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hylian chozo
2008-05-15, 09:31 PM
Unhallow
Evocation [Evil]
Level: Clr 5, Drd 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 24 hours
Range: Touch
Area: 40-ft. radius emanating from the touched point
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: See text
Spell Resistance: See text

Unhallow makes a particular site, building, or structure an unholy site. This has three major effects.

First, the site or structure is guarded by a magic circle against good effect.

Second, all turning checks made to turn undead take a -4 penalty, and turning checks to rebuke undead gain a +4 profane bonus. Spell resistance does not apply to this effect. (This provision does not apply to the druid version of the spell.)

Finally, you may choose to fix a single spell effect to the unhallowed site. The spell effect lasts for one year and functions throughout the entire site, regardless of its normal duration and area or effect. You may designate whether the effect applies to all creatures, creatures that share your faith or alignment, or creatures that adhere to another faith or alignment. At the end of the year, the chosen effect lapses, but it can be renewed or replaced simply by casting unhallow again.

Spell effects that may be tied to an unhallowed site include aid, bane, bless, cause fear, darkness, daylight, death ward, deeper darkness, detect magic, detect good, dimensional anchor, discern lies, dispel magic, endure elements, freedom of movement, invisibility purge, protection from energy, remove fear, resist energy, silence, tongues, and zone of truth.

Saving throws and spell resistance might apply to these spells’ effects. (See the individual spell descriptions for details.)

An area can receive only one unhallow spell (and its associated spell effect) at a time.

Unhallow counters but does not dispel hallow.
Material Component

Herbs, oils, and incense worth at least 1,000 gp, plus 1,000 gp per level of the spell to be tied to the unhallowed area.

Desecrate
Evocation [Evil]
Level: Clr 2, Evil 2
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: 20-ft.-radius emanation
Duration: 2 hours/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell imbues an area with negative energy. Each Charisma check made to turn undead within this area takes a -3 profane penalty, and every undead creature entering a desecrated area gains a +1 profane bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws. An undead creature created within or summoned into such an area gains +1 hit points per HD.

If the desecrated area contains an altar, shrine, or other permanent fixture dedicated to your deity or aligned higher power, the modifiers given above are doubled (-6 profane penalty on turning checks, +2 profane bonus and +2 hit points per HD for undead in the area).

Furthermore, anyone who casts animate dead within this area may create as many as double the normal amount of undead (that is, 4 HD per caster level rather than 2 HD per caster level).

If the area contains an altar, shrine, or other permanent fixture of a deity, pantheon, or higher power other than your patron, the desecrate spell instead curses the area, cutting off its connection with the associated deity or power. This secondary function, if used, does not also grant the bonuses and penalties relating to undead, as given above.

Desecrate counters and dispels consecrate.
Material Component

A vial of unholy water and 25 gp worth (5 pounds) of silver dust, all of which must be sprinkled around the area.
My questions are fairly simple:
1. If an area that is Unhallowed is then Desecrated, do the bonuses to undead still apply despite not having an altar?

2. How much does it cost to create an altar and is it less than the cost of Unhallow?

3. If a dispel magic effect is attached to Unhallow, how does it work? Does it targeted dispel every magical effect that enters it, act as a continuous area dispel, or attempt to counterspell any spell cast inside?

This is mostly for an undead themed BBEG Cleric's fortress/mansion, so any other tips are appreciated.:smallbiggrin:

Chronos
2008-05-16, 12:03 AM
1: I would say that an Unhallow spell counts as a "permanent fixture", so the Desecrate spell would give the higher bonus. Note that both spells give profane bonuses to undead, so they would overlap, not stack.

2: But if you want to be thorough about it, an altar isn't really much more than a table, and you could use your villain's throne or something as the centerpiece, too. If you've got a cleric BBEG, it's probably safe to assume that he's already got something in his sanctum that fits the bill.

3: A lot of the spells you can tie to a Hallow or Unhallow weren't really designed with an area of effect or duration in mind. For Dispel Magic, I'd use the version that already has an area, since that requires the least contortion of the rules, and for things that are normally instantaneous (like Dispel), I'd say they go off every round. Note that you can also key it a little more specifically, so it only dispels on creatures that aren't Lawful Evil, or folks who don't worship Ba'aphumal, or whatever.

rockdeworld
2008-05-16, 12:41 AM
Just treat Unhallow + Dispel Magic as AMF, except it requires a caster check per 24 hours (or something like that).

Jimp
2008-05-16, 08:40 AM
Chronos covered pretty much everything.

Maerok
2008-05-16, 12:58 PM
How about Unhallow + Animate Dead? Permanent zone of animation?

Tempest Fennac
2008-05-16, 02:16 PM
Could this spell be used with a spell such as Vigour which grants Fast Healing? That could be interesting (or at least anoying) during a large fight.

FatherMalkav
2008-05-16, 04:11 PM
How about Unhallow + Animate Dead? Permanent zone of animation?


Could this spell be used with a spell such as Vigour which grants Fast Healing? That could be interesting (or at least anoying) during a large fight.

Unhallow lists the spells that can be tied to it:


aid, bane, bless, cause fear, darkness, daylight, death ward, deeper darkness, detect magic, detect good, dimensional anchor, discern lies, dispel magic, endure elements, freedom of movement, invisibility purge, protection from energy, remove fear, resist energy, silence, tongues, and zone of truth.
Animate Dead and Vigour aren't listed, so can't be tied.

Animate Dead would be sick thought:smallbiggrin: