Tentacle of Withering

This spell transforms one of the caster's arms into a wriggling, eel-like gray tentacle, which is rubbery, flexible, can readily adhere to surfaces or grasp things (and release them whenever desired) and is retractable and extensible from the length of the original arm to 36 feet long. The tentacle can grasp or manipulate objects (at a -2 penalty from the caster's normal Dexterity), wield weapons (at a -2 penalty to attack rolls), constrict for 1d8 points of damage plus 1 point per level of the caster in a round, or enact its withering power (if the caster wills it to): sucking life energy from a living body it is touching. To wither, the tentacle must make a successful attack roll at the caster's THAC0 plus a +4 bonus. A successful withering attack causes the victim 1d8 points of damage plus 1 point per level of the caster and the loss of sensory or motive use of the struck body part for one round with no saving throw. (Determine which body part is struck through random dice roll between possible targets.) If the head is struck, a round of blindness and deafness inescapably results. If a leg is struck, that leg cannot move for one round. A struck arm cannot move or hold things and drops anything already in its grasp. The tentacle can repeatedly affect a victim, inflicting another 1d8 points of life-draining damage plus 1 point per level of the caster each round and disabling a new limb or the same limb—if it can maintain contact with the being.

The caster can end this spell early at any time by silent act of will, causing the tentacle to melt slowly away. While the tentacle is disappearing, the caster does not have any use of the tentacle/limb for one round. While the tentacle is in existence, the caster cannot engage in other spellcasting and may have limited mobility or be hampered in some activities.

The material components of this spell are a fragment of bone or small complete bone and a piece of rubber or eel flesh.