Showing posts with label summons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summons. Show all posts

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Musical Magical (OSR Secret Jackalope 2020)

Spell rituals

An ancient spellbook has been uncovered, containing these secret rites. 

The Forest Witch by Stu Harrington


You Spin Me Round

Cover a spinning top with the ashes from a burned wheel, write the words PRITTU VANAM on your palm, and then spin the top upon it. So long as you keep it spun, all who can clearly see its spin are forced to pirouette.


Take Me to Church

Select a shrine or temple and take the branch from a tree near it (if there are none anywhere nearby, a handful of grass may still work). Then, obtain an eyelash from a true believer. When you need to return there, hold the branch aloft and entreat the god to return you to safety. The branch will burn in holy light, and you will be brought there in only a minute by a similar divine glow.


Kill V Maim

Weave grass from your hometown into a small pad, and mix together dirt from a robbed grave, spittle from a panicking goat, and the crushed body of an insect that has killed a human into ink. With this ink, write out your name and the letters E V N X T I N on the pad, and place it under your clothes. For the next week, if you are wounded by blows while bearing this pad, your foe will be struck down on the spot.


Megitsune

Craft a fine mask of clay or another brittle material (clay is simply the most easily reached choice I know of). The mask should depict your own face in a visage of deepest sorrow, and be inscribed along the rim with IV NATAS MIM RETO KALIN. Shattering this mask against your face summons the pure maiden Megitsune, a fox spirit in the form of a young girl who is kind and knows the deepest regret of everyone whose eyes she meets. She will use this knowledge to achieve her (and your) ends, but is not all knowing.

Crying Spirit by Leon Ropeter


Absolute Territory

This spell can be cast with a skirt or cloak. Create a patch woven with an eyelash that has not been wished upon, and dyed with wine that has been shared. Sew the patch to the inside of the garment while describing the most beautiful sights you have seen. When you flip up the inside to reveal the patch, it will start to shine brightly and everyone within five meters as well as anyone who approaches to that close will be enthralled for up to a minute by what they see.


Wonderland

Mix together rust shavings, a stranger's blood, the wings of a butterfly, and spoiled milk in a pot of oil. Say the magic words YARUNE TOLSS REWEK and anoint it upon yourself or another. Until the sun sets, this oil will permeate the outer clothing and badly sting the skin of any fairie who touches it. There are other recipes to ward against other spirits and supernatural monsters, but all I know of them is that the incantation is the same.


Untouched

Take the bone which has never touched human skin from a large beast (a dog or larger). The spell may only work if thick gloves are worn by the caster when handling this bone. The bone must be painted or dyed black and you must incant NATARES. As soon as this is said, the bone will appear to all as whatever object they most desire at that moment, until it melts away into ink at sunset. Some may react unusually to this sight.

Magic wand of peace by Victor Duarte


I Can't Fix You

Forge a bell from bronze that was once a sword. I believe the sword must have seen battle, but cannot be sure. Carve the words NORU SIVIM somewhere on it. If it is rung over a wounded foe while they sleep, the magic words will burn a hole in the bell and the wounds they bear will become cursed to never heal by any natural or medicinal means.


Wandering

Make a candle using the fat of a lost sheep for the tallow and cotton from a field you have never seen before as the wick. Burn it while chanting the words TUMUN SHAMA VIDEH until you have a handful of molten wax. Throw this wax upon someone and they will seem to disappear, while they are forced to wander through the halls of an empty palace full of stairs and balconies, trapped until they say the words "I'm free!"

Summoning by Olivier Hennart

Mr. Blue Sky

Make a circle with a three-pointed star holding at each point amethyst, quartz, and hematite respectively. Meditating in the center of this circle for an hour under uninterrupted sunlight shall summon Mr. Blue, a small fae man with skin fittingly the color of a clear summer sky, who will stay to aid you until the sun reaches the same spot in the sky the next day. His gaze can quell unbound power; raging fire, torrential flow, or frenzying elementals for example.

