QHW, Day 28: Spells

Upon their graduation, each member of the Mage Guild receives an implement which is used to focus and empower their spells beyond the common hedge magery. The focusing stone in this staff (it's usually a staff, though wands or rings and other jewelry are also possible) depends on the mage's chosen field of study, as certain types of stones resonate better with certain types of magic.

d20 Focusing Stones

1. Glintstone: illusions
2. Gemstone: emotions
3. Warpstone: alteration
4. Sunstone: paladin-style evil-slaying magic
5. Moonstone: glamour
6. Bloodstone: biomancy
7. Gravestone: necromancy
8. Keystone: portals
9. Brimstone: fire
10. Hailstone: ice and frost
11. Nullstone: hex-breaking
12. Lodestone: gravity
13. Felstone: hexes and curses
14. Voidshard: extradimensional magic
15. Soulshard: spirit magic
16. Dragonshard: draconic magic
17. Godshard: miracles
18. Dreamshard: dream manipulation
19. Fossil: time manipulation
20. Raw crystal: pure magic, crude but powerful

Elemental Powers: Air, Fire, Water

Continuing from the previous post, here are the other three classic elements.

From Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I still haven't actually watched it.

All aeromancers have good stamina and singing voices, though whether that's an aspect of their powers or the result of the many breathing exercises needed to master them is up for debate.

d66	Air Powers
11	You don't need to breathe and can actually keep breathing out, with up to a gale-force strength.
12	Slowly float or walk in the air.
13	Dash while in the air, performing double jumps and impossible feats of acrobacy.
14	Call winds that will quickly carry you and your companions over long distances. Needs a lot of space to take off and land, not enough control for combat flight.
15	Build up pressure, then release it for a massive jump. Jumping between buildings is easy, jumping over a building takes a little while.
16	Build up pressure, then release it for a shock wave that sends everything around you flying.
21	Empower your voice, letting you speak like through a megaphone or scream with a sonic boom that shatters glass and eardrums.
22	Manipulate the air in your vocal cords, mimicking voices or sounds.
23	Still the air in a small area, damping all sounds or creating outright zones of silence.
24	Stop the air in a small area, creating invisible walls and cages, or holding a creature in place.
25	The winds carry sounds far further for you, letting you whisper or listen at range.
26	Manipulate the air friction of anything you see, slowing or speeding up its movements and falls.
31	Your strikes can project slashing winds.
32	Push the air to create a strong directional blast of wind.
33	Pull the air around anything you see to hurl it in a direction of your choice. Works better on lighter objects.
34	Manipulate air around thrown weapons, directing them around corners and attacking from far further away.
35	Surround yourself with swirling winds, deflecting ranged attacks and confounding nearby foes.
36	Surround yourself with slashing winds, inflicting a thousand minor cuts on anyone nearby.
41	Surround yourself with a tornado. Very long build-up.
42	Sense air movements within a room. Precise enough to dodge a blow from behind or fight blinded. Your range expands greatly when you sit down and meditate.
43	Call a wind that grows stronger over time, up to a hurricane-force after half an hour. The wind power resets if you change its direction.
44	Discorporate into wind for a single heartbeat, pretty much teleporting a short distance. Very disorienting when spammed.
45	Force air out of an area no bigger than 3 m in diameter, creating a bubble of vacuum.
46	Change the temperature within a small area. The change slows down as you go further from normal temperature, but no real limit until you kill yourself with it.
51	Cause a rapid spike or drop in the air pressure, resulting in vertigo, fainting, or even blood vessel ruptures.
52	Selectively heat up the air around you, blurring your movements and creating distracting mirages.
53	Create elemental-like constructs from wind.
54	Form an orb of pressurized air that can be thrown and then triggered like a concussive grenade.
55	Filter gases and pollution from air. Also enhances your smell, as you can concentrate it and push it in your nose.
56	With a touch, induce rapid oxidation in materials.
61	Hyperoxigenate the air in a room, which can help some, but works as a poison for most.
62	Attune to a town-sized area over several days, gaining control over temperature, pressure, the winds, ...
63	Hold your breath to become as light as a feather.
64	The wind lightens your steps. Run as fast as a horse and across twigs, fresh snow, or the surface of water.
65	Move as silently and invisibly as a breeze. Any strenuous action (such as attacking) will break this trance-like state.
66	For a single breath, you can move with inhuman haste, though it will leave you winded.

Also from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

All pyromancers possess a certain level of resistance to fire and heat, from never getting sunstroke to swimming in plasma.

d66	Fire Powers
11	Direct and move flames. The larger and hotter they are, the more tenuous your control.
12	Throw explosive fireballs.
13	Breathe fire in a wide cone.
14	Shoot sticky flames from your palms, like a flamethrower.
15	Spit globs of fire and make them sticky or explosive at will.
16	Any fire you concentrate on burns faster, hotter, stronger.
21	Heat vision, in both senses of the word. You can see in infrared and shoot heat rays from your eyes.
22	Create a miniature sun. It moves at a snail's pace, but burns pretty much anything.
23	Surround yourself in a great aura of flames.
24	Sweat superheated plasma at will, coating yourself in flames.
25	Fire jet flight.
26	Teleport by stepping into a flame and emerging from another within 100 m.
31	Create elemental-like constructs from fire.
32	Create smoke-clones. They cannot deal damage and pop when touched, but you can have a lot of them.
33	Conjure a weapon (blade, bow) made of fire.
34	Touch an object to imbue it with fire. It can be triggered at will to explode.
35	Touch a weapon to infuse it with fire, coating it in searing flames.
36	Anything you stare at will go up in flames. Takes longer for less flammable things.
41	You have flame for hair and bleed superheated plasma.
42	You can raise the temperature of your body enough that your touch will melt metal.
43	The more heat and fire is nearby, the faster and stronger you are.
44	Make nearby fires emit excessive smoke. Move the smoke as you will.
45	Transform into a huge fire bird. You can fly and burn stuff, but are very vulnerable to dousing.
46	Form an ember in your hand that can be thrown like a grenade.
51	Cause walls of flames to erupt from the ground.
52	Concentrate on creatures or objects to grant them fire immunity.
53	Snuff out any fire in sight at will.
54	Conjure many slow-moving orbs of fire. They will home in on enemies at a walking pace.
55	Explode, then reform from the flames. Very exhausting to spam.
56	When you touch a flame, you can see and speak from other fires within 1 km.
61	Sense heat within a city block, the higher the temperature the clearer the awareness. Body heat is barely perceptible.
62	Absorb fire and concentrate it in your cupped hands, then release a devastating plasma beam.
63	Call a pillar of plasma from the sky. Has a long wind-up, but extreme destructive power.
64	Loop fires, letting them burn indefinitely without requiring further fuel. It's very exhausting to loop many or big fires.
65	Consume flammable materials to fuel your inner flame. As long as it burns bright, you don't need to eat and sleep, and never run out of stamina.
66	As long as you stand in flames, you feel no pain nor fear nor hesitation. All mind-affecting or emotional effects are burned from your mind.

From Naruto.

