Spells you're surprised don't exist

[Dalebert]

A classic thing magicky types do in stories is imitate people with their powers. Once Upon a Time does it a lot. Harry Potter had polyjuice potion. Disguise Self comes to mind but depending on how strictly you read it, it's no good for imitating someone specifically. I'm surprised there aren't higher level versions of Disguise Self and Alter Self that can do this, maybe with a hair or piece of the creature as a component.

What spells seem like core that you're surprised don't exist?

[NichG]

We have Remove Curse but not Detect Curse. Also, as far as I'm aware there's no spell for automatically scribing a map as you travel/explore - seems like its something that would have been introduced back in older editions where mapping was actually a player responsibility.

[Segev]

Disguise Self actually can do it; it provides a +10 bonus on a disguise check. That's pretty significant. It's enough to be better at disguising yourself as somebody else than the 1st level 20-charisma expert who has max ranks (but no skill focus or special tools) in Disguise. (Said expert would have a +9.)

If you are said expert and have this spell, you've (more than) doubled your disguise check.

Hermione almost failed hers despite a polyjuice potion when she was in a bank; looking like somebody isn't the same as convincingly being them.

[Dalebert]

Hermione almost failed hers despite a polyjuice potion when she was in a bank; looking like somebody isn't the same as convincingly being them.

Sure, but that's more about acting/bluff than looking like them exactly. The polyjuice potion gets that part perfect. If you're walking around in an exact duplicate of that person's body (it's really an advanced Alter Self) then that's going to work on most casual observers. As soon as you start interacting in any meaningful way and drawing attention to yourself, it's much more challenging to pass. Even if you have their voice, you might not have their accent, mannerisms, manner of speaking in terms of grammar, and obviously not their knowledge. Of course, someone with a very high sense motive might get suspicious just by how you walk or because you don't have the person's RBF.

Maybe a nice house rule would be that Disguise Self and Alter Self give you an extra bonus with an optional material component--a piece of the creature you're imitating, including a hair or fingernail clipping. That might make more sense than just raising the level of the spell to add a feature. It also fits in well with a lot of mythology about how witches can get power over you by obtaining a personal item or a piece of you. Superstitious people have historically been very protective of such things and maybe they should be in a world of magic.

[Aharon]

Sure, but that's more about acting/bluff than looking like them exactly. The polyjuice potion gets that part perfect. If you're walking around in an exact duplicate of that person's body (it's really an advanced Alter Self) then that's going to work on most casual observers. As soon as you start interacting in any meaningful way and drawing attention to yourself, it's much more challenging to pass. Even if you have their voice, you might not have their accent, mannerisms, manner of speaking in terms of grammar, and obviously not their knowledge. Of course, someone with a very high sense motive might get suspicious just by how you walk or because you don't have the person's RBF.

Maybe a nice house rule would be that Disguise Self and Alter Self give you an extra bonus with an optional material component--a piece of the creature you're imitating, including a hair or fingernail clipping. That might make more sense than just raising the level of the spell to add a feature. It also fits in well with a lot of mythology about how witches can get power over you by obtaining a personal item or a piece of you. Superstitious people have historically been very protective of such things and maybe they should be in a world of magic.

The bonuses from disguise and alter self are both unnamed and from different spells, so they stack.

[Lightlawbliss]

One spell I'm surprised doesn't exist is some form of anti-pickpocket. Powerfull casters are walking around with enough money to buy a city and very good mental stats, you would think they would know they are a walking "pickpocket me!" sign (and that a good thief can get past their spot and listen).

[Dalebert]

One spell I'm surprised doesn't exist is some form of anti-pickpocket. Powerfull casters are walking around with enough money to buy a city and very good mental stats, you would think they would know they are a walking "pickpocket me!" sign (and that a good thief can get past their spot and listen).

You don't cast Magic Mouth on all your containers to shout "thief! Someone is trying to steal from your <container name>" if anyone but you reaches into them? Also, hoard gullet comes to mind. Once I'm high enough level, I keep that up all the time and keep most of my treasure in there. Good luck pickpocketing that. :)

[Thurbane]

A 0-level version of Identify that can only be used on potions, and has no material component or long casting time. At low levels, the Spellcraft checks to identify Potions can be tricky unless you specifically optimize Spellcraft up the wazoo.

[Braininthejar2]

a copy spell that could transcribe magical texts (for example, to copy a spell from one of your own spellbooks to another)

[sleepyphoenixx]

We have Remove Curse but not Detect Curse. Also, as far as I'm aware there's no spell for automatically scribing a map as you travel/explore - seems like its something that would have been introduced back in older editions where mapping was actually a player responsibility.
You can already do the first with spellcraft and one of the several spells to see magic. That's pretty much what the skill is for. Greater Arcane Sight outright tells you what magical effects are active on a creature.
For the mapping there's Lay of the Land, Commune with Nature/Earth/City and (Greater) Prying Eyes, for starters. The automatic scribing is kind of useless as a spell effect since the player would still have to make the map by hand IRL.
There is also the Map of Unseen Lands (MIC) though which does pretty much exactly that. It can redraw itself 1/day and shows a 10-mile radius (OOC it's up to your DM to draw it).


One spell I'm surprised doesn't exist is some form of anti-pickpocket. Powerfull casters are walking around with enough money to buy a city and very good mental stats, you would think they would know they are a walking "pickpocket me!" sign (and that a good thief can get past their spot and listen).

There are plenty of spells you can use to protect yourself against that. Fire Trap, Glyph of Warding, Arcane Lock, Arcane Mark & Instant Summons, Dragoneye Rune, Fang Trap, Gem Tracer, Hoard Gullet, Secret Chest, Magic Mouth, Watchware, to name a few.

Then there's ways to magically boost your spot check. Druids can get about +40 pretty easily, long duration, in addition to their generally high wisdom.
Then there's items like the Belt of Hidden Pouches which requires a password (though you can add one to any container with Arcane Lock).

Just because no spell explicitly says "use this to protect yourself from pickpockets" doesn't mean there are none. A little bit of creativity and thinking on the part of the player certainly isn't too much to ask. Really, if you're a mid- to high level caster the only reason you're getting stolen from is your own laziness or lack of spell knowledge.

[Lightlawbliss]

You don't cast Magic Mouth on all your containers to shout "thief! Someone is trying to steal from your <container name>" if anyone but you reaches into them? Also, hoard gullet comes to mind. Once I'm high enough level, I keep that up all the time and keep most of my treasure in there. Good luck pickpocketing that. :)

you keep your wands in a hoard gullet? and the same with your backup weapons? and you "puke up" everything just to get the gold you need every time you visit a shop? Hoard gullet is fine for the assets you won't need but that list is much shorter when you are buying and selling in town.

as for magic mouth, all it would take is a bag of tricks and a quick throw at your bag and you will loose at least one before you can get the animal off, and with proper planning you won't notice beyond an animal fell on you.

[LOTRfan]

a copy spell that could transcribe magical texts (for example, to copy a spell from one of your own spellbooks to another)

Yeah, sadly the only "copy writings from one book to another" spell (amaneunsis) specifically says it only works for nonmagical texts.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Yeah, sadly the only "copy writings from one book to another" spell (amaneunsis) specifically says it only works for nonmagical texts.

A Quill of Rapid Scrivening (DMG2) lets you transcribe a wizard spell from a scroll into a spellbook in 10 minutes. Sadly limited (scroll->book only, wizard spells only, expensive for what it does) but still better than nothing.

[Dalebert]

you keep your wands in a hoard gullet? and the same with your backup weapons? and you "puke up" everything just to get the gold you need every time you visit a shop? Hoard gullet is fine for the assets you won't need but that list is much shorter when you are buying and selling in town.


... keep most of my treasure in there.
Do I have to go into tedious details? I thought this explained it well enough.


... as for magic mouth, all it would take is a bag of tricks and a quick throw at your bag and you will loose at least one before you can get the animal off, and with proper planning you won't notice beyond an animal fell on you.

He asked about some spell to deal with basic pickpockets. Point is there are many already and I was just throwing out a simple example. Arcane lock has been mentioned as well--also simple. Glyphs of warding provide an array of options.

Throwing animals at you as a distraction and mugging you is something else entirely. What is your point? That there needs to be a specific spell to deal with that specific scenario? Because I can come up with some other tactics that burglars might use and it can start getting really silly in here as we start planning all our contingencies and inventing new spells for them.

[Nettlekid]

I kind of feel this way about any kind of non-specific Conjuration spell which just makes an object. I'd like a spell that can create a ladder or a small bridge or a barrel or any mundane tool. It has the Conjuration feel to just *zap* whatever little thing that your godly Wizard mind was too busy to prepare for into existence. People usually cover those kinds of needs with liberal helpings of Shapesand, and some of them can be done with either Wall of Stone shaping into stuff or Major Creation+Fabricate, but those are all to high level for the value of the effect and too much of a drain on daily resources for something that should be second-nature to a Conjuration specialist.

[Venger]

A classic thing magicky types do in stories is imitate people with their powers. Once Upon a Time does it a lot. Harry Potter had polyjuice potion. Disguise Self comes to mind but depending on how strictly you read it, it's no good for imitating someone specifically. I'm surprised there aren't higher level versions of Disguise Self and Alter Self that can do this, maybe with a hair or piece of the creature as a component.

What spells seem like core that you're surprised don't exist?

cloak of khyber prevents all attempts to divine your alignment and blocks true seeing for 1 day/lvl.

consume likeness, a corrupt spell, gives a disguise self effect with no upper limit on its duration

[Firest Kathon]

I'm still looking for a 0-level spell which is the equivalent of an umbrella. My wizards are annoyed to keep drying themselves with prestidigitation afterwards.

[avr]

Considering how a bunch of magical monsters existence are justified by 'a wizard did it' (q.v. owlbears) it seems odd how little support there is for mad science hybridisation.

[sleepyphoenixx]

I kind of feel this way about any kind of non-specific Conjuration spell which just makes an object. I'd like a spell that can create a ladder or a small bridge or a barrel or any mundane tool. It has the Conjuration feel to just *zap* whatever little thing that your godly Wizard mind was too busy to prepare for into existence. People usually cover those kinds of needs with liberal helpings of Shapesand, and some of them can be done with either Wall of Stone shaping into stuff or Major Creation+Fabricate, but those are all to high level for the value of the effect and too much of a drain on daily resources for something that should be second-nature to a Conjuration specialist.

