New Common Magic Spells

[Prime_Evil]

I just had a quick thought - rather than having a spell that provides a bonus to the casters social skills when attempting to influence the target, would it be better to have a spell that temporarily reduces the target's persistence - leaving them more vulnerable to manipulation? Would this be unbalancing?

 

[alex_greene]

I just had a quick thought - rather than having a spell that provides a bonus to the casters social skills when attempting to influence the target, would it be better to have a spell that temporarily reduces the target's persistence - leaving them more vulnerable to manipulation? Would this be unbalancing?

That sounds like something for sorcery. "This spell affects 3 INT per 10% of Sorcery (Grimoire) skill, and it must affect the subject's full INT. This spell reduces the subject's Persistence by -10% per 10% of Sorcery (Grimoire) skill ..."
Thirty years of this, and I'm still far more comfortable with sorcery than Common Magic ...

 

[Prime_Evil]

That sounds like something for sorcery.

It certainly fits my own mental image of sorcery. It's the kind of effect that sorcerers always try on barbarian heroes right before they break the spell and decapitate the caster with their axe

Thirty years of this, and I'm still far more comfortable with sorcery than Common Magic ...

Common magic is derived from RQ Battle Magic, but it hasn't really been fully reworked to make it 'commonplace magic' rather than 'low-powered magic designed primarily for use in combat'. This makes it hard to work out exactly what its role in the game should be. By contrast, the role of sorcery in the game hasn't really changed since the days of the Avalon Hills boxed set - despite some significant changes to the rules. The role of Diving Magic, Spirit Magic, and Sorcery in the game are clear, but Common Magic tends to fall between two stools. My own preference is to shift Common Magic towards folk magic, but I'm still trying to work out how to do this. One approach might be to have fewer combat spells like Bladesharp and Speedart but more utility spells like Repair, Second Sight, and Fate.

 

[alex_greene]

I thought of some ideas for non-combat Common Magic that you'd likely find in commonplace life;

Candlespark
Instant, Magnitude 1, Ranged
This spell ignites candles, lamps and lanterns in one room or chamber, providing the lamps have enough oil and the candles have enough wax left to them to burn. The caster makes a simple hand pass over a light source or candle, or makes a sweeping gesture. Once lit, the affected light sources can be extinguished normally.

Soothe
Duration 5, Magnitude 1, Ranged, Progressive
This spell calms agitated and confused minds, both of humans and of animals. Animals are made less likely to attack; beasts of burden are less likely to throw their riders; and people are less likely to resist mundane attempts to reason with them. The caster is required to speak with the target in a soothing voice and use placating gestures. Each point of Magnitude removes a -10% penalty to skills such as Influence used to restore calm. If the confusion and distress are caused by magical means, the Magnitude of this spell opposes the Magnitude of the spell that induced the agitated state. This spell can stack with Becalm and Ease Pain.

Ease Pain
Duration 5, Magnitude 1, Ranged
This spell eases ongoing minor pains, whether from illnesses or non-critical injuries or from major birthing pains, where it works just as well on non-sentient female creatures giving birth as much as on pregnant human women in labour. This spell can stack with Becalm.

Green Fingers
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Craft Skill Test involving horticulture or husbandry of any sort of plants. This cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses.

Chef's Blessing
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Craft Skill Test involving the preparation of food. This cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses.

 

[alex_greene]

Make the spells like Abacus, Entertainer's Smile and Armoursmith's Bioon more freely available, and spells like Bandit's Cloak, Bludgeon and Bladesharp only available through Adventurers' Guilds and Assassins' Guilds, and the like. Imagine having to spend time with the law community, out on the street with the Regulars, pounding the beat and looking for crooks and thieves, in order to learn the likes of Detect Enemy and Mobility. Fancy having to live a life of a copper back home?

Similarly, the healing spells like Cauterise and the like would likely require attendance at some college of Physic, studying medicine and anatomy. Your characters might be forbidden combat, but if your character acquired the rank of Surgeon at least he could learn Bladesharp legitimately.

Disruption and Hand of Death, of course, you'd have to make either fully off-limits or restrict their teaching to the likes of dangerous cults of fanatics. Same goes for the Firearrow and Fireblade spells: leave them to followers of some hellgod or other, "The Brotherhood of the Balrog" or whatever.

 

[mwsasser]

I'm loving this thread, good thinking guys!

 

[Prime_Evil]

I'm loving this thread, good thinking guys!

Thanks - I've been away for a couple of days due to real life commitments, but I'm looking forward to doing some more tinkering with the magic system. If nothing else, it's giving me a better understanding of how to use the magic systems in practice and a better appreciation of the differences between them.

