A&A School of Spells: Lifa

A&A School of Magic: Lifa

The fundamental quintessence, Lifa, is what flows through all living things on this planet.  The blessed and holy among us are a conduit for it.  They can give life, offer redemption, and protect this worlds inhabitants from those who lost their lives and those that feast on the Lifa of others.

Grave of the Fireflies

The Skinny on Spell Casting

The Skinny on Spellcasting

Introduction by Dean Wellbrook Accomplished Spelunker, Exorcist and Member of the Local Wizard Watch

Wizards, Sorcerors, Warlocks and Mages all present a clear and present danger to the sensibilities and vitality of the common man. Whether it’s warping reality or summoning terrifying beasts from the nth dimension, there is nothing these slippery spellcasters won’t do to get their fix. Fortunately for us mind-our-own-business common folk, most of these bathrobe luddites manage to expire all by their lonesome. Whether it be a jaunty spell gone mad, a creature they cannot contain, spontaneous implosion or collapsing beneath the weight of their own hubris we can count on their population remaining a stagnant few. You may be thinking, “If they’re just going to take care of themselves then why pay attention?” Excellent inquisition! First off, never pay attention to them or you may be driven mad, and not just by their long-winded erudite diatribes. These Mages are, however, capable of unleashing great and powerful energies with but a few gobbled words provided they have memorized them ahead of time. These Magi recite the spell in the morning and withhold the final incantation until they need it, at which point all hell breaks loose—sometimes literally!

A&A School of Magic: Witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witches and Witchcraft are a staple of fantasy literature and idioms.  When making a spell list for Witchcraft I took it as an opportunity to consolidate numerous silly and unfortunate spells as well as a few that were extremely detrimental to whoever they were targeting.  Debilitation whether it be physical or social were given high priority.
Future Spells: Hobart's Interminable Hunger, Eyes of the Beholder, Dodon's Complete Lacking Verve

Cantrips

• Hollis’ Redolent Trick
• This trickery makes the target smell of a particular food.  Whether that food is appetizing or not towards the nearest predator is entirely up to the caster.  If it backfires the caster is infused with the aroma for the next week. 
• The Spell of Transient Gills
• Gills spring up on the target's neck allowing them breathe freely underwater.  Frog suit is optional.  Outside of water the target has difficultly breathing air and will begin suffocating.  Fortunately the spell only persists longer than a minute when fully immersed in water.
• Feldoon’s Added Hump
• Eccentricities abound in Feldoon's collection of scrawled scrolls.  This spell gives the caster a camel's hump to store water.  With the added hump even the desert of death can be crossed.  If fortune is on your side that is.

A&A School of Magic: Chronomancy

Chronomancy

Poster Punch: Chrono Trigger by ZeroCartin

Time travel is a fun concept but often a difficult one to wrap your head around.  Still there are many avenues to approach when dealing with the flow of time.  There are several spells that already deal with time, haste, slow, time stop and similar but I wanted to look at different ways of altering time.  Borrowing time, altering one's perception of the flow of time, altering times lines, reversing aging, tearing the space time continuum and creating time paradoxes.  All of that within reason of course.

A&A School of Magic Illusion

Illusion

This impeccable picture fits almost all these spells

Conceptually illusionist are one of my top favorite classes.  When it comes to playing one, or even worse running one, I find them very worrisome.  Illusions have the unchecked power of imagination.  Most standard illusion spells are pretty free form and can do or create almost anything.  The limiting factors are how far the DM is willing to let you go and any constraints (if any) imposed in the spell description.  Rather than add some more freeform "it's your problem DM" spells I decided to keep things in line with the rest of my design ethos.  Spells are for niche areas or very specific effects based on their name.  Below you'll find a number of illusions, glamours, nightmares and phantasms to stoke the imagination without giving your DM a headache.

A&A School of Magic: Conjuration

Atomic Breath by Tankor89

Conjuration didn't so much as change with each new source of inspiration but instead grew and grew until my vision of it changed with it.  I didn't care much for conjuring forth damaging dealing arrows of various elements, in fact you may have noticed that spells in general have shied away from damage dealing.  Spells are as fantastic as they are useful but their use in the art of killing has rarely been pioneered.  They may be defensive but wizards in their ivory towers crafting their arcanum still cling to highbrowed notions such as pacifism and force when necessary.  Some of course are more sinister than others but few deal with outright death rays.  Besides with Conjuration you can call a creature to do that for you.