Prestidigitation creates small things, though with limitations. It's still useful considering it's only a cantrip.
There's also Ice Shape, Shape Metal, Stone Shape, Wood Shape and Conjure Ice Object, most of which are 2nd or 3rd level.
Psionics has the Call Item power.

[Dalebert]

I'm surprised there isn't a higher level improvement on Unseen Servant. Basically, some sort of non-combat conjuration with more utility. I know there's some spell to summon multiple ones, but they're still very limited. They're very weak. They're not very smart. Pathfinder introduced a couple. There's one that summons a crew of skeletons specifically to manage a boat. There's one that summons a driver for a coach. Those are pretty specific.

I guess there's a broader subject here--I'm frustrated with the general dearth of long-duration type conjurations. You can summon multiple weaker creatures with a higher level summon, but what's missing is being able to summon a variety of things and keep it around long enough to be useful for just about anything other than a single combat.

I feel like this could be addressed by some modification to Summoning spells like drop down one level on the tables and bump the duration from 1 round/ level to 1 min/ level. Drop another level down and it becomes 10 min /level and so on. Just as you can drop down a level to get more creatures, this would let you get one weaker creature that sticks around longer. Would that break the game?

[Nettlekid]

Prestidigitation creates small things, though with limitations. It's still useful considering it's only a cantrip.
There's also Ice Shape, Shape Metal, Stone Shape, Wood Shape and Conjure Ice Object, most of which are 2nd or 3rd level.
Psionics has the Call Item power.

Conjure Ice Object is the closest thing to what I'm imagining, and Call Item is pretty great too even if it's not so much creating the item as borrowing it. But there's still nothing available to the average Conjurer Wizard who wants to poof up all his gear. All the Shape spells aren't at all the same thing, they have the Shapesand vibe to them which isn't the same feeling as just "making" an item appear.

What I've always wanted is for the Shadowcraft Mage to be able to cast Silent Image of like, a bridge or ladder, and then because it's a [Shadow] spell that illusion counts as real enough to use as an object. I know there aren't any rules to support that, but that's the feeling I'd like to go for.

[Nettlekid]

I'm surprised there isn't a higher level improvement on Unseen Servant. Basically, some sort of non-combat conjuration with more utility. I know there's some spell to summon multiple ones, but they're still very limited. They're very weak. They're not very smart. Pathfinder introduced a couple. There's one that summons a crew of skeletons specifically to manage a boat. There's one that summons a driver for a coach. Those are pretty specific.

I guess there's a broader subject here--I'm frustrated with the general dearth of long-duration type conjurations. You can summon multiple weaker creatures with a higher level summon, but what's missing is being able to summon a variety of things and keep it around long enough to be useful for just about anything other than a single combat.

I feel like this could be addressed by some modification to Summoning spells like drop down one level on the tables and bump the duration from 1 round/ level to 1 min/ level. Drop another level down and it becomes 10 min /level and so on. Just as you can drop down a level to get more creatures, this would let you get one weaker creature that sticks around longer. Would that break the game?

The Halaster's Fetch (http://dndtools.eu/spells/city-of-splendors-waterdeep--16/halasters-fetch-i--334/) line might interest you. Cast as a Summon Monster of three levels lower (to a max of Summon Monster VI at level 9) but it's a Calling spell and the summoned creature doesn't disappear after the Summon Monster duration expires. It becomes free-willed so you'll need to control it somehow, but you can probably threaten it since you're a powerful Wizard.

[NichG]

You can already do the first with spellcraft and one of the several spells to see magic. That's pretty much what the skill is for. Greater Arcane Sight outright tells you what magical effects are active on a creature.

You can kind of do it, but its split across a bunch of different abilities based on what kind of curse it is. If its a cursed item, you need Identify (unreliable) or Analyze Dweomer (much higher level than Remove Curse). If its a Bestow Curse spell cast on a person, you can do it with a high-ish Spellcraft check or Greater Arcane Sight (again, high level and a much broader spell). If its a non-spell supernatural curse (e.g. peculiar one-off cases which explicitly interact with Remove Curse but are not a magical effect, such as someone being infected by Lycanthropy) then I guess its Knowledge(Nature) or something.

It just seems that if you're going to have a spell at 3rd level that can remove a curse, you should have a spell at a lower level that can detect one (given that detecting something should generally be a part of a process to remove it).


The automatic scribing is kind of useless as a spell effect since the player would still have to make the map by hand IRL.

The spell would basically be so that you could OOC say to the DM 'I check my map, tell me what was in that room again.' So the player wouldn't have to make a map, they could just say 'I use the map from my spell to find my way back', etc.

[Dalebert]

What I've always wanted is for the Shadowcraft Mage to be able to cast Silent Image of like, a bridge or ladder, and then because it's a [Shadow] spell that illusion counts as real enough to use as an object. I know there aren't any rules to support that, but that's the feeling I'd like to go for.

I feel it. I was just thinking along those lines as I was contemplating uses of Shadow Conjuration. Illusions are generally so versatile and can be whatever you can imagine. The idea of shadow magic is it's a flexible substance that can be shaped by your mind--an illusion with a little bit of substance, which would be really cool if you could just make an illusion of something or someone or a specific creature, but it's very limited to imitating the effects of existing spells. Still a nice spell, but it does feel like there's a gap there.

[Lightlawbliss]

...
Throwing animals at you as a distraction and mugging you is something else entirely. What is your point? That there needs to be a specific spell to deal with that specific scenario? Because I can come up with some other tactics that burglars might use and it can start getting really silly in here as we start planning all our contingencies and inventing new spells for them.

I was actually looking at grey bag, throw animal at you after handle animal for it to want into the bag in question. The animal is not you so it sets off the magic mouth. And if it doesn't set off the magic mouth, send in an animal trained to grab shinny stuff without getting spotted.

and I can recognize that the solution given is good enough for some campaign, I guess the pick pockets in the games I play are better at tactics then other places.
Also, sealing the bag doesn't stop a cut purse. slight of hand cut the bag off without ruining the bag, grab and run. now your magic mouth or other securment can be dealt with at the thief's leisure.

[sleepyphoenixx]

I was actually looking at grey bag, throw animal at you after handle animal for it to want into the bag in question. The animal is not you so it sets off the magic mouth. And if it doesn't set off the magic mouth, send in an animal trained to grab shinny stuff without getting spotted.

and I can recognize that the solution given is good enough for some campaign, I guess the pick pockets in the games I play are better at tactics then other places.
Also, sealing the bag doesn't stop a cut purse. slight of hand cut the bag off without ruining the bag, grab and run. now your magic mouth or other securment can be dealt with at the thief's leisure.

That's what all those other "anyone besides you touches your stuff and bad things happen" spells are for. Worst case Locate Object + Scry & Die are rather potent deterrents against your average pickpocket or petty thief.
Grab & Run becomes a lot more dangerous when your supposed victim starts throwing anything from webs to summoned demons to fireballs/lightning bolts/SoDs after you.

Really, the pickpockets in your game must be high-level characters with heavy magic support. And in that case i have to wonder why they'd go around trying to steal coinpurses.

[Fax Celestis]

Teleportation tracing and object history are big ones for me. Yes, there's legend lore, but that doesn't give you the specifics of what happened with Generic Masterwork Dagger in the past two to three years.

[Daishain]

Diagnosis - 5th level Divination
concentration touch range spell

Reveals important details concerning the subject's status. Starting with their general state of health. Keeping it up reveals any status effects and the basic nature of their source, and then whether or not the soul and body actually match up (revealing polymorph, possession, mind switch, etc.)

Hijack Teleport - 8th level Conjuration

Casting this spell allows you and others to latch onto the remnants of a teleport spell used by another character within the last five minutes. You and subjects are teleported to the same location that other character was sent.

[Dalebert]

I was actually looking at grey bag, throw animal at you after handle animal for it to want into the bag in question. The animal is not you so it sets off the magic mouth. And if it doesn't set off the magic mouth, send in an animal trained to grab shinny stuff without getting spotted.

Handle animal what? Handle animal makes an animal friendly with you. You can use it to train an animal to do a specific thing (a trick) over a span of weeks. So fine, you train some pet to climb into purses (the ones not arcane locked). The animal doesn't have pick pockets as a skill and climbing into things on your person is not going to be a subtle thing anyway--massive circumstance penalties to a stealth roll. If you're just looking to set off the MM, fine, but it doesn't matter. The point is you've been alerted to shenanigans and your guard is up. The whole point of picking pockets is to discreetly make off with something without having to confront the person you're stealing from.


Also, sealing the bag doesn't stop a cut purse. slight of hand cut the bag off without ruining the bag, grab and run. now your magic mouth or other securment can be dealt with at the thief's leisure.

That's just an issue of not wording the conditions of the MM well--something like "Anyone but the wearer opens or attempts to remove the container from the wearer." That's a generic command that works for most purses and those are available from merchants in my game pre-cast. The pick pocket doesn't know about the MMs. Even if he figures out they're there, he doesn't know the conditions that set them off. Hell, you could even have backups. You could have MMs on each container for opening and a separate one on your clothing watching for anyone to take any containers from your person. They stick around until they're needed so you can slap them around on things fairly casually.


and I can recognize that the solution given is good enough for some campaign, I guess the pick pockets in the games I play are better at tactics then other places.

But then your DM is bad at role-playing a realistic thief. I tend to have various contingencies in place as I get higher level (and hence have more at stake). Hoard gullet as soon as it's feasible to keep it going for the bulk of treasure that I don't need readily handy all the time. In the meantime, I use a Hat of Disguise to look like an unappealing target and hide my possessions. My Handy Haversack has the stuph I need handy including a small amount of my cash for spending--arcane lock and MM as soon as available. I also keep a store of a few hundred copper pieces and after retrieving anything or putting anything back in, I make a point to reach for them which magically brings them to the top and buries everything else underneath. Glyph seals are rechargable for having more elaborate contingencies in place and all of that is available at fairly low levels. At higher levels, the options are endless.

Again, you can get increasingly elaborate with plans to steal from someone. The subject is specifically pick-pockets which is a fairly specific tactic and the common scenario. What is the "anti-pick-pocket" spell that you propose is missing and that would address all these potential tactics? If the "pick pocket" in these games has massive magical resources at their disposal, your DM is not playing them very smartly. That's a waste of their talents. They should steal smarter than picking random targets to pick pocket.

[Fax Celestis]

Diagnosis - 5th level Divination
concentration touch range spell

Reveals important details concerning the subject's status. Starting with their general state of health. Keeping it up reveals any status effects and the basic nature of their source, and then whether or not the soul and body actually match up (revealing polymorph, possession, mind switch, etc.)

