Wither and Rot at My Decree (GLOG Delta class: Sorcerer King)
The rulers of nations are often cruel and callous. They live separated from the people in their shining palaces, and their words can cause the deaths of thousands as their servants divert valuable resources or slaughter innocents at a whim.
Wizards are often cruel and callous. They live separated from the people in their towers and laboratories, and their words can cause the deaths of thousands as they conjure plagues or rain fire from above.
When they are one and the same, there can only be death and ruin.
Part of a series on de-fragmenting the fragmentary implied classes and rules from the Tower of Salem-Sounan. Saying how exactly this class applies to the adventure is a massive spoiler.
Sorcerer-King
Wizards are already insane to some degree as a rule, but some go beyond this into utter megalomania. They shunt the consequences of their hubris onto their surroundings and seek to transform themselves into dragons, intentionally becoming embodiments of greed and pride. Only the cruelest wizards take this path, as the process requires massive amounts of wealth and blood sacrifice to fuel itself. This, of course, means that players can and will take it if you offer.
The Defiler template must be taken before any others. The B templates may be taken in any order, and in addition to the listed benefits, each grant a roll on the Draconic Mutation table. You may suppress all physical transformations and look like your former self for a day by using an MD; this becomes impossible upon obtaining all templates. Upon taking the first B template, you grow patches of scales and no longer age. All templates beyond the first have the following requirement: Obtain a personal lair and furnish it to a level fit for nobility, and hoard within it at least 5,000 gp worth of treasure separate from the aforementioned furnishing. To obtain the third B template, you need 10,000 gp of treasure and the lair must be fit for a king. To achieve draconic apotheosis, you need 25,000 gp of treasure and the lair must be fit for a god. Hubris inflicted by the rituals can be immediately sublimated into the environment via defilement.
ΔA: Defiler
ΔB1: Draconic Wings
ΔB2: Dragonbreath
ΔB3: Voice of Power
ΔB4: Vast Form
ΔD: Draconic Apotheosis
Defiler: Cannot be taken unless you have at least 2 MD without reliance on magic items. Learn the secret of defiling magic. This can be from another defiler, an ancient tome in a desert ruin, or a demon of great power. Anything willing and able to teach this knowledge will almost certainly require a service in exchange.
You can transfer the negative consequences of your reckless magic onto your surroundings. You may gain 1 hubris after resting to gain an additional 1 MD for the day, and whenever you would gain Hubris, you may sublimate it into the environment, defiling it. Any given region can safely soak 4 hubris before negative effects start appearing, but the moment it hits 5, effects start showing. The collective defilement in a region decreases by 1 for every full month without a defiler casting any spells within, regardless of whether those spells directly defile anything.
At the first threshold of five, currently living plants wither and die as they soak up the blight, reducing the defilement by five. Crops, orchards, forest trees, etc. This does not kill all plant life, only the largest and most obvious. Particularly large and dense forests may have enough life to absorb two or even three instances of this threshold. Such forests often have enough awareness to provoke an immediate and violent response on the defiler responsible.
If all such extant plants have withered, then the next threshold of five will permanently blight the land. Wells befoul, animals and children weaken, new crops are diminished, soil, animal, and people alike have lowered fertility. The blight is lifted when the defilement falls to zero, though certain workings of priests, witches, and the like can lift it prematurely as long as the defilement is below 5.
If defilement reaches ten, the environment itself starts desertifying. Rainfall decreases, life of all sizes dies out, earth turns to sand. It is theoretically possible to undo if the defilement decreases sufficiently, but the land will be rendered uninhabitable for long enough that most people will leave long before then.
Should the defilement reach 15, the land is lost forever. Nothing will return it to how it was. No life can exist except that which comes from elsewhere. Even the most barren of natural deserts are lush by comparison. Any further defilement spills over to the surrounding land.
Dragonbreath: Light a bonfire in your lair and immolate 50 HD worth of sapient creatures on it, one at a time, without letting it go out. Once the 50th HD is immolated, you must consume a cocktail of rare and expensive poisons totaling 1,000 gp for the cost of materials and creation and then step into the fire yourself. This will leave you in unimaginable agony for hours if not days. When you recover, gain the template. Inflicts 10 hubris. Gain +1 MD. You gain the deadly breath of a dragon, a 30' cone of poison fire. You may breath your choice of death in that area by spending MD, dealing [sum] damage, save for half. This is not considered a spell, and does not inflict hubris. If you prepare the breath a turn in advance, which does not cost a turn, deal an extra d6 damage. You cannot prepare your breath on the same turn you use it. The preparation is obvious to anyone with eyes.
Voice of Power: In your lair, perform a ritual sacrifice of 50 HD worth of sapient creatures, which must contain at least one sovereign ruler of a nation. The sacrifices must all kill themselves for the ritual to function. Inflicts 10 hubris.
Gain +1 MD. You learn the spells Command and Destroy, which function only on those who understand your speech. This does count as a spell and increases your hubris appropriately on doubles/triples. Additionally, choose either birds or reptiles; you now understand their speech and they understand yours.
Vast Form: While at least 500 HD of creatures exist around your lair, with sapient creatures counting quintuple, surround yourself with all your hoarded wealth and perform the ritual. At least 20 HD, with no modification for sapience, must be present at the ritual itself. All the creatures involved die at once, and you enter a frenzied state as you devour the ones in your presence and much of the treasure, using up 10,000 gp in total, with the difference between the requirement and what you eat turning into lead and glass. You will pass out for 24 hours and awaken with this template. Inflicts 10 hubris.
Your frame grows to accommodate your growing power. Gain +4 STR and CON, an additional HD, quadruple your food consumption, and step up the die size of any natural weapons you have.
Draconic Wings: Ritually sacrifice a great flying creature, such as a roc or real dragon, in a high place such as a mountain peak, then devour its heart. This inflicts 10 hubris immediately. Then you must return to your lair and devour the egg or newborn of a great flying beast, which can be the same one. Targeting a mother makes it easier to take care of both of these at once.
Vast wings grow from your back. As long as you have sufficient space, you can fly. This requires you to either get a sufficient running start or spend an MD.
Draconic Apotheosis: Requires all previous sorcerer-king templates. In a site of magical confluence, ritually sacrifice six mages whose traditions correspond to the six great metals: gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and mercury. They do not all need to be sacrificed at once, though it must be within the same day. This must also involve the permanent sacrifice of 24 MD worth of power, which can be from the sacrificed mages, powerful magic items, or additional sacrifices, along with the heart of an angel or great hero of light that you personally killed. Inflicts 20 hubris immediately, probably permanently defiling the region.
You become a true dragon. You grow to the size of a house, gain +4 HD, step up your natural attacks once more, and increase your AC to plate. Additionally, double the range of your fiery breath and increase the extra damage from preparing your breath weapon to 4d6; this also allows you to use it without spending any MD. Every 50 years you remain alive beyond this point, gain +1 HD.
Draconic Mutations
- Scales: Hard scales cover your body. Your AC is as chain.
- Gaze: Your pupils slit and irises gleam like precious stones. You don't need to blink, have infravision for monetary value instead of heat, and breaking eye contact with you requires a wisdom save unless you allow it.
- Tooth and claw: Gain claws, which deal damage as light weapons (d6), and razor-sharp teeth, allowing you to bite as a medium weapon in both hands (d8+str mod). These only function in grabbing range, and the bite can never attack more than once per turn. The claws are considered dual-wielded if both of your hands are empty.
- Tail: Gain a spiked tail, which you can use to attack as a medium weapon in one hand (d6+str mod). If you stand still on your turn, the tail attack can be used as an extra attack.