Low-level spells for daily life

[Jay R]

I’ve just been reminded of one of my long-term, low-level goals. So I thought I’d crowd-source it here.

In my worlds, I’ve always assume that most people cannot learn magic. A wizard could train most youngsters for years, and they would never be able to learn to cast a cantrip. The ability to cast a spell is inborn.



So what about all the people who had that inborn ability, but never had any training, or any way to learn Spellcraft or Knowledge (arcana) or some such? Perhaps she grew up on a farm, and never met a mage of any sort. She might figure out a few cantrips, and possible some 1st level spells, but she’d never get 1,000 XPs, and would not progress.

Obviously, without training, she couldn’t even become a 1st level wizard, but maybe she’s a sorcerer and doesn’t know it.

What spells would she learn? Are there some very low level spells that have little to know use on an adventure, and therefore never show up in our D&D books, but are useful on a farm or in a small village?

There would be some overlap, of course. Anybody who can learn cantrips would use [I]prestidigitation to clean house, mage hand to get things off of high shelves, and mending for, well, mending. But a ditch digger could use a lesser move earth. A cook and a tailor might learn different measuring spells. A detect herb spell, similar to detect poison, might let you learn about herbs nobody else knows about. And of course magecraft would be infinitely useful for any craftspeople.

These people might be thought of as hedge wizards, witches, herbalists, mystics, or what have you. Or possibly nobody figures out that they are doing anything magic. The chef has a great spell for tweaking the taste of a spice, and nobody knows why his pies are so good. Perhaps the stabler who’s so good with horses has a specific charm horse spell

In any event, what cantrips and first level spells would such people have, that aren’t useful on an adventure, so nobody has ever invented them?

Here's my first example of a new spell. It’s patterned on detect poison.

Detect Herb

Divination
Level: Common magic 0
Components: V, S,
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One plant
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

You determine whether a plant is safe and wholesome for cooking, baking, or brewing.

You can determine the exact use and taste properties with a DC 20 Wisdom check.

A character with the Craft skill for cooking, baking, brewing or some equivalent may try that specific DC 20 Craft check if the Wisdom check fails, or may try the Craft check prior to the Wisdom check. That will only discover the herb’s usefulness in that one area.

The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it. Not that this allows recognizing the value of roots merely by seeing the part of the plant above ground

Any other suggestions? If you have an idea but no interest or time to work out its details, then pass it along anyway. For instance, I’ve already implied:

Measure quantity: will separate a specified size or weight of an ingredient, such as 3 cups of flour, or ¼ teaspoon of ginger.
Measure length: Will measure an exact distance by eye, without needing to reach the location.

Any other suggestions? And does the idea sound fun?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jay R
And does the idea sound fun?

I love Detect Herb, and may borrow it for my own campaign if you don't mind. It perfectly fills a niche that would be extremely useful to ordinary folk.

And the overall idea does sound fun indeed. I may contribute if the right dose of inspiration occurs.

[Jay R]

I love Detect Herb, and may borrow it for my own campaign if you don't mind. It perfectly fills a niche that would be extremely useful to ordinary folk.

Feel free; I'm glad you like it. These forums exist specifically to share ideas.

[If I didn't want anyone to use, it, you'd never have seen it.]

[ShurikVch]

Phantom Plow (Lords of Darkness) - while 3rd level is a bit high, its intended use places it firmly in your list:

Netherese clerics utilized this spell to turn earth at a fast rate in preparation for planting crops.
Its use enabled them to plant large tracts of land quickly and efficiently.

[Troacctid]

I think you would see a lot of "Lesser" versions of higher level spells, where you want the functionality, but you can't afford the higher spell level, so you do some research and find out what sort of weaker version of the effect is possible. Speak with Plants, Locate Object, and Create Food and Water are some examples off the top of my head.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jay R
Feel free; I'm glad you like it.

Much appreciated. I like to think Aragorn had this running when he was searching for athelas.


Originally Posted by Troacctid
*Locate Object*

A close-range cantrip for nonmagical objects would certainly be useful on a daily basis. I very much need that to find my keys.


Originally Posted by ShurikVch
Phantom Plow (Lords of Darkness) - while 3rd level is a bit high, its intended use places it firmly in your list....

In the same vein, Sweet Water (Defenders of the Faith) finds drinkable water and creates a 10-foot well shaft to access it. Could make all the difference on a remote homestead, if you can find a cleric or druid to cast it for you.

[Chronos]

Quoth Jay R:

Or possibly nobody figures out that they are doing anything magic. The chef has a great spell for tweaking the taste of a spice, and nobody knows why his pies are so good. Perhaps the stabler who’s so good with horses has a specific charm horse spell
Everyone know that Cousin Edna is the best herb-finder in the family, but she's never been able to teach her knack to anyone else. "Well, see, you just squint your eyes like this, and wave your fingers in front of your eyes, and that makes the outlines of the leaves stand out more sharply. What do you mean, it doesn't work? You must not be doing it right, try again."

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Create Food and Water
Not to mention Purify Food and Drink.

It's still medieval-ish fantasy. A version that only works on natural contamination rather than actual attempts to poison someone would be fine.

[Maat Mons]

The player of a Sorcerer character gets to pick whatever spells they like. That doesn't necessarily mean the Sorcerer themself has any control over what spells they “learn.” If your magic stems from something inborn, your spells might all be centered around an innate affinity. Maybe you’d love to have Prestidigitation, but you only ever gain access to Fire spells, because that’s what you have a talent for. The premise of this thread is that people are acquiring their spells with no planning or deliberate action. Why would we imagine that they’d have spells that are at all useful to them?

Read Magic: But the character has never encountered magical writing and probably never will.
Ghost Sound: But the character has only ever activated it accidentally and doesn’t know why they sometimes hear strange noises.
Detect Poison: But the character has thus far not thought to try casting it on something poisonous, and thus has never figured out what it is that the spell detects.
Disrupt Undead: But the character would almost certainly be swiftly killed by any Undead they got close enough to cast the spell.

Identify: But the character could never afford a pearl.
Nystul's Magic Aura: But there’s no one around who could detect the altered aura anyway.

[Troacctid]

The player of a Sorcerer character gets to pick whatever spells they like. That doesn't necessarily mean the Sorcerer themself has any control over what spells they “learn.” If your magic stems from something inborn, your spells might all be centered around an innate affinity. Maybe you’d love to have Prestidigitation, but you only ever gain access to Fire spells, because that’s what you have a talent for. The premise of this thread is that people are acquiring their spells with no planning or deliberate action. Why would we imagine that they’d have spells that are at all useful to them?

Read Magic: But the character has never encountered magical writing and probably never will.
Ghost Sound: But the character has only ever activated it accidentally and doesn’t know why they sometimes hear strange noises.
Detect Poison: But the character has thus far not thought to try casting it on something poisonous, and thus has never figured out what it is that the spell detects.
Disrupt Undead: But the character would almost certainly be swiftly killed by any Undead they got close enough to cast the spell.