All hydromancers are quite adept at swimming and diving.

d66	Water Powers
11	Move and direct water with concentration. It still has the surface strength of water, though, so no grabbing people with water-tentacles.
12	Strengthen the surface tension of water, until it works like an elastic film that lets things bounce off of the surface and traps creatures who were underwater.
13	Breathe water and swim as fast as a motorboat.
14	Walk or surf on the surface of water, faster than a car can go.
15	Any surface you can see and concentrate on will start leaking water.
16	With a single glance, you can fill a creature's lungs with water.
21	Annihilate water with a touch. This is an instant, clean removal that leaves behind only vacuum.
22	Raise or lower temperature of water within eyesight. You may not affect steam or ice.
23	Breathe superheated steam.
24	Create elemental-like constructs from water.
25	Manipulate the viscosity of water, making it air-like, solid, sticky or slippery.
26	Touch the surface of water to raise waves. Anything from a ripple to a sudden tsunami is possible, depending on the size of the body of water.
31	Purify water with a touch. Touching a bleeding wound turns all of the victim's blood to water.
32	Create whirlpools. Pretty useless unless you have a big body of water, then you can ride in a huge waterspout and throw people around.
33	You regenerate rapidly by absorbing water. Regrowing a limb would take half a swimming pool.
34	Sense all water within a city block. The cleaner it is, the clearer your vision of it. Blood is faint but noticeable when you concentrate.
35	Stomp the ground to trigger the sudden eruption of a new geyser. Cannot be used multiple times in one location as it greatly strains the ground water reserves.
36	Transform into water at will. You are nigh-invulnerable and can flow even up the walls, but cannot talk or see. You may only turn back if all your water is in liquid state and together.
41	Transform into fog at will, but only for a few seconds at a time.
42	Generate fog. The more damp the environment, the denser the fog and wider your area of effect. You can see through the fog, unlike you enemies.
43	A 100 m radius around you is always affected by a rain of your choice, from drizzle to torrential rain or sleet. You cannot stop the rain completely, though.
44	Open a portal to the Plane of Water, no wider than 1 m in diameter.
45	Drink unlimited amounts of water with no ill effect, then vomit it back up at will.
46	Constantly draw and absorb any water-based fluids within 10 m. Stronger when you concentrate, enough to harm people through dessication.
51	Shoot a short beam of high-pressure water from your palms, like a water jet cutter.
52	Control a slowly floating orb of water, 3 m in diameter. It falls apart when you can't see it or lose concentration and nothing stops people from walking/swimming out of it.
53	Call or banish storms. Takes a while, though.
54	Leave behind an after-image of water. Basically when you punch somebody, they get punched again by a splash of water, plus your movements are blurred, but rather loud with all the splashing.
55	Create walls and simple objects out of ice. Requires water or humidity, so cannot be used in dry and hot environments.
56	Cover yourself in a power armour of ice. Requires water or humidity, so cannot be used in dry and hot environments.
61	Cause a mini-blizzard in a 10 m radius around yourself, blasting everything with snow and ice.
62	Flash-freeze all water within 10 m radius. Won't directly kill anything bigger than a mouse, but will chill creatures to the bone and likely trap them in ice.
63	Form a hailstone, then shoot it out. Depending on how long you keep growing it, it can be anything from a tiny grain through bullet to a cannonball.
64	Your senses are greatly enhanced while underwater, allowing you to hear infra- and ultrasound, track by scent, or see clearly even in dark waters.
65	Scry through reflections, displaying any other reflection on the same body of water. For example, when you touch a lake, you can make it reflect what is happening on the other shore.
66	Your deviant hydrokinesis works better on bodily fluids than clean water. You may puppet a creature around, or painfully extract blood through your victims' pores.

 

Elemental Powers: Earth

I like elemental powers. They have a strong theme, inbuilt factions and intuitive interactions. However, all too often they are boiled down to shoot fire, shoot ice, superstrength and flight/telekinesis. Not bad powers on their own, but why should every hydromancer shoot ice? That shouldn't even be the primary use of water manipulation!

I think powers should be diverse and distinct. When you have three hydromancers where one controls water, one ice and one steam, they are already more interesting thanks to their unique styles. Specialized, limited powers are more fun that all-encompassing ones, especially when those are still used only to shoot ice in the end.

Anyway, rant over, have some earth powers. The rest are hopefully coming soon.
 

From Naruto.

d50 Earth Powers
All geomancers have a great sense of direction, as if their understanding of the earth energy flows granted them an intuitive knack for geography.

1. Slowly levitate unworked earth-based materials within eyesight.
2. Move metals with concentration. Choose one metal that you have much better control over.
3. Create elemental-like constructs from an earth-based material (sand, stone, metal, clay, ...; choose one).
4. Create stationary tentacle-minions that can grapple or throw rocks at your enemies.
5. Animate statues with a touch.
6. Call a huge magma golem. It takes a while to arrive, clawing its way up from deep within the earth.
7. Grow blades of glass from anywhere on your body at will.
8. Grow metallic scales when attacked. The more brutal the assault, the stronger the scales.
9. Surround yourself with a small sandstorm, blinding and harming your foes. Also works with glass shards.
10. Transform into sand. You may fire sandblasts and heal by absorbing sand. However, you lose control of any wet sand and may only turn back if all your sand is dry and together.
11. Transform into living metal and even reshape your form at will, but you move as if in slow motion.
12. Transform into night-invulnerable but immobile diamond form. Prone to suddenly form-lock you when spammed.
13. Surf on sand, faster than a car can go.
14. Touch two pieces of metal to fuse them.
15. Call an earthquake. Normally, this shakes the room and creates small cracks or fissures. However, you may meditate for hours to bring about a city-wide earthquake.
16. Stomp the ground to crack-open a deep rift. Also works when you kick a wall.
17. Sense tremors of the earth within a city block. Footsteps require deep concentration to hear.
18. Understanding of geomantic energies allows you to build structures imbued with preternatural hardness and beauty.
19. By raising menhirs and dolmens at certain places, you can alter the flow of geomantic energies and bring great fertility to a region, or make it barren.
20. Feng shui mastery allows you to make any structure into a confounding labyrinth. People will get lost even in a two-room apartment. Stops working when the structure is damaged.
21. Tend to a feng shui garden. If you die, get buried there and not a single stone is amiss, you come back to life. You also don't age and need to eat or sleep in your garden.
22. Raise or lower ground, creating pillars and pits. Cooldown depends on how big the change is.
23. Conjure crystal spikes shooting up from the ground.
24. Grow a crystal shell around yourself or anyone you touch.
25. Discorporate and meld with the ground to possess a small area, moving the earth within as you wish. You may not move beyond the area without releasing your control, though.
26. Fall unconscious and possess a new body formed of earth-based materials. You cannot go too far from your real body.
27. Sink your arm into the ground to grow a gigantic stone arm from somewhere you can see.
28. Petrification/fossilization/crystallization through touch.
29. Tunnel through soil and unworked stone at a walking pace, closing the tunel behind you.
30. Shape an earth-based material (sand, stone, glass, clay, ...; choose one) into weapons and armour, imbuing them with increased strength.
31. Construct a rough "mecha" around yourself from boulders and rocks.
32. Breathe out massive clouds of dust.
33. Projectile vomit asphalt.
34. Spit big globs of magma.
35. Absorb soil to grow in size and power, shed it to return to human form.
36. Absorb metal to fill in injuries and replace missing body parts. Your metal prosthetics work normally, yet keep their hardness. You may even slowly reshape them.
37. Minor geokinesis allows you to pick up and throw boulders with ease.
38. Transmute soil into morass and sand to quicksand. The change is much slower for bigger areas. You can walk on such terrains with ease.
39. Transmute metals (though only about 10 cm³ per day before you start feeling faint) and knead them like clay.
40. Transmute earth to sharp but fragile crystal.
41. Rearrange earth on a large scale. Rough walls and structures take hours, new hills and cave systems take days.
42. Your strength and durability is greatly increased as long as you have skin contact with natural earth (no worked stone or metal).
43. With a touch, start an explosive growth in bones - but only dead bones, or more specifically calcium. Can be delayed.
44. Induce rapid erosion with a touch, turning stone to sand and soil to dust.
45. Annihilate metal with a touch.
46. Explosively shatter any glass or crystal with a glance.
47. Touch an object to make it either repel or attract metal for a short while.
48. Raise the gravity in an area no more than 5 m across severalfold.
49. You have gemstone eyes that cannot be harmed, unbreakable metal bones, or perfect porcelain teeth. Pretty minor as far as powers go.
50. Your skin is cold and marble-like, your wounds crack rather than bleed. You feel no pain and mundane damage is non-lethal for you.

