Two New Common Magic Spells

[alex_greene]

I thought I'd list two new Common Magic spells I've come up with: Sterilise and Dysfunction.

The latter is ... feared.

Dysfunction
Instant, Magnitude 3, Ranged, Resist (Resilience)
This spell inflicts a dreadful and embarrassing bodily dysfunction upon its target. This dreaded spell only works on males of whatever species. Afflicted males are no longer able to mate. The specific bodily functions surrounding the reproductive act in a male no longer operate. No matter how great the pressure to perform, nothing happens.

This spell is a lasting effect. It requires a sorcery spell such as Restoration, or a Divine miracle, to bring reproductive functionality back to the afflicted male.

Sterilise
Area, Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Ranged, Resist (Resilience), Trigger
This spell seals wounds and injuries from sources of infection, irrigating the sites of wounds and injuries. Each magnitude eliminates -10% of any negative penalties to First Aid and Healing skills due to the poor surgical environment. The elimination of negative penalties per Magnitude also applies to all battlefield surgery in an area; it could also be cast on one's medical supplies and tools.

 

[Savage Yinn]

Dysfunction
Instant, Magnitude 3, Ranged, Resist (Resilience)
This spell inflicts a dreadful and embarrassing bodily dysfunction upon its target. This dreaded spell only works on males of whatever species. Afflicted males are no longer able to mate. The specific bodily functions surrounding the reproductive act in a male no longer operate. No matter how great the pressure to perform, nothing happens.

This spell is a lasting effect. It requires a sorcery spell such as Restoration, or a Divine miracle, to bring reproductive functionality back to the afflicted male.

I'd change this to Dysfunction/Make Barren. It's definitely one for the evil witches out there.

 

[alex_greene]

Dysfunction
Instant, Magnitude 3, Ranged, Resist (Resilience)
This spell inflicts a dreadful and embarrassing bodily dysfunction upon its target. This dreaded spell only works on males of whatever species. Afflicted males are no longer able to mate. The specific bodily functions surrounding the reproductive act in a male no longer operate. No matter how great the pressure to perform, nothing happens.

This spell is a lasting effect. It requires a sorcery spell such as Restoration, or a Divine miracle, to bring reproductive functionality back to the afflicted male.

I'd change this to Dysfunction/Make Barren. It's definitely one for the evil witches out there.

I deliberately scrubbed it of any NSFW language and skirted around the whole issue of erectile dysfunction so as to make it suitable content for this forum. Otherwise I was sorely tempted to call it "Dinky Shrinky Winky."

It is indeed a dread curse, and with alchemists and enchanters around it is potentially available in odourless, tasteless, colourless potion form, as well as enchanted into rings, ladies' gloves, men's trousers ...

 

[Savage Yinn]

Doh!

I forgot to add that the Make Barren part would effect females.

It's not just good to target humans, but also beasts. One little spell to destroy the worth of that prize bull.

 

[alex_greene]

Of course, the Barrenness spell is available, and affects women. The difference is, women who do not wish to suffer the pains of womanhood and pregnancy will actually seek out knowledge of this particular spell. It is only a curse to women who wish to have children.

Here's the writeup.

Barrenness
Instant, Magnitude 3, Ranged, Resist (Resilience)
This spell indefinitely halts the reproductive processes of females of any species. The spell does not affect sexual desires in species which have no mating season, such as human women. Women affected by this spell can still indulge in pleasures of the flesh; this spell merely prevents pregnancy and halts monthly period pains.

If applied to a woman who is carrying a foetus, this spell has no effect on either the woman or the baby she is carrying. This spell is not an abortifacient.

This spell has a lasting effect. It requires a sorcery spell such as Restoration, or a Divine miracle, to bring reproductive functionality back to the afflicted female.

 

[Harshlax]

I dunno, you're mucking around with the forces of life here. Is that really something that belongs in the hands of Common Magic?

Back in the days of RQ3, in Gods of Glorantha there was one way to make someone infertile, and that was a 3-Point Divine Spell! For those not so familiar with that, a character had to sacrifice 3 points of POW to learn one casting, and the Goddess was one that once you converted from safer Earth worship, as an act of rebelling against oppression, you may never go back to a benevolent Earth Deity.

So a 3-pt Common Magic spell doing the same thing seems too easy for such a profound effect.

