Gorbash Kazdar
2004-08-14, 03:16 AM
JAKOB'S TIME-ALTERING SPELLS
Alternate realities are well known to mages - one simply has to observe the different planes, even alternate material planes, in order to know this. But this is not the only form of alternate reality. Nearly all worlds are deteremined by their past events, and these events are set more firmly than stone. However, magic can affect the past as much as the present. Despite this potential, very few mages dare tamper with the flow of time, fearing unintended consequences that can build on each other, a concept referred to as "temporal cascade."
But some cannot escape the lure of changing history. Most who attempt to alter the past do so to make certain an event of historical importance ends with an opposite result - a battle won that saves an empire, now lost; a childhood disease that the future Emperor survived, now fatal. Often, these attempts fail, sometimes because of the hubris of the mage or the interference of heroes attempting to prevent the change.
One mage, though, approached this dangerous field without glory, justice, or revenge in mind, simply a desire to study and learn. The wizard Jakob had long studied time, delving deep into its secrets. His studies, laid out in a series of papers, revealed that the longer since an event has occurred, the harder it is to change. He referred to this as "chronological momentum." Jakob therefore focussed his studies and experiments on altering very recent events, specifically those witnessed or experienced by the mage using time-altering magic.
Jakob posed two seemingly conflicting theories; in one, he argues that certain events in history hinge on a single decision point. If the decision point occurs in one manner, an increasing "temporal cascade" of events form a new timeline; if it occurs another way, the result is very nearly the opposite. Jakob's other theory, however, states that certain historical trends have such great momentum that, while the results of certain decision points can affect the details of the trend, none can stop or completely deflect it.
A close examination, however, shows that these two theories do not contradict each other. The first shows the potential power of time-altering magic; the latter, though, implies that only so much can be changed, so the magic is not as dangerous as it seems, since important events will still occur, just with different details. Of course, these "details" can be very important to those they effect; whether an empire collapses now or 20 years later can greatly change the lives of thousands of people.
Though Jakob himself disappeared after spending decades experimenting with this magic - some say as a result of those experiments - his notes were discovered, and his theories and practical results have inspired several powerful time-altering spells that have found their way into numerous spellbooks.
Jakob's Reversal
Transmutation [Time]
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: One action
Range: Close
Target: Creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell forces the target creature to re-roll the last roll it made. This spell can be cast after the DM determines whether or not the roll resulted in a success or failure. If the new roll reverses the result of the action, re-resolve the effects of that action with this new result. A roll cannot be affected by more than one Jakob's reversal spell. The Luck domain ability cannot be used to affect an action Jakob's reversal has been cast on, though Jakob's reversal also cannot affect an action that has already been re-rolled via the Luck domain ability.
Material Component: A small piece of reflective glass, costing at least 1gp.
Decision Point
Transmutation [Time]
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V,S,M, XP
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Target: Personal and touch
Duration: 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: No
This spell takes advantage of one Jakob's most important discoveries, the decision point. When cast, it creates a magical connection between the caster and a number of touched creatures up to your caster level/2 to a particular point in time; specifically, the point in time just after the caster completes this spell.
When the spell is later expended, it brings those creatures back to that point, reverting them to their previous condition and eliminating the results of any actions they took in between time. The only thing that remains is the memories of the creatures affected by this spell. Note that the XP and material are consumed prior to the time the decision point is set, and thus are not recovered when this spell is expended. Expending this spell is a standard action, that may be taken by any of the creatures under the spell's effect.
Material Component: A jeweled mirror, costing no less than 10,000gp.
XP Cost: 5,000 XP.
[Have to add two more spells. Also, I'm not sure about the power level of either of these spells - I think they're a little too powerful. For decision point, I'm considering making it personal; techinically, it does bring the whole party back to the decision point either way, but anyone not under the spell's effects forgets what happened (this would require some good role-playing on the PCs part, but it strikes me as amusing - the mage finishes off this huge spell, then blinks, and says "Well, I guess we shouldn't have done it that way," while to the rest of the party it seems as if nothing has happened). Basically, the spell is designed to function like a "save point" in a video game.]
