The Power Words

[HamsterKun]

This question just donned on me the other day:

What exactly ARE the Power Words for Power Word Kill, Stun, Heal, etc.?

[Ventruenox]

The exact fluff is left to player/DM agency, but I like to think of them as: "Ekky-ekky-ekky-ekky-z'Bang!", "zoom-Boing!", and "z'nourrrwringnmmm!"

[Jay R]

Assume that there is a Power Word such that if I communicate it to you, you immediately die.

For obvious reasons, you don't want me to tell you what it is.

[JNAProductions]

http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20051028.gif

[Kesnit]

I always pictured it as the caster screaming "KILL!!!!" (or whatever spell (s)he is casting) at the top of their lungs.

[erikun]

I've always figured that they were some of the "Words of Creation", so to speak. As in, they were words from the divine language which created the world, and so still held the power to change the way the world works just by being spoken. They would not be words found in the Common tongue.

[HamsterKun]

I've always figured that they were some of the "Words of Creation", so to speak. As in, they were words from the divine language which created the world, and so still held the power to change the way the world works just by being spoken. They would not be words found in the Common tongue.

I like that idea. The one for Power Word Kill might be Hakai.

[Jay R]

The word cannot even be spoken except in a magic field generated by the preparing of the spell. Otherwise, any first level Fighter could use it.

[Anonymouswizard]

I always pictured it as the caster screaming "KILL!!!!" (or whatever spell (s)he is casting) at the top of their lungs.

This was always my headcanon :smallwink:


I've always figured that they were some of the "Words of Creation", so to speak. As in, they were words from the divine language which created the world, and so still held the power to change the way the world works just by being spoken. They would not be words found in the Common tongue.

In all honesty, this is probably what's intended. Going by the fact it takes a high level spell to use them we can also say that these words are essentially unpronouncable by mortals, and the entire point of the spell is to generate the incredibly specific sounds.

[KillianHawkeye]

Relevant comic. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0716.html)

[Lord Raziere]

Assume that there is a Power Word such that if I communicate it to you, you immediately die.

For obvious reasons, you don't want me to tell you what it is.

For obvious reasons, oneself wouldn't be able to know it either, since being communicated to oneself with kill them..

so therefore, how did the spell get made? and how do you cast it? I must assume that its kind of looking at an unsolved puzzle and having to put it together without actually solving it in your head so that you fill in the spaces that the spell is not, tracing the shape of the spell around a void rather than knowing what the word actually is, to the point of the caster being temporarily deaf every time they speak Power Word: Kill.

alternatively, the power words are like console commands in skyrim. your not ACTUALLY saying a word, your opening up the console of reality and typing in "targetbeing.setstate= dead." or something, and people just die as if out of nowhere.

[Steel Mirror]

And nobody's even said Avada Kedavra...

[JNAProductions]

And nobody's even said Avada Kedavra...

This is about world-building. Considering the world-building in Harry Potter is... Let's just say lackluster, it's not a good example to follow.

I say this as someone who likes the series too. It's got good characters and a good story. But the world-building is crap.

[Jay R]

To be serious for a minute. The spell is not merely one word long. The spell has to be prepared like any other. After preparation (either immediately for a sorcerer, or later in the day for a wizard), it can be cast
with a single word.

And note that it has to be intentionally aimed, or everybody in hearing distance would die.

[Xuc Xac]

To be serious for a minute. The spell is not merely one word long. The spell has to be prepared like any other. After preparation (either immediately for a sorcerer, or later in the day for a wizard), it can be cast
with a single word.


A bomb can be detonated with the simple push of a button, but it's not the button that's dangerous. As I recall, the big deal about the Power Word spells in earlier editions was that they had a very quick casting time with only a verbal component. They take just as much prep time as any other high level spell, but they can be used quickly in an emergency.

[GrayDeath]

I always saw those types of spells like a programming code. A really long one that touches on the fundamental command sof the Software running the Universe..

Which, once executed (rgo "cast") makes the Universe respond to it by speaking its Root Command for "Kill/Stun/Pain".

[Malphegor]

I like to think they’re Plato’s World of Forms represented as spells. When you use Power Word: Kill, you pull the purest, absolute manifestation of Kill itself into your plane. It’s unstable, and doesn’t last long before it gets absorbed into the impure world it is now in.

