The Demented One
2008-03-08, 12:42 PM
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MAGIC IN THE KOBOLD WARS
Critical Acclaim:
“Professer Keegan has done it again! His history is perhaps the most accurate ever of the great Gnome-Kobold conflicts, and his tactical analysis of the use of magic is superb. Most notable, perhaps, are his appendices, were he has somehow managed to compile the ancient spells used by the kobold dungeon-sorcerers, a feat never before achieved by any man or gnome!”
-The Saltmarsh Sentinel
“Gripping...Keegan remains a master, and any mage in his right mind should buy a copy just for the appendix.”
The Borderland Review
“A historical masterpiece that ought to be read by any wizard.”
-The Greyhawk Gazetteer
Appendix IV: Spells of the Kobold Wars
The most renowned of the Kobold war mages were the dungeon-sorcerers, spellcasters armed with a formidable repertoire of spells perfect for use in the narrow tunnels and dungeons the war was fought in. By interviewing the few surviving dungeon-mages (assisted by a few charm spells), I have been able to compile the following list of spells used in the wars:
Animated Sentinel
Abjuration and Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Melee weapon touched
Duration: 1 day/level or until discharged.
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Keegan’s Note: “When the kobolds found themselves short on soldiers, they devised this spell to make up for it. It was not uncommon to see entire tunnels filled with weapons with the animated sentinel spell cast on them–which quickly led the gnomes to invest in summoning spells.”
The animated sentinel spell turns a single melee weapon into a trap. Whenever any creature other than you comes within 10 ft. of the affected weapon, the weapon is suddenly animated, flies up to the intruder, and makes a single attack against it, after which it falls at that creature’s feet. The weapon uses your caster level as its base attack bonus, and your primary casting score in place of a Strength score. When you cast this spell, you may choose a password for the animated sentinel. Any creature that says the password may come in range of the weapon without triggering it.
Magic traps such as animated sentinel are hard to detect. A character with the trapfinding ability can use the Search skill, DC 26, to find an animated sentinel.
Instant Pitfall
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One 5 ft. square
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: No
Keegan’s Note: “Many a gnome found himself dropped down an instant pitfall during the Kobold Wars. Dungeon-sorcerers would hold it in reserve until the gnomes charged, at which point they would cast it right under the gnomes’ feet, halting them and trapping them.”
The instant pitfall spell disintegrates a section of the floor or ground beneath your feet, creating a pitfall within one 5 ft. square. Floors made up of most substances–wood, stone, dirt, even iron–can be disintegrated, though floors made up of tougher or rarer substances, such as adamantine, cannot be affected.
The pitfall is up to 10 ft./level deep, max 50 ft.; however, it is never so deep as to go straight through the floor without having a bottom. Any Medium or smaller creature standing in the square when you cast the spell may attempt a Reflex save to move into any adjacent square. If he fails the save, he instead falls into the pitfall, taking falling damage as normal. Any Medium or smaller creature that moves into the square must also save or fall.
A fallen creature can climb out with a DC 15 Climb check. Large and larger creatures are not affected by the pitfall.
Phantom Caltrops
Illusion (Figment)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 2
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: One 10 ft. square/level
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will disbelief, then Will negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes
Keegan’s Note: “One of the first spells every dungeon-sorcerer learned was phantom caltrops, which summoned up a figment of caltrops that could cause great pain to any gnome that walked through them–wholly in the poor fool’s head of course, but just as real to him. The kobolds were fond of using this spell to cut off retreats, or to cast it between them and a foe to prevent a charge.”
The phantom caltrops spell creates an illusion of caltrops, seeming to be wholly real. Any creature that enters an area filled with the caltrops may make a Will save to disbelieve it. If it fails, then it takes 1d4 damage for each affected square it moves through, and has its speed reduced by half for 24 hours, or until it receives magical healing. One minute after the creature has been damaged, it may make another Will save to negate the slowing effect and undo the damage, as its mind realizes their illusory nature.
Magic traps such as phantom caltrops are hard to detect. A character with the trapfinding ability can use the Search skill, DC 27, to find phantom caltrops. Phantom caltrops cannot be disabled with a Disable Device check.
Material Component
A single caltrop.