 

Also from Naruto.

All Wizards Are Warlocks

No human can just learn to manipulate magic.

The so-called wizards who brag and drone on about their long years of careful study that granted them supernatural powers simply don't want to acknowledge the obvious: You cannot build a tower without the foundations. You cannot make a cow fly without some serious help. Indeed, humans can use magic - but only with help, if they are given the Gift by a spirit of some sort.

A patron, if you will.

Thus every magic user must follow a certain pact that grants them access to their preternatural powers, though the exact nature of such pact and the price they pay differs wildly between practitioners. While there are no hard and fast rules for sorting magicians into neat and clear-cut categories, at least some of the most common kinds of magic users and their approaches to magic and the spirit world are discussed below.
 

"Wait! I can go up to ten babies, but not a single one more."

 
Sorcerers would be the exception that proves the rule, as they do have an inherent gift of magic that they can train and hone on their own - except they are not human, not fully. Their pact is one of blood and bloodline, their patron the non-human ancestor who set their whole family apart from the rest of the human race.

Sorcery tends to have a very narrow focus - a dragon may sire a lineage of pyromancers, a fairy a line of illusionists - and departing from one's hereditary, traditional craft is basically impossible. Indeed, sorcerous families oftentimes gravitate towards a strong sense of tradition, elitism and purity of blood, stoked by the fear of loosing that which makes them special. As their bloodline gets diluted over generations, the sorcerous spark grows ever weaker and their gift of magic eventually fades away. This unfortunately drives many sorcerers to search for ways of preserving the power of their family. Affairs with non-humans and incestuous relationships are regrettably common among sorcerers. And while this does keep the magic in the family, it also sets the sorcerers ever further apart from true humanity, with each new inbred generation being more powerful, more mutated and more insane, until at one point, it's no longer possible to consider them human magicians any more, but rather magic beings in their own right.

Such creatures are then quite likely to find a human spouse for themselves, and the cycle starts anew.

Mediums pay for magic with their bodies. In exchange for power, they offer agency to any spirit who desires a more physical presence in Reality. In short, they willingly let themselves be possessed.

This form of the Craft is probably the easiest to start with - a spirit who would enjoy a ride in a living body can be found pretty much everywhere and all a prospective medium has to do is keep an open mind as say "Yes" - but doing it in a safe and useful manner is very hard. After all, you are opening your Self to a magical being and the only way to gain more power is to let more powerful spirits in. As the saying goes, there are no bad mediums, only dead mediums.

The good ones, though, eventually end up either bonding with a single spirit and gaining a great, focused power through the breadth and depth of their connection; or amassing a host of multiple spirits for short-term possessions, each a different tool in their toolbox. The former run a high risk of eventually merging with their possessing spirit and shedding their humanity as a newborn magical beast. The latter should take care to play all of their spirits off against each other, lest the spirits grow discontent with their limited access to the medium's body and unite their forces, resulting in an involuntary possession by the whole host of spirits, banishment of the medium's soul and the birth of a creature known as the wisp-lord.

Priests are quite obviously serving a higher power, a distant deity that deigns to answer some of their pleas for help in exchange for regular prayers and rites. Never forget, though, that there's really not that much of a difference between a cleric of the Lord of Light and a cultist of He-Who-Lurks-In-Corners - both are trying to catch the attention of a being that could squash a city without even meaning to, and that doesn't really listen to, care about or understand its worshippers. Priestly magic is very powerful, but unreliable and prone to missing the point or being helpful only in mysterious, alien ways.

Evangelists are often seen as priests with another name, but that's plain wrong. Evangelists don't work with the gods, they work with angels. And where priests might be fine with going through the motions of reverence with no true faith or zeal behind it - they are so deep beneath the notice of their patrons that all but the most egregious sins and mistakes are overlooked - evangelists have to always stay true in their ardour.

Indeed, angels tend to take a great interest in evangelists, keeping them an unseen company at all times, helping and guarding them, but never forgiving. Angels are spirits of holy war and vengeance. Angels are razor focused on battling evil in all forms and shapes, enabling a lone evangelist to repel an army of the dead or go toe to toe with a greater demon, until they misstep and get smote on the spot.

Diabolists are the archetypal warlocks. They made a pact for power or knowledge, pledging their services or selling some bits and bobs of themselves to a patron who has need of what the warlock offers and can provide magic in exchange. The name "diabolist" is misleading, as they didn't necessarily have to make a deal with the devil - they could have made a deal with any number of other otherworldly entities - yet the principal difference from other magicians is that a diabolist's power is strictly contractual, its limits and conditions clearly stipulated. The magic of diabolists is the most reliable of all the forms of practice, as long as they are able and willing to keep their side of the bargain.

Druids cater either to the many small nature spirits that infuse every tree and spring and herd of animals, or to the great spirits of nature who oversee whole forests, mountains or islands. They build up favour with a location until the very wind and ground and undergrowth likes them and tries to help them and fulfil their every wish. They hold great sway while in their place of power, but they are also greatly limited should they leave. While the spiritual word of mouth may allow them to draw upon some of the favour they amassed even elsewhere, the spirits of nature are jealous, fickle and territorial - if the druid is gone for too long from their demesne, they may return to find that the place has forgotten them, or even worse, faults them for leaving.

Shamans work with lesser spirits too, but where druids build their relationship with all spirits in a location, shamans try to win the affections of specific spirits - ancestral and heroic ghosts, petty gods, minor demons or Folk, anything goes. All their magic is very much quid pro quo, and the nature of favours they may draw upon depends on the kind of spirits they commune with. They are the socialites of magic users, they have connections, they know a guy who knows a guy. They also have to juggle their spirit friendships very carefully, as trying to woo two feuding spirits could result in some bad blood very easily and getting bad-mouthed by an angry spirit might seriously threaten their Craft.

Elementalists, necromancers and demonologists are all proud to differentiate themselves from one another, but they are all in fact just specialized summoners. They are not even that different from shamans, except that a shaman has a long-standing relationship with their spirits, whereas a (whichever) summoner calls upon any random spirit of their chosen type, offering it a payment for one specific task. Take it or leave it, we don't need to see each other again once the job is done.

An elementalist doesn't throw a fireball, she feeds some delicious bat guano to a fire elemental and it makes an explosion for her. A necromancer doesn't animate the dead, he offers to return corporeality back to the dead in exchange for servitude. And a demonologist exchanges souls for services.

Magi are sometimes disparagingly called the dabblers or wandslingers, or with less prejudice the collectors. They didn't make a pact or build up favour - they found a stick and learned how to activate it.

Of course, that is an exaggeration. A magus is often a determined individual who sacrificed a lot to win their wand or spell-blade or another artifact. Their magic is simple and strong and stable, but also set in stone - there is no flexibility, no growth. Once they learn to use their artifact, that's all they will ever be able to do unless they hunt down another artifact. Plus they are the only type of magician whose magic can easily be stolen. Easy come, easy go, as they say.

