A wicked affliction feared by all those who dabble in magic, spellblight is something everyone must worry about. Even those who do not use magic may be carriers for it, unwittingly infecting those that might try to help them.

Spellblight is a magically-transmitted disease; it can pass along when someone infected by it casts a spell on someone else, and even when they are having a spell cast upon them! Many priests have contracted spellblight from healing a templar’s wounds.

The disease feeds on magical energy. It seems more severe when arcane magical energy is used, but it does not spare practitioners of divine magics. Interestingly, psionicists seem unaffected by the disease. When someone with spellblight casts a spell, they will feel a burning sensation throughout their entire body as if their blood itself was boiling. The more powerful the spell, the more intense the effect. If not careful, a wizard infected with spellblight could easily pass out from the pain or even die.

Aside from that, there are no other symptoms. It is almost impossible without the aid of divinations to determine if someone is infected with spellblight. Spellblight will usually go away on its own in a few weeks, though the process can be speeded along a bit by chewing ganthum root and drinking hot tal. Ganthum root is also useful for dulling the effects of spellblight. Fresh ganthum is most effective, but most magic users carry around dried ganthum root for emergencies, because you never know when spellblight will strike.

Encounters with Spellblight

Spellblight is a wonderful little disease to inflict on your PCs, as it’s fairly easy to introduce. All it takes is a single afflicted sorcerer to try and charm the warrior, and then the cleric who tries to heal or buff him is going to have a nasty surprise. Of course, the players might notice that the sorcerer was afflicted with it as well. In this case, there are two options to make it a bit more sneaky.

1: Have some people be immune to it. They still act as carriers, but it doesn’t affect them.

2: Add an incubation period. During the incubation period, the disease can still spread, but it won’t effect the host.