Corrupt Magic

[Xenogears]

In the BoVD there are the corrupt spells. They are a kinda cool idea. Spells so evil and powerful that casting them drains your mental faculties (in one case permanently...). Great idea for either a dastardly villain or an ace in the hole for a not-so-heroic hero.

The problem comes from the rules. Even aside from the fact that some of the spells are sub-par. It says you take the Ability Damage when the spell effect ends. Okay cool. I cast the spell, gain some buff, after I'm done my mind is temporarily weakened. Oh wait. That spell over there has a permanent duration. So do I ever take the damage? Or do I only take it if the spell gets dispelled? Did I just make 300 living walking wisdom grenades just so that village can never reveal my middle name?

As a Side Note: The rules say that
A) There are no Corrupt spells that have a duration of permanent. Lies. There are 3 spells that have a permanent duration.
B) Corrupt Spells have no Material Components. Lies. There are 4 spells that do (although one only sometimes has one).
Out of 20 spells they managed to break their only rules 7 times. God that section was poorely made.

Yeah. I rambled there. The main point is that the spells were poorly written.

[Beelzebub1111]

Which ones are the permenant ones?

[Claudius Maximus]

The errata addresses all of these issues, IIRC.

[Zaq]

There are a lot of problems with BoVD. It's a fun read, but I don't think I've ever seen anything in it that I actually want to use. Well, except maybe Cancer Mage (no, ignoring the infinite bonuses from certain diseases. Just using it normally, I think it'd make an interesting villain.) for an NPC, but that's about it. It doesn't surprise me to see that some of the spells are even less well-balanced than I had originally thought.

(Seriously, why does Identify Transgressor have the [Evil] tag? Because of the drug component, sure, but why give THAT spell of all spells a drug component? What possible sense does that make? Sure, it's easy enough to fix, but the fact that you HAVE to is just... gah.)

[Xenogears]

Befoul, Consume Likeness, and Forbidden Speech are permanent durations.

I never read Erratta so it very well might have fixed these problems.

[Starbuck_II]

Another issue: some corrupt spells can only be used by undead, demons, or both.

So they can't be used by a player (barring Shapechange/Polymorph any object).

[Claudius Maximus]

Another issue: some corrupt spells can only be used by undead, demons, or both.

So they can't be used by a player (barring Shapechange/Polymorph any object).

There are ways to play those creature types. Also, the book was mostly intended for villains, which are frequently NPCs.

[Arcane_Secrets]

Befoul, Consume Likeness, and Forbidden Speech are permanent durations.

I never read Erratta so it very well might have fixed these problems.

Befoul also isn't a Corrupt spell. It's a spell from the Corruption domain, and it's also an 8th level cleric spell otherwise.

[Xenogears]

Befoul also isn't a Corrupt spell. It's a spell from the Corruption domain, and it's also an 8th level cleric spell otherwise.

Huh. Your Right. Didn't notice the difference between Corrupt 8 and Corruption 8. Just checked to make sure and the other two are definately Corrupt spells. Forbidden Speech is my personal favorite tho. If the damage gets taken when the spell gets dipelled then every villain who uses it is sending time bombs out in the world. Use it on too many people and the heroes can turn you catatonic without even seeing you. Hell they don't even hafta know who you are.

To one of the previous posters. None of the corrupt spells have undead or fiendish as requirements. Plenty of cool non-corrupt spells do however. Oddly one of the spells has both fiendish and undead components listed. So uh are you supposed to be an undead fiend to cast it? I don't think you can be an outsider and an undead. That's two different types. So is this spell uncastable?

[Beelzebub1111]

Looking at the permanent duration corrupt spells, I would rule that Consume Likeness's drain and Forbidden Speech's damage takes effect immediately upon casting as an exception to the aforementioned rule.

[Starbuck_II]

Huh. Your Right. Didn't notice the difference between Corrupt 8 and Corruption 8. Just checked to make sure and the other two are definately Corrupt spells. Forbidden Speech is my personal favorite tho. If the damage gets taken when the spell gets dipelled then every villain who uses it is sending time bombs out in the world. Use it on too many people and the heroes can turn you catatonic without even seeing you. Hell they don't even hafta know who you are.

To one of the previous posters. None of the corrupt spells have undead or fiendish as requirements. Plenty of cool non-corrupt spells do however. Oddly one of the spells has both fiendish and undead components listed. So uh are you supposed to be an undead fiend to cast it? I don't think you can be an outsider and an undead. That's two different types. So is this spell uncastable?

No, it is possible to be both undead and a Fiend.
Skeleton Babau have sneak attack for example.
Now a intelligent Undead fiend is harder...

[Beelzebub1111]

No, it is possible to be both undead and a Fiend.
Skeleton Babau have sneak attack for example.
Now a intelligent Undead fiend is harder...

Half fiend with the Lich template? I believe that the "Augmented Humanoid" subtype is sufficient for meeting the prerequisite for Lichdom.

[Xenogears]

Don't all (or atleast all I can remember) Undead Templates say "your Type Becomes Undead" or some such words? That seems to mean you're no longer your former type.

[Eldan]

Huh. Your Right. Didn't notice the difference between Corrupt 8 and Corruption 8. Just checked to make sure and the other two are definately Corrupt spells. Forbidden Speech is my personal favorite tho. If the damage gets taken when the spell gets dipelled then every villain who uses it is sending time bombs out in the world. Use it on too many people and the heroes can turn you catatonic without even seeing you. Hell they don't even hafta know who you are.

To one of the previous posters. None of the corrupt spells have undead or fiendish as requirements. Plenty of cool non-corrupt spells do however. Oddly one of the spells has both fiendish and undead components listed. So uh are you supposed to be an undead fiend to cast it? I don't think you can be an outsider and an undead. That's two different types. So is this spell uncastable?

That would make an interesting campaign... the PCs finally dispel the evil mind controlling magic which has affected so many people. But now, the <apparently innocent NPC> has fallen into a coma for no apparent reason! What is behind this foul magic?