New Spell: Tauric Transmutation

[Dog Moon]

Tauric creatures are often made by Wizards. I'm trying to detail the stats of the spell, though I'm not good at making spells. Help would definitely be appreciated. I guess not too much is needed, just what level it might be and if there is anything else I am missing.

Tauric Transmutation
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 8 hours
Range: Touch
Target: 2 living creatures
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fort negates
Spell Resistance: (Yes)

Basically, this spell infuses two creatures together under the guidelines of the Tauric Spell. The 2 living creatures need to fall into the allowable types specified in the template.

 

[Ferret]

Yer seem t' be fine! But nay Xp penalty? And what abou' yer victims being consenting parties, ay?

 

[Dog Moon]

Revised

Tauric Transmutation
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 8 hours
Range: Touch
Target: 2 living creatures
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fort negates
Spell Resistance: (Yes)

Basically, this spell infuses two creatures together under the guidelines of the Tauric Spell.

These creatures need not be willing, but if they are, there is no saving throw and it automatically bypasses Spell Resistance.

Material Component: Two living creatures, One a corporeal humanoid or monstrous humanoid of Small or Mediumsize for the top torso/head and one Medium or Large corporeal animal, magical beast, or vermin with at least four legs for the bottom torso/legs.

XP Cost: 500.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

Experimentation

I'd say that the XP payment could be dropped if the wizard took longer over the process and also incorporated an element of surgical experimentation. If just trying to pull something together quickly then the XP penalty, but if this is the result of a long frankenstinian style 'scientific' experiment taking weeks or even months to get right then no XP required (the wizard has already invested enough of their life force into the process) and maybe even an increased DC on the saving throw.


In the quick version - does the saving throw mean nothing happens or is it just that the desired tauric creature isn't the result. The idea of a wizards lair guarded by all the mishapen results of experiments gone wrong seems like a good adventure to me - particularly if the druid's animal companion has recently disappeared!

 

[Vlos]

Other thoughts.

First, in the EPIC campaign there is a spell which creates a new "breed" or race of creatures.

So how is yours different from that and also from Polymorph any Object (PAO) (which is a 8th level spell).

I would start with PAO and then make changes. Since it can only target creatures its less usefull than PAO, but I would rule that the new creature is steril, and cannot reproduce with any others, even others of its own type. This would limit as compared to the EPIC spell.

I would also say you have to designate a one as a base creature, which is the one that retains is mental skills (INT/WIS/CHR) and only adopts 2-3 parts of the other creature.

I would also take a look at the Turanic template (forget which book it is in) and have it based of combinations from that.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Great spell...I like the revised one better, I am definetely going to allow the use of this to my players in my campaign.

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Vlos
I would also say you have to designate a one as a base creature, which is the one that retains is mental skills (INT/WIS/CHR) and only adopts 2-3 parts of the other creature.

I would also take a look at the Turanic template (forget which book it is in) and have it based of combinations from that.

The tauric is in the Savage Species, which already designates which creature gets the mental skills and which gains the physical ones. [The bottom torso/legs creature supplies the physical while the top torso/head supplies the mental skills (Int/wis/cha)].

Originally posted by Goblyns Hoard
I'd say that the XP payment could be dropped if the wizard took longer over the process and also incorporated an element of surgical experimentation. If just trying to pull something together quickly then the XP penalty, but if this is the result of a long frankenstinian style 'scientific' experiment taking weeks or even months to get right then no XP required (the wizard has already invested enough of their life force into the process) and maybe even an increased DC on the saving throw.

I'd assume that he has done the entire Frankenstein thing in the past, which is how he was able to develop this spell. I think it is definitely an interesting idea but I'm not completely sure how to do it balanced. Perhaps every 8 hours he works on the base creature to create the combination, the DC increases by 1 and the amount of experience decreases by 50 which a maximum of DC +10 and XP 0. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure I like that. In a lot of campaigns, it is easy for the characters to basically say, 'I'm taking 'x' amount of time off to make this creature.' When people can do that, I don't know if the idea that the more time spent on it makes it better when time is pretty much irrelevant in Dnd.

Originally posted by Goblyns Hoard
In the quick version - does the saving throw mean nothing happens or is it just that the desired tauric creature isn't the result. The idea of a wizards lair guarded by all the mishapen results of experiments gone wrong seems like a good adventure to me - particularly if the druid's animal companion has recently disappeared!

I've also thought about this. Ironically, I was thinking about system shock checks, but that doesn't exist in 3.x. I was thinking that success means that your body doesn't accept the Magic and you stay in your own body. If failure means that you change into the Tauric creature and success means that you are a misshapen creature, I'm not sure who would want to pass that save...

Anyway, thanks for the responses. I was afraid it was going to go unnoticed or ignored and I want this spell because I'm making a lair of various Tauric creatures and eventually I'll detail a main opponent who enjoys utilitizing this spell.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

The tauric template is also in Monster Manual II, page 216.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Also, I'd like to add that I believe Tauric Transfusion is a better name for this spell. I renamed it that for my homebrew.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

On further note, the rendition of a 'frankenstein' monster is touched upon and greatly expanded in Mongoose's Encyclopaedia Arcane: Crossbreeds.