Tag Archives: magic-users

Fifty Things Found in Magic/Alchemy Lab

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Heikki Hallamaa said:

 

As many as you can come up with: Interesting, weird and dangerous stuff lying around in an alchemist’s/wizard’s workshop.

As you see, I used a lot of my older items, which some might not have seen before.  I added links after those.

roll d100 Item
01-02 ten heads of small unknown creatures
03-04 medicinal grubs
05-06 glass bottle of eyeballs that rotate to follow movement
07-08 razor sharp insect wings, sixteen inches long
09-10 wig
11-12 driftwood shaped like one party member
13-14 block of red salt
15-16 three foot diameter dried dung
17-18 marionette made of small humanoid skeleton with horns and wings
19-20 four-foot braid of bright green kinky hair
21-22 eight foot eyelash against wall in corner
23-24 green glass bottle, about 8 inches tall, slim neck, small mouth. undecipherable script on side.
25-26 three headed mouse in small cage
27-28 glass maze. small dragon chasing tiny wizard. (tm JV)
29-30 glass jar with saury mermaid in vinegar http://www.rolang.com/archives/431
31-32 map of doughnut-shaped planet
33-34 candle that gets taller as it is burned
35-36 iron rose
37-38 folded parchment containing shaving stubble
39-40 six inch mummy
41-42 carnivorous cactus
43-44 one box of LOTFP purple lotus powder
45-46 elaborate hydra sculpted of halfling bone
47-48 barrel of salted fish that grant water breathing for one day when eaten
49-50 ceramic box full of small hydrae http://www.rolang.com/archives/45
51-52 chess piece: queen of assassins http://www.rolang.com/archives/95
53-54 script of Courtship of the River Women http://www.rolang.com/archives/166
55-56 a magic butler http://www.rolang.com/archives/99
57-58 a random cursed coin http://www.rolang.com/archives/388
59-60 six-demon bag http://www.rolang.com/archives/353
61-62 random bottle of parfum from Enri de Karpani http://www.rolang.com/archives/225
63-64 half-completed map of an unusual prison http://www.rolang.com/archives/382
65-66 charter of a halfling settlement bent on cornering the salt market http://www.rolang.com/archives/168
67-68 a bogpiggie in a cage. it will bite someone if handled and escape. http://www.rolang.com/archives/133
69-70 a skeletal hand with ambition http://www.rolang.com/archives/274
71-72 bracelet that shrinks 10 percent per round when put on until it disappears, severing wrist
73-74 half bottle of very old distilled alcohol. mossy taste, very fiery. immune to fire 1 turn.
75-76 bat-summoning whistle (not magical, bats must be near, no control)
77-78 prototype pill grants +1 con for 1 day, site effect: laugh uncontrollably when trying to sneak
79-80 carbonation equipment
81-82 funnel that doubles the amount of liquid that goes through it
83-84 a 2HD mimic disguised as a potion bottle
85-86 bottle of HOT sauce. completely disabled for 1 turn
87-88 ball gown with opening for tail in back
89-90 love potion that attracts only reptiles/reptilians
91-92 non-magical mirror that ads slight expression of smugness to reflected image
93-94 book that magically records intricate and comprehensive combat statistics of any nearby battle.
95-96 note from mage explaining he will be back in one hour. hourglass nearby almost empty.
97-98 pouch labeled ‘secret ingredient’ contains sneezing powder.
99-00 several large, gaudy hats
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d20 Table of Wizard Obsessions

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Doyle Wayne Ramos-Tavener writes:

I would very much like a table of 20 weird obsessions engaged in by sorcerers.

Here you go.