(no I am totally not stealing ideas from the dicefunk podcast)

[False God]

For obvious reasons, oneself wouldn't be able to know it either, since being communicated to oneself with kill them..

so therefore, how did the spell get made? and how do you cast it? I must assume that its kind of looking at an unsolved puzzle and having to put it together without actually solving it in your head so that you fill in the spaces that the spell is not, tracing the shape of the spell around a void rather than knowing what the word actually is, to the point of the caster being temporarily deaf every time they speak Power Word: Kill.

alternatively, the power words are like console commands in skyrim. your not ACTUALLY saying a word, your opening up the console of reality and typing in "targetbeing.setstate= dead." or something, and people just die as if out of nowhere.

I think Skyrim is a good example here, because Skyrim actually has words of power as a system in it. Fus Roh Dah and all that malarky. It's a language, a primal, "code" to the universe that can be both spoken as a language, but can also be infused with power and desire.

So, in effect, the primal beings of the universe speak in this language, and can have casual conversations about killing, deafness, stunning and so forth without actually causing any of those things to happen. But when they put their magical will behind the words, they become something more.

Because really in D&D, anyone can speak the magic words of a spell, wiggle their fingers and stand on one foot and sprinkle some bat guano in the air. However, only people with access to magic, either innate or learned, can put any real power behind this.

[FreddyNoNose]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9FzUI8998U

[Spore]

I feel the Power Words are part bardic spellcasting (tune into cosmic harmonies and use their power), part musica universalis (trying to describe and assign everything with and to a particular tune, frequency or harmony) and part Theory of Everything (trying to condense the understanding of the whole universe into a single string of formulae). I am not well versed into either of these esoteric and metaphysical models and I feel D&D-esque gaming has always portrayed the "fix everything with one tool" with the wish and miracle spells better.

Of course most of the times something goes wrong because mortals will never fully understand the cosmos and thus screw up.

[Squire Doodad]

I would think of them as being like a verbal iteration of Plato's Perfect Forms. All words communicate ideas, but the Power Word is a version of that word with its truest meaning unleashed by magic, so strong that it not only communicates the idea but rather manifests its meaning into the material world.

So when someone says Power Word: Kill, they are literally saying "KILL"; the purest, most raw form of that word manifested into reality.

And they say the sticks and stones are what you need to worry about.


*video snip*

The American's own pre-war joke was, of course, the Mary Poppins one:

My friend said he knew a man with a wooden leg named Smith. So I asked him "What was the name of his other leg?"

[LibraryOgre]

Relevant comic. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0716.html)

That's how I picture it. The Power Word is a simple word (usually not so simple as "Stun"; you don't want to accidentally release it), but the formulae that let you release all that power with a single word are extremely complex.

[Segev]

Indeed, since you must prepare Power Words (or, if you're a spontcaster, at least expend a spell slot on them), the actual pronunciation may be beyond the capability of mortal and even most immortal creatures. It requires extensive preparation of particular magics and the backing of power that is greater than mere air through vocal chords to properly pronounce them. The caster might pronounce only part of them as the verbal component, which also triggers the rest of the spell, which basically provides the extra sounds and such to properly shape it.

[Max_Killjoy]

For a fantasy setting, I really like the idea of "ur language", the words of creation, the language the gods used to bring the universe into existence -- I have that in one of my settings. For those who've mastered the language, speaking the words with intent has effect, but how much effect depends on how much of the power you can handle without it "leaking" and cooking you from the inside out. Mistakes can be lethal, in the "we heard a loud 'CRACK' like thunder from his study, but all we found was a black scorch mark centered here, and charring on the furniture and books" sort of way.

When one really intends to cause another's death, and speaks the word in that language aloud and directed at the target of one's enmity, with utter perfection, they might actually die -- because it's the word that the gods would speak to make a mortal die and carries that power with it.

Also, because it's the ur language, any being that can understand any language can understand it when spoken, at a fundamental level that's as much psychic as it is audible -- as long as they're of the solar deities' creation or descended therefrom. (Which becomes a plot point in the fiction, as there's a character who is not descended from creation, and all she hears when someone's speaking it is meaningless random babble -- she needs a translator for the words that should never need translating.)


On an entirely different note, the guys who make Thieves Can't did a 5e supplement called Power Chord Kill for musical magic.

:amused:

[jjordan]

For a fantasy setting, I really like the idea of "ur language", the words of creation, the language the gods used to bring the universe into existence -- I have that in one of my settings. For those who've mastered the language, speaking the words with intent has effect, but how much effect depends on how much of the power you can handle without it "leaking" and cooking you from the inside out. Mistakes can be lethal, in the "we heard a loud 'CRACK' like thunder from his study, but all we found was a black scorch mark centered here, and charring on the furniture and books" sort of way.

