Strange magic

[pwning doodes]

I want to include an enemy/faction in my campaign that uses a strange and troubling type of magic. I'd like it to be something that both NPC's of the world AND the players themselves have never seen, something that shouldn't be possible. It can't be crazy powerful, though, since this enemy/enemies will have to fight the players.

So far I'm drawing a blank. Most of the things I can think of are only obviously unorthodox from a mechanics standpoint, not an in-game thing. One idea is for the spells--or the enemy himself--to be able to pass through solid objects.

Good news is that most of my players are not that experienced, so we're not talking about the kind of gamers who have effectively memorized sourcebooks.

Ideas?

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I'd start by looking at alternative magic systems from other editions. 3.5 in particular has a wealth of options for you, from the Tome of Battle's blade magic to incarnum, vestiges and binding. Look at those for concepts, and once you've got ideas you like, you can work on converting them so they're in line, power-wise, with current spells and abilities. You may also be able to find existing quality conversions in various homebrew forums.

[Eragon123]

another popular thing I've seen is making the source of the magic unclean.

Wheel of Time has this concept of the One Power vs 'True' Power.

The Dresden Files has it with the Black Court Vampires having death magic. (I always thought that magic, even evil magic came from life, until now)

The Night Angel Trilogy has it with the Vir.

Hell even 3.5 has it with the Shadow Weave.

Sometimes less is more. You don't need to cook up a whole new spell system, just take the existing ones, tweak it a tiny bit and then setting it loose.

[Ventruenox]

The UA Mystic (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAMystic3.pdf) may be a viable option here.

[solidork]

I ran a short campaign where the primary enemies were magical blob monsters from another dimension, invading through a ruptured leyline. There were several different kinds, but they all had interconnected powers based around this weird oily black goo that some enemies could apply, allowing other enemies to use special powers against targets covered in goo.

Globling
I gave it the Ape stat block, and then gave it a 'Vomit' attack that would do acid damage and cover the target with sticky goo if they failed a Dex save. Vomit recharged on a 6.

Glob Ogre
I gave it an Ogre stat block, except it had a power that could pull an enemy who was covered in goo 30ft and knock them prone, followed by a stomp attack. This would remove the goo. When the Glob Ogre reached half hit points, it erupted in a wave of goo doing acid damage and gooing enemies on a failed save.

Tentacle Glob
I used an Orc Caster statblock from Volos that goes into a beserk mode with 4 attacks at half hit points. Enemies covered in goo had a disadvantage on saving against their spells, and on a failed save the goo would be consumed. Could absorb dead Globlings to regain HP.

Glob Stalker
Yeti stat block, except it could only use its freezing glance ability on a target covered in goo.

In one fight they encountered a group of blobs doing a kind of ritual with big arcane circles made out of goo on the ground, and the enemies could move along the ritual diagrams at high speed without provoking attacks of opportunity by merging with the diagrams and then reforming elsewhere.

I like to think that they would have been disturbing to fight, except I couldn't help but say stuff like "Ok, now this squiggly boy is going to try and vomit on you. Make a dexterity saving throw."

[Unoriginal]

The UA Mystic (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAMystic3.pdf) may be a viable option here.

Good suggestion.

[Corpus]

another popular thing I've seen is making the source of the magic unclean.

Along these lines you could have a magic that draws on Life Force to power it. This is used in an older D&D setting called Dark Sun and in the more recent Warcraft movie.

In Warcraft it was The Fell. The stronger the magic used, the more life force is needed to power it.

This is a quote from a Dark Sun Wiki page.
"Arcane magic draws its power from the life force of plants or living creatures, with the potential to cause tremendous harm to the environment. As a result, wizards and other arcane casters are despised and must practice in secret."

It could be as simple as the plants/ground around the caster shrivelling and drying out, up to causing damage and/or killing near by living beings.

Great opportunity as a DM to run with it.

[sophontteks]

You could also apply sorcerer metamagics and effects. The effect would be that it saps the lifeforce of those around them, but they also cast such magic as if it had subtle spell metamagic, so they can cast spells without chanting or moving at all. Things just die around them and the spell goes off.

Subtle will make it immune to many magic counters and people would be getting very paranoid about its use. You can't bind them to stop it, you can't silence them, no counterspell, and they can cast certain spells without revealing the source, espesially in a crowd.

[PhantomSoul]

Another option would be to play with components to make the spellcaster feel different, even without any actual mechanical difference (the players/characters could easily not notice you're using spell points or something like that).

What I do with hags is modify the spells somewhat and give them gestures and components to give a different narrative feel. The Hag effectively has Cloud of Daggers, for example, but for her it's Mist of Mirrors where when casting the spell she smashes a mirror and makes the shards levitate in a 5-foot square. Maybe she can then boost the spell or move the spell's area, if you want it to clearly look different -- in this case, having the mirror space interact with light-based effects is an easy and logical tweak that can be narrated during the battle and given mechanical effects. Or a psychic-damage spell where the hag stabs a cranium rat's exposed brain and the target character takes damage (basically a voodoo doll feel, but with a cranium rat for added visual effect). I did it for other reasons, but you could also tweak things like Concentration if your players would notice -- maybe the creature can have more than one Concentration Spell going, but the combined spell level can't be more than the creature's Spellcasting Ability Modifier, their Proficiency Bonus or the level of their highest Spell Slot.