Hijack Teleport - 8th level Conjuration

Casting this spell allows you and others to latch onto the remnants of a teleport spell used by another character within the last five minutes. You and subjects are teleported to the same location that other character was sent.

Not what I was talking about. I mean a lower level effect that says "they went that way". And the other reads people, not objects.

[StoneCipher]

I'm actually surprised at the low amount of poison spells.

[lytokk]

A spell to transfer magical properties from one item to another. Its more for a fluff perspective than crunch, but its one of those things that makes some sense. You spent a lot of money on that full plate dragon armor, and you want to show it off. Too bad you're going to have to keep wearing your gauntlets of ogre str which don't match the plate armor. Or putting the properties from a new magical weapon onto your ancestral sword.

[Fax Celestis]

I'm actually surprised at the low amount of poison spells.

I made a bunch for my wizard rewrite so I could have a Lernaean Magic school.

[Slipperychicken]

Spells for the following:

Do math.
Track time.
Record visual input (i.e. photograph), copy to nearby surface.
Record speech and other audio input, copy some representation to a nearby surface, and read it later to replicate the sound.
Record cognitive input (thoughts), somehow represent them for later retrieval.
Play musical instruments.
Summon clothes.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Teleportation tracing and object history are big ones for me. Yes, there's legend lore, but that doesn't give you the specifics of what happened with Generic Masterwork Dagger in the past two to three years.
Psionics has what you need. Trace Teleport does exactly what the name implies. Object reading can get some pretty good details about something and is also available as a fairly cheap pair of gloves if you don't happen to be a psion.



Spells for the following:

Do math.
Track time.
Record visual input (i.e. photograph), copy to nearby surface.
Record speech and other audio input, copy some representation to a nearby surface, and read it later to replicate the sound.
Record cognitive input (thoughts), somehow represent them for later retrieval.
Play musical instruments.
Summon clothes.



Don't know about the first two, but there's a type of rock that records everything in it's vicinity (in Drow of the Underdark or Underdark).
There's also several items that can record memories, mostly in some of the FR books (MoF, LEoF and PGtF iirc).
For music ther are actually quite a few. Ghostharp, Percussion and Animate Instrument should fill all your needs there.
For clothes there's again Call Item, though it's psionic. You can also make clothes with Minor Creation and a craft check. There's also the Shiftweave (MIC) and Vestment of Many Styles (MoE), both of which are dirt cheap.

[Fax Celestis]

Play musical instruments.
Animate instrument. Bard 2, Complete Scoundrel.
Ghost pipes. Bard 1. Lost Empires of Faerun.


Summon clothes.
Clothier's closet. Bard/sor/wiz 2, Magic of Eberron.

[Zaq]

A spell to transfer magical properties from one item to another. Its more for a fluff perspective than crunch, but its one of those things that makes some sense. You spent a lot of money on that full plate dragon armor, and you want to show it off. Too bad you're going to have to keep wearing your gauntlets of ogre str which don't match the plate armor. Or putting the properties from a new magical weapon onto your ancestral sword.

Yeah, absolutely this. It would especially help if your GM uses random loot tables. You found a cool new axe! But you're a guisarme tripper. No problem, just transfer the enchantment from the axe to the guisarme! But there's no spell to do that.

[Fax Celestis]

Yeah, absolutely this. It would especially help if your GM uses random loot tables. You found a cool new axe! But you're a guisarme tripper. No problem, just transfer the enchantment from the axe to the guisarme! But there's no spell to do that.

I could've sworn there was an artificer infusion that did exactly that.

[Zaq]

I could've sworn there was an artificer infusion that did exactly that.

I'm not prepared to deny it. I've never played at a table with an Artificer. They scare me.

That said, I just flipped through Eberron Campaign Setting, Magic of Eberron, and Forge of War, and I don't see anything that directly does that.

[StoneCipher]

It's not so much a surprise it doesn't exits but during one of the campaigns I played, I had an intelligent sword that I could magically bind to inanimate objects and constructs and the sword could make use of the thing it was bound to much like some sort of magic USB drive with an OS on it.

The greatest part was that the intelligent item was made intelligent when I imprisoned a Lich's soul into it. What made it funnier is that I too was a Lich. What made it even funnier is that I bound the sword to a dead warforged and he became a warforged Lich.

Either way a spell or ritual like that would be pretty neat.

[Slipperychicken]

It's not so much a surprise it doesn't exits but during one of the campaigns I played, I had an intelligent sword that I could magically bind to inanimate objects and constructs and the sword could make use of the thing it was bound to much like some sort of magic USB drive with an OS on it.

The greatest part was that the intelligent item was made intelligent when I imprisoned a Lich's soul into it. What made it funnier is that I too was a Lich. What made it even funnier is that I bound the sword to a dead warforged and he became a warforged Lich.

Either way a spell or ritual like that would be pretty neat.

Mind Switch?

[StoneCipher]

It could be similar, but intelligent weapons are constructs. So technically not "living" which the spell requires.

[Phelix-Mu]

I actually nerf the more insane uses of PaO (pebbles to people and the like), and add in a relatively cheap use for moving enchantments between items or changing one magic item into another. Upon reflection, this likely moves the spell down to 7th level, which is also nice for some of the more common break points for not-quite-full casters. Purely homebrew, but this is a relatively tame use of the spell based on the extremely open-ended RAW of it.

[atemu1234]

I second hybridization spells. It annoys me to have to use third party materials to show mechanically what happens flavorfully.

[Dalebert]

A Trap the Soul effect. The spell of that name is just a general trap, i.e. the whole creature; not just its soul, and that really bugs me. Don't call it Trap the SOUL. Soul-switching effects kind of fall into that category as well. There should be a spell to trap a creatures soul in a vessel and leave its body empty so you could potentially do something with the empty body--animate it, possess it, put a minion into it, etc.

Also general body-creating effects that don't automatically insert some kind of soul. Clone puts something specific there--your soul, if you die. Similarly with reincarnate.

The reason it feels like such a gap is because Magic Jar specifically talks of a case where if you have no body to go back to when the spell ends, you die. OKay, so there should be SOME way to get a body, maybe even a temporary one and then more elaborate or expensive ways to get a permanent one. The best I can come up with is Wish or Limited Wish asking to be able to select what you come back as the next time you reincarnate. Then you could potentially Magic Jar something so you can kill and reincarnate your own empty body. Now, when the spell end, you go back to your new drow body! Or whatever.

[sleepyphoenixx]

A Trap the Soul effect. The spell of that name is just a general trap, i.e. the whole creature; not just its soul, and that really bugs me. Don't call it Trap the SOUL. Soul-switching effects kind of fall into that category as well. There should be a spell to trap a creatures soul in a vessel and leave its body empty so you could potentially do something with the empty body--animate it, possess it, put a minion into it, etc.

Also general body-creating effects that don't automatically insert some kind of soul. Clone puts something specific there--your soul, if you die. Similarly with reincarnate.
Imprison Soul (HoH) does exactly that. It's completely unnecessary though since all you need to do to remove a soul is kill the creature in question. Use a death effect to avoid damaging your new body.
Soul Shackles (BoVD) and Soul Bind (PHB) do something similar.

Also, Clone actually works just fine. Just because the soul goes in automatically when the cloned creature dies doesn't mean you can't use it for something else in the meantime. There's no information on what happens when the soul tries to enter if the clone is already inhabited though.


The reason it feels like such a gap is because Magic Jar specifically talks of a case where if you have no body to go back to when the spell ends, you die. OKay, so there should be SOME way to get a body, maybe even a temporary one and then more elaborate or expensive ways to get a permanent one. The best I can come up with is Wish or Limited Wish asking to be able to select what you come back as the next time you reincarnate. Then you could potentially Magic Jar something so you can kill and reincarnate your own empty body. Now, when the spell end, you go back to your new drow body! Or whatever.

That's actually needlessly complicated since you can just use Wish to change your race, as per the ritual in Savage Species.

[heavyfuel]

When making the gambler Archie Karas for the Junkyard Wars, I was surprised at how few spells alter things like dice rolls considering the game is pretty much based on dice rolling

[Daishain]

Not what I was talking about. I mean a lower level effect that says "they went that way". And the other reads people, not objects.
Uh, not what I was talking about either. Those two were suggestions on my part for spells I'm surprised don't exist.

[Fax Celestis]

Uh, not what I was talking about either. Those two were suggestions on my part for spells I'm surprised don't exist.

My bad, I thought you were responding to my post. Great minds think alike, I guess?

[dascarletm]

Really, the pickpockets in your game must be high-level characters with heavy magic support. And in that case i have to wonder why they'd go around trying to steal coinpurses.

:smallsigh: Not everyone plays at high levels of optimization, or even moderate levels.


Anyway.

I would have liked to see more modern conveniences replicated by spells, like the wristwatch. Things like timers would be nice.

I would have also liked to see something like a quasi-real chess board that is summonable/unsummonable while saving it's previous state.

I suppose this is what creating spells is for. I always thought the chess effect would be 0 or 1st level. What do you all think?

[Manly Man]

They had it in First and Second, but since third and onward, Spiritwrack (http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~abernert/hobby/rules/conjure/node9.html) has been missing, and I loved that spell so much. Seriously, you could summon and threaten a balor with it- a freaking balor- and they would likely comply. Of course, you'd have to find the fiend's name first, but still. As well, the related spell Cacodemon (http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~abernert/hobby/rules/conjure/node10.html) would have fit so well; they honestly should have put those spells in when they made the Fiendish Codices. Hordes of the Abyss would have been so much more interesting with them, and the effects on what newer demons they had.

[aleucard]

I would have also liked to see something like a quasi-real chess board that is summonable/unsummonable while saving it's previous state.

I suppose this is what creating spells is for. I always thought the chess effect would be 0 or 1st level. What do you all think?

You could probably make a custom item that uses Silent Image and optionally Ghost Sound as a base to make a game board. That's pretty expensive for something like this, but it's probably a Nobility toy anyway. Program it to know several games or be modifiable to add new ones, and use those two illusions to represent the game pieces. maybe add something to simulate another player for a single person to enjoy (maybe needs Unseen Servant, not sure), with different difficulty settings (read: different mental stats) for better or worse players.

Hey, that'd be pretty neat to have actually. I'll earmark this for if/when I eventually get to play an Artificer-ish character (or a Wizard/StP Erudite with 2 levels of Chameleon for both the floating feat and divine spell access), should be decent for downtime cash generation.

