Crown of Vermin (True Dweomer)

Crown of Vermin (True Dweomer)

Spell Level: 10

School: Transmutation

Casting

Casting Time: True Dweomers require a Full-Round Action to cast normally.

• You may optionally roll a Caster Check to attempt to Fast Cast this True Dweomer as a Standard Action.

• If your roll equals or exceeds a DC of 47, you Fast Cast it as a Standard Action.
• If your roll is a non-1 result between 38 and 46, you cast it as a Full-Round Action, as normal.
• If your roll is less than 38, or you roll a natural 1 on the die, the spell is cast at half damage, treated as though all targets succeeded on their saving throws, or it deals only half its effect.

• True Dweomers can be cast as rituals, requiring a 1 hour casting time. The area of effect or number of targets is multiplied by 10. The range of the spell is doubled if it is longer than Touch.

Components: V, S, M (A tiny bone, or scrap of insect shell, or miniscule feather, runed, worth 1 gp.)

Effect

Range: Touch

Target or Area: Yourself, plus, up to two target creatures, plus one per 10 character levels (drop fractions; max 5 at level 30) you touch as the Working is cast

Duration: Until the end of your next full night's rest

Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
 Save DC: 10 + caster stat modifier + spell level

Spell Resistance: Yes

Description

This Darkling Miracle shuns the very concept of 'form'. Solidity, Embodiment, the very notion of a single Seat of Self, all these things are shackles that the TRULY mighty have no need of. That said, Life is still a solid requirement...at least at your current level of understanding. Agency, as well, that requires at least a modicum of vitality and function. As a result, this True Dweomer allows you to divide your form into a myriad of smaller forms. Now, in essence, ANY living form is allowed. A mass of hummingbirds, a school of minnows, even a seething mass of mice, all are allowed. But in practice, most castings of this Great Work turns the affected forms into a swarm of vermin. Bees, flies, tiny worms, gnats, the choices are immense.

When this Truedweomer is cast, you and all alies you touch gain the ability to burst yourselves into a mass of tiny creatures, usually vermin. While the Working is active, even when you are condensed back into your normal form, a cloud of tiny creatures cling or hover about your head, ready at an instant to act. The mass of creatures are considered size Medium and fill one space.

While this Working is active, you and all affected allies gain the following benefits:

• Your move speed with all forms of movement you possess is increased by ten feet. Whenever you move, you dissolve into a mass of forms, and condense when you arrive. Note that this does not allow you to Squeeze any better than normal. The vagaries of magic are mysterious.
• Any attacks of opportunity you suffer (due to movement or any other source) deal no damage unless they are area of effects. This makes you Immune to attacks of opportunity, defeated by AOE's. When you are attacked, your watchful Crown bursts you apart automatically, so that most attacks do nothing to you. If an attack of opportunity might have some partial effect (such as a condition) the GM adjudicates based on the circumstances.
• You gain a +2 bonus to defeat ambush rolls.
• You may make Perception rolls with any of your senses within 30 feet of your solid form's space without regard to line of sight or line of effect. This allows you to 'see', 'smell', 'taste', etc, through walls, around corners, etc.
• If you perform Overland Movement, you travel as a mass of tiny creatures driven by a vast strength. You may add 2 miles per hour per Tier of Spellcaster you possess (plus 2-14 miles per hour, plus 16 to 112 miles per day) to your normal Overland travel speed, to a maximum of 500 miles per day.This spell lays a dual charge on its target(s). If the targets are something other than you or another creature (such as an object or area), the spell instead lays a dual charge on you, the caster. Targets which already have a dual charge, a divine charge, or an arcane charge, may choose only one of these effects to keep. Dual charges are treated as both an arcane and a divine charge, and a creature may only ever have a single arcane charge and divine charge present on them at a time.

As a True Dweomer, this spell requires three spell slots to Mana Burn for each Strata increase, and cannot be sacrificed to Mana Burn any other spells of any type.

Strata Damage for True Dweomers

Spell Strata	Burn Cost	Min Character Level (CL)	Base Dice	Max dice
1	N/A	19th	1d6+6/CL	35d6+210
2	+3	21st	1d6+7/CL	35d6+245
3	+3	23rd	1d6+8/CL	35d6+280
4	+3	25th	1d6+9/CL	35d6+315
5	+3	27th	1d6+10/CL	35d6+350
6	+3	29th	1d6+11/CL	35d6+385
7	+3	31st	1d6+12/CL	35d6+420
8	+3	33rd	1d6+13/CL	35d6+455
9	+3	35th	1d6+14/CL	35d6+490