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View Full Version : [Spells] Because I just can't stop writing spells



Peregrine
2008-01-28, 09:03 AM
Here's a random bunch of spells I've had kicking around in notes for some time. I've finally gotten around to fleshing them out and posting them up here. All comments welcome. :smallsmile:

[hr]
This just makes sense in a world with magic but without printing presses...

Copy
Transmutation
Level: Brd 0, Clr 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S, F, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: One or more surfaces touched
Duration: 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell copies any writing you make with the focus onto a surface you touch. At any time during the spell’s duration, you may touch another surface and designate it as the new site for the copied writing. The writing consumes ink or other writing material sufficient for the two copies. The copied writing is nonmagical, even if you imbue the original with magical effects (such as scribing a scroll or inserting explosive runes).

The target surface may be an unattended object, one in the possession of a willing creature, or even the skin of a willing creature. If targeted at an unwilling creature or an object attended by one, the copying fails (but the spell is not ended and copying resumes if a valid target is designated). The target surface need not be one on which you could normally write; for instance, you could target rough stone, sand, or even water, but the writing would soon mix with water or be blown away with the sand.

Focus
A pen or other writing implement

Arcane material component
A pinch of ground charcoal

[hr]
In a fantasy game, there just has to be something to model divine intervention in this sort of situation.

Trial by Combat
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting, Lawful]
Level: Clr 2, Pal 2
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Two willing creatures
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

You call upon divine intervention into a cause between two willing subjects. Based on a challenge issued between the parties, one subject receives your deity’s favour, gaining a +4 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls, while the other subject takes a -4 penalty on the same rolls. These bonuses and penalties only apply to attacks against the other subject of the spell, or against a commonly agreed object (such as an archery target). These are sacred bonuses and penalties if your deity is non-evil, or profane bonuses and penalties if your deity is evil.

[hr]
An odd idea I had some time ago. Should it affect all weapons, not just metal? (In that case, I'd probably have to rename it.)

Magnetic Hide
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell turns the target’s formerly protective hide into a liability, as it draws metal towards it. The target takes a -4 circumstance penalty to its natural armor bonus, but only against weapons made at least partially of metal. This can even reduce the creature’s effective natural armor bonus below 0.

Magnetic hide fails if cast on a creature that lacks natural armor. If the target only has natural armor due to a temporary effect (such as a barkskin spell), magnetic hide is dispelled when that effect ends.

[hr]
And this is because I don't want wizards who ban evocation to be completely without light spells.

Glowing Sphere
Conjuration (Creation) [Light]
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 5 ft.
Effect: One glowing sphere
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

You create a spherical ball of glassy material that glows from within, shedding as much light as a torch. The sphere hovers within 5 ft. of you, following you as you move, or you can set it down on a surface. (Setting the sphere down, or picking it up to start it hovering near you again, takes a move action.)

The sphere has hardness 5 and 10 hit points. If it is broken, the spell ends immediately.

Zenos
2008-01-28, 09:35 AM
Trial by combat sounds like cheating, but I like it :smallsmile: .

Debihuman
2008-01-28, 11:49 AM
Trial by combat sounds like cheating, but I like it :smallsmile: .

Actually, I was thinking that it shouldn't be two willing subjects but rather two subjects and both should get a saving throw.

Why would a subject willingly accept a -4 penalty? It's hard to imagine a circumstance where that would happen unless the subject was a masochist.

Copy is interesting, but isn't there already an existing spell that does this? I could be mistaken.

Magnetic hide just doesn't sound right to me. The -4 circumstance penalty is fine. However, the mechanic for attracting metal items is missing. I think this is a spell better in theory than in execution.

Debby

Magnor Criol
2008-01-28, 02:10 PM
Yes, there's already a spell like Copy - "Amanuensis," in the Spell Compendium. It copies only nonmagical text, not magical text or illustrations, leaving blank spaces in where something it can't copy got left out. It's also a 0-level.

I kind of like yours better; more versatility. The Amanuensis spell also only lets you copy onto a book, parchment, or paper, and yours has potential for more (copy it onto a creature and send it skittering off to a destination, for example).

Neek
2008-01-28, 08:19 PM
I like some of these spells. Trial by Combat seems interesting, but I'm trying to put the fluff and mechanics together. They seem a bit confusing: You're pretty much giving a pretty high intervention. I don't think this spell should do both: it should debilitate or enhance, but not both--or push it up a higher level slot. Magnetic Hide is cool, being that it reduces natural armor (I like how the natural armor bonus takes a hit, not the AC, so it's impossible to reduce natural armor to below 0.)

Copy is interesting, but it's like Amanuensis, and it doesn't lack a distinct flavor. It reminds a little of a 0th level spell, Lesser Dictate, I created, which animates a writing instrument to write down what the target is saying. While it doesn't allow a direct transfer, it makes life a little easier and has a bit of flavor to it).

Peregrine
2008-01-28, 08:41 PM
Actually, I was thinking that it shouldn't be two willing subjects but rather two subjects and both should get a saving throw.

Why would a subject willingly accept a -4 penalty? It's hard to imagine a circumstance where that would happen unless the subject was a masochist.

