Broken Beat & Scarred - A Guide to playing Spellscarred Characters
"I am no hero. Merely a man who has seen and done and endured what can never be forgotten or forgiven." - Erik Lehnsherr
This is an Updated and Expanded guide based on the one by Seeker_Of_Truth. Spellscars are a great way to add flavour to your PC, beyond that, those who delve into the magic inherent in their scars can develop surprisingly potent powers. But ... everything has a price.
I play exclusively spellscarred characters, so hopefully this guide will highlight some of the more creative aspects of these options. Mostly, I just want to be cool and post a guide
Even though no class rates (nor should they) using Spellscar options as "must-have" I'm still going to make use of lordduskblade's color coded rankings.
Gold: Not taking this is wasting your potential
Sky blue: Likely better than any other Class Power
Blue: A Good power, worth the feat
Black: You could do worse
Violet: You need a very good reason for taking this
Red: No. Just No.
What is a Spellscar anyway?
Spellscars are a player option from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. One Hundred Years ago the Goddess of Magic was killed and the raw magic that had been constrained within the Goddess swept through the planes as what is called the Spellplague. Flesh, stone, magic, space, and perhaps even the flow of time were infected and changed.
Spellscars are usually gained when creatures come too close to a plagueland, though sometimes they afflict beings who have never had any contact with rampant magic. Sometimes a spellscar is a physical abnormality, but more often it is an intangible mark that appears only when its power is activated. An active spellscar might appear as jagged cracks of blue light racing across the forearms and hands, a corona of cerulean flame, a blazing blue glyph on the forehead, or perhaps even wings of cobalt flame. In all instances, blue fire is a sure indicator of a spellscar.
If you want your character to have a spellscar, you can choose this option when you create your character—or you can add a spellscar later, after consulting with your Dungeon Master.
Spellscarred Susceptibility: A spellscarred creature takes a –2 penalty to all defenses and saving
throws against the Spellplague and the same penalty against plaguechanged or spellscarred creatures.
Spellplague Sense: A spellscarred creature knows when an area of Spellplague, or a plaguechanged or spellscarred creature, is within 5 squares of him or her.
This Guide is Split into 3 sections:
Part 1: Powers and Paragon Paths
Part 2: Feats
Part 3: Builds featuring Spellscar Options