Reaving Blade
Conjuration (Creation)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Effect: Levitating blade
Area: 15 ft. line
Duration: 1 round/2 levels
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Keegan’s Note: “A particularly nasty spell: many a gnomish regiment was mowed down by a single reaving blade while fighting in tunnels. It eventually became customary to send a single heavily-armored gnome at the front of any line, in the hopes he would stop such spells.”
The reaving blade spell covers a blade that levitates three feet off the ground, which immediately flies straight away in a 15 ft. line. Any creature whose space it passes through is attacked by it: it uses your caster level for its BAB, your primary casting score in place of a Strength score, and deals 1d8 damage/2 levels, max 5d8. At the end of the round, it remains in the square it stopped. In the next round, it returns to where it started, again attacking any creatures in its way, and comes to a stop, and so forth. If it misses an attack against a creature, then it is knocked out of the air, and the spell ends.
Shattering Sphere
Evocation [Sonic]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 60 ft.
Area: 30 ft.-radius burst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude half
Spell Resistance: Yes
Keegan’s Note: “Originally used in mining, the shattering sphere spell was quickly adapted for warfare. The gnomes tendency to file down tunnels single file made them particularly vulnerable to it, and kobolds today still play a popular children’s game involving knocking down tin gnome figurines lined up in a row with a large glass marble.”
This spell creates a sphere of sonic energy, which is lobbed off at a foe. You aim the spell not at a creature, but at a single square. You must make a ranged touch attack against AC 20 to hit the square you selected. If you fail the attack roll, the spell still works, but the sphere instead hits a randomly chosen square adjacent to the square you targeted. When the sphere impacts, it deals 1d8 sonic damage/level to all creatures in the square it hit, 1d6 sonic damage/level to all creatures in squares adjacent to the square it hit, and 1d4 sonic damage/level to all other creatures in the area of the spell. It can deal a maximum of 10 damage dice of damage, regardless of the size of the damage dice.
Symbol of Summoning
Conjuration (Summoning)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 4
Saving Throw: None
Keegan’s Note: “Kobold dungeon-sorcerers made frequent use of all the symbol spells, many of which are known to magedom in general. However, they also had a few such spells they’d worked up themselves, like the symbol of summoning, which could easily turn the tide of battle.”
This spell functions like symbol of death, except that instead of affecting the creature that triggers it, it instead summons a creature when triggered, as the summon monster III spell. You choose which creature or creatures is to be summoned when you cast this spell.
Magic traps such as a symbol of summoning are hard to detect. A character with the trapfinding ability can use the Search skill, DC 29, to find a symbol of summoning.
Trapsmith’s Hand
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: 1 trap
Duration: Instantaneous or 1 minute (see text)
Keegan’s Note: “A simple variation of the basic mage hand spell, the trapsmith’s hand nevertheless proved to be devastating when used cunningly, allowing the kobolds to spring all matter of traps on the gnomes.”
A highly specialized telekinesis spell, the trapsmith’s hand has two uses. It can be used to trigger a trap with a location, proximity, or touch trigger. If the trap triggered requires a target, then you may choose any creature within its range as the target. However, it cannot trigger traps with location triggers that lack a mechanical element, such as pit traps or razor-wires, even if they otherwise satisfy the requirements. Alternatively, the spell can be used to reset any trap with a manual reset, though it takes a minute to do so. This spell is too specialized to be used to perform any other kind of telekinetic functions.
Tripwire
Conjuration and Evocation (Creation) [Force]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./level)
Effect: Tripwire of force, 5 ft. long/3 caster levels
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Reflex negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: No
Keegan’s Note: “A simple but frustrating spell, tripwires were a favorite of dungeon-sorcerers when fighting in larger caverns and caves. Records show as many as twenty tripwires being used at the same time in the Battle of the Chasm, turning the battlefield into a spiderweb of traps.”
The tripwire spell creates a thin strand of almost invisible force. The tripwire must be anchored to a solid, stationary surface, primarily a wall, on each end. In addition, the tripwire must be perfectly straight: it cannot be situated diagonally. Any creature that moves through a square which the tripwire runs through must make a Reflex save or fall prone.
Magic traps such as a tripwire are hard to detect. A character with the trapfinding ability can use the Search skill, DC 28, to find a tripwire. A tripwire cannot be disabled with a Disable Device check.
