New D&D Chaos and Charm Spells

My husband (the wonderful and talented Dungeon Master) and I finally had a chance to finish some priest spells that I (and a few helpful friends) had been working on for ... geez, a few years at this point. My priest follows Hermes, that world's god of Messages and Mischief, so I've always been kind of irked that very few of the spells in the 2nd edition Player's Handbook actually fit his priesthood- he doesn't heal or fight or do anything particularly "useful"; instead he tends to function as a delivery boy with a side of druid and a bit of bard/rogue thrown in for good measure. A few of the animal spells work for the "Message" side (since animals can carry messages or give information), and the priests of Hermes do specialize in Charm magic (mind control? You betcha!), but otherwise there really wasn't much that fit the "Mischief" side of his duties. Not all priesthoods are boring, despite what you might think from reading through the yawn-inducing selection of priest spells.

So I decided to get creative. My goal was to create an entirely new sphere (a sphere is a branch of spells that all fit a theme) and call it Mischief, but one of the DMs on my DM's forum pointed out that in one of the extra D&D books there's a sphere called Chaos. Now THAT is what I'd been looking for! (This book also contained a sphere called Thought; this fills in the gaps for the "Message" side of my priest's order by giving him Telepathy and communication magic.) Now the new spells that I had been creating had a category!

So far we've come up with four new ones; three of which fit into the Chaos sphere and one that's a new, more general Charm spell.

Transmuting Tincture - Level 1
-Sphere: Chaos
-Range: 0
-Components: Material, Somatic
-Duration: 6 hours
-Casting Time: 1 round
-Area of Effect: caster
-Saving Throw: None

This spell enables the priest to change his or her appearance slightly, altering hair color, eye color, skin tone, or any combination of the three for the duration of the spell. Nothing else is changed other than coloration and it cannot be dispelled; it must wear off on its own.

When this spell is in effect, it stacks with a Disguise proficiency (required of this priesthood), improving that by 3. Since this spell cannot voluntarily be removed, if the priest should need to look like himself in that time frame, a Disguise check would have to be made. There is no saving throw for the spell itself, but if used with a disguise, then a roll must be made.

The somatic and material components of this spell are combined; the priest must draw a fake mustache on his finger in charcoal and bring it to his lip. Once the spell goes into effect, the charcoal drawing is erased.

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Snakes in the Backpack - Level 1
Sphere: Animal, Chaos, Summoning
Range: 30 yards
Components: Verbal, Material, Somatic
Duration: Special
Casting time: 1 round
Area of effect: 1 closeable object
Saving throw: None

The version of the spell depends on the words spoken by the priest at the time the spell is cast and the material used. The number of snakes and kind depend on level and/or alignment. The target for the spell is any type of closeable container (backpack, chest, basket with lid, etc).

If fake snakes are selected, for every 2 levels of the priest, 1d4 springy fake snakes leap out of the pouch, backpack or closeable container; these vanish after 1 round. If the priest chooses real snakes, this summons the same number of snakes of a chosen variety. These also pop out of the bag and have a chance of attacking the target (depending on the species of the snake summoned) before slithering away.

Summoning venomous snakes should be carefully considered by good-aligned priests. The snakes, live or fake, remain inert and immobile until the container is actually opened, at which point the real snakes spring to life.

For the real snakes option, the material component is a piece of snakeskin (of the type of snake being summoned) coiled up while casting the spell. For the fake snakes, a coiled spring is the material needed. These are expended when the spell is cast.

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Bogey Bombardier - Level 2
-Sphere: Plant, Chaos
-Range: 40ft
-Components: Material, Somatic
-Duration: 3d4 rounds
-Casting Time: 4
-Area of Effect: 1 creature/level
-Saving Throw: Negate

When this spell goes off, the priest is able to effect a number of creatures equal to his level. Creatures affected are entitled to a saving throw vs Spell; if they fail, they are coated in a sticky ooze that lasts for 3d4 rounds. This ooze slows them down, adding 5 to their initiative in battle. This also causes the creatures to become adhesive and any item in their hands at the time of the spell cannot be dropped for the duration. Once the spell expires, the ooze vanishes. (The ooze is like tree sap in composition.)

The material component for this spell is a red rubber nose that the priest puts on and honks once. This is not expended by use.

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Aura Mask - Level 3
-Sphere: Charm
-Range: touch
-Components: M, V, S
-Duration: 1 day/level
-Casting Time: 1 round
-Area of Effect: 1 cubic foot/level
-saving throw: Neg.

Unlike a somewhat similar wizard version of this spell, this one doesn't change the aura of an object, but instead influences the mind of the person focusing on the item. When a detection spell is cast, the Charm spell on the object causes the spellcaster testing it to believe the object is unmagical. Any person attempting to use magical means to determine if the object is magical must save vs Spell; success negates the spell's effect on that individual and they see the object as being the magical thing that it is.

The material component is a piece of wool passed over the object; this is expended when the spell is cast.