Created as part of the OSR Discord server Secret Jackalope 2020! The prompt for an ancient spellbook full of spells named after songs comes courtesy of Stefan "The Moth," who blogs at Verbum Ex Nihilo. This prompt caught me somewhat off guard, but I took it as an opportunity to start writing spell rituals which will be a component of my next RPG project. Ultimately, it all kind of worked out just right.

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Monster generators

Some monster generating buttons, simple but fun random monsters. The elemental one indicates a broad sense of how powerful it is, but you should feel free to modify any and all details to suit your needs.

Chimera, or just a very general animal hybrid monster generator


The Roam - Semargl, Pilgrim's Companion by Timur Kvasov

Elemental


Token - Elemental by Svetlin Velinov

Aberration, alien, outsider, or any other bizarre creatures when you really want something freaky. In my game system these are conjured by the Summoner.



Ancient by Ryan Barry

These generators were made using Spwack's 'Automatic List to HTML Translator - Version 2' on Meandering Banter. Check it out and make your own magic buttons right here: https://meanderingbanter.blogspot.com/2018/10/automatic-list-to-html-translator-v2.html

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Magic user classes

Magic users may select an object in their possession as a magic focus. With a focus in contact, all magical techniques take one round to perform unless otherwise noted. If the focus is lost or destroyed, a new one can be assigned through a week long, arduous but not challenging process. Without a focus, magical techniques can be performed outside of combat with a ritual that takes one minute to complete.

Druid

Grow useful plants whenever needed, eschewing metal items.
  • Stat bonus: +1 ration per inventory slot per level
  • Starting items: cudgel, druidic passphrase, pouch of common seeds from your homeland
  • Skill: cook, survivalist, or builder
Level 1: bramble, naturalist
Level 2: vine, botanium
Level 3: heartfruit
Level 4: arbory, wither
  • Bramble: throw down a handful of bush seeds and cause them to grow immediately. They require a decent amount of dirt and form a sturdy but not fully rigid barrier. Fruit bushes can provide 1 ration, but plants created with these magics produce no seeds.
  • Naturalist: none of these powers can be used while you knowingly touch metal, or until the next new moon after. You and your companions (not including vehicles) are impossible to track through natural terrain by any normal means.
  • Vine: cast vine seeds which grow up to ten meters instantly, across any solid surface. Can be used to climb walls, destroy weak structures, or immobilize an enemy until they succeed a strength test or are freed.
  • Botanium: one per day, you can put any magical plant under your control with a touch. This lasts one hour, and they can remember what happened but may be understanding.
  • Heartfruit: call upon the providence of nature to grow a plant which can bear healing fruit. It grows after a month of care, from then on producing a new fruit one week after harvesting. The fruit has dark red juices and tastes salty, fully restoring vigor or healing one wound.
  • Arbory: once per day plant a tree seed, causing it to grow swiftly and irresistibly up to twenty meters. Requires plenty of soil, and fruit trees can provide 1d6 rations.
  • Wither: once per day, you can cause any normal plant to wither up and die with a touch. Deals a wound to plant creatures.

Witch

Gain the forms of animals and their natural talents, forgoing metal items.
  • Stat bonus: +1 stealth in wilderness per level
  • Starting items: broomstick, journal, stone axe
  • Skill: butcher, cook, or politician
Level 1: wild shape, blessing
Level 2: mode of the swift, natural aspect
Level 3: cast of sky
Level 4: dominant will, beastly form
  • Wild shape: become an animal at will, gaining its physical attributes but becoming unable to use normal items, techniques, or magic. You can take the form of any animal you have been turned into by magic, as well as an antelope or wolf. If you knowingly touch metal, these abilities are lost until the next full moon.
  • Blessing: perform a ritual to gain the forms of wild animals by putting your hand over their eyes for ten seconds. Only works on nonmagical animals, no larger than twice your size or smaller than half, and grants you their form whether by friendship or force.
  • Mode of the swift: gain the forms of a fox and cobra.
  • Natural aspect: partially transform, gaining one conspicuous attribute from the animal form while still being able to use your normal equipment and abilities.
  • Cast of sky: gain the form of an owl or similar sized bird (at GM discretion).
  • Dominant will: with a touch, impell your will upon a nonmagical beast once per day, forcing it to obey a single word command along with pointing. Cannot be used on a beast again if your command caused harm.
  • Beastly form: gain the forms of a shark and tiger.