[Telok]

Detect venereal disease.

And probably some minor memory enhancer. Like when you know a word, you know what the word means, you know how to use it, but you can't remember the word. You keep going around saying similar words, words that sound like it or mean almost the same thing, words that start with the same letter... And you still can't quite remember that word. Plus you could cast it to remember how to spell something, or the phone number of a friend that you haven't seen in months. Bloody useful. Now where did I put my keys?

[Marlowe]

I'm always a bit surprised there's no spell, or skill, or any mechanical way to tell another persons (PC or NPC) class and/or level. Closest thing I can think of is the Martial Lore ToB skill, which is rightly considered useless because it only works on other ToB classes. And only when they are initiated maneuvers.

As it is, unless somebody tell you, or you enter combat, there's no way to assess whether the guy in the robe is a rather buff wizard or a barbarian who's just waiting for his thong and sandles to come out of the wash.

[Judge_Worm]

Why is there no epic wish/miracle?

[Thurbane]

Why is there no spell or item that makes weapons count as cold iron - pretty sure there is an equivalent for silver and adamantine. Maybe there is one, but I'm pretty sure it's natural weapons only.

[Urpriest]

I'm always a bit surprised there's no spell, or skill, or any mechanical way to tell another persons (PC or NPC) class and/or level. Closest thing I can think of is the Martial Lore ToB skill, which is rightly considered useless because it only works on other ToB classes. And only when they are initiated maneuvers.

As it is, unless somebody tell you, or you enter combat, there's no way to assess whether the guy in the robe is a rather buff wizard or a barbarian who's just waiting for his thong and sandles to come out of the wash.

Complete Warrior lets you figure out HD with Sense Motive, IIRC. Might have been Oriental Adventures instead. Class is more ambiguous, but I think some of the Arcane Sight line let you detect casters anyway.


Why is there no spell or item that makes weapons count as cold iron - pretty sure there is an equivalent for silver and adamantine. Maybe there is one, but I'm pretty sure it's natural weapons only.

That's intentional, and the designers talked about that during the 3.0->3.5 transition. Cold Iron is supposed to be a light antimagic sort of material, hence it being bad for Fey and harder to enchant, so they didn't think a spell granting it made sense.

An Umbrella spell has already been mentioned, and it's just so common in most fantasy sources!

For the several people talking about creating miscellaneous objects, that's what Minor Creation is for, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're asking for.

More "ship's mage" style spells would be nice. There are a few in Stormwrack, but I still feel like the "we keep a mage on our boat to calm the seas and give us smooth sailing" archetype isn't really well filled out.

[Phelix-Mu]

I would have liked to see more modern conveniences replicated by spells, like the wristwatch. Things like timers would be nice.



In a previous thread about in-world time units and timekeeping, I mentioned that either of the aforementioned bard spells, animate instrument or ghost pipes (and possibly ghost sound if you could get it a long duration), could be used to create a drone or chime that cyclically noted the passage of seconds/minutes/hours. Not what the spells were intended for, and they aren't really able to do it perpetually, but a beat can be used to keep time (obviously). If you could get it to last all day, you could even keep time by a sufficiently sophisticated beat.

My primary sadness in spell design is that so few of the spells out there can create or nurture life/creativity in ways that don't also invite horrible abuse of economics or similar stuff (and also without rendering mundanes even more marginal, but that is a slightly different issue). Mainly, I'd like to see spells for stuff like animal rearing, fertility magic, artistic expression, and so forth. Without being as borked as fabricate.

But part of that gripe is an issue with the usual material that the game itself is focused upon. Again, a different matter entirely.

[Thurbane]

I know a spell that created an umbrella of force over your head existed in 1E...pretty sure it was in the Greyhawk campaign hardcover. Maybe a Mordenkainen or Tenser spell?

[Rubik]

Psionic Minor Creation creates items for you. 1 cu ft/lvl of any plant matter you can think of, and only really complex items need any kind of skill check. And "plant matter" is a highly, highly versatile term. Plastic is made from crude oil, and most oil is from decayed plant matter. Amber is fossilized plant sap, and it's got all sorts of uses. Pine pitch is highly, highly flammable, and it's also good as a glue. Lots of plants are edible. And wood is widely used as a building material.

Psionic Minor Creation: so much potential. It's one of my favorite powers for a reason.

[Thurbane]

I know a spell that created an umbrella of force over your head existed in 1E...pretty sure it was in the Greyhawk campaign hardcover. Maybe a Mordenkainen or Tenser spell?

Found it! Greyhawk Adventures (1988), page 62: Otiluke's Force Umbrella (Evocation, 3rd level).

[Jeff the Green]

Spells for the following:

Do math.

I was going to point out easy math from Song and Silence, but apparently it doesn't do what its name says and mostly allows you to do the Rainman counting trick. :smallannoyed:

I wish there were ways to summon humanoids, such as great heroes of the past. I realize this would be hard to manage, but it's disappointing to not have. I'd also like to see the ability to hear your name (or any particular word that you're listening for) when it's spoken, regardless of distance, and gradations of mindrape so you can change certain aspects of a target's mind without having to be level 17.

[Dalebert]

I'd let someone summon a very weak field of force with prestidigitation, just enough to keep light precipitation off of you, and have it stay in position over your head as you move about. Most trivial utility should be covered by prestidigitation. If your DM is going to be stuffy about it, just rig up something with treated leather that can be folded up and have an Unseen Servant hold it over your head.

[Venger]

Diagnosis - 5th level Divination
concentration touch range spell

Reveals important details concerning the subject's status. Starting with their general state of health. Keeping it up reveals any status effects and the basic nature of their source, and then whether or not the soul and body actually match up (revealing polymorph, possession, mind switch, etc.)

Hijack Teleport - 8th level Conjuration

Casting this spell allows you and others to latch onto the remnants of a teleport spell used by another character within the last five minutes. You and subjects are teleported to the same location that other character was sent.

status does the first thing. hellbreaker's stowaway ability is similar to the second.



It's not so much a surprise it doesn't exits but during one of the campaigns I played, I had an intelligent sword that I could magically bind to inanimate objects and constructs and the sword could make use of the thing it was bound to much like some sort of magic USB drive with an OS on it.

The greatest part was that the intelligent item was made intelligent when I imprisoned a Lich's soul into it. What made it funnier is that I too was a Lich. What made it even funnier is that I bound the sword to a dead warforged and he became a warforged Lich.

Either way a spell or ritual like that would be pretty neat.

steal steel will do this.


When making the gambler Archie Karas for the Junkyard Wars, I was surprised at how few spells alter things like dice rolls considering the game is pretty much based on dice rolling

bovd's "cheat" lets you alter the outcome of dice and other chance-based games such as poker.


Complete Warrior lets you figure out HD with Sense Motive, IIRC. Might have been Oriental Adventures instead. Class is more ambiguous, but I think some of the Arcane Sight line let you detect casters anyway.
it's present in both books. arcane sight does tell you whether someone's a caster, whether they're arcane or divine, and their highest lvl available ability.


An Umbrella spell has already been mentioned, and it's just so common in most fantasy sources!

For the several people talking about creating miscellaneous objects, that's what Minor Creation is for, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're asking for.

More "ship's mage" style spells would be nice. There are a few in Stormwrack, but I still feel like the "we keep a mage on our boat to calm the seas and give us smooth sailing" archetype isn't really well filled out.

sandstorm's portable shade will protect you from rain and leaves your hands free

the role of ship's mage can, alongside stormwrack's boat stuff, be done almost entirely with control air/winds/weather, all core.


I was going to point out easy math from Song and Silence, but apparently it doesn't do what its name says and mostly allows you to do the Rainman counting trick. :smallannoyed:

I wish there were ways to summon humanoids, such as great heroes of the past. I realize this would be hard to manage, but it's disappointing to not have. I'd also like to see the ability to hear your name (or any particular word that you're listening for) when it's spoken, regardless of distance, and gradations of mindrape so you can change certain aspects of a target's mind without having to be level 17.

there's always teleport through time

[Phelix-Mu]

I'd also like to see the ability to hear your name (or any particular word that you're listening for) when it's spoken, regardless of distance....

It's not quite the same, but there are a series of Dragon Magz feats, [body part] of the Mage, that grants some interesting, if pretty not great, stuff. One of them is, I think, Ears of the Mage, which allows you to hear your name whenever anyone on the same planet/plane (not quite sure, but it was big) speaks it, plus a few other small benefits. Sadly, like many feats, great idea, sub-par execution. Still, might be interesting if you are making a pc/npc with that as a gimmick.

[Jeff the Green]

It's not quite the same, but there are a series of Dragon Magz feats, [body part] of the Mage, that grants some interesting, if pretty not great, stuff. One of them is, I think, Ears of the Mage, which allows you to hear your name whenever anyone on the same planet/plane (not quite sure, but it was big) speaks it, plus a few other small benefits. Sadly, like many feats, great idea, sub-par execution. Still, might be interesting if you are making a pc/npc with that as a gimmick.

Yeah, by itself it's not exactly worth a feat.

Another thing I'd like: unbreakable vows. The geas spells will sort of do it, but aren't of a long enough duration. Something like Permanent, willing only would be nice.

[Slipperychicken]

I'd also like to see the ability to hear your name (or any particular word that you're listening for) when it's spoken, regardless of distance

Honestly, that sounds more like Portfolio Sense than anything else.

[Jeff the Green]

Honestly, that sounds more like Portfolio Sense than anything else.

A very, very limited version, maybe. But I don't think it's out of range of a higher level spell or, ideally, utterance. (Or if packaged with a couple of other benefits, a feat with onerous prerequisites.)

[Taveena]

I wish there were ways to summon humanoids, such as great heroes of the past. I realize this would be hard to manage, but it's disappointing to not have. I'd also like to see the ability to hear your name (or any particular word that you're listening for) when it's spoken, regardless of distance, and gradations of mindrape so you can change certain aspects of a target's mind without having to be level 17.

While not quite 'summoned', there is a spell in Magic of Incarnum which allows you to get... pseudo-posessed by someone from the past. If you roll poorly enough then you get possessed by an inbred idiot. Why you'd want to cast this spell, I don't know.

[Slipperychicken]

A very, very limited version, maybe. But I don't think it's out of range of a higher level spell or, ideally, utterance. (Or if packaged with a couple of other benefits, a feat with onerous prerequisites.)

It does sound like a pretty cool high-level divination spell: Tells you the location, name, and gives a brief mental image of anyone who speaks your name within the range? Perhaps 7th level, and 1 day/level.


