Geas

Geas

Mystic

Proficiency [Personality]

600 hours

Counts as two skills at character creation

Double learning difficulty

A geas is used to compel an action or to place a taboo restriction. It lasts until lifted by the caster, the task is completed, or the taboo violated. Breaking a geas (plural—geasa) brings swift retribution in the form of misfortune. The most common way that this spell is employed is to impose a restriction. When used in this manner, it is not considered by the Heldans to be a curse at all, in fact they see little difference between socially imposed taboos and mystic geasa. However, using a geas against someone's wishes to compel them do perform a certain task is considered a magical violation at least as horrible as compelling them at swordpoint. To bring about a geas, the caster must be in the presence of the victim and state clearly the nature of the geas. While the curser cannot specify the exact penalty, she may threaten with ill luck, misfortune, and bad health. The required number for success on the skill check is based on how just, difficult, or heinous the geas is. That is, a restriction from eating uncooked flesh would only require a 10 or better (9 for Dwarves, 13 for Trolls), but forcing someone to act as a suicidal assassin for you would require a result of 20-30 or more. If the geasa is broken because the target of the spell failed to diligently complete the task, or has violated the stated restriction, then he or she suffers a penalty to all saving throws equal to the skill level of the mage that invoked this curse. This penalty exists until some great misfortune befalls the victim. That is, the cursed suffers many small misfortunes until a big one occurs, such as his house burning to the ground. A geas is indiscriminate, and may affect those near the cursed breaker of the geas; in the previous example his innocent family may be caught in the blaze. The saving throw against a geas is equal to the character level of the invoking mage and all bonuses against curse magic count. This saving throw may be declined, as in the case of someone taking an oath linked to a geas. As this is a voluntary act, few in Midian will see this use as anything but benign magic. This is a dangerous spell to use, in that a geas that has been dispelled (not broken or lifted by the caster, but dispelled by another mage) will return to the original wizard in triplicate. That is, the wizard suffers a penalty equal to triple her own skill level. There is no saving throw here, as the caster voluntarily opens herself to her own magics in order to cast this spell. It is possible—in part because of this downside—to utilize a lesser degree of power with a geas; in other words, you can use less than your full skill level, but this applies to all aspects, including the initial skill check.