Summoner

Call upon alien entities and unleash them.
  • Stat bonus: +1 skill slot every two levels
  • Starting items: whip, ritual mask, chalk
  • Skill: navigator, linguist, or tailor
Level 1: summon entity
Level 2: alien contact
Level 3: alien mind, twin passages
Level 4: stable conduit
  • Summon entity: once per day you can conjure an alien presence into your realm, to act for six rounds plus your will bonus (or sixty seconds +10 per will bonus). Every level, the summoner can call upon an entity one additional time per day and gain access to a new entity, generated by the GM or rolled from a list the GM has prepared. If you find a summon scroll, you can discern the nature of the entities, and permanently learn to summon one.
  • Alien contact: once per summon, you may roll a magic check to give your entity a one-word command that it must obey, along with necessary gestures. For example, you command it to 'kill' and point at a creature.
  • Alien mind: once per day, make a magic check to give your entity a single complex order that it must try its best to carry out. For example: you command it to lift a portcullis and prevent non-allies from passing by.
  • Twin passages: up to two entities can be summoned simultaneously.
  • Stable conduit: once per day, summon an entity for one hour plus one minute per will bonus.

Illusionist

Conjure illusions which can be manipulated in many ways.
  • Stat bonus: +1 speed per level to maintain distance
  • Starting items: fine clothes, copper mirror, whip
  • Skill: writer, engineer, or painter
Level 1: minor illusion, duplicate
Level 2: shroud, quasitangible
Level 3: lifesize
Level 4: dualize, unreality
  • Minor illusion: create an illusion of a common handheld object that you are familiar with. When someone first sees an illusion and each time they see it do the impossible, they make a will save to see through it. By focusing, you can see through illusions you know of as if they were transparent. You can maintain one illusion at a time, and it disappears if your concentration breaks.
  • Duplicate: make an illusory copy of a particular object you have with you, or have had time to examine outside of combat.
  • Shroud: by touching a target, you may cover it with an illusion of similar size. For example, you could disguise a sword as a broom, or make a bag of gold appear as an apple.
  • Quasitangible: your illusions are solid and tangible to anyone who does not know their true nature. You always know that your illusions are false.
  • Lifesize: create illusions up to the size of a person.
  • Dualize: you can maintain two illusions at once, but only so long as you do nothing else.
  • Unreality: if you can imagine it, you can create it, up to the size of a house. Your illusions can break the laws of physics without allowing a new save from viewers, unless it fails to affect the environment in ways it should. For example, if you make a figure of lightning walk through dry grass without burning it, a new save would be allowed.

