12 No-Level Spells

The Horrible Visage [6]

 
12 No-Level New Spells

For OSR Adventures

[1] Great Billowing Breath of the North

This spell allows the magicians to suck in a great huge lungful of air. If breath is held they can hold it for 1d6+1 exploration turns, letting them swim underwater or travel through poisonous vapors without having to breath in.

If breath is expelled instead, can create huge clouds of dust if angled at the floor, blow out fires, and if used in combat and push back enemies. Each round inhaled in combat when spell is cast is each round you can blow; can blow in a cone that pushes enemies back 1d6x5 feet per round.

[2] Spare God's Rod, Spoil Man

This spell reduces or eliminates pain in the body. It appears as a glittery white dust which falls over the targets and then disappears. The number of targets and duration can be dived up and the potency reduced accordingly.

If cast on a group of wounded soldiers or sick and poor people, can keep them away from pain for 1d6 hours. Wizards who do this can earn 2d6 copper pieces per man they spare this way.

If cast on a single person in combat, makes them totally immune to pain for the rest of the combat encounter. They gain +1d6 temporary HP and gain the following special move; allow enemy target to hit you (no attack roll, just damage against you) and in return get +2 to hit against them. You fall on their sword, literally, to get closer.

Many elderly magicians cast this on themselves in the morning and stretch out its use for all day, making them feel youthful and free of the aches and pains of old age. Ignore aging penalties. You'll be spry right until you suddenly fall over dead.

[3] Granting the Farmer his Fortune

This spell transforms everyday farm equipment, goods, and animals into things of great wealth and pageantry. Gourds can grow to become carriages, dogs become loyal guards, cats become handmaidens and mice become servants. Other animals go 'up' a step; the donkey becomes a regal horse, a chicken becomes a hawk, goats become oxen, pigs become fat merchants trying to sell their wares. Ponds and pig troughs grow into fountains and villas. Weeds become hedgerows and straw becomes great piles of silk and pillows. Farmer's tools and clothing becomes arms and armors befitting a noble house, a bag that holds grains becomes a glorious heraldic battle standard.

Beyond being an incredible illusion, this spell allows for 1d6 hours of ruling your own little lordly estate, and it would be likely to fool anyone into believing you truly are a lord or rule land yourself. By locking yourself in the one room hovel that has now become a great and mighty keep you can keep safe from enemy assault, at least until the spell wears off.

[4] Pearls of Samsara

While holding in your hands nothing but stones, finger bones, bits of chalk, or small marbles and speaking this incantation; this spell gives the illusion of these items being pearls or gems of uncountable wealth. When thrown on the ground anyone not allied with the caster will have to make a save modified by Wisdom to avoid a mad scrabble to pick up the worthless items.

Especially chaotic and evil creatures like goblins will possibly attack each other to get at the treasure. If only one creature remains that grabs them all, or after one exploration turn has passed, the affected will look down and realize that their greed has given them nothing; they see the items as they are.

[5] The Conquering Hum

The final words of this incantation continue onwards for an endless amount of time humming. The magic user must still breath will humming, but can continue this noise for as long as he wishes. The longer the hum is held, the more damage it causes to his throat and lungs however.

This hum drowns out all other noise and seems to come from everywhere at once, making it impossible once you hear it to know which direction it is coming from. The screams of a dying man or the clash of steel sound like little more then raindrops. Anyone within range of the humming automatically succeeds all move silently checks. Unless an opponent has seen you in combat, you can also perform sneak attacks against them, allowing a crafty Rouge to sneak up behind and backstab multiple foes.

If the hum is held for 3 combat rounds, there are no ill effects. If held for a longer amount of time on combat, -2 to charisma from harsh and sore voice for the rest of the day. If held for up to 3 exploration turns, caster loses voice for 1d6 turns (cannot cast spells) and -2 to charisma for the rest of the day. If held for any longer than 3 turns, caster loses voice for 1d6 days and -2 charisma checks for 1d6 days after voice returns.

[6] The Horrible Visage

This spell allows the caster to first cover their face with a mask, soot, clay, pond scum, or some other fitting substance and when it is torn away reveals a hideous gargoyle face. If the reveal occurs while looking at a target, that target must make a morale check if their HD is equal or less to the caster's level due to the frightful face.

While the caster's face is a gargoyle they automatically fail all reaction checks, getting an Unfriendly or Hostile result. However all spells you cast against those who can see your face get -2 to their saves, and you can bite with fangs or gore with horns, dealing 1d6 damage when unarmed. You can also give up your combat round to give the evil eye to someone, stunning them in place for one round if HD equal to your level or less.

This spell lasts for 1d6 hours, or until you wash your face, the ugliness washing off as gray sludge into the water. Smart enemies may throw water on your face early to get rid of the horrible visage.

