Spells of the Skullmaster

[Clay_More]

Another line of spells made to fit a certain theme, this being mainly Necromancy / Divination.


Preserve Skull
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Effect: One skull
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Oh precious mind, oh precious soul. Sleep tight, sleep long, sleep inside your white prison, sleep until the day I call upon you. Let not your dreams befoul by nightmares, for I watch over thee, oh lithe darling.

Preserve Skull cleans a humanoid skull and enforces it so that it may better survive wear and tear. The skull will no longer rot, nor will it exude any odour. It will also be physically enforced, gaining Hardness 10 and 25 Hit Points.
Material Component: A sprinkle of diamond dust (worth 10 gp).

Lore of the Dead
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 2 rounds
Range: Touch
Effect: Gives you a skill bonus from target skull
Duration: 1 minute / level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Whisper your secrets, every dirty little untold story, whisper it to my ear and I will share it with no one else, no one will hear.

Lore of the Dead allows you to extract knowledge from a skull. By touching a skull and casting the spell, you gain a number of ranks in any skill with Intelligence as Ability Modifier equal to the amount of ranks possessed by the owner of the skull when he was alive. The ranks gained do not stack with any ranks you may possess yourself. For example, if you cast Lore of the Dead on the skull of a person who possessed 7 ranks in Craft (Alchemy), you will gain 7 ranks in Craft (Alchemy) for as long as the spell is in effect. You will use your own Intelligence modifier, not the Intelligence modifier of the skull.
If you cast Lore of the Dead on a skull with less ranks in a skill than you possess yourself, you instead gain a circumstantial bonus to your skill equal to the amount of ranks possessed by the skull divided by five. For example, if you cast Lore of the Dead on a skull with 12 ranks in Knowledge (History) and you yourself have 14 ranks in Knowledge (History), you will gain a +2 circumstantial bonus to your skill while the spell lasts.
Focus: The targeted Skull

Borrowed Mysteries
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, M, F
Casting Time: 2 rounds
Range: Touch
Effect: Lets you borrow 1d3 feats from target skull.
Duration: 1 minute / level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

As we walk the path, there is nothing left which we can not unravel in unison. Powers combined are powers endowed.

Borrowed Mysteries allows the caster to temporarily extra feats from the spirit of a deceased person. The caster needs to have access to the skull of the deceased for the spell to work. When the spell is cast, the caster rolls 1d3 to determine the amount of feats he can borrow. After he has determined the amount of feats he can learn, he selects the feats which he wishes to learn. If the skull doesn’t contain the selected feats, the spell fails. The caster must fulfil all requirements for the selected feats. It is possible to learn one feat from a skull and then learn a second feat which has the first feat as a prerequisite. It is not possible for a caster to be affected by more than one Borrowed Mysteries spell at a time. It is possible to recast Borrowed Mysteries in the hope of gaining access to more feats. If Borrowed Mysteries is cast while another is in effect, the first spell is automatically overridden and removed.
Material Component: An empty piece of paper or papyrus which is consumed in the casting.
Focus: The targeted skull


Tales of the Skull
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 2 rounds
Range: Touch
Effect: One skull
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Your life was not in vain; for I will consume the tales of your past and make them part of me. In me, you will live forever.

Tales of the Skull allows the caster to gain insight into the mind of a dead person. When the spell is cast on a skull, the caster recovers the following information about the person who once owned the skull: Intelligence score, Wisdom score, Charisma score, alignment, all skill ranks and feats possessed by the person. The caster gains no specific information about the life of the deceased, nor does he gain any information about cause of death. This spell is often used as a precursor to some of the other spells of the Skullmaster.
Material Component: A special type of green tea which is prepared beforehand, then poured over the skull and drunk by the caster.

Skull Drone
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Sor/Wiz 4
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Effect: One skull
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Soar the skies and search for my prey, track them down so that I may smite them in their arrogance. I have granted you spirit wings, now use them to hunt for my enemies.

Skull Drone grants a skull the ability to hover and fly above the ground. The movement of the skull is completely controlled by the caster. The skull gains Fly 120 ft. (perfect). The skull can not attack, but it is itself vulnerable to damage. Its size is one category less than that of the creature it originates from (a skull from a Medium-sized creature is itself a Small creature). The skull has an amount of Hit Points, Natural Armor and Dexterity depending upon its size.

