Weird d10 Spell Generator

Roll 1d10 for each category. The level of the spell is either determined by the referee or roughly approximated by an average of all the rolled results on the tables - 2; the power and complexity of each element is roughly ascending- unless it's so useless you can just make it a cantrip.

Spellcasting Requirements / Component

[1] Nothing.

[2] Your feet must be on the ground; cannot cast while flying or on a horse.

[3] Can only be cast with an animal fetish. Paw of a rabbit, raven's feather, shark tooth, etc.

[4] Wearing anything red.

[5] Common spell consumed component; pinch of sand from an hourglass, a lemon, etc.

[6] Hot wax from a green candle. Candle must have been lit for at least 1 exploration turn.

[7] Requires a battlemage staff; topped with a silver cap on at least one end.

[8] Significant spell component consumed on casting. Can't easily buy this, or requires a quest.

[9] Can only be cast on a specific day of the year. If you pretend like it's that day hard enough, it can still work. Carry a false calendar and use incorrect greetings- repeat actions you did that day.

[10] Cannot be cast by mortals. You will need divine heritage, or find a way to be reborn into a greater body. You can ignore this restriction once with a high value diamond; consumed on casting.

Spell Action / Target

[1] The spell is always cast directly on the caster.

[2] Creates a puffball flower. Releases pollen in 1d4 rounds, or if used as an improvised weapon that deals at least 3 points of damage to burst open. Whatever breathes the pollen is affected.

[3] Requires drawing a line in the sand or with chalk. Whatever walks over that line is the target.

[4] Fires a glowing beam from the hand/spell focus. Beam can be reflected by mirrors.

[5] Seeking magical projectile. Requires a magical to-hit roll, d20 + Int + spell level vs AC.

[6] Requires touch. You also count as “touching” if in the same body of water.

[7] It's a strange glyph. It is activated when it is “read”, and as such can't work on the illiterate. If the spell only works on certain objects; then it activates when somebody reads the glyph scribed on an object with the target being that object instead.

[8] Caster breathes forth a large cloud of dark-red smoke. Spell cast on anything that stays in the smoke for more then a single round.

[9] Whoever or whatever the caster points at. You can point at yourself, if you want.

[10] The target's name is spoken aloud. Requires a true name, but will strike anywhere in the world.

Spell Effect

[1] Conjures a ribbon several feet in length on the target, wrapped up around the body or around the object. The ribbon can be used to carry things like liquids, fires, or magical essences as though they were simple physical objects. The ribbon offers no protection to those actually carrying the objects; but could be used to do things like forcibly move a formless ooze, a ghost, or a pile of sand, etc. Creatures wrapped up in this ribbon do not have their movements impeded, but cannot easily break out of the ribbon without countering the spell. The ribbon lasts for up to one turn.

[2] The target feels a rough agitation all over their body or the surface of the object. After two rounds, they will be stung by thousands of astral bees. They take 1d4 poison damage. While your physical body is barely effected, your astral body swells up to 4 times its size if you're allergic to astral bees; everyone who has ever had a dream is allergic. In practice, this means that your astral body is painfully bloated and sensitive; you will be unable to enter portals, for example, until the swelling subsides in 2d6 days.

[3] The object has its gears and parts rusted shut, but also repaired at the same time. Swarms of tiny red termites crawl all over the piece of machinery; stopping its motion but also fixing cracks and tears, replacing pullies, and crushing their own tiny bodies between gears to lubricate them. After two turns, the object can move again and is repaired to full work order. This has no effect if the target of the spell is not a machine or automaton; but if a person is targeted with a mechanical prosthetic then this spell targets all of their prostheses instead.

[4] Conjures 2d6 bright red furry bats. The tiny bats appear as a swarm around the target, and find the nearest solid object or space to land on. If they stay on a solid object for more then a single instant, they squeak in terror and burst into flame. The fires deal 1 damage, but each has a chance of lightning something on fire equal to flammability. The bats move randomly, simply created in a mass confusion and totally oblivious to their fiery demise the moment they stay flapping. The bats are more likely to nest in corners, higher up, or on people who aren't moving or swatting at them.

[5] The target's face is projected off their body. The face is transported either to the caster or to the other end of the spell. Their voice becomes booming and they can see, smell, and speak to everyone within a 30 ft radius as though face to face. Hitting this face deals no damage to the target, but poking their eye blinds them, holding their lip shut makes them unable to speak in their real body, etc. This spell lasts for up to 3 days, and the first time this is cast on someone the nausea they feel from “being” in two places at once can be overwhelming.

[6] The target has 90% of their injuries healed, which are bound up by bright yellow bandages and little white strings. Restore their health to 90% of the total amount. The remaining 10% of injuiries quickly festers, causing a save or contract a common disease. This 10% also cannot be healed by magic; the target cannot heal any more hit points until they have enough downtime rest to recover all their normal hit points naturally. If this spell is countered; the bandages pop open causing the damage to return.

