D is for Dalgard's Decomposition, Dalgard's Forked Lighting and Dalgard's Total Inversion!

The above image is a cartoon of my "main" PC Lord Dalgard drawn up for the World of Greyhawk web comic. Back in the day we really didn't play with level limits so the infamous half-elf mage and cleric of Hextor Dalgard Nolendor reached the exalted levels of Cl19/MU17! Of course, this took from 1984 to 1994, but hey, what can I say? The pic is a homage to a rather funny story (at least I think it's funny). One of our DMs had decided to try to kill us all off and so stuck us in the Nine Hells. It was like a fantasy Kobyashi Maru scenario...Pit Fiends kept showing up. We'd kill one, three more would show up; kill them, five more, etc.

We had two characters down and were trying to find a way out. Teleports weren't working etc. I was thinking furiously. "I can't banish the pit fiends, they're not extra-planar creatures..in..Hell...Eureka! I can banish the party!" The DM's jaw dropped to the floor. One well-used sanctuary, adjure, and word of recall later (which apparently did work because it was Divine magic), everybody was safe and sound.

Anyway, after reading that story, the artist decided to portray Dalgard in place of Gandalf at the Bridge of Moria. :) Note that the minotaur skeletons are Dalgard's "followers." He hunted down a tribe of minotaurs and animated them to use as his shock troops and bodyguards after he built his tower. Also, I always described Dalgard as wearing Eleven maille under black velvet robes and smelling of incense and rose petals (from his various material components).

Today's post isn't just to regale you with the typical "no shit" gamer stories. Really. No, Dalgard has 3 spells of his own that I've statted out for S&W Whitebox: Dalgard's Decomposition, Dalgard's Forked Lightning, and Dalgard's Total Inversion. Note that the original version of Dalgard's Total Inversion was a specialized version of the Finger of Death spell. Since S&WWB only goes up to 6th level in spells and Death is a bit more powerful, it has undergone yet another revision!

Dalgard's Decomposition

Spell Level: M3

Range: 30 ft. or touch

Duration: Instantaneous

This spell prepares a number of corpses (1d6 + caster level) for use as animated skeletons by removing the fleshy parts of the corpses while leaving the ligaments and tendons intact. The spell can be used against a living creature in combat as a touch attack for 1d6 points of damage per caster level, though a successful saving throw halves damage. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by the spell collapses as a pile of dust.

Dalgard's Forked Lighting

Spell Level: M4

Range: 240 ft.

Duration: Instantaneous

A variation of the Lightning Bolt spell, this spell allows the caster to split his bolt up to 4 times. The number of tines affects the length of each: 2 tines are 30 feet long each, 3 are 20 feet each, and 4 are 15 feet each. These forks still rebound. Damage is 1d6 per level of the caster, though a successful saving throw halves damage.

Dalgard's Total Inversion

Spell Level: M6

Range: 240 ft.

Duration: Permanent

A variation of the Death spell (q.v.), this spell also has the effect of turning its victims inside out.