Fine: 1 Hit Point
0 Natural Armor
20 Dexterity

Diminutive: 2 Hit Points
0 Natural Armor
18 Dexterity

Tiny: 3 Hit Points
0 Natural Armor
17 Dexterity

Small: 5 Hit Points
+1 Natural Armor
16 Dexterity

Medium: 8 Hit Points
+1 Natural Armor
14 Dexterity

Large: 12 Hit Points
+2 Natural Armor
12 Dexterity

Huge: 18 Hit Points
+4 Natural Armor
10 Dexterity

Gargantuan: 25 Hit Points
+6 Natural Armor
9 Dexterity

Colossal: 40 Hit Points
+8 Natural Armor
8 Dexterity

If the skull is affected by Preserve Skull, it will still gain the benefit of the increased Hardness and Hit Points granted by Preserve Skull. It is possible to cast Return to the Living on a skull affected by Skull Drone. If the caster wishes, he can grant control of the movement of the skull to the spirit inhabiting it if it is affected by Return to the Living. If he controls the skull himself, he needs to remain within line of sight of it to properly control it.
Material Component: Five feathers taken from a creature of the same size as the skull.

Sensory Relay
Divination
Level: Sor/Wiz 4
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Effect: One skull already affected by either Skull Drone or Return to the Living.
Duration: 10 minutes / level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

We are naught one, but two souls who traverse the world and share the joys and pains. Find a path to that which I desire and your reward will be my gratefulness.

Sensory Relay creates a connection between the caster and a skull affected by Skull Drone or Return to the Living. While the spell lasts, the caster will see and hear all things around the skull as if though he was there himself. He will no longer sense the surroundings around his own body (unless the skull is in his vicinity). Only if he suffers physical damage will he become aware of anything happening to him or his own surroundings. The spell otherwise operates as Clairaudience/Clairvoyance.

Return to the Living
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Effect: One skull
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Come back sweetie; don’t shy away from the light of the living. You have slumbered long enough, it is time for you to guide me in me walk through life.

Return to the Living restores sentience to the skull of a deceased person. The skull will gain almost the same mental faculties as it had in life and be under the control of the caster.
The skull will have the same Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma scores as it had in life if it has the same alignment as the caster. For each point of difference in the alignment of the caster and the skull, the skull will suffer a permanent -2 penalty to all three Ability scores. For example, if a Neutral Evil caster casts the spell on a Lawful Good skull, the difference will be 3 points, resulting in a -6 penalty (from Lawful to Neutral, from Good to Neutral and from Neutral to Evil). The reason for this is that a spirit with very different motives than the caster will try to work against him and resist the call to the world of the living.
The skull will also have all of the Skill ranks it possessed when it was alive and it will have the same alignment as it had in life. It will be able to communicate both verbally as well as mentally. It can only communicate mentally with the caster. If the spirit possessing the skull has different motives than those of the caster, it will often complain and question the caster, but it will never directly disobey his commands. The skull can be commanded to aid the caster in any ways possible. The skull is not granted any means of locomotion by this spell. It is possible to affect a skull with Return to the Living and Skull Drone at the same time. The skull will not remember any details about its life and can therefore not be commanded to talk about the events that it witnessed while alive. The skull will though remember anything it sees after it has been awakened by the caster, and it can be commanded to relay detailed accounts of what it sees. Since the skull can communicate mentally with the caster as long as they are both on the same plane, he can command it to alert him in case of a specific event. For example, he can place the skull in front of a door and order it to relay information to him about anyone that passes through the door.
Material Component: A red onyx gem worth at least 10 gp per HD of the person who possessed the skull in life.

Spell Relay
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Same plane
Effect: One skull already affected by either Skull Drone or Return to the Living.
Duration: 1 round / level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Sweetie, you found me my prey. Now just relax and let my arcane powers lay waste to them, as punishment for their imprudence. Can you feel the sweet tingle of my powers passing through you?

Spell Relay allows the caster to cast his spells through any skull he has affected by either Skull Drone or Return to the Living. While the spell lasts, the caster can cast spells from the chosen skull. The effect of the spell is based solely on the caster himself, while the range is calculated from the skull. It is possible for the caster to cast spells that have a range of Personal on the skull, such as Mage Armor. The caster can only cast spells that require him to target something other than the skull if he has some means to gain vision of the area surrounding the skull. Sensory Relay is a typical spell to use for this purpose, but other spells such as Clairaudience/Clairvoyance will work too.
Material Component: A spell scroll containing a spell of at least level 3 which is consumed in the casting.