d20 Table of Wizard Obsessions
Roll d20 for behavior (a) , roll again: odds roll again use column (b); evens roll again use column (c)
roll d20 Behavior (a) Obsession (b) Obsession (c)
1 collects halflings sphinxes
2 builds faerie manticores
3 summons chess pieces minotaurs
4 disguises self as troubadour sings centaurs
5 tries to transmute (roll column 2) into (roll column 2) coins pennangalen
6 knows literally everything about but will not approach miniature bottles of spirits pixies
7 seeks and destroys pigs warriors
8 seeks and then hides statues frogs
9 wants to create the perfect operas bats
10 has a sexual fetish for plays (roll dAny: odds tragedy, evens: comedy) mummies
11 wants to become a wounds werewolves
12 invented and is obsessed with the decline in quality of numbers zombies
13 believes there is a dark secret locked inside/about stars shoggoths
14 desperately seeks one special, specific elves poems
15 plays war games using miniaturized dwarves forms of government
16 wants to be the emperor of/seeks adoration of crab people sports teams
17 keeps as a pet/races dragons torture instruments
18 writes operas about cats shameful memories
19 believes self to be the friendly magical protector of puzzles dice games or card games
20 leads parties on suicide missions in hopes of obtaining diseases speculative essays

You want to make a request?

 

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Belt of Fireball Skulls

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First, an undamaged skull must be cleaned, inside and out. The jaws also need to be affixed to the skull with metal wire.

The skull is placed on a very hot fire. For three hours, the mage must chant to encourage the skull to take the fire in, then for another three she must convince it to shrink until it is the size of a pine cone. Both of these stages require a saving throw or intelligence attribute check to proceed. If they fail, the skull shatters.

At the conclusion of this chanting, the soul is pulled back to the skull, which then speaks with the mage, who has but a few minutes to strike a deal. In return for some favor, the soul will hold the fire in the skull. Common favors include acts of vengeance, contrition, the delivery of a message or just letting the skull see the sun set over its homeland one last time.

The favor must be accomplished within the year, but once it is, the skull becomes a fireball grenade.  When the mage says hold the skull and reminds it of the favor done, the fireball automatically hits and does maximum damage at one level higher than the mage’s casting level. These can be given to others to use, but they must know the favor and speak it aloud to throw (this is the ‘pin’).

If the mage screws up the favor, or does not complete it within the year, or dies, the skull goes mad, flying around breathing fire (as a young dragon) for one turn, targeting the mage and then any random bystanders.

These are often worn as part of a necklace, belt, bone bikini or other ridiculous fantasy getup.

Note: This is a first level spell with a casting time as mentioned above. One need not know the fireball spell to make one.

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Drow Are Elves Who Use Too Much Magic

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Human magic is a chaotic, warping influence. Yesterday I suggested that Magic Users, should they somehow live to an old age, would inevitably become liches. I’ve also suggested that elves cast human magic, not their own magic, which has been lost to the ages. Where humans warp into liches, elves become dark elves.

If you think of the scenes where Smeagol becomes Gollum as portrayed in the Lord of the Rings films, you get where I’m going with this.

Drow are tortured, pale elves whose over-use of human-style magic has reversed their connection with nature. The sun hurts, the trees no longer speak, they hiss. Animals shun them. Only insects, worms and creatures of decay will come near them.

Their heads enlarge and features warp. They cast human magic as if they were four levels higher. They do not form underground civilizations, but retreat to caves and huts in the swamp.

Elves are not aware of why some of their elders get sick and run into the woods, never to return. Some think it must be a disease. Others think it a curse tied somehow to the fall of their civilization. A few are hoping to find a cure.

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All Magic Users Are Destined to Be Liches

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Instead of Lichdom (Lichery?) being the end result of a lot of effort, why not make it the inevitable result of a lifetime of meddling with chaos? At some randomly determined age, a mage starts to slowly dry up and desiccate. Remember that in ancient times, 40 was considered quite old to many, so perhaps 30+2d20 would be an appropriate age for the transition. Over the course of the year, even if no adventuring or spellcasting happens, the mage gains a level and no longer resembles a living human.

The lich-in-transition would suddenly take an interest in cosmetic illusionist spells, anti-stench spells and start looking for a safe base of operations and perhaps servants. At any rate, he or she is suddenly unable to knowingly commit suicide or allow someone to kill them without a fight.

When I do get a campaign going next summer, I’ll use a lot of the ideas from my series on the Magic User. One of the more important ideas in it is that Magic Users are not trusted or wanted at all in society. They are the ultimate taboo to normal men. Perhaps part of that is that they have the reputation for becoming immortal ghosts or demons. Among the magic using community, there may be a profession of slayers, whose job it is to kill those who begin to turn.

