Post by Lady Frost on Oct 16, 2020 18:47:48 GMT -5
After having Lavina shown a place that's supposed to be pretty evil, I went looking back for this info. I thought I'd post it for others. It's from the Book of Vile Darkness, pg 35/36
Lingering Effect of Evil
Great acts of evil and towering amounts of sin take a huge toll on the people involved, and the evil often lingers in the location where it manifested. Worse, the echoes of evil remain even when the evil itself is gone. Powerful evil can change a creature’s body and soul, and acts of foul malevolence can mar a location or an important object forever. The lingering effects of evil are based loosely on the level of evil involved. Creatures, locations, and objects can be marked with one of four degrees of evil: a bad feeling, a lasting evil, a great and powerful malevolence, or darkness like the world has never seen before.
--A BAD FEELING--
Even a short act of violence or a minor act of evil can have lingering effects after the event has passed. This type of evil can mentally scar a person who experiences or watches a horrible event. It can leave a sinister mark in a location where some act of evil once occurred. These events can also cause undead to rise of their own volition: A ghost might haunt the place of its murder, or a mohrg could linger in the spot where it was wronged. Acts that can cause this degree of lingering evil include the following.
• A gruesome, bloodthirsty murder.
• The proclamation of a foul edict, such as one that mandates the murder of infants to keep a new king from being born.
• A single sacrifice to an evil god or fiend.
• The animation of dozens of undead creatures.
• Abuse, starvation, and mistreatment of captives.
• Casting a permanent or long-lasting spell with the evil descriptor.
A bad feeling shows its effects in the following ways.
Creatures: People can have nightmares after exposure to this degree of evil, but there are usually no lasting physical effects. Certain types of undead can rise after even a single act of wrongdoing. The spectre of a murder victim might linger where he was slain, for example.
Locations: Being the site of a grisly murder or sacrifice gives an area a feeling of slight wrongness. Sometimes, undead or evil outsiders in such a place gain the effect of a bless spell.
Objects: This degree of evil usually has no effect on objects.
Detect Evil: Usually, detect evil does not register an aura of evil associated with creatures, locations, or objects exposed to this degree of evil, but people can sometimes sense a cold chill in tainted locations.
--A LASTING EVIL--
Evil events so great that they last for a long time are few and far between. This degree of evil requires true malice and intentionally committed foul deeds. Some events of lasting evil include the following.
• Building an evil temple.
• Multiple sacrifices to an evil god or fiend.
• Summoning multiple fiends.
• Committing a mass murder or storing the grisly trophies of such a crime.
• Multiple possessions of innocents.
• The long-term presence of a lich, nightshade, or other powerful undead.
• The long-term presence of an evil outsider on the Material Plane.
A lasting evil shows its effects in the following ways.
Creatures: People exposed to this degree of evil may have nightmares, neuroses, or more serious psychological disorders.
Locations: The site of a horrible evil event almost always has lasting effects. These effects might include the following.
• An unnatural chill throughout the area.
• The absence of plant life.
• The place is full of unnerving sounds: moans, whispers, and the occasional disembodied scream.
• A cold wind blows all the time.
Objects: An object exposed to this degree of evil might display one or more of the following changes.
• Object becomes darker or paler in color.
• Object becomes warped in shape.
• Object becomes unnaturally cold.
• Object becomes possessed by outsiders.
Detect Evil: Detect evil registers a faint evil aura surrounding a location or object involved in the event. Creatures involved do not gain an evil aura, but they may have had one already.
--A GREAT AND POWERFUL MALEVOLENCE--
Only a few events involving this degree of evil exist in an entire world, unless your campaign world is a particularly evil place. These are events of true and terrible evil, which include the following.
• Building a portal to the Lower Planes.
• Bringing powerful fiends to an evil temple on the Material Plane.
• Committing daily multiple sacrifices over hundreds of years at an evil temple or altar.
• The presence of an evil god walking the Material Plane.
A great and powerful malevolence shows its effects in the following ways.
Creatures: Besides suffering psychological trauma, creatures exposed to this degree of evil can be changed physically. Depending on the circumstances, a creature may gain the fiendish or half-fiend template. Other physical changes don’t involve templates, but are still dramatic. They include the following.
• Creature’s hair turns white.
• Creature’s flesh turns pale.
• Creature’s flesh becomes unnaturally cold.
• Creature’s eyes turn black or red.
• Creature takes on a foul odor.
• Neutral creatures become evil.
• Creatures are possessed.
Locations: An evil event of this magnitude always leaves a mark on the landscape, which might manifest in one or more of the following ways.
• Evil weather develops.
• Natural healing becomes impossible in the area.
