Magic Infusions
From Masters of the Wild
What Is an Infusion?
An infusion is a divine spell stored within a specially treated herb. It works like a scroll, except that it is use-activated - to activate the spell, the user must consume the herb. This makes infusions ideal for the druid; she can hide several of them for later consumption, thus gaining access to spell effects while she is in wild shape and has no voice or hands to cast spells or use standard items.
Physical Description
Infusions vary widely in appearance, from red berries to dirt-covered roots. In general, they are very small and essentially weightless items - a bag of ten weighs only a single pound. An infusion is quite delicate, with an AC of 1 hit point, a hardness of 0, and a break DC of 6.
Activation
In addition to consumption of the herb, several other steps and conditions come into play when activating an infusion.
Analyze the Chemistry: To determine what spell an infusion contains, a character must analyze its chemistry. This requires a read magic spell or a successful Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level). Analyzing an infusion does not activate it unless it is a specially designed cursed infusion. Of course, it is possible to activate an infusion without analyzing its chemistry. In that case, the user simply doesn't know what spell he or she is about to use.
Activate the Infusion: To attempt to activate an infusion, the user simply eats it. This is a standard action using no material components or focus. (The creator of the infusion provided those.) Some spells (such ironwood) are effective only when cast on an item. In that case, the user must provide the item at the time of activation or the spell is wasted. An infusion cannot be administered to an unconscious creature.
Like drinking a potion, eating an infusion provokes attacks of opportunity. A successful attack against the user forces a Concentration check (DC = 10 + damage dealt). Failure means the character cannot eat the infusion in that round. If desired, an attacker may direct the attack of opportunity against the infusion rather than the character, destroying the item on a successful hit (see Attack an Object).
To successfully activate an infusion, the user must meet the following requirements:
- Have the spell it contains on his or her class list.
- Have the requisite ability score to cast the spell (for example, Wisdom 15 for a druid casting a 5th-level spell).
- Have a caster level at least equal to that of the infusion.
If the user meets all the above requirements, the spell stored in the infusion takes effect immediately after consumption. Otherwise, the infusion acts as an ingestive poison. The user must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + one-half of the infusion's caster level) or become nauseated. A second saving throw at the same DC and with the same consequence for failure must be made 1 minute later.
Determine the Effect: A spell successfully activated from an infusion works like a spell prepared and cast in the normal way. The infusion's caster level is always the minimum required for that spell, unless the caster is of a different class or specifically desires otherwise. For example, a 12th-level druid might want to create a flame strike infusion at caster level 12 rather than the minimum for the spell (caster level 7) to get the extra level-dependent benefits.
Since infusions are consumed during activation, they cannot be reused.
Random Generation
You can randomly generate infusions just as you can divine scrolls.