Fifth-Level Spells

Age Object (Alteration) Reversible

Sphere: Time

Range: 10 yards

Components: V, S, M

Duration: Permanent

Casting Time: 1 round

Area of Effect: 1 cubic foot/level

Saving Throw: None

With this spell, the caster can cause an amount of nonliving, nonmagical matter to age dramatically. Matter can be aged up to 20 years per level of the caster. The following table gives typical results of 100 years of aging for various objects, arranged in order of descending severity:

Object
Result of Aging
diamond
none
silver
becomes tarnished
masonry
cracks and weakens
iron
rusts and corrodes
parchment
cracks, turns brittle
wood
rots, crumbles, turns to sawdust

The caster controls the extent of the aging; thus, he could age a book so its pages become yellowed and brittle but stop short of causing the book to crumble to dust. As a guideline, each additional 100 years of aging causes an increasingly severe reaction. Thus, after 200 years, parchment might become little more than powder, while iron might begin to flake away at a touch.

Many items (especially gems) show little reaction to age. The DM must adjudicate all effects.

The material components are a flask of seawater and a piece of coal.

The reverse of this spell, youthful object, returns an object ravaged by the effects of time to its original condition; thus, rusty iron becomes strong and shiny, crumbled masonry becomes firm, and rotten wood becomes solid. The age of matter can be reduced by 20 years per level of the caster.

The material components for youthful object are a piece of eggshell and a hair from the head of a human or humanoid infant.

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