Rules for Black Lotus use...

Went looking for these rules for Black Lotus, realized I no longer had them on any of my computers, and thanked my lucky stars I had posted them on another blog long ago (and had not deleted the blog, merely hidden it).

 

So here are rules for using black lotus pollen (burned upon coals in a brazier).

BLACK LOTUS
Cost: 250 gp per ounce of unrefined pollen (provides one hour’s fumes in a five foot radius).

Native Location (Greyhawk): The Vast Swamp, Tilvanot Peninsula, Hepmonaland, and the Amedio Jungle, as well as islands of the Densac Gulf and points south and southwest.

Native Location (Wilderlands): Roglaras (Deadroot Marsh), Altanis (Eyestones Jungle), Desert Lands (Underwing Jungle), Ebony Coast (Shimmersink Marsh), Lenap (Jungle of the Sweet Smelling Death), Sea of Five Winds (Hutamah Jungle), Tula (Tulamite jungles and marshes), Ament Tundra (Chamfly Forest), Southern Reaches (Dark Castle Marsh).

Unrefined black lotus pollen, burnt upon a brazier of coals to create a cloud of blackish-green smoke, is used as a magical soporific that enhances magical power (the arcane power of magic-users, not the divinely-granted power of clerics). A single ounce fills a five foot radius area; all within who breathe of it for even but a moment must make a saving throw versus death magic or fall into a deep, death-like slumber. Those caught in this magical slumber are virtually impossible to rouse. Only heavy shaking or physical damage has a chance of rousing one so stupefied. If so treated while the source remains fuming in their presence, the sleeper must make another saving throw versus death magic, at -1 per two hours in slumber, or remain in the black lotus slumber. Only one such save may be made per hour. Once the source is removed from the sleeper’s presence, the sleeper can be easily awakened, and naturally awakens and regains clarity of mind after five minutes per hour of sleep minus the sleeper’s Constitution score.

No less than one ounce of the pollen is efficacious; this causes one hour of slumber. More pollen applied to the brazier either extends the period of slumber or expands the fumes, at the choice of the applicant. Each additional ounce beyond the first expands the radius by five feet (i.e., 10 feet with two ounces, 15 feet at three, and so forth). Most magic-users only use more to create a wider circle when they prepare the material as a trap. Many magic-users spend days or a week or more engaged in the black-lotus slumber; if they are not cared for by servants, they can dehydrate or even starve.

While sleeping under the fumes of the black lotus, the sleeper has terrible nightmares. For the uninitiated, these seem nothing more than horrific dreams; the reality is that a part of their spirit travels forth unto dark planes, strange realms of time and space, and there witnesses terrible events, past, present, and future. Sometimes the dreams are germane to the individual and his specific situation, but most of the time they are peripheral at best or simply mind-numbingly horrific at worst. Other than the dangers inherent in being magically asleep, though, non-magic-users have nothing to fear from the fumes of the black lotus.

Magic-users, though, with their trained minds and arcane power, may channel the lotus’ dark energies and focus the spirit travel capabilities inherent in the fumes to expand their arcane power. Use of the black lotus allows various uses of the dark energies and knowledge generated thereby on the part of the magic-user. As with normal spell memorization and study, any interruption of the use of the black lotus spoils all effort prior to that point. The difficulty, of course, is raising the magic-user from the black-lotus slumber!

First, black lotus allows a magic-user to memorize spells without prior rest. Each spell merely requires double the normal amount of time spent “in study” whilst breathing the smoke of the incense, and the spell will be memorized. The magic-user need not study his spell book, he must merely have it in his presence (i.e., in hand or in the same room), as the black lotus allows his mind to access the spell book directly in spirit form. Thus, a 1st level spell can be memorized in 30 minutes, a 2nd level spell in an hour, and so forth. Remember, though, that even a minimal use of the black lotus requires one hour of slumber!