You only take the penalty if a deity sides against you (and note that it's a lawful spell, so no divine perversion of justice should be expected). Basically, it's most likely to be used when both parties believe themselves in the right. Why would someone go into a trial by combat if they knew they were in the wrong... unless they were sure they could win? And then along comes a cleric of a lawful god, calling for divine justice to be done. Now the one who knows themselves to be in the wrong must either accept the penalty and hope to win anyway, or pull out, effectively admitting guilt.


Copy is interesting, but isn't there already an existing spell that does this? I could be mistaken.

I discovered amanuensis after I came up with copy. I did compare them before putting mine up here, and decided they were sufficiently different to go ahead with it. (Mine isn't strictly limited to writing, for instance, though perhaps that's not clear enough as it is -- basically anything you inscribe with the focus pen during the spell's duration will be copied over.)


Magnetic hide just doesn't sound right to me. The -4 circumstance penalty is fine. However, the mechanic for attracting metal items is missing. I think this is a spell better in theory than in execution.

Umm... magnets! :smalltongue: I'm not sure what you mean by "the mechanic for attracting metal items". Oh, wait, you mean why isn't non-weapon metal also drawn to the subject? Well, maybe it is, only not so you'd actually notice -- only when something is already aimed at the subject does it swerve that little bit closer and hit that much harder. Or something.


Yes, there's already a spell like Copy - "Amanuensis," in the Spell Compendium. It copies only nonmagical text, not magical text or illustrations, leaving blank spaces in where something it can't copy got left out. It's also a 0-level.

I kind of like yours better; more versatility. The Amanuensis spell also only lets you copy onto a book, parchment, or paper, and yours has potential for more (copy it onto a creature and send it skittering off to a destination, for example).

Why thank you. That's also a good point. :smallsmile:


I like some of these spells. Trial by Combat seems interesting, but I'm trying to put the fluff and mechanics together. They seem a bit confusing: You're pretty much giving a pretty high intervention. I don't think this spell should do both: it should debilitate or enhance, but not both--or push it up a higher level slot.

I'm not sure what's wrong with the fluff and mechanics. A lawful deity grants favour to one subject (who gets bonuses) and disfavour to another (who gets penalties). However, you might be right about the big penalties. Originally I was going for +/-2 rather than 4. But that seemed on par with 1st-level spells like doom, and also very situational -- and I didn't want it to be a 1st-level spell, simply for flavour reasons: not having novice clerics able to instate a trial by combat. So I made it 2nd-level, but then I felt the bonus and penalty needed to be bigger, especially because they're so situational.


Magnetic Hide is cool, being that it reduces natural armor (I like how the natural armor bonus takes a hit, not the AC, so it's impossible to reduce natural armor to below 0.)

Eh... heh... except it can reduce it below 0. :smallredface: *cough* That's deliberate; I wanted it to be able to make natural armor a liability, not just negated. Should I not?


Copy is interesting, but it's like Amanuensis, and it doesn't lack a distinct flavor. It reminds a little of a 0th level spell, Lesser Dictate, I created, which animates a writing instrument to write down what the target is saying. While it doesn't allow a direct transfer, it makes life a little easier and has a bit of flavor to it).

Doesn't lack? I get the feeling from context ("...but...") that you meant "doesn't have"? Again, my homebrewing catchphrase: Wizards wrote something like it, but it's not OGC!

Neek
2008-01-28, 09:02 PM
I'm not sure what's wrong with the fluff and mechanics. A lawful deity grants favour to one subject (who gets bonuses) and disfavour to another (who gets penalties). However, you might be right about the big penalties. Originally I was going for +/-2 rather than 4. But that seemed on par with 1st-level spells like doom, and also very situational -- and I didn't want it to be a 1st-level spell, simply for flavour reasons: not having novice clerics able to instate a trial by combat. So I made it 2nd-level, but then I felt the bonus and penalty needed to be bigger, especially because they're so situational.

I think what's wrong then is that the fluff needs to be much more stated. I feel that it can be too broken, but I haven't seen it used. So it might not be. If the bonus and penalties are given by the deity, and not the caster, then this also reduces a lot of confusion. The fluff, as it stands, understates this.


Eh... heh... except it can reduce it below 0. :smallredface: *cough* That's deliberate; I wanted it to be able to make natural armor a liability, not just negated. Should I not?

I always figured that if you reduce a armor bonus of one type, you can't convert that bonus into a penalty with another penalty (i.e., you can't have +2 nat armor - 4 penalty to nat armor == -2.) I might be wrong, but to my weird logic, it seems counterintuitive. It's probably just me.


Doesn't lack? I get the feeling from context ("...but...") that you meant "doesn't have"? Again, my homebrewing catchphrase: Wizards wrote something like it, but it's not OGC!

Sorry, the "but..." implies correlation with an existing spell, however it has something that Amanuensis lacks: flavor. My statement was quite dense, so forgive the confusion. Copy allows you to copy on multiple surfaces, allows you to change the surface while copying, &c--something Amanuensis doesn't. Wizards may write a spell that's basic and useful on day-to-day, but they won't give it the flavor if they know that the majority of the players are hardly going to use.