Alchemists are the strangest bunch - they force magic to happen. Other magicians occasionally fabricate magic items, but alchemists specialize in it. They create spirit-lures in the form of tasty potions, interesting scribblings on scrolls, or strange alloys of metals forged into rings; then they bind the spirits they entice, with the only way out of the binding being to perform as requested. They can trap nearly any magical being and when they negotiate, it's always from the position of power. They are masters of magic runes and circles and sigils. They build golems, craft enchanted arms and armour, even transmogrify living creatures with biomantic surgery-seals. With the right formula, they can make nearly any magic happen. The greatest of them take years to reshape the landscape into geomantic bindings that enslave gods.

They are also universally hated by the spirits. They have to be very meticulous and methodical, because if they make the tiniest mistake, all hell breaks loose.

Goblin kings, or filthomancers, are the living proof that even awful things can be useful. It is a common knowledge that goblinism is contagious. It is not a normal disease, though, but rather a spiritual one. A wild disease-spirit that can nonetheless be tamed with gifts and drawn on for magic.

Everything a goblin can do, a goblin king can do better - creating a variety of noxious and toxic odours, slipping anywhere unnoticed, smelling out everything from what you had for lunch to hidden treasure or emotions, surviving nearly anything by becoming more disfigured and disgusting, getting bigger and stronger and tougher by eating a lot, making others suffer. And with the favour of the goblin-spirit, the "friendship" of goblins comes hand in hand. A prospective goblin queen will soon find herself with a cohort of goblins that follow her everywhere (especially where she doesn't want them to follow) and kind-of help with everything (but mainly make a big mess) - thus also the title of a queen or king.

Importantly though, goblin kings are prime carriers of goblinism. Everything they touch and anyone they interact with will be at least a little bit tainted - a little bit under their control. They don't need to build a trapped mansion for themselves - any building they live in will eventually become an ugly, filthy goblin-shack, full of nasty and dangerous surprises for trespassers. They have no need for magic weapons - any knife they use for a while will become a serrated, rusty, poisonous, deadly goblin-shank. If you're willing to debase yourself enough, goblin magic can be disgustingly useful and treacherously versatile.
 

For the low price of your sanity...
From Magic the Gathering

 
And what about the wizards? Those who would be bloody insulted if you called them a warlock, insulted enough to singe your eyebrows off with a lightning bolt, even? Those who are always accompanied by their familiar, a spiritual guide and helper and friend? A familiar that they made a pact with, a pact for power or knowledge?

Yeah...

Class: (Un)limited Warlock

Years ago, I read a book about a demon and a wizard. I remember neither the name of the book nor anything but bits and pieces from the plot - the demon was trying to corrupt a young girl who could one day become a great force for either good or evil, the wizard was sent to stop the demon - but the way that magic worked for the wizard stuck with me.

The wizard wasn't an innate magic user, all of his magic was given to him and what he was given was everything he had. Several times throughout the book, he ended up in a situation where he really needed a spell, only for a flashback to reveal he had already used up that spell, years ago. Other times, he performed magic even though there was another way, and then a flashforward had shown us what kind of trouble this will bring to him in the future.

He had loads of power, but it was a finite, non-renewable resource.
 

Summoning Demons by Lukas Banas

 
Which brings me to the (un)limited warlocks.

Magic users tend to start weak, barely capable of casting a handful of cantrips each day, but then their power grows exponentially. Depending on your system, high level wizards might end up creating their own planes of existence and summoning dragons or angels to do their bidding, each and every day. But what if we turned this around?

Suppose that warlocks are given all their power by a patron. And by "all their power" I mean all of it - they get access to the whole spell list at level 1. However, they only get to cast each spell once, ever.

• In Vancian system, they have no spell slots and no spell level limit. Yes, they can use wish immediately at the start of the game.
• In GLOG, they have infinite MD and can put as many MD into a spell as they want (mishaps and dooms still apply).
• In mana point systems - well, I don't really have experience with those...

Your warlock player might absolutely obliterate the first boss with a single fireball - and that will also be the only fireball they will ever cast. They might trivialize the first set of obstacles - but what about the second one, or the third?

The (un)limited warlocks are all about self-restraint and adaptation to growing limitations. They start overpowered and grow weaker with each spell they cast and mark off their list. Soon, they will have to get creative, because they ran out of spells that would fully fit the situation. They will have to resort to the weird spells nobody bothers to take on most magic users. Even cantrips will become a scant resource.

And once their last spell is cast and gone, their pact will be due and their patron will collect their soul for purposes unknown. No save.

Is that balanced? Hell no!

Isn't that overpowered? Of course it is!

Is it playtested? Not at all.

Would it be fun? You tell me!

A patron and their warlock.
From Dark Souls 3

 
Oh, and if the player wants to get all clever with multiclassing into another magic user or learning new spells - that's a no go, friend. Your patron is keeping a very close eye on you and they will protect their investments with a vengeance, if necessary. After all, they already own your soul and can repossess it in case of your early death. It was only the contract you decided to breach that was preventing your sudden demise.

d30 Drawbacks and Flaws

Being a wizard has its perks, but also its drawbacks. All wizards are a little off*, the massive conditioning required to hold spell-spirits in their brain ensures that. Sometimes it manifests as a strange quirk of personality, sometimes as a physical defect or deficiency. With great power comes great insanity.

And because by now your perks, cantrips and spells can all be randomised,  you can roll below for a random drawback, too.

d30 Drawbacks

1. You are allergic to (d6): 1) dairy products, 2) gold, 3) moulds and fungi, 4) music, 5) feathers, 6) moonlight. You take 1d4 damage per round of exposure due to allergic reaction.
2. You must Save vs Fear in (d6): 1) the presence of sheep, 2) darkness, 3) a crowd, 4) small spaces, 5) any heated argument, 6) deep water.
3. You sneeze loudly if magical creatures are nearby.
4. You are incapable of tying any knot. Knots on any ropes you touch will come loose within a few minutes. Shoes with shoelaces are out, as are safety ropes.
5. You don't believe in the existence of (d6): 1) magical beasts, 2) people with evil intentions, 3) people who care about you, 4) the Sun, 5) anything you cannot touch or see, 6) laws and regulations. You cannot be convinced otherwise and rationalise any evidence as an illusion, trick, or any barely believable "explanation".
6. You must Save vs Distraction by shiny things. This can break your concentration, make you forget what you were doing or saying, or anything appropriate.
7. You have very small bladder that is highly active at inopportune moments. Save or pee.
8. You are illiterate. Your spellbook is something that does not require you to read.
9. Your face was numbed in a freak magical accident and you always have the same facial expression. Roll d6: 1) anger, 2) boredom, 3) disgust, 4) lust, 5) pain, 6) terror.
10. You believe everything is about you. You cannot be convinced otherwise. ("Oh, I feel so terrible that the orcs we never met attacked this village just to get at me!")
11. You have a phobia about casting spells with strangers watching. Save or be unable to do so.
12. You mindlessly obey any one-word command shouted at you. It takes you just a second to gather yourself, so only commands that take a second to carry out are actually effective against you. ("Kneel!" yes, but not "Come here.")
13. You are under a compulsion to speak all your thoughts out loud.
14. You follow d6 obscure and/or weird foreign customs, such as disrobing before entering someone's home, never eating before the host grants you signed permission, or bowing to a foe (even animals) before combat.
15. You are paranoid. Everyone except your closest friends is out to get you! You may not accept help or assistance.
16. You only ever feel welcome around monsters and have trouble fighting with them. You will always try to talk to them and would never ambush one.
17. You cannot tell the living, the dead and the undead apart, no matter what.
18. You think you are a different race than you really are, and cannot be convinced otherwise. You cannot use your racial abilities.
19. You are a cannibal and don't understand it can be appalling to some.
20. You love cats. No, really, you would do anything for them! You also start with 3d6 pet cats.
21. You are addicted to (d6) 1) a random magical drug, 2) alcohol, 3) fresh milk, 4) bathing, 6) sex. You cannot recover MD unless you get your fix.
22. You are completely invisible to domesticated animals, and they to you.
23. You are sleepwalking. Save each night or roll for what happened in your sleep (you can use a Carousing table or anything appropriate), unless restrained.
24. You cannot stop yourself from over-the-top boasts and constant dares and wagers. You may never refuse or go back on a bet.
25. You are afraid of sleeping alone. Crawl into the bunk of a comrade after they're asleep (roll Stealth), or gain half the effects of sleep.
26. You have no sense of direction and constantly get lost. You cannot follow a map nor travel instructions unless somebody leads the way.
27. You cannot tell a direct lie. Misleading and lies of omission are fine.
28. You are mute around the other gender unless tipsy.
29. You refuse to take off your clothes and armour, even for sleeping or washing.
30. Pick one medium-term goal. You are obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else. You may not change it until you achieve it, even if it later becomes unfeasible. You have disadvantage on anything that would conflict with your goal. 

