Blood to Acid (3.5e Spell)

Created By

Luigifan18 (talk)
Date Created:	October 8, 2012
Status:	Needs balance review
Editing:	Please feel free to edit constructively!

[[Summary::Transform the subjects' blood into caustic acid, inflicting continuous damage to hit points and to all ability scores (and virtually ensuring a horribly painful and gruesome death).| ]]

Transmutation [[[SRD:Acid Effect|Acid]], Water]
Level:	Cleric 9
Components:	V, S, M
Casting time:	1 standard action
Range:	Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets:	Up to five living creatures, no two of which are more than 30 ft. apart
Duration:	Instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw:	Fortitude half and negates, then Fortitude and Will partial; see text
Spell Resistance:	Yes

You chew up the lemon, then forcefully spit as you end your spellcasting. From where you spat arises a sickly yellow-green orb of energy for each creature you intend as a subject of the spell. The orbs fly to their designated targets and turn blood-red as they impact. A mere moment later, the creatures you selected cry out in agony, collapse, and begin writhing as they melt from the inside out.

This spell works in the same fashion as blood to water, except as noted here.

You transmute the subjects' blood into highly concentrated acid (pH 0, to be precise - the most powerful acid possible), dealing 4d12 points of acid damage, 2d6 points of Constitution damage, 1d6 points of Strength damage, and 1d6 points of Constitution drain. A successful Fortitude save halves the hit point, Constitution, and Strength damage and negates the Constitution drain, as the subject manages to prevent the spell's magic from completely transmuting his or her blood. The Fortitude save also prevents this spell's real power from taking hold. Any subject that fails its initial Fortitude save has its blood completely turn to acid, which proceeds to begin dissolving its body from the inside out; the result is that the hapless subject takes 2d12 points of acid damage immediately with no save allowed (on top of the damage it's already taken), and then takes 2d12 points of acid damage and 1d4-1 points of damage to each ability score on the round after that and on every round afterwards. This continues until the subject dies or the effect is forcibly terminated. Dispel magic cast on a subject immediately upon their being affected by this spell will prevent the blood from being transmuted to acid, even if that subject fails his or her Fortitude save. (Dispelling blood to acid at this point won't prevent the ability drain or halve any of the damage; it'll just prevent the continuous damage from starting. You still have to succeed on a caster level check to dispel blood to acid in time to prevent the transmutation, just as you would to dispel any other spell effect on the subject; thus, if you're going to ready dispel magic, it's more efficient to counterspell blood to acid and stop it outright unless there are other spell effects that you want to eliminate anyways.)

A subject whose blood has been fully transmuted to acid is entitled to a Fortitude save every round (starting on the second round) to halve that round's hit point damage and negate the ability damage; this does not end the effect of the spell, however, so even the toughest of characters lacking acid resistance will eventually succumb and die unless the transmutation is somehow undone (see below). Furthermore, having one's body devoured by acid from the inside out is unimaginably painful, so the subject must make a Will save upon failing one of these secondary Fortitude saves; on a failure, the subject drops prone and begins writhing helplessly in utter agony, helpless and unable to act. A subject writhing in pain is still entitled to a Fortitude save to halve the hit point damage and negate the ability damage on each round. On a failure, the subject must make a Will save or pass out from the pain, falling unconscious (as if between -1 and -9 hit points) until they die, succeed on a set of Will saves (see below), receive the benefit of an effect that momentarily eases the pain (including any effect that heals hit point damage or ability damage, or can stabilize a dying subject), or the transmutation is undone. A subject is still entitled to secondary Fortitude saves if unconscious due to failing a Will save for this spell (but not if unconscious for any other reason, including having been reduced to -1 or fewer hit points or having Nonlethal damage in excess of its current hit points), and success on one of these Fortitude saves entitles the subject to make two Will saves in a row; success on both allows the victim to regain consciousness and then make a Concentration check against the pain (see below). Succeeding on a secondary Fortitude save while writhing in pain entitles the subject to make a Concentration check against a DC of 10 + 9 (or whatever blood to acid's spell level actually is for this casting, if you have heightened it) + your Wisdom modifier + any other bonuses you may have to spell save DCs (such as the Spell Penetration feat) + half of the current round's hit point damage (after the Fortitude save) in order to hold off the pain and regain the ability to act normally (at least until the next time they fail a Will save). (The Concentration check is essentially treated as if it was a saving throw, and unlike most skill checks (but like a saving throw), a natural 20 is a guaranteed success and a natural 1 is a guaranteed failure.)

