Symbol Of Dispelling
Symbol Of Dispelling
AbjurationLevel: Cleric*/Oracle * 8, Sorcerer*/Wizard * 8, Warlock* 8
Components: V, S, M (pure grain alcohol and powdered diamond worth 5,000 gp)
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: 0 ft. (see text)
Effect: one symbol
Duration: instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: no
This spell allows you to scribe a potent rune of power upon the surface of an object. Attempt a dispel check when casting symbol of dispelling.
Once the symbol is triggered, apply the result of that check to each creature within 40 feet of the symbol, as well as each object that is the target of one or more spells. Symbol of dispelling grants no saving throws, and it is not subject to spell resistance.
Until it is triggered, the symbol is inactive (though visible and legible at a distance of 40 feet). To be effective, a symbol must always be placed in plain sight and in a prominent location. Covering or hiding the rune renders the symbol ineffective, unless a creature removes the covering, in which case the symbol works normally.
As a default, a symbol is triggered whenever a creature does one or more of the following, as you select: looks at the rune; reads the rune; touches the rune; passes over the rune; or passes through a portal bearing the rune. Regardless of the trigger method or methods chosen, a creature more than 60 feet from a symbol can't trigger it (even if it meets one or more of the triggering conditions, such as reading the rune). Once the spell is cast, a symbol's triggering conditions cannot be changed.
In this case, "reading" the rune means any attempt to study it, identify it, or fathom its meaning. Throwing a cover over a symbol to render it inoperative triggers it if the symbol reacts to touch (though the effect is suppressed almost immediately after due to being covered). You can't use a symbol offensively; for instance, a touch-triggered symbol remains un-triggered if an item bearing the symbol is used to touch a creature. Likewise, a symbol cannot be placed on a weapon and set to activate when the weapon strikes a foe.
You can also set special triggering limitations of your own. These can be as simple or elaborate as you desire. Special conditions for triggering a symbol can be based on a creature's name, identity, or alignment, but otherwise must be based on observable actions or qualities. Intangibles such as level, class, Hit Dice, and hit points don't qualify.
When scribing a symbol, you can specify a password or phrase that prevents a creature using it from triggering the symbol's effect. Anyone using the password remains immune to that particular rune's effects so long as the creature remains within 40 feet of the rune. If the creature leaves the radius and returns later, it must use the password again.
You also can attune any number of creatures to the symbol, but doing this can extend the casting time. Attuning one or two creatures takes negligible time, and attuning a small group (as many as 10 creatures) extends the casting time to 1 hour. Attuning a large group (as many as 25 creatures) takes 24 hours. Attuning larger groups takes an additional 24 hours per 25 creatures. Any creature attuned to a symbol cannot trigger it and is immune to its effects, even if within its radius when it is triggered. You are automatically considered attuned to your own symbols, and thus always ignore the effects and cannot inadvertently trigger them.
Read Magic allows you to identify a symbol with a Spellcraft check (DC 10 + the symbol's spell level). Of course, if the symbol is set to be triggered by reading it, this will trigger the symbol.
A symbol can be removed by a successful Dispel Magic targeted solely on the rune. An Erase spell has no effect on a symbol. Destruction of the surface where a symbol is inscribed destroys the symbol but also triggers it.
Note: Magic traps such as symbols are hard to detect and disable. A Perception check can find a symbol and a Disable Device check can thwart it only if the character possesses the trapfinding class feature. The DC in each case is 25 + Spell Level.