As for the hero one, I know ACKS had a "summon hero" spell. It summoned a 4th level fighter (the title for which is "Hero") with some equipment, who fights for the caster while summoned.

[Oneris]

Some sort of Lock-On system for ranged spells and attacks.

[Venger]

While not quite 'summoned', there is a spell in Magic of Incarnum which allows you to get... pseudo-posessed by someone from the past. If you roll poorly enough then you get possessed by an inbred idiot. Why you'd want to cast this spell, I don't know.

Being a great incarnum enthusiast, I (embarassingly) actually know what spell line you're talking about.

it's called "channel the mishtai" and you can roll 1d6 to pick what skarn spirit you gain to help you out. only 1 is the "inbred moron of the late decadent period" which imposes a -2 to all skills AND forces a save vs daze for 1 round upon casting the spell.

2-6 are vaguely okay, but they just boost ability checks or arcane CL in exchange for a corresponding penalty.

if you're a skarn or rilkan, you get to roll 1d10, and 7-10 are.. sort of ok, I guess? their buffs are also really minor, but they don't have any drawbacks.

the lacklusterness of this spell aside, it's necromancy, can only be cast on willing creatures, SR yes, willneg, is touch, AND has a 1 round casting time.

and the duration is only 1 minute (with an additional minute for every essentia invested in the spell at the time of casting)

as if this weren't enough, it's an [incarnum] spell, so you can't even cast it at all unless you have the incarnum spellshaping feat.

the greater version is identical, but instead of a 2nd, it's a 6th (!) and you can actually choose what spirit you want to channel. the duration's an hour (with an additional one for every essentia invested, but you must be channeling an inbred moron if you think that's a good idea) and you can only call on each spirit 1/week! so you can't even pick the one you actually care about, you gotta rotate through them.

what really galls me about the regular version is, even if you wanted to do this for some reason, having to roll to see what buff you get makes it impossible to actually use. you don't go "y'know I want to boost my cha checks, but I guess +1 to arcane CL would be okay too."

it's a spell to solve a problem no one has.

[sleepyphoenixx]

It does sound like a pretty cool high-level divination spell: Tells you the location, name, and gives a brief mental image of anyone who speaks your name within the range? Perhaps 7th level, and 1 day/level.


The Eldritch Master PrC from Dr#280 gets that as a capstone.

[Taveena]

To be fair, you could... y'know... Maximize it... (maybe.)

[Mr Adventurer]

In that Dragon mag with the feat to let you hear your name whenever it is spoken, there's also feats that let you teleport to that person, teleport THEM to YOU, and one that causes an ominous crack of thunder (or similar effect - you decide!) whenever someone speaks your name. I loved those.

[Jowgen]

A spell to let you remember things. In crunch, this would translate into the DM reminding you of relevant details. I'd rate it at about cantrip level myself.

A torture spell (think harry potter cruxio) for interrogations (such as described in BoVD). Power word Pain sounds like it should be the thing in question, but it really isn't. First level I'd think.

A spell to send yourself a short message back through time, kind of like a miniature reverse Foresight mixed with Message. The game balance implications might be heavy, but "we ****ed up the world, lets warn our past selves to avoid the Helix apocalypse" is such a common thing in a lot of fiction (mainly SciFi but also some fantasy) that there should be some accessible equivalent. Perhaps even a high-level heavy drawback mega-emergency version. No idea on what the level ought to be on either though.

[Venger]

A spell to let you remember things. In crunch, this would translate into the DM reminding you of relevant details. I'd rate it at about cantrip level myself.

autohypnosis (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/skills/autohypnosis.htm) will allow you to do this.



A torture spell (think harry potter cruxio) for interrogations (such as described in BoVD). Power word Pain sounds like it should be the thing in question, but it really isn't. First level I'd think.
look no further than bovd's "wrack"


A spell to send yourself a short message back through time, kind of like a miniature reverse Foresight mixed with Message. The game balance implications might be heavy, but "we ****ed up the world, lets warn our past selves to avoid the Helix apocalypse" is such a common thing in a lot of fiction (mainly SciFi but also some fantasy) that there should be some accessible equivalent. Perhaps even a high-level heavy drawback mega-emergency version. No idea on what the level ought to be on either though.
this is easily feasible using shapesand.

as long as you make the item shaped less than one cubic foot in volume, you can send it backwards in time up to 5 minutes. if you need to send it only 3 or 1 minute, you can do so by boosting the DC by adding additional detail and/or making a functioning tool.

this is doable based on the amount of time it takes to manipulate shapesand. it takes a number of minutes equal to the DC listed on page 78 of sandstorm, so as long as you make an item which is under 1 cubic foot, has no fine detail, isn't a functioning tool, armor, weapon, is one solid piece, non-masterwork, and has no moving parts, you can send yourself messages backwards through time.

you can devise your own "code" with things like this as well: e.g.
square: conversation partner is betraying you and plans to attack
triangle: there is a trap ahead in the square before you
etc

where it gets really interesting is how you can "chain" the effect of messages:
hexagon: send a message backwards through time 5 more minutes

so you can in effect do this pretty much indefinitely, warning yourself of anything you're smart enough to come up with inside the confines of the parameters allowed.

I call this trick "The Sands of Time."

[Val666]

Blackhole :C?

[Dalebert]

Some sort of Lock-On system for ranged spells and attacks.

We need that flashing red arrow that hunters could summon in World of Warcraft!


A spell to send yourself a short message back through time, kind of like a miniature reverse Foresight mixed with Message. The game balance implications might be heavy, but "we ****ed up the world, lets warn our past selves to avoid the Helix apocalypse" is such a common thing in a lot of fiction (mainly SciFi but also some fantasy) that there should be some accessible equivalent. Perhaps even a high-level heavy drawback mega-emergency version. No idea on what the level ought to be on either though.

Yeah, stories are all about the "what if", and "What if certain events had occurred differently? How would we be different?" is a big one. Here's a reference if you're trying to get an idea of power level. It's from Wish.


Undo misfortune. A wish can undo a single recent event. The wish forces a reroll of any roll made within the last round (including your last turn). Reality reshapes itself to accommodate the new result. For example, a wish could undo an opponent’s successful save, a foe’s successful critical hit (either the attack roll or the critical roll), a friend’s failed save, and so on. The reroll, however, may be as bad as or worse than the original roll. An unwilling target gets a Will save to negate the effect, and spell resistance (if any) applies.

That's arguably the most powerful spell available next to Miracle and it will let you reverse time by 1 round. Basically, I'd say it's a pretty big deal. It has it's place but I see this more as something an artifact or relic does, or some similarly significant event in the game under very specific conditions and at great cost (in other words, carefully regulated by the DM so it doesn't break the game) than something a PC should be able to just do, at least to any significant degree, even with a very powerful spell.

[Venger]

Yeah, stories are all about the "what if", and "What if certain events had occurred differently? How would we be different?" is a big one. Here's a reference if you're trying to get an idea of power level. It's from Wish.



That's arguably the most powerful spell available next to Miracle and it will let you reverse time by 1 round. Basically, I'd say it's a pretty big deal. It has it's place but I see this more as something an artifact or relic does, or some similarly significant event in the game under very specific conditions and at great cost (in other words, carefully regulated by the DM so it doesn't break the game) than something a PC should be able to just do, at least to any significant degree, even with a very powerful spell.

Alter fortune is much better. An immediate action, plus it's six levels lower and costs a ton less xp.

[Slipperychicken]

A spell to send yourself a short message back through time, kind of like a miniature reverse Foresight mixed with Message. The game balance implications might be heavy, but "we ****ed up the world, lets warn our past selves to avoid the Helix apocalypse" is such a common thing in a lot of fiction (mainly SciFi but also some fantasy) that there should be some accessible equivalent. Perhaps even a high-level heavy drawback mega-emergency version. No idea on what the level ought to be on either though.

You have Teleport Through Time, a spell which for obvious reasons is not supposed to be accessible to PCs unless the DM is a masochist. Similarly, there's a feat which lets you craft portals through time. Both are in an online supplement which was probably burned by WotC in an effort to cut off 3.5 even more and sell 5e.

There are also a few items like the cloak of second chances, which lets you "re-do" a round by going back in time.

There's also the "Forced Dream" power, which moves time backward by one round. It's a crucial component to the "Save Game Trick".


Some sort of Lock-On system for ranged spells and attacks.

You mean "True Strike", right?

[nedz]

Why is there no spell for creating Owlbears — and several other creatures for that matter ?

We know that a Wizard did it, so presumably he used a spell ?

[Dalebert]

We know that a Wizard did it, so presumably he used a spell ?

Not necessarily. It could be something along the lines of building a construct only more complicated. Not everything should be explained with a spell. There are crafting feats and what-not. I agree in principle though. They don't really provide any way to do this sort of research and experimentation.

[Slipperychicken]

Why is there no spell for creating Owlbears — and several other creatures for that matter ?

We know that a Wizard did it, so presumably he used a spell ?

There's an "Origin of Species" epic spell, although I imagine that owlbears and such were made with somewhat more mundane/scientific breeding methods whose specifics are largely a plot-device.

[Venger]

Why is there no spell for creating Owlbears — and several other creatures for that matter ?

We know that a Wizard did it, so presumably he used a spell ?

step 1) ask DM if summon undead line is equivalent with summon monster line. get "yes"
2) cast halaster's fetch 2 and summon a permanent owlbear skeleton
3) rez it

you have created owlbears from the ether. congratulations. now we finally know how they reproduce.

[BWR]

Why is there no spell for creating Owlbears — and several other creatures for that matter ?

We know that a Wizard did it, so presumably he used a spell ?

Lifeblend, 9th lvl Necromancy. 2e - Pages from the Mages.

[nedz]

Lifeblend, 9th lvl Necromancy. 2e - Pages from the Mages.

Wrong sub-forum. If I wanted to move a 2E spell across it would be Inverted Ethics; best Magical Trap ever.

Basically if you fail the save you behave in the opposite manner to which you intended: Rogue breaks into a vault, trips the trap, fails the save — instead of taking the loot, he leaves some of his own behind.

[nimmo0110]

Spells for the following:

Do math.
Track time.
Record visual input (i.e. photograph), copy to nearby surface.
Record speech and other audio input, copy some representation to a nearby surface, and read it later to replicate the sound.
Record cognitive input (thoughts), somehow represent them for later retrieval.
Play musical instruments.
Summon clothes.



as for do math u are a wizard some one who can reshape the world with but a word and you can't do your own maths?