Necromancer

Resurrect and control undead as minions or tools.
  • Stat bonus: -1 vigor, +1 magic per level
  • Starting items: shovel, dagger, coffin
  • Skill: apothecary, surgeon, or historian
Level 1: corpus
Level 2: spiritus, vitae
Level 3: quietus
Level 4: animus
  • Corpus: resurrect a dead person as a wight, so long as they have been dead for less than one week. It will retain any class techniques and physical abilities from life, not including magic. If you raise a wight while you still have one, the old one will crumble into dust.
  • Spiritus: give life to the bones of a person who has been dead for less than a week, raising them as a skeleton with normal skeleton attributes, totally loyal to you. Command up to one skeleton at level 2, three at level 3, and five at level 4 without them going wild and attacking everything.
  • Vitae: touch an undead creature and drain vital essence from it, lowering its vigor and raising yours by 2d6. If you roll higher than its current total, you completely absorb it.
  • Quietus: touch any dead flesh and preserve it from all natural forms of decay. This does not require a thinking being or even a complete body, but only one continuous piece of animal flesh can be preserved at a time. This cannot be used again on the same flesh.
  • Animus: within any container crafted of bone, you can hold a dead person's soul. Only thinking creatures have a soul, and it must be captured within one hour of death. The soul contains all their memories, personality, and magical aptitude, but can do nothing aside from speaking when captured. You can place a soul within your wight, which will grant it all of the soul's traits and no longer count as your captured soul, but will also make it no longer obedient, and the soul cannot be re-captured when the wight dies.

Sorcerer

Redirect elemental forces.
  • Stat bonus: +1 speed per level when retreating
  • Starting items: arming sword, robes, alchemical battery (one charge)
  • Skill: alchemist, brawler, or politician
Level 1: channel, elemental channels
Level 2: warp, infuse
Level 3: twin channel
Level 4: redirect, transmogrify
  • Channel: when in contact with a visible amount of water, oil, fire, or lightning, you can channel it into a 10 meter line. While channeling, you take no damage from ice, fire, or lightning for the round.
  • Elemental channels: each day, you have a number of channels equal to your sorcerer level. Channeling water or oil deals 1d6 damage and soaks everything along the line. Channeling ice, fire, or lightning deals 2d6 damage, fire can ignite the target, and lightning can paralyze them.
  • Warp: alter your elemental blasts to take different shapes. New forms can be created at GM discretion, and any number can be combined, but each additional warp consumes one additional channel.*
  • Infuse: absorb up to a person-sized amount of any element into your body, to be channeled at a later time. Requires at least a cup of water or oil, a torch worth of flame, or any electrical charge greater than a static shock. Only one infusion can be held at a time.
  • Twin channel: when touching enough of more than one element, both can be channeled at once and aimed at separate targets, consuming three channels.
  • Redirect: if struck by elemental attacks, you can negate one and channel it in the next round without spending any channels, but losing your infusion if you have one. If a sorcerer targets you and also has this ability, the one who rolls higher damage or spends the most channels wins.
  • Transmogrify: when touching two elements at once, you can expend two channels to convert them both into any other element and channel that. Infusions can be expended for this, but not gained.
*some possible warps: a bend in the line, allowing it to hit around corners. A single-target projectile that can hit up to 30 meters, but only one target. A wide burst that hits everyone in melee.

These are the core magic classes for my game. It's possible more will be added, but they'll more likely be put in my 'advanced magic' folder which may or may not ever see use.
Some magic plants to start you out: http://wordsforyellow.blogspot.com/2019/09/magic-plants.html
General animal stats: http://wordsforyellow.blogspot.com/2019/09/stats-for-some-common-animals.html
Summon entities: http://wordsforyellow.blogspot.com/2018/09/aberrant-summon-generator.html
Undead attributes and worldbuilding: http://wordsforyellow.blogspot.com/2019/09/undead-stats-and-attributes.html
Elemental generator: http://wordsforyellow.blogspot.com/2019/04/elementals-generator.html

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Autobiomancy

This strange and terrifying art entails the practitioner seeming to summon her own organs and bodily parts as twisted monsters to fight or act on her behalf. The power held by these organ-creatures varies, but the autobiomancer is left without the use of whichever part she has summoned until it is dismissed. Most often this is used with the hands, an eye, or occasionally the entire skin, though there is a legend of a summoner sacrificing her life and summoning her very heart to wreak havoc.

Examples
Fingernails- summoned as a dagger.
Eyeball- capable of rolling, can still see through it. About the size of a melon.
Hand- can crawl and tackle people. About the size of a dog.