Fissure

The very earth itself comes alive with furious anger, which is unleashed in the form of a great maw spewing forth deadly elemental matter, ravaging any creature unfortunate to be near it.

You open a fissure in natural earth or stone; you can seal the fissure with a word (a free action). You can leave a fissure open for rounds, minutes, or decades, but you can only have one fissure open at a time—until you close a fissure that you created, you cannot create another.

Fissure offers several possible variant effects:


 * Aqueous Fissure You crack open the ground in a cylinder with 5 ft. radius and up to 200 ft. deep. The fissure stops when it reaches underground water, if any exists. In all but the wettest areas of Athas, that ground water will not rush up to the surface of the new well; someone needs to climb down into the fissure to retrieve the water.
 * Billowing Fissure You cause the earth to first burst in an immediate shower of rocks, then, the next round, to belch a gout of flame from the fissure, and afterward to emit nauseating gasses until sealed. The initial burst of rocks inflicts 8d6 points of bludgeoning damage to creatures within 40 feet (Reflex save for half damage). Treat the gout of flame as an elemental strike (fire), and the nauseating gasses that follow as a stinking cloud that persists until 1d6 rounds after you seal the fissure.
 * Cavernous Fissure This variant effectively opens a jagged cave or tunnel into the rock, 10 feet long per caster level.
 * Gaping Fissure You open a crack in the ground in the shape of a cylinder with 5 ft. radius and depth 5 ft. per caster level. Creatures standing in the fissure or within 5 ft. take 8d6 points of bludgeoning damage (no saving throw), and must make a Reflex save or fall into the crack. Until you seal the crack, trapped creatures can attempt to climb out (the fissure walls are natural rock).
 * Oily Fissure Like with a billowing fissure, you cause a burst of stones (8d6 points of bludgeoning damage within 40 ft., Reflex save for half damage), but in the second round, a double–radius oil spray issues from the ground, covering everything within a 40-ft. radius with flammable oil. In the third and subsequent rounds, oil continues to seep from the earth, but at an almost imperceptible rate. Until you seal the fissure, the ground within 40 feet of the fissure will remain oily.
 * Steaming Fissure Like with a billowing fissure, you cause a burst of stones (8d6 points of bludgeoning damage within 40 ft., Reflex save for half damage), but in the second and following rounds, scalding steam bursts from the ground, continuing to issue from the fissure until you seal it. The steam cloud has a 10-ft. radius and is 40 ft. high. A creature that starts his turn within the cloud takes 4d6 points of fire damage.
 * Volcanic Fissure Like with a billowing fissure, you cause a burst of stones (8d6 points of bludgeoning damage within 40 ft., Reflex save for half damage). In the second round, magma issues in a spurt from the fissure, inflicting 10d12 points of fire damage to those still within 40 ft. Each subsequent round, victims take an addition 1d12 points of fire damage for 10 rounds as the magma cools. Each gallon of water used to cool the magma on one victim reduces the magma cooling time by 1 round, preventing 1d12 points of damage.