Identify: But the character could never afford a pearl.
Nystul's Magic Aura: But there’s no one around who could detect the altered aura anyway.
That sounds like some real "I am an allomancer who can only burn atium" energy right there.

[Jay R]

The player of a Sorcerer character gets to pick whatever spells they like. That doesn't necessarily mean the Sorcerer themself has any control over what spells they “learn.” If your magic stems from something inborn, your spells might all be centered around an innate affinity. Maybe you’d love to have Prestidigitation, but you only ever gain access to Fire spells, because that’s what you have a talent for. The premise of this thread is that people are acquiring their spells with no planning or deliberate action. Why would we imagine that they’d have spells that are at all useful to them?

Actually, the premise of this thread is that there could be spells that are useful to farmers and villagers, but not to adventurers, and therefore those spells would not be in the sourcebooks we have. What might those spells be?


Read Magic: But the character has never encountered magical writing and probably never will.
Ghost Sound: But the character has only ever activated it accidentally and doesn’t know why they sometimes hear strange noises.
Detect Poison: But the character has thus far not thought to try casting it on something poisonous, and thus has never figured out what it is that the spell detects.
Disrupt Undead: But the character would almost certainly be swiftly killed by any Undead they got close enough to cast the spell.

Identify: But the character could never afford a pearl.
Nystul's Magic Aura: But there’s no one around who could detect the altered aura anyway.

The semi-tragedy of a potential sorcerer whose powers are never usable is a valid, interesting topic, but it's not the topic of this thread. I'm trying to crowd-source the invention of spells not useful for adventurers (and therefore not included in any of the books).

I'm specifically asking about spells that are useful for the day-to-day life on a medieval farm or in a medieval village. Perhaps Snow White had a charm animals spell that could only get them to clean house. Cinderella's version was restricted to sewing.

---

Again, your idea is a very interesting one. Someday I might create an NPC with several useless spells (and probably exactly one useful one, which the PCs need and don't have). But right now I'm trying to invent new spells, like a first-level version of move earth, which plows a single furrow, or a version of keen edge that sharpens a dull knife up to ordinary levels of sharpness.

[Lord Torath]

Along the lines of Detect Herb: Locate Herb (He's over there!)

Lesser Dehydrate - for use on prepared fruits, meats, and laundry.

Glitterdust fills a volume with glittering sparkles that settle on anything making invisible objects visible. What about a version that sprinkles powdered sugar over a much smaller area?

How about a customized version of Resist Heat: Hot Hands - which gives your hands heat resistance, so you can pull things out of the oven without needing oven mitts? You'll probably want a visual indicator that the spell is still in effect, so you don't grab something without realizing the duration has expired.

Lesser Stasis Box: creates a stasis field with a volume of 1 cubic foot with a duration of maybe a few hours - for perfectly preserving your roast/cake/side dish as soon as it's ready, but you've still got three more dishes to prepare, the table to set, and your guests won't be here for three hours. Perhaps the volume needs to be on top of a serving dish.

Cattle Calmer: this spell will calm any domesticated hooved animal (not just cows) and make them docile for up to an hour. Makes milking easier, as well as shoeing a horse or dragging your donkey to market.

Untangle: untangle up to a pound of string/yarn.

Maybe something for removing briars and thorns from cotton and wool before spinning it into thread.

[Remuko]

Untangle: untangle up to a pound of string/yarn.

yo, this should work on hair too. that would be dope as hell. id use that.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jay R
But right now I'm trying to invent new spells, like a first-level version of move earth, which plows a single furrow, or a version of keen edge that sharpens a dull knife up to ordinary levels of sharpness.

Along these lines, perhaps Chaffbane, which is a mild breeze across just a few feet that helps carry away the chaff when processing grain. Useful on windless days when the work needs to be done, or on rainy days, when you can use this spell to do the work in the barn.

And in the same general category we could have Quernturner, which spins a hand-operated quern for you. You'd still need to feed in the grains by hand, but at least it would be less monotonous effort spent in turning the grindstone.

[Telonius]

For the budding Psion, never lose your keys again:

Recall Location
Clairsentience
Bring to mind an object that was in your possession, up to 365 days previously. You can recall with perfect clarity where you last placed the object. This includes objects that are currently on your person (i.e. glasses placed further back in your hair, a pen currently in your pocket, etc). This power does not give you the ability to tell where the object is currently, simply where you last placed it.


A character with this power might never realize they're using Psionics; they just assume they have a really good memory.

[wilphe]

A
How about a customized version of Resist Heat: Hot Hands - which gives your hands heat resistance, so you can pull things out of the oven without needing oven mitts? You'll probably want a visual indicator that the spell is still in effect, so you don't grab something without realizing the duration has expired.




And in the same general category we could have Quernturner, which spins a hand-operated quern for you. You'd still need to feed in the grains by hand, but at least it would be less monotonous effort spent in turning the grindstone.

In generic psuedo-medieval European fantasy ovens will be rare in individual homes, there may be one or two in the average community and they may not be fired every day

Ditto with mills, you'd often be obliged to use the local lordsmill so they would get their cut and grinding at home would be forbidden, as would be owning the gear to do so

It would be helpful if you were going offgrid though

In that spirit:

Gerty's Gratuitous Grinder:

Silently converts grains into flour without needing any gear

Veil of Poverty:

Makes a farm, its buildings and people look poorer and worse off.

Animals will look sicker, people less healthy, buildings will seem less well maintained, gardens less flourishing.

Cast before visits from the taxman or passing soldiers

[Lord Torath]

I will confess I was thinking of the professional baker, rather than the home baker. Someone who would be in and out of the ovens all day.

Veil of Poverty seems like a relatively high-level spell along the lines of Hallucinatory Terrain or Vacancy. Still useful, though!

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Lord Torath
Veil of Poverty seems like a relatively high-level spell along the lines of Hallucinatory Terrain or Vacancy. Still useful, though!

Exactly what I was thinking—potentially useful, but a higher-level spell.

But in that general vein, I would suggest something like Tracebender, a spell to nudge small paths into a different direction. Easier to avoid paying taxes, or unwelcome visits from soldiers, if all the local footpaths just happen to curve away from a homestead on the day strangers are coming through.

Feels like more of a halfling spell, actually—helps to deflect the Big Folk from ever realizing there’s a thriving little smial in one of the blank areas on the map.

[Prime32]

Actually, the premise of this thread is that there could be spells that are useful to farmers and villagers, but not to adventurers, and therefore those spells would not be in the sourcebooks we have. What might those spells be?
The Dragonmarks of Eberron allowed the 12 Dragonmarked Houses to dominate their respective industries by granting some 1/ or 2/day SLAs, a +2 bonus on one skill check, and the ability to use magic items powered by their mark (which have either reduced cost or unique effects compared to standard items).
But there was a mention somewhere of how there are a lot of lesser dragonmark items not useful to adventurers, like a blender powered by the Mark of Hospitality.