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I'll be working on more spells in the future; it's a lot of fun having ones that are actually relevant to this priesthood!

~Meri

Observations from outside the mines

May 17th, 708CC, 3rd day of Bleakmoon

As always, most of my narrative can be found over in this entry I just penned in our group's journal.

~I love that Ayman wanted to get in on the mischief in the halfling village; I'll have to remember that he enjoys a good practical joke- I'm sure I can use his help in the future. And speaking of mischief, who knew Linora is so afraid of fish? I always thought the ocean was full of random sea creatures, so surely she's come in contact with a live and wriggling one before? I suppose her shipmates just never pulled any pranks on her.

~I'm wondering about this amulet that's been talking to Dallas. If it really is Ayman's, we really should get rid of it as soon as possible since it does not sound like something we want near us.

~These randomly appearing and disappearing tattoos are not becoming any less disturbing. I really don't like things appearing on my skin and I'm not sure if I trust The Master. It was bad enough when we got the tattoos from Khrom-Vel; at least the dragon we know to be trustworthy!

~Speaking of dragons, I'm wondering which one that was we saw take out that army of strange creatures? It seemed to be on "our" side, but the enemy of our enemy doesn't necessarily make it our friend. I hope there are no more of those creatures, or if there are, my message gets to Logging Town (and noticed) in time for them to have fair warning. I wonder if those creatures had anything to do with the mines?

~And on the subject of the mines, I am so frustrated at my friends! Why, in the name of Hermes, would you run into a battle after the warning alarm has been sounded, when you know there are a lot of monsters in the area? Getting rid of them is all well and good, but not with that much risk! When a plan goes that belly-up, you should fall back and make a new one, not blindly go running into danger. I am glad SwampFox didn't go charging into that unnecessary fray; the group may have needed him to guard their backs as they limped away. It wouldn't surprise me if everyone is angry at me for not helping, but I am no fighter and had no fighting spells ready since I had been granted ones for our sneaky plan, not for a battle (not that my magic is particularly offensive to begin with...). Although, now that I think about it, what would have been useful would have been a lasso-type spell, so I could have dragged them from that insanity. And for that matter, it's one thing to go running into danger to rescue your friends from being kidnapped or from something not of their own doing; it's quite another to put yourself into a dire situation because of their own stupidity. Had the fighting gone on longer and things gotten much worse, though, I would have ran back (and sent a message ahead) to Logging Town to find some help in rescuing them. As it is, we're now short another druid...

Yet another out of character/in character letter

((I'll write a serious, in character post as Cyn soon, but right now I wanted to continue this silliness. ;) ))

To Meri, my annoying writer-
I see that I'm stuck being the comic relief of the party, which I guess is okay in principle since I do love mischief and fun, but you're taking it a bit too far. I mean, having me turn into a tree so that the rest of the party can hide under me to escape wyverns is fine, but letting the gnome girl climb me and hide in my hair… er… branches is embarrassing. And then you had me help clean the dragon's lair which was also fine, but you joke about me carrying a feather duster and wearing an apron, and how it looked so nice with my “dress” and accentuated my hips. It's a robe, for Hermes' sake! And then the DM joins in and mentions SwampFox wearing a French maid's costume, too! Fortunately, he didn't understand what you two were talking about, and I wasn't about to translate that insanity into orcish. Sheesh! I'm going to go hide in the cavern somewhere and see if I can be granted any spells that would work well against you; do you think "Summon Insects" or "Trip" could cross worlds to get there?

No love,
Cyneric Conroy, Order of the Fleet Fox

What indignity!

March 30, 708CC, 2nd day of Darkmoon

That racist, inconsiderate, narrow-minded hick of an innkeeper! How dare he deny service to SwampFox! It honestly took me a moment to realize what he was saying; I am unused to being denied service or lodgings (because who in their right mind would slight one of the few people who can be trusted to carry important messages and packages both quickly and safely?), so I just couldn't believe the gall of that man. Sure, Dallas was willing to lend SwampFox her disguise hat, but I most definitely did not want to give that fool any coin after that attitude he showed. When I finally regained my composure, I said a few indignant words and stormed out. The rest of the party were wonderful in following soon after.

I suppose this is something I should get used to, but we've been fortunate in staying either outdoors or in the establishments of people more willing to accept coin than to worry too much about the scruples they may have with other races.

Anyway, Ghost pointed out that she would spread the word in Joven and Woodland that a member of the Mercenaries' Guild was turned away in Montvale, so hopefully the innkeeper will reap what he sowed. And even if he doesn't lose custom that way, I got some instantaneous revenge in the form of "Summon Insects" cast on the inn. (No one degrades one of my close friends and gets away with it!) Perhaps next time he'll recall that Hermes is a Trickster as well as a Messenger, and that His followers can act accordingly.

I'm not really sure what SwampFox thought of all this; I think it was mild amusement that I felt such insult on his behalf, anger at being treated that way, and some pride in the fact that the party stood up for him. It's hard to tell what SwampFox feels, though; he never says much, even to me.