• Good-aligned area spells such as hallow, consecrate, and magic circle against evil are impossible to cast in the location.
Objects: An object exposed to such evil might experience the following changes.
• Object takes on a faint greenish glow.
• Object has a foul odor.
• Object has strange images burned into or somehow appearing on its surface: leering demons, ghostly faces, or other symbols of evil.
• Object’s structure weakens, with hardness and hit points reduced by 1.
• Object carries an infection (choose a disease at random).
Detect Evil: Detect evil always indicates an evil aura surrounding a location where an event of this degree of evil occurred or an object was exposed to it. Creatures involved might have a slight evil aura clinging to them for 1d10×10 hours afterward.
--DARKNESS LIKE THE WORLD HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE--
Generally unique in all the world, such an event scars the nature of reality. Such a scar will probably never heal. The worst of all fell events might include the following.
• An act of genocide.
• The birth of an evil god.
• The murder of a god, demigod, or legendary hero of light.
Darkness like the world has never seen before shows its effects in the following ways.
Creatures: Severe psychological trauma and physical changes are likely in the wake of such powerful evil. Possible changes include the following.
• Creature has a faint greenish glow.
• Creature is sickened.
• Creature takes a –2 inherent penalty to one ability score.
• Creature’s touch causes minor pain, dealing 1 point of damage.
• Animals avoid the presence of the creature if possible.
• Creature gains Evil Brand as a bonus feat, whether desired or not.
• Creature is horribly mutated physically, gaining Willing Deformity as a bonus feat.
• Creature’s blood becomes acidic; it is immune to damage from its own blood.
• Creature’s body breaks out in boils that ooze poison.
• Creature gains the corrupted template (see Chapter 8).
Locations: The site of an evil this horrific is forever marred. Such a vortex of evil might demonstrate some of the following properties.
• An unhallow spell spreads throughout the area. Dispelling the unhallow effect only suppresses it for 1d4 rounds.
• Abefoul or despoil spell spreads throughout the area.
• The landscape changes significantly, often forming a huge rift or crater or draining a large body of water.
• Weather patterns change forever; overcast skies, cold winds, and rain dominate.
Objects: An object exposed to such evil may have one of the following taints.
• Touching the object causes pain, dealing 1 point of damage.
• Object becomes an evil artifact.
Detect Evil: Detect evil always indicates a strong evil aura surrounding a place where a dread event happened or an object was exposed to it. Creatures involved have a slight evil aura clinging to them for 1d10×10 days afterward.
Lingering Effect of Evil
Great acts of evil and towering amounts of sin take a huge toll on the people involved, and the evil often lingers in the location where it manifested. Worse, the echoes of evil remain even when the evil itself is gone. Powerful evil can change a creature’s body and soul, and acts of foul malevolence can mar a location or an important object forever. The lingering effects of evil are based loosely on the level of evil involved. Creatures, locations, and objects can be marked with one of four degrees of evil: a bad feeling, a lasting evil, a great and powerful malevolence, or darkness like the world has never seen before.
--A BAD FEELING--
Even a short act of violence or a minor act of evil can have lingering effects after the event has passed. This type of evil can mentally scar a person who experiences or watches a horrible event. It can leave a sinister mark in a location where some act of evil once occurred. These events can also cause undead to rise of their own volition: A ghost might haunt the place of its murder, or a mohrg could linger in the spot where it was wronged. Acts that can cause this degree of lingering evil include the following.
• A gruesome, bloodthirsty murder.
• The proclamation of a foul edict, such as one that mandates the murder of infants to keep a new king from being born.
• A single sacrifice to an evil god or fiend.
• The animation of dozens of undead creatures.
• Abuse, starvation, and mistreatment of captives.
• Casting a permanent or long-lasting spell with the evil descriptor.
A bad feeling shows its effects in the following ways.
Creatures: People can have nightmares after exposure to this degree of evil, but there are usually no lasting physical effects. Certain types of undead can rise after even a single act of wrongdoing. The spectre of a murder victim might linger where he was slain, for example.
Locations: Being the site of a grisly murder or sacrifice gives an area a feeling of slight wrongness. Sometimes, undead or evil outsiders in such a place gain the effect of a bless spell.
Objects: This degree of evil usually has no effect on objects.
Detect Evil: Usually, detect evil does not register an aura of evil associated with creatures, locations, or objects exposed to this degree of evil, but people can sometimes sense a cold chill in tainted locations.
--A LASTING EVIL--
Evil events so great that they last for a long time are few and far between. This degree of evil requires true malice and intentionally committed foul deeds. Some events of lasting evil include the following.
• Building an evil temple.
• Multiple sacrifices to an evil god or fiend.