The third-party Book of Eldritch Might III p57/61 has a location where NPCs have developed the ability to subtly weave the effects of 0th- and 1st- level spells into their actions, without being conscious that they're doing it. PCs can learn to mimic their technique through the Subliminal Spellcasting feat - in exchange for multiplying a spell's casting time by 10, you can make a Bluff check (opposed by Spellcraft) to conceal that you're doing anything, even preventing targets from noticing that they had to make a saving throw (but you also can't tell whether they succeeded on their saving throw or not).

[MaxiDuRaritry]

The player of a Sorcerer character gets to pick whatever spells they like. That doesn't necessarily mean the Sorcerer themself has any control over what spells they “learn.” If your magic stems from something inborn, your spells might all be centered around an innate affinity. Maybe you’d love to have Prestidigitation, but you only ever gain access to Fire spells, because that’s what you have a talent for. The premise of this thread is that people are acquiring their spells with no planning or deliberate action. Why would we imagine that they’d have spells that are at all useful to them?I wonder how often sorcerers don't even know they're magical because all of their spells are useless. A mute character with all [v]erbal spells, or a creature without hands with all [s]omatic spells. Or basically anyone that requires moronic [m]aterial components that lives in a place where those things don't exist. Like, you grew up on the arctic tundra where bats don't live, but you have fireball as a spell known. Or maybe the campaign world is prehistoric, and nobody has invented cooking techniques more advanced than roasting meat and vegetables on a spit over a fire; how are you supposed to acquire "tiny tarts" for that hideous laughter spell you've got? Oh, and you live in a world where gold isn't in common use but require gp to summon your familiar.

And suddenly you hit level 19 and realize you've finally gotten a single 9th level spell that you can actually cast, wondering what the hell is going on.

[JNAProductions]

Don’t Sorcerers get Eschew Materials for free?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Don’t Sorcerers get Eschew Materials for free?Not in 3e they don't.

[wilphe]

Veil of Poverty seems like a relatively high-level spell along the lines of Hallucinatory Terrain or Vacancy. Still useful, though!

True but it is way less flexible, and you can't use it as a disguise. Everyone still looks like themselves, just a poorer version.

The other thing is that if you are capable of casting higher level spells this tends not to be a problem you have that needs solving, and if it is, you have better ways of doing it with more flexible spells that can be used for something else.

For a wizard it's probably not worth learning because the cost of the ink to scribe it is more than you will probably save by using it, for a starting Sorcerer you are giving up for 50% of your first level spells known


Maybe it would work better as a ritual if you use those?

[wilphe]

Locate livestock

Induce Lactation

And as I am mostly playing WFRP these days:

Protection from Rain


And in the spirit of Veil of Poverty:

Veil Livestock

Makes animals look sickly, weak lame or generally unappealing for anyone to take, tax or steal. Can only make them look worse not better

[Chronos]

Quoth Lord Torath:

How about a customized version of Resist Heat: Hot Hands - which gives your hands heat resistance, so you can pull things out of the oven without needing oven mitts?
Finally, an explanation for my grandmother! She did this on a number of occasions, and when it was pointed out to her, her reaction was always just "Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot to grab the pot holders". She never got burns from it.

She also described herself as "the witch on the hill".

[Silly Name]

Something like 5e's Druidcraft, specifically the weather prediction function, would probably be mighty useful on a farm. Never get caught offguard by a freak rainshower again!

Haystack, to quickly gather up hay without having to do the job yourself.

Cure Plants: get rid of plant diseases.

[Gnaeus]

I feel like I am pointing a lot of people to the Gleaner these days: https://web.archive.org/web/20170815034614/https://www.giantitp.com/articles/gk7uKJeF296jRcx1NJw.html

Farmhand
Universal
Level: Drd 0, Rgr 1, Gleaner 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 10 ft.
Target, Effect, or Area: See text
Duration: 1 hour
Saving Throw: See text
Spell Resistance: No

The farmhand spell encompasses a host of minor, practical effects. Once cast, farmhand allows you to perform simple magical effects for one hour. Farmhand can clean items, locations, or creatures within a one-foot cube each round; this is used to clean livestock, to muck stables, and keep rust off tools. It can chill or warm items in a 1 foot cube each round: this effect is minor and will not cause harm or affect concentration, but is the perfect thing for warming hands before milking. It can moisten an object within a one-foot cube each round, allowing the caster to water plants. In general, prestidigitation should be used as a guideline for what can be done with farmhand, but the spell cannot color, soil, or create material objects - and it can be used to clean or warm living material.

Purify Plants and Animals
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Clr 1, Drd 1, Gleaner 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: Four 5-ft squares/level
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

A weaker form of remove disease, this ritual removes minor afflictions from all animals or noncreature plants within the area of effect, including parasites and ailments that are not significant enough to be considered "diseases" under the normal rules. While such conditions are rarely significant enough to have game effects, crops and animals protected by regular applications of this spell will remain in peak condition. A farm or herd that has had a majority of its animals or plants treated with this spell will add a +2 circumstance bonus to any Profession (farmer) or Profession (herder) skill checks made to earn weekly income from it for the next four such checks. Furthermore, subjects receive a +3 circumstance bonus to any saving throw against disease made over the course of the next 24 hours after this spell is cast.

[Maat Mons]

Induce Lactation

Would this spell be limited to targeting female mammals?

[JNAProductions]

Would this spell be limited to targeting female mammals?

Brennan Lee Mulligan Hates Snilk - Drawfee Animated (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mx2MfFMe9E&ab_channel=DeepBlueInk)

First thing that came to mind.

[wilphe]

Would this spell be limited to targeting female mammals?

Well; intended use for low level peasants

Males can lactate too under certain circumstances, so if for example you have a newborn baby and no females...

Other uses come to mind, but not going to kink-shame anybody...

[aglondier]

In a long ago Birthright campaign, just after 3rd ed was released, one of our players decided to educate his populace in basic magic. He came up with a Feat that gave the person a single cantrip slot and a 'spellbook' containing 3 appropriate cantrips. It was more for the flavour of having even the most common of his people able to use magic than for any real game benefit.

Magical Dabbler (general)
You have received some rudimentary wizardly instruction and are able to tap into some very basic spellcasting ability.
Prerequisites: Intelligence 10+, not an arcane spellcasting class.
Benefit: you gain a single Cantrip spell slot that works the same as a wizard. Your caster level is 1st, and your casting attribute is Intelligence. You also have a small 'notebook' containing the instructions for 3 standard cantrips from the wizard spell list. Additional spells may be acquired in the usual manner for a wizard. The 'notebook' only has 10 pages.
Special: this feat can only be taken once. If they subsequently take levels in an arcane spellcasting class, this feat is lost and may be replaced with another feat the character qualifies for.

