Tactical Nuke (3.5e Epic Spell)



A terribly powerful spell, it calls upon the energy of the atom, releasing a blast of heat and light which the world has never seen. In its violent wake, it poisons the body and destroys everything over a vast area. The blast damage tapers out the farther you are from it, like its bigger sister spell megaton, although it is substantially "cleaner". As like megaton, after the blast, the land is afflicted with a terrible "disease" of radiation poisoning, which behaves like mummy rot for all mechanical game purposes, except that radiation poisoning cannot be spread. This spell ignores evasion, mettle, and similar abilities. Refer to the chart to see the type of damage taken.

Immediately after the explosion, wind speeds rise to tornado force winds (although flames are not extinguished given the heat) within 85 miles of ground zero, which slowly decreases in strength every round, until it reaches "only" strong winds blowing inward for a duration of 1 round/level. After that, prevailing weather conditions may change the effect, but usually not for the rest of the day.

In addition, for 1 round/level after the explosion, the 85 ft zone outside of ground zero is a hotbed of radiation. Those who explore it unprotected are subject to gaining radiation poisoning every round. The effect on the world is devastating, and it will take some time for the damaged ecosystem's attempts to fill in the gaps to yield anything worthwhile.

Material Component: 125,000g worth of refined uranium ore.

Focus: A complex series of crystals and coils to accelerate magical particles to great speeds, and key in "igniting" the collected magical energy. The strange device is worth 1,000,000g.