Gory / Body Horror Spell Idea - Meat Balloon

[Koldspaghetti]

I got the idea for a truly grizzly spell while developing a character. He was a bloatmage dhampir, since all the blood related stuff related to a bloatmage seemed fitting for a vampire character The whole idea of a bloatmage performing a ritual to become like that fascinated me in a horror movie sort of way. I wondered what would happen if that ritual failed or wasn’t done right. My boyfriend joking said “I guess you just explode.” That gave me the idea for this spell.

MEAT BALLOON

School transmutation; Level arcanist 6, magus 6, sorcerer/wizard 6, witch 6

CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (vial of blood from a bloodline caster, 25gp)

EFFECT
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one living corporeal creature
Duration 3 rounds + 1 round per caster level
Saving Throw; Fortitude; Spell Resistance; yes

DESCRIPTION
You perform a purposely sabotaged variation of the gruesome ritual utilized by Bloatmages, causing the target to swell out of control with fatty flesh and blood. This spell only works on living corporeal creatures that produce blood or blood like substances.

The spell takes full effect over the course of 3 rounds, increasing in severity every turn.

Stage 1: Target begins to swell, incurring a penalty in speed (-10ft), is under the effects of a medium load, and becomes dazed.

Stage 2: Target continues to swell, is now under the effects of a heavy load, and incurs an+5 damage bonus to any attack with piercing damage. Target becomes stunned.

Stage 3:Target swells to immobility, and begins to hemorrhage from every orifice. They can no longer move, and begin to take 1d6 bleed damage this and every following round. The target increases 1 creature size. Receiving any amount of piercing damage will immediately detonate the targets overfilled body, killing them instantly. The resulting explosion of gore will cause any creature in a 10ft radius to take 1d4 bludgeoning damage, and be sickened for 1 round. Will save negates becoming sickened.

When the spell is first cast, the target may attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ caster’s level + casting modifier). The Fortitude saving throw will negate the spell. If successful, the target is immune to the spell for the next 24 hours. If they fail to save, the target can attempt the same fortitude the second round (Stage 2) in an attempt to stop the swelling, at a -2 penalty. Once the target reaches stage 3, the fortitude save no longer stops the swelling or negates the spell, but instead stops the hemorrhaging and bleed damage. Heal checks can not be used to stop the hemorrhaging at stage 3, but healing magic can keep the target alive. Dispel Magic or Restoration will end the spell, at any stage.

The spell kills any such target that has 20 hit points or fewer, they’re body exploding immediately upon reaching stage 3. If the incurring bleeding damage causes the target to become disabled or dying, they immediately explode.

The spell lasts 3 rounds + 1 round per caster level. If the target survives the duration of the spell, they revert back to normal, but remain dazed for 1 round after surviving such an ordeal.
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Any opinions, critiques, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Goth Guru]

There are a lot of saves and possible countermeasures. When they find victims remains they know what they are in for.

[Koldspaghetti]

Goth Guru wrote:

There are a lot of saves and possible countermeasures. When they find victims remains they know what they are in for.

Do you think there are too many saves?

[Pizza Lord]

My thoughts are that at 6th-level this puts it on power level with flesh to stone, so that's pretty good. Both are pretty much gonna end any target they work on. The differences are that yours will take about 3 rounds to kill a person (for balance reasons we have to assume the target is going to die on round 3). The other difference is that it has no tag effects, like [death] or [petrification] or [fear] or anything which items or abilities might add bonuses to saves to resist.

So power-wise it's okay. There's 3 rounds to technically stop it, though your chance to save is at a penalty on the 2nd round (not sure on the 3rd if that's at a –2 or not). While flesh to stone is basically instantaneous and will take someone out, it's also important to note that it doesn't technically kill someone and they can be restored with some efforts that are cheaper than raising the dead and also that while they are stone they are usually much more durable and harder to kill (and you risk not getting their loot if you smash them to bits).

The problem I have is that you are adding in some encumbrance penalties (which basically affect max Dex AC modifiers and movement) but your spell already hinders movement speed by –10. So just one or the other. Just cut speed in half and give an AC penalty, clean up the wording. But it also dazes, then stuns the target... so they can't really move at all unless they're somehow immune to dazing or stunning (which isn't very common). So why? Tighten it up. Choose one or the other. Dazing will mean they don't get a turn, stunned will mean the same basically but attackers get +4 to use combat maneuvers against them, they will get no Dex AC and they will have a –2 penalty to AC and they will drop anything they're holding.

