Drinking & Dragons

Wild:PC/Brilla/Vestiges/Karsus

From Drinking and Dragons

Karsus is one of the greatest magi that sacrificed his magical powers at the Hall of Founders 200 years ago. Unsatisfied with his sudden lack of power, he ventured into dark arts to manifest his arcane might once again. Karsus began to dabble in blood magic; his and the blood of others. He was successful, at least to a point. He eventually took a quarry of a great mage to further empower himself. Karsus greatly overestimated his blood magic and fell in battle. He is the only known karsite to have cast magic since the Demonsiege.

Sign: You bleed more than normal from wounds. Even a small scratch releases a sanguine flood. This effect does not deal extra damage.

Influence: You take on some of the arrogance for which Karsus was famous in his mortal life. He requires that you make Bluff or Intimidate checks rather than Diplomacy checks to influence others.

Granted Abilities: In life, Karsus was obsessed with magic, and his obsession continues unabated in his current state. He grants you the ability to see magic, destroy it with a touch, and use any magic item with ease. He even provides increased spellcasting power.

Heavy Magic: The save DC for each effect of every magic item you use increases by 2.

Karsus’s Senses: You can sense magic auras as easily as others can detect odors, and concentrating on them reveals them to your sight. When you concentrate (a standard action), you automatically detect the number of different magical auras within 30 feet, and the power of the most potent aura within 30 feet, as though you had cast detect magic on the area and concentrated for 2 rounds. You do not need to concentrate to maintain this effect, but concentrating for 1 additional round reveals the location and strength of the auras in the area. A third round of concentration allows you to determine the school of a particular aura automatically. Additional rounds of concentration reveal the schools of other auras. You cannot use this ability if you are blinded, but otherwise it functions as detect magic for the purposes of concealment and the materials pierced. If you encounter an aura of overwhelming strength, however, you are dazzled so long as it remains within range of Karsus’s senses.

Karsus’s Touch: You can produce a dispel magic effect with a touch. To do so, you must make a successful melee touch attack against a creature or an object as a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You can then make a dispel check (1d20 + your effective binder level, maximum +20) against each ongoing spell currently in effect on the object or creature. The DC for this check is 11 + the spell’s caster level. If you succeed on a particular check, that spell is dispelled; if you fail, it remains in effect. If you target an object or creature that is the effect of an ongoing spell (such as a summoned monster or a conjured object), you must touch the target and make a dispel check to end the spell that brought it into being. Targeting a spell effect that is not an object or creature (such as the flames of a wall of fire) has no effect.

If the touched object is a magic item, you must make a dispel check (the DC is the item’s caster level). If you succeed, all the item’s magical properties are suppressed for 1d4 rounds, after which the item recovers on its own. An interdimensional interface (such as a bag of holding) is temporarily closed by this effect. A suppressed item becomes nonmagical for the duration, but its physical properties are unchanged, so a suppressed magic sword is still a masterwork sword.

You can use Karsus’s touch a number of times per day equal to your effective binder level. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.

Karsus’s Will: You can use spell trigger items, such as wands and staves, as if you were a wizard of your effective binder level.