Conjuration started off with a lot of spells meant for utility.  You would likely keep little on hand if you could conjure forth anything or perhaps you'd conjure something to find what you're looking for.  It's also meant to provide for situations where in ordinary circumstances you would simply not have and item or enough of something.  Further down the line I really took to the idea of summoning forth traps rather my previously held to beliefs that Wizards somehow had enough mechanical aptitude to install their own traps or the lack of foresight to hire someone else to do it.  Another thing I wanted to explore was that in addition to summoning forth creatures a magic-user could summon a spirit into inanimate objects which you'll see in the Marionettes below and a beloved spell Chiseled Champion that didn't make the 5 only Lesser spell cut.  Lastly I needed to address the iconic Magic Missile.  In my system HP is extremely limited, three six sided dice maximum in order to recreate the feel of your favorite Samurai film.  This means that a spell that unerringly deals an automatic d6+1 at a minimum is quite powerful and often lethal spell to someone with only 3d6 for hit points.  So Magic Missile is now a most formidable spell with added decimation ability.  Forgive my long-winded devdiary here are the spells I promised.

A&A School of Magic: Transmutation

Transmutation

Super Science in your School of Magic

When I was devising spell lists I wanted to keep Enchantment and Transmutation very distinct from one another.  I decided that Transmutation would mean physical alterations whereas Enchantment would deal more with stupendous changes often affecting the target's mind while trying to avoid stepping on the toes of PSI.  Canopied Caboose is levitation whereas Whimsied Flight involves a change in density.  The spells below for the most part deal with changing an objects physical parameters, volume, density, viscosity, and in the case of Vaporize and Disintegration we're dealing with localized high speed energy deposition blast waves and atomic fission.  Super Science in your school of magic.

A&A School of Magic: Enchantment

Enchantment

Cantrips

• Miere’s Assuaging Effulgence
• A simple cantrip from one of the first magicians, although many will say she did naught but dabble.  This spell grants a soothing glow when those around are most anxious.  A fail-safe for when sudden winds blow out your torch or when the sun fearing beasts of the Wyld are upon your trail.
  In recent years many an unscrupulous Wizard have adapted what was once a pristine spell into a trifling set of mood lighting.  The old farmer's adage still holds true today, never leave your daughter round any that don a robe and wizard hat.
• Dodon’s Curious Guiding Somnambulism (Concentration)
• This spell allows the caster to take guide the movement of any sleeping, upright target.  If the spell backfires the caster is trapped in the subjects dream until they lead them out of it.
• Dyne’s Canopied Caboose (Concentration)
• While developing his repulsive field Dyne spent a great deal of time on levitation endurance training with a linguistically backwards goblin riding on his back. Able to maintain this levitation for long periods of time he adapted it into carrying his otherwise burdensome belongings behind him and well out of reach of most.

A&A School of Magic: Warding

Spells of Warding

Spells to protect seekers of arcane knowledge and mystical secrets.  They allow one to pass by unhindered through realms both physical and mental.  They confer protection from both spell and steel.  They are traps for the foolish and glyphs that strip the potency of the even the most fearsome foe.  They require preparation and foresight but their benefits are worth the planning.

Arya Burrito by Ybee

Cantrips

• Burrito Bedroll                                                    Save Negates: Guts, Concealed Weapons
• The caster spies the unsuspecting sleeper comfortable in their woolen cocoon when suddenly the bedroll springs to life, rolls over and over until the unfortunate sleeper is trapped in their rolled bedroll. 
• Some Intrepid Casters have managed to activate this spell on an exceptionally long Cape, Mantle or Cloak.
• Clef’s Proven Dreamwalker Dweomer
• The caster or a willing target is able to enter the dream of a nearby sleeper perhaps to acquire sensitive information, implant an idea in their head or rescue them from a nightmarish curse. They must tread carefully for the sleeping mind is a dangerous thing and the sleeper is the god of their own dream, provided they realize it.
• Spell of the Lonesome Road                             
•  So long as the caster or intended recipient sticks to the road they will not be bothered and go unnoticed by most bandits and fell beasts.  This has no effect if the caster is traveling with companions or on a mount.

A&A School of Magic: PSI

Mentok by InsomniaArtist

Psionics are a touchy inclusion for a lot of D&D connoisseurs.  Understandable, most Psionic handbooks published so far don't fit my image of a Psionic.  For me when I think Psionics I think controlling things with your mind so the School of Magic involving Psionics is one part mind push, another part Mentok the Mind Taker.