We also figured that an equivalent feat that covered the temple teaching an Orison with Wisdom as the casting attribute would be viable, but we never used it. They would have had a little prayer book with 3 orisons to pick from.

Having this as an option for the 1st level feat for your common folk with a high enough Int or Wis (10) might make things interesting...

[Maat Mons]

That sounds very similar to the Magical Training feat from Player's Guide to Faerun. Though the PGtF feat gave three cantrip slots, not just one. It also gave you the option of casting as a Sorcerer instead of as a Wizard. In that case you'd get two spells known instead of 3 spells in your spell book. Personally, I like the Sorcerer version, because it wouldn't require me to ensure that every citizen has access to 300 gp worth of special inks. I imagine most people would opt for Prestidigitation and Mending.

Dragon 324 has the Innate Magic feat, which gives one 0-level spell as a spell-like ability 1/day. It's more limited than the PGtF feat, but Create Water would be super handy in some regions. Purify Food and Drink would be hand if the region has plenty of water, but it's not safe to drink.

[aglondier]

That sounds very similar to the Magical Training feat from Player's Guide to Faerun. Though the PGtF feat gave three cantrip slots, not just one. It also gave you the option of casting as a Sorcerer instead of as a Wizard. In that case you'd get two spells known instead of 3 spells in your spell book. Personally, I like the Sorcerer version, because it wouldn't require me to ensure that every citizen has access to 300 gp worth of special inks. I imagine most people would opt for Prestidigitation and Mending.

Dragon 324 has the Innate Magic feat, which gives one 0-level spell as a spell-like ability 1/day. It's more limited than the PGtF feat, but Create Water would be super handy in some regions. Purify Food and Drink would be hand if the region has plenty of water, but it's not safe to drink.

We had already houseruled that cantrips were infinite use, so a single infinite use per day spell slot with 3 options to fill it was seen as sufficient for a Feat. The basic 3 cantrips gained were scribed while in magic school and subsidised by the crown. Few commoners would have had the cash to get more spells, and players with the feat were on their own 😁. Prestidigitation and Mending were, oddly enough, very popular...
Since it was Birthright, and a wizard regent was involved, doing a Sorceror version wasn't really setting appropriate, so it never really came up...

[Jay R]

Personally, I like the Sorcerer version, because it wouldn't require me to ensure that every citizen has access to 300 gp worth of special inks.

It also has the advantage that they don't need to know how to read -- which many villagers couldn't do.

[Satinavian]

It also has the advantage that they don't need to know how to read -- which many villagers couldn't do.
As the feat was intended to show the results of a casting focused form of public schooling, that is not really an issue.

Also, weren't barbarians the only ones illiterate per rules ?

[ShurikVch]

Also, weren't barbarians the only ones illiterate per rules ?
Also Totemist, Savage Bard, Anagakok Wizard; Illiterate (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm#illiterate) trait; Grippli of any class are starting as Illiterate (even Wizards!)

[Elvensilver]

Bringing the thread back to topic, I've made some utility spells that would also appear on the adept spell list.


Smoothing:
School:transmutation; Level: Adept 1, Cleric 1, Wizard 1, Shaman 1
Casting Time: Standard Action
Components: V, S, M (a drop of water and a drop of oil)
Range: personal; Target: you; Duration: 10 minute/level; Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance: yes
Summary: Your hands can smooth the surface of most surfaces as if it was wet clay.
Every round the caster can manipulate a surface measuring a square foot, swiftly molding an even surface out of the likes of dust, sand or clay as well as ironing clothes. It can be used to repair small cracks or remove bas-reliefs. For harder materials, the caster needs as many rounds as the material has hardness to manipulate the surface.

Translation:
School: Divination; Level: Adept 3, Wizard, Arcanist3, Sorcerer 3, Skald 2, Bard 2
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Components: V, S, M (an empty book with sufficient empty pages)
Range: touch; Target: A piece of writing; Duration: 10min/level; Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Summary: A translation of a piece of writing you touch appears in a previously empty book. This translation appears at a rate of 1 page per minute. The translation and the original text can be in any language, but the quality suffers if you don’t know either language. Pictures and prints will also be copied, albeit at a somewhat slower rate.


Antiseptic Hand:
School: Abjuration; Level: Adept 0, Investigator 1, Alchemist 1, Druid 0, Cleric 0, Witch 0
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Components: V, S,
Range: touch; Target: a living creature; Duration: 10min/level; Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Summary: The hands of the touched creature become antiseptic. For the duration, it is almost impossible for them to transfer any disease by touch or keep germs on their hands. Any germs trying to survive there have to manage a DC 15+CL Fortitude save on contact and every minute afterwards or perish.


Wild Wanderings
School: Enchantment; Level: Ranger: 3, Druid 5, Witch 6, Oracle 6, Cleric 6, Shaman 6, Adept 5
Casting Time: 1 Minute
Components: V, S, M (Hair, Feather & Scale)
Range: touch; Target: a living creature (special see text); Duration: 1day/level; Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Summary: You bless a touched creature and any bonded creatures like mounts, familiars and animal companions, to be provided for in the wilderness. They gain an empathic connection, allowing the communication of simple concepts, needs and feelings, to any wild animal that comes into a 30ft range of them. For the duration all animals will have a starting attitude of friendly, magical beasts or animals with an intelligence of 3 and above are allowed a will save to resist the effect. Additionally, the creature and any bonded creatures have +5 on survival to find food, water, shelter and the correct path. The creature also gains woodland stride.
The effect ends when the affected creature commits gross crimes against nature, or can be ended prematurely to get a onetime bonus of the casters level on a single survival roll or saving throw against natural hazards.


Shiny Blanket:
School: Evocation; Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1, Bard 1, Skald 1, Adept 0, Shaman 1, Witch 1, Hunter 1, Ranger 1, Druid: 1
Casting Time: 1 Round
Components: V, S, M (a scale of an electric eel)
Range: close (25 feet + 5 feet/2 levels); Duration: hours/level(2); Saving Throw: Fortitude partial or negates (see text); Effect: 2m²(21ft²)/level blanket of electric energy
Summary: you create a translucent shimmering blanket of electricity to ward against vermin. This blanket has an area of 2m² or 21ft² per caster level and has to be in a single piece, but after its creation you may use a full round action to move it anywhere (it can lie on air if you so wish). The blanket shocks anyone who tries to pass it in one specific direction, dealing 1+1/4level electricity damage. A successful saving throw leads to non-lethal damage instead. Creatures below the size small take a penalty on the saving throw equal to their CMB/CMD adjustment (-2 for tiny, -4 for diminutive, -8 for fine). Swarms may not change the damage to nonlethal, the instead half the damage if they succeed at their save.


