Spellbane skill
Skill 'spellbane', a clan skill of the Battleragers.
- Execution delay: 3 seconds.
- Costs: moves 20.
Format: spellbane
The oath of rage binds every warrior of the Battleragers to the gods of Fury: no spells, no scrolls, wands or staves, no magic gear, no public healers. In return the gods wrap the warrior in an aura of rage, the old spellbane. It deflects magic cast at the warrior and burns the caster who tried it, and it returns by itself whenever it fades, so the command is rarely needed.
The aura grows with devotion, that is, with your clan rank. A recruit's aura catches only some of the spells aimed at him, and he may still touch a little magic: a potion, a pill, a magic portal, a word of an ancient language. The aura fights even that magic -- it hurts every time and sometimes burns the magic away before it works. As the rank grows, the aura catches more and the oath takes more away: first portals and ancient languages, and at the top even potions and the deck. A zealot of the highest ranks deflects most magic and touches none.
Spells that sweep the whole room are harder to catch than spells aimed at you, but the aura may still turn them aside, and every warrior it spares strikes back at the caster. Summons, gates and other magic that moves or reaches you are caught like any other spell.
Prayers are not quite magic: they are the gods answering. Offensive prayers of foreign gods pass through a recruit, but the aura of a seasoned warrior starts to turn them aside too. Blessings are accepted only from a priest of the gods of Fury, and only the ones that serve the body: healing, cures, refresh, frenzy. Recruits accept all of these, warriors of the middle ranks only cures, zealots nothing at all. No warrior of the Battleragers ever accepts a magic shield such as sanctuary, from anyone.
Clerics and paladins who worship the gods of Fury may take the oath too. They keep only the prayers the gods of Fury answer and never rise above the middle ranks. Whenever a member's aura turns away hostile magic, those of them standing by regain some mana from it. Mental attacks are not magic and always pass.