Monday 9 May 2022

Kazamaták és Kompániák - Spells for MUs and Elves

As promised way back, here are the spells in KéK available for Magic-Users and Elves (albeit in an abbreviated form).

1st level Elf and MU spells

  1. Burning Hands: caster's hands burn in a 120-degree arc up to 5 ft away, deals 2 hp/level damage, no save
  2. Charm Person: 30 ft, permanent, save vs spells or target humanoid falls under control of the caster, upon first request that is suicidal or goes completely against target's principles another save is permitted (but only once)
  3. Detect Magic: 60 ft, 2 turns, reveals whether a person, object, or location is enchanted/cursed (but not its nature)
  4. Hold Portal: 10 ft, 2d6 turns, keeps doors, gates, and other portals closed, Dispel Magic and Knock opens it instantly
  5. Floating Disc: 60 ft, 6 turns, summons invisible magical shield-sized platform that can carry up to 5000 coin-weight, follows the caster at their own speed (as soon as they move beyond 5 ft of it)
  6. Identify: 1 turn, reveals properties of magical items, but they must be worn or wielded (and thus potentially enacting curses)
  7. Light: 120 ft, 6+level turns, conjures light in a 30 ft radius, can be cast on an object or creature (save vs spells or blinded for duration)
  8. Magic Missile: 150 ft, shoots a magical dart for each odd level of the caster, always hits the target, deals 1d6+1 damage, each dart may have its own target
  9. Protection from Evil: 6 turns, keeps magical creatures at bay, provides +1 save against "evil" creatures and -1 on their attacks against the caster ("evil" means everyone with a different alignment)
  10. Read Languages: 2 turns, allows the caster to understand any text, symbol, coded message, etc. texts read this way can be freely read by the caster again in the future
  11. Read Magic: 1 turn, allows caster to read magical scriptures, scrolls, grimoires, etc. texts read this way can be freely read by the caster again in the future
  12. Repair: 30 ft, restores object to original state (worn clothes to new, dull blade to sharp, broken chain to whole, etc.), doesn't affect magical items
  13. Shield: 6 turns, summons an invisible shield between caster and opponents, provides AC 2 against ranged and AC 4 against melee attacks (neither armour nor Dexterity apply), blocks Magic Missile as well
  14. Sleep: 240 ft, 4d4 turns, 2d8 HD opponents (none having more than 4+1 HD) falls asleep, from lowest to highest, no save, must affect all rolled HD, but never the caster
  15. Unseen Servant: 30 ft, 6+level turns, summons invisible servant that can open doors, lift objects (up to 200 coin-weight), pull levers, etc. must stay within 30 ft of caster, can wield weapon (as a commoner) but a single hit dispels it
  16. Ventriloquism: 60 ft, 2 turns, caster's voice emanates from target place within range (adjacent room, statue, animal, etc.)
2nd level Elf and MU spells
  1. Arcane Lock: 10 ft, permanent, keeps doors, gates, and other portals locked, Knock counters it but only temporarily
  2. Continual Light: 120 ft, permanent, conjures light in a 60 ft radius, can be cast on an object or creature (save vs spells or blinded while the spell lasts)
  3. Detect Evil: 60 ft, 2 turns, sense evil intentions and items (note that poison itself is neither good nor evil)
  4. Extrasensory Perception: 60 ft, 12 turns, hear the thoughts of nearby creatures (penetrates up to 2 ft of stone, but lead blocks it)
  5. Fool's Gold: 10 ft, 3d6+level turns, bronze, brass, and copper items and coins seemingly turn to gold (1000 coin-weight per level), save vs spells to see through the sham
  6. Invisibility: 240 ft, caster or target creature or target object turns invisible (a light source can be turned invisible, but the light it emits remains visible), lasts until dispelled or the target attacks
  7. Knock: 60 ft, permanent, open locked doors, gates, chests, and discovered secret doors, counters Hold Portal, disables Arcane Lock (but only for 1d6 turns)
  8. Levitate: self, level+6 turns, allows floating but only vertically at 20 ft per round
  9. Locate Object: level × 10 + 60 ft, 2 turns, if sought object is within range direction is provided (but not distance), specific objects can only be found if their nature is known (i.e. if the caster can visualise it)
  10. Magic Mouth: 30 ft, target object stores a short message (up to 25 words) whose delivery can be programmed (e.g. when approached within 10 ft or when a Lawful creature enters the room, etc.), message is told through a mouth appearing on the surface (or its own mouth in case of statues and portraits)