Mage’s Make-Up:
School: Illusion; Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1, Bard 0, Skald 0, Adept 1, Alchemist 1, (Anti-)Paladin 1
Casting Time: 1 Round
Components: V, S, M (a snowflake, a drop of blood and a sliver of ebony), F (a mirror)
Range: touch; Target: 1 creature + 1 creature/4levels; Duration: hours/level(2); Saving Throw: will negates, harmless; Spell Resistance: yes, harmless
Summary: you instantly create a flattering and complete make-up, typically enhanced by magic glitter, for all intended creatures. For the quality of this make-up you may use your bonus in spellcraft or knowledge(Arcane) instead of more fitting skills. Additionally to possible other circumstance boni, the make-up gives you a +2 enhancement bonus on charisma based skill checks versus all creatures that might notice your neat or beautiful appearance.

[bekeleven]

Over in homebrew I have a compendium of 50 new cantrips (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?651998-Cantrip-Compendium-All-The-Zeros-You-Can-Afford) for various classes. Spells like Catch your Breath, Conjure Receipt, Ferment, Heart's Glow, Safe Day, and others would all potentially be useful for peasants.

I also made a comependium of magical items for non-adventurers (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642096-Bek-s-Book-of-Blissful-Bewitchment-Everyday-items-for-non-adventurers). This isn't exactly what you want since even the cheapest magical items in the list are over 10 GP, despite my applications of RAW to reduce their prices. Nonethelss, you can ad hoc further discounts if desired, and hopefully they'll inspire your future efforts.

By the way: Jay, Elvensilver, Wilphe - Can I add some of your spells to my cantrips list?

[wilphe]

Go wild

Glad to be interesting

[Jay R]

By the way: Jay, Elvensilver, Wilphe - Can I add some of your spells to my cantrips list?

Yes, feel free. Thank you for asking, but …

I can keep my writings under my control. Or I can post them publicly.

I was never naive enough to believe I could do both at once.

Besides, these forums are explicitly for us to share ideas and help each other.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

The Practical Enchanter, by Distant Horizons Games, has the Hedge Magic feat:


Hedge Magic (General)
You can channel your power into a wide variety of minor practical magics and create minor Conjures for household and village use.

Prerequisites: Ability to cast first level spells

Benefit: You may prepare or spontaneously cast a wide variety of household magics according to your magical style. These spells never exceed level two and few of them are really useful for adventuring.

Consider the samples below typical.

L0) Light, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Call Domestic Animal (one domesticated animal comes to you), Cure Hide (cures one pelt), Check Edibility (checks for natural poisons, not flavor), Oven Gauntlets (hand-held forcefields for touching dangerous stuff), Unplug Drains (obvious), Sharpen Blades (also works on tools), Butcher (makes it much easier to cut up a dead body), Contraception (24 hours), The Good Cook (improves the flavor of a meal), Extract Butter (from milk), Clean Clothing (obvious), Create Water, Purify Food and Drink, Mystic Blanket (keeps users warm at night), Air Mattress (makes hard, cold, bumpy ground warm and comfortable), Soothe Infant (keeps an infant dry and happy for up to 12 hours), Umbrella (keeps rain off for up to 6 hours), Dry (dries food or cleans up spills), Check Health (gives a basic evaluation of the health of one creature), and Mill (converts up to a large bag of grain into flour).

L1) Alarm, Unseen Servant, Tarp (puts a tarp or basic tent over a small area), Remove Lice (or other minor parasites/pests/skin problems), Preservation (keeps things from spoiling very fast), Child Ward (keeps a kid out of trouble for 24 hours), Dowsing (look for water, fish, etc), Relieve Illness and Relieve Poison (reduces the severity and discomfort of any one disease or poison), Dentistry (fixes teeth), Expel Parasites (mostly stomach and intestinal worms or things which burrow under the skin), Unburn Meal (for those who left things in the oven too long), Deodorize House (fairly obvious), Sheer Sheep (takes the wool off of a sheep neatly and quickly; related spells include Card, Spin, and Weave), and Scarecrow (basically a specialized Unseen Servant which chases pests out of a field for 24 hours; it works whether or not you leave it; similar variants turn cranks, pump water, and so on).

L2) Spring Cleaning (cleans and straightens up throughout a small house), Hearthfire (makes a small fire which burns without fuel or smoke for up to 24 hours), Ward versus Vermin (keeps normal rats and pests out of the warded area for several weeks), Continual Flame, Train Animal (teaches a domestic animal basic good behavior and helps teach it useful tasks, such as herding sheep; this does not help teach it to fight), Herb Mastery (effects equivalent to Goodberry, but use a variety of herbs), Find Stray (animal or child, fairly nearby), Harvest (gathers the harvest of a small field), Weedkill (kills weeds in a small field), Turn Soil (loosens and turns soil in a large field), Tree to Lumber (turns a cut-down tree into useful boards), Sow (scatters and tamps in seeds evenly over a field), Render (extracts and purifies fat), Thresh (converts a steady stream of rice, grain, corn on the cob, or similar, into separate streams of prepared seed and husks), Fountain (creates up to 50 gallons of water per level), and The Laborers’s Word (does an hour’s simple work, such as shelling peas or chopping wood, as if the caster was doing it by hand).

Conjures are minor enchanted items made with such spells. They’re usually made with the Ambient Magic limitation, and tend to be bulky, fragile, and a bit awkward to use. They’re considerably cheaper to make than more combative devices. If there’s some need for an exact figure, use 50% of normal costs. Typical conjures include child and livestock-locating charms, boxes that keep food fresh longer, and charms against bugs and vermin getting into the granary.

Normal: There are no practical mages. Mages are good at killing things and not much else.

Special: Anyone with a level or two of sorcerer and this feat becomes much more popular, welcome at family gatherings, and marriageable. Hedge Wizards tend to be vital members of their communities.That's...actually a really good feat for a spontaneous caster. Those are a LOT of potentially very useful magical effects to cast spontaneously from, especially if you use a bit of creativity. Deodorize house, for instance, can help suppress tracking from scent-using creatures, so long as you pass through an area that could be considered livable by something or other.