I thought of some ideas for non-combat Common Magic that you'd likely find in commonplace life;

I love these spells! Do you mind if I add them to the compendium of OGC spells that I am compiling?

Make the spells like Abacus, Entertainer's Smile and Armoursmith's Bioon more freely available, and spells like Bandit's Cloak, Bludgeon and Bladesharp only available through Adventurers' Guilds and Assassins' Guilds, and the like. Imagine having to spend time with the law community, out on the street with the Regulars, pounding the beat and looking for crooks and thieves, in order to learn the likes of Detect Enemy and Mobility. Fancy having to live a life of a copper back home?

I'm in full agreement here. It's a pity that the rules aren't a bit more explicit about the importance of using organisations such as guilds and cults to control the exchange of magical knowledge. The Cultural Background Magic table makes it seem like characters from the various cultures are guaranteed unlimited access to the lists of common magic spells, whereas in most cases Adventurers should only receive access to a subset of their cultural list. Also, the idea that characters must make some sort of commitment to the organisation that provides them with access to spells gets a bit lost in the translation. Of course the town militia is only too happy to teach you Bladesharp, but only if you agree to provide a week's unpaid service each month...

As I mentioned earlier, I've been thinking of running a swords and sorcery campaign where magical knowledge is jealously hoarded. Characters can learn common magic spells from various secret societies that expect students to swear and oath of obedience in exchange for tuition. The most potent spells are normally only taught to senior members of these secret societies and characters must serve their order faithfully for some time before they are granted access to the "inner mysteries". Naturally, most of the secret societies are deeply involved in political intrigue and expect new members to serve the cause without question or complaint. In this setting, the only way to learn spells without selling your souls to a secret society is to independently recover

Disruption and Hand of Death, of course, you'd have to make either fully off-limits or restrict their teaching to the likes of dangerous cults of fanatics.

Agreed once again - These have a touch of the horror element so important to pulp fantasy. But they are also the kind of forbidden spells that are likely to get you lynched or burned at the stake if you start using them indiscriminately. Black robed cultists who walk around using disruption on anybody who crosses them might be feared at first, but it won't be long before the locals arm themselves with torches and pitchforks and decide to deliver some rough justice to the person who dabbles in such blasphemous lore. Watch a couple of old Hammer Horror movies to get a sense of how this is likely to play out...especially if a priest or witch-hunter played by Peter Cushing is anywhere nearby!

 

[Harshlax]

All good points, and I fully agree that basic healing and skillboosting spells should be more encouraged to reflect their place in the world. I find it amusing though that disruption is now such a killer spell, when in previous editions (pre-mongoose) it was a 1 point only spell that did 1d3 damage, and that was it. It was viewed as the equivalent to a thrown darft, and likely to have a place as a bug-zapper or anti-vermin tool!

Maybe limiting the available magnitude of some progresive spells based on rank in the organisation teaching them would open some flexibility while keeping the flavour of the suggestion?

 

[Prime_Evil]

I find it amusing though that disruption is now such a killer spell, when in previous editions (pre-mongoose) it was a 1 point only spell that did 1d3 damage, and that was it. It was viewed as the equivalent to a thrown darft, and likely to have a place as a bug-zapper or anti-vermin tool!

Very true! But I think that the current version has a place in any dark fantasy campaign - it is now more like something from Call of Cthulhu. I find it fascinating that power range reflected in Common Magic runs all the way from minor spells such as Chill right up to Hand of Death!

Perhaps a viable approach might be to classify how rare each spell is based upon the fantasy that you are trying to emulate - in a High Fantasy game, spells like Disruption and Hand of Death will probably only be available to servants of the Dark Lord®, but in a Swords and Sorcery campaign they might be available to just about every power-mad cultist...

Maybe limiting the available magnitude of some progresive spells based on rank in the organisation teaching them would open some flexibility while keeping the flavour of the suggestion?

This is certainly a viable approach, but might not work in all campaign settings. If each Magnitude of the progressive spells is treated as a completely separate variant of the base spell, it could make sense to restrict the availability of the more potent forms in this way.

 

[Prime_Evil]

I've got a vague idea for a new spell, but I'm worried that it might be too powerful for Common Magic. Any feedback that people have would be appreciated:

Premonition
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger

The caster has a moment of prescience about a significant event that will occur in the near future. This glimpse into the future provides the character with a +10% bonus to a single dice roll or an extra Combat Action for a single round. The Magnitude of the spell determines how far into the future the caster’s vision extends - the caster must use the bonus provided by the spell before this period elapses or the opportunity to shape the future is lost. For each point of Magnitude that the caster invests in this spell, he can glimpse an event up to 10 minutes in the future. Thus, at Magnitude 3 the spell allows the caster to hold the bonus provided by the spell up to 30 minutes, and at Magnitude 6 the caster can hold the bonus up to one hour. The caster can only use the bonus provided by this spell to influence events that he is personally involved in and that have some degree of importance to his own fate – it can’t be used to change the outcome of events that have little or no narrative significance (GM’s discretion).

