The Gamesmaster’s Judgement: Melty Doom
Tournaments and coliseum games are often held to bring champions together to determine who is the best trained jouster, gladiator, or other physical athlete in a region. In the larger arenas, sometimes rulers of different kingdoms come together in a contest to prove their strength or superiority. Whether these competitions are large or small, emotions can and do and are even encouraged to run high: to cheer on a favorite, to bet gold on an outcome, or to simply enjoy the spectacle.
But what happens when an official’s ruling is challenged and fans become too unruly? Or a sore loser lashes out in anger at the opponent that just bested them. While these games are meant to showcase the best, there are times when instead, people are at their worst. Enter the gamesmaster, whose decision and judgement is final. It is to these enigmatic and unwaveringly stoic individuals that athletes and coaches, spectators and even sometimes royalty, must defer their judgment…at least where the games are concerned.
How then do these gamesmasters elicit such respect, or if not respect at least a begrudging agreement to accept their rulings? Of course they must first gain mastery of all the rules and policies. Then they must prove themselves as minor officials whose judgement can be trusted, eventually serving as assistant gamesmasters. Finally they must be recognized and appointed by their peers to the position. Only then do they earn the right to wield the Gamesmaster’s Staff, more colloquially known as the Staff of Melty Doom.
The Sorceress (1898) by Henry Meynell Rheam, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Gamesmaster’s Staff of Melty Doom
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement; cost 125,000 gold; cursed)
This shiny golden staff is always warm to the touch. You can expend 1 charge and touch or strike a creature with the decorative end of the staff to cast the melty doom spell on that creature.
The staff has 5 charges and regains 1d4+1 expended charges each dawn.
Curse. Whenever a charge is expended, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff immediately casts melty doom on the creature attuned to it instead of the intended target.
Melty Doom
9th-level (transmutation, arcane, attack)
Class(es): Bard, sorcerer, warlock, wizard
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Target: One creature
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous
Your touch transmutes the target into primordial goop over the course of 1 agonizingly painful minute, and the target is doomed. The doomed creature is incapacitated, and if it dies while doomed, its melted remains become an ooze (type determined at random). If you cast this on a creature with more than 100 hit points, it instead takes 50 hit points of damage.
Doomed
A doomed creature dies at a time determined by the Narrator, or within 13 (2d12) hours.
A doomed creature continues to be doomed even after it dies. Magic equivalent to a 7th-level or higher spell can remove the doomed condition (such as regenerate cast on a living creature, resurrection , true resurrection , or wish ).
Author’s note:
Though this wondrous item is clearly inspired by the Grandmaster’s staff in the MCU, I actually originally wrote the spell first, to fill a gap identified by Faolyn in her introduction to The (In)Complete Tome of Spells, Level Up Edition! which I encountered on ENWorld a while back.
Hope y’all enjoy!