[7] The target becomes slush. Their body is partially physical and partially liquid, gaining massive protection against all attacks and spells. They take -3 damage from all sources, totally ignoring damage that is reduced to 0 or less, and do not lose concentration on spells if hit by soemthing that doesn't do damage. However, their body is only loosely held together, thus meaning limbs and parts can be easily pulled or chopped off. As long as these parts are returned before the spell ends, no permanent limb loss occurs, but damage is still taken to hit points. Finally, the connective force of the target's body isn't stronger then gravity, so standing on a metal grating will cause you to fall through; you can use this to your advantage like passing through cell bars and so on. Spell lasts 2 exploration turns.

[8] The target of the spell is cursed. Flies gather around their head ominously. They are rotting on the inside, but not the outside. They take 1d6 points of Con damage per day. Drinking medicine or healing potions stops the progression of this curse for that day. This spell continues until the target dies or it is countered in some way.

[9] Creates a simulacrum of the target of the spell. The copy is gray in color and cannot move or react, it is equivalent to a ragdoll. Every 4 points of damage or healing done on the simulacrum will equal 1 point of damage or healing on the real subject, at any distance. The simulacrum lasts for 10 rounds.

[10] The target gains a powerful metamagic field. If the next spell cast on them by someone of a “like” alignment has it reject and bounce off. If it's cast by a “opposite” alignment, then the spell is attracted and any saving throws are automatically failed.

Counterspell / Methods to Reflect or Dispel

[1] Spell cannot be cast if the caster has lost their virginity.

[2] The target of the spell can stand perfectly still to nullify spell; autofail against the inanimate.

[3] Pinch of salt. This is a very common antimagical measure- many will try it first thing if cursed.

[4] As long as you know the spell, you can simply speak the incantation backwards.

[5] Can be countered by the flick of a battlemage's staff. Capped with silver on at least one end.

[6] This spell is demonic in origin. Every casting on it is assigned to a minor bureaucratic imp. Summoning one and bargaining to have it countered is easy; costs a thousand gold or a small favor.

[7] Spell can be reflected by a polished bronze mirror. If the spell could already be reflected by mirrors, instead reflecting it with this causes it to become trapped within; this permanently removes the caster's spell slot for this spell until released.

[8] The spell is countered if cut by a pair of magic silver scissors. Requires a successful attack roll against a living or animate target.

[9] The spell is countered if the target is on or travels to a specific mountain peak. If you live there for a year, you just become permanently immune to the spell instead. If you are a spellcaster, then living on this peak for a year makes it impossible to counter instead.

[10] None. No saving throw. The spell has no counter, beyond divine intervention.

Spells = Components

In many games and settings, magic is often done through the medium of magic items. While Wizards may be able to “prepare” spells in advance and use components to cast them if required in D&D, why not switch it around? Instead, Wizards prepare magical items which have their sorcerous powers in them. Without the item, they have no magic. This means magic users can be disarmed through stealing their magical items.

Single use spells are stored in small, often consumable forms. Sleep may be stored in a small amount of sand, which must be thrown at the eyes of your foes. Healing spells are stored as liquids to be drank as potions, or could be made as bandages or ointments to keep them separate. Plenty of language based spells or more esoteric spells could be stored as scrolls, which fits the aesthetic of Wizards carrying scrolls around. Spells with multiple uses or that have a duration are just useful items; your spell that lets you see the invisible is enchanted into your monocle.

Spells that are single use but are common but are not as disposed of could be infused in other items instead, called Foci (plural for “Magic Focus”) or Fetish. Feather Fall could be stored in an actual feather which is consumed on the casting, or in a magic-users billowing cape or dress. Offensive spells are stored in wands and staves as normal- with different command words, gestures, or mental acuity to control which spell comes out of the wand. Some Wizards may carry around multiple different wands for different situations, where as others will decorate and closely guard their prized dueling staff; engraved with several runes and having several powerful offensive and defensive spells loaded within at any given time. When a dumb goblin steals the Wizard's wand and bops himself on the head to turn invisible or immortal or whatever he thinks will happen, there is a good chance he might accidentally offload the Fireball instead, killing himself and anyone nearby. Magic Fetishes can also have mutational or wild magic effects when broken or used incorrectly; your magic locket with your illusion and enchantment spells has the perfect opportunity to create some false beings with insane personalities and powers over perception, adding to the feeling of the world as a chaotic and fantastical place.

Spell research works the exact same; except now, spells and research costs are the same. If your game doesn't use costs for components (or doesn't use components to begin with), then instead the research cost is the same as the component cost, since you're securing the magical items you need for your spells. Your magic user has a little farm of the bright green lizards you need to mummify and pickle to cast Regeneration, not just a room filled with spell books.