So basically, even if they save after the 3rd round (I assume they have to save every round after the 3rd or take bleeding damage, not just once on the 3rd round), they are immobile and are taking extra piercing damage (but why, since after round 2 it's auto death unless that +5 piercing damage effect is only on round 2). It's a lot of stuff that is not necessary and makes for having to look up conditions, effects of having those conditions, and other things that ultimately are redundant.

I would probably just remove the 1d4 bludgeoning damage from the explosion, it's too small and not really worth the space or the effect it does. You can leave the sickened effect from creatures coated in gore, but I would change the save to Fortitude instead of Will (that's the usual rubric, plus it will prevent having certain creatures that normally would be immune to sickened suddenly affected, like undead.)

I am not worried about the saves. In fact, I would likely give them a save to resist blowing up whenever they got a piercing damage. This is fine, since it doesn't end the spell, nor does it make being the target any less terrifying, since dealing piercing damage is pretty easy and even a sorcerer can use daggers or a crossbow.

I also would not do an auto-death for creatures with 20 hp or less. Mostly it's because I don't like auto-killing things (like familiars) or vermin or rodents. While I don't see any real abuse for a spell at 6th-level, I don't want someone coming up with some chain-type explosion bag of rats-type shenanigans that don't give the creatures a save at all and then they explode for AoE damage (which you don't have a save to prevent) and also condition effects (which you do have a save for). Best not to even allow that. I also wouldn't have them die if disabled or dying, but having them explode if they die is fair, in my opinion.

Suggestion:

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Suggestion: These are just what I would do, but it's just my thoughts and they are only my opinion.

Keeping it at 6th level: Change the duration to '1 round/level' (that's still 11 rounds in most cases. That's plenty.)

If the target succeeds at their initial saving throw they are immune to this spell for 24 hours (presumably from any caster? or just the same one?)

1st round
When the target fails the save, they start to swell. Their normal base speeds are reduced by 10 feet and any armor check penalties and arcane spell failure chances for clothing or armor are doubled as they swell up in their gear. They are staggered and not dazed (this means they only get 1 action but aren't completely helpless). This means that a target could at least do something to save themselves, such as casting dispel magic. Note that they will likely require a Concentration check cast the spell (or any spells) which will be equal to this spell's save DC + the level of the spell they're casting, so it's still a bit of a challenge for most.

2nd round
Target makes a new save (at –2), if successful they stop swelling but maintain the current penalties from above for the duration of the spell (which will be a minimum of 11 rounds at least). On a failure, their base speeds are reduced to half (important to prevent freedom of movement from allowing them to run around since this reduces their actual speed and they are staggered; we still want to give them an action to try and save themselves).
Piercing attacks do +5 additional damage to the target, calculated after all other damage (so as to not have criticals doing massive damage, since most piercing weapons have a good critical threat range). In contrast, the extra fluid and swelling grants the target DR 5/piercing, since it cushions bludgeoning and slashing blows somewhat. The target also receives a +4 circumstance bonus to Athletics checks for swimming when trying to stay afloat or ascend due to buoyancy (and they do so at twice their (currently reduced) movement speed).

3rd round
Target makes a new save (at –2), if successful they stop swelling but maintain the penalties above for the duration of the spell. On a failure, they receive 1d6 bleed damage for the rest of the duration as pressure builds in their body from increasing masses of blood and fatty tissue.
Whenever the target receives piercing damage, they must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + piercing damage dealt) or explode and die from the sudden release of internal pressure, covering any creatures within a 10-foot radius in gore and sickening them (DC 15 Fort negates) (DC 15 is probably fair. You didn't leave a DC, so it would default to the spell's save DC, but I don't think it really matches it, but you could if you wanted). The target only needs to make this save once per round unless a piercing attack deals more damage than a previous one in the round (This means they won't have to check every time, only if they took more damage, as the save showed that they were able to resist an attack of a certain intensity already for the round and may cut down on saves needing to be rolled). The hemorrhaging and bleeding actually helps the target by reducing internal pressure, they receive a bonus to their save equal to the amount of hit point-based bleed damage they took at the start of their round. (This line makes it so that bleeding actually could save their life. Ironically, the more damage they take from building pressure, the less likely they are to explode, and it makes it so that objects and effects that prevent bleeding damage, like a periapt of wound closure, might initially save them some hit points, but ultimately cause their death).
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[Goth Guru]

Koldspaghetti wrote:

Goth Guru wrote:

There are a lot of saves and possible countermeasures. When they find victims remains they know what they are in for.

Do you think there are too many saves?

No, grizzly death effects require that many saves.