If you want the "casting spells takes away life force from the environment" feel (I think that was in Eragon and has popped up elsewhere?), then the M component is actually the area around the spellcaster, and you can then narrate how much of the greenery (and surrounding creatures) get affected. Wilting plants, necrotic damage to creatures, deaths of small animals and bugs. Mechanically, either not really different or only slightly different... but the feel it gives will be different. (And in this case, it's a bit of a trope so players can fill in the blanks with their imagination quite easily.)

Passing through cover -- maybe with a "bonus action ability" that makes a temporary hole in the source of cover -- could be a nice little trick. (Obviously, that second ability wouldn't be narrated like that if the goal is to have a hint that it's weird.)

[Anonymouswizard]

These days the three 'different' D&D magic systems would be psionics (mystics), incarnum, and binding. The latter two don't have an official update, but I believe Middle Finger of Vecna has a homebrew version.

Other ideas:
-Sympathetic magic. They need a 'piece' of something to use magic on it, but at that point things like distance and line of sight don't matter. Normal is spells like Suggestion. Silly is spells like Fireball.
-Retcon magic. If you aren't close enough to them you remember the effect of the magic always being true.
-Dance Magic Dance. I heard my baby crying hard as babe could cry.
-Invisible magic. You can only see their magic if you can see invisible effects. Beware invisible Insivibility.

[Segev]

This magic is actually a little MORE detectable than normal. When in the presence of it being cast or a standing effect, it makes goosbumps rise. Not...a chill, not really. Just...a sense of something there. Of being watched. Of not being alone.

Under detect magic and the like, it doesn't have the traditional auras. Instead, invisible eyes grow on affected things. Creatures, malformed and partially absent, cling to the subjects, helping, maneuvering, attacking them.

[Mongrel]

I'd look to incorporate a Voodoo type aesthetic, personally. That is to say, strange rituals often involving potionmaking or some similar "magical mixing" to arrive at a spell (possibly even storing said spell for later release upon the potion being poured out, imbibed, thrown, etc.), "voodoo dolls" that can effectively damage or cast spells on enemies regardless of distance provided you have a piece of them to attach to the doll (a previous possession, some hair, some blood, etc., maybe more intimate things would be needed for stronger spells), "drugged zombies," possibly some spiritual communion, etc.

Shamanism could also conceivably work, though there's already some of that in the books (lots of the barbarian paths, arguably druids, I think one or two ranger paths might also fall into this category). Not sure if that's a detriment or not.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

The enemy/faction know about the rules of the game. Like, the literal game you're all playing. And they can alter things.

Think your Strength Save will help out in a grapple? Nope, they just swapped it with your (dumped) Intelligence. Thinking about spending that Inspiration on your next attack? It's theirs now. They can call a pizza break, swap positions and hp with the party, and it's only revealed when the players sit back down.

[MrStabby]

Wild magic is a cheap and easy element to add. If you wan to make i even more distinct you could use a custom table.

Sill with the wild aesthetic you could have the caster pick their spell list but the spell cast is randomly determined - they cast a level 4 spell - roll a d4 to see which of the level 4 spell effects actually manifests. As a downside it can be balanced by just having more powerful spells.


Lower level but "at will" spells can be very flavoursome. They see a lot of play that way and can help define a faction/encounter.


Maybe a mind reader - no prepared spells but counts as having prepared any spell known by someone within 15 ft.


"Shadow magic" disadvantage on saves whilst in the dark but advantage in bright light. Keep out of the shadows.

Echo magic - after an AoE spell is cast it gets recast again d4 turns later. Alternatively, but similar - a "charging up" mechanic. The spell happens at the start of the NPCs next turn, involving guessing where to fireball for example. Again will require a bit of a boost to their casting in another way.

[Avigor]

One thing I've long wanted to see is magic that manipulates space to make a given area suddenly count as either more or less space than it actually is for purposes of range and area; unsure if it should count the same for movement or not, the entire idea is a bit weird tbh. If it only affected magic it might be easier to handwave, but having it also affect ranged weapons could be interesting in some situations.

[furby076]

The UA Mystic (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAMystic3.pdf) may be a viable option here.

You beat me to it.

I also like what the other person suggested, Wheel of time. They actually had wheel of time rules for 3.x, so if the OP finds that, then they could probably port it to 5e. The thing that is nice about wheel of time magic, is the OP wants the magic to be troubeling. What could be more troubeling than magic that 1) makes the male user go mad and 2) it is foretold to bring the end of the world through said user and 3) all male magic users work to either hunt each other or if charismatic enough, ally with each other (eventual betrayal) to conquer the world

[Segev]

You beat me to it.

I also like what the other person suggested, Wheel of time. They actually had wheel of time rules for 3.x, so if the OP finds that, then they could probably port it to 5e. The thing that is nice about wheel of time magic, is the OP wants the magic to be troubeling. What could be more troubeling than magic that 1) makes the male user go mad and 2) it is foretold to bring the end of the world through said user and 3) all male magic users work to either hunt each other or if charismatic enough, ally with each other (eventual betrayal) to conquer the world

The d20 port was terrible. It shoehorned it into standard 3e spell slots, and gave some passing nods to the notion of “weaves” that only served to need it. It has none of the flexibility of he move system, less of he feel, and just...was bad.