Also, because it's the ur language, any being that can understand any language can understand it when spoken, at a fundamental level that's as much psychic as it is audible -- as long as they're of the solar deities' creation or descended therefrom.I like that a lot.

[Psyren]

They are fragments of Truespeak. ToM 191:

LESSER TRUENAME MAGIC

"Truename magic already exists in a limited form in every D&D campaign; it appears in the form of the command and power word spells. These spells originate from the power of truenaming, using a single word to wreak mighty magical effects. Though powerful, they are merely spells and lack the reusability and flexibility real truename magic."

Putting aside the irony of saying that "mere spells" can't stand up to truenaming, in-universe that's the fluff explanation.

Dracolexi (RotD), a PrC which uses a form of "draconic truenaming", gets some affinity with Power Words also.

[Pedantic]

For a fantasy setting, I really like the idea of "ur language", the words of creation, the language the gods used to bring the universe into existence -- I have that in one of my settings. For those who've mastered the language, speaking the words with intent has effect, but how much effect depends on how much of the power you can handle without it "leaking" and cooking you from the inside out. Mistakes can be lethal, in the "we heard a loud 'CRACK' like thunder from his study, but all we found was a black scorch mark centered here, and charring on the furniture and books" sort of way.

The take in Fantasy Craft fits neatly with this idea; the Power Word spells in that game are symmetrical, all reading "you and a character of your choice" then having some no-save irrefutable effect. Power Word Kill requires some setup to use safely, as it reads "You and a special character of your choice each suffer enough damage to kill them, even if they can’t hear you."

[Bohandas]

I always pictured it as the caster screaming "KILL!!!!" (or whatever spell (s)he is casting) at the top of their lungs.
Holy Word (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0859.html) as well

[Psyren]

Holy Word (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0859.html) as well

Also, STUN. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0716.html)

[Evil DM Mark3]

I did once give a cannonical answer to this for my PCs.

Its Vkrdrrl, spoken in the pitch of seafoam green, hitting each constanant at the harmonic resonance of the fluctuation of the target's soul.

[NNescio]

I like that idea. The one for Power Word Kill might be Hakai.

Might as well go for broke and call it "Jusatsu no Kotodama".

(Or the official Chikara no Kotoba: Shi, but that sounds kinda lame.)

Edit: Fixed typo.

[Particle_Man]

I wonder if the command spell is a version of this. It is language dependant though. A greater version that wasn’t would be interesting.

Warlocks can shatter objects with a word of dark speech.

[Psyren]

I wonder if the command spell is a version of this. It is language dependant though. A greater version that wasn’t would be interesting.

You might have missed my earlier post:


They are fragments of Truespeak. ToM 191:

LESSER TRUENAME MAGIC

"Truename magic already exists in a limited form in every D&D campaign; it appears in the form of the command and power word spells. These spells originate from the power of truenaming, using a single word to wreak mighty magical effects. Though powerful, they are merely spells and lack the reusability and flexibility real truename magic."

Putting aside the irony of saying that "mere spells" can't stand up to truenaming, in-universe that's the fluff explanation.

Of course, that does seem to fly in the face of Command being language-dependent; if it was truly based on Truespeak, the target's ability to comprehend shouldn't matter. (Though you could also argue that it is, and therefore the descriptor, while present, does nothing.)

[Bohandas]

For a fantasy setting, I really like the idea of "ur language", the words of creation, the language the gods used to bring the universe into existence -- I have that in one of my settings. For those who've mastered the language, speaking the words with intent has effect, but how much effect depends on how much of the power you can handle without it "leaking" and cooking you from the inside out. Mistakes can be lethal, in the "we heard a loud 'CRACK' like thunder from his study, but all we found was a black scorch mark centered here, and charring on the furniture and books" sort of way.

When one really intends to cause another's death, and speaks the word in that language aloud and directed at the target of one's enmity, with utter perfection, they might actually die -- because it's the word that the gods would speak to make a mortal die and carries that power with it.

Also, because it's the ur language, any being that can understand any language can understand it when spoken, at a fundamental level that's as much psychic as it is audible -- as long as they're of the solar deities' creation or descended therefrom. (Which becomes a plot point in the fiction, as there's a character who is not descended from creation, and all she hears when someone's speaking it is meaningless random babble -- she needs a translator for the words that should never need translating.)

The problem is that D&D has at least 3 of these languages: The Words of Creation, the Dark Speech, and Truespeak

[Guizonde]

i always considered that the word of power for paralysis was "POLIO!!!"

my dm's, after chuckling briefly, always shot me down.

don't even get me started on the other ones. they're just as cheesy and off-color.

