Modify Memory

Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Bard 4
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 round; see text
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One living creature
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
Spell Points: 7

You reach into the subject’s mind, rummaging through its thoughts.

You modify as many as 5 minutes of the target’s memories in one of the following ways:

  • Eliminate all memory of an event the subject actually experienced. This spell cannot negate charm, geas/quest, suggestion, or similar spells.

  • Allow the subject to recall with perfect clarity an event it actually experienced.

  • Change the details of an event the subject actually experienced.

  • Implant a memory of an event the subject never experienced.

Casting the spell takes 1 round. If the subject fails to save, you proceed with the spell by spending as much as 5 minutes (a period of time equal to the amount of memory time you want to modify) visualizing the memory you wish to modify in the subject. If your concentration is disturbed before the visualization is complete, or if the subject is ever beyond the spell’s range during this time, the spell is lost.

A modified memory does not necessarily affect the subject’s actions, particularly if it contradicts the creature’s natural inclinations. An illogical modified memory is dismissed by the creature as a bad dream or a memory muddied by too much wine.

This spell can not be dispelled, but can be removed by any effect that would remove a Curse (See: Removing a Curse). Once the spell is removed, the subject remembers his true memories, as well as the implanted or modified ones (if applicable), and can distinguish between the two with normal clarity.

The Detect Magic spell can reveal the active enchantment on the subject, as normal. In addition, anyone reading the subject’s mind via the Read Thoughts spell or similar means can determine that the subject is under the influence of Modify Memory by making a DC 24 Spellcraft check (an application of the “identify a spell that’s already in place” use of the skill). This check does not reveal what the Modify Memory spell accomplished, only its presence.

Augment: You can augment this spell in one of the following ways:

  1. If you spend 4 additional spell points, you can modify up to an hour of the target’s memories, rather than just 5 minutes. This carries a corresponding increase in the time you need to concentrate on the spell.

  2. If you spend 8 additional spell points, you can completely eliminate the memory of everything the subject has experienced in the last 24 hours. You need to concentrate on the spell for one minute after casting it to finish the memory wipe. You cannot use this spell’s other options (improving a creature’s memory, changing details of an event, or implanting new memories) when using this augment.