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WizardLv. 8

Bonemelt

This spell transforms the bones of a living mammalian creature who fails a saving throw vs. spell to jelly, causing the victim to collapse at the end of the next round into a helpless, amoebalike slithering blob. Breathing and movement (by creeping, at MV 3) are possible, but climbing, flying, wielding items, and the like become impossible. Death does not automatically directly occur from this alteration, but it often results from failure of the system shock roll required when the "boneless" state takes effect or the lack of swift mobility the spell causes. Daurgothoth can reverse the bonemelt at will (usually so that the victim can be slain and then made into a servitor undead), but it otherwise lasts for 25 days when he casts it. Boneless creatures do not need to eat, sleep, drink, or breathe, but they suffer 4d4 points of damage per day if subjected to full sunlight for more than seven continuous hours. When a bonemelt spell ends, either due to its duration expiring or Daurgothoth so willing it, affected victims need not make another system shock roll to once again see if they survive; they automatically do so.

If a target of this spell succeeds at a saving throw vs. spell, only one limb is affected. (Determine such affected limbs randomly between arms and legs; heads and tails—if any—are not targeted by the magic.) Failure at this saving throw means that the victim becomes boneless as described above.

A boneless limb turns into a dangling, jellylike mass lacking the strength to hold or carry things. If the limb is normally used for locomotion, the creature's movement rate drops by three-quarters (round up), and spellcasting or activities requiring careful balance or deft manipulations typically become impossible. Worn or held items may or may not be dropped, depending on the situation and the actions of the victim. If the limb is normally used in the somatic gestures of spellcasting, a spell requiring its use has its casting time increased by 3 if it normally takes less than a round to cast, or by a round if it normally take a round or more to cast. Certain spells may prove impossible to cast, at the DM's discretion.

A full day after the spell affects boneless creatures (24 hours), they are allowed a system shock roll at a -25% penalty. If the roll succeeds, the victim returns to his or her normal form at the end of 1 turn. Victims who fail this roll must wait until the spell expires or is ended by Daurgothoth to return to normal.

Though this spell is usable by dragons alone and is in fact unique to Daurgothoth, its casting time reflects the fact that Daurgothoth casts spells as a human wizard with levels rather than as an innate ability of his dragon form.

Sources: Cult of the Dragon

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