Ah, meddling with time, you say? Only a fool or a power-mad warlock would dare toy with such forces. Lucky for you, I’ve been called both in my long, storied, and occasionally tumultuous life. Manipulating the fabric of time isn’t for the faint of heart, nor is it something those high-and-mighty wizards in their ivory towers would openly discuss. But I, Thadeus the Angry Dwarf, have never shied away from the forbidden or the arcane, especially when there’s a chance to bend the rules of the cosmos to my will.
The first time I dabbled in temporal magic was out of sheer necessity. A horde of goblins, led by a particularly vile sorcerer, had laid siege to a village under my protection. Time was running out, and conventional spells were merely delaying the inevitable. That’s when I unearthed an ancient tome hidden within the depths of my library, its pages whispering secrets of time manipulation. The spell? Chrono Twist—a dangerous gambit that could unravel the very threads of existence if mishandled.
The mechanics of Chrono Twist are as complex as they are perilous. In the realm of Dungeons & Dragons 5e, this spell would be classified as a 9th-level enchantment, requiring a piece of quartz twisted into a helix as its focus. Upon casting, the warlock can rewind or fast-forward time within a 30-foot radius for up to 1 minute. This manipulation allows for the undoing of actions, altering the course of battles, or even snatching allies from the jaws of death itself. But beware, for each use tempts fate and could attract the ire of beings who guard time’s sanctity.
In Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE), Chrono Twist translates to a Legendary rank power, consuming a hefty portion of Power Points and demanding a successful Weird Science roll to avoid dire consequences. The effects mirror its D&D counterpart, offering a dramatic and tactical advantage by reshuffling the order of initiative, negating enemy attacks, or even granting additional actions to allies. The risk, however, is equally great, with failure potentially resulting in the caster being lost in time, emerging moments, years, or centuries from when they started.
Now, onto the tale of its use. As the goblin sorcerer began his final incantation, I unleashed the Chrono Twist. The world around us warped, colors blending and stretching as time itself bent to my will. I reversed the moments leading to the sorcerer’s spell, giving me the opening needed to launch a devastating counterattack. The battle’s tide turned in an instant, with goblins caught in a loop of their last moments, unaware of the doom that befell them repeatedly.
But such power comes at a cost. The strain of manipulating time left me weakened, my connection to the Weave tenuous. It took weeks to recover fully, a constant reminder of the spell’s danger and the price of meddling with forces beyond mortal ken.