Type: General
Source: Dragon #351
You can power your spells using energy stolen from plants around you.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast 1st-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You may draw the life force of plants around you in an act known as defiling. Casting a spell with defiling magic increases the caster level of the spell by +1. A spell cast with defiling magic takes longer to cast. If the spell's casting time is a standard action or less, its casting time increases to 1 round. If the spell's casting time is measured in rounds, its casting time increases by 1 round. If the spell's casting time is measured in minutes, its casting time increases by 1 minute. If the spell's casting time is measured in hours, its casting time increases by 1 hour.
You may only use defiling magic to enhance arcane spells cast with an arcane spellcasting class. You cannot, for example, use defiling magic to cast a cleric's domain spell that also appears on an arcane spellcasting class's spell list.
When you defile, you instantly destroy all plant life (but not plant creatures) in a radius of 5 feet per level of the spell. A 0-level spell defiles a single 1-foot square. The defiled area becomes completely sterile and can never again support plant life. Only a carefully worded miracle can reverse this permanent sterility.
In an area without plant life (such as an area in which you already used defiler magic once before), any spell you cast with defiling magic fails and you lose the spell.
Special: You cannot cast arcane spells on Athas unless you possess this feat, even if you intend on never defiling. Wizards native to Athas gain this feat as a bonus feat when they gain their first level of wizard.