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# Magic
On Athas, arcane magic and the ecosystem are irrevocably bound —no one, not even a Sorcerer King, can affect one without affecting the other.

## Defiling
Defiling is an option to anyone who casts arcane spells, whether that is by class, archetype, ancestry feat, or otherwise.
#### Defiling {0A}
once per round
must be in non-desolate terrain
prior to casting a spell
Prior to casting a spell, you can strip the life energy of the land. You defile a 5 feet burst of defilement in Forest or Verdant areas or 10 feet burst in barren terrain. Plants in the defiled area die and turn to ash. Any further defiling within this area increases the area by 50%. Any creature in the area of the defiling must make a fortitude saving throw vs your spell casting DC or become sickened 1. On a critical failure they become sickened 2.
The act of defiling empowers you with magic. If your next action is to cast a cantrip or a spell you can apply one of the following effects:
- Reduce the number of actions to cast it by 1 (minimum 1 action).
- Heighten the spell by up to two ranks (to a maximum of the highest rank spells you can cast).
- Cast a focus spell without expending a focus point.
### Terrain Types
Below are some guidelines on which terrain type to use when determining area of defilement. Note that these guidelines may be adjusted for specific situations. For example, in a city, the mud pits might have no more vegetation than the stony barrens, while the gardens of the Sorcerer-King will be equal to a teeming forest.
**Desolate:** Includes defiled, dust basin, salt flat, and silt sea terrains.
**Barren:** Includes boulder field, mountain, rocky badland, sandy wastes, and stony barren terrains.
**Verdant:** Includes mud flat, salt marsh, savannah, scrub plain, and verdant belt terrains.
**Forest:** Includes the forest ridge and other areas with abundant vegetation.
### The Cost of Defiling
Defiling leaves a trace in the body and soul of a defiler. When an arcane spellcaster defiles, they gain the defiling trait. Defiling always includes a value, and this value increases by one every time they choose to defile. A defiling trait of 1 or higher grants the caster a +1 status bonus to spell attack rolls and DCs, along with the following modifiers based on the value of the trait:
**Defiling 1** Make a DC 2 flat check to avoid defiling the terrain whenever a non-cantrip spell is cast.
**Defiling 2** Fatigued, and the DC to avoid defiling is 4.
**Defiling 3** Drained 1, and the DC to avoid defiling is 7.
**Defiling 4** Sickened 1, and DC to avoid defiling is 11.
The effects are cumulative, and cannot be reduced by any means without reducing the defiling trait (see below).
As soon as an arcane spell caster has the defiler trait, they can be felt as defilers. Any druid, natural animal, beast, or spirit of the land can make a secret perception check. DC 40 defiling 0, DC 30 defiling 1, DC 20 defiling 2, DC 15 defiling 3, DC 10 defiling 4.
They feel disturbed and can pinpoint the defiler.
They feel disturbed and know there's a defiler in the vicinity.
They feel disturbed, but don't necessarily understand why.
They feel nothing.
### Reducing the Taint
There are two ways to reduce, and potentially eliminate, the value of the defiling trait: Pay it back, or find a sacrifice. To pay it back, the caster must meditate in Verdant or Forest terrain for one day per defiling trait. This reduces the defiling trait by one (to a minimum of zero) and leaves the caster with a drained value equal to the number of days spent in meditation.
Alternatively, the caster can ritualistically sacrifice a number of sentient living creatures equal to their defiling trait cubed (1=1, 2=8, 3=27, 4=64). The ritual takes one day regardless of the value of the defiling level and reduces the defiling trait to zero.
Even with the defiling trait reduced to zero, the defiler can still be felt by certain creatures, as described above. The trait disappears entirely if it does not rise above zero for one week.
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