Hex of Fissuring (True Dweomer)

Hex of Fissuring (True Dweomer)

Spell Level: 10

School: Abjuration

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 considerable rod of Iron worth 1 gp.)

Effect

Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./lvl)

Target or Area: Six pillars of iron, 5 feet wide and up to fifteen feet tall per Tier of Caster. They must all appear within range, and be arranged in a hexagon, with no more than ten feet between them per tier of the caster.

Duration: Until the start of your next turn

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

Spell Resistance: Yes

Description

You reach into the Universal Earth and bring forth a tiny fraction of its immense power. Six huge fletches of elemental Iron appear, wedging their way into Reality with a horrendous creaking crackle, as Reality Itself splinters and cracks horrendously under the awful burden you are inflicting upon it. After such an affront, not even you can force this manifestation to exist for long, but as long as it lasts, it is terrible indeed.

This Working brings into existence six Pillars, as defined above. Each Pillar must originate from a square to which you have line of sight. Each Pillar must be vertical according to the local map. No two pillars can be adjacent to each other: There must be at least five feet (one square) between each Pillar, although that space can be Blocked, Occupied, Impeded, etc. Each pillar manifests with a minimum length of 15 feet, and a maximum length as defined above. They do not have to touch a solid surface: They may manifest suspended in space if desired. Any solid space they intersect takes a number of points of Durability (siege damage) equal to half the caster's spell casting Tier, dropping fractions (2 or 3). All unattended objects intercepted by these Pillars take this same amount of Durability damage.

If you activate the pillars so that one or more appear in the space of any creature, that creature suffers (Strata 1 damage): 1d6+6 points of damage per character level (max 35d6+210 at character level 35) of bludgeoning (physical, common), and enough Push to move them out of the square. The caster may choose which square(s) they are pushed into. If they fall Prone to avoid the Push, they become Prone, lying on the square atop the Pillar. If the Pillar does not have enough space to rise to its full height, it conforms to the space available. Roll damage once and use it for all creatures struck by a Pillar.

Pillar-damaged creatures are allowed a saving throw as defined above for half damage. A given creature can be affected by this initial effect only once, no matter how large it is. The pillars block the squares they appear in.

While they exist, these Pillars place tremendous pressure upon Reality, and immediately cause it to briefly Fissure apart between two or more of the Pillars. Choose a direct Line along one of the outside segments of the simple hexagon (a simple hexagon does not need to be regular or symmetrical, only that it must have six distinct non-crossing sides) formed by the Pillars, per Tier of the caster (typically 4 to 7). An eldritch Fissure splinters along that Line, originating at one Pillar and ending at another, and cannot be more than one square longer than the smallest distance between those two pillars.

Each crack in Reality inflicts (Strata 1 damage): 1d6+6 points of damage per character level (max 35d6+210 at character level 35) of fracturing (physical, rare) to all creatures caught wholly or partially in the line. Roll damage once and use it for all the Lines created. If the Caster is able to activate the full 7 line segments, then they can choose one to six of them to 'cross the middle' of the Hex, and any Pillar can originate or terminate up to three lines. These Fissures flicker, damage, then vanish. Fissure-damaged creatures are allowed a second saving throw as defined above for half damage. No creature can be damaged more than once by these Fissures, even if they somehow intersect more than one. A creature can be damaged by both Bludgeoning and Fracturing damage in one casting of this Truemagic, if the caster can arrange it to happen. Note that if you wish to maximize the damage potential of this Darkling Miracle, it must be mana-burned twice, once for each type of strata. This spell can be made indescribably destructive, at a vast cost.

At the time of casting the caster decides if the pillars are square (creatures cannot cut the corners to go around it), or rounded (allowing creatures to cut the corners when trying to move around it). Once placed, each Pillar is immobile and fixed in place for the duration of the Working.

If cast multiple times (by Quickening, for example), several castings can be 'joined together' to create more and more pillars, with the caveat that at least five feet must separate all pillars at all times. Attempting to place a pillar adjacent to another pillar causes the entire Working to fail, even if the pillars were built up over several castings.

Each Pillar of Iron provides Cover to creatures on the opposite side of it.

Pillars can be circumvented by some movement types, such as Flight, Vaulting, or Burrow.

Each Pillar is immune to Hit Point damage but can be destroyed by Sunders. To Sunder a pillar, roll against the Maneuver Defense of the caster. Each Pillar has a Durability equal to the Caster Level of the caster plus the Spell level of the True Dweomer, so it requires several Sunders to dispel them. Other siege damage can be used to destroy them as well. If Dispel or Disjunction is used on them, each Pillar must be dispelled, with a separate casting of the Dispel or Disjunction.

Each Pillar of Iron blocks line of sight, and line of effect while it exists.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.

This charge can support multiple castings of the same True Dweomer, the charges merging into one another.

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+14/CL	35d6+490
9	+3	35th	1d6+16/CL	35d6+560