[ShurikVch]

I checked my old big list of officially published cantrips (and orisons)
There are some that may be useful (sorry if somebody already mentioned them)
Dawn (Masters of the Wild/Savage Species) – Awakens sleeping creatures
Deftness (Dragon #302) – Target gains a +2 Insight bonus on his/her next skill check
Easy Math (Song and Silence) – Acts like counting coins in a stack or estimating distances can be done for 1 round within 10% on a Perform check vs. DC 15
Fire Eyes (Masters of the Wild) – You see through natural fire, smoke, & fog
Foraging Charm (Dragon #302) – As long as he/she concentrates, the Caster knows the location of the nearest edible plant within 25'
Ghostharp (Magic of Faerûn) – Object records, plays a song at your command
Ground Smoke (Dragon #326) – Prevents smoke from rising from a small fire
Heat Water (Dragon #302) – Boils 2 pints of liquid
Know Direction
Lullaby
Minor Disguise (Magic of Faerûn) – Makes slight changes to your appearance
Mirror (Dragon #302) – Creates a floating, single-sided 1' by 1' mirror
Naturewatch (Magic of Faerûn) – As Deathwatch, but only for animals and plants
Scarecrow (Masters of the Wild) – Animal becomes shaken
Snowshoes (Dragon #312) – Subject can walk on ice & snow without falling and not leaving an obvious trail //Originally, spell was 0-level for Druids; Spell Compendium made it 1-level
Stick (Underdark) – Glues an object weighting 5 pounds or less to a larger object
Summon Instrument
Yell (Dragon #302) – Amplifies one message of up to ten words so that everyone in the area gains a +10 bonus on Listen checks to hear it

[Elvensilver]

By the way: Jay, Elvensilver, Wilphe - Can I add some of your spells to my cantrips list?

I'm happy to share my ideas. :smallbiggrin:

[aglondier]

Similar to how my earlier entry granted a Cntrip slot to a non-spellcaster, perhaps another feat could be made to allow ritual casting to non-spellcasters. Granting the ability to ritually cast a handful of spells, with the ability to learn more later...perhaps requiring additional feats in the future to expand their access...maybe something like...

Ritual Apprentice (general feat)
You have an understanding of basic ritual magic.
Benefit: you can ritually cast any arcane/divine spell you know the ritual for. Doing so increases the casting time to 10 minutes. Your ability to learn ritual spells is limited by your casting stat, and a maximum of 2nd level with this feat. You start with 2 first level and 1 second level spell rituals known. Additional ritual spells can be learned as per a wizard learning new spells. Your casting stat must be designated as soon as this feat is chosen, as is whether you can cast arcane or divine spells.
Prerequisites: casting attribute 11+, non-spellcasting class, must be chosen at level 1.

Ritual Journeyman (general feat)
Your understanding of ritual magic continues.
Benefit: your ability to cast ritual spells expands to include 3rd and 4th level spells, still limited by your casting stat. You gain a single ritual known of 3rd and 4th level.
Prerequisites: ritual apprentice feat, casting attribute 13+, 5th level.

Ritual Master (general feat)
Your mastery of ritual magic grows.
Benefit: your ability to cast ritual spells expands to include 5th and 6th level spells, still limited by your casting stat. You gain a single ritual spell known of 5th and 6th level.
Prerequisites: ritual journeyman feat, casting attribute 15+, 9th level.

I think that would work out balance-wise. Not every spell could be ritual cast, but it would be perfect for the previously mentioned household type spells...

[ShurikVch]

3E Ravenloft has 1st-level-only feat which changed Type to Animal
Non-Good settlement where all (or most) of inhabitants got this feat could benefit from Hivemind rules - thus, given enough members, get access to Sorcerer casting...

[MaxiDuRaritry]

3E Ravenloft has 1st-level-only feat which changed Type to Animal
Non-Good settlement where all (or most) of inhabitants got this feat could benefit from Hivemind rules - thus, given enough members, get access to Sorcerer casting...What're the book and feat names?

[ShurikVch]

What're the book and feat names?
Feral Rearing (Champions of Darkness)

[bekeleven]

That feat looks fantastic. And it's not restricted to humans, either.

I want to use that to make "domesticated" animals - like the opposite of warbred, except hilariously, no actual stat changes.

"Yes sirree, we raise all sortsa animals on this here farm."

"What's that in the corral behind you?"

"That there's Bess. She's a good girl."

"MY GOD IS THAT AN ANCIENT BLACK DRAGON?"

"Naw, she's just a little friend."

[Skysaber]

One of our group's long-term, low level hobbies has been to explore answers to the question, "What do you do with retired adventurers?"

Obviously, many fighters or rogues would be happily occupied starting a bar or tavern, with the rogue running a few rackets on the side just to keep their hand in.

Clerics have obvious roles as clergy. Druids can hang out in nature.

But say you get a 1st level wizard who loses a leg on his first dungeon crawl. He has nowhere near the funds to get it replaced, either via Regeneration or magic item. He has nowhere near the reputation to take on students, nor the funds to occupy the rest of his life in arcane research. No higher level wizard is going to want a one-legged assistant when there are so many eager apprentices, or familiars, golems, homunculi, etc, who would do a better job running fetch and carry for him.

So we figure a large portion of those hard luck cases go back home to their families. D&D being a pseudo-medieval setting, 90%+ people live on farms.

So what would a fully trained, albeit low-level wizard do on a farm? He is lame, so typical farmwork would be hard on him, even if he grew up doing it.

We figure most wizards would try to put their training to work, making up for their infirmity.

So we have spent some time coming up with spells we figure people in those circumstances would develop. I see considerable overlap to the OP's project.

Now, we drew considerable inspiration from two sources. There is, in Pathfinder, an alternate version of Animate Dead that animates constructs instead, with very similar stats.

Second there is, in a number of D20 sources, a trio of spells, "Animate Animal" at 0th level, "Animate Skeleton" at 1st, and "Animate Zombie" at 2nd that give you, in the first case, a single tiny animal skeleton, or a single medium humanoid skeleton in the second, or a single medium humanoid zombie in the third. These undead are as functional and permanent as any created via Animate Dead, but you get only one of each. No matter how many times you cast the spells, your limit is one. But this limit also does not impact your usual control limits from other sources, so that's good.

We ran a campaign once where every player was running wizards, and they used these to good effect. So it stuck in our minds.

It should also be mentioned that Imperial measurement, for all of the mockery directed towards it today, served a very different people, in a very different time, where high-quality measuring devices, mass produced and available for cheap, simply did not exist.

One acre is the amount a land a farmer could plow in one day. Later agricultural methods increased this capability, but by then the measure had been long set.

Also, the cost to pay to have a spell cast is spell level times caster level times 10gp. You could easily hire a skilled peasant to plow an acre for 3sp. Yet a 1st level wizard only gets one 1st level spell per day, so casting his spell is his work for the day, and it seems wrong to pay a wizard 10gp, at minimum, to do less work.

So for things affecting fields, we set the size at one acre.


Animate Farmhand, 1st Wiz
Touch, Instant. Creates one medium construct, equivalent to a skeleton. Created for giving food and water to livestock, cleaning and disinfecting animal living areas, including hutches, cages and pens. Operating and maintaining farm equipment, including vehicles and machinery, it is considered to have 4 ranks of skill and one point of ability bonus for Profession: Farmer and Drive (farm vehicles and machinery only).