Secondly, the black lotus allows the magic-user to “overcharge” on memorized spells, up to one additional spell of each spell level known. The magic-user must first have his full, normal complement of spells memorized. He must also have his normal rest. He then must spend one hour in black lotus slumber per spell level of spell to be overcharged, i.e., one hour for a 1st level spell, two hours for a 2nd, three hours for a 3rd, and so on.

The downside of overcharging spells is that the energy to overcharge must come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the negative material plane! As such, overcharging spells can gain the magic-user the unwanted attention of demons, devils, undead, and other creatures who crave those dark energies! Every time a magic-user uses black lotus to overcharge, he gains a point of Dark Energy per level of spell overcharged (in the example above, the magic-user would gain six points in one sitting). Every time the magic-user uses a spell overcharged with this energy, the DM must roll percentile dice against the magic-user’s new total Dark Energy; rolling less than or equal to the Dark Energy total indicates the magic-user has captured the attention of a potent demon, devil, undead, or similar being. Consult the Dark Stalker table below; the roll to determine if the magic-user gains a creature’s attention determines the creature or creatures that begin stalking the magic-user. Note that if the creature does not normally have the ability to teleport, it will gain the ability to teleport itself to the magic-user’s location when the magic-user is engaged in black lotus slumber. The creature will form in the fumes of the black lotus, upon which the magic-user will awaken to see his nightmares become reality…

The creature thus attracted to the magic-user will seek him out across the cosmos to drain his Dark Energy and his tainted soul! Some creatures bide their time and observe the magic-user on the material plane, where they might gain some advantage. Other creatures, especially the less intelligent and bestial types, make direct attacks against the magic-user’s spirit while engaged in the black lotus slumber. In this spirit form the magic-user has all spells that he has memorized and all magic-items that he had upon his body at the time he entered the black lotus slumber. If he is slain in spirit form, the body dies, usually in a manner most horrible and with a great many wounds mimicking those suffered by the body, and his spirit is either consumed or taken prisoner; no form of raise dead or resurrection will work upon the magic-user without the accompaniment of a wish spell or similar magic to restore the soul from destruction or entrapment.

When a creature is thus attracted to the magic-user, subtract from his Dark Energy total the value of the roll; if a magic-user had a total Dark Energy of 12, and the DM rolled a 9, the Dark Energy of the magic-user thereafter will be merely 3. Also, subtract from the magic-user’s currently memorized spells a total number of levels equal to the roll, determined randomly, though overcharged spells go first; the magic-user feels this drain as a cold shadow upon his soul, and knows as he casts the spell that he has broken the barriers between worlds and caught the attention of… something. What exactly, though, he will not know, perhaps until it is too late…

