Enhance (3.5e Epic Spell Seed)

The little sister of fortify, the enhance seed takes care of just about everything numerical that the fortify seed can't.

At its most basic, the enhance seed provides a +1 enhancement bonus to any one of the following:


 * attack rolls (this enhancement bonus is applied to the subject, and thus stacks with any enhancement bonus provided by the subject's weapon)
 * any one skill
 * martial defense
 * caster level
 * manifester level
 * meldshaper level
 * initiator level
 * spell dampening

The enhance seed may also be used to increase energy hindrance for a single energy type by 5% or provide a psionic character with 1 temporary power point, grant 1 temporary Face point (for social combat), add 1 temporary bio-energy charge to a xenotheric creature's bio-energy pool, add 1 temporary pain point to a tormentor's pain pool/torment engine, grant 1 temporary VFX point to a Viewtiful Warrior, grant 1 temporary time warp point to a temporal adept, provide a soulmeld-using character with 1 temporary essentia point, add 1 temporary blood point/Vitae point to a vampire's blood/Vitae pool, grant 1 temporary combat point to an edgemaster, or grant 1 temporary spin point to a fatespinner. To increase an enhancement bonus to attack rolls, a skill, or martial defense, boost energy hindrance, increase the amount of temporary power points granted to a psionic character, or increase the amount of temporary Face granted, increase the Spellcraft DC by +2 for every additional +1 bonus increase, +1% energy hindrance increase, temporary power point, or temporary Face point. To increase an enhancement bonus to caster/manifester/meldshaper/initiator level or spell dampening, increase the amount of temporary bio-energy charges granted to a xenotheric creature, increase the amount of temporary pain points granted to a tormentor, increase the amount of temporary VFX points granted to a Viewtiful Warrior, or increase the amount of time warp points granted to a temporal adept, increase the Spellcraft DC by +3 for every additional +1 bonus, temporary bio-energy charge, temporary pain point, temporary VFX point., or temporary time warp point To increase the amount of temporary essentia points granted to a soulmeld user, temporary blood/Vitae points granted to a vampire, temporary combat points granted to an edgemaster, or temporary spin points granted to a fatespinner, increase the Spellcraft DC by +4 for every additional temporary essentia point, temporary blood/Vitae point, temporary combat point, or temporary spin point. Temporary points are depleted before "real" points are. Temporary power, Face, bio-energy, pain, VFX, time warp, essentia, blood/Vitae, combat, or spin points granted by a spell developed with the enhance seed do not stack with each other or with temporary points (of the same type) granted by any other source. Instead, they overlap, so that when one effect expires (through dispelling, depletion, or simply running out of time), the next-oldest effect takes its place. (If a point expenditure is greater than the oldest pool of temporary points, then that pool is completely expended (and thus expires) and the remainder is subtracted from the character's real point reserve before the next effect becomes active.) Temporary Vitae points granted by the enhance seed are the same age category, generation, and vampire category as the vampire they're granted to. Temporary points cannot be granted to a creature without the ability to use them, but the enhance seed can be used in conjunction with the life seed to grant a newly created creature a pool of power points, bio-energy charges, pain points, VFX points, time warp points, essentia points, blood/Vitae points, combat points, or spin points, just like the fortify seed can be used to grant Hit Dice. (The creature must also be provided with a way to use said pool of points, which may require the use of additional seeds and/or factors.) You may also add +25 to the Spellcraft DC in order to choose the type of temporary points to grant at the time of casting; if you do this, the DC is increased by +4 for every +1 increase to the temporary points granted, and if the creature in question has multiple point pools (for example, a xenotheric multiclassed psion/tormentor who's also a vampire), the entire amount of temporary points must be applied to a single pool. The enhance seed can never be used to grant temporary hit points (for that, you should use the fortify seed).