Animate Goatherd, 1st Wiz
Touch, Instant, one medium construct. same stats as skeleton. As Animate Milkmaid, but for goats.

Animate Milkmaid, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Touch, Instant. Creates one medium construct, equivalent to a skeleton. Created for feeding cows, milking cows, leading them in and out of pasture, churning butter, making creams and cheeses, it is considered to have 4 ranks of skill and one point of ability bonus for Handle Animal and Profession: Cook for tasks related to cows and processing their milk. It reserves its combat abilities, such as they are, for protecting itself and the livestock it is given herd over.

Animate Scarecrow, 1st Wiz
Touch, Instant. Creates one medium construct, equivalent to a skeleton. Created for protecting crops from vermin, it will stalk and chase them (though only about as well as a small child, so rarely catch or kill them). But is generally fairly successful at driving them off. It will not harm the crops, nor animals larger than vermin, and will remain out of the way of people, however unlike most undead/faux-undead, it is not under the caster's control. Instead it must be created for a single patch of land between one-quarter and one acre in size.

Animate Scarecrow, Greater, 2nd Wiz
Touch, Instant. Creates one medium construct, equivalent to a skeleton. As Animate Skeleton, plus SLAs: Ray of Frost at will, against vermin only (including small birds). 1/day Fumigate. Detect Vermin 60ft radius, continuous.

Animate Shepherd, 1st Wiz
Touch, Instant, one medium construct. same stats as skeleton. As Animate Milkmaid, but for sheep.

Animate Swineherd, 1st Wiz
Touch, Instant, one medium construct. same stats as skeleton. As Animate Milkmaid, but for pigs. In this case, it is not milk that the cooking skill is focused on, but the meat of the pigs themselves, harvested at the proper time, and the swineherd can do the butchering itself, doing the preservation, making of sausage and bacon, and so on.

Blight Crops, 2nd Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be blighted. 1d4 week Duration (D), area: one acre. Invented by evil witches as a means of coercing poor farmers into paying their fees, causes plants in affected area to catch a disease natural for their type that will cause them to die off in 1d4 weeks unless dismissed by the caster, or somehow cured.

Card Fiber, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
Close Range, Instant. Raw wool from one animal of medium size or smaller, or an equal volume of fibers from plant sources, has all of its fibers aligned properly, in preparation to be spun.

Castrate Livestock, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
Touch, Instant, one helpless animal of size large or smaller. Target has its male sex organs removed.
Note: Dirty jokes aside, this task has to be done for proper herd management. However, it is an unpleasant task, to say the least. No, you don't want to know the details. But all it takes is one spellcaster saying, "Nope!" and inventing this spell, for it to become widespread.

Clean Fiber, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
Close Range, Instant. Raw wool from one animal of medium size or smaller, or an equal volume of fibers from plant sources, has all forms of undesirable contaminents removed (including seeds or chaff). This would, for example, not remove dyes or beneficial oils, however it would certainly remove dirt and all forms of grime. Wool collected from animals is typically filthy, and needs to be washed before it can be processed further.

Collect Fibers, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
Close Range, Instant, close range radius. Volume of loose wool equivalent to one animal of medium size or smaller, or an equal volume of fibers from plant sources, are instantly taken from the ground, dye vats, or wherever they may be, and brought into available containers, frequently bags.

Compost Stump, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Touch, Instant, one stump. Target stump is mulched down into tiny bits all the way to the tips of its roots, then moistened and aged, so over the next hour degenerates into compost.

Create Fence, 2nd Wiz
Medium Range, Instant, creates 10ft of 6ft high fence per CL. Calls into existence a wooden fence suitable for farm work, acting as an effectual barrier to livestock, most predatory animals, and small children, but easily climbed by adult humanoids. One gate can be included per casting, of up to two fence sections wide. Gates have the same stats as the rest of the fence.
Option, instead of a sturdy wall, a trellis half as dense but twice as long could be created, providing a robust support for training plants like shrubs, small trees or vines upon.

Cure Blight, 2nd Cleric and Druid
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be cured. Instant, area: one acre. All diseases affecting plants within area are cured. These same cured plants are now immune to those diseases, as if they'd overcome it naturally.

Detect Eggs, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
60ft Cone, 10 min/CL Duration. Domestic fowl, like their wild counterparts, are prone to hiding their eggs. This can lead to abandoned nests full of rotten eggs exploding with one of the most foul smells imaginable, freqently right underneath the farmhouse. One wizard with a particularly clever chicken who'd undergone that experience more than once, vowed he would no longer be outsmarted by a bird, and invented this spell. It allows the user to locate any and all eggs within the area. However, dragons are known to be particularly peeved with anyone casting this spell in their lairs.

Dye Fiber, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
Close Range, Instant. Wool from one animal of medium size or smaller, or an equal volume of fibers from plant sources, is instantly colored with a dye matching the small sample used as a material component. Dyes are typically applied to either thread or whole cloth, however when applied to raw wool it provides a truer color that lasts longer, leading to the expression, "Dyed in the wool" as holding strongly to certain qualities.

Elvenbrew, 3rd Druid
Touch, Instant. Transmutes one flask of liquid (often fruit juice) into a magical draft that once consumed alters the imbiber so that should they die within one week per CL of the one to create the Elvanbrew, and subsequently be reincarnated, instead of rolling on the reincarnation table, they simply return as an elf (as the same type as the caster, if the caster is an elf).

Fertilize Field, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be fertilized. Instant, area: one acre. Field is instantly fertilized, with fertilizer matching the small sample used as a material component.

Fumigate, 1st Druid and Wiz
as Cloudkill, but only affects vermin of no greater than 1HD. Beneficial vermin (bees, ladybugs, etc) are automatically excluded, based on caster's desires.

Harvest Field, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be harvested. Instant, area: one acre. Field is instantly harvested. Fresh harvest is gathered into appropriate containers, if available.

Hoof Care, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
Touch, Instant, one hooved animal of size large or smaller. Hooved animals need their feet to be properly cleaned and trimmed every so often to prevent a number of problems from cropping up. This spell provides the proper care to prevent those.

Ironwood, 5th Druid
First appeared in the 1st edition AD&D Oriental Adventures as a Wu Jen spell, that was permanent. During the port to 3.0 edition, they made it a Druid spell, and cut its duration to where you'd be forced to use a spell every day to maintain it. They'd clearly intended this to tie up one of the druid player's spells forever, but it's doubtful any druid ever cast it that way. Spells, and especially 5th level ones, are more valuable than a measely few points of AC, especially for a druid who would be in Wildshape much of the time anyway. So, once more they invoked the classic case of "Too much cost, too little reward" and people by and large just ignored that option.
Alternate version: Turn Ironwood back into its original "cast once, use many" form by making it an Instant. The game developers clearly saw the need for this, as they'd come out with Darkwood, Bluewood, Bronzewood, and who even knows how many other "woods as strong as iron", they just did it as special materials.
However, there are also clear indicators spells such as an instant-duration Ironwood not only exist (in the forms of 'wood treated to be as strong as steel' appearing as the occasional magic items), but other variants affecting different materials, such as gold and silver, platinum, jade and crystal - all available as weapons, "magically treated" to be as strong as steel, permanent, yet not dispellable, ie, Instant duration effects.
Our group agrees that these spells must exist, they were just not made available to players. So we make them available. Irongold, Ironjade, Ironcrystal, etc. All 5th level Druid or Wiz, with Instant effects.

