Moth Tower - 10 Spells

(All art, names, and ideas were taken from listening to this album.)

[1] Red Solar Veils
This spell can only be cast in outer space, or if you're flying around on a Spelljammer or what have you. This spell creates forth "solar wind" of a red hue, the sparkling colors like tiny gemstone fragments across the black void of nothingness.

When this spell is created, one can use it to shroud a vessel, ship, small moon, or flying cosmic fortress behind the winds, making it harder to see and granting +2 AC against ranged ship-to-ship attacks, OR the solar wind can be angled in a certain direction. This pushes ships with a solar sail at about the rate of a standard tailwind, but is slower then a properly fueled ship equipped with a warp drive or fantasy space-engine.

[2] Hollow Dream, Empty Ship
The spell name is a metaphor. What it does is not a metaphor, but to many cultures who have never seen the spell in action, it is also considered a metaphor.

Each person's mind is like a landscape. Within each person's mental maze are three little men, who are the spirits of their creativity, and the ones who craft the dreams they experience each night. With this spell, you can force a restrained or sleeping captive to lose one, two, or three of their little men by shaking their head and dripping them out of their ear, pulling them out through their nose with a hook, etc.

The three little men are as follows;
Passion, who creates the landscapes, emotions, and music in dreams. His tool is the paintbrush. Without Passion, ones creativity cannot inspire any emotion or action.

Vindication, who draws things from the real world and includes them in dreams. His tool is the pliers. Without Vindication, ones creativity has no voice or personality.

Appraisal, who defies logic in dreams and makes them unknown and unique each night. His tool is the protractor. Without Appraisal, ones creativity becomes amateur and one has no sense of quality or rigor to how it should be created or presented.

The little men outside the head are insanely clever, motivated, and creative- but each only for their virtue of what they want or like. The little men respect whoever's head they came from, but will only go back in by force (pushed into ear canal) or persuaded if the head they come from is promised to take hallucinogenic drugs (they like to share a trip for inspiration). If left alone or to escape, they will start and abandon tons of individual art projects; lacking the wholeness to complete anything.

These little men have a use outside of their owners body. Beyond being useful as art critics and creators (only for their individual field however), each one has a magic tool that can be used to perform magical actions similar to cantrips in relation to the tool. Appraisal can flatten piles of sand or leaves out into a clean plane. Vindication can pluck tiny grains of sand from a bag of rice with his pliers, etc. Consider each little man as a 1 Hit-Point pest creature with minor magic abilities.

For each little man removed from the person's head, they lose that aspect of their dreams and creativity. With all three gone, they lack the ability to be creative, cannot make art (or craft weapons / magic items) or music, and can no longer dream. If all three men are lost, treat Charisma modifier as +0 regardless of what it was before, positive or negative. If a little man dies outside of its owners head, they don't grow back.

[3] Gather Thy Storms, Sweep The Realm
This spell is related to political power and requires a certain amount of Charisma to cast. The caster must have a Charisma modifier of +1 or someone who speaks for them with a Charisma of +2 or greater in order for this spell to work.

This spell bottles up and prepares a great force in the populace of a place or culture. It requires time to set up and has no effect on highly homogeneous and happy cultures, who have no need or desire for these poisonous outside ideas.

Every season spent protesting, demonstrating, informing, or running secret meetings and discussions on a great subject or towards a specific group in the society grows the power of this spell. This power is like a chaotic ball of vipers, which becomes more dangerous the longer they are knotted together. Every season spent empowering this spell act as a +10% to its spell power.

Finally, this spell is released all at once by a single action done by the spell caster in a public place, witnessed by those not "in the know" about the spell. Traditionally, this is done with a thrown stone, but this can be anything from giving a single copper piece to a beggar or a single insult hurled at an important official. At the same moment, the caster wills the spell to activate, and rolls a 1d20.