[Edit: Completely rewrote Jakob's reversal.]
Alternate realities are well known to mages - one simply has to observe the different planes, even alternate material planes, in order to know this. But this is not the only form of alternate reality. Nearly all worlds are deteremined by their past events, and these events are set more firmly than stone. However, magic can affect the past as much as the present. Despite this potential, very few mages dare tamper with the flow of time, fearing unintended consequences that can build on each other, a concept referred to as "temporal cascade."
But some cannot escape the lure of changing history. Most who attempt to alter the past do so to make certain an event of historical importance ends with an opposite result - a battle won that saves an empire, now lost; a childhood disease that the future Emperor survived, now fatal. Often, these attempts fail, sometimes because of the hubris of the mage or the interference of heroes attempting to prevent the change.
One mage, though, approached this dangerous field without glory, justice, or revenge in mind, simply a desire to study and learn. The wizard Jakob had long studied time, delving deep into its secrets. His studies, laid out in a series of papers, revealed that the longer since an event has occurred, the harder it is to change. He referred to this as "chronological momentum." Jakob therefore focussed his studies and experiments on altering very recent events, specifically those witnessed or experienced by the mage using time-altering magic.
Jakob posed two seemingly conflicting theories; in one, he argues that certain events in history hinge on a single decision point. If the decision point occurs in one manner, an increasing "temporal cascade" of events form a new timeline; if it occurs another way, the result is very nearly the opposite. Jakob's other theory, however, states that certain historical trends have such great momentum that, while the results of certain decision points can affect the details of the trend, none can stop or completely deflect it.
A close examination, however, shows that these two theories do not contradict each other. The first shows the potential power of time-altering magic; the latter, though, implies that only so much can be changed, so the magic is not as dangerous as it seems, since important events will still occur, just with different details. Of course, these "details" can be very important to those they effect; whether an empire collapses now or 20 years later can greatly change the lives of thousands of people.
Though Jakob himself disappeared after spending decades experimenting with this magic - some say as a result of those experiments - his notes were discovered, and his theories and practical results have inspired several powerful time-altering spells that have found their way into numerous spellbooks.
Jakob's Reversal
Transmutation [Time]
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: One action
Range: Close
Target: Creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell forces the target creature to re-roll the last roll it made. This spell can be cast after the DM determines whether or not the roll resulted in a success or failure. If the new roll reverses the result of the action, re-resolve the effects of that action with this new result. A roll cannot be affected by more than one Jakob's reversal spell. The Luck domain ability cannot be used to affect an action Jakob's reversal has been cast on, though Jakob's reversal also cannot affect an action that has already been re-rolled via the Luck domain ability.
Material Component: A small piece of reflective glass, costing at least 1gp.
Decision Point
Transmutation [Time]
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V,S,M, XP
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Target: Personal and touch
Duration: 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: No
This spell takes advantage of one Jakob's most important discoveries, the decision point. When cast, it creates a magical connection between the caster and a number of touched creatures up to your caster level/2 to a particular point in time; specifically, the point in time just after the caster completes this spell.
When the spell is later expended, it brings those creatures back to that point, reverting them to their previous condition and eliminating the results of any actions they took in between time. The only thing that remains is the memories of the creatures affected by this spell. Note that the XP and material are consumed prior to the time the decision point is set, and thus are not recovered when this spell is expended. Expending this spell is a standard action, that may be taken by any of the creatures under the spell's effect.
Material Component: A jeweled mirror, costing no less than 10,000gp.
XP Cost: 5,000 XP.
[Have to add two more spells. Also, I'm not sure about the power level of either of these spells - I think they're a little too powerful. For decision point, I'm considering making it personal; techinically, it does bring the whole party back to the decision point either way, but anyone not under the spell's effects forgets what happened (this would require some good role-playing on the PCs part, but it strikes me as amusing - the mage finishes off this huge spell, then blinks, and says "Well, I guess we shouldn't have done it that way," while to the rest of the party it seems as if nothing has happened). Basically, the spell is designed to function like a "save point" in a video game.]
[Edit: Completely rewrote Jakob's reversal.]