Once the subject's blood has been transmuted to acid, it's too late to stop the magic; this spell is only "permanent" in the sense that once it's taken effect, the subject's blood has already been chemically changed on a fundamental level. Therefore, options for ending the effect are limited. Spells that could normally be used to end a permanent-duration spell immune to dispel magic, such as greater dispel magic, remove curse, break enchantment, mage's disjunction, or even an epic spell using the dispel seed, simply won't do anything; the magic has actually already done its job and dispersed (thus, even though the effect is mechanically permanent, it's still considered instantaneous because the magic only lingered long enough to cause the chemical change). Delay poison can briefly halt the continuous damage (to hit points and abilities alike) by magically holding back the acid, but once its duration expires, the continuous damage will immediately start once again. The effect can be ended by copiously drinking water as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity for 60 rounds, to dilute the acid and restore a normal pH level. These 60 rounds need not be consecutive, but if 10 rounds have passed without the character drinking water, 1 round of dilution progress will be erased for every 2 rounds spent without drinking. (Of course, the continuous hit point or ability damage will already have incapacitated or killed the vast majority of characters in a lot less than 60 rounds, not to mention that drinking such a huge amount of water can present its own set of problems.) More reasonable alternatives include: success on a DC 40 Heal check, a heal, neutralize poison, greater heal, or greater restoration spell, or an epic spell using the heal seed. All of these powerful (or, in neutralize poison's case, very specific) healing magics will be able to reverse the condition. Nonepic heal and neutralize poison will have to succeed on a caster level check with DC = your caster level + your Wisdom modifier + 10 (for heal) or 20 (for neutralize poison) to remove the condition, while greater heal, greater restoration, and epic heal will cure it automatically. Less powerful healing spells (such as cure spells) may be able to cure the hit point damage, and even the ability damage in restoration and lesser restoration's case, but will not actually undo the transmutation and stop the continuous damage. Granting the victim acid resistance while the spell is in effect can prevent the hit point damage if it is strong enough to reduce it to 0, but it will only reduce the ability damage by 1 point per 20 points of acid resistance, to a minimum of 1. Acid immunity is guaranteed to prevents the hit point damage, but it only prevents the ability damage outright if it's an innate quality of the subject or the result of an actual spell cast on the subject; if it's conferred by a worn magic item or other extrinsic source, it reduces the ability damage to 1 and has a 50% chance of negating it even on a failed Fortitude save (but still completely negates the hit point damage). Whether intrinsic or extrinsic, acid immunity or resistance does not negate the Constitution damage inflicted at the very start of the spell, as that's a consequence of the subject's red blood cells being obliterated by the transmutation magic of the spell. Acid immunity does, however, negate the Strength damage and Constitution drain if intrinsic, as those are a consequence of the blood vessels partially melting; likewise, acid resistance reduces the Strength damage and Constitution drain by 1 for every 10 points of acid resistance, to a minimum of 0, and extrinsic acid immunity halves the Strength damage and Constitution drain (negating the former if the initial Fortitude save is made). Extrinsic acid resistance is treated as half of its actual value, rounded down, for this spell's purposes.

A creature reduced to -10 hit points or 0 Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution by blood to acid melts into a puddle of lifeless ooze, and can only be restored to life by resurrection, true resurrection, wish, miracle, or an epic spell using the life seed. Resurrection is difficult to use in order to revive someone killed by this spell; while the puddle counts as a small part of the corpse, it is so highly acidic that it will dissolve most surfaces and quickly sink far, far underground, out of reach. By the time resurrection is ready to cast, it won't be usable anymore (and this is a good example of why a spell that takes 10 minutes to cast can be hilariously impractical). Thus, the cleric must start casting resurrection well in advance so that it's ready to use by the time the victim is dead (and not a minute later), or the liquefied corpse must somehow be collected into an acid-resistant container to keep it at hand for the caster to touch. (Be careful; touching the acidic goo, even for the purpose of casting resurrection, will deal 2d8 acid damage and 1d4-1 damage to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. The damage is reduced not because it's less potent, but because external exposure is less dangerous than the same acid in one's bloodstream! Likewise, mental ability scores are unaffected because the acid isn't getting a chance to attack the brain of someone who merely touches it.) A character whose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is reduced to 0 by this spell dies and stops taking hit point damage (and can be resurrected by raise dead, reincarnate, or limited wish, in addition to the more powerful resurrection spells); in this scenario, the character won't melt as a result of being brought down to -10 hit points, but will continue taking Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution damage (and automatically fails all Fortitude saves), and once one of those ability scores reaches 0, the character will melt.

Blood to acid has no effect on living creatures with the fire, water, earth, air, or acid subtypes (including characters with certain classes, such as caustic). Dragons, outsiders, and creatures with the cold, electricity, or sonic subtypes get a +2 racial bonus to saves against this spell. The racial bonuses stack; for instance, a dragon or outsider with the cold, electricity, or sonic subtype gets a +4 racial bonus to saving throws against blood to acid. A subject with the Endurance feat gains a +3 bonus on secondary Fortitude saves and Will saves for this spell (but not to the initial Fortitude save to avoid a blood transmutation in the first place). A subject with the Diehard feat gains a +6 bonus on secondary Fortitude and Will saves for this spell (which overlaps with the bonus granted by the Endurance feat, rather than stacking with it). Alchemical bonuses to Fortitude and Will saves are doubled for the purpose of resisting this spell (both on the initial save and on secondary saves), and racial bonuses to saves against poison may be applied. A creature with immunity to poison is not immune to this spell, but make one reroll on any Fortitude save against this spell that it fails. (Which is probably a good thing, as the spell's just outrageously cruel when it works properly... it almost deserves to have the Evil descriptor, now that I think about it.)

A warlock who fails his initial Fortitude save against this spell may immediately make a special Will save against the spell, taking a -15 penalty to his saving throw. If he succeeds, not only does he take no damage, but he instantly levels up and takes a level in caustic (even if he doesn't meet its prerequisites). Basically, the warlock forces the spell to infuse his blood with acidic energy instead of having its normal effect. He may only attempt this save against a given casting of this spell once; if he fails, the spell affects him normally. Caustics are completely immune to this spell, and if it is ever cast on a caustic by someone other than the caustic himself, he immediately gains XP equal to 1,000 + (1,000 × the spell's spell level) + (1,000 × the spell's caster level).

Blood to water can counter (but not dispel) blood to acid. Likewise, blood to acid can counter (but not dispel) blood to water. A creature suffering from the effects of blood to acid takes a -4 circumstance penalty to saving throws against transmute water to acid.

Material Component: A whole lemon, skin and all, which is chewed up and spat out to cast the spell. (How this can be accomplished with just one standard action is an exercise that will be left up to the players and DM, and the DM may increase the casting time if he/she deems it appropriate to do so.)

---

Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Class Ability Components → Spells → Cleric