Lesser spells are narrow in scope, some provide fine control others are sudden surges of force both of which are endemic to the untrained Psionicist.  Formidable spells stretch the limits of what the body and the mind are capable of, allowing for mental domination, superhuman prowess and reality warping.

A&A Spell List Table of Contents

I've been putting off writing and revising for the last month.  Every time I opened that mammoth of a document I got so caught up in fixing minor errors and preserving internal consistency from previous tweaks it happened to suck all the fun out of writing and designing.  Turns out all I need to get my Muse back in action is to take a break from the editor's hat (and god help me Layout) and exert a little creative expression.  I took my exhaustive spell list and narrowed it down to 3 Cantrips, 5 Lesser Spells and 3 Formidable spells per school.  Taking the best and most peculiar available I've arrived at this point.

Naming conventions and design drew heavily from Vance as outlined in this post (fair warning, I was much more eloquent 2 years ago).  The names like many of the effects are often very silly, which I happen to enjoy but is not for everyone so there are great deal of straightforward spells.  

One things I always enjoyed in playtesting was giving the player's the name of the spell rather the mechanics.  I would marvel when a player's internal interpretation of a spell turned out different than mine, and often times much better.  Over the next week I'll be looking through each Spell School and explaining what each of these mysterious and often inscrutable spells do.  Although some have already been touched upon. 

Feel free to provide your own guesses in the meantime.

Playtest Report: Magical Miscreants & The Curse of the Elf Whisper Part 3

Artwork from Dungeon Adventure Elf Whisper

Titanic Wizard Battles to follow.

We returned for the final segment of the adventure as the PC's were conversing with the Three Elven Sisters of Illumenine.  Not quite trusting what they were up to or believing that Illumenine was the one responsible for Ygwannach the following happened:

Lance:  "I cast Damning Silence after her last statement."

DM:  "The sisters glare at you but make no noise."

Aldehyde: "Hell with this I think we found the real culprits.  Blood for the Blood God!"

DM: "Your surprise attack (and subsequent critical) nearly slays one of the sisters.

Completely aghast the illusion on the other two fades away, the bodies of elder hags are revealed misshapen and foul, their mouths are frozen in agony but no sound yet escapes.  Between them they clutch a giant glass eye that seems to resonate with Lances Amulet."

Aldehyde: "If I play a Beholder will I find them beautiful?"

Playtest Report: Magical Miscreants & The Curse of the Elf Whisper Part 2

by David McClellan

Party returns to town and with their downtime level-up.
Acquire/rediscover some new spells, and experiment with a new school of magic.
Level-up took 10 minutes, mostly spell selection.

Keith Zone hauls Mario Navarro to the authorities, will return soon.

Water Wizards recover very quickly compared to ordinary mortals.

Party returns to bog.  

Encounter Morgo the Hillgiant guarding his three elven brides in the mud-bungalow.

Regret leaving behind Keith Zone, he would smoothly deal with this situation.

Lance notices Morgo's weird eye amulet, chooses not to vaporize it in the pursuit of science.

Morgo hurls boulders at party

Party avoids being squished.

Aldehyde casts Chiseled Champion on Morgo's next boulder.  Rolls out of his hands and clunks him over the top of the head.

Party takes advantage of Morgo's vision clouded by canaries.

Morgo tramples party, Lance chooses to get out of the way.  Aldehyde goes for the gold and cuts him down while getting stomped on.

Lance takes weird eye amulet around Morgo's neck.
Does not wear it (Drat!)

Playtest Report: Magical Miscreants & The Curse of the Elf Whisper

Princess Mononoke

Party of traveling Wizards including one drunken monk and one battle mage approach sleepy town in pursuit of known bandit Mario Navarro.  500GP reward, will let them live the high life for a long time.

Sleepy town not so sleepy.  Probably cursed.  Local bard is crazy and crying constantly at the bar.

Drinks ruined by tears party decides to end the curse, first step investigate all these Elf Ghosts Song and Dance the bard won't stop blubbering about.

Find Keith Zone, local bounty hunter and woodsman.

Finding him so smooth the party cannot help but recruit him.  Kick crazy Bard out of party.

Bard invisibly follows party.  Party not perceptive enough to notice constant invisible weeping.

Party ambushed by Navarro's bandits.

Party remember bounty notice.  Party out for weregild.

