must be non-humanoid; +1 circumstance bonus on ritual skill checks per 100), L (in the wilderness), T (begin days before the Spring Equinox) Optional Components F (the tome Cultes des Goules gives a +5 insight bonus on ritual skill checks if at least 100 Mythos ghouls participate) Skill Checks Craft (masonry) DC 15, success (diagram); Knowledge (planes) or Profession (Yog-Sothothery philosopher) DC 30, successes Range 50 miles Diagram the focus pillars must be evenly spaced at least 30 feet apart in the shape of a “V” and kept covered in blood no less than 24 hours old for the duration of the ritual Area 50-mile radius centered on primary caster Duration year Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no This powerful ritual channels the fecundity of ShubNiggurath to an area, which gives Shub-Niggurath influence stage (see page 274) over the area for the duration Crops are lusher, beasts and humanoids breed more easily and quickly, and fertility increases This ritual siphons off excess magical energy from another ritual to protect the caster during that other ritual's casting time To use the aura, the caster must immediately begin casting another ritual within round and remain within the circle she draws as part of this ritual Once the next ritual's casting begins, the caster gains the benefits of stoneskin and her choice of protection from chaos, protection from evil, protection from good, or protection from law These protections last only until the caster completes casting the new ritual or until she leaves the protective circle, at which point they end immediately significantly in general Additionally, 50% of all THE RED SIGN creatures born are mutated in some way This may be School transmutation [chaotic, evil]; Level Casting Time hours (2 phases of hours; interruption causes automatic failure) Components V, S, M (a slashing weapon of at least +3 or equivalent enhancement used to carve the Red Sign, and blood no more than 24 hours old of at least four creatures of size equal to the target), SC (at least and up to 12 providing verbal components, each of whom must have at least rank in Knowledge [religion] or Profession [Yog-Sothothery philosopher] or have Mythos taint), L (a smooth basin filled with blood from intelligent creatures and some of the blood of the subject, in which the target is almost entirely submerged) Skill Checks Knowledge (nature) or Profession (YogSothothery philosopher) DC 15, success (diagram); Knowledge (religion) or Profession (Yog-Sothothery philosopher) DC 30, success Range touch Diagram a simple circular diagram surrounds the basin containing the target Target living, non-mindless, non-humanoid creature touched Duration permanent Saving Throw Fortitude negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless) simply be a strange appearance and a Mythos taint that grants a bonus on ritual skill checks, or as extreme as being a Mythos satyr (see page 367) or having the half-fiend template Each of the ritual's focus pillars is Huge, with hardness and 600 hit points If a pillar takes 300 or more points of damage, it is unusable for the ritual (and the ritual fails) During the ritual casting, the first time a pillar is damaged in some way, a dark young of Shub-Niggurath (see page 309) emerges from the woods or wilderness within 300 feet to defend it and kill any interlopers This can occur once for each pillar PROTECTIVE AURA School abjuration; Level Casting Time minute (2 phases of rounds) Skill Checks Knowledge (arcana) or Profession (YogSothothery philosopher) DC 10, success (diagram); Knowledge (planes) or Profession (Yog-Sothothery philosopher) DC 15, success 140 Range ft Diagram 5-ft radius circle centered on the caster Area diagram Duration ritual casting time; see text Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)