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.

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 Trio of Vancian Inspired Spells

As promised from yesterday here is a trio of spells I've made that try to emulate Vance's style as best I can.  From my notes and yesterday's painfully long post I determined that this mean spells named after famous magicians, spells with weird effects, spell names using archaic or underutilized words in a language, and spell names that give a good idea towards what the spell does although ambiguity is a plus.

These three will be lesser spells, as I wrote yesterday Vance made a distinction between Lesser and Formidable spells for his Wizards.  I thought it would be a keen idea to allow Lesser spells to occupy all the whimsical fancies of a precocious magic-user whereas formidable spells are reserved for the terrifying tales of stalwart sorcerers.  As you'll see from this post and others, Lesser spells are either too specific to be useful in many occasions or provide a much needed fix but only under certain circumstances.  This time I'll be posting three lesser spells with a fair degree of usability named after famous magicians.  Next time I'll be posting three lesser spells that are entirely situational and likely whimsical. 

Liam's Soporific Problem Solver

 The roguish Liam had a bad habit of putting his foot in his mouth and this spell was born out of his consistent social and often criminal debacles.  The enchantment puts the mortal into a momentary state of fugue, their memories of immediate events are hazy and dream-like giving the caster a second chance.
The mortal is not actually rendered asleep and the longer the caster or another creature stays near the bewitched mortal the faster their recovery, so in a botched bit of thievery it is best to exit the scene immediately and hope your dozing friend cannot put together the pieces of your last encounter. 

Egon's Disastrous Enervation. 

Many believe this spell was closer to a curse than traditional arcana, nevertheless it was a well used tool in Egon's Arsenal.  Egon always had a talent for exploiting the strengths of his aggressors and this spell is no different.  It saps their vim, vigor and vitality when they need it the most.
Many a tale are told when Egon cast this hex upon the giant with boulder above his head ready to crush the spindly wizard, or the time he revealed the dreaded black knight's identity when she could no longer bear the burden of her armor.

Miere's Assuaging Effulgence

A simple cantrip from one o 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.

A special thank you to Chris Pound for his automated Dying Earth Spell Generator and Max of Malevolent & Benign for putting together a wonderful resource for people looking to use archaic verbose terminology in their quest for spell creation.

Vancian Magic

After yesterday's dreadfully long post I'd like to keep this one short and to the point.  It will also give me time to work on the series of posts I plan on writing about merging Saving Throws and Ability Checks.  In the meantime I'd like to talk a little bit about Vancian Magic.

Jeff Rients asked the community what they would like to see in a magic system that Vancian magic does not promote.  Here are some of the responses that I think particularly stood out:

Adding a bit of Vance to the World

I'm glad I read Vance's Dying Earth last year as it has done wonders for making my world for fantastic and more interactive.  Last week I ran a game in an unspecified world and I decided to inject a bit of Vance into the setting.

Valentine's Day Adventure Hook

If it hadn't been for the box of chocolates on the table this morning I would have missed this holiday entirely.  As for my penance I'll be sharing with you an adventure born out of an intriguing premise I had read a while back, either in a forum or magazine.  Afterwards I'll have to quickly run to the store to pick up ingredients to make ravioli in a brown butter sage sauce.  Bon Appétit

Classified Ads:  Dragon Slayers Wanted
 
The Premise
It's Valentin'e Day (or if your playing Star Wars it's another excuse to bring up Life Day!) and a blustery pair of lovers have gotten to squabbling as one of them may have forgotten the holiday.  The furious spouse leaves and contacts the PC's to have them oust their forgetful ex-partner.  For the writer's sake, on account of tiresome pronouns, the furious spouse will be a voluptuous woman, clad in a form fitting evening gown of varying shades of dark red.  The forgetful partner will be described as a wealthy, eccentric, balding old geezer in the suitable attire of a hermit.

The Hook
When the scorned lady approaches the PC's she tells them a story they cannot refuse.  Her and her husband were having a fight and she stormed off.  Within moments of her departure a large red dragon swooped down and decided to make their reclusive home their own.  At this point she has to stop and explain that her and her husband have chosen the hermetic lifestyle, free of societal agonies and on a quest for enlightenment concurrent with their religious views.  This would be a good point for any inquisitive PC's to glean more information on her or perhaps to notice any contradictions in her story (hope those improv lessons have been paying off DMs!)  She speaks quickly and often in run on sentences in a constant stream of consciousness (nice try writer!)

"Our home lies past the dense uncivilized jungles of the mongrel men, around the ashen lake and then deep in the mountains.  In fact, we are living in a cave, not the most luxurious of places but we reside in a simple ascetic hut located within this cave, nay a cavernous complex.  Why else would this magnificent--I mean maleficent dragon come to roost?

Dying Earth Shattered Verisimilitude

A while back I mentioned that I would start work on my Magic Using class after I finished Jack Vance's Dying Earth series.  I have since done so and begun work and even initial playtesting but I've been silent on one thing.  I love Dying Earth, I love the setting, the tumultuous tales of Turjon and T'sais, the times I caught my breath reading the dastardly deeds and devious ploys of Cugel the Clever or his perpetual misfortune. Then there is Rhialto the Marvelous.



Rhialto's story ruined Dying Earth for me.

Now for something a little less dramatic, Rhialto the Marvellous did away with the very thing that made Dying Earth so appealing.  Its very namesake, the pervasive tone of it's inhabitants moods and actions.  The feeling that at any time the sun may go out, stirring an abject fatalism in the waning earth's inhabitants.  This message is conveyed quite beautifully, by observation of the principal characters and exposition by men of ancient knowledge.[1-2]

"...these people of waning Earth, feverishly merry, for infinite night was close at hand, when the red sun should finally flicker and go black."  [1]