[Cluedrew]

I always pictured it as the caster screaming "KILL!!!!" (or whatever spell (s)he is casting) at the top of their lungs.
This was always my headcanon :smallwink:That's not what it is?

I has just assumed it was the normal word with... ill-defined magical preparation giving it powerful effects. I didn't think there was anything special about them other than the fact they were a set of spells that had short verbal (and mental) activation requirements. Cleanly designed for easy use.

[Max_Killjoy]

The problem is that D&D has at least 3 of these languages: The Words of Creation, the Dark Speech, and Truespeak

Because it's not enough for D&D to have the kitchen sink, it has to have multiple kitchens' worth of stuff.

[LordCdrMilitant]

I always pictured it as the caster screaming "KILL!!!!" (or whatever spell (s)he is casting) at the top of their lungs.

I've always imagined it along this lines too; pointing at the target [or for the dramatic, a finger gun]

[LibraryOgre]

Power Word Kill could also be "Then perish."

[tyckspoon]

The problem is that D&D has at least 3 of these languages: The Words of Creation, the Dark Speech, and Truespeak

'Words of Creation' and 'Truespeak' are basically the same thing, just Truespeech is approaching the idea without the assumption that the Words of Creation are only associated with Good (because it's dumb that the Lawful, Chaotic, Evil, and Neutral powers of the universe don't also have access to the power of creation/primal access codes/etc.) Dark Speech is explicitly a corruption of the Words of Creation, IIRC - it's the Vile Darkness 'evil opposite' approach to the concept.

[J-H]

I'd tell you, but you wouldn't remember them afterwards. Also, your ears would be bleeding.

[sktarq]

Honestly I just figured it was a multi-generational decedent from Gynax ripping off some more of Tolkien who had "the song of creation" as a motif...and so looked up legends about song of creation at the library and thought "good, I could make a couple of these ideas into spells...maybe even one of the big 6th level ones, need more of those classical themed" without really getting into the nitty gritty of comparative mythology and the philosophy/theology of linguistics ... and since then it has been a bunch of gamers desperately trying to make a bunch of beer sodden/distracted/improvised choices into a logically coherent idea after the fact.

but that may just be my thoughts. After the tourney style games of players DM's hopping with their characters had long faded into something else show just how much the game got away from its original runs I don't figure anything really HAS an answer but more that such questions have a bunch of good answers and there is no need to limit yourself to just one....(okay one per campaign or campaign world (which doesn't stop you running 12 versions of Greyhawk all basically identical except for the PC's and whatever the villains/NPC's of that campaign are up to))


On a funnier note...I did see one player who claimed that Powerword Kill was "Achoo" said in a very nasal fashion...he swore he sneeze killed people.

[oudeis]

As far as I can remember, The Silmarillion was the first time we read about Tolkien's idea of the music of creation. PWK goes back all the way to 1st edition D&D, which came out a few years before.

[Pauly]

People need to watch Dune, and the weirding words. NB these were an addition made by David Lynch and are not in the Original Frank Herbert books.
Muad’dib
Cha-aksa
Kaa,ja

[Anymage]

The take in Fantasy Craft fits neatly with this idea; the Power Word spells in that game are symmetrical, all reading "you and a character of your choice" then having some no-save irrefutable effect. Power Word Kill requires some setup to use safely, as it reads "You and a special character of your choice each suffer enough damage to kill them, even if they can’t hear you."

This would be an interesting, if potentially OP, direction to take the power words in. Anybody who knows them can "cast" them, but suffers the full effect themselves without being able to protect themselves through sufficient HP. The magical preparation for power words would be a protective charm against the effects of a given word. (Which could then also be spent to protect yourself from someone else's casting.)

Potentially very broken, since exchanging your action for a boss monster's reliably with PW:Stun can be a very attractive tradeoff, as can removing a big baddie with PW:Kill if you can expect a revivify to come soon. But interesting flavor.

[Anonymouswizard]

That's not what it is?

I has just assumed it was the normal word with... ill-defined magical preparation giving it powerful effects. I didn't think there was anything special about them other than the fact they were a set of spells that had short verbal (and mental) activation requirements. Cleanly designed for easy use.

There's quite clearly the intention of more going on. In my view this is because the word requires incredibly specific tones and if any are out by as much as a hundredth of a hertz it doesn't work. 90% of the spell is actually feedback loops and checks to ensure everything goes correctly.

That is, of course, until we get to Silent Power Word X from 3.X. Which is clearly a stage whisper.


Because it's not enough for D&D to have the kitchen sink, it has to have multiple kitchens' worth of stuff.