Grafted Bones
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Effect: One skull already affected by Return to the Living and an animated undead under the casters command.
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Take command precious, take command of a body once more. Relish at the feeling of having limbs that do your bidding and bones that can give me praise.

Grafted Bones allows the caster to take a skull affected by Return to the Living and attach it to a corpse animated by the caster. The animated undead can be of any of the following types: Ghast, Ghoul, Mohrg, Mummy, Skeleton, Wight and Zombie. When the skull is grafted to the recipient undead, it will completely take over all physical faculties of said undead. The undead will be completely controlled by the skull, and all of the former mental attributes of the undead will become erased. If the animated undead has a head, it needs to be removed before the spell can be cast. This spell will not cause the skull to gain the same appearance as the undead it is grafted unto, so grafting a bare, white skull to a zombie will not cause it to gain the same rotten, fleshy appearance as the zombie. After a skull has been attached to an undead, it no longer counts as a separate object. If the undead it is attached to is destroyed, the skull and its spirit are destroyed as well.

Sinister Lore
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Touch
Effect: Draws a skill from a skull
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will (special, see description)
Spell Resistance: No

Sinister they call it! By no means, it is the natural progression of the world. I am making the gathered lore of the dead available to the living, so that they might serve us even in death.

Sinister Lore allows the caster to permanently increase his skills by drawing them from the spirits of the deceased. Before he can cast the spell, he needs to select which skill he wishes to increase. The skill must be one that has Intelligence as its ability modifier. Before casting the spell, the caster must have located a skull which has more ranks in the selected skill than the caster. If, for example, a caster with 14 ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) wishes to increase his skill, he needs to recover a skull which belonged to a person with 15 or more ranks in Knowledge (Arcana). If the spell is successfully completed, the caster permanently gains one extra rank in the chosen skill. It is possible to cast the spell to gain one rank in a spell the caster doesn’t know at all, as long as it has Intelligence as its ability modifier.
When the spell is cast, the caster must make a Will saving throw. The DC is equal to the rank he will gain in the chosen skill. If a caster is casting Sinister Lore to gain 17 ranks in Craft (Alchemy), then the Will saving throw DC is 17. Remember that rolling 1 on this saving throw always counts as a failure, no matter what the DC was. If the saving throw fails, the caster has delved too far into the mysteries of the dead and he permanently looses one point of Wisdom. This lost point of Wisdom can not be restored or cured by any means short of divine intervention. If the caster is reduced to 1 or less Wisdom, he becomes comatose, as his mind drifts away to join the spirits of the dead.

Crown of Skulls
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 day
Range: Personal
Effect: Several skulls form a crown around the casters head, increasing his mental abilities.
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will (special, see description)
Spell Resistance: No

My crown is a symbol of my superiority, that I am the king of the spirits of the netherworld. They hail me; I can hear them whisper in my ear, praising my immortal reign.

Crown of Skulls is a powerful spell that enables a spellcaster to permanently increase his mental ability scores. A caster can only have one Crown of Skulls active on him at any time and each Crown of Skulls can only increase one of the casters three mental ability scores (Charisma, Intelligence or Wisdom).
The maximum ability increase that can be granted from Crown of Skulls is +6. The bonus counts as an Unholy bonus. The requirements for the spell are as follows.
The ability bonus granted by Crown of Skulls is equal to the amount of skulls used in casting the spell. Each of the skulls used in casting the spell must have belonged to a creature of the same race as the caster. The creature must have had an ability score equal to the base ability score of the caster in the ability score the caster has chosen to increase with Crown of Skulls. For example, if the caster has an Intelligence score of 17 without any modifiers added in (including those gained from levels, or from age), then he must find skulls that themselves belonged to creatures that possessed 17 or higher Intelligence. If the caster attempts to cast Crown of Skulls with a skull that belonged to a person with less in the subject ability score than the caster, then the caster needs to make a Will saving throw or permanently loose 1 point in the chosen ability score. For example, if a caster with a natural Charisma of 16 casts Crown of Skulls and he is accidentally using a skull which belonged to a person with a Charisma score of 15 or less, he has to succeed at a Will saving throw or loose 1 point of Charisma permanently. Only a Wish or Miracle can restore ability scores lost from Crown of Skulls.
Once the spell is cast, the skulls used in the casting will slowly start to hover. They will take up positions around the head of the caster, around which they will very slowly rotate. They will follow the caster wherever he goes, they will follow him even if he travels across the planes or if he uses some kind of teleportation spell.
Each of the skulls has 25 Hit Points and a Hardness of 10. They can be targeted by attacks. They have the same Natural Armor and Dexterity as skulls affected by Skull Drone, based on their size. If any of the skulls are destroyed, the caster must make a Will saving throw. If he fails, the collapse of the connection he shared with the skull will cause him to be Stunned for 1d4+1 rounds. He will also loose the benefit of the skull, causing him to loose one point of bonus granted from Crown of Skulls.
Material Components: Two, large, black diamonds must be placed in the eye sockets of each skull (worth 5.000 gp. per skull).

