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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardRoiling Incant

Though many spellcasters can harness the forces of magic in a consistent manner, such power can't always be controlled, especially in the hands of reckless researchers, megalomaniacal villains, or untested novices. When magical accidents result in large-scale property damage and the loss of life, these forces sometimes take on lives of their own, forming a dangerous amalgamation of ongoing magical energy known as a roiling incant.

A roiling incant's appearance depends on the type of magic it sprang forth from, though it always carries with it an echo of the destruction it has caused. A fiery evocation roiling incant might look like a storm of burning ashes echoing with the sounds of crackling timber, while a necromancy roiling incant could be mistaken for ghostly tendrils puppeteering shambling corpses. No matter what it looks like, a roiling incant roams mindlessly, attacking everything it encounters, heedless of further carnage it causes.

Roiling Incant Variations

Each roiling incant is tied to a magic tradition as well as to a school of magic, and thus each has the traits of that tradition and school. Its innate spells must come from that tradition and school of magic, and they are usually related to the accident that caused the roiling incant's creation. The additional damage from their Engulf ability also changes based on their innate cantrip. Variant roiling incants usually have one 4th-level spell, one 3rd-level spell, one 2nd-level spell, and a cantrip, just like the example roiling incant presented below. Evocation roiling incants are the most common, as that school of magic is often the most destructive.

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Roiling IncantCreature 9

Legacy Content

Uncommon N Large Arcane Evocation Mindless 
Source Bestiary 3 pg. 215
Perception +6
Skills Acrobatics +10
Str +4, Dex +4, Con +6, Int -5, Wis +0, Cha -5
AC 16; Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +6
HP 155; Immunities bleed, death effects, disease, doomed, drained, evocation, fatigued, healing, mental, necromancy, negative, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, unconscious
Absorb Evocation A roiling incant is made of evocation energy. Any time it would be affected by another creature's non-cantrip evocation spell, after applying its immunity, it also regains 5 Hit Points.
Speed fly 40 feet
Melee [one-action] arcane tendril +10 [+5/+0] (arcane, evocation, magical, reach 10 feet), Damage 2d12+10 forceRanged [one-action] arcane bolt +10 [+5/+0] (arcane, evocation, range increment 30 feet), Damage 2d10+10 forceArcane Innate Spells DC 21, attack +11; 4th wall of fire (at will; see Unstable Magic); 3rd fireball (at will; see Unstable Magic); 2nd flaming sphere (at will; see Unstable Magic); Cantrips (4th) produce flame
Engulf [two-actions] DC 19, 2d8 force plus 4d4 fire, Escape DC 19, Rupture 20Unstable Magic A roiling incant is as much a mass of unstable magic as it is a creature. Is isn't living or undead, nor is it even a construct. It can't be healed or Repaired and is destroyed at 0 Hit Points, though it naturally recovers a number of Hit Points equal to its level × its Constitution modifier (54 for most roiling incants) each day. Each time a roiling incant casts one of its non-cantrip spells, it drains its own magic to do so, taking 5 force damage.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Roiling Incant Origins

A roiling incant is a curiosity among scholars. It is neither living nor dead, nor is it a construct. Instead, it is magic of its tradition and school manifesting as a mindless entity, a magical force of nature. While some particularly vile spellcasters have attempted to create these beings intentionally and unleash them on an enemy's home, thus far no one has determined a reliable method to do so.