1 ..... NPC Magic-user**

2 ..... Demon, Manes

3 ..... Devil, Nupperibo

4 ..... Devil, Lemure

5 ..... Berbalang

6 ..... Demon, Dretch

7 ..... Shadow Mastiff

8 ..... Devil, Spined

9 ..... Hell Hound

10 ... Gibbering Mouther

11 ... Grue, Harginn

12 ... Grue, Ildriss

13 ... Mi-Go

14 ... Shadow Dragon

15 ... Son of Kyuss

16 ... Yeth Hound

17 ... Piscodaemon

18 ... Demon, Rutterkin

19 ... Devil, Imp

20 ... Demon, Quasit

21 ... Shadow

22 ... Grue, Charggrin

23 ... Wight

24 ... Wraith

25 ... Rakshasa

26 ... Salamander

27 ... Devil, Abishai

28 ... Devil, Erinyes

29 ... Hellcat

30 ... Penanggalan

31 ... Slaad, Red

32 ... Spider, Phase

33 ... Yuan-Ti

34 ... Devil, Bearded

35 ... Djinn

36 ... Drelb

37 ... Great Race of Yith

38 ... Grue, Varrdig

39 ... Hordling

40 ... Nightmare

41 ... Primordial One

42 ... Shadow Demon

43 ... Troll, Spirit

44 ... Spectre

45 ... Demon, Babau

46 ... Demon, Bar-Lgura

47 ... Demon, Hezrou

48 ... Demon, Succubus

49 ... Demon, Vrock

50 ... Naga, Spirit

51 ... Slaad, Blue

52 ... Bodak

53 ... Cthuga's Flame Creature

54 ... Dao

55 ... Demon, Glabrezu

56 ... Demon, Nabassu

57 ... Devil, Barbed

58 ... Devil, Bone

59 ... Devil, Horned

60 ... Devil, Styx

61 ... Efreeti

62 ... Groaning Spirit

63 ... Invisible Stalker

64 ... Mezzodaemon

65 ... Night Hag

66 ... Yochlol

67 ... Demon, Alu

68 ... Shade

69 ... Vampire

70 ... Charonadaemon

71 ... Hydrodaemon

72 ... Demon, Nalfeshnee

73 ... Ghost

74 ... Slaad, Green

75 ... Barghest

76 ... Demodand, Farastu

77 ... Demon, Cambion

78 ... Demon, Chasme

79 ... Demon, Marilith

80 ... Devil, Ice

81 ... Marid

82 ... Xag-ya

83 ... Xeg-yi

84 ... Derghodaemon

85 ... Yagnodaemon

86 ... Ultrodaemon

87 ... Nycadaemon

88 ... Titan, Lesser

89 ... Arcanadaemon

90 ... Byakhee

91 ... Demilich

92 ... Demodand, Shator

93 ... Demon, Balor

94 ... Devil, Pit Fiend

95 ... Shoggoth

96 ... Slaad, Grey

97 ... Titan, Major

98 ... Slaad, Death

99 ... Lich

100 ... Archdevil, Daemon Lord, Demi-God, Demon Prince, Elder Titan, Old One, Prince of Elemental Evil, or Slaad Lord of DM's choice.

* 75% of the time only one creature of the rolled type begins stalking the magic-user; the rest of the time, roll the normal number of such creatures encountered, and ALL begin stalking the magic-user…

** When a magic-user is encountered, divide the Dark Energy of the PC magic-user by 10, rounding up, and add 1d6 to determine the level of the magic-user that begins stalking the PC magic-user.

 

 

Third and most potently, the use of the black lotus enables the magic-user to discover new spells and charge his spell book with that knowledge. The magic-user must engage in a black-lotus slumber for eight hours per spell level being sought. During this time his spirit wanders far and wide across the dark gulfs of the cosmos, seeking power and knowledge beyond human ken. At the end of this time the magic-user must roll his Chance to Know Spell; if successful, he has gained the knowledge of a new spell. If the roll is equal to or less than 10% of the base chance (rounded down), the magic-user may choose the spell; otherwise it is randomly determined by the DM. If random determination indicates that he learns a spell he already knows, then no new knowledge is gained, though due to the insights gained the magic-user forevermore casts that spell as though he were one level higher in ability. However, if the magic-user rolls equal to or above 10% of his failure chance (rounded up), or 00 in any case, he instead encounters some terrible creature upon the darker planes, and must escape it or defeat it before his spirit may return! In this case, roll randomly on the Dark Energy Stalker table to determine the creature encountered.

9 ........... 01-03 ...... 04-35 ........... 36-93 ............ 94-00

10-12 ... 01-04 ...... 05-45 ........... 46-94 ............ 95-00

13-14 ... 01-05 ...... 06-55 ........... 56-95 ............ 96-00

15-16 ... 01-06 ...... 07-65 ........... 66-96 ............ 97-00

17 ......... 01-07 ...... 08-75 ............ 76-97 ............ 98-00

18 ......... 01-08 ...... 09-85 ........... 86-98 ............ 99-00

19+ ...... 01-09 ...... 10-95 ............ 96-99 ............ 00

Finally, gaining a spell in such a fashion adds five times the level of the spell to the magic-user’s Dark Energy, and the roll must be made every time a spell gained in this fashion is used!