 

[RangerDan]

I quite like this spell, and I don't think at first glance that it's too powerful - +10% to one die-roll is certainly not game-breaking, nor is one additional CA for one round.

My only concern would be that some unscrupulous players would abuse the spirit of the spell, using it as a kind of general-bonus-spell, casting Premonition 1 every time they wanted to do any kind of skill check.

have some degree of importance to his own fate – it can’t be used to change the outcome of events that have little or no narrative significance (GM’s discretion).

I see from above that you have the same concern, though it might give the GM some unnecessary aggravation as I imagine the player's and GM's opinion as to what is "narrative significance" will no doubt not be the same ("but it's critically important to Ranulf that he craft this dagger!"). Depending on the group this may or may not be an issue.

I could see this spell working as a Heroic Ability as well, worded in much the same way and tied to whichever skill makes most sense for an oracle-type ability. Divine spellcaster-type characters would certainly fit.

I could also see it working as a passive ability (ie initiated by GM only). The bonus would probably have to be increased though to make up for the lack of player control.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Yes...my main concern with the spell as it stands is that the characters will use Premonition 1 every time they want to make a skill check. I've thought about introducing a mechanic that discourages overuse the spell, but haven't come up with anything that's easy to implement yet. Here's the text so far, but I'm concerned that it is way too complicated:

Each time a caster uses the premonition spell, they tamper with the future. Merely glimpsing future events is enough to change fate, even if the caster takes no actions based upon this foreknowledge. As a consequence, further premonitions will be unreliable until the ripples caused by the original casting of the spell die down. Attempts to use the premonition spell to scry the future during this period will produce cloudy visions with multiple possible outcomes. The caster must wait until a period equal to 10 x the duration of the original casting has elapsed before they can safely use the Premonition spell again. A caster who attempts to use the spell a second time before this period has elapsed must make an Insight roll to interpret the visions received - failure means that the caster receives no benefit from the spell, but expends the Magic Points as normal. Each subsequent casting of the spell requires the caster to make another Insight roll to interpret the visions, with a cumulative -10% penalty. A fumble on this roll means that the caster comes up with a wildly inaccurate interpretation of future events and the GM may inflict a -20% penalty to any single skill roll within the spell's duration.

 

[alex_greene]

It's their Magic Points. Or had the thought that Common Magic costs Magic Points occurred?

Use the same spell too many times, and they'll have insufficient Magic Points left to power up a more useful spell such as Bandit's Cloak or Entertainer's Smile.

That works for me.

 

[RangerDan]

It's their Magic Points. Or had the thought that Common Magic costs Magic Points occurred?

Absolutely, Common Magic costs MPs and if they all get spent on Premonition they don't get spent on other spells.

Having said that, for "single-roll" skill checks Premonition 1 is far superior than the equivalent (Skill) Boon spell, which would need to be cast at Magnitude 2 at least to be equivalent.

Beyond that, I guess my concern was not so much "they'll use Premonition all the time thus unbalancing the game" but rather "they'll use Premonition all the time thus robbing it of some of its flavour and trappings."

But maybe you're right Alex and this is just looking for a problem where there is none.

PS Prime_Evil: I think your latest may be a tad overkill for a Common Spell

 

[Prime_Evil]

PS Prime_Evil: I think your latest may be a tad overkill for a Common Spell

That was my suspicion. Maybe it would be better as a Divine Magic spell - the power of prophecy certainly has a place in many cults...

 

[alex_greene]

Calm Beast
Instant, Magnitude 1, Ranged
This spell calms a skittish beast. The animal targeted loses its agitation and becomes calm and non-aggressive, allowing the caster to approach it. If the caster or anyone else attacks the animal or some unexpected noise or movement startles it before the caster can touch the animal, the spell is broken and the animal's prior state of agitation returns. If the caster can touch the calmed animal, it will accept the caster and allow the caster to use further skills to tame the beast.


Confession
Duration 5, Magnitude 2, Ranged, Resist (Persistence)
This spell creates an overwhelming guilt in the target, which he can only alleviate by an act of confession. When speaking, the target feels a compulsion to tell the truth as he knows it. Any attempt to lie floods him with feelings of guilt, halving any Oratory or similar skills he may be using to avoid telling the truth.