Here’s your plot hook: There’s a mage caravan headed out toward Vulture Pass, hoping to make it south for the winter. They are lead by Marius, a tenth level mage who must be at least 50 years old. There was a rumor that Marius had a bad smell about him at the last Gathering of the Argnac clans. One of his students and a mercenary were sent by the Great Bulwark to investigate last spring, but there has been no word sent back.

The party is somehow asked to look into it. Perhaps the party mage is a former apprentice of his, or a niece. Some possible developments (Roll 1d6) :

1- Marius is a lich and has killed then animated is caravan.

2- The investigators were killed in route by bandits, Marius does indeed smell but is not a lich.

3- Marius is actually a mage/vampire. He has converted the two investigators.

4- Marius is in the process of turning, has unwillingly murdered his caravan and others to protect himself and will desperately fight the party he hopes will kill him where others have failed.

5- Marius is not a lich, because he has found the fountain of youth.

6- I can’t think of 6 tonight. Roll again.

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Outcast Mages

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In my last two posts, I’ve played with the idea that Magic Users can be established in a campaign as hermits, con-men and outcasts. This can be done without changing the rules or the class in any appreciable way, aside from perhaps changing the way the Read Magic spell is learned.

Here’s a few brief character backgrounds that you might find useful.

Renard (level 1) was a wagon driver’s son. When a hitchhiking traveler felled bandits by throwing rainbow lights from his hands, he was in the way, but lived. The old man’s chanting suddenly made sense to him, which lead to nightmares. Years later, as an apprentice to a bookbinder, he discovered he could read a client’s book that contained the old man’s verse. This was First Spell (read magic). He copied the entire book and has memorized one other poem from it (magic missile). He can’t wait to say the verse aloud to see what happens.

Nicolette (Level 2) married well, passing from her father’s modest but noble household into the house of her husband’s father, the Count Dufresne. The morning after her wedding night, her mother-in-law instructed her in the expectations of the ladies of House Dufresne. She was horrified to discover that the women of Dufresne, unbeknownst to their husbands, have maintained the family position and wealth through the use of witchcraft. After a year she escaped, hoping to find some way of atoning for her great sin of sorcery. Unfortunately, she cannot get through the day without spells in her head, so she has brought along a spell book. She has no idea where she will go and is sure her mother-in-law is hunting her. (She is right but does not know her mother-in-law is a lich).

Asa (Level 5) is a wife, mother of four and the matriarch of troupe of traveling performers. She is no longer the acrobat she once was, but the magic she learned as a child from her grandmother has helped her on many occasions. She uses it to enhance fireworks, catch falling acrobats, cover the tracks of her pickpocket son, and grow and remove the beard from her prettiest daughter. The women of her clan know the spells of illusion and scrying. The men learn magical combat and the ceremonies of summoning. Her husband is level 4. Most of the clan’s adults are levels 1-3.

Le Grognard (Level 12) is what the locals call Pollard of Huc. He mumbles to himself as he goes about his day. He is old, fat and unkempt. He spends most of his time traveling to far-away cities, looking through old libraries and temples for bits and pieces of spells. He is convinced that he can unlock the secrets of the spell creators. Although he himself knows a fortune’s worth of spells, he considers them of little value and sells them to anyone with the coin he needs to keep up his research. He cares not for good nor evil and is capable of both in great extremes, provided they further his quest.

Prince Johann (Level 4) wanted to be a mage since his nanny first tried to frighten him with stories of mages who turn bad little princes into newts. He killed an outcast mage girl for her spells, after making her teach him the First Spell at knifepoint. He pays top dollar for spells and kills any seller he deems weaker than himself. This expensive habit could not be hidden from his father’s bookkeepers, so he has incurred considerable personal debt in pursuit of his hobby. He has considered going on the road to seek out new spells and new treasures, hoping to either pay back or kill his debtors.

Leo (Ex-Cleric level 5, now a Mage level 2) was the Abbot of the Swan Abbey. He had sent a Knight of the Sun on a quest to bring him a scroll that, according to Leo’s interpretation of scripture, outlined the long lost vigil prayer Raise Dead. Leo was close, but wrong on one crucial detail. The scroll contained the First Spell, followed by an arcane spell which animated the bodies of the abbey’s long-dead abbots. After those monsters killed all Leo’s brothers and burned down the monastery, Leo was, to say the least, a changed man with a crisis of faith. He is now quite mad, and knowing no other spells, casts animate dead almost daily, hoping to resurect his lost monks. (Yes, he isn’t high enough level to cast it normally. Who cares? He’s an NPC.)