 

[alex_greene]

I dunno, you're mucking around with the forces of life here. Is that really something that belongs in the hands of Common Magic?

So a 3-pt Common Magic spell doing the same thing seems too easy for such a profound effect.

Hang on. Disruption and Hand of Death are okay, but a plain old fashioned sterility curse is too heavy?

One is far more likely to hear stories of a hex woman cursing a wayward man to suffer withering loins than to hear stories of the village witch causing his body to explode.

So the answers, in order, are YES and NO.

I also noticed that the objection appeared after I posted the version of the spell that affects women. No objections at all to the spell that reduces men to capons ...

 

[Prime_Evil]

Hang on. Disruption and Hand of Death are okay, but a plain old fashioned sterility curse is too heavy?

I'd argue that these spells shouldn't be Common Magic either, but this is beside the point...

One is far more likely to hear stories of a hex woman cursing a wayward man to suffer withering loins than to hear stories of the village witch causing his body to explode.

In most European folk tales, the village witch is likely to be in league with the devil - curses of this nature were viewed as a form of black magic practiced by those who had entered into a pact with the infernal powers. This may be viewed as the evil equivalent of divine magic.

Of course, if you go right back to the ancient world before the dualistic morality of Judeo-Christianity triumphed, the situation is less clear. Archaeologists have found numerous Roman curse tablets calling for various rivals and enemies to be afflicted with sterility or barrenness, but these are almost always found in association with ritual sites - indicating that the power to cause such curses was the preserve of the gods rather than human sorcerers.

 

[alex_greene]

Hang on. Disruption and Hand of Death are okay, but a plain old fashioned sterility curse is too heavy?

I'd argue that these spells shouldn't be Common Magic either, but this is beside the point...

One is far more likely to hear stories of a hex woman cursing a wayward man to suffer withering loins than to hear stories of the village witch causing his body to explode.

In most European folk tales, the village witch is likely to be in league with the devil - curses of this nature were viewed as a form of black magic practiced by those who had entered into a pact with the infernal powers. This may be viewed as the evil equivalent of divine magic.

Of course, if you go right back to the ancient world before the dualistic morality of Judeo-Christianity triumphed, the situation is less clear. Archaeologists have found numerous Roman curse tablets calling for various rivals and enemies to be afflicted with sterility or barrenness, but these are almost always found in association with ritual sites - indicating that the power to cause such curses was the preserve of the gods rather than human sorcerers.

If you go back far enough, you'll find that all magic was the preserve of gods or spirits of some sort, and there was no such thing as Common Magic.

Common Magic is a basic "low magic" concept that could preclude the intervention of deities and spirits, or it might be that each Common Magic spell is, in fact, an invocation to the various otherworldly entities that inhabit the people's lives begging for their intercession.

Common Magic might well be Divine Magic on the cheap, in the eyes of the people. But the mechanic of it as presented in Legend allows for the possibility that it's an all too human magic.

 

[Prime_Evil]

If you go back far enough, you'll find that all magic was the preserve of gods or spirits of some sort, and there was no such thing as Common Magic.

This is slightly off-topic, but I'm not convinced on this point. You seem to be following the late 19th century argument that folk magic is nothing more debased religion, that it arises when religious practices become divorced from their original sacral context and degenerate into mere superstition. By contrast, I suspect that folk magic and religion coexist peacefully with each other in a wide range of historical and contemporary societies.

I've never been entirely comfortable with the idea that there is an evolutionary sequence in the development of religious and magical practices - this view is often deployed by believers and non-believers alike in a self-serving manner to "prove" that their preferred ideology is the natural apex of the evolutionary sequence. Both of these camps regard "folk magic" as a backward step and try to show that it is somehow derivative of authentic religious practices. I'm not sure that this is the case - I suspect that the supernatural transactions embodied by folk magic arise spontaneously alongside religion and structured magical traditions and exist more or less independently of them (although some cross-fertilization of ideas may occur).

Common Magic is a basic "low magic" concept that could preclude the intervention of deities and spirits, or it might be that each Common Magic spell is, in fact, an invocation to the various otherworldly entities that inhabit the people's lives begging for their intercession.

I partially agree with you on this point. The dividing line between religion and magic is always problematic and the clear distinction that Legend draws between them represents the needs of the game system rather than an accurate representation of anthropological reality. I suspect that many people in ancient societies and contemporary native cultures do not compartmentalize their interactions with the supernatural into neat intellectual categories like roleplaying games do!

