destroyed, hurled and flung aside in mutilated, tiny, blood drenched little pieces (even items of pure adamantite suffer this fate.  Only artifacts and relics are immune.)  Those items that succeed in their Item Save remain intact somehow, only to face the second turn of the Flensing and more saves (below.)  The victim can still take actions while under attack by the insane fury of the Flensing spell.  However, actions are almost impossible on a normal basis.  Basically, all actions are now Epic Actions, as the victim tries to function while being (literally) hacked to pieces.  So all actions have a penalty of + 70 on their DC, in addition to any normal DC requirements.  Actions that fail as a result of this penalty still result in normal consequences for the hapless victim, on top of the excruciating punishment being inflicted by the Flensing spell.  Spellcasting is still possible, but the caster is counted as having taken 70 hit points of damage (every round of the first turn, he is counted as having taken 70 points of damage that round) for purposes of casting spells.  Spells that can be cast as Free Actions (hung spells, contingencies, and Quicken Spells) can still be cast normally, without penalty, by the beset victim.  Also, the victim can attempt to melee or fire arrows or otherwise engage in attacks, but suffers an overwhelming - 40 penalty to his BAB.  Harsh, but that's the fate decreed:  It just isn't easy to give battle with the sword, when Shards of Immeasurable Might and Darkness are attempting to flense sword, arm and body all, into fine fleshy scraps and mangled metal pieces.  If the penalties to actions, spells, and BAB render the victim unable to take any action to save himself, that is unfortunate, but that is how it is.  There is no appeal.  Perhaps the victim should have brought his friends to help him.  Or perhaps maybe, the victim should not have challenged the lady mage in the first place.  Needless to say, temporary and/or permanent insanity are possible side effects of this spell, due to the pain.  That is, possible side effects due to the pain alone:  the physical damage and mutilation, combined with the psychological trauma, are very likely to cause temporary and/or permanent insanity.  The chance for insanity grows steadily with each passing turn of the Flensing spell ...  On the second turn, the Flensing intensifies.  The Shards of Evil cut deeper, the Pure Magic rages harder, the shocks and concussions from the spell multiply, and the earth itself groans in outrage.  From the Black Whirlwind of Incarnate Carnage come flying assorted pieces of the victim, such as nose, eyes, teeth, ears, parts of the jaw, assorted fingers and toes, and chunks of flesh the size of apples (in the case of Large or larger beings, chunks the size of basketballs.)  The victim sustains 2 to 12 points of damage during this turn (for the entire turn, not per round.)  This damage is applied immediately at the start of this, the second turn.  The victim  may make a Fortitude Save for half damage, which if successful will please the Dark Magic mightily, as this means the victim will live longer.  Certainly, no save will stop the attack.  This spell is an Autokill Dweomer, and there is no appeal against it's might.  Incidentally, Damage Reduction, even of the + 5 kind, is completely useless against the malevolent fury of the Flensing spell.  In no way will it help the victim in any way, including pain reduction.  Even creatures that regenerate naturally - even those that regenerate at massive rates, like the tarrasque - will still suffer the dire punishment and horrific pain meted out by the Flensing onslaught.  Any items that saved at the beginning of the first turn of the Flensing, must now make Item Saves versus Disintegrate again, and again failure indicates the shredded remains are spewed forth in red glory.  Finis those items, the pieces being widely dispersed from the victim and unrecognizable as to what they original were a part of.  The victim may take action while under attack by the Flensing spell during the second turn, but such actions are even more impossible than during the first turn.  The DC penalty is + 90, spells consider 90 hit points of damage (each round, as usual), Quicken Spells and other spells that go off as Free Actions may still be cast, and the BAB penalty is - 50.    During the third turn, the Flensing magnifies ever further in power and punishment.  The black cloud of shards, Embodied Darkness and Magic, Evil and Puissance, will blast around the victim like a tornado, sending quakes and shocks in all directions through the ground, emitting small bolts of purple lightning, discharging wild magic effects which will be mild but always horrific in nature, and sending blasts of wind and howling noise out to stun and deafen all nearby (This uproar will be audible a mile away.)  More and more power will thunder out of the Weave, shaking and tossing it, sending shocks through it, that will be perceptible for many miles by those with eyes to see and ears to hear.  Now, the innards of ordinary creatures - brains, bone, blood, and organs - will be dispersed in fine sprays of shards and red ruin all around the thunderous tornado that is the Flensing spell.  Luckier and/or tougher victims might still only be losing mere appendages or skin.  Chunks of large beings the size of halflings will be tossed out of the tornado of Black Shards, only to be chased by rogue Shards and shredded into bite sized chunks before they hit the ground.  The victim sustains 2 to 20 points of damage during this turn (for the entire turn, not per round.)  This damage is applied immediately at the beginning of the third turn.  Again, the victim can prolong his life - and his agony - by successfully making a Fortitude Save for half damage.  Again, all items that somehow survived to this point must make Item Saving Throws versus Disintegration again, and those that fail are destroyed.  The greatest of heroes might be able to take some sort of action during the third turn.  