 

[Land Outcast]

*Another line*?

were there previous lines of thematic spells?

(sorry for the lack of comments, but I don't have the time to read -now- through them)

 

[Clay_More]

Its okay, but yes, I did some other spells that all follow a certain theme, and these are some that try to mix Divination with Necromancy.

 

[ceratitis]

could you repost the spells lost by the crash?
most were really cool
when i have the time i'll read these and comment
Z

 

[Dog Moon]

Cool spells. I certainly like them. However, there are a few things that bother me:

1. Tales of the Skull - I dislike this spell because it seems to Metagamey, though I admit I'm not sure how it could be changed. Maybe give you vague senses of the stats or something, like different types of auras and the stronger the aura, the better the stat. For alignment, could be white for good, black for evil, still for law, movement for chaos or something. Makes it more in-game feeling than just giving stats. For the mental abilities, assign each a color. Dull means low, brilliantly shining means high or something.

2. Skull Drone - I think it would be more appropriate to have Dex and NA scale by size. I have a hard time seeing the skull of a Halfling and that of a Cloud Giant having the same thickness and Dexterity, though depending on how realistic you want, it might not also be a bad idea to do something like the Winged Template in that the maneuverability depends on the Dexterity of the creature, although this might make the spell too detailed.

Side Note: I think that it should be able to deal damage depending on what attack it had in life. So if it had a Bite Attack, the skull should have one too. If it had a Ram Attack, it will still have horns in death and should be able to make an attack. I don't know if this is appropriate for the same spell or would require an additional one.

3. How about an additional feat?

Skull Familiar
Prerequisites: Ability to cast Skull Drone.
Benefit: The skull you have chosen for the Skull Drone spell becomes your familiar.
Special: If you already have a familiar, the familiar immediately and irrevocably drops dead. If you choose the skull of your familiar, the familiar's body sinks off the skull and rapidly rots and eventually fades away, leaving only the skull.

I'm not quite sure how balanced that is, but it would be cool to turn the Skull Drone into a Familiar.

 

[RisnDevil]

First of all, I would like to second the request to repost your older spells. There was some real quality work there!

Moving on to this batch of spells.

Although I agree with Tales of the Skull feeling metagamey, so what? Instead of trieing to pretend it's not, just leave the spell as it is. The only area the sugested revision is less metagamey is by not being exact on the stats, and really, who cares?

I think Preserve Skull should be an 0th level spell. Although I understand by preserving the skulls it makes alot of the other spells capable, I think on its own right it does not warrant a 1st level spell.

I think to simplify Lore of the Dead it should be changed to just give a flat synergy bonus to skills, even if you do not already have ranks in it. Not sure just what formula to use, but I think that would be better. Plus, if you drop Preserve Skull to 0th level, and make the change I propose, I think Lore of the Dead could become a 1st level spell.

The other spells look good to me, but I say make a capstone 9th level spell that allows the skull to regain some level of the class features it had in life.

Just my $0.02. Once again, good job Clay!

 

[Sigurd]

I'd add a general statement of vulnerability

I think I'd be sure to make the duration of any of these contacts long enough that they aren't feasible in battle. I'd also state that while in communication with the dead in this manner the necromancer was very vulnerable to uncontrolled interuption and very drained by the experience.

Communication in this manner involves the extension of the wizards own soul into the remains of the dead. Each skull conusulted does 2 points of constitution damage to the mage +2 for every degree of alignment difference. This damage can only be healed by rest and takes 24hrs in which time the spellcaster cannot learn new spells or work on magic research. He\she does retain any uncast spells previously learned.

Some sort of save for a forced ending to the commnunication and bringing the caster out of trance.