The traditional distinction that magic seeks to manipulate and control supernatural entities or forces whereas religion seeks to honour or placate them has received a lot of criticism in scholarly circles, but it still dominates the design of roleplaying games - including Legend.

Common Magic might well be Divine Magic on the cheap, in the eyes of the people. But the mechanic of it as presented in Legend allows for the possibility that it's an all too human magic.

Unfortunately the Legend rulebook never clearly defines what it means by the term "Common Magic" and as a consequence the way it treats the concept is often a little confused. RQ 6 does a bit better in this area, with a discussion of what the distinctions between the various types of magic are, but even it can't entirely break free weight of the game's history. Many of the spells listed in the Common Magic / Folk Magic chapters of the respective games have been inherited from early editions of RQ, where they were known as "Battle Magic".

 

[alex_greene]

Too much focusing on making all the mechanics as different as possible, so that "this is Divine Magic, and that is Common Magic, and never the twain shall meet."

In the game, the player just rolls dice, and the spell either takes effect or not. In character, your Common Magic wielder is likely to do something like crush a clove of garlic under his right heel and holler "Oblimey Oreilly Orion Ohell Odamnitall!" to his gods. The effect, the product of his gestures and vocalisation - divine or not - is a Common Magic effect.

Likewise, if he'd enchanted a Lucky or Fate Common Magic spell into a luck charm that takes the form of a rabbit's foot - the spell might be Common Magic, the method of imprinting it into the object might be Sorcery Enchantment, but the rabbit's foot is a religious symbol, Divine in origin.

The lines can blur in the game. It's to be expected. The game mechanics, on the other hand, can remain separate from the magical experience of the characters.

 

[Harshlax]

May I say briefly that I had not seen this thread prior to the third spell posted, that affecting women so was disappointed by the implied assumption over my response.

That said I would say I would view a spell affecting males at the same level as one affecting females. I would also agree with another poster that Hand of Death and Skybolt are both magics inappropriately powerful for Common magic, as is Firebreath. Disruption should have remained as a 1pt spell, as it was in both prior editions and in Folk Magic in RQ6.

Any magic directly interacting with the forces of life and death I feel should be a greater magic, the only exception being something like peaceful cut, which ensures the peaceful moving on of an already dead spirit of a beast killed to their divine destination.

 

[Prime_Evil]

I would also agree with another poster that Hand of Death and Skybolt are both magics inappropriately powerful for Common magic, as is Firebreath. Disruption should have remained as a 1pt spell, as it was in both prior editions and in Folk Magic in RQ6.

In RQ 6 as in Legend, Disruption inflicts 1d3 damage to a single random Hit Location or the overall Hit Points of an object but ignores any armour points possessed by the target. The major difference is that it is no longer a Progressive spell.

This should be the benchmark for what Common Magic is capable of doing if it is used to inflict damage directly. I might allow a Common Magic spell that inflicts slightly more damage if it has some limitations (such as requiring the caster to make an attack roll or not ignoring the defenses of the target). For example, I might create a spell called Firebolt that inflicts 1d4+1 damage on a target but requires the caster to make a ranged attack roll using their Common Magic skill in addition to the casting roll.

 

[caul]

My concern about these spells being Common Magic is that they are permanent. Yes, I know damaging and healing spells are also permanent, but this is slightly different. You are affecting inherent biology, not causing/repairing simple cellular damage. I would make these Divine spells as well...just me though.

Otherwise, the spells are great, though they would not see much use in my games...

 

[alex_greene]

My concern about these spells being Common Magic is that they are permanent.Otherwise, the spells are great, though they would not see much use in my games...

Technically, they're curses. They would not be so frightening if they were over in five minutes.

 

[soltakss]

Technically, they're curses. They would not be so frightening if they were over in five minutes.

Which brings us nicely to a discussion about curses ...

Legend (and RQ and BRP) has never handled curses particularly well, in my opinion.

Either they are enchantments which cost POW and hours to cast (RQ3, perhaps) or there is no mechanism for it (RQ2/MRQx/Legend).

Many an old crone has cursed some poor unfortunate character in fairy tales. How would this be done in Legend?

RQ3 had a layer of enchantment over and above the normal magic systems, so perhaps that would work. But, it cost POW, which doesn't really work in Legend.