The resultant roll is the percent of people in society who will spring into action over the result of this spell; not necessarily following what the message is, but reacting in a way that is reasonable and logical for that person. You could also think of it as the percentage of chaos or disruption that would break out over the society at the same moment. For instance, the caster using this spell to build up unrest against something evil or wicked in the society will create a massive wave of sympathizers and rebels against the people in power, where as a caster using this spell to foster hatred against a single noble family will invoke this percentage of the population to rise up against them in angry mobs and so on.

In a highly unstable society, increase the die roll to a 2d20 instead. In a more peaceful society, roll a 1d10. For every point of percentage that goes over 100%, that many people in neighboring provinces, lands, cultures, or nearby species will be effected by and pick sides in this specific societal movement- the caster can't control what side they take- but they will produce more chaos.

[4] Sharpen Thy Knife, Curse The Sky
To cast this spell, one requires a weapon. First, the weapon must be ritually charged by its user. The user must carry and exclusively use this weapon in combat- no other weapons may be used. Poisons or sword-oils may be used with the weapon, as long as the weapon is still the primary method of dispatching foes. Every season that this is their sole weapon and carried around with them; they get +1 to the following rolls with this spell.

When this spell is cast, the user directs the flow of the spell with their weapon. The spell can be cast anywhere not in view of the outdoors or the sky itself. The weapon waves through the air and reveals destinies of those the caster mentally thinks of. For each character conjured forth in this way, roll a d20 + Int modifier + above modifier. If you roll over their HD, they are heraby affected by the spell. If the roll fails, they fade from the vision and are not affected by the spell.

Once the target(s) of the spell are set, the weapon is shattered apart. Roll 1d6  + the modifier above. This many cataclysms will be set upon the individuals cursed by this spell. These are very significant, equivalent to the death of their closest allies, a serious maiming, or losing their entire livelihood or more.

[5] Embers of Light
This spell can be cast in ruins of once great civilizations, or at least a vacant collapsing mud hut. The more happy or good memories that were in that place, the more powerful the spell. Consider how closely the previous occupants embodied the alignment of Law.

When the spell is cast, the area is illuminated by tiny flicking images of previous lives and moments of light and life. If enough goodness is present, the spell also acts as Protection from Evil. The light level produced by this spell is dependent on the previous occupants. Happy families or temples to holy gods of the past will be very bright, where as darker times or criminal hideaways will produce very little light at all, leaving the place quite dim.

The light in this area is localized to the room or dwelling. During the effects of this spell, the caster may concentrate the "light" into a single white stone, which now glows dimly with the light present, between the brightness of a firebug or a full torch. This stone also contains all the elements of good in it, making it act as a holy symbol. It dims at a rate of 1 light level per hour, crumbling to dust when expended.

[6] Black Sphere Above Us
When cast, the user may nullify any single source of light they are aware of or experiencing. This nullification lasts for three combat rounds.

[7] Molecule of Voids
This spell draws forth a single mote of essence from an endless, lifeless void in another distant realm. The void-mote is about the size of a seed, and floats in the air freely, pinned in place where it was created. The caster may use a saving throw vs spells to move the seed around in the air, but if they fail this roll the seed becomes stuck in place and starts to grow larger, increasing in size every round until it reaches about a room's size, and then disappears- this takes about an exploration turn. Otherwise, this spell lasts a maximum of three exploration turns.

The molecule draws upon all life, light, heat, and energy from your world to draw it into and disperse it into an endless, lifeless void. Any living thing that touches the void directly must save vs death or be pulled inside, dying. If the void is within a few feet or being adjacent, the molecule saps the heat from the target, dealing 1d6 cold damage per round and causing freezing slowness or hypothermia if exposed long enough. The molecule also draws in inanimate matter, but only that which directly touches it- it can be used to carve a tiny hole through a stone wall by making it move through the wall, for example, but it does not draw in a great mass of the earth or objects into itself as it does for living things or fires. Energetic crystals can also be fully drawn into the void molecule.