Critical Acclaim:
“Professer Keegan has done it again! His history is perhaps the most accurate ever of the great Gnome-Kobold conflicts, and his tactical analysis of the use of magic is superb. Most notable, perhaps, are his appendices, were he has somehow managed to compile the ancient spells used by the kobold dungeon-sorcerers, a feat never before achieved by any man or gnome!”
-The Saltmarsh Sentinel
“Gripping...Keegan remains a master, and any mage in his right mind should buy a copy just for the appendix.”
The Borderland Review
“A historical masterpiece that ought to be read by any wizard.”
-The Greyhawk Gazetteer
Appendix IV: Spells of the Kobold Wars
The most renowned of the Kobold war mages were the dungeon-sorcerers, spellcasters armed with a formidable repertoire of spells perfect for use in the narrow tunnels and dungeons the war was fought in. By interviewing the few surviving dungeon-mages (assisted by a few charm spells), I have been able to compile the following list of spells used in the wars:
Animated Sentinel
Abjuration and Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Melee weapon touched
Duration: 1 day/level or until discharged.
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Keegan’s Note: “When the kobolds found themselves short on soldiers, they devised this spell to make up for it. It was not uncommon to see entire tunnels filled with weapons with the animated sentinel spell cast on them–which quickly led the gnomes to invest in summoning spells.”
The animated sentinel spell turns a single melee weapon into a trap. Whenever any creature other than you comes within 10 ft. of the affected weapon, the weapon is suddenly animated, flies up to the intruder, and makes a single attack against it, after which it falls at that creature’s feet. The weapon uses your caster level as its base attack bonus, and your primary casting score in place of a Strength score. When you cast this spell, you may choose a password for the animated sentinel. Any creature that says the password may come in range of the weapon without triggering it.
Magic traps such as animated sentinel are hard to detect. A character with the trapfinding ability can use the Search skill, DC 26, to find an animated sentinel.
Instant Pitfall
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One 5 ft. square
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: No
Keegan’s Note: “Many a gnome found himself dropped down an instant pitfall during the Kobold Wars. Dungeon-sorcerers would hold it in reserve until the gnomes charged, at which point they would cast it right under the gnomes’ feet, halting them and trapping them.”
The instant pitfall spell disintegrates a section of the floor or ground beneath your feet, creating a pitfall within one 5 ft. square. Floors made up of most substances–wood, stone, dirt, even iron–can be disintegrated, though floors made up of tougher or rarer substances, such as adamantine, cannot be affected.
The pitfall is up to 10 ft./level deep, max 50 ft.; however, it is never so deep as to go straight through the floor without having a bottom. Any Medium or smaller creature standing in the square when you cast the spell may attempt a Reflex save to move into any adjacent square. If he fails the save, he instead falls into the pitfall, taking falling damage as normal. Any Medium or smaller creature that moves into the square must also save or fall.
A fallen creature can climb out with a DC 15 Climb check. Large and larger creatures are not affected by the pitfall.
Phantom Caltrops
Illusion (Figment)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 2
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: One 10 ft. square/level
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will disbelief, then Will negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes
Keegan’s Note: “One of the first spells every dungeon-sorcerer learned was phantom caltrops, which summoned up a figment of caltrops that could cause great pain to any gnome that walked through them–wholly in the poor fool’s head of course, but just as real to him. The kobolds were fond of using this spell to cut off retreats, or to cast it between them and a foe to prevent a charge.”
The phantom caltrops spell creates an illusion of caltrops, seeming to be wholly real. Any creature that enters an area filled with the caltrops may make a Will save to disbelieve it. If it fails, then it takes 1d4 damage for each affected square it moves through, and has its speed reduced by half for 24 hours, or until it receives magical healing. One minute after the creature has been damaged, it may make another Will save to negate the slowing effect and undo the damage, as its mind realizes their illusory nature.
Magic traps such as phantom caltrops are hard to detect. A character with the trapfinding ability can use the Search skill, DC 27, to find phantom caltrops. Phantom caltrops cannot be disabled with a Disable Device check.
Material Component
A single caltrop.