I know that Blood Magic has some rules on various things, but don't have a copy handy at work, so I am not sure if its rules could apply.

Any ideas, anyone?

 

[alex_greene]

Well, how about the following (and I'll expand upon it in one of my forthcoming documents - I'm just putting it out here right now, so I can get further feedback).

(Also, if this mechanism is used for curses, the Dysfunction and Barrenness spells above can be cast normally with a temporary duration lasting only a few minutes - 10, 15 minutes tops.)

In order to turn a spell into a curse, the following conditions must qualify.

- First, the person throwing the curse must have suffered some great outrage by the victim.

- Second, the recipient must be absolutely unrepentant.

- And third, above and beyond the regular spent Magic Points, the curse utterer must dedicate 1 permanent Magic Point.

If the conditions are met, and the curse caster's roll succeeds, the curse will be issued. It will penetrate the most powerful wardings and spells, no matter how potent; and the recipient has one chance to resist, with Persistence (regardless of whether the spell is resisted or not, and regardless of whether the spell is normally resisted by means of Evade, Persistence or Resilience). If the recipient fails, the curse takes full effect.

The Duration of the curse is always the same - until the death or genuine repentance of the accursed. Even the gods won't touch a curse to lift it - too many pacts and vows between the gods exist to allow, say, the God of Thieves to just lift a curse planted on a mortal victim by the Goddess of Love, say.

Basically, even the gods may look down upon a cursed mortal and assume the jerk deserved it.

Until the curse is lifted, the Magic Point remains dedicated and cannot be recovered. The accursed is branded by a mark, visible to all forms of mystic vision and spells designed to see and sense magic. Spirits, too, can sense the curse and react negatively. If the victim lifts the curse the hard way, the dedicated Magic Point is returned to the sender of the curse. Not even the curse sender can revoke the curse, once cast.

 

[Loz]

- First, the person throwing the curse must have suffered some great outrage by the victim.

Yes, I agree.

- Second, the recipient must be absolutely unrepentant.

Why? Plenty of folk tales and stories where the recipient of a curse IS repentant, but the curser is completely bloody-minded.

- And third, above and beyond the regular spent Magic Points, the curse utterer must dedicate 1 permanent Magic Point.

I'd suggest sacrificing one, and possibly more, MP permanently.

The reason for this is because, as you suggest, a curse is a perpetual thing that even the gods won't touch. An enduring mark of a particular doom. Mortals making such curses are clearly able to inflict something even gods cannot influence, which really ought to come with a hefty expense.

If you use your approach you're going to have players lobbing curses around with abandon only to lift them when it suits their need and then re-curse. Making it a permenant forfeit should make players think twice and only curse someone when the circumstances truly warrant it. Otherwise I can see if being abused. Hideously.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

I too feel that it should be a permanent sacrifice... it is an extreme act. In stories it is often a resort of desperation, or a dying revenge.

However, I do think it should be removable by the caster... perhaps by the sacrifice of an additional permanent MP. There are tales of repentant cursers, but they are typically grudging in the extreme to do so. Also it allows the trope of characters appealing to their afflicter on the curser's deathbed.

 

[alex_greene]

No, this is what curses are about. The aggrieved party is wronged, and the courts acknowledge the defendant's innocence, so the bearer of a curse would be forced to resort to supernatural redress, even if the curse bearer is actually legally in the wrong.

Curses are a form of legal redress with a higher court, and may require sacrifice in the form of a dedicated, non-refundable Magic Point, same as for an enchantment. The thing is, this dedicated Magic Point has to come from one's own Magic Points, not from external means such as a Power Crystal or the stolen Magic Points from a Tap spell - even a Tap spell used on oneself to harvest Magic Points at the expense of, say, personal STR.

Another possible source of the Magic Point (or points) needed is literal personal sacrifice - look up the methods such as Scarification or Exasnguination from Arcania of Legend: Blood Magic, only the points sacrificed through personal self-mutilation must match the points spent in the curse effect.

For example, let's say a malign Common Magic spell to be cast as a curse would cost the caster 3 Magic Points to cast. In addition to those 3 Magic Points, the spell requires that the caster carve himself up for an equal level of Hit Points of damage. The curse would require that much sacrifice from the one inflicting the curse on the victim.

A curse should be something of last resort, an act of spite where the utterer of the curse has got nothing left to lose.