[aleucard]

Found it! Greyhawk Adventures (1988), page 62: Otiluke's Force Umbrella (Evocation, 3rd level).

The only possible reason that such a high level for this spell could be explained is if it blocked artillery fire or something. What's it do, exactly?

[nedz]

as for do math u are a wizard some one who can reshape the world with but a word and you can't do your own maths?

Sounds hilarious, well for a slapstick Wizard anyway.

Actually, why aren't there more Practical Joke cantrips ?

[Slipperychicken]

as for do math u are a wizard some one who can reshape the world with but a word and you can't do your own maths?

Who says we have to be a wizard? We could be some Cleric or Sorcerer who skipped algebra.

[Rubik]

Fusion+Astral Seed can hybridize critters.

That just means "a psion did it."

[atemu1234]

Sounds hilarious, well for a slapstick Wizard anyway.

Actually, why aren't there more Practical Joke cantrips ?

Prestidigitation, my friend. Once saw a player turn a glass of wine into vinegar while a noble had his back turned.

[Tvtyrant]

Wrong sub-forum. If I wanted to move a 2E spell across it would be Inverted Ethics; best Magical Trap ever.

Basically if you fail the save you behave in the opposite manner to which you intended: Rogue breaks into a vault, trips the trap, fails the save — instead of taking the loot, he leaves some of his own behind.

If I was going to port one over it would be Sands of Time from Dark Sun. It can either return entire cities to existence, or it can erode them out of it.

I have always been upset that there is no Summon Undead IX with a horde of 100 skeleton archers option.

[atemu1234]

If I was going to port one over it would be Sands of Time from Dark Sun. It can either return entire cities to existence, or it can erode them out of it.

I have always been upset that there is no Summon Undead IX with a horde of 100 skeleton archers option.

That's probably why. It would be awesome, though.

[Fax Celestis]

If I was going to port one over it would be Sands of Time from Dark Sun. It can either return entire cities to existence, or it can erode them out of it.

I have always been upset that there is no Summon Undead IX with a horde of 100 skeleton archers option.

Animate legion, Heroes of Battle.

[BWR]

Wrong sub-forum. If I wanted to move a 2E spell across it would be Inverted Ethics; best Magical Trap ever.

The point is that many, of these 'non-existant' spells did exist in previous edition. Math spells, look at "The Republic of Darokin", which had stuff like that, including my favorite[, I]Embezzle[/I]. Time keeping spells and items, Chronomancer. Detect Curse had three different variants, all lvl 3. Seek Teleporter for BECMI and Teleport Tracer from Book of Eldritch Might - both are 6th. Tracking is lvl 2 Druid spell that allows you to follow psychic impressions of people up to 2 days old /level. Transferring magical properties from one item to another is Dweomerflow. Allows you to transfer charges from one source to another - combine charges on Wands of Fireball, for instance. Holy Vesting can take anything from non-artifacts and transfer. Poison spells, too many to bother counting - Venom Bite, Venom Bolt, Vile Venom, Poison Touch, Poisonstar, Venomdust and several more with less obvious names.
You get the idea.

[Daishain]

Sounds hilarious, well for a slapstick Wizard anyway.

Actually, why aren't there more Practical Joke cantrips ?
Heh, how's this?

"Fleas, Level 0 Illusion spell
The subject must make a wisdom saving throw, if it fails, subject experiences the sensation of being massively infested with minuscule biting insects, -2 to concentration checks."

In a similar vein, you could make someone colorblind, or cause them to make donkey noises during speech, or cause the skin on their feet to develop the sense of taste.

Ooh, or how about of a variant of Thunderhead? Instead of 1 lightning damage a turn, the cloud just rains on the subject.

The possibilities are endless

[Tvtyrant]

Animate legion, Heroes of Battle.

The hit dice are capped at twice your CL though. I would prefer 10X, seeing as how skeletons and zombies are terrible in combat.

[sleepyphoenixx]

The hit dice are capped at twice your CL though. I would prefer 10X, seeing as how skeletons and zombies are terrible in combat.

It may sound cool on paper but i'd rather not have spells like that in the game. Combat is already tedious enough with a party of more than 4-5. I'd rather not try it with the number of participants being in the triple digits.

Edit: There are also several ways to increase your control cap. If twice your CL isn't enough for you, invest in it. No reason to give casters everything for free.

[Tvtyrant]

It may sound cool on paper but i'd rather not have spells like that in the game. Combat is already tedious enough with a party of more than 4-5. I'd rather not try it with the number of participants being in the triple digits.

Edit: There are also several ways to increase your control cap. If twice your CL isn't enough for you, invest in it. No reason to give casters everything for free.

Give them the mob or volley rules then. It doesn't need to be so much hundreds of undead so much as fulfill the trope. And they have lots of better things for free, this won't make them stronger.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

The hit dice are capped at twice your CL though. I would prefer 10X, seeing as how skeletons and zombies are terrible in combat.

If you can swing the extra level, make it a war spell from a Dragon magazine. It will multiply the effects by 25, IIRC.

[Ravens_cry]

I hate when we get a big, massive of coinage that, even with extradimensional spaces, is still an unwieldy sum. Which is why I want a spell called 'change maker', that converts coin to their equivalent in other currency. 1000 copper become 1 platinum, for example.

[Slipperychicken]

I hate when we get a big, massive of coinage that, even with extradimensional spaces, is still an unwieldy sum. Which is why I want a spell called 'change maker', that converts coin to their equivalent in other currency. 1000 copper become 1 platinum, for example.

Just trade it in for diamonds.

[Dalebert]

I was just thinking of something to summon inexpensive items of convenience and my first thought was a 1st level spell that could summon about 5 gp worth of basic equipment (no food). Then I thought of something cooler. What about summoning a little goblin merchant? Picture this...

A little guy appears with a big backpack. The little guy's quite encumbered. You have x amount of rounds to do business with him (they're very busy!). The remnants of the portal he arrived through twinkle behind him. As soon as he shows up, he flips over an hour glass. He'll even convert currencies over though he has a limited amount and he might want a small fee for it. There's a limit on how much he can carry so figure there some certain percentage chance that he has what you want except for really common items which he always has (flint and steel, whetstone, oil, torches, etc.) He might even have some gems you can buy to help lighten your load of coinage. He might drive a hard bargain and there's certainly a "convenience fee"--his prices are all a bit upcharged, but he generally won't screw you over because they have a reputation to maintain.

I'm thinking like a 3rd level spell. It gets cast a lot in the middle of dungeons or out in the wilderness.

If you try to steal from him, he and all his belongings can teleport back from whence he came as an immediate action... but he'll probably toss a alchemist bomb up in the air right before he does. :smallcool:

[Slipperychicken]

Picture this...

A little guy appears with a big backpack. The little guy's quite encumbered. You have x amount of rounds to do business with him (they're very busy!). The remnants of the portal he arrived through twinkle behind him. As soon as he shows up, he flips over an hour glass. He'll even convert currencies over though he has a limited amount and he might want a small fee for it. There's a limit on how much he can carry so figure there some certain percentage chance that he has what you want except for really common items which he always has (flint and steel, whetstone, oil, torches, etc.) He might even have some gems you can buy to help lighten your load of coinage. He might drive a hard bargain and there's certainly a "convenience fee"--his prices are all a bit upcharged, but he generally won't screw you over because they have a reputation to maintain.


Picture your player immediately shouting "KILL THE GOBLIN AND TAKE HIS STUFF WHILE HE'S FLAT-FOOTED*, WE'LL BE RICH! ROLL INITIATIVE!!!".


*Flat-footed characters (i.e. those whose turn hasn't yet come up in combat) can't make AoOs or take Immediate actions.

[Dalebert]

Picture your player immediately shouting "KILL THE GOBLIN AND TAKE HIS STUFF WHILE HE'S FLAT-FOOTED*, WE'LL BE RICH! ROLL INITIATIVE!!!".

Fluff it however you need that he's not. I picture some little goblin warehouse. A summoning comes in. It's like a phone call. Takes a few rounds sometimes but someone answers it. (Don't try to cast in the middle of combat) They can peek through the "portal" and see what's going on before he shows up to watch out for shenanigans. He steps through with awareness and has already taken an action to get there. It's a business. They've set up the basic magics but your spell powers the actual trip. It's one-way there and one-way back and, other than coinage, nothing can come back through that didn't already pass through the portal. There's also a security guy or two watching. Pull any shenanigans and a goblin SWAT team shows up sometime in your near future when you're not expecting it, probably during the party's next camp. :smallbiggrin:

Wasn't something like this added to World of Warcraft? I seem to recall hearing something about it. If not, that's another place I'm surprised this spell doesn't exist at.

[Yahzi]

keep it around long enough to be useful for just about anything other than a single combat.
You hit the nail on the head. Spells that don't exist? Anything that doesn't involve breaking into to houses, killing the occupants, and taking their stuff.

There is one spell - Plant Growth - that, as a secondary note, tosses out a little-used alternative effect that completely changes the economy of the world.

How about: Remove Pain. Remove Pregnancy. Improve Fertility. Detect Forgery.

And of course, Get High. Given how much effort people spend on getting wasted, why isn't there a magical way to do it without hangovers, health effects, or addiction?

[Dalebert]

A cantrip that lets you create very elaborate illusions that fool all the senses, but only the caster can perceive them. I figure casters need a way to practice making convincing illusions and this is how they would do it. Also, it would be a cool way to enjoy some good food without getting fat.

[Venger]

You hit the nail on the head. Spells that don't exist? Anything that doesn't involve breaking into to houses, killing the occupants, and taking their stuff.

There is one spell - Plant Growth - that, as a secondary note, tosses out a little-used alternative effect that completely changes the economy of the world.

How about: Remove Pain. Remove Pregnancy. Improve Fertility. Detect Forgery.