• Summoning multiple fiends.
• Committing a mass murder or storing the grisly trophies of such a crime.
• Multiple possessions of innocents.
• The long-term presence of a lich, nightshade, or other powerful undead.
• The long-term presence of an evil outsider on the Material Plane.
A lasting evil shows its effects in the following ways.
Creatures: People exposed to this degree of evil may have nightmares, neuroses, or more serious psychological disorders.
Locations: The site of a horrible evil event almost always has lasting effects. These effects might include the following.
• An unnatural chill throughout the area.
• The absence of plant life.
• The place is full of unnerving sounds: moans, whispers, and the occasional disembodied scream.
• A cold wind blows all the time.
Objects: An object exposed to this degree of evil might display one or more of the following changes.
• Object becomes darker or paler in color.
• Object becomes warped in shape.
• Object becomes unnaturally cold.
• Object becomes possessed by outsiders.
Detect Evil: Detect evil registers a faint evil aura surrounding a location or object involved in the event. Creatures involved do not gain an evil aura, but they may have had one already.
--A GREAT AND POWERFUL MALEVOLENCE--
Only a few events involving this degree of evil exist in an entire world, unless your campaign world is a particularly evil place. These are events of true and terrible evil, which include the following.
• Building a portal to the Lower Planes.
• Bringing powerful fiends to an evil temple on the Material Plane.
• Committing daily multiple sacrifices over hundreds of years at an evil temple or altar.
• The presence of an evil god walking the Material Plane.
A great and powerful malevolence shows its effects in the following ways.
Creatures: Besides suffering psychological trauma, creatures exposed to this degree of evil can be changed physically. Depending on the circumstances, a creature may gain the fiendish or half-fiend template. Other physical changes don’t involve templates, but are still dramatic. They include the following.
• Creature’s hair turns white.
• Creature’s flesh turns pale.
• Creature’s flesh becomes unnaturally cold.
• Creature’s eyes turn black or red.
• Creature takes on a foul odor.
• Neutral creatures become evil.
• Creatures are possessed.
Locations: An evil event of this magnitude always leaves a mark on the landscape, which might manifest in one or more of the following ways.
• Evil weather develops.
• Natural healing becomes impossible in the area.
• Good-aligned area spells such as hallow, consecrate, and magic circle against evil are impossible to cast in the location.
Objects: An object exposed to such evil might experience the following changes.
• Object takes on a faint greenish glow.
• Object has a foul odor.
• Object has strange images burned into or somehow appearing on its surface: leering demons, ghostly faces, or other symbols of evil.
• Object’s structure weakens, with hardness and hit points reduced by 1.
• Object carries an infection (choose a disease at random).
Detect Evil: Detect evil always indicates an evil aura surrounding a location where an event of this degree of evil occurred or an object was exposed to it. Creatures involved might have a slight evil aura clinging to them for 1d10×10 hours afterward.
--DARKNESS LIKE THE WORLD HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE--
Generally unique in all the world, such an event scars the nature of reality. Such a scar will probably never heal. The worst of all fell events might include the following.
• An act of genocide.
• The birth of an evil god.
• The murder of a god, demigod, or legendary hero of light.
Darkness like the world has never seen before shows its effects in the following ways.
Creatures: Severe psychological trauma and physical changes are likely in the wake of such powerful evil. Possible changes include the following.
• Creature has a faint greenish glow.
• Creature is sickened.
• Creature takes a –2 inherent penalty to one ability score.
• Creature’s touch causes minor pain, dealing 1 point of damage.
• Animals avoid the presence of the creature if possible.
• Creature gains Evil Brand as a bonus feat, whether desired or not.
• Creature is horribly mutated physically, gaining Willing Deformity as a bonus feat.
• Creature’s blood becomes acidic; it is immune to damage from its own blood.
• Creature’s body breaks out in boils that ooze poison.
• Creature gains the corrupted template (see Chapter 8).
Locations: The site of an evil this horrific is forever marred. Such a vortex of evil might demonstrate some of the following properties.
• An unhallow spell spreads throughout the area. Dispelling the unhallow effect only suppresses it for 1d4 rounds.
• Abefoul or despoil spell spreads throughout the area.
• The landscape changes significantly, often forming a huge rift or crater or draining a large body of water.
• Weather patterns change forever; overcast skies, cold winds, and rain dominate.
Objects: An object exposed to such evil may have one of the following taints.
• Touching the object causes pain, dealing 1 point of damage.
• Object becomes an evil artifact.
Detect Evil: Detect evil always indicates a strong evil aura surrounding a place where a dread event happened or an object was exposed to it. Creatures involved have a slight evil aura clinging to them for 1d10×10 days afterward.