*) Yes, even those orthodox pricks. They will tell you how composed they are and how controlled their magic is, and then blow your shoes off with a fireball because they cast first, ask questions later.

Class: Pornomancer

It's Valentine's day and here is a wizard tradition you both need and deserve! Pornomancers go bump in the night, and in fact at any time, place or occasion. Anyone who uses this in an actual game will be my hero, but please make it only tolerably awkward and embarrassing to your fellow players. And if you want to be offended, go do it somewhere else.

I blame Konsumterra and some Discord posts from a while back for giving me the idea. ;)

Thugboy from Empowered

You are an Outlaw. Maybe the prudish medieval society just doesn't get you, or maybe you really are a dangerous sexual maniac.

Starting Items:

• random spellbook,
• robe,
• sexy underwear to wear under your robe,
• one sex toy of your choice.

Starting Skills: I'm sure you can thing of many. Pick any two.

Perks & Flaws:

You can tell the sexual orientation of any creature at a glance. You are also immune to STDs.

You need sex before sleep to regain your MD.

Cantrips:

1. Control Fertility: You can make your sperm sterile or prevent fertilization of your eggs.
2. Defoliate: You can remove any hair with a touch.
3. Lubrication: You can cover any surface with a pleasant-smelling lubricant by running your hands over it.

 

Spell List:

1. Glamour
R: touch; T: creature; D: [dice] x 2 hours

Weave an illusion that makes the target appear attractive and physically in their prime. You could modify age, waist or breast size, musculature or skin tone and tan. Grime, pimples or lice could be hidden, teeth whitened, voice and scent made more pleasant. But it is all just an illusion.

If [sum] is 12 or higher, the duration becomes permanent until dismissed.

Magical make-up made easy, and great for disguises. Undead pornomancers will really want this spell, as their condition may otherwise make finding a lover rather difficult.

2. Teleport Clothes
R: 50'; T: [dice] creatures; D: 0

The target's clothes are teleported off their body and left haphazardly strewn nearby. If [sum] is 12 or higher, the spell affects even weapons and armour.

Failing your Save was never so hilarious! Also great for throwing your opponents off balance as they scramble to cover their sudden nudity, to create a distraction when you undress a few people in a crowd, or to annoy your fellow PCs and make other players really uncomfortable.

3. Biggus Dickus
R: 0; T: self; D: [sum] minutes

A female caster grows a penis, while male caster enlarges his in size.

For every [die] after the first, pick one of the options below:

• Your penis grows even larger. This option can be picked multiple times.
• You produce larger amount of semen. This option can be picked multiple times.
• Your penis transforms into a magical wizard penis. Roll here.
• You grow a second penis.

With 4 [dice], the spell becomes permanent until dismissed.

This is one of the few pornomancer's spells that have their use mostly limited to sexual encounters... unless you roll a good wizard penis. Thanks, Konsumterra.

4. Summon Sex Slave
R: summon; T: summoned slave; D: [sum] hours

You summon a sex slave of any gender, appearance, race or species you wish. The slave is a non-sentient construct of magical force, though it appears very lifelike. It has [dice] special sexual skills of your choice.

The slave will obey any and all of your commands irrespective of its own well-being, though it is very clumsy and uncreative in all but sexual activities.

Tell the slave to seduce and have sex with someone, and it will be more than competent. Tell it to cook you a diner, and it will prepare something that is most likely edible, but not very tasty. Give it a weapon and tell it to fight, and it won't even know to evade enemy attacks and will probably skewer itself. No HD and hp are given because the construct is not conjured to be hardy, and will shatter and dissolve upon taking damage. Still, phantasmal servitor has many uses.

5. Groping Tentacles
R: 50'; T: area; D: [sum] rounds

A swarm of tentacles bursts from a solid surface 10' in diameter. Any creature inside or moving through the area must Save vs Dex or be tripped, grappled, groped and penetrated. The tentacles have 10' reach and Str of 10 + ([dice] x 2).

Solid battlefield control spell, the sex is just an added bonus.

6. Pick spell according to your sex:
Sperm Spear (male)
R: 100'; T: creature; D: 0

You ejaculate a piercing torrent of semen. You deal [sum] + [dice] damage to the target, no Save.

Vagina Dentata (female)
R: 0; T: self; D: [sum] rounds

Your vagina expands and grows vicious teeth. You can make bite attacks for 1d6 + [dice] damage.

With 3+ [dice] on a successful attack, you can attempt a Str check to swallow your opponent whole. The opponent will take automatic 1d6 + [dice] damage per turn from being crushed in your womb until they escape with a Str or Dex check, die, or the spell ends, whereupon they will be shunted out of your body. You cannot be harmed from the inside by a swallowed creature and can continue making bite attacks even with a creature swallowed. You can swallow creatures no larger than your own size.

Skerples wrote that every wizard should have at least one damaging spell. I'm quite sure this is exactly what he had in mind. Also the body horror is priceless.

7. Arousal
R: 50'; T: [sum] creatures; D: [dice] minutes

The targets become intensely sexually attracted to each other, no matter their normal behaviour, preferences, or even species. They will immediately commence sexual activities, and will ignore all non-threatening creatures and events for the duration of the spell.

If only a single creature is affected, they will masturbate.

Note that while this spell makes people horny and without inhibitions, it does not prevent them to react to their situation, especially when threatened. You better cast this spell before combat and sneak past the resulting orgy.

8. Pick one of the following:
Delay Sensation
R: 0; T: self; D: [sum] minutes

For each [die] invested, pick one type of effect that will be suspended for the duration. This can be anything from orgasm to poison, madness or Fatal Wounds.

You can not die from poison and pleasure your partner for longer at the same time!

Enhance Sensation
R: touch; T: creature; D: [dice] rounds

The target becomes incredibly sensitive, receiving double effects from all sources.

Good pornomancers use this spell on their lovers, bad on their enemies.