The enhance seed can grant bonuses of a type other than enhancement. If this function is used, the base Spellcraft DC is changed to 21, the Spellcraft DC increase for each +1 bonus increase to attack rolls, skill rolls, or martial defense is changed to +6, and the Spellcraft DC increase for each +1 bonus increase to caster level, manifester level, meldshaper level, initiator level, or spell dampening is changed to +8. This function cannot be used to grant temporary points or boost energy hindrance, as those cannot be assigned a bonus type.

The enhance seed can provide a +1 enhancement bonus to the subject's damage rolls; the base Spellcraft DC for this function is 19, and each additional +1 increase to the bonus increases the Spellcraft DC by +3. Like the attack roll function, the enhancement bonus granted by the enhance seed is applied to the character, not the weapon he/she wields, so it can stack with the weapon's enhancement bonus. The bonus can be changed to a type other than enhancement by changing the base Spellcraft DC to 23. To increase a non-enhancement bonus, add +8 to the Spellcraft DC for every +1 added to the bonus.

Granting martial defense or spell dampening to a creature that doesn’t already have it is a special case; the base Spellcraft DC of 27 grants Martial Defense 25, and each additional point of Martial Defense increases the Spellcraft DC by +4 (each –1 to Martial Defense reduces the Spellcraft DC by –2). For spell dampening, the base Spellcraft DC of 27 grants Spell Dampening 5, and each additional point of Spell Dampening increases the Spellcraft DC by +8 (each –1 to Spell Dampening reduces the Spellcraft DC by –4).

For a base Spellcraft DC of 17, the enhance seed can also be used to increase a creature's effective HD or a character's effective class/character level by 1 (base Spellcraft DC = 21) for the purpose of defense against HD-dependent effects (such as sleep, circle of death, holy word, blasphemy, intimidation, or turning/rebuking), as well as to act as a buffer against gaining negative levels; the creature loses 1 effective defensive Hit Die for each negative level that it would gain, and the negative level is immediately negated. Alternatively, you may increase a creature's effective Hit Die for determining the save DC, power, duration, etc. of a single non-maneuver supernatural or extraordinary special attack or special quality (such as a monk's quivering palm, a dragon's breath weapon, a paladin's lay on hands ability, a vampire's dominating gaze, a cleric's turning/rebuking ability, a vrock's stunning screech, etc.). The decision whether to enhance defensive HD or special-ability HD must be made while the spell is being developed, and can't be changed once it's complete; however, if you choose to increase a character or creature's effective HD for a special ability, you can choose which special ability to affect when you cast the spell. If HD affects multiple aspects of a single ability (such as the DC and time limit for a monk's quivering palm), the effective HD increase granted by this spell applies to all of them. The effective HD increase is not an actual HD increase, so it does not affect base/epic attack bonuses, base/epic save bonuses, hit points, etc. nor does it allow for the acquisition or development of class features which follow a progression instead of a level-dependent formula (for example, the amount of hit points a paladin's lay on hands ability can restore (and/or damage that can be inflicted to undead) per day could be affected by this use of the spell, but the number of times he can smite evil per day could not.) If the target has Dynamic Potential or any other ability that allows spells, powers, maneuvers, etc. to follow an HD-based save DC progression, then spells/powers/maneuvers become an eligible property to enhance with this version of the enhance seed. An effective HD increase for special abilities is considered an enhancement bonus, so it cannot stack with other enhancement bonuses to effective HD. To increase the bonus to effective HD, add +3 to the Spellcraft DC for every +1 you add to the bonus. To change the bonus to a type other than enhancement, change the base Spellcraft DC to 21. To increase a non-enhancement bonus, add +8 to the Spellcraft DC for every +1 you add to the bonus. To apply the effective HD increase to multiple abilities, you have two options; you can use the enhance seed multiple times to apply bonuses to more than one special ability, or you can apply the bonus to all of a creature's abilities by multiplying the Spellcraft DC by 4. Classes that deplete effective class levels to use their abilities, such as the Electric Mage, are instead given temporary effective class levels by this function of the spell.