New Ranged combat proceeds smoothly.  Party still pincushioned.  Lance glad he took a shield.  Drunken Monks lack of armor clearly shows.

Party clear cuts bandits.  Navarro was not present.  Party commandeers bandit horses and rides east. 

Party gets caught in Ettercap nest.  Horses in web, party deals with poison (successfully). 

One evil-spiderman bewitched into seeing its greatest fear, a giant moa, flees.

Too close for spells, switching to spears.

Keith Zone kills the remaining ettercap.  

Party remounts and finds Pixie groves.  Deals with Pixie nonsense.  Answers riddle and receives Ring of Swimming.  

Puzzled DM doubtful this Ring will ever see use.

Pixies direct them to bandit camp.  Tells them to avoid the bog, scarred man was lost there.

A clue for Navarro!

30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 8: Favorite Character You Have Played

The first character that comes to mind I'll be saving for the ninth day because I love that character but was not able to play him to his full potential.  So instead I'm going to talk about my bird-brained, intimidating, half-crazed, mana-spewing Kenku Tobias Fanuilh.

Trine and Cooperative Play (Wizard)

In the briefest windows in which I find free time I managed to sink another hour into a little game called Trine.  Trine is a platforming puzzler with the twist that you play as three characters in one and can rotate through them at will.  If you've ever played the Lost Vikings on the SNES/SEGA you'll be very familiar with the premise. The three characters represents your classic fantasy archetypes, Knight, Wizard and Thief.  Through a twist of fate and a magical mishap involving anartifact known as the Trine they have all been sealed into a single body.  This of course can lead to some fun tension and dialog but for the most part it leaves for a very satisfying cooperative single player experience.  Of course you can play with a friend on the same PC, or over the internet in the sequel but the game and its puzzles are obviously intended for a single player.

Disintegration with added Physics

Turns out that moving, changing work locations and hours took a lot more time than I expected to.  I haven't moved my laptop down yet either so I don't have my notes available so the posts I'll be tackling won't be especially substantive in game mechanics.  Instead here's a post I was considering in the A-Z Challenge for D and hopefully I'll be able to get a post out next Sunday as well.

Disintegration

A to Z Challenge: Magical Mishaps (Haste)

Samurai Jack by Genndy Tartakovsky

One of my favorite things about Vancian magic is the way a spell can irrevocably backfire on its caster, in the case of Cugel this was more poetic justice than anything.  The way I've been modeling Vancian Spells Redux is to have a backfire built into individual spells.  Some will do the opposite of what you want, others will will do something similar to what you intended but may loop you into another adventure (such as the Sleepwalker / Dreamwalker divide).  Others are simply silly and based around the double entendre in the spells name.  The "Unexpected Sorcerous Slug" for example, allows the caster to suckerpunch an attacker with an invisible and extendible phantom limb.  If the spell backfires the caster is transformed into a giant slug for the rest of the day.  Talk about results!

Today though I want to talk about how GM's and Judge's can get creative with magical mishaps.  Going beyond what's hardcoded in the rules text.  Today we're going to talk about Haste.  A spell that has varied much over the years but whose basic premise is the caster moves faster and acts faster.  In this case we are going to assume that a Haste spells allows the user to move more quickly through time, a temporal spell.  You'll see why this is important in a little bit.

A to Z Challenge, L is for Lesser Spells (Vancian Redux)

A good ways back I put together a compilation of suggestions for a reworking of Vancian magic and how I would attempt to accomplish those suggestions.  A bit later I posted a trio of vancian inspired spells and

These three will also be lesser spells, in my Vancian redux spells are categorized as either Lesser or Formidable.  Lesser spells generally have incredibly specific purposes to suit the enterprising young magician willing to solve all their mundane problems with a rhyme and a gesture.  Last time I focused on Spells named after famous magicians with varied usage.  This time I'll be posting spells with very, very specific usages.  I've been up since well before the sun rose so I'll be keeping the descriptions very brief.

A to Z Challenge: K is for Kinesis

Adept by JasonEngle

As I may have alluded to in my hastily drawn up posts on Catalysts I treat magic and elementalism a bit differently in my games.   Traditionally in the D&D / Vance spellcasting ethos elemental effects and spells were completely intertwined.  One did not throw fire at someone, they hastily recounted some arcane syllables and sent a tiny mote of fire to explode in a luminous sphere off in the distance.  Elements precipitated from magic.  What I would like to try is elementalism for its own sake without need of a spellcasting prerequisite.