Stone Curse

The stone curse spell allows the priest to weaken stonework progressively over time by changing it into a spongy, soft material. When the spell is cast, an initial volume of stone is rendered soft, spongy and porous, being altered to a substance so brittle that it can easily be broken off and crushed in the hand. This fact is not obvious in the appearance of the stone, however. Only a creature with some expert ability in evaluating stonework can detect a stone curse. For instance, a dwarf or an individual possessing the Stonemasonry non-weapon proficiency can recognize a stone curse on a d20 roll of 19+ upon casual inspection. A detect magic spell reveals Alteration magic at work in the area of effect, as does direct tactile exploration (simply touching the stone is not sufficient).

The danger of a stone curse is that it can spread undetected. Each day following its casting, a further adjacent volume of stone equal to the original volume is also transformed by the spell. Eventually, this may have some important structural effect, like the crumbling of a supporting wall or the collapse of a mineshaft or tunnel, as the DM deems fit. A stone curse can be negated by a remove curse, a successful dispel magic, or by a spell that changes the nature of the stone more dramatically, such as transmute rock to mud.

A stone curse can inflict damage upon creatures from the Elemental Plane of Earth, such as xorn, galeb duhr, and the like. The caster must make a successful attack roll. The spell otherwise inflicts 1d4 points per level of the caster. A successful saving throw indicates the damage is halved. Likewise, a wizard employing a statue spell or a priest employing a meld into stone spell suffers damage from a successful stone curse attack.

The material component is a small chunk of very soft sandstone