Irrigate Field, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be irrigated. Instant, area: one acre. Field is instantly irrigated, allowing the proper amount of water to be delivered at the appropriate rate, for the appropriate amount of time, from any available water source, at minimal effort from the farmer (usually opening or closing a few gates in the irrigation system). It is up to the farmer to use this system properly.

Paint Fence, 2nd Wiz
Medium Range, Instant, covers up to (10ft of 6ft high wooden fence per CL) with two layers of nonmagical paint. These can be any colors, styles, and patterns the caster desires, matching the small sample of paint used as a material component.

Plow Field, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be plowed. Instant, area: one acre. Field is instantly plowed, in a style suitable for that location and planting whatever crops the caster intended.

Repair Fence, 2nd Wiz
Medium Range, Instant, repairs 10ft of 6ft high wooden fence per CL. Repairs any and all damage to fence, restoring it to original condition.

Shape Leather, 0th Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Close Range, Instant, one animal skin of size small or larger, or 5lbs of leather scraps.
The great difficulty in working leather is that animals come in animal shapes, and the things we desire to make out of them are another. So we are forced to cut out the shapes we need from larger hides, and there are always scraps left over that can't be used, often only a third or a quarter of any particular hide could be made into a finished product.
This spell causes leather and other animal skin products to flow like water into the desired shapes, allowing every bit to be used as raw materials in crafting. This reduces the cost of raw materials for Craft Leather to one-third normal (or free, under certain circumstances. A wizard near a forest hunting squirrels with Ray of Frost could, over time, collect all of the hides he needs for a complete spellbook without anything other than this cantrip).
Wizards as apprentices created their own variant for use on parchment, for making books, particularly spellbooks. Since it involved repeated castings of cantrips it did not actually reduce the price of books for sale, but it meant that wizards on a budget who were willing to put some time in could craft their own at a substantial discount. However, the variants are so similar they eventually merged into one spell.

Sheer Sheep, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
Touch, Instant, one helpless animal of medium size or smaller. Target looses all of its hair as if sheared to perfection, as if done manually but without mistakes or problems. The hair still exists, falling naturally from the animal, and can be collected normally.

Sow Field, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be planted. Instant, area: one acre. Allows caster to spread an available quantity of seeds (rice or other seedlings to be transplanted are also affected) across a region of arable land, the seeds sink to an optimum distance and are spread in the precise pattern caster desires.

Spin Fiber, 0th Cleric, Druid or Wiz
Close Range, Instant. Carded wool from one animal of medium size or smaller, or an equal volume of fibers from plant sources, is spun, that is twisted, into yarn or thread of desired thickness, and placed onto available containers, frequently bobbins.

Water Field, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be watered. Instant, area: one acre. A variant of Obscuring Mist that, instead of obstructing vision, causes sufficient dew to magically distill across the target area, moistening the ground enough for whatever plants are there to thrive.

Weed Field, 1st Cleric, Druid and Wiz
Caster must be standing adjacent to the field to be weeded. Instant, area: one acre. Other than designated plants, all other plants in the field are uprooted, and placed in containers, if available.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

A one-legged wizard could easily sell his spellcasting services and alchemical items until he makes enough to purchase a casting of regenerate. So long as a spellcaster can spellcast, making money is generally pretty easy, especially since it's entirely possible to ask for healing from the cleric of a god thereof, or from one's own religion at a discount in exchange for other services (such as spellcasting and alchemical items). There's also copying one's spells for other wizards, as well as for archivists. Selling scrolls could be big business, at least for a while.

[Skysaber]

A one-legged wizard could easily sell his spellcasting services and alchemical items until he makes enough to purchase a casting of regenerate. So long as a spellcaster can spellcast, making money is generally pretty easy, especially since it's entirely possible to ask for healing from the cleric of a god thereof, or from one's own religion at a discount in exchange for other services (such as spellcasting and alchemical items). There's also copying one's spells for other wizards, as well as for archivists. Selling scrolls could be big business, at least for a while.

You are attacking the least important part of the post. Like someone was trying to give you a car, and you decide to complain about its color.

But whatever, I will answer.

Selling one's services is, and always has been, based on your reputation. Our theoretical wizard has no reputation, or rather he does, and it is a bad one. He is viewed as a failure.

No one wants to hire the failure in his field. If they want someone, they want to hire someone who is proven successful, not the guy who failed dramatically on his first mission.

This is the accountant who did the equivalent of crashing a thriving company on his first day on the job. He not only failed, he failed dramatically, and nobody wants that stink of failure associated with them, or their business. They'll go for their scrolls and spellcasting services to someone they can trust not to screw it up.

The young certainly wouldn't want to copy spells from this loser, not when they had any other option.

Perhaps there are diligent men who, through hard work and perseverance, would overcome this flaw. But there are many who would not. This option explores the fate of those who do not.

But whatever. I should be accustomed to people attacking my posts whenever I bother to share content on this site. It certainly happens often enough.

Don't know why I bother, really.:smallfrown:

[Maat Mons]

But the color of a car is super important! The red ones go faster!

Also, how in the world is this low-level Wizard getting these non-adventuring spells? It costs 1,000 gp to research an original 1st-level spell. We know this dude doesn’t have that kind of money, because it costs 910 gp to get a leg Regenerated, and he can’t afford that.

I guess it’s only 100 gp to copy a spell some else has already invented, assuming they’re kind enough to allow you access to it for free. But that still means someone, at some point, spent 1,000 gp researching the spell. That’s 30 years’ worth of pay for the average person. I’m struggling to imagine who it is that has that much money to throw into spell research, yet also has the need to do farmwork himself.

[Aquillion]

A close-range cantrip for nonmagical objects would certainly be useful on a daily basis. I very much need that to find my keys.

Locate Object, Lesser
Divination
Level: Brd 0, Clr 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S, F/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 50 feet
Area: Circle, centered on you, with a radius of 50 feet
Duration: 1 min

You sense the direction of a specific non-magical object within the area that you are extremely familiar with - one you have personally handled, worn, or used many times in the past. This spell cannot be used to search for general items; you can eg. find only your keys in particular, not keys in general.

The spell is blocked by even a thin sheet of lead. Creatures cannot be found by this spell. Polymorph any object fools it.