Cutpurse's Boon
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Sleight skill, and cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses.


Firefly Flash
Duration 10, Magnitude 1, Progressive
This spell creates a pretty dance of tiny motes and balls of coloured light that drift and change colours at the caster's direction. The lights can distract an opponent, afflicting him with a 10% penalty on all actions per point of Magnitude as the lights buzz him, annoying him and forcing him to swat them out of the way.


Jongleur's Boon (also known as "Tumbler's Boon")
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Acrobatics or Ride skill, and cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses.


Spook
Duration 10, Magnitude 1, Progressive
This spell creates illusionary sounds in the vicinity. Strange creaks, footsteps approaching or receding, a door slamming unexpectedly or a voice whispering beside the target's ear. On their own they have little magical impact, beyond mildly demoralising people who are not expecting such intimidating sounds; however, used in conjunction with a mundane attempt to scare people this spell adds +10% per point of Magnitude to any skill rolls required to scare the victims.


Style
Duration Special, Magnitude 1, Progressive
This spell creates minor, yet striking, surface alterations to a person's hair, eye colour and even skin. The caster can choose from among the following effects:-
- Alter Colour: The caster chooses to alter his hair colour, the colour of the irises or sclera (the whites of his eyes), or his skin to the desired colour.
- Hair: The caster sculpts his hair to a desired shape, growing it out or shortening it as desired - from a massive bouffant to a topknot or even completely bald. As a benefit of this spell, a man can style his beard or even remove it completely (no need to shave), and women can completely depilate their bodies.
The effect of this spell is to add +10% per point of Magnitude to any skill involving staying in fashion or getting noticed. The change lasts for a number of hours equal to the Magnitude, eventually wearing off. Depilated hair does not immediately spring back into being on the caster's face, but gradually begins to grow back normally after the spell expires.


Trade Secrets (Trade)
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
Many variants of this spell exist, one for each trade with a Lore skill, such as armourer, armoursmith, blacksmith, joiner, midwife, nanny and cartographer. This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Lore Skill Test involving the trade specified, and cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses.


Tradesperson's Boon (Trade)
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
Many variants of this spell exist, one for each trade requiring a Craft skill, such as armourer, armoursmith, blacksmith, joiner, midwife, nanny and cartographer. This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Craft Skill Test involving the trade specified, and cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses. This spell goes by many different names: Armoursmith's Boon and Mason's Boon are the most well-known, but spells such as Cartographer's Boon, Tanner's Boon and Green Fingers (a Tradesperson's Boon spell for Craft skills involving living plants) also exist.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Nice work! I love the Style spell.

I've been thinking about a spell along the lines of Cutpurse's Boon, but I wasn't going to hand out a bonus to Sleight and Stealth. I figured that Bandit's Cloak already provides a Stealth bonus, but there is no spell that provides a Sleight bonus.

My version gives +10% per Magnitude to Sleight and allows the user to conceal a single item with an ENC of 2 or less, even when the item would otherwise be in plain sight. This is great for filching items from merchants or sneaking concealed weapons past guards!

As an aside, from a design perspective I am trying to move away from spells that simply provide +10% per Magnitude to Skill X. Although this is the main feature of many common magic spells, I am increasingly thinking that each spell should also provide some interesting special effect that adds a bit of extra flavour without greatly altering game balance. What do you reckon?

 

[alex_greene]

This is where Firefly Flash came in - a Common Magic spell that actually does something magical, and it would be pretty cool to see it at night, all the dancing lights floating around.

Candlespark, earlier, does something similar - cause all the candles or lamps or cressets in a room or corridor to light at the same time. No game effect: it just looks so cool.

Style is fun. I never said what shades are available and which ones forbidden. You can imagine kids going about with copper hair and blue skin looking like Mystique, or just dyeing their hair some lurid shade of anime green, to the consternation of their folks, and the boys sculpting their hair to look like that entertainer who puts on a noonday show in the town square and whose wicked smile has captivated the hearts of every girl in town ...

 

[alex_greene]

Camera Obscura
Instant, Magnituse 1, Ranged, Trigger
The spell causes a still image of what the caster sees at the exact moment of casting to appear on a sheet of parchment or paper. The parchment must be held in the caster's hand. The quality of the image depends on the caster's Perception skill. It takes 1 minute for the image to fully form, the image gently fading into existence on the sheet. The image on the paper can be dispelled by Countermagic, Neutralise Magic and so on while forming; but once fully developed, the image is indelible (though one could always destroy the picture by normal means).


