The Quintessential Chaos Mage
The Quintessential Chaos Mage front cover
| Author | Patrick Younts |
| Series | Quintessential Series |
| Publisher | Mongoose Publishing |
| Publish date | 2003 |
| Pages | 128 |
| ISBN | 1-904577-54-7 |
| OGL Section 15 | qcmg |
Note: Material in this section may be "mature" in nature.
The material below is designated as Open Game Content
The Path of Whispered Madness
Those who fall onto this path suffer radical changes to their minds, rather than their bodies. As chaos weaves through their thoughts and fills the crevices of their minds, they will discover that this path is no less deadly than the rest. Haunted by delusions, the mage must inevitably succumb to madness, sinking down into a private hell of his own imagining.
Step 1 – Whispers of Chaos
The chaos mage begins to hear mumbling voices at odd times, and he may find himself unconsciously muttering responses to voices only he can hear, or cocking his head to one side to better hear the whispering.
Step 2 – Chaotic Focus
On this step along the path, the character no longer hears voices. Instead, he now begins to fear that in his madness, he has missed something important, so he immediately begins to pay much closer attention to his immediate surroundings, often to the exclusion of everything else. Planning becomes difficult and the mage is often distracted by passing butterflies or flitting shadows.
The character gains a +2 bonus to Spot checks, but suffers a –2 penalty to Concentration checks.
Step 3 – Night Messages
The voices now return, stronger than ever, to haunt the chaos mage’s sleep. The voices whisper of past misdeeds, and future vile acts, assaulting the mage in the night with poisonous words that cast doubt upon his own actions.
During the day, the mage is irritable but strangely alert, continuing to watch the tiny and great events around him with an intensity that is disturbing. The character must rest two hours longer each night to be considered to have received full rest.
Step 4 – Paranoid Awareness
The character becomes confused and hyper-attentive, believing the voices he has heard are coming for him and will soon end his life, or that they have told him of plots against him by friends and enemies. While his attention is at its peak, his paranoia will lead to disastrous decisions. He becomes twitchy and refuses to sleep, often staying awake for days at a time, lest the voices come and ‘get’ him.
The character loses 2 points of Wisdom and his Intelligence is increased by 2. Strangely, the loss of Wisdom does not effect his spellcasting – he is considered to retain his original Wisdom score for the purposes of casting chaos magic.
Step 5 – Mark of Madness
Any character reaching this point on the Path of Whispered Madness is descending rapidly into madness, carrying on strange, animated conversations with phantoms and making terrifying, dire predictions of imminent doom. Living anything like a normal life is now impossible. The character is marked by tics and twitches, and reacts poorly to surprise.
When the character is surprised, he is unable to act in the surprise round or the following round.
Step 6 – Bleak Conclusion
The character is now certain that his death is imminent and spends an inordinate amount of time watching for real or perceived threats. He may disappear without warning for days or weeks at a time, and when he reappears, he will hint cryptically at having evaded ‘them’. Conversation with the character becomes effectively impossible, for all but the most patient and understanding.
The character suffers a -2 penalty to both his Charisma and his Wisdom, though again, the loss in Wisdom does not affect his ability to cast chaos magic.
Step 7 – Chaotic Ravings
Chaos mages now respond violently to their own illusions, shouting obscenities or speaking in gibberish. An obsession with the voices often leads to the character ignoring basic tasks such as hygiene and eating, further adding to his aura of insanity.
The character gains a further +2 bonus to Intelligence and gains a +4 bonus against all mind-affecting spells and spell-like effects – chaos has a grip on his mind, and it is a jealous master.
Step 8 – Preternatural Senses
Reality now holds little interest for the mage, and most of his time is spent conversing with, or listening to, the echoes of chaos continually babbling through his mind. Oddly, as the character withdraws from reality, his awareness of minor details becomes more acute, even as his mind tears itself apart.
The character gains a +2 competence bonus to Spot and Listen checks. However, he suffer a further –2 penalty to Wisdom, though again, the loss in Wisdom does not affect his ability to cast chaos magic.
Step 9 – Splintered Mind
Whatever sanity the character still held crumbles away once this step on the path is taken. The forces of chaos shatter his mind irrevocably, infusing each shard with its own fractured personality. The character’s memories and skills remain, put his personality and capabilities constantly change, depending on which personality charge has clawed its way to the surface.
Each day, the character loss 1d4 points randomly from one attribute, but also gains the same number of points in a different attribute. His babbling insanity makes it extremely hard to interact with the character and he cannot stop twitching – he suffers a –2 penalty on all Charisma and Dexterity-based skills.
Step 10 – Hellpocket
The final misfire of wild sorcery opens the character’s eyes to sanity and lucidity one last time. Then chaos pours forth from his body, closes around him and carries him away to a hell scooped from his own darkest imaginings. The character is irrevocably lost, dragged behind the veil of normality to drown in the river of chaos.
