By means of this spell, the wizard places a magical command upon a creature of 7 Hit Dice or less to carry out some service, undertake a task, or refrain from some action or course of activity. The caster specifies the conditions of the lesser geas when he casts the spell; the victim must be intelligent, conscious, able to understand the caster, and not under the influence of any spells or effects that affect or control its mind.
The lesser geas cannot compel a creature to kill itself or perform acts that will result in certain death, although the wizard can use the spell to coerce the subject into almost any other nondestructive course of action. The victim is entitled to a saving throw vs. spell to avoid the lesser geas, but suffers a –2 penalty on its save if the wizard is of higher level or Hit Dice, or a –4 penalty if the wizard is more than twice the victim's level or Hit Dice.
The wizard must be careful in the wording of his lesser geas since the casting and fulfillment are tricky. The subject should be given a tangible, achievable goal, with clear courses of action available to him. “Climb that mountain!” or “Tear that mountain down rock by rock!” are legitimate geases, but a geas such as “Become a mountain!” is just not specific enough to work.
Similar to the 6th-level spell geas, the lesser geas compels the subject to obey the wizard's command. If the geased creature fails to follow the wizard's instructions, it will grow sick—each week that passes, the creature loses one point from each ability score, 1 hit point per Hit Die, and suffers a cumulative –1 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws. These penalties cannot reduce an ability score to less than 3, reduce a creature to less than 1 hit point per Hit Die, or reduce its attacks and saves by more than 4 points. The lesser geas can be countermanded by a remove curse spell, or a limited wish or wish. However, if the subject entertains thoughts of removing the lesser geas, it will protect itself by giving the subject a warning headache. If the subject persists, then the sickness will begin.
Notes: Uncommon spell (PO:SM).