Catfall
Instant, Magnitude 2, Trigger
Once this spell is cast, no matter how far the caster may fall, he will land safely and land on his feet. If the ground on which he lands is hazardous - broken glass, railings, a vat of boiling tar - he will suffer whatever hazard he lands in; but the fall alone will not harm him.


Climb
Duration Special, Magnitude 1, Touch
This spell allows the caster to climb any surface, no matter how sheer or smooth, at his normal running speed, clinging even on upside-down surfaces like a spider. The surfaces walked on must still be able to support the caster's weight. The spell lasts for as long as it needs to: once the caster's feet touch solid ground or he loses all physical contact with a surface, the spell ends and normal gravity takes over.


Conjuration
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Ranged
This spell creates tricks of genuine conjuration: candies spilling from an upturned hat or a box, a kitten appearing in the palm of the caster's hand, the exact playing card that a member of the audience was thinking about falling out of the sky at the caster's feet. The effect always serves the purpose of entertainment: a conjurer could pull out a jug of fruit cordial from a hat, but not a sword (unless it was a part of the show). Other than creating items out of thin air, the caster can also use this spell to swap the contents of one closed container with the contents of an identical container nearby, even one placed out of sight. Objects affected must be mobile, i.e. not attached to the ground or other surface. The caster could drape a tarpaulin about a statue and pull the sheet away to reveal the statue painted pink - but he could not make it disappear. That would require the Obscure spell, below.
The bigger the object, the larger the required Magnitude: Magnitude 1 could conjure up a small pile of candies in a hat or a domesticated animal of SIZ 1; Magnitude 2 could fill a large treasure chest with candies (or swap the contents of a treasure chest with the contents of a nearby treasure chest of identical SIZ stuffed with cabbages), or conjure up a domesticated animal of SIZ 3; Magnitude 3 could fill an armoire with stuff (usually the stuff then falls over an unsuspecting mark who opens the door). Magnitude 3 also works on individual humans and humanoid volunteers (e.g. the "Lady Vanishes" cabinet trick), who must be willing. Magnitude 4 works on small groups of people (up to a limit of the caster's POW / 3) and is capable of large - scale conjurations, such as swapping a cage of tigers with an empty cage nearby, or filling an entire house with candies or painting its entire exterior pink.


I also thought of bringing in the big cousin to Firefly Flash:-

Entrancing Glow
Concentration, Magnitude 1, Ranged, Progressive, Resist (Persistence)
This spell creates a sphere of swirling, multicoloured light about the size of a small buckler shield, floating at eye height. The caster can move the sphere about slowly by concentrating. People who gaze on the light must make a Persistence roll at a penalty of -5% per point of Magnitude or remain in place, staring at the light until the spell ends. The caster can maintain this spell for as long as he concentrates; while concentrating, he cannot do anything else beyond walk at his normal speed. A successful attack on anyone snared by the spell immediately breaks the spell for that person; a disturbance or an attack on the caster breaks the spell completely, releasing everyone caught by it.


Obscure
Duration 15, Magnitude 1, Ranged, Progressive
This spell conceals an object from view. Onlookers require a critical Perception success to know that the item is there, unless they bang into it, and even under scrutiny with magical spells of vision enhancement the spell effect remains for its duration. Magnitude 1 can conceal an object up to SIZ 3; Magnitude 2 can conceal a human-sized object; Magnitude 3 can cloak a maximum number of human-sized objects up to the caster's POW / 3, all of them in close proximity; Magnitude 4 can make a house, or house-sized object, temporarily fade from perception.


Shimmer Screen
Duration 10, Magnitude 1, Ranged, Progressive
This spell erects a wall of shimmering distortion, which makes it very hard for people to see what is happening beyond it. Sound and vision are equally distorted, making it just as hard to overhear a conversation as to see what is going on. This spell is used to generate a zone of privacy, and entertainers can use it to draw in crowds eager to catch tantalising, but ultimately frustrating, glimpses of the ladies (and gents) troupe as they change clothes between acts. The shimmer screen's area is 10 square metres per point of Magnitude, which allows the caster to shape it appropriately - a Magnitude 1 spell can create a shimmer screen five metres long by two metres high, for example. Extra Magic Points can be spent on casting to bolster its duration, each Magic Point increasing its duration by another 10 minutes. In combat, each point of Magnitude delivers a penalty of -10% to anyone attempting to shoot someone with any kind of missile, magical or mundane, on the other side of the blurry wall.

Some entertaining Common Magic for you. Enjoy. Prime, you have my PM. Talk to me.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

These are FANTASTIC! PLEASE keep them coming!

You guys should get together and publish an OGL book of Common Magic Spells for use with Legend!

$$$