Subject: High-level ench/charm spell
From: Tim Olivas <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 28 May 1994 20:34:44 CDT
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd

Not all mages use fireballs to solve their problems. The most successful
wizards don't rely on armies of undead. The very cleverest of sorcerers have
ALREADY conquered the world...no need to advertise the fact.
     Until the second edition, I liked to play illusionists, because they
rewarded intelligent and creative play. But when the new specialties emerged,
I found a new favorite: the Enchanter, or as I prefer, the Charmer. If your
DM favors role-playing and flexible play, and doesn't make violence an absolute
requirement for sucess, these mental masters can be more effective than any
high-ranking invoker or necromancer.
     However, the Charmer has no 9th-level spell comparable in power to those
of the other schools. While Invokers are learning Meteor Swarm and Chain
Contengency, while Transmuters are casting Shape Change and Time Stop, while
Abjurers get Prismatic Sphere and Illusionists get Weird, Charmers are getting
Succor, which is not only weak but appears to be an alteration or conjuration,
and Mordenkainen's Disjuction, which is of very limited use and should probably
be an abjuration along with Dispel Magic and Anti-Magic Shell.
     To fill this gap, I submit the following spell. It has its limitations,
but in the hands of a dedicated reformer--or a power-hungry nigromancer--can
reshape the world as thouroghly as a Gate or a well-phrased Wish.

Coalthirst's Universal Mindbender (Enchantment/Charm)--Level 9 Wizard Spell

Range: 5 yards
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Permanent/Indefinite
Casting Time: 1 day
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: Special

     Using this spell, a high-level wizard can rewrite a creature's entire
personality. All the subject's memories, mannerisms, preferences, beliefs,
allegences, and behavior can be changed to fit the wizard's specifications.
A rampaging giant could be made into a music-loving pacifist, a virtuous knight
into a cowardly libertine, a demented killer into a law-abiding citizen--and
vice versa.
     There are limits on what the spell can accomplish. It cannot make subjects
wiser, more intelligent, or more charismatic, though it can make them act more
cautiously, thoughtfully, or pleasantly. It can also make subjects act more
foolish, like a feeblemind spell. The spell cannot bestow new skills or improve
existing skills: class and level cannot be altered. However, it could make a
fighter think like a thief, or a wizard believe he is a cleric. Furthermore, it
will not function on creatures immune to enchantment/charm spells, including
but not limited to golems, spirits, mindless creatures, and the undead.
     To cast the spell, the wizard must be alone in a quiet, secure place with
the subject, who must be physically restrained, magically held or charmed, or
be cooperating with or unaware of the caster's goal in casting the Mindbender.
The caster burns rare incenses and draws arcane symbols on the subject with
alchemical ointments--these components cost at least 1,000 gp, and greater
amounts may be required for unusually large subjects at the DM's discretion.
Then the caster enters the subject's mind through a powerful telepathic link,
and over the course of 24 hours, edits it.  This ritual drains the wizard's
energies, and for the next three days he is unable to cast any spells above
fifth level.
     At the completion of the ritual, the subject receives a saving throw vs.
spell at -4, subject to all other adjustments including wisdom, specialization,
and Malisions or Mind Fog. Magic Resistance also applies, as do the racial
bonuses/immunities of Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings. If
the saving throw is failed, the subject's alignment and personality are
permanently changed, and only a second application of the Mindbender is sure to
restore the old. A Wish or Restoration have only a 50% chance of succeeding,
and the personality change cannot be dispeled, though subjects do radiate
enchantment magic to appropriate detection spells and can be fended off by
protection spells.
     If the saving throw succeeds, the subject may eventually throw off the
spell's effect. The spell's effects will last as long as a Charm Monster spell
(pg. 154, PH) automatically. After that, any time the spell would cause the
subject to act contrary to his former nature, he immediately receives a new
saving throw, without the -4 adjustment, to regain his old personality.
     Note that once the ritual is over, the wizard cannot again alter the
subject's personality. The new personality is set, and if the subject throws
off the enchantment, he cannot again be affected by a Mindbender from that
particular wizard.
     Within the constraints noted above, the wizard can create whatever new
personality he chooses. Amnesia can be induced, new backgrounds invented.
The subject's emotional responses, his loves, hates, and fears, can be chosen.
The subject can be made fanatically loyal to the wizard, homicidal, suicidal,
or genial, contented, and charitable. Because it seems to deprive subjects of
their free will, the use of the Mindbender is an ethical dilemma for many good
magicians, though most agree it is a humane alternative to imprisonment and
death. Less scrupulous magicians find the Mindbender a most potent tool.