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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6058092" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 300: October 2002part 5/10Arcane Lore: Last month, we got paladin spells. This time, it's no great surprise this column is among those going vile and dark. Because after all, most of the big mastermind villains are spellcasters, or psionicists or mad scientists, which is basically the same thing, the triumph of intellect over base physical power. Damn jock culture. Or maybe it's just too tricky to take over the world when all you have is a big sword and the ability to swing it well. Anyway, let's get dirrrrty. The skinscribes have a particularly effective method of copy protection for their secret spells. Skin inscription only! Be that their living skin or taken from others, it does make copying the spells particularly tricky, and a moral dilemma in itself above and beyond what they actually do. Are you ready to load up your kitten powered gun to stop them? Atrophy withers your limbs, causing you substantial action penalties. The pain can also be used to enhance the caster. Watch out for counterspells using that sympathetic link, sucka. How many villains have lost due to that one? Blood Siphon also lets you draw energy from the lifeforce of others. Isn't that just, y'know, eating? We all do that. Ok, doing it while they're still alive and conscious is rather gross and morally dubious, but it's all a matter of degrees, not some great abomination. Blood Blister gives you acne from hell to mess up your day socially. As if we didn't have enough trouble being geeky. Bone Soften is a weird one that has both benefits and penalties. It looks deeply disturbing, but may be addictive in a sadomasochistic way. Once again, gross=evil in their minds. Bone Spurs draws upon a rather unpleasant real world disease and accelerates it to combat time. All kinds of vile deformities will twist their way out of your skin, much to your agony and inconvenience. I think this qualifies as sadism above and beyond what's needed to achieve your goals. Control Blood just seems like unpleasantness over practicality. You'll get better results most times just loading up the AoE blasting effects, particularly when the material component is considered. Drugging yourself up to cast a spell is bad, mmkay. Corpsebond requires you to engage in necrophilia to get a buff. It's another one that really doesn't merit the extra casting time and components compared to standard spells, so really, it's just an excuse for already sick <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />s to indulge just before battle. Curse of Pain Eternal is one of those decidedly mixed ones. In the short term, it's definitely a penalty, but in the long-term, it's an interesting corruptive tool. Frickin' stockholm syndrome. If it weren't for that, evil would have a much tougher time of things keeping groups together. I think this one counts as a success. Putrefaction brings you rapid aging and death, and then makes both a zombie and ghost slave out of you. Now that's efficiency. I strongly approve of this approach. Searing Seed impregnates the victim with demon-jizz, which grows into a full-grown evil copy of them in less than 30 seconds. Lovely. That'll really ruin everybody's day. I suggest making a sharp exit after pulling a stunt like that. Vileblade hurts, corrupts, and is generally rather nasty too. Mind you, damaging someone then making them your ally seems a bit counter-productive really. You don't want your new minion going down embarrassingly easily. Vile Rebellion makes all your limbs split off and become servants of the caster. This isn't fatal, but is very bad for the sanity indeed. A very tricky one to deal with indeed, as Ash will attest. Wall of Maggots is pretty self explanatory. You try pushing through this one, you get stripped to the bone. A lot harder to get through than a wall of fire. Writhing Ruin is another way of killing people and then making their body into a further hazard for friends. Tons of bugs bursting out of them should ruin their body for raising pretty well, and make you clear the area. Yup, I think that's pretty evil. They haven't done too badly after all, even if they do get a bit silly at times.</blockquote>

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