Lifeblend

Using this macabre spell, a wizard can cause two (or more) lifeforms to join together to form a new one. The subjects can be of any type, plant or animal, but must be alive. After casting this spell, a wizard can cast no other spells for 24 hours.

The subjects are placed in cages made with precious metals, each cage worth no less than 2,500 gp. To cast the spell, the caster must touch each subject through the casting time of the spell. If two creatures are involved, they can be touched with the hands; if a third or even fourth creature is involved, touching them with the feet is possible. No more than four creatures can be affected by a single application of this spell. During casting, the wizard must concentrate on the desired final form of the combination creature (if the caster does not have a specific form in mind, the spell fails).

At the end of the casting, each subject involved makes a saving throw vs. spell; if any is successful, the spell fails. If the spell fails, the caster must make a successful saving throw vs. spell, or suffer a magical backlash, taking on characteristics of the subjects for the next 2d4 days; the exact nature of the change is left to the DM but should not be beneficial to the caster.

If all subjects fail their saving throws, the spell is at least partially successful. Roll percentile dice and consult the table for the result.

If the spell succeeds in any way except death, the DM creates a new monster, with input from the player of the spellcaster who performed the lifeblend spell. Guidelines for creating monsters are found in the Monstrous Manual accessory. In general terms, the monster should have a mixture of characteristics of its component beings. Possible examples of this spell include owlbears, bulettes, perytons, and manticores. The creature created has a 25% chance of being infertile.

Besides the cages needed, the material components for this spell include one candle for each component creature; these are placed together and lit at the beginning of the casting, so their waxes can blend together as they melt. A ruby worth at least 5,000 gp must be placed between the candles, so the blended wax can cover it; it represents the heart of the composite beast. The ruby, candles, and cages are all consumed during casting.

Roll | Result ------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 01-50 | Success: The resulting creature looks like the caster wants it to look, and has more-or-less the abilities desired. 51-60 | Bonding: The target creatures are not melded together, but are bonded at some point on their bodies (for example, a dog and a cat bonded might appear to be a dog and a cat that share one set of legs). 61-70 | Imperfect melding: The creatures are melded together, but not in the desired fashion; they might be melded in a centaur-like fashion, or in any other way. 71-80 | Pseudo-lycanthropy: The creatures are blended together, but only one is dominant at any given time. Periodically, the creature changes completely from the form of one subject creature to the form of another. 81-90 | Dominance: One creature is clearly dominant in the mix, but has a few characteristics of the other creature(s) involved in the spell. 91-95 | Death: The creature looks exactly as desired, but has something wrong internally and cannot live. 96-99 | Vengeful: The, creature is exactly as desired, but has a hatred for its creator. 00 | Disaster! At the last moment, one of the subjects pulled away, and the caster is pulled into the spell instead, becoming a part of the composite creature (no saving throw). Roll again on this table to find the results.

Notes: Very rare spell. Known to be in the tome Kyristan's Mysteries.