All that is required is to overcome a DC penalty of + 110, spells being treated as if the victim had taken 110 hit points of damage (each round), and a - 50 BAB penalty.     On the fourth turn, the Flensing reaches it's maximum power, raging furiously against the target and the target's life (or unlife, or animating) force, seeking their extirpation.  This is where one sees entire dragons chopped up (as finely as any chef would dice vegetables) and hurled outward in all directions as a red rain.  Beings such as black puddings and green slime will likewise be reduced to small pieces and flung outward several tens of feet in all directions, with appropriately disastrous results.  Blasts of tiny rocks, like hard hitting sleet, will herald the end of stone golems.  Iron shrapnel will rocket out from the ruins of iron golems.  From large creatures that regenerate, an unending torrent of gore will rain out, burying everything in several feet of blood, bone, and fragments of flesh.  Of course, by now, ordinary people will have disappeared into sleetstorms of red carnage, and not even intact teeth will remain to identify in any way who or what that person was.  The victim must make a Will Save at the beginning of this turn.  If the victim makes this save, he will survive this turn and survive the Flensing spell.  The victim's items that somehow survived up until now must again make Item Saves versus Disintegration or be destroyed.  It is likely, obviously, that the victim might survive this spell but be divested of all his items.  If this is his fate, then he can say that, truly, flesh is stronger than any adamantite steel ever forged, and he would be proven right.  The victim may also take actions during the fourth turn, if he made his Will Save at the beginning of the fourth turn.  All actions have a + 130 penalty to DC, spells consider 130 points of damage, Quicken spells and the like can still be cast, and the BAB penalty is - 60.  If the victim fails his Will save, he is granted the extreme misfortune of surviving this entire turn.  Indeed, the gloating Evil Manifest of the spell makes CERTAIN he remains alive and fully aware, during the entire turn.  He remains aware of nothing but pain;  pain that is beyond the imagination of all but the most depraved of the fiends themselves.  All items that somehow survived up until this point are considered automatically destroyed, with no saving throw allowed.    The victim can take no actions, can cast no spells, can release no Quicken Spells or any other Free Action spells, can make no attacks, and can basically do nothing at all.  If he still has enough of a mind left to consider the matter (which is extremely unlikely) he can pray for as quick a death as possible.  For him, that death will be long delayed:  one minute will seem like an eternity to the victim, before the Flensing finishes with him and his wracked soul begins it's weary trek to the Afterlife.  And finally, after 4 minutes of Fury Incarnate, the Flensing spell will subside.  The quakes will cease, the shocks will stop.  The winds will die down, the Weave stabilize as the power flow out halts.  The tornado will dissipate, the blackness fade, the malefic evil disperse back to the abyss from whence it came.  With a final howl of outrage and a shriek of protest that will be long remembered as the spell's epitaph, the black shards of force will fade away, and the spell dissipate.  For a long time afterwards, the area will be heavy with leftover magic, an aura of evil, and tremors and disturbances in the Weave.  Minor wild magic effects, all of them baneful but mild, will afflict the area for several days to come.  The air, the very ground, the Weave itself, will radiate an aura of trauma, as if the scourge of the Flensing struck at them too, and for those with ears to hear, faint moans of pain will be heard from air and ground.  The Flensing spell, will be ended.     Survival for the victim does not come without a price.  The victim must make a Fortitude Save for the effects of the first turn of Flensing.  Failure indicates a permanent loss of 1 to 3 points of Charisma.  Then the victim must make a Fortitude Save again for the effects of the second turn of Flensing:  failure indicates a loss of an additional 2 to 8 points of Charisma.  Finally, the victim must make a Fortitude Save against the effects of the fourth round of Flensing:  failure indicates the additional loss of 2 to 12 points of Charisma.  (The victim's Charisma cannot be lowered below 1 in this way.  For every point of Charisma lost, deduct 1 point of Comeliness (if applicable;  if Comeliness is used in the campaign) then add any and all penalties for a low Charisma to the new Comeliness score in addition, to find the new Comeliness score of the victim.)  Regenerate and other spells can reverse the loss of Charisma and Comeliness.  At the DM's discretion, the victim must make a Will Save.  Failure indicates insanity, possibly permanent insanity.  Likely types of insanity that might be produced by this spell are catatonia, schizophrenia, homicidal mania, severe amnesia, and extreme traumatic reactions to any open displays of blades of any sort.  Of course a Heal spell and/or a Restoration spell will cure said insanity, and reduce the memories of the Flensing to manageable, sane proportions.  The mage can elect to halt her Flensing at any time, and send it howling and shrieking back into the Darkness from whence it came.  Whether or not she does so is entirely her decision.  Assorted pleas for mercy, agonized screams, confessions of guilt, revealing of information, might or might not convince her to end the Flensing before it shreds the victim into little pieces.  Then again, if the victim was arrogant, snide, threatening, and/or harmed the mage, she might decide that nothing short of the victim's painful, slow demise is satisfactory.  The material component for the Flensing spell (if material components are used) is an onion.  The mage must peel it back layer by layer, as the spell progresses.</blockquote>

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