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Rethinking Magic Users 2

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Magic is not learned from a college. Like jazz, blues and any non-formalized style of music, it’s acquired by observation. You steal it from your betters.

Let’s look at how mages come to be. He or she might come from any walk of life, but most mages are born slaves, peasants or in wandering communities of traders, thieves or actors. As I mentioned yesterday, mages are reviled in most places. Their magic is considered blasphemy by clerics, uncontrollable by kings and dangerous by normal folk. They are often persecuted and must hide their talents.

So how does one get on this road?

It starts with the First Spell, which has many names, but in game mechanics, it most resembles Read Magic. It is a short spell that can be understood by anyone, regardless of their native language.

In its verses are every sound of spoken magic and a thorough and unsettling explanation of the chaotic worldview that underlies all non-divine magic . Anyone speaking the entire spell can thenceforth read their native tongue and any written magic (provided they have recited the spell enough to commit it to memory so it comes off the tongue as easily as any cast spell). He or she is also immediately of chaotic alignment (this is obviously taken from LotFP Weird Fantasy). The meaning of the verse is not kind knowledge and some who do memorize it and speak aloud its secret go mad, never to learn a second spell.

Anyone who hears the spell often enough is bound to learn it eventually. A mages’ lover, spouse, child or even close neighbor will hear it under her breath as she performs almost any activity (this is similar to the way Tibetans repeat mantras in everyday life). If you pester a mage as he sits in a pub, disturbing his peace, he might grab you by the collar and shout the words in your face until you piss off. You might pick up the entire spell by accident. Some mages will teach it to those they feel the petitioner would fit in well with the community or who have money, food or other service to offer. Many mages fall into magic because they have no other prospects, no land to farm and no skills.

Once one has said the spell, he or she is forever a mage and is overcome by a desperate need to learn more spells. This stage is most like an addiction. New spellcasters have been known to spend their last penny or sign into service for a year or more for a simple spell or two (an experienced mage would teach nothing dangerous to a novice). This is as close to a master/apprentice relationship as you are likely to find and it does not always end happily. After the first few levels, the mage is able to calm down and the need is more of an intense desire or life goal than a desperate need.

In the mage community, wealth has a tendency to travel quickly to the top, where mages with large spell books are able to charge fortunes from the less-skilled.

There are magic users who actually research, but they are very rare. It is difficult to conduct experiments from a mule-drawn wagon and there are many costs and dangers associated with settling down. The few labs there are can be found in remote towers or underground caves. Besides, most mages would tell you that researching magic is a waste of time. Magic’s secrets are long lost and the errant fools who would re-invent it would be better off searching the world for long lost spell books than blowing themselves up in labs. Spells are usually named after their discoverer, not the author (if even a name is known).

One dirty secret the elves don’t like to talk about: Many assume that arcane magic came from the elves. Some mages even hunt or extort elves to get more spells. A select few know that elven magic of old was far more powerful than anything any human mage has cast. The elves are actually very capable casters of human magic, magic they have learned from vagabonds and con-men.

I’m going to cook u a few backstories to serve as examples, but I think you are all bright enough to come up with your own scenarios.

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Rethinking Magic Users

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For better or worse, I have always imagined magic users as being learned men and women who studies at a magic college, apprenticed to a master, poured over dusty tomes in the stacks of arcane libraries. I’m going to throw most all of that out and see if there isn’t something more interesting that can be done without going against most of the rules of the basic edition and its clones.

Ever wonder why there is no minimum intelligence score to make a magic user in Basic D&D? Magic Users (mages) are memorizers of lines who require no real skill beyond concentration and the ability to speak.  Instead of trying to decode and research magic, most just learn what spells they can get access to. Any who uncover an ancient forgotten spell had best keep it to themselves or be able to defend against challengers who will not take no for an answer.

Magic users live on the fringes of society, often without a home or family that will welcome them. Many live among travelling communities, where their skills are valued as protection against angry villagers, sheriffs and the creatures of the dark. Like magicians, gun-slingers and comics in our more recent times, they all know each other by reputation and most mages in any culturally similar area will have met at least once.

