Burrowing Bonds

A pealing chime accompanies the appearance of a long, slender, malleable shaft of crystal. It entwines your foe in its loops, piercing his flesh and holding him bound.

The crystalline bonds deal 3d6 points of damage when they first entwine and pierce the target’s flesh, and 1d6 points of piercing damage (see the Metacreativity and Damage Reduction sidebar, below) every round thereafter as they continue to writhe and burrow, tightening their grasp.

A target caught by the bonds can attempt purely mental actions, such as manifesting a power. However, the burrowing nature of the bonds requires that a manifester make a Concentration check for each power attempted with a DC of 20 + half the continuous damage last dealt. (The continuous damage is that damage dealt in each round after the initial round of the effect.)

The target can break loose by spending 1 round and making a DC 20 Strength check or a DC 25 Escape Artist check. Alternatively, cutting or damaging the bonds can free a victim. The crystal has AC 5, hardness 12, and 30 hit points.

Augment: You can augment this power in one or more of the following ways:

1. For every 2 additional power points you spend, this power’s save DC and the DCs to break loose increase by 1.
2. For every 2 additional power points you spend, this power can affect a target of one size category larger.
3. For every 2 additional power points you spend, the continuous damage increases by 1d6 points.

METACREATIVITY AND DAMAGE REDUCTION

Any damage-dealing metacreativity power that specifies piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning damage does not automatically overcome a creature’s damage reduction. Such powers include crystal shard (EPH 89), hail of crystals (EPH 111), swarm of crystals (EPH 134), burrowing bonds (page 79), and crystalstorm (page 81).