Magical Substance Generator

This generator allows you to create all kinds of magical substances, strange materials, or unusual matter for your players to interact with. This table assumes a slightly more “energetic” type of magic with various types of energies, effects, and treats these substances as exotic objects as opposed to more mystical or spiritual types of magic.

In order to actually use the substance, or experiment with it, the substance must be transferred via a vector to the subject. Vector of use is obvious to the form. Living things ingest, machines have the substance used as fuel or smeared on their gears as lubricant, substance exposed to inanimate matter, elemental water is mixed in with the substance in a broth, any substance made of light needs to just be directly fired at the object and so on. Being “exposed” to a material could be anything from ingesting it, to having it touch your skin, to simply being present or experiencing it.

The substances created here can be of any given rarity or power level. Use the generator to create these types of substances when you need them, or roll the optional “Origin” table at the end to see where it may have come from, or how players can produce this substance.

How to use this Table

Roll on the appearance tables to determine what the substance looks like and roll on the stability table to see how stable or unstable the substance is. Then, roll on the general effects table. Roll for one primary effect and one to three secondary effects depending on the power level or complexity of the substance. To generate random secondary effects- roll (1d4-1) to determine the number of random secondary effects. Secondary effects stack.

The idea is that the General effects are what you'd actually use the item for, or its primary use, where as the secondary effects are side effects or phenomena given off around the substance.

Finally, the specific effects tables mean the substance only has a specific effect on a specific type of material or thing. In this case, Roll once on the specific subject table to see what material is effected by the spell, then roll on the specific effects table. For substances with specific effects, roll (1d4-3) for number of secondary effects, defaulting negative results as zero.

Appearance Tables

Form- 1d10

[1] Solid Mineral
[2] Fibrous Material
[3] Powder or Dust
[4] Gel or Slime
[5] Fluid
[6] Mist- heavier then air and sinks
[7] Gas- lighter then air and rises
[8] Plasma
[9] Energy that imbues an object; transfers on touch/exposure.
[10] Light

Glow & Color- If you feel like giving it a color; Roll a d20 on the Random Color tables. Earth colors, or black, just glow that color or could subtract light instead. Optionally, roll on the Shine table on the Mana Crystal Generator to generate more details.

General Effect Tables

Stability- Roll on the Mana Crystal Generator's stability & phenomena table to determine how stable this substance is and what sort of phenomena it gives off, if any. More stable substances require less safety equipment, but longer to expose to your subject. Ie; very stable powder would be mixed into a drink and take days to take effect, or need to be drank once per day as a long-term medication.

General Effects- 1d6

[1] Mostly inert. Must be used in combination with another substance, or researched further.
[2] Potent fuel source. Must have a vector to drain its energy for use in machines or for beings.
[3] Mutagenic. Exposure prompts a save or roll on a mutation table.
[4] Antimagical. Cancels out or weaken spells that strike it or things it is effecting.
[5] Transformative. When subject to a certain phenomena or spell, changes form and/or color and loses all secondary effects.
[6] Has a specific effect. Roll on the specific subjects table, then the specific effects table.

Secondary Effects- 1d8

[1] Gives off harmful radiation and heat. Deals 1d2 Fire damage per round to adjacent beings.
[2] Deathly Toxic. Save vs poison on exposure or die.
[3] Gravity is reversed for the substance, or suspends gravity/weight within it if it has volume.
[4] Has a mind of its own. Moves as well as it can towards living things, or its subject if it has one.
[5] “Shrinks” away over time when first exposed or created. Half life of three days.
[6] “Grows” by feeding off lesser energies. Can double in size every three days if not contained.
[7] The substance detects as a random alignment. Those exposed to it also detect as that same alignment for the duration of its other effects, or for 1d6 hours.
[8] Spell booster. Roll on the Common Spells table to select a spell. Casting this spell along with this substance boosts the power of the spell caster by one level / significantly more powerful.

Specific Effect Tables

Specific Subjects Table- 1d10

[1] Living Creatures.
[2] Dead or Undead
[3] Plants or Wood
[4] Textiles or Leathers/Skins
[5] Metals
[6] Fire
[7] Elemental Water (water in liquid form)
[8] Earth (soils & stones)
[9] A Specific Precious metal. (Roll 1d4- Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum.)
[10] The Mind- substance only effects intelligence beings. (All effects are mental. Mutations would grant a phantom limb instead of a real new arm, for example).

Results to Subject- 1d12
[1] Killed or destroyed.
[2] Degenerated, rusted, or otherwise greatly depreciated in power.

[3] Struck by force, as though hit with many invisible hammers. Subject takes 2d6 damage.
[4] Grows a hole/negative space in the center of its mass.
[5] Transformed into something similar. Humans to Elves, Fire to Magma, Silver to Glint, etc.
[6] Is coated by a layer of static air. Negates movement, can be pierced to destroy it.
[7] Subject is restored to working condition/full health.
[8] Subject cannot be seen as long as it is exposed to this substance.
[9] Subject enters state of permanent stasis. Can only be countered by another unusual substance.
[10] Subject is enhanced. Gives living things +1 HD, elements become elementals, etc.
[11] Gravity is permanently changed for the subject on exposure. Roll 1d6 to determine direction; Up, North, South, East, West, None/weightlessness.
[12] Subject jumps up or down the specific subject list one spot (at random) and fully transforms into that specific substance.

Misc Tables

Origin- 1d10
[1] Naturally Occurring
[2] Found in monster corpses
[3] Byproduct of major magical phenomena
[4] Cultivated as a hearth industry
[5] Collects from the ambiance of sacred sites
[6] Conjured by a magical spell
[7] Transmuted through alchemy
[8] Condensed from composting mass-graves of a specific intelligent race
[9] Bodily discharge from a rare, serious disease
[10] Not native to this dimension. Can only be found in esoteric realms.

Size or Amount of Substance- 1d6
[1] Thimble or light dusting. Pretty much only good for experiments or potion reagent.
[2] Handful - could make a sling bullet out of it, or use it as a paint for a larger object.
[3] Ingot, chunk, or sackfull. Could forge a dagger out of it, or five arrowheads.
[4] Small bucketfull. Enough to create a sword, power a large machine, etc.
[5] Backpack full. Enough to create a full suit of armor, fling in a catapult as a siege weapon, etc.
[6] Deposit. Central feature of a small room in a dungeon; big as a boulder or piece of furniture. May require multiple trips to harvest. The secondary effects will hit anyone in the room with it.

Common Spells Table- 1d10
[1] Lightning Bolt
[2] Invisibility
[3] Charm Person / Monster
[4] Magic Missile
[5] Flight
[6] Fireball
[7] Cure Wounds (any)
[8] Illusion (any)
[9] Raise Dead
[10] Turn Undead