I've been considering a setting which had a symbol sey of creation, but instead I'm working on one where 'multiple languages of creation' is a thing. Essentially there's the Language of the Gods, which is what the world was programmed increated with, and then in the Time of Legends some of the mortals patched in a bunch of 'languages of powet', which cam be used to create effects. Essentially I'm running with a 'magic as programming' analogy, where the world is the operating system written in the LotG, while spells are cast using a language the universe interprets to do additional things. I'm still working it all out, but one of the miscasts is 'the universe does what you say, not what you want'.

[Psyren]

As far as I can remember, The Silmarillion was the first time we read about Tolkien's idea of the music of creation. PWK goes back all the way to 1st edition D&D, which came out a few years before.

Was Earthsea the first series of novels to truly popularize "True Names?" They were definitely a staple of mythology for ages prior (Rumpelstiltskin comes to mind), but I'm trying to think of the first mainstream modern take on the concept that D&D might have drawn from most directly.

[Max_Killjoy]

I've been considering a setting which had a symbol sey of creation, but instead I'm working on one where 'multiple languages of creation' is a thing. Essentially there's the Language of the Gods, which is what the world was programmed in created with, and then in the Time of Legends some of the mortals patched in a bunch of 'languages of powet', which cam be used to create effects. Essentially I'm running with a 'magic as programming' analogy, where the world is the operating system written in the LotG, while spells are cast using a language the universe interprets to do additional things. I'm still working it all out, but one of the miscasts is 'the universe does what you say, not what you want'.


So... spinning an idea off that...

Universe is actually running the equivalent of machine code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_code). If you have a specific creator or creator deities, they used this.

The highest-order deities (other than the creators) are effectively using assembly language (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language).

Spells are written in various high-level languages (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-level_programming_language), allowing for multiple "traditions" or "schools" in the same setting.

Freaking scary "eldritch" entities are also able to work in or "hack" the "machine code", making them a real threat to the deities despite not having the raw power that the deities do.

[NNescio]

So... spinning an idea off that...

Universe is actually running the equivalent of machine code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_code). If you have a specific creator or creator deities, they used this.

The highest-order deities (other than the creators) are effectively using assembly language (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language).

Spells are written in various high-level languages (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-level_programming_language), allowing for multiple "traditions" or "schools" in the same setting.

Freaking scary "eldritch" entities are also able to work in or "hack" the "machine code", making them a real threat to the deities despite not having the raw power that the deities do.

What about microcode and RISC code? And hardware description languages?

[Max_Killjoy]

What about microcode and RISC code? And hardware description languages?

Tangent...


For purposes of this idea, include microcode (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode) in "machine language" -- it's the underlying stuff that even most of the deities don't have access to.

RISC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_instruction_set_computer) is more a specific type of hardware and instruction set architecture than a level of programming language layer/level.

Hardware description language (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_description_language) would be orthogonal to the layers I laid out.

[LibraryOgre]

So... spinning an idea off that...

Universe is actually running the equivalent of machine code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_code). If you have a specific creator or creator deities, they used this.

The highest-order deities (other than the creators) are effectively using assembly language (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language).

Spells are written in various high-level languages (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-level_programming_language), allowing for multiple "traditions" or "schools" in the same setting.

Freaking scary "eldritch" entities are also able to work in or "hack" the "machine code", making them a real threat to the deities despite not having the raw power that the deities do.


Tangent...


For purposes of this idea, include microcode (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode) in "machine language" -- it's the underlying stuff that even most of the deities don't have access to.

RISC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_instruction_set_computer) is more a specific type of hardware and instruction set architecture than a level of programming language layer/level.

Hardware description language (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_description_language) would be orthogonal to the layers I laid out.



I kinda want to see more about this idea, but think it might be a thread of its own.

[Kurald Galain]

Power Word Kill could also be "Then perish."

Like this? (https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/ksbd-4-75/)

[Max_Killjoy]

...



...



New thread started:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?598313-Reality-Hacking&p=24153290

[Lvl45DM!]

Might as well go for broke and call it "Jusatsu no Kotowaza".

(Or the official Chikara no Kotoba: Shi, but that sounds kinda lame.)

onamae wa...shindeiru

[NNescio]

onamae wa...shindeiru

That fits Quivering Palm more though.

[Bohandas]

People need to watch Dune, and the weirding words. NB these were an addition made by David Lynch and are not in the Original Frank Herbert books.
Muad’dib
Cha-aksa
Kaa,ja

No you need to watch Monty Python And The Holy Grail, and the sacred words...

Ne
Peng
Nee-Wom