Reaving Blade
Conjuration (Creation)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Effect: Levitating blade
Area: 15 ft. line
Duration: 1 round/2 levels
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Keegan’s Note: “A particularly nasty spell: many a gnomish regiment was mowed down by a single reaving blade while fighting in tunnels. It eventually became customary to send a single heavily-armored gnome at the front of any line, in the hopes he would stop such spells.”
The reaving blade spell covers a blade that levitates three feet off the ground, which immediately flies straight away in a 15 ft. line. Any creature whose space it passes through is attacked by it: it uses your caster level for its BAB, your primary casting score in place of a Strength score, and deals 1d8 damage/2 levels, max 5d8. At the end of the round, it remains in the square it stopped. In the next round, it returns to where it started, again attacking any creatures in its way, and comes to a stop, and so forth. If it misses an attack against a creature, then it is knocked out of the air, and the spell ends.
Shattering Sphere
Evocation [Sonic]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 60 ft.
Area: 30 ft.-radius burst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude half
Spell Resistance: Yes
Keegan’s Note: “Originally used in mining, the shattering sphere spell was quickly adapted for warfare. The gnomes tendency to file down tunnels single file made them particularly vulnerable to it, and kobolds today still play a popular children’s game involving knocking down tin gnome figurines lined up in a row with a large glass marble.”
This spell creates a sphere of sonic energy, which is lobbed off at a foe. You aim the spell not at a creature, but at a single square. You must make a ranged touch attack against AC 20 to hit the square you selected. If you fail the attack roll, the spell still works, but the sphere instead hits a randomly chosen square adjacent to the square you targeted. When the sphere impacts, it deals 1d8 sonic damage/level to all creatures in the square it hit, 1d6 sonic damage/level to all creatures in squares adjacent to the square it hit, and 1d4 sonic damage/level to all other creatures in the area of the spell. It can deal a maximum of 10 damage dice of damage, regardless of the size of the damage dice.
Symbol of Summoning
Conjuration (Summoning)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 4
Saving Throw: None
Keegan’s Note: “Kobold dungeon-sorcerers made frequent use of all the symbol spells, many of which are known to magedom in general. However, they also had a few such spells they’d worked up themselves, like the symbol of summoning, which could easily turn the tide of battle.”
This spell functions like symbol of death, except that instead of affecting the creature that triggers it, it instead summons a creature when triggered, as the summon monster III spell. You choose which creature or creatures is to be summoned when you cast this spell.
Magic traps such as a symbol of summoning are hard to detect. A character with the trapfinding ability can use the Search skill, DC 29, to find a symbol of summoning.
Trapsmith’s Hand
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: 1 trap
Duration: Instantaneous or 1 minute (see text)
Keegan’s Note: “A simple variation of the basic mage hand spell, the trapsmith’s hand nevertheless proved to be devastating when used cunningly, allowing the kobolds to spring all matter of traps on the gnomes.”
A highly specialized telekinesis spell, the trapsmith’s hand has two uses. It can be used to trigger a trap with a location, proximity, or touch trigger. If the trap triggered requires a target, then you may choose any creature within its range as the target. However, it cannot trigger traps with location triggers that lack a mechanical element, such as pit traps or razor-wires, even if they otherwise satisfy the requirements. Alternatively, the spell can be used to reset any trap with a manual reset, though it takes a minute to do so. This spell is too specialized to be used to perform any other kind of telekinetic functions.
Tripwire
Conjuration and Evocation (Creation) [Force]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./level)
Effect: Tripwire of force, 5 ft. long/3 caster levels
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Reflex negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: No
Keegan’s Note: “A simple but frustrating spell, tripwires were a favorite of dungeon-sorcerers when fighting in larger caverns and caves. Records show as many as twenty tripwires being used at the same time in the Battle of the Chasm, turning the battlefield into a spiderweb of traps.”
The tripwire spell creates a thin strand of almost invisible force. The tripwire must be anchored to a solid, stationary surface, primarily a wall, on each end. In addition, the tripwire must be perfectly straight: it cannot be situated diagonally. Any creature that moves through a square which the tripwire runs through must make a Reflex save or fall prone.
Magic traps such as a tripwire are hard to detect. A character with the trapfinding ability can use the Search skill, DC 28, to find a tripwire. A tripwire cannot be disabled with a Disable Device check.