Silent Accord
(Enchantment/Charm)
Level: 7
Range: 30 yds.
Components: M
Duration: 1 turn/level; Special
Casting Time: 7
Area of Effect: One creature
Saving Throw: None
When the wizard casts silent accord, he influences the actions of the target creature within 30 yards by silent act of will alone. If the target is a living being with an Intelligence of 3 or more, it is automatically affected; no saving throw is allowed (but magic resistance still has a chance to negate the effects of the spell, as usual). This influence cannot go so far as to require the creature to immediately end its own life; however, the suggestion that the caster is actually a friend and that the target’s erstwhile companions are secretly hated enemies is another matter. Urging an affected creature that a sharp plane of lightlessness is only harmless darkness, rather than the surface of a sphere of annihilation is likewise a reasonable use of the spell’s power.
The caster need not understand the spoken language of the spell target; however, the caster must make clear to the DM the intended effects of the silent accord. Overly convoluted commands (as determined by the DM) or commands that obviously exceed the duration of the spell are simply ignored.
More insidiously, the next spell cast by the wizard at the target automatically affects a target that is successfully affected by silent accord; the target automatically fails any saving throw normally allowed against this second spell, even for such destructive spells as fireball or phantasmal killer. The secondary effect lingers irrespective of the primary effect’s duration of one turn per level; 10 years could conceivably pass before the wizard once again casts a spell upon the original target. Some consider this secondary effect the most powerful component of the spell.
The material component of this spell is a small figure carved of crystal (worth at least 300 gp) that the caster grips in one fist while casting the spell; the statue is consumed when the spell is successfully cast. The statue must generally depict the creature to be affected for the spell to work (i.e., the crystal figure must be humanoid to affect an elf, dwarf, or human, while the figure would have to depict a dragon for a dragon of any species to fall sway to silent accord).
Notes: Found in the codex of silence; very rare spell.