  11. Mirror Image: 6 turns, creates 1d4 mirror images of the caster, no extra attakc or spells are gained this way, image dissipates upon one hit
  12. Phantasmal Force: 240 ft, creates vivid visual illusions as long as the caster concentrates, unless disbelieved it deals real damage, touching in disbelief dispels it
  13. See Invisibility: 10 ft per level, 6 turns, reveals invisible items and creatures
  14. Stinking Cloud: 30 ft, 1+level rounds, everyone within the cube (20 ft edges, placed anywhere within a range) feel ill and start vomiting (no actions, half movement rate), effects persist for 1 round after leaving the area
  15. Pyrotechnics: 240 ft, 6 turns, source of fire (such as a torch, fireplace, or bonfire) either produces flashing colourful lights that blind everyone within 120 ft or an inordinate amount of smoke (at least 20 ft × 20 ft × 20 ft), source goes out at the end of duration
  16. Web: 10 ft, 48 turns, creates a 10 ft × 10 ft × 10 ft spider web that is especially sticky, burns through in 2 rounds (but deals 1d6 damage per round to everyone within), escape takes time: 2 rounds for giants and such, 4 rounds with Gautnlets of Ogre Power, and 2d4 turns for average people
3rd level Elf and MU spells
  1. Breathe Water: 30 ft, 1 day, grants ability to breathe under water
  2. Dispel Magic: 120 ft, dispel spells or magical effects (does not affect magic items!)
  3. Enhanced Hearing: 12 turns, caster is able to hear everything within 60 ft (penetrates stone up to 2 ft, but any lead stops it)
  4. Explosive Runes: caster places magical runes on surface (scroll, book, wall, map, etc.) which explode when read (6d4+6 damage in 10-ft radius, save vs spells for half, except reader)
  5. Fireball: 240 ft, shoot fireball that explodes in 20-ft radius for caster's level d6 (save vs spells for half damage)
  6. Fly: caster or target touched gains ability to fly (120 ft per round or 360 ft per turn) for 1d6 + caster's level turns
  7. Haste: 240 ft, 3 turns, max 24 creatures in a 30-ft radius improve their movement rate as if one category less encumbered and attack twice (both with melee and ranged weapons)
  8. Hold Person: 120 ft, paralyse up to 4 people for caster's level + 6 turns (save vs spells), -2 to save if only a single target, affects all humanoids up to and including ogre size (but not the undead)
  9. Infravision: self, 1 day, see in complete darkness up to 60 ft away
  10. Invisibility, 10-ft radius: 120 ft, renders target and everyone within 10 ft of them invisible until dispelled or one of them attacks
  11. Know Languages: self, 1 turn, grants ability to understand and produce all languages whether spoken or written
  12. Lightning Bolt: 180 ft, shoots stroke of lightning 60-ft long and 7.5-ft wide, bouncing off hard surfaces until maximum distance is reached, deals caster's level d6 (save vs spells for half damage) each time it passes through a target
  13. Protection from Evil, 10-ft radius: same as Protection from Evil but it affects everyone within 10 ft of the caster and lasts for 12 turns
  14. Summon Monster: 10 ft, 1 turn, summons 2d4 creatures of 1 HD that obey the caster and fight until defeated
  15. Protection from Missiles: 30 ft, target is immune to normal and magical missiles of all kind for 12 turns
  16. Through Their Eyes: caster can see through another creature's eyes within 60 ft, can change target creature once every turn, lasts for 12 turns, target may be behind up to 2 ft of stone, but no lead

6 comments:

  1. Of all the retroclones and hacks I've seen, KéK is the one that comes the closest to the "ideal" version of D&D that I always wanted. Thanks a lot for your posts!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very good! I've been waiting for this article for a long time!

    Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excelent version of classic spells! I wonder why Clairvoyance and Clairaudience where replaced by the 2 new spells with similar effects.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! The name change in the English translation above is solely there to capture the Hungarian wording. In fact, Enhanced Hearing is practically the same as Clairaudience in OD&D.

      As for Clairvoyance, I don't have my B/X books around to check, but at least in OD&D, its description is rather lacking. We figured Through Their Eyes gives more concrete guidelines (basically relying on the "hardware" of another creature) so that it's easier to handle at the table. Also, it taps into the idea of wizards and witches having familiars and servants through whose eyes they can survey their territories — which I really like.

      Delete