Slaying Skull

Slaying Skull Mystic Basic 200 hours Counts as two skills at character creation Double learning difficulty

A visually eerie example of sorcerous power, this spell causes a skull to fly from the caster's hand towards his opponent, guided by the remnants of a spirit that once inhabited it. A dim, flickering red, flamelike aura surrounds the skull. A skull must be prepared beforehand—a process requiring an hour's ritual. A previously prepared skull may be ensorcelled to attack with only a single command from the necromancer. In combat, this spell streaks towards any target within the caster's sight, the mage's throwing arm is not a factor as the spell flies of its own accord, striking for 1D8 + the caster's level in points of damage. The Slaying Skull will continue to attack its target ceaselessly until it strikes, or is itself struck down; it has an armour class of 16 & is defeated by any solid blow. Neither speed, nor mystic means of escape can elude a Slaying Skull once set upon a target. An attack roll is needed to hit (the caster's Agility & throwing skills are worthless as the skull flies on its own), but it is interesting to note that if the Slaying Skull had some reason to hate the target when it was alive, that hatred will further fuel it, resulting in bonuses to hit. Mild dislike (the racist Dwarf who hated everybody) will grant a +3 bonus to hit if his skull is used in this spell, whereas someone who died trying to avenge his family from the person who is now the spell's target will give a +10 to the attack roll. The skull flies rapidly, but does not manoeuvre well, shooting past its chosen victim once every 4-6 seconds until it hits (i.e. attacking once per round). The skull of a sentient being is the preferred vehicle for this vile magic. An animal's skull does 1D4 + one-half the caster's level (rounded up), and a tiny skull—such as a dormouse, squirrel, cat, or hawk—does only one-half the caster's level, as the bone is too small to be of much use as a weapon.