Chapter Three: Betrayal of Flesh
You cannot perform Chaos Surgery procedures on yourself. Special: In addition to the Intelligence modifier, a character’s Wisdom modifier also applies to Chaos Surgery checks. However, you must invert the Wisdom modifier, so that a bonus acts as a penalty and a penalty acts as a bonus. A character with a –1 Wisdom penalty adds 1 to his Chaos Surgery check. A character with a +2 Wisdom bonus subtracts 2 from his Chaos Surgery check. Special: A character with 5 ranks in the Heal skill gains a +2 synergy bonus to Chaos Surgery checks.
The Madness of Chaositech Working with chaositech drives mortals insane. The mortal mind was not created to truly understand the nature of chaos. From a mortal perspective, mastery of such knowledge is truly impossible. Each time a character performs a Chaos Surgery procedure, he must make a Will saving throw (DC 15 + the number of other procedures completed that same day). A character who fails the save suffers 1 point of Wisdom drain. Ironically, this Wisdom drain actually improves one’s bonus to use Chaos Surgery, but it also makes the character less likely to save successfully during the next procedure. This Wisdom drain is special, as well, because the loss does not affect the spellcasting abilities of chaotically aligned clerics. Characters who lose all their remaining Wisdom while working on chaositech go insane. The exact nature of the insanity is up to the DM, but it should be dramatic: raving, homicidal mania, complete catatonia, and so on.
Abominations of Chaos It is usually very obvious that creatures who undergo these chaositech procedures have been altered by chaos. The hands of the chaositech surgeon are nowhere near as gentle or artful as nature, so signs of the surgery are clear: Terrible scars, visible stitchwork, and metal pins to hold body parts in place are all common. Additions to one’s body that are visible from the outside never match the body to which they are attached. They are cruder, often twisted or discolored. Intrinsic chaositech additions and enhancements often incorporate inorganic materials such as steel, wires, or tubing, into the host’s body as well. In most civilized areas, a chaositech host suffers a –2 circumstance penalty to Diplomacy and Gather Information checks. If the performance is visual in nature, Perform checks may also suffer the same penalty. The hideous appearance of post-operative chaositech recipients turns many away and brands them as abominations in some people’s eyes.
Body Implants Body implants are additions made to a creature’s physical form through surgical procedures. They are always additions, never replacements (see page 53). Body implants are usually made of grown flesh components, but they sometimes incorporate steel plates, wire, tubes, or other inorganic parts. Arachnid Covey: This implant fits just under the host’s skin, leaving a hemispherical lump about 3 inches across. The lump has a small opening, from which crawl tiny spiders. The spiders instinctively obey the host’s telepathic commands. The most they can do, however, is swarm over one creature that the host touches. A swarmed foe who fails a Will save (DC 16) suffers a –2 circumstance penalty on attacks, saves, and checks from the revulsion and distraction, assuming he is size Huge or smaller (larger foes go unaffected). Further, after a full round, the foe must make a Fortitude save (DC 16) from the cumulative poisonous spider bites. Primary and secondary damage is 1 point of Dexterity. No matter how long the spiders swarm over a foe, the poison is a threat only once. A foe can jump into water (or do something similar) to rid himself of the spiders. Likewise, if he spends a full 3 rounds doing nothing but swatting and brushing away spiders (and defending himself), they are gone. Spiders expelled in this way are gone and no longer respond to the host. If the host does not order them back before the foe deals with them, it takes one week to spawn new ones. To command the spiders to return, the host must touch the target they are swarming. The host cannot have them swarm a new foe until they have returned to the covey for at least 2 rounds. A host can have no more than one arachnid covey. Chaos Surgery DC 19; Procedure Time two hours; Recovery Period five days; Price 8,000 gp Back-Up Organ: This implant resembles nothing more than a large slug placed within the body cavity of the host, where it lives like a parasite until needed. When the host sustains a wound so terrible that one of his organs is damaged (a wound that puts him over his massive damage threshold), the creature secretes powerful healing fluids to help heal the wound, then transforms itself into a relative facsimile of the damaged organ, moving into place to replace it. The wound is healed instantly, as if it had never happened, and the host need make no saving throw for the massive damage. The back-up organ functions once, and a host can have only one at a time. Chaos Surgery DC 22; Procedure Time one hour; Recovery Period two days; Price 3,000 gp
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