Spells books are another strange part however; if all magic spells are just items, then what purpose do they serve? Personally, I like “spells per adventure” instead of spells per day, so reloading spells isn't necessary with a spellbook. Instead, spellbooks could still be for preparing spells in items, but be a bit more esoteric and more about the preparation of materials and containing the knowledge of how magic works... like an actual spellbook.

What about magic item longevity? The “shelf life”? This is one issue I have with the concept, essentially saying Wizards could stockpile spells if they had infinite or very long shelf life. If the shelf life is short this could work, but would also diminish the immersion factor somewhat if magic items found in the world only are the permanently enchanted item kind, not the single use spell kind. This could also be abstracted somewhat; some spells degrade faster then others, like lower level spells, and “leaky” spells could radiate magical energy that causes mutations or makes interior spaces bigger on the inside then the outside; which is exactly where the dungeons getting so big and complex comes from. Dungeons as mythical underworld is still a great concept, and this could help explain them in a more naturalistic sense. To keep Wizards from mass producing spells, just abstract your regular spell slot/spells per day limit as the number of magical artifacts and fetishes a Wizard can have and maintain at any one time.

Finally, this comes down to mechanics in the form of inventory. How do you put this in mechanically? Having magic spells being items could be an interesting concept for resource management; you start the adventure loaded with spells and barely able to carry treasure, but as you start to use up your consumable spells you may open up enough space. It might also be fun to see a MU drop a charged up situational or useless spell on the floor of the dungeon so they can help carry a treasure chest; thus ensuring shenanigans when the orcs find it and use it as a weapon against the party. You could also use inventory space as a game balance mechanic; Sleep may be a good spell but may require you to carry around a heavy ass bag of sand instead of the much more useful Magic Missile in your wand. Minor enough to not be a hassle but significant enough to be a choice for certain adventures and campaigns.

Anyway, this article is a bit more spontaneous and less thought out then my others, and is more of a rant. Still this concept is near and dear to my heart and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, or perhaps inspire others to do something similar with their games. Magic Users are the most fun class to tinker with for good or for ill, so ideas abound.

Dirt Simple Spell Components

Dirt Simple Spell Components

There are 10 Forms of spell components (taken from Ars Magica & Freeform Ritual Magic); Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Plants, Animals, Images, Minds, People's Bodies (Separate from animals), and Prime (magic energy/pure arcane power) Components coming from these sources can be cast with relevant spells most correlated with the component- a mummified cat, for example, is used to cast Animal based spells, where as embers from a witch's oven are used to cast Fire spells.

In order for something to be a spell component, it has to be at least one of the following;

• Unusual / something not natural / Painstakingly made
• Infused with magic energy / had spells cast upon it / related to Wizardry
• Culturally significant / is “touched by fate” / Long lost relic

If the component has one quality, it can be used to cast a 1^st or 2^nd level spell, and is consumed.

If the component has two qualities, it can be used to cast a 1^st or 2^nd level spell as a spell focus, meaning it is required to cast the spell but is not consumed on casting. It can also be used to cast more powerful spells, but is consumed.

If the component has all three qualities, it can be used as a spell focus for all but the most powerful of spells. Alternatively, depending on how much this can unbalance the game, it can be used as a spell focus for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd level spells, and has 1d4 uses as a spell component for greater.

Powerful Spell Components

When you need spell components for casting powerful spells, creating a permanent spell effect or magic item, inventing a new spell, or a complex magical ritual- take the spell effect's level, multiple it by 2 and roll on the component generator twice. This value is named Y. Extremely powerful or complex spells may have to roll more times on the table.

Component Generator - 1d12

[1] Requires an item or collection of items that cost Yx1000 gold.

[2] Spell must be cast or created at a place of power that is Y months of hard travel away.

[3] Requires body part or personal trinket of a creature with Y for HD

[4] Requires a ritual step or painstaking research over another Y seasons.

[5] Must be cast with the aide of a descendant of a bloodline. You know an ancestor Y generations ago and will have to trace the lineage down to the present day.

[6] Requires Y number of special Runes, the knowledge of each is highly guarded.

[7] The caster is aged by Y years, or you can take ½ Y in level drain just after the spell is finished.

[8] Requires Y number of other Mages to finish the spell. They will demand payment, favors, exclusive rights after the first casting, scheme to steal the formula, etc.

[9] Finishing this spell will release a curse that will last Y years and have a random (really bad) effect. It will also require a Cleric or Sage of Y level to even try to manage the symptoms.

[10] Requires special solution of Y different potions of “Greater” potency or better; to create the alchemist slurry to soak the item in / get the caster high on.

[11] Requires the sacrifice of Y virgin young women, or double Y “sacred” animals, such as snow white lambs or virgin rats from the temple of the hidden goddess.

[12] Requires summoning a magical creature of ½ Y in HD to grant guidance or continual bloodletting over the course of a year and a day. Creature is self centered and will always seek means of tricking the caster and escaping captivity.