Exploring Ruins is a dangerous business and those who do it have to expect danger. They also have to be smart to find things worth delving these mostly destroyed places for. A wasted delve is often expensive in itself and often deadly. Ruins are often homes for all sorts of monstrous creatures, however other things make them dangerous as well.

It is rare for the Adventurers Guild to accept characters below 5th level. While it’s possible to gain entry through numerous means before 5th level, you will do so without the blessing of the Guild.

Wild Ley Lines/Nodes & Mana Contamination

The events of the Cataclysm have caused Ley Lines and even Nodes to occasionally be ‘overcharged’ causing them to act more like living creatures than conduits of mana. The exact results vary, but everything from Ley Lines physically attacking Sorcerers who try to draw energy from them with tentacles of raw energy to Nodes that charge over time until they detonate like bombs only to repeat this process indefinitely have all been seen. Another common thing seen nearby these places is mutated creatures and plants. In fact if not careful those adventuring in ruins and other places with these Wild Ley Lines or Nodes can become transformed into entirely new creatures!

These areas bring a new hazard: Mana Contamination. True Spellscasters and those who work with magic regularly naturally create mana within themselves and even absorb it from the environment when their internal supplies run low. Normal people however do not. For them mana at the levels specllcasters are used to are toxic. Now in these areas on wild mana flows exposure is toxic if you are a spellcaster or not. This is called ‘Mana Contamination’.

Mana Contamination is treated much like exhaustion. With 5 levels before things become critical. The effects at each level are below:

• Level 1
  • No Real Effect
• Level 2
  • Hit Dice used for HP recovery during a Short Rest are halved.
• Level 3
  • HP cannot be recovered through a long rest, but you can use Hit Dice as if it was a short rest. Recovery of abilities and spells is unaffected.
• Level 4
  • You can no longer cast spells or perform spell-like effects of any sort, the flow of mana in your own body is to erratic.
• Level 5
  • You are incapacitated.
• Level 6
  • Monstrous Transformation!

Each time you gain a level of Mana Contamination you roll a d6 if you roll a result less than or equal to your contamination level you roll on the mutation table as you gain a random mutation. (The GM can skip this and decide on a mutation instead)

Mutations Table

1. All your hair falls out.
2. You are immune to being intoxicated by alcohol.
3. You grow a long beard made of feathers.
4. An eye appears on your forehead.
5. You glow with bright light in a 30-foot radius.
6. Illusory butterflies and flower petals flutter in the air within 10 feet of you.
7. All your Spells with a Casting Time of 1 action have a Casting Time of 1 Bonus Action.
8. Your age changes by a number of years equal to the roll of a d20.
9. You can fly at the same speed as your ground speed.
10. You become Invisible.
11. Your size increases by one size category.
12. You gain vulnerability to piercing damage.
13. You are surrounded by faint, ethereal music.

How to deal with Mana Contamination

The only currently known low level way to deal with Mana Contamination is a 3rd level spell called Mana Purge which is a ritual with an hour long cast time which will exchange the levels of contamination for levels of exhaustion. A similar effect does exist in a fairly rare and expensive potion known by the same name. This spell is one reasons the Adventurers Guild requires characters to reach 5th level before they go adventuring.

The ‘Heal’ spell, can also remove all levels of contamination. As can Wish. Using either of those don’t require taking levels in exhaustion.