Sands of Time (Reversible)

By means of this spell, a priest can reverse the effects of aging and erosion on any nonliving, material object. The amount of aging that can be so reversed depends upon the level of the caster. Consult the table for the average effects of time and the elements on various materials (items protected from the elements might take longer to

erode, but use these times for all restoration). Papyrus and wooden objects fade over time, making it difficult, but not impossible, to read or identify surface features. Fragile objects must survive an item saving throw vs. fall every time they are used; brittle items must survive vs. crushing blow. Crumbled items are unusable but still identifiable as papyrus or wood; dust is completely unidentifiable and unusable.

Stone and metal items wear away over time, and their shapes smooth out until the item is completely worn away. Paint indicates that artificial coloration is gone or unrecognizable; Etching means carved letters or pictures are worn away; Relief indicates that deeply carved letters or images are severely eroded; Form indicates that time has eroded away all but the basic form of the original stone or metal. The fractions 2 and 2 tell when the item has lost that amount of its original mass. Dust means the original item is completely gone, eroded away to nothing.

A 15th level priest could, for example, turn even a pile of dust back into the new, clean piece of papyrus it once was, or turn the crumbled remains of a staff back to its original form, or even restore a painted map on the wall of a temple constructed of soft stone. This spell cannot restore damage done to an object by anything other than natural aging or erosion. Use this table as a guide for other objects that don't exactly fit into these categories.

The reverse of this spell, accelerate erosion, allows the priest to speed up erosion on any nonliving material object. In the example above, the 15th level priest could turn a clean piece of papyrus to dust, or turn a new staff of wood into crumbled pieces, or erase a painted map from a wall of soft stone.

The material components for this spell are a tiny hourglass (during the spell, the sands run upward) or, for the reverse, a miniature sundial that has timed the passage of at least one year. Neither is consumed in the casting.