And of course, Get High. Given how much effort people spend on getting wasted, why isn't there a magical way to do it without hangovers, health effects, or addiction?

while that's true about plant growth, the dnd economy is much more borked due to wall of iron, genesis, fabricate, etc. I don't think that crops could really be used as much of a trade good due to how easy it is to make as much of them as you like via create food and water traps and other stuff.

ease pain exists. if you can convince your DM pregnancy is a disease, that might work. there's always iron heart surge for ending "unwanted effects," which pregnancy definitely qualifies for.

my googlefu is failing me, but I distinctly remember talking about magic contraceptive tea on this forum. I think it was in one of the old 3.0 books. it only works for males and will suppress your ability to conceive for some amount of hours or days and if you fail a lowish fort save, make you permanently infertile. bestow curse can also make a target infertile.

any of the honesty spells (zone of truth, etc) will help with forgery, same as guidance of the avatar or similar.

if bovd's drugs aren't your bag, just go with false sensory input and simulate the recreational substance of your preference


A cantrip that lets you create very elaborate illusions that fool all the senses, but only the caster can perceive them. I figure casters need a way to practice making convincing illusions and this is how they would do it. Also, it would be a cool way to enjoy some good food without getting fat.

false sensory input :]

[Dalebert]

false sensory input :]

I can find references to a psionic power of that name but I don't have access to the psionic handbook. If so 1) Not a spell. 2) Probably completely misses the point. I'm guessing from this (http://dndtools.eu/classes/psibond-agent/) (all I can find) it's an offensive power which this is not meant to be. There are high level illusion spells that can fool multiple senses. I'm talking about a fairly trivial spell of convenience that's completely useless in combat because it is self-only, and thus can be a fairly common resource to wizards that doesn't require taking separate class levels for.

My PCs have happened upon a number of magic items of convenience. Among them are magical towels for cleaning and drying things, a medallion you keep in your back pocket that summons a chair when you sit down, and rings of infertility. The party bard is loving the ring. They're also about to happen upon a magic chamber pot. Small non-living objects placed inside vanish. What the users haven't realized thus far is the way they disappear is by being teleported 100 ft in a random direction. Random pieces of a dead body have been found around a certain section of town and the PCs tracked to the center of the circle and ended up in the thieves guild.

[Dr. Cliché]

'Greater Permanency'

Makes anything permanent. :smallamused:

[Slipperychicken]

'Greater Permanency'

Makes anything permanent. :smallamused:

Target: One moment, feeling, night, or relationship which the caster knows in his heart will have to end someday.

[atemu1234]

Target: One moment, feeling, night, or relationship which the caster knows in his heart will have to end someday.

Our marriage lasted 30 years, until that one sorcerer used Disjunction...

[Svata]

Some sort of Lock-On system for ranged spells and attacks.

Targeting Ray. Spell compendium page 219. Lasts rounds/level, and provides a +1 insight bonus per three caster levels to ranged attacks from all of your allies (incl. yourself) who can see the ray. Continues even if you personally lose LOS to the target. Sound about right for what you want?

[Zaq]

I'm a little surprised there isn't a spell that makes the next spell you cast friendly (in other words, targeting enemies only and not allies). Kind of like Sculpt Spell, but costing a spell slot and an action rather than a feat slot and a level increase.

[nedz]

I'm a little surprised there isn't a spell that makes the next spell you cast friendly (in other words, targeting enemies only and not allies). Kind of like Sculpt Spell, but costing a spell slot and an action rather than a feat slot and a level increase.

When metamagic was introduced in 2E it was as a series of spells, though certain spells such as Extension had been around a lot longer. We tried this approach and it didn't really work since you had to cast two spells to get a small improvement. One of the design decisions early in 3E was to make a metamagic system using feats — so you tend not to see such spells.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

I'm a little surprised there isn't a spell that makes the next spell you cast friendly (in other words, targeting enemies only and not allies). Kind of like Sculpt Spell, but costing a spell slot and an action rather than a feat slot and a level increase.

Complete Arcane or Mage does have the spell guard rings, but that's still not a spell in and of itself.

[Venger]

I can find references to a psionic power of that name but I don't have access to the psionic handbook. If so 1) Not a spell. 2) Probably completely misses the point. I'm guessing from this (http://dndtools.eu/classes/psibond-agent/) (all I can find) it's an offensive power which this is not meant to be. There are high level illusion spells that can fool multiple senses. I'm talking about a fairly trivial spell of convenience that's completely useless in combat because it is self-only, and thus can be a fairly common resource to wizards that doesn't require taking separate class levels for.

XPH is core (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/falseSensoryInput.htm)

false sensory input lets you fool your senses and change one sensation to another, so is basically only really useful for getting high in the first place. psibond agent can use this as a su.

it doesn't exist in exactly the way you want, my point was that an effect like what you described (tasting good food and not getting fat, getting high, etc) already did exist


I'm a little surprised there isn't a spell that makes the next spell you cast friendly (in other words, targeting enemies only and not allies). Kind of like Sculpt Spell, but costing a spell slot and an action rather than a feat slot and a level increase.

the extraordinary spell aim feat basically does this.

[Skysaber]

It's not quite the same, but there are a series of Dragon Magz feats, [body part] of the Mage, that grants some interesting, if pretty not great, stuff. One of them is, I think, Ears of the Mage, which allows you to hear your name whenever anyone on the same planet/plane (not quite sure, but it was big) speaks it, plus a few other small benefits. Sadly, like many feats, great idea, sub-par execution. Still, might be interesting if you are making a pc/npc with that as a gimmick.

Any idea on what issue that was in?

[Phelix-Mu]

Any idea on what issue that was in?

One moment while we search our records....

Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line.

:smalltongue:

EDIT:

Records indicate that the issue was #359, in the Class Acts article, Class Acts - Arcane Lore Abilities.

Most of them were really not worth a feat, but it's remarkably more balanced than tossing wizard a bunch of bonus metamagic and item creation stuff.:smallwink:

Thought: Maybe they are dead levels filler in exchange for fewer bonus feats. Or, maybe they are 1/level for each level of Archmage PrC.

Or something. Probably not a feat in any but low-to-mid op. Some were markedly better than others, though, so maybe I'm not quite remembering. Been a while since I read the whole thing.

[Rubik]

My magic psionic 8-ball says it's issue #359.

[Phelix-Mu]

Ooh, reverse ninja'd. *grrrr*

[Oneris]

Are there any spells for simply vanishing things, like a sort of reverse-conjuration? Having the ability to create water as a cantrip, but not the ability to destroy it seems a little unbalanced.

[Rubik]

Are there any spells for simply vanishing things, like a sort of reverse-conjuration? Having the ability to create water as a cantrip, but not the ability to destroy it seems a little unbalanced.Disintegrate is a Core spell.

[Oneris]

Disintegrate is a Core spell.

A pretty high level spell for a low level problem.

[Phelix-Mu]

Are there any spells for simply vanishing things, like a sort of reverse-conjuration? Having the ability to create water as a cantrip, but not the ability to destroy it seems a little unbalanced.

Only a little unbalanced? This is one of the primary ways in which D&D physics varies from the real world stuff. Magical energy apparently is infinite, and can sustain creation of real matter on an indefinite basis. Bye bye conservation.

In a sense, this is at the root of post-scarcity settings; magic is an unlimited resource that can supplant any other resource with the right spell combos spammed in sufficient quantity. Want a moon? Magic traps. Want an atmosphere for the moon? Magic traps or ring gates. Want plants and animals for that moon? Probably more magic traps and a couple of permanent portals to other planes or other parts of the Prime.

Yes, you can make your own planet with enough magic, and not really need to stray far beyond core.

[Heliomance]

as for do math u are a wizard some one who can reshape the world with but a word and you can't do your own maths?

I have a maths degree, and I still use a calculator. It's faster and easier. Pretty sure Wizards would think the same.

[Rubik]

A pretty high level spell for a low level problem.Dispelling works if the matter is conjured or transmuted and not of Instantaneous duration.

[Shining Wrath]

The idea of a sworn vow which would combine a geas and a curse; you promise to do X (or not do X), and if you break your promise, a consequence is inflicted upon you.

So you agree to have a geas laid upon you and if you violate it, a curse is inflicted.

Obviously evil people will use Charm / Dominate to get people to agree to swear the vow. Lawful neutrals might roll that way as well.

[Dalebert]

I've had a lot of spells pointed out to me that I didn't know existed so I'm kind of hoping that will happen with a lot of the examples I come up with.

Here's another. There could be a lot more glamer spells. I think PF did introduce a Disguise Other. Not sure if they did an Alter Other. Still, what seems to be lacking in particular are glamers for objects. What if I want to make the treasure chest in my home seem like a bale of hay or like a cheap end table? At a certain level, I'd want it to fool other senses too just like more powerful illusions do. If you touch it, you feel the scratchiness of the hay.

To a limited extent you might be able to pull this off with some illusions by making them bigger than the object and wrapping them around it but it's nigh impossible if the object is moving or if you simply don't want to have to concentrate on it.

[Rubik]

I've had a lot of spells pointed out to me that I didn't know existed so I'm kind of hoping that will happen with a lot of the examples I come up with.

Here's another. There could be a lot more glamer spells. I think PF did introduce a Disguise Other. Not sure if they did an Alter Other. Still, what seems to be lacking in particular are glamers for objects. What if I want to make the treasure chest in my home seem like a bale of hay or like a cheap end table? At a certain level, I'd want it to fool other senses too just like more powerful illusions do. If you touch it, you feel the scratchiness of the hay.

To a limited extent you might be able to pull this off with some illusions by making them bigger than the object and wrapping them around it but it's nigh impossible if the object is moving or if you simply don't want to have to concentrate on it.Polymorph Any Object followed by Invisible Spell Polymorph Any Object to turn the target back?

[Heliomance]

The idea of a sworn vow which would combine a geas and a curse; you promise to do X (or not do X), and if you break your promise, a consequence is inflicted upon you.

So you agree to have a geas laid upon you and if you violate it, a curse is inflicted.

Obviously evil people will use Charm / Dominate to get people to agree to swear the vow. Lawful neutrals might roll that way as well.
You could do it with Mark of Justice.

[Rubik]

You could do it with Mark of Justice.Or Geas.

Just avoid any flocks of them. They're vicious when roused.

[Pathagaron]

I've had a lot of spells pointed out to me that I didn't know existed so I'm kind of hoping that will happen with a lot of the examples I come up with.

Here's another. There could be a lot more glamer spells. I think PF did introduce a Disguise Other. Not sure if they did an Alter Other. Still, what seems to be lacking in particular are glamers for objects. What if I want to make the treasure chest in my home seem like a bale of hay or like a cheap end table? At a certain level, I'd want it to fool other senses too just like more powerful illusions do. If you touch it, you feel the scratchiness of the hay.

To a limited extent you might be able to pull this off with some illusions by making them bigger than the object and wrapping them around it but it's nigh impossible if the object is moving or if you simply don't want to have to concentrate on it.

The higher level image spells can fool other senses and last longer than concentration. As long as you are just editing furniture and the like which doesn't have to move between rooms, a permanent image should do.

