Bestiary/Spectral Spellbinder

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Spectral Spellbinder

General
Type	Undead
Category	Undead
Alignment	Evil
Karma	−2,500
Fame	2,500
Behavior	Only when attacked
Speed	Medium
Stats
Strength	46–70
Dexterity	47–65
Intelligence	187–210
Hit points	36–50
Stamina	47–65
Mana	187–210
Damage	3–6
Armor	28
Resources
Carving	Nothing

The Spectral Spellbinder is a weak ghostly caster (36–50 hit points) that casts curses instead of damage spells. It only fights those who attack it.

Overview

• In-game name: a spectral spellbinder
• Corpse: a ghostly corpse
• Behavior: it leaves you alone unless you attack it, then fights like a spellcaster (mage AI), mixing spells with melee.
• Enemies: fey creatures (wisps, pixies, centaurs, ethereal warriors and the like) and the undead are enemies and attack each other on sight.
• Bleed immune: bleed attacks (a weapon special New Bradford enables) don't affect it.
• Looks: one of three bodies at random: a ghost or one of the two skeleton bodies.

Stats

Stat	Value
Strength	46–70
Dexterity	47–65
Intelligence	187–210
Hit points	36–50
Stamina	47–65 (same as its Dexterity)
Mana	187–210 (same as its Intelligence)
Melee damage	3–6
Armor rating	28
Fame / Karma	2,500 / −2,500

Skills

Skill	Range
Magic Resistance	35.1–50.0
Tactics	35.1–50.0
Wrestling	35.1–45.0

Abilities

Poison immunity

It is immune to poison up to Regular (Lesser, Regular). Only stronger poison affects it.

Magic

It uses its own spellbinder AI, a copy of the mage AI with one change: whenever it would cast a damage spell, it casts a curse instead. With its 0 Magery that means Weaken, Clumsy or Feeblemind (Curse needs 40 Magery). The rest of the mage AI's choices (Poison, Bless, Mana Drain, healing and curing) are still in its list, but see Special behaviors: with no Magery its spells should all fail.

Special behaviors

• Curses, not damage. Its special AI swaps every damage spell the mage AI would cast for a curse spell instead, so it weakens you rather than hurting you.
• Its spells should always fizzle. Its script gives it no Magery skill (0.0). Under New Bradford's casting rules, a first-circle spell needs at least 0 Magery and succeeds 0% of the time at exactly 0, rising to 100% at 40. So with 0 Magery even Weaken, Clumsy and Feeblemind should fail every time (unless it somehow gains Magery skill).
• Two weapons. Its script packs a random weapon inside its loot routine, which runs once when it appears and again when it dies, so it usually has two random weapons.

Loot

Every spellbinder carries:

• Gold: about 30–75 in total (from its "Meager" loot)
• a random weapon (usually two; see Special behaviors)

It may also carry:

• A magic weapon, armor piece or shield (up to 2 chances, from about 1% down to 0.2% each)
• A musical instrument (about 0.1% or less)

Carving

There's nothing to carve from its corpse.

Tips

• It's harmless unless you attack it.
• An easy kill for any character.
• It's immune to Regular poison and weaker.