Most are poor, by the standards of lower nobility. They talk to themselves or to unseen beings and all of them are decidedly eccentric. Most mages, male and female, dress outlandishly with large hats (with thanks to JB at B/X Blackrazor). It is very rare to find a mage that isn’t an athiest, or if they believe gods exist, they do not revere them as The Gods but rather fear them. Because of this, many mages are prone to overdrinking or heavy addictions to laudanum or purple mushroom powder.

Most mages know prestidigitation, common confidence games and will use those with their magic powers to relieve the gullible of their pie, meade, drugs, money and virginity. Because this leads to trouble, they often have different names they use in different towns. In many communities, mages are immediately locked up, put in the stock or hanged not just for the abomination of magic (which in some places is not such a big deal) but because the reputation mages have with the locals. The common thief is considered more respectable.

From time to time, mages will engage in duels with one another, although usually this is a means of demonstrating power, which can then be traded. Occasionally, mages gather in a specific place (determined by the stars) and socialize, trade secrets, stories, hats and so forth. Mages will also come together in cases where a renowned magic user has come to harm. Especially loved magic users, or those well-known outside the magic world are avenged in ghastly ways rarely forgotten. For a few years after, mages will not be harassed as aggressively.

Unlike thieves, mages do have their own language, which is a pidgin mixing any local tongue they know with words from the Read Magic spell (the one spell all mages know, the nature of which is explained next post). They also communicate with secret symbols carved on trees, rocks and in mud.

More to come. (Honest, I’ve already written it!)

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Create Familiar – A B/X Spell

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What if familiars weren’t joined to mages but came from them instead? With this spell, the caster coughs up a familiar that is far more loyal than a rabbit, but at a much greater risk than the familiar spell I posted before. This is the “weirdness turned to 11″ version for WFRP, but you can of course use it in any retroclone.

Spawn Familiar

Level 2, M-U

Duration: Up to 1 day/level of caster

The chaotic forces a mage channels when casting spells make his body more pliable to his whims. When he casts this spell, various parts of his insides are sculpted by chaos into a small creature that separates from the body by budding or exiting it (your campaign’s tone can decide where). The caster may choose to donate a spell slot and spell that will “go” with the familiar and can be cast by it at his level.

The familiar will have the general shape and texture of one of the animal/organ pairs on the table below. This does not mean the mage is without any of the organ used–some of it has just been borrowed. The familiar has eyes, ears, mouth and so forth.

The creature has 1d3+1 hit points, which are subtracted from the caster’s total. Its saving throws are at the caster’s level. It can understand any orders given and knows the locations, people and things the caster has knowledge of. It can speak any language the caster knows and can read. It cannot communicate with the caster from afar, as more standard familiars can.

As mentioned above, the familiar can cast one spell if a slot if given it at the time of creation. Once it has cast its spell, it can put another spell of equal or lower level in that spot, provided the caster (or another mage) reads to it from a spell book or scroll. It can manipulate small objects and “carry” up to five pounds. It can write and imbibe potions. While it is away, the DM is in control of its actions and fate, although it will under no circumstances betray or abandon its master. When its mission is accomplished, or when the spell duration is almost up, it will rejoin the caster, who will get his hit points and spell slot back, and remember everything the familiar experienced as if it happened to him.

If the familiar is killed, the hit points the mage invested in it are lost. The spell slot can be recovered by the caster if he can find and eat the familiar’s corpse. If the familiar is unable to make it back to the caster in time, or is abandoned, it will stalk the caster and attempt to kill him. If it succeeds, or the caster dies for other reasons before it returns, the familiar will then eat the corpse and grow a full body (with its own twisted mind).

Mages 6th level and higher can control which creature results from the spell. If the spell is cast again before the first spell ends, or the familiar is lost, then the same familiar cannot be made.

Creature/Source Organs (roll 1d6)

  1. Frog-like – kidney
  2. Snake-like – intestine
  3. Spider-like – arteries, veins and part of the heart
  4. Bat-like – fatty tissue wings and muscle body
  5. Lungfish-like – lung
  6. Crab-like – bone
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Bind Familiar Spell for B/X and Retroclones

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A familiar spell for LL/ S&W / LotFP:WFRP / Basic & Expert D&D…

California Condor U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Bind Familiar

Level 1 M-U

Duration: Permanent

This is used to bind a creature to the caster. No creature will be bound willingly by this spell, for even the most domesticated animals will be afraid.

