Modify Memory

Level 4 priest spell · Enchantment/Charm

Erases, sharpens, alters or plants five minutes or less of one creature's memory for good; save negates.

Situations: Talk · Hide

Useful — worth a slot when its situation comes up.

Sphere
Time (Thought - PSC)
Range
30 feet
Components
V, S
Casting time
Special
Duration
Permanent
Area of effect
One creature
Saving throw
Neg.

This spell enables the caster to reach into the subject's mind and modify up to five minutes of his memory in one of the following ways:

  • Eliminate all memory of an event the subject actually experienced. This spell cannot negate charm, suggestion, geas, quest, or similar spells.
  • Allow the subject to recall with perfect clarity an event he actually experienced. For instance, he could recall every word from a five-minute conversation or every detail from a passage in a book.
  • Change the details of an event the subject actually experienced.
  • Implant a memory of an event the subject never experienced.

Casting the spell takes one round. If the subject fails to save vs. spell, the caster proceeds with the spell by spending up to five minutes visualizing the memory he wishes to modify in the subject. If the caster's concentration is disturbed before the visualization is complete, the spell is lost.

Modified memory will not necessarily affect the subject's actions, particularly if they contradict his natural inclinations. An illogical modified memory, such as the subject recalling how much he enjoyed drinking poison, will be dismissed by the subject as a bad dream or a memory muddied by too much wine. More useful applications of modified memory include implanting memories of friendly encounters with the caster (inclining the subject to act favorably toward the caster), changing the details of orders given to the subject by a superior, or causing the subject to forget that the caster cheated him in a card game. The DM reserves the right to decide whether a modified memory is too nonsensical to significantly affect the subject.

Notes: Common for priests with major access to the sphere of Thought (ToM).

Sources

  • Priest's Spell Compendium Vol 2
  • Tome of Magic page 83
This spell on the AD&D 2nd Edition Wiki