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Changestaff
(Evocation - Enchantment)
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Effect: By means of
this spell, the druid is able to
change his or her staff
from a pole of dead wood into a treant of largest
size. In order to cast the
dweomer, the druid must first have located
a tree struck by lightning
within the past 24 hours (1%-5%
chance for any given tree,
depending on the severity of the storm). He
or she must then select
a sound limb, remove it from the tree, and prepare
a specially cured section.
This section must be shaped and
carved so as to be ready
to accept the magic which the druid will then
place upon it. The staff
must be of ash, oak, or yew wood. Curing by
sun drying and special smoke
requires 28 days. Shaping, carving,
smoothing, and polishing
require another 28 days. The druid cannot
adventure or engage in other
strenuous activity during either of these
periods. The finished staff,
engraved with scenes of woodland life, is
then rubbed with the juice
of holly berries, and the end of it is thrust
into the earth of the druid’s
grove while he or she then speaks with
plants, calling upon the
staff to assist in time of need. The item is then
charged with a dweomer which
will last for many changes from staff to
treant and back again.
While the staff/treant will
initially be of largest size and greatest number
of hit points, each 8 points
of damage it accumulates actually reduces
it by 1 hit die. The staff
begins at 12 hit dice and 96 hit points,
goes to 11 and 88, 10 and
80, 9 and 72, etc. As it loses hit dice, it becomes
smaller in size, thus losing
attack power as well. If and when
the staffltreant is brought
below 7 hit dice, the thing crumbles to
sawdust-like powder and
is lost. The staff cannot ever be brought upwards
in hit dice or hit points,
except by a wish (which restores it completely).
Of course, a new staff can
always be sought out, seasoned,
and so forth, to begin the
process anew.
When the druid plants the
end of the staff in the ground and speaks a
special command prayer and
invocation, the staff turns into a treant.
It can and will defend the
druid, or obey him or her in any way. However,
it is by no means a true
treant, and it cannot converse with actual
treants. The transformation
lasts for as many turns as the druid has
levels of experience, until
the druid commands the thing to return to
its true form, or until
the thing is destroyed, whichever first occurs. In
order to cast a changesfaff
spell, the druid must have either mistletoe
or leaves (ash, oak, or
yew) of the same sort as the staff.
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