[Dalebert]

The higher level image spells can fool other senses and last longer than concentration. As long as you are just editing furniture and the like which doesn't have to move between rooms, a permanent image should do.

Yeah, I... (?) just mentioned using existing illusions spells to try to finagle what you want in very limited circumstances. What about making a crappy coach seem like something fancy ala Cinderella or making a fancy coach look like a cart filled with hay so it's not such a target for bandits? These sorts of magics seem pretty built into the lore that inspired a lot of D&D. The books even address the idea of glamers but have so few actual instances of them available.

[atemu1234]

Healing spells for Wizards to cast on other people. They've got everything and the kitchen sink, apart from decent healing. Why?

Also, transfer life spells. Spells that deal damage to you and heal someone else. We've got Vampiric Touch for the reverse, but how come we don't have anything that heals people while damaging you? It's kind of a staple in fantasy.

[snailgosh]

Also, transfer life spells. Spells that deal damage to you and heal someone else. We've got Vampiric Touch for the reverse, but how come we don't have anything that heals people while damaging you? It's kind of a staple in fantasy.

Egoist gets Empathic Transfer which is pretty much this.

[mr_odd]

Summon chips and salsa. Level 0 cleric spell.

[BWR]

Healing spells for Wizards to cast on other people. They've got everything and the kitchen sink, apart from decent healing. Why?

Also, transfer life spells. Spells that deal damage to you and heal someone else. We've got Vampiric Touch for the reverse, but how come we don't have anything that heals people while damaging you? It's kind of a staple in fantasy.

Again, 2e. Complete Book of Necromancers, I believe. In the WSC at any rate.

[Nettlekid]

Healing spells for Wizards to cast on other people. They've got everything and the kitchen sink, apart from decent healing. Why?

Also, transfer life spells. Spells that deal damage to you and heal someone else. We've got Vampiric Touch for the reverse, but how come we don't have anything that heals people while damaging you? It's kind of a staple in fantasy.

Exactly BECAUSE they've got everything and the kitchen sink.

But anyway, the Healing Touch Necromancy spell does exactly that: Heal 1d6/2 CL up to 10d6 to another, and take half of that as damage. The Blood of the Martyr is similar and comes from the Cleric and Paladin spell list, and transfers HP on a 1:1 basis. And Hoard Life for Sorcerers moves your own life force around, sorta.

[Firechanter]

I didn't read through the entire thread, but I am still surprised about the scarcity of lifetime-extending magic. I.e. stuff that will allow a human to live hundreds of years. The amazing thing here is the disconnect between crunch and fluff, because in various lore, 600-year-old Wizards are a dime a dozen, but there's hardly anything in the rules to back that up.

Pretty much the only spell that prolongs life at all seems to be Steal Life from BoVD, and that of course is decidedly Evil and out of the question for any non-Evil person. Then there's also Reincarnate, which places you in the body of a Young Adult, but we all know the drawbacks of that one.

I would expect there would be various spells, arcane and divine, that would allow a character - especially a human - to stay fresh a good while longer.

[nedz]

Healing spells for Wizards to cast on other people. They've got everything and the kitchen sink, apart from decent healing. Why?

Also, transfer life spells. Spells that deal damage to you and heal someone else. We've got Vampiric Touch for the reverse, but how come we don't have anything that heals people while damaging you? It's kind of a staple in fantasy.

Because that would make them overpowered.

Also, Arcane Disciple, ..., Combat Medic.

[Venger]

Because that would make them overpowered.

Also, Arcane Disciple, ..., Combat Medic.

wyrm wizard, nosomatic chirurgeon...

[Slipperychicken]

Healing spells for Wizards to cast on other people. They've got everything and the kitchen sink, apart from decent healing. Why?


Because WotC wanted to protect that niche for divine casters. It's one of a few balancing concepts which was maintained more or less throughout the edition.

[Stella]

I know a spell that created an umbrella of force over your head existed in 1E...pretty sure it was in the Greyhawk campaign hardcover. Maybe a Mordenkainen or Tenser spell?
If you are short enough, I think Halflings can qualify but I'm not sure a Gnome can, a simple Floating Disk ordered to maintain a 0 distance from you will hover right over your head and provide perfect rain protection.


The disk is 3 feet in diameter and 1 inch deep at its center. [...] The disk floats approximately 3 feet above the ground at all times and remains level.
Being concave it is a bit of an inverse umbrella, but that doesn't matter since it has the same diameter as the typical umbrella.

And arguably a lot more protection than that, since the Disk is a Force spell and is impenetrable to weapons. But it "winks out" if exposed to more than 100 lbs of weight per caster level, which makes for some interesting physics problems for the DM. A arrow or crossbow bolt might not inflict that amount of force, especially if it is nearing the maximum range, but the typical sword blow from Yea Olde Mightily Thewed Barbarian probably will. But good luck turning your combats into a carnival strong man mallet game where the DM has to guess how powerful your opponents weapon blows are. As DM I'd just let any opponent stab you under it, no matter what weapon they were using. After all, there's nothing in the rules which says that an impenetrable umbrella will keep even a giant from snatching you out from under it and biting off your head.


I have a maths degree, and I still use a calculator. It's faster and easier. Pretty sure Wizards would think the same.
This "spell" exists in other games. GURPS for example has the Lightning Calculator power, and it's rather cheap since the advantage is relatively minor. And I think a similar power exists in Champions, which isn't surprising. So the absence of a similar spell in D&D 3.5 which has probably thousands of spells more than all the GURPS spells and powers/skills from all of their great many source books combined is a bit surprising.

[Sith_Happens]

Doesn't have to be a spell, but I'm surprised that there's literally no way to transfer ownership of a golem or other construct to someone else.

[BWR]

I didn't read through the entire thread, but I am still surprised about the scarcity of lifetime-extending magic. I.e. stuff that will allow a human to live hundreds of years. The amazing thing here is the disconnect between crunch and fluff, because in various lore, 600-year-old Wizards are a dime a dozen, but there's hardly anything in the rules to back that up.

Pretty much the only spell that prolongs life at all seems to be Steal Life from BoVD, and that of course is decidedly Evil and out of the question for any non-Evil person. Then there's also Reincarnate, which places you in the body of a Young Adult, but we all know the drawbacks of that one.

I would expect there would be various spells, arcane and divine, that would allow a character - especially a human - to stay fresh a good while longer.

There are a couple of 2e spells along the lines of Steal Life. "Laughter of the Risen Earth" is from "Magic of Rokugan", a Rokugan supplement for 3.0. Pay some xp, lay off aging for a few years.

[atemu1234]

Exactly BECAUSE they've got everything and the kitchen sink.

But anyway, the Healing Touch Necromancy spell does exactly that: Heal 1d6/2 CL up to 10d6 to another, and take half of that as damage. The Blood of the Martyr is similar and comes from the Cleric and Paladin spell list, and transfers HP on a 1:1 basis. And Hoard Life for Sorcerers moves your own life force around, sorta.

What are those from?

[Venger]

Exactly BECAUSE they've got everything and the kitchen sink.

But anyway, the Healing Touch Necromancy spell does exactly that: Heal 1d6/2 CL up to 10d6 to another, and take half of that as damage. The Blood of the Martyr is similar and comes from the Cleric and Paladin spell list, and transfers HP on a 1:1 basis. And Hoard Life for Sorcerers moves your own life force around, sorta.


What are those from?

healing touch and blood of the martyr: book of exalted deeds
hoard life: races of the dragon.

empathic transfer also lets you feed a friend your HP.

[Nettlekid]

healing touch and blood of the martyr: book of exalted deeds
hoard life: races of the dragon.

empathic transfer also lets you feed a friend your HP.

Healing Touch is also in the Spell Compendium.

[Yael]

Create Coca-Cola. But I'm trying to deal with it.

[Dalebert]

Spell to create a false duplicate of an object. This is something that magicky types do a lot in stories. I made a homebrew that transformed a particular type of gem into a duplicate of a nearby object of no higher value (disregarding magical powers) than the gem. The duplicate obviously didn't have any magical properties of the original. It otherwise was the same.

[Heliomance]

Create Coca-Cola. But I'm trying to deal with it.

2e had rules for a magical vending machine that I'm fairly sure could dispense Coca-Cola. It was sentient and evil, but that's beside the point.

[Venger]

It was sentient and evil, but that's beside the point.

2e in 5 seconds.

[Andion Isurand]

A spell to transfer magical properties from one item to another. Its more for a fluff perspective than crunch, but its one of those things that makes some sense. You spent a lot of money on that full plate dragon armor, and you want to show it off. Too bad you're going to have to keep wearing your gauntlets of ogre str which don't match the plate armor. Or putting the properties from a new magical weapon onto your ancestral sword.


Yeah, absolutely this. It would especially help if your GM uses random loot tables. You found a cool new axe! But you're a guisarme tripper. No problem, just transfer the enchantment from the axe to the guisarme! But there's no spell to do that.

At best, I would make a spell that could switch all the magical properties of one weapon with another of at least masterwork quality, since stacking the properties of two weapons together in the same weapon would result in a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

[Rubik]

Doesn't have to be a spell, but I'm surprised that there's literally no way to transfer ownership of a golem or other construct to someone else.Rod of construct control, from the A&EG.


2e had rules for a magical vending machine that I'm fairly sure could dispense Coca-Cola. It was sentient and evil, but that's beside the point.We also have Create Acid, because when you drink Coke you're drinking acid.

Makes you think, dunnit?

So just cast Create Acid, mix it with a bit of water, then cast Prestidigitation for the taste (eugh) and the carbonation (also eugh).

[Dalebert]

We also have Create Acid, because when you drink Coke you're drinking acid.

Makes you think, dunnit?

Yes. It makes me think that you're also drinking acid when you drink orange juice or grape juice or when you eat anything with vinegar in it. I think those are all more acidic. I'm more worried about the sugar. I'm a big fan of seltzer water which is similarly acidic but without the sugar.

[atemu1234]

Rod of construct control, from the A&EG.

We also have Create Acid, because when you drink Coke you're drinking acid.

Makes you think, dunnit?

So just cast Create Acid, mix it with a bit of water, then cast Prestidigitation for the taste (eugh) and the carbonation (also eugh).

This makes a scary amount of sense.

But doesn't the acid deal 1d3 damage? I don't think Presti can get past that.

[Sith_Happens]

Rod of construct control, from the A&EG.

Doesn't remove the original creator's ability to give the construct orders.

[Rubik]

Doesn't remove the original creator's ability to give the construct orders.But it's the closest you'll get.