In exchange for filling the molecule with life and/or energy, the void releases several new "molecules" at the end of the spell. Keep track of everything drawn into this spell; the number of HD, entities, or energies worth of spell slots/+1 bonuses to rolls worth of magical enchantment crystals or whatever are converted to a percent- +1% per HD and +1% per unit of energy or "thing" that should count as a unit. At the end of the spell, roll percentile. This percentile value is kept between castings of the spell.

If the percentile roll fails, then the void is displeased with the caster. The next time the spell is cast, there is a 1 in 6 chance it does not function, which increases by +1 in 6 each time the percentile roll fails. If the spell fails to function from this, the void molecule is sealed and that spell caster can never cast this spell again.

If the percentile roll is under the percent, then the void is pleased with and rewards the spell caster with a random boom. Roll a d4 on the table below. If the percentile value is at 75% or better, add +1 to the roll on this table.

1. The spell returns the spell slot / mana points it cost to cast back to its user.
2. The void crystallizes into a black ball. This is ball made of stabilized negative space. This black ball can be used as a casting focus or material component of Disintegrate or similar spells. When used, it increases the caster's level by +1 for this cast and then disappears.
3. The void releases several powder of a random Magical Substance.
4. (Use this result on a roll of 4 or higher) The void is pleased with you. From now on, the void-molecule is increased in size to a grape, deals 1d8 damage per round if adjacent, and lasts an extra exploration turn. Reduce whatever percentage you have for this spell down to half. Every time you get this result, the spell will get more powerful and the void more hungry.

[8] Unsullied by Time
This spell allows a magic user to maintain their youth. When this spell is cast, the magic user stops aging. Their physical appearance, as well as physical body and form, cannot change outside of damage. This means no amount of exercise can make them stronger, any diseases or mutations they are suffering from cannot be removed, but they cannot get new ones either and so on.

If the magic user is struck with an aging effect, such as the touch of a high level undead or even a reverse-aging effect by powerful healing magic, the spell will be broken and they will only age up or down 50% of what the original spell would have down, from the stasis effect. Once the spell is broken it has to be cast fresh again, and this spell is quite complex and long-standing to cast. It is a useful spell for a magician with the ability to cast it, but other forms of immortality should be sought by the one who wishes to be unkillable as well as simply ageless.

[9] Trembling at Dawn
This spell must be cast at dusk. When the magic words are enchanted, the nearby darkness grows thicker and fuller then it would have as night falls. Things seem to get "worse", with enemies and obstacles becoming more powerful, or the waves besieging a small town getting stronger and more powerful. If anyone is suffering from a curse is serious injury that is in general "on your side", it will get progressively worse as the night goes on.

Once this night is over, if you manage to survive it, all enemies are routed (as though under the effects of supernatural fear or Turn Undead), over-time damage and effects are ended, and things generally improve and get better then would have without this spell; but a very difficult period between the spell being cast and the blessed dawn is the true test.

[10] Moth Tower
This place transports you to the Moth Tower- an ancient structure lost in time and space. The tower is surrounded by a harsh wasteland with ruins on its southern side, with a thin woodline to the north leading up to a forested mountain farther way. It is always in the middle of dusk when you arrive, and then quickly turns to night and stays that way until you leave this place; for this and many other reasons, this realm has never been fully explored. The tower itself is a gray, foreboding structure that seems to stretch up forever into the sky above.

The Moth Tower's innards are totally covered in layers of dust, fallen like snow. Every level of the tower is a circular room with a staircase upwards to the next floor on the opposite side. The rooms are filled with the brim with old things; dusty, rusted, moth-eaten. The ceilings and rafters of each room are filled with dull gray moths, which give this place its name. Every level of the tower you climb, the moths become more active and aggressive. If a moth lands on you, you save or age up one year, with your equipment, food, and magical enchantments or diseases advancing as though they were also brought up by a year. Every floor past the first, assume at least 1d4 moths may try to land on a person each floor without some kind of protection. Additionally, as the floors go higher, the objects in the room become more and more old and forgotten, eventually leading to treasure troves of things no person remembers and who are not written down in any manuscript or page of any book- these things are free for the taking, but so very lost to time.