Sigurd

I like the level setting of preserve skull. It's a permanent affect. Its a rare spell that doesn't benefit from a lot of tweaking. If it seals and preserves the knowledge of the deceased inside its mystic value is huge - 1st level seems right to me.
I don't think it should be simply one standard action. I think one standard action for a skull the casters level or lower plus one round for every level above the caster. If you're going to preserve a lot of knowledge you're going to do it carefully.

 

[ceratitis]

i'm not much of a spell disigner so i'll just say they are as cool as all the other lines and i like them a lot
would you mind adding some background on the wizard who uses them like you did in the other threads?
Z

 

[the Jester]

Very nice suite of spells!

I think I may have missed your original line of spells, and after reading these I'd definitely be interested.

 

[Clay_More]

Attaching the two lists of spells I could immediately find, the Vladimir Gygyr spells that focus on creating permanent connections of a life-draining nature with people in your immediate surrounding, and the Akhmed Aldahr spells that are very spellcaster vs. spellcaster based. Don't remember if they are the fully edited lists though. Still got two more lists, ill attach them if I have the possibility. Now, about the feedback!

1. Tales of the Skull - I dislike this spell because it seems to Metagamey, though I admit I'm not sure how it could be changed. Maybe give you vague senses of the stats or something, like different types of auras and the stronger the aura, the better the stat. For alignment, could be white for good, black for evil, still for law, movement for chaos or something. Makes it more in-game feeling than just giving stats. For the mental abilities, assign each a color. Dull means low, brilliantly shining means high or something.

I agree to some point that it is a little bit metagamey, but no more than any spell involving stats. Many spells are flat-out numerical in nature, and it is up to the DM and the players how much mysticism they wish to add to the spells. I also have a few more spells planned for this line of spells that actually require very accurate knowledge of the exact mental stats of the target.

2. Skull Drone - I think it would be more appropriate to have Dex and NA scale by size. I have a hard time seeing the skull of a Halfling and that of a Cloud Giant having the same thickness and Dexterity, though depending on how realistic you want, it might not also be a bad idea to do something like the Winged Template in that the maneuverability depends on the Dexterity of the creature, although this might make the spell too detailed.

Actually, I agree far more on this point. I will add some NA appropriate for the sizes to the list of sizes, as well as Dex. I think it will make sense. Very good point.

Side Note: I think that it should be able to deal damage depending on what attack it had in life. So if it had a Bite Attack, the skull should have one too. If it had a Ram Attack, it will still have horns in death and should be able to make an attack. I don't know if this is appropriate for the same spell or would require an additional one.

I actually considered this, or considered giving them a simple slam attack based solely on size. But I decided against it to reflect the purely divinatory purpose of the spells.

I think Preserve Skull should be an 0th level spell. Although I understand by preserving the skulls it makes alot of the other spells capable, I think on its own right it does not warrant a 1st level spell.

I think to simplify Lore of the Dead it should be changed to just give a flat synergy bonus to skills, even if you do not already have ranks in it. Not sure just what formula to use, but I think that would be better. Plus, if you drop Preserve Skull to 0th level, and make the change I propose, I think Lore of the Dead could become a 1st level spell.

I agree a bit with Sigurd on his points about Preserve Skull. It is not powerful, at least not combat-wise, but it is very potent in the combination of the other spells and it is instantaneous, not even permanent so it can be dispelled.

I have thought of an addition to Lore of the Dead, based on other feedback, that it might be appropriate to make a cap to the skill that can be gained, possibly equal to twice the level of the caster.

I think I'd be sure to make the duration of any of these contacts long enough that they aren't feasible in battle. I'd also state that while in communication with the dead in this manner the necromancer was very vulnerable to uncontrolled interuption and very drained by the experience.

Communication in this manner involves the extension of the wizards own soul into the remains of the dead. Each skull conusulted does 2 points of constitution damage to the mage +2 for every degree of alignment difference. This damage can only be healed by rest and takes 24hrs in which time the spellcaster cannot learn new spells or work on magic research. He\she does retain any uncast spells previously learned.

Some sort of save for a forced ending to the commnunication and bringing the caster out of trance.

That is actually not a bad idea, I am just not sure if the power level of the spells warrants some sort of negative effect of using them. As they are now, they level of power is, as far as I think, rather well-suited for their level and casting time (most of them are not really combat spells due to casting time). It would require to add a bit of "omph" to the spells.

ceratitis and the Jester, thanks for the positive feedback, hope you enjoy the spells I added as .doc to the document, I will add the others once I recover them.