Thursday 4 October 2012

Folio Spells: Multifarious Mandaglore

Like I said ... to hell with simplicity, here's the first of my purposefully baroque spells.

The Multifarious Mandaglore is no doubt the most well-known remnant of the fad for multiple-use spells among the wizards of some eight hundred years ago. Its promise was great, but exceeded by an even weightier set of limitations. It may be learned at the fifth caster level, being itself of the third rank, and belongs largely to the Blue School of Creation but with infiltrations from other disciplines.
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When the Mandaglore is cast, the wizard's own right hand is augmented by six small luminous objects that magically adhere to the fingers and palm. Once each object is used, it disappears. The spell is not considered spent until all six objects have been put to use and disappeared; until that time, it occupies a slot in the caster's memory, preventing re-memorization or replacement with a new spell.


Key (Little finger): Will fit any normal lock. Disappears when used to open a lock.


Bell (Ring finger): Mark a spot on the ground; the bell will ring, then disappear, when a living being not known to the caster passes over that spot.The bell disappears in any case when six hours have passed after the marking.

Sun (Middle finger): This creates a magical light at the caster's fingertip when activated, similar to a light spell, that disappears after six hours, or exposure to the light of the actual sun.


Starry Messenger (Index finger): The caster points at a visible star in the night sky and whispers a message of nineteen words or fewer. The next caster who uses the Mandaglore's Starry Messenger to point at that star anywhere in the world, instead of sending a message, will hear the first message. Depending on the frequency of this spell in the world there is a 2 to 10% chance that any arbitrarily chosen star will already have a message on it, which may be improvised to the DM's taste. Astronomical lore and a system of claims to particular stars were, in past epochs, very helpful in working out a useful system of communication.


Fool's Crown (Thumb): Can be ordered to expand and land without error on the head of a being within 30.' It stays on for six rounds, causing 1 hit point damage per round, and temporary reduction to 6 INT and 6 WIS from headaches (the stats return at 1 point per round). Cannot be cast without a victim.


Poisson Brûlant (Palm): When the hand is immersed in a quantity of water no smaller than ten gallons, the flaming fish will swim out into it and move at the caster's command within the caster's visual range, causing the water to boil in a 20 foot radius around it and doing 1d6 damage per round to creatures within.

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