Pulling up a clump of blackgrass does not kill it or negate its baleful effect, and the grass regrows in 1d4 days. Only digging up the entire root system—or destroying the plant with a blight or similar spell—can prevent it from regrowing.
Blood Rock
CHAPTER 4
In certain places, the very essence of war and violence suffuses the earth or stone. Found naturally in ancient battlefields and certain outer planes, blood rock can be extracted from such areas and used to infuse other locations with the same violent essence. Whether occurring naturally or transplanted, blood rock causes weapons to strike harder, claws to tear deeper, and blood to flow more freely. An area of blood rock increases the lethality of any attack made by a creature standing in that area. Double the threat range of all attacks made within an area affected by blood rock. To gain this benefit, a creature must be touching the Night Stone ground in the affected area . This increase in threat range This stone is infused with raw negative energy. A living does not stack with the increased threat range from the creature within 5 feet of a floor, wall, or statue formed of Improved Critical feat, the keen edge spell, or the keen night stone takes 1d6 points of damage per round. A death weapon property. ward spell protects a character from this damage. Deliberately seeding an area with blood rock requires 5 pounds of blood rock for every 5-foot square to be affected. HAUNTING PRESENCES Simply carrying 5 pounds of blood rock around in your pockSometimes when undead are created they come into being ets is not enough to gain the benefits of its presence, although without a physical form and are merely presences of malign it might be enough to cause the character carrying it to gain evil. Haunting presences usually occur as the result of atrotaint. Blood rock must be placed in an area for a period of at cious crimes. Tied to particular locations or objects, these least 48 hours before its presence permeates the area. Blood beings might reveal their unquiet natures only indirectly, rock can be gathered and moved, although it then requires at least at fi rst. another 48 hours to take effect in its new location. As a haunting presence, an undead is impossible to affect Tainted Blood Rock: Indistinguishable from normal or even sense directly. A haunting presence is more fleeting blood rock except that it radiates a moderate aura of evil, than undead who appear as incorporeal ghosts or wraiths, or tainted blood rock is suffused with hatred and evil as well as even those undead enterprising enough to range the Ethereal violence. A character who scores a critical hit while standing Plane. Each haunting presence is tied to an object or location on tainted blood rock must make a successful DC 25 Fortitude and can only be dispelled by exorcism (see Exorcising a save or have his corruption score increase by 1. Haunting Presence, page 71) or the destruction of the object or location. Despite having no physicality, each haunting Charnel Bog presence still possesses the identity of a specific kind of Often formed at the sites of great battles where water has come undead. For instance, one haunting presence might be similar in to cover the wasted land, charnel bogs are both horrible and to a vampire, while another is more like a wraith. deadly. Pale grasses grow on desolate islands in the midst of The Haunting: Whenever an undead appears as a haunting presence, it haunts an unattended, mundane object or these bogs, but no living animals inhabit charnel bogs. location. The DM, using the same decision-making process Such an aura of evil pervades a charnel bog that certain magic is impeded within its borders. Characters attemptas for populating an area with a standard monster, chooses an unattended, mundane object or location as the subject of ing to cast a spell with the good or healing descriptor must a haunting presence. The DM also determines the variety attempt a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level) or lose the of undead (skeleton, zombie, wraith, or whatever) that spell. Turning checks made to turn undead take a –4 penalty within a charnel bog, and turning checks to rebuke undead serves as the source of the haunting presence. An undead gain a +4 profane bonus, as if an unhallow spell encompassed can haunt a discrete object of at least Tiny size and no larger than Huge size. Items (both magical and mundane) the bog. currently in the possession of a character (often referred to Characters camping within a charnel bog find their sleep troubled by nightmares. They are unable to rest properly, and as attended items) cannot be haunted. Unattended magic items receive a saving throw as if a spell were being cast morning finds them fatigued and unable to regain arcane or divine spells with the good descriptor for the next 24 upon the item (DC 10 + 1/2 the undead’s HD + the undead’s hours. They regain no hit points from their night spent Cha modifier). in the bog. A haunting presence becomes a part of the object or locaFinally, characters whose travels take them on long treks tion haunted. Haunting presences are always aware of what through a charnel bog fi nd it sapping their will and even is going on around the object that they haunt. They can see robbing them of their desire to leave the place. They experiand hear up to 60 feet away (but do not gain blindsight). A ence increasing apathy and despair, a dulling of their senses, haunting presence cannot be turned, rebuked, or destroyed
RULES OF HORROR
and a growing feeling of paranoia. At the conclusion of every week spent in a charnel bog, any living creature must succeed on a Will saving throw (DC 10 + the number of consecutive weeks spent in the bog). Failure indicates that the character has lost all will to continue on her journey. She cannot leave the bog of her own volition and has no desire to do so. All memories of her previous life slowly fade into nothingness, and a limited wish, miracle, or wish spell is required to return the character to normal. Other Hazards: Charnel bogs often manifest signs of a haunting (see below). Disease is also common in charnel bogs, including inhaled diseases such as cackle fever and mindfire. Also, some charnel bogs are suffused with taint, so that a character entering the bog must make a DC 25 Fortitude save. If he fails, his corruption score increases by 1d3. Even on a successful save, his corruption score increases by 1.
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