[7] Shaft of Power

This spell creates a single shaft of glowing light on top of the caster. By concentrating, the caster can make the shaft move, such as to follow and 'spotlight' someone else, but cannot move and make the shaft follow them as well. The shaft of light is bright enough to illuminate things underneath it, and always have a color that matches the spellcaster's robes.

The character or creature within the shaft of light grants +2 levels or HD while within it, granting all additional HP as temporary health, they save and attack and deal damage as though higher. Damage dice are also boosted up by 1 die, and they gain +2 saves vs enemy magic. This applies to any creature standing within the shaft, even foes. The caster may take a single combat round to cancel the shaft.

The shaft of light lasts for an entire combat or about two minutes or less outside of combat- you can also use it for non-combat purposes; shine the shaft on a Rogue while he picks locks for example.

[8] The Witch's Brew

This spell requires a large cauldron and water within brought to a boil. Theoretically you could cast this in a smaller pot of any size, but for ease of putting in the ingredients a bigger pot is better. Once cast this spell magically enchants the brew to have special absorptive properties, and the body parts of both monsters and men can be thrown in to empower it.

If a small amount of siphoned off and left to cool, it will become a special essence potion that, if drunk, grants a weaker version of whatever creature's power was used to imbue it. For example, if 3 troll hearts were boiled in the pot and cooled into a potion, then this potion would restore 3 hit points. If 8 dragon whelp eggs were cracked and cooked in the pot, then the potion would allow the drinker to exhale a cone of fire that deals 8 damage split among every enemy it hits. If human parts are added, you can for example make a potion that lets you speak the native tongue of that human for 1 hour.

The brew can be siphoned off multiple times, one for each type of monster part or ability put into the pot. If the pot is spilled over before the potions are made, then a chimeric monstrosity loosely under the control of the caster comes out, possessing and HD equal to the average monster HD parts that were put into the pot, plus a mixture of their abilities. If any of the parts are human, it can use tools.

[9] The Burning Ruby

This spell conjures forth a small hand-held ruby that emits a constant pure white light. It's light is only about as bright as a regular torch, but anyone who looks at the ruby, even if they barely can in peripheral vision, is blinded in a total red haze. Those blinded are unable to see for 1d4-Wisdom Modifier rounds.

The caster is not immune to this effect, but can wear it on a necklace or as a diadem just above the eyes, making them unable to be beheld by anyone or hit with ranged weapons or attacks without special methods to circumvent the magic. The ruby's light can easily be used by a torch, but its effects become very weak after 3 exploration turns, the ruby's light only being as bright as a candle and blinding for one round. After two hours or 12 turns the ruby crumbles to ash.

[10] Chastising Appendages

This spell conjures 1d8+2 dull yellow tentacles, with bright blue skin around each sucker. The tentacles appear wherever makes the most sense; out of sewer grates, cracks in the wall, busting up from the earth itself, appearing from inside a backpack, or just from a shadowy corner. The tentacles all only have 1 HD, and though they are somewhat hard to hit (14 AC) they are weak. Anyone using an axe can kill a tentacle on a direct hit, no damage roll needed.

The tentacles do not deal damage, instead they make attack rolls vs AC to grab the target. Each tentacle that grabs can hold up to one limb in place, making it very hard to break free. Once the tentacles are summoned, they last one exploration turn at most, before slinking back into their holes.

Once a person is immobilized, the caster may command one of the tentacles to use its bright blue suckers on the target's skin, giving them a painful tattoo. This tattoo is permanent, but can be removed through medical or magical means. Wizard apprentices who steal from their masters are often branded with the symbol for 'thief' so other Wizards will not take them into their tutelage.

[11] Descend the Stairscase

If this spell is used while in the air, it allows the caster and all nearby to float down safely from a long fall. The incantation can be spoken quickly enough to allow for rescue from a fall.

If the caster and up to 12 others hold hands in a circle, this spell can instead be used to sink through the floor down one lower 'level' in whatever structure or place you are in. The spell's magic ensures you are not crushed by placing you inside a wall, but you may be separated from the others if the space is too small or find yourself on top of sleeping monsters. This spell can only be used to go down, not up.

[12] Black Evocation

This spell conjures forth a bolt of what looks like ink at the target. When it hits, the target feels their life force being corrupted or drained away, and it deals 1d8 damage to their health and 1d4 damage to a random stat. If a save vs magic is made, the damage is half for both.

Anyone struck by this spell has strangely glowing bones afterwards, and their skeleton is vaguely visible through their skin until the damage to both health and their stat is healed. If this spell kills something, their flesh and skin are shed and cast off as their skeleton is all that remains, painted black. Black skeletons raised as undead are known to be especially cruel and clever. This spell has no effect vs the undead and the unliving.