9. Healing Hump
R: touch; T: creature(s); D: concentration

Heal up to [sum] hp. You may distribute healing among as many creatures as you can shag, as long as the total hp healed does not exceed [sum] and you maintain concentration.

10. Impossible Fit
R: 0; T: self; D: [dice] hours

Your body becomes supple and flexible, capable of withstanding larger penetration without damage or pain. More [dice] increase the limits of your flexibility.

If [sum] is 12 or higher, you can be penetrated even in orifices that normally do not support such endeavour.

While this spell doesn't grant you any additional inventory slots, it allows you to hide items of considerable size where very few people would go looking.

11. Pick one of the following:
Sex Shape
R: 0; T: self; D: permanent until dismissed

You can polymorph into any creature you had sex with. You can only transform into creatures of HD up to twice yours. You gain all abilities and limitations of your new form, except that you retain your mind.

At 1 [die], you can only assume forms similar to your own. At 2 [dice], you can also transform into animals. At 3 [dice], you can shapeshift into magical creatures. At 4 [dice], you can polymorph into undead, spirits and aberrations.

Gender Bender
R: touch; T: creature; D: varies

The target is gender-flipped.

The spell duration is [sum] minutes at 1 [die], hours at 2 [dice], days at 3 [dice], or permanent until dismissed at 4 [dice].

The GM is encouraged to apply any appropriate penalties due to the shock, confusion and physical differences. This spell is an actual polymorph effect, and the target is even fertile if they were in their original gender. I'm not going to even try to address stuff like periods and pregnancies.

12. Power Word: Orgasm
R: 30'; T: [dice] creatures; D: [sum] rounds

The target has a strong orgasm for the whole duration of the spell.

While I leave the exact effects of this spell up to the GM, I'd suggest something like being stunned on a successful Save and incapacitated on a failed one.

Here are some extra spells that can be chosen with your Master of Magics ability:

Speak with Genitals
R: touch; T: genitals; D: 10 minutes

The genitals of the touched creature are compelled to answer [dice] questions. They will answer honestly, but their knowledge is mostly limited to sex and other activities directly involving them rather than the whole body.

Induce Lactation
R: touch; T: creature; D: [sum] hours

The target starts lactating. The target must have nipples or teats, but their sex or natural ability to produce milk is irrelevant.

With 1 [die], they produce an amount of milk normal for their species. With more [dice], they produce larger quantities of milk and can be milked more frequently.

Combine this with the cat wizard's spell bless milk for best results.

Baleful Contraception
R: touch; T: [dice] creatures; D: varies

When used on a female, she must Save or miscarry if pregnant. With 3+ [dice], she also becomes permanently infertile.

When used on a male, he must Save or become impotent for [sum] days. With 3+ [dice], this effect is permanent.

If you think an evil witch needs to be even more reprehensible, give her this spell and make her use it.

Bless Breeding
R: touch; T: [dice] creatures; D: one copulation

Grants advantage on any check to impregnate or be impregnated. If both partners are blessed, impregnation is automatic unless one of them is magically infertile. With 3+ [dice], even interspecies impregnation becomes possible.

For every 6 points of [sum], roll another impregnation check to determine whether multiple pregnancy results.

Where did you think centaurs, owlbears or half-dragons come from?
  
Peniscry
R: 0; T: self; D: [sum] hours

Your penis falls off, grows wings and starts fluttering awkwardly. You can still feel through it and guide its movement. If you retrieve it before the spell ends, you can reattach it no problem.

Feminist Agenda
R: 100'; T: [dice] penises; D: [sum] minutes

The target must Save or loose his penis. With 4 [dice], the spell becomes permanent.

Both peniscry and feminist agenda thought up by Type1Ninja.

 

 
Mishaps:

1. Your MD only return on a 1-2 for 24 hours.
2. You take 1d6 damage. Your genitals are grazed and painful.
3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail.
4. Random insanity for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail.
5. You catch a random STD (ignore your usual immunity).
6. Spell targets you (if harmful) or enemy (if beneficial) or fizzles (if neutral).

Dooms:

1. You become permanently infertile. No magic can cure you.
2. You can no longer eat, drink or sleep, but can substitute sex for any of these necessities.
3. A group of 2d8 horny devils and 1d4 tentacled monstrosities will try to drag you down to Hell, to serve in one of the pleasure houses for the rest of Eternity.

You may avoid your Dooms by restoring your virginity through rituals of cleansing and purification (and at least one casting of regeneration for women), or by pledging eternal servitude to the Queen of Succubi.

from Grrl Power

Class: Cat Wizard

We already have snake wizards and spider wizards, so I guess the next logical step are bee wizards, honey badger wizards and maybe, just maybe narwhal wizards. Multiclassing with a really smug cat is encouraged.

You are an Outsider.

Perks & Flaws:

You move with preternatural grace and nobility. You have advantage on acrobatics checks and gain a bonus to Def equal to your current unspent MD, as long as you wear no armour.

You can also purr at will.

You must Save vs Fear in the presence of water and cucumbers, and vs Distraction when presented with a string or a similar toy.

Cantrips:

1. Kitty Nap: You can sleep anywhere, in any position, with a few moments notice. You can set environmental conditions that will wake you, such as "sunrise" or "rain".
2. Exterminate: You may kill any 0 HD vermin (mice, insects, etc.) within 10' with a fingersnap.
3. Nine Lives: If an attack would reduce you from full hp to 0 hp or less, you may burn all your remaining MD to survive it with 1 hp. You must spend at least 1 MD.

From here.

Spell List:

1. Cat's Grace
R: 30'; T: [dice] creatures; D: 0

If you would take falling damage, you can cast this spell as a reaction to reduce it. You fall at normal speed, but always land on your feet and retain balance. Treat all falling damage dice as if they rolled 1.

2. Cat's Paws
R: 0; T: self; D: [sum] minutes

You leave behind no traces of your passage. Snow and grass return to their previous shape. Twigs do not break under your weight. Mud and grime do not form footprints.

With 2 [dice], even pressure plates ignore your steps. With 4 [dice], magical warding cannot detect your movement.

3. Cat's Senses
R: 0; T: self; D: [sum] hours

Pick [dice] of the following options:

• You can smell as well as you can see.
• You have extremely acute hearing.
• You can see perfectly in dim light and shadows.
• You gain wizard vision.

4. Hateful Hiss
R: 30'; T: [sum] creatures; D: [dice] x 2 rounds

The target must Save vs Fear. With 4 [dice], the target must Save again or gain permanent phobia of cats.

5. Bless Milk
R: touch; T: milk; D: 1 day

You bless [dice] swigs of milk with curative powers. The milk must be drank within 24 hours or it will spoil, reversing its effects.

Drinking a swig of blessed milk counts as eating a ration. Spoilt milk will instead cause profound vomiting.

In addition, if [sum] is 6 or higher, the swig will also offer an extra Save against one poison or disease affecting the drinker. If [sum] is 12 or higher, the milk will also allow the drinker to speak with cats for the remainder of the day. Finally if [sum] is 20 or higher, the milk will heal the drinker to full hp, though any creature can only benefit from such healing once per day.

6. Pick one of the following:
Fortune
R: 30'; T: creature; D: [sum] rounds

Also known as blessing of the white cat, this spell causes the target to roll their next [dice] rolls with advantage.

Misfortune
R: 30'; T: creature; D: [sum] rounds

Also known as curse of the black cat, this spell causes the target to roll their next [dice] rolls with disadvantage.