You can also use the enhance seed to grant a creature fast healing/1; the base Spellcraft DC for this function is 25. Fast healing granted by the enhance seed does not stack with fast healing from any other source. For each +1 added to the fast healing, increase the Spellcraft DC by +5.

The enhance seed can also be used (with a base Spellcraft DC of 25) to increase a creature's size category by one, adjusting all characteristics affected by size accordingly (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, grapple modifier, attack bonus, Armor Class, Hide modifier, space, reach, natural weapon damage, etc.) Size modifiers cannot reduce a creature's Dexterity below 1 or Armor Class below 0, but can cause a creature to have a negative Hide modifier. For each additional size category increase, the Spellcraft DC is increased by 10. If insufficient room is available for the desired growth, the creature attains the maximum possible size and may make a Strength check (using its increased Strength) to burst any enclosures in the process. If it fails, it is constrained without harm by the materials enclosing it - the spell cannot be used to crush a creature by increasing its size. All equipment worn or carried by a creature is similarly enlarged by the spell. Melee and projectile weapons affected by this spell deal more damage. Other magical properties are not affected by this spell. Any size-enhanced item that leaves a size-enhanced creature’s possession (including a projectile or thrown weapon) instantly returns to its normal size. This means that thrown weapons deal their normal damage, and projectiles deal damage based on the size of the weapon that fired them. Magical properties of size-enhanced items are not increased by this spell. Multiple spells that affect a creature's size do not stack. This use of the enhance seed can counter or dispel any size-reducing spell that decreases a creature's size by a number of categories equal to or less than the enhance spell's size increase (for instance, it always counters or dispels reduce person), and likewise can be countered or dispelled by any size-reducing spell that decreases a creature's size by a number of categories equal to or greater than the enhance spell's size increase (for example, if an enhance spell only causes a creature to grow one size category, it can be countered or dispelled by reduce person).

Finally, you can use the enhance seed to temporarily grant a single feat to a character; the feat must be chosen when the spell is developed, and cannot be changed once the choice is made. The base Spellcraft DC for a general feat is 100; the base Spellcraft DC for an item creation feat is 40; the base Spellcraft DC for a metamagic feat is 70; and the base Spellcraft DC for an epic feat is 130. (If you do not actually have the feat you intend to confer via the spell, the Spellcraft DC is increased by a further +30. This Spellcraft DC increase is immediately negated if you later gain the feat in question, so it shouldn't be listed in an epic spell's statistics block. It should, however, be mentioned in the description.) The duration of the spell is 10 hours for a general feat, 1 week for an item creation feat, 15 hours for a metamagic feat, or 5 hours for an epic feat. A character must meet a feat's prerequisites when gaining it via the enhance seed, or else it will have no effect and the spell will be wasted. An eligible subject will benefit from the feat just as if he actually had it for as long as the spell remains in effect, but cannot use it as a prerequisite to actually gain any other feat. (The temporary feat can be used as a prerequisite to temporarily gain another feat, but not to permanently or actually gain a feat.) Once the spell's effect expires (including if it is dispelled), the feat will be lost (and any temporary feats it was used as a prerequisite for will become nonfunctional until their prerequisites are met again, if the character does not meet an alternative prerequisite). You can multiply the Spellcraft DC by 10 to change the duration of a feat-granting enhance spell to instantaneous, causing the subject to actually gain the feat for all intents and purposes (including use as a prerequisite for other feats) once the spell is cast. A feat granted by an instantaneous enhance spell is essentially a feat gained for free - a bonus feat separate from feats gained through regular level progression (including bonus feats gained by class progression). However, the only instantaneous effect of the epic spell will be the granted feat; all other effects of the spell (if other seeds are used) will be treated as though their duration was permanent instead (and thus will be able to be dispelled or suppressed). A conditional Spellcraft DC increase is multiplied just like any other non-anti-mitigation factor that increases the DC.