The kinds of creatures allowed will vary by campaign. What is important is to remember that the higher the HD of the creature, the more difficult it will be to keep bound.

Once a type of animal is agreed upon by both player and GM, a gift to the targeted creature must be made. The more exotic, wild or magical the creature is, the more costly and rare the tribute. Once the creature has been lured into the caster’s proximity, the spell is cast.

The targeted creature is allowed a saving throw, adjusted at +1 or -1 for each level/HD of difference between the HD of the creature and the caster. Thus, a 1HD Toothsome Bunny would be at a -3 save vs. spells against a level 4 mage. The HD of the creature is adjusted upward by one for each special attack or spell-like ability the creature has. If the creature saves, it immediately attacks the caster or runs.

If the creature fails its save, it is bound to the caster. The caster permanently sacrifices 2 HP for each HD of the familiar. These HP are permanently added to the new familiar’s total. Familiars take on some of their master’s personality and a bit of their intelligence, so they gain +2 to saving throws and will generally not be caught or harmed due to general animal ignorance.

A familiar can perform small tasks, such as carrying written messages, guarding spellbooks or “retrieving” items from other players. It can whisper information to its master and can be given simple commands, including commands to go places where its master has been or find people he knows.

It can telepathically send along what it sees, hears and smells and hears from up to 200 feet distant. Its master must concentrate to receive the message. It cannot receive telepathic commands or impressions.

Some familiars are willing to engage in combat, particularly wilder animals. When attacking much larger/powerful enemies, they must pass a loyalty check (see below).

No matter their intelligence, familiars can be trained to perform  tricks beyond what others of their species can learn.

Small familiars may be kept in the sleeves of a robe or under a hat. Others might require a cage or to be allowed to roam or fly freely.

If a familiar somehow ends up in combat against its master, it gets +4 to hit and does double damage.

Loyalty Check

Once per week, and in certain situations, familiars will make a loyalty check.  2d6 is rolled and modifiers are added or subtracted. The following table is then consulted.

Loyalty Check Result:

12+   The familiar is fanatically loyal (or powerfully bound) and would follow its master to the end of the world. Add +1 on next loyalty check.

10-11  Familiar is quite happy with (or resigned to) the relationship and will willingly do what it can, short of self-sacrifice.

7-9  Familiar is well-disposed toward (or afraid of) its master.

5-6   Familiar will do what it is told, although it may be stubborn or ornery about it.

3-4  Familiar is unwilling to do as told, but if threatened, will comply (although the job might not be thorough).

2  Familiar has disappeared for a week (at least). -1 to next loyalty Check

Below 2 Familiar will attempt to betray its master, get him killed or otherwise break free of magical bond (Choose one, make a saving throw vs. spells, no modifiers). Penalty of -2 on next loyalty check.

Familiars are best kept loyal through humane treatment and/or disciplined treatment. But because of the power of the binding spell, they are more easily swayed into loyalty by improved or more disciplined treatment.

A lap cat or a well-trained hellhound are equally loyal. Likewise, an animal kept in fear might remain loyal to a point. Level difference and other modifiers make the most difference.

The DM should of course determine which modifiers apply in each case and even which animals are effected by which sort of treatment. A cat, for example, might respond well to indulgence, whereas a horse might not.

Loyalty Roll modifiers

For Casters level – Familiar’s HD: + or – 1/2

Daily Training: +3

Stern but humane treatment: +3

Affectionate Treatment: +3

Inhumane or Cruel Treatment: -2

Well-fed by hand: +2

Given freedom to hunt and roam: +1

Per HP Damage taken in combat: -1/2

Per combat where familiar is attacked but not hit: -1

For each other familiar master has: -3

Per month left behind or with someone else: -1

Per day in extremely hostile climate or environment: -1

Per year with master: +1

This something I’m throwing out there for comment. I have no idea when I’ll be able to test it in a campaign. Probably 2011…

[Note: edited for typo and clarity.]

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