7. Feline Fury
R: 0; T: self; D: [sum] rounds

Your teeth and fingernails grow into vicious fangs and claws. Your natural attacks deal 1d6 + [dice] damage.

8. Feline Reflexes
R: 0; T: self; D: [dice] x 2 rounds

You have incredibly swift reactions, moving faster than the eye. You can make a free Combat Manoeuvre whenever attacked.

With 4 [dice], the spell grants you an extra action on your turn.

9. Contortion
R: 0; T: self; D: concentration, up to [sum] minutes

You may hide in tiny spaces, or squeeze through tight spots with ease. More [dice] allows you to fit into more impossible locations.

10. Freedom of Movement
R: 30'; T: [dice] creatures; D: concentration, up to [sum] rounds

You ignore difficult and dangerous terrain, automatically escape bonds and cannot be restrained. You also resist any and all effects that would hinder or impede your movement.

11. Control Cats
R: hearing; T: feline creatures; D: [sum] minutes

You may command cats to do your bidding. Cats with [dice] HD or lower will always submit to your commands, but even felines with higher HD will be affected if they fail a Save. On a successful Save, though, they cannot be affected until the next day.

Note that cats hate being controlled and they hold a grudge for a long time.

12. Feline Form
R: touch; T: creature; D: [sum] hours

You may transform into any feline creature or monster of up to [dice] x 2 HD.

It's surprisingly hard to find a picture of a male cat wizard...
by Budgies

Mishaps:

1. Your MD only return on a 1-2 for 24 hours.
2. You take 1d6 damage while you have a coughing fit and spit out a ball of fur.
3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail. Feline mutations are preferable.
4. Random insanity for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail.
5. You can only speak in meows for 1d6 hours.
6. Dogs hate you and will attack you, if given half a chance. Lasts 24 hours.

Dooms:

1. You turn into an ordinary cat for a day.
2. Dogs hate you and will attack you, if given half a chance, forevermore.
3. You turn into an ordinary cat, permanently.

You may avoid you final Doom by stealing the breath of an infant, who will turn into a cat instead of you.

d20 Alternative Spellbooks

Wizards need a place to store all of their currently unused spells. While most have a spellbook, there is always someone who feels the need to break traditions. Such a mage might want to roll on this table.

Boooring!

1. Runed Equipment: Etched, engraved or embroidered on your equipment, you can easily carry your spells on you. Roll d6: 1) runestaff, 2) runesword, 3) athame, 5) runic armour, 6) rune-covered robe.
2. Thought-cup: Filled with slowly swirling, dimly glowing liquid thoughts, your spells are still bound by your mind, just not within your head.
3. Faberge Spell-egg: Made of gold and jewels, this tiny egg is both precious and powerful. Each gem shines with the magic of a spell trapped inside.
4. Brain-in-a-jar: There is no better place to store excess spells than a wizard's mind. Removing the wizard and keeping just the mind makes the storage much more portable.
5. Poppet: Strange, often terrifying figurines, voodoo dolls, marionettes and puppets. Some spells can possess the poppet that imprisons them, and talk or even move.
6. Familiar: Familiars can hold one spell each, and even cast it at your behalf. Threat them well, or they will be more of an annoying hindrance rather than the great boon they can be. Roll d6: 1) fleas, 2) bees, 3) seahorses in a jar, 4) fat worms, 5) butterflies, 6) tiny lizards.
7. Jewelry: Spell-pendants, rings of power, bewitched earrings, or enchanted golden chain-links. The mark of snobby sorcerers or upstart wizardlings.
8. Flowers (Bonsai): With sigils on their leaves and blossoms radiating octarine, you smell it to prepare spells.
9. Candles (Incense): Melt wax and breathe in your spell, then add a wick of old wizard robes. You can light it and inhale the fragrant fumes to prepare your spells.
10. Tattoos: Every spell requires a unique picture to capture its essence. Be very careful not to have your skin cut and the tattoos ruined.
11. Playing Cards: Never play against a gambler-mage. Their cards change places and switch colours, and will explode in magic missiles if you call their tricks.
12. Pouch of Tokens: Often used by shamans, witch doctors and travelling ledgermains, such simple and ordinary-looking pouch can be inherited through many generations. Roll d6: 1) engraved bones, 2) painted pebbles, 3) enchanted seeds, 4) rainbow pearls, 5) ancient coins, 6) tiny prayer strips.
13. Animated Skull: When you cannot preserve a wizard's brain, bind their ghost to their skull. They can keep your spells and offer valuable insight or advice. However, it's not recommended to use dead family members or known gossipers.
14. Hair Braids: Wizards of Shan Tar-El never cut their hair and plait them into ever more complex braids. Their odd hairstyles easily distinguish them against the more common wizardly lot, and the story of their archmage Samson is well known up to this day.
15. Unending Song: You are forever humming, gently singing the unending song, your spells weaved into the melody and verses. You speak in rhymes and scream in harmony. Even when you sleep will the spells keep the tune of magic alive.
16. Mirror: There is your double on the other side of your mirror. Coincidentally, they are also a wizard and would not mind at all to keep your spare spells.
17. Cauldron: Ever-bubbling is a witch's cauldron, full of strange concoction that constantly changes colour and smell. This is where you store your spells - in potions that can be drunk to prepare them.
18. Crystal Ball: Tiny specks of light float within your crystal ball, each a spell of different colour. Touch the surface with your finger and they will approach or scatter, just like tiny fish.
19. Sea Conch: Most conches can be put to your ear to listen to the murmur of the sea. But an enchanted one whispers instead with the voices of trapped spells, ready to climb through your ear right into your mind.
20. Tumour: It is said that biomancers never use a spellbook, no. They grow repulsive spell-tumours and cancerous pseudo-organs, which betrays both their great skill and great insanity.

Much less boring!

Here are d6 more inconvenient spellbook alternatives, because wizards never use the easy way when things can be made needlessly complicated.

1. Trees: A garden wizard may have an orchard, a druid his sacred grove. Such trees, when left imbued with spells for too long, can evolve into treants.
2. Murals: Everyone likes a good mural. Another advantage is that magic-infused masonry tends to be hardy and long-lasting. It may come as solace that if you are leave from your tower and die as a result of your inaccessible spells, the tower will still endure for many centuries in pristine condition.
3. Feng-shui Garden: With symbols and sigils etched into the very landscape, your spells will channel the raw power of ley lines. This may be as dangerous as it sounds.
4. Stars: There are few stranger things to see than an astrologist using horoscopes to call spells from far away stars and constellations. Inexperienced star mages should be careful, as more than just spells can come.
5. Assistants: It's obvious, isn't it? Wizards can store spells in their minds, so with a few apprentices or interns, you won't need a spellbook anymore!
6. Collection: It's inconvenient, vain and pompous; it's exactly what a filthy rich wizard would do. Collect the most expensive, most weird and most inappropriate items, then imbue your spells into them. Roll d8: 1) religious relics, 2) paintings and tapestries, 3) melody machines, 4) stuffed extinct animals, 5) puzzle boxes, 6) sculptures, 7) mummified sorcerers, 8) vintage wines.

Can you guess which tree holds what spell?

Class: Shadow Wizard

May the War never return.

- Motto of the Order of the Shadow

There is a fragile balance between Light and Dark, ever since the War. Light technically lost, and the conditions of surrender dictate that Dark has the authority to oversee and control the actions of Light to prevent any future conflict. Shadow wizards are the secret police tasked with this responsibility.

Of course, the situation is not that simple. Light, naturally, despises the constant surveillance and infringement of autonomy. Dark is paranoid about terrorism or war training on the side of Light. Neither could afford another war. Thus, shadow wizards serve more as mediators, diplomats, and guardians of peace. But they are always ready for trouble and when the situation calls, they may easily be spies, jailers, or executioners.

From here.

You are an Outsider.

Perks & Flaws:

You can speak with shadows. Shadows are playful, a bit childish and generally friendly. They also love riddles and constantly talk over each other. When speaking with shadows, they will cling to you in wispy strands of darkness, which can look quite suspicious.

You cannot cast spells in total darkness or bright light (torchlight or indirect sunlight are fine).

Cantrips:

1. Animate Shadow: With concentration, you can move your shadow independently of you. It still cannot leave you.
2. Shadow Mask: You can shroud your face in shadows, making it unrecognisable.
3. Extinguish: With a flick of your wrist, dim or extinguish all non-magical light sources within 10'.

 

Spell List:

1. Pick one of the following:
Light
R: touch; T: creature or object; D: [dice] x 2 hours

The target object shines as a torch, or stronger with more [dice].

Alternatively, you can make an Attack roll against a sighted creature. If you succeed, the creature is blinded for [sum] rounds. If [sum] is 12 or greater, the creature is permanently blinded.

You can chose the colour of the light. With 4 [dice], the light may have all the qualities of natural sunlight, or you can create pure octarine (though that will only last for 1 round). Octarine light is extremely dangerous.

Beware that if you conjure a light too bright, it may prevent you from casting unless you can shield yourself from it.

Darkness
R: 50'; T: area; D: [sum] minutes

Darkness descend upon a sphere of [dice] x 10' radius at a point you designate. It drowns most light sources but can be dissolved by very strong light.

You may also pick one of the following options for each [die] invested after the first:

• You can see normally through the darkness.
• Anything in the darkness moves at half speed.
• Anything in the darkness takes a -4 penalty to Attack and Defense.
• Anything in the darkness takes a -4 penalty to Save.
• You can spend an action to move the darkness up to 10'.

2. Shadow Rend
R: 200'; T: creature; D: 0

You release a torrent of sharpened shadows and the target takes [sum] + [dice] damage, no Save.

3. Shadow Betrayal
R: 30'; T: [dice] creatures; D: [sum] rounds

The target takes damage as if unaware if their shadow is attacked.

4. Shadow Veil
R: 0; T: self; D: concentration, up to [sum] minutes

Shadows shroud you. Select [dice] senses. You cannot be perceived with these senses.

Edit: I finally got around to fix this spell. It used to read: "You gain +3 to Stealth for each [die] invested.", and it was boring. Now it has both obvious (invisibility) and niche (immunity to telepathy) uses.

5. Darkvision
R: 30' per [die]; T: self; D: [sum] hours

You can see perfectly in shadows and even total darkness, but bright light may blind you.

6. Control Shadows and Darkness
R: 50' radius; T: area; D: concentration

Control the illumination within range.

With 1 [die], you can make shadows darker or lighter, bend, twist and shape them, dim light sources, or move areas of darkness. Each [dice] invested increases your power and precision.

7. Shadow Touch
R: touch; T: living creature; D: 0

The target takes [sum] Charisma damage as you infuse their soul with shadows. The target's shadow also becomes distorted, warped, monstrous, and eventually tentacled. It returns to normal as the Cha damage heals.

If this spell reduces the target to 0 Cha, they retain their mutated shadow permanently. They also become murderous psychopaths, preferably targeting their former allies. They will not harm any shadow wizard, though.

8. Shadow Nail
R: special; T: [dice] shadows; D: permanent (see below)

You drive a "shadow nail" (which may be anything sharp enough to stab into the ground) into the shadow of a creature or object, trapping them in place. You can use the shadow nail from any appropriate range; for example a sword would probably need to be used up close, but an arrow may be shot into the shadow with an Attack roll. The trapped creature or object can only move in such a way that their shadow never leaves the shadow nail, and they will be thrown around if sudden lighting change causes their shadow to jerk.

The spell is permanent until the shadow nail is removed from the ground. If [sum] is 12 or greater, the trapped creature cannot remove the shadow nail by themselves.

9. Shadow Gorge
R: 30' radius; T: area; D: [dice] minutes

All shadows in the target area become [sum]' deep pools of shadow-stuff. The shadow-stuff behaves a bit like quicksand, but can be breathed normally.

I'd say anyone trapped within the shadows when the spell expires will disappear and later wander back from a random shadow.

10. Shadow Cache
R: touch; T: objects; D: [sum] minutes

You may access [dice] extra inventory slots by inserting the items you wish to store into any shadow. The stored items are undetectable and none of their harmful effects affect you. As the spell expires, any items still stored will be found in a nearby shadow.

11. Shadow Walk
R: [sum] x 10'; T: two shadows; D: [dice] rounds

You link two shadows you can see into a portal.

12. Shadow Form
R: 100' radius; T: self; D: concentration, up to [sum] turns

You close your eyes in concentration and let your consciousness flow into your shadow. As your helpless body remains standing behind, you grow your shadow into a massive monster of darkness and unstoppable rage.

Your shadow-body is invulnerable and can attack for 1d6+[dice] damage by slashing with its monstrous claws. Remember though that you are leaving your real body behind, completely helpless. Attacks against your real body may break your concentration and end the spell prematurely, while attacks against your shadow-body will do nothing at all.

You can move anywhere within range centred around your real body. You are an avatar of death and dread, and cannot do anything defensive, curative, or tactical with your allies. You cannot dismiss the spell until you kill, subdue, or drive off all enemies. If one of your allies has injured you this fight, they count as an enemy.

This is how I imagine shadow form.
by Xanditz

Mishaps:

1. Your MD only return on a 1-2 for 24 hours.
2. You take 1d6 damage as shadows rake into you.
3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail. Mutations related to shadows and darkness are preferable.
4. Random insanity for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail.
5. All light sources within 30' are extinguished.
6. You fall into a nearby shadow and disappear, stumbling back from a random shadow in 2d12 hours.

Dooms:

1. You have angered one side of the conflict. Maybe you failed in negotiations, maybe you were biased in your arbitration, or maybe you neglected your duties. Maybe it was not your fault at all, but they will now seek revenge.
2. You have now angered the other side, too. Better start trying to patch it up.
3. You have been given your powers as a part of a peace treaty between Light and Dark, your shadow being your badge, a symbol of peace and coexistence. But you have strayed and are no longer trusted with such responsibility. Thus, your shadow comes to life, taking your magic with it. You are relieved of your duties (and no longer have a shadow).

If you angered Light, it will burn your eyes. You have to protect your sight from light, or suffer disadvantage on all rolls. If you angered Dark, it will whisper terrible threats to you. You have to Save vs Fear when in darkness (though darkvision helps). Creatures of Light and Dark will likewise be hostile to you.

You may avoid you final Doom by having your shadow secured in place (preferably with shadow nail) when you trigger the Doom. Alternately, should you defeat your shadow, it will return meekly to you.

As your shadow escapes, it will take your magic, so you will loose your spellcasting until you can reclaim your shadow. Your shadow has the same HD as you, and all your spells at its disposal. However, your shadow is impotent in total darkness, and even though you will still feel its touch and hear its whispers, it cannot harm you. Additionally, bright light will send it on a scrambling retreat.

You may also steal the shadow of someone else to regain your spellcasting without defeating your shadow.

The War will never return. The price is irrelevant.

- Common saying among the shadow wizards