Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Book of the White Cat

[A compact volume of spells and cryptic notations on the construction of mageries, the Book of the White Cat is small enough in size to be cradled comfortably in the crook of an arm. The Book's pages are of creamy parchment edged in gold, its contents scribed in a sure and delicate hand in black and cinnabar inks; the covers are of dense oak overlain with immaculately clean white velvet. And -- over the velvet -- is stitched, edged in golden thread, what seems to be the pelt of a small white cat, with its tail dangling free from the spine of the Book. The "bones" inside the tail are of silver, however, and the tail serves as a magery that will contain one spell level per day when life energy is given to power it.]


Veil of Mist
Level: M1
Range: 0
Duration: 2 turns
Effect: Magical field absorbs energy

Casting this spell cloaks the magic-user in a protective sheath of magical force. This ward may take on any form -- a pearly mist, orbiting plates of milky crystal, a barely-perceptible green glow -- and will absorb 2-5 hit points of elementally- or magically-inflicted damage before dissipating.


Senseglyph
Level: M1
Range: 60'
Duration: 4 hours
Effect: A single warding rune

Casting this spell places the glyph for "watchfulness" anywhere within the spell's radius. This glyph is normally silvery but may be rendered visible only to the magic-user if so desired when the spell is cast. For the duration of senseglyph, if a creature passes within 5' of the glyph the magic-user is alerted to the activity; the glyph does not identify the type of creature, or its intent.


Winter's Talons
Level: M1
Range: 60'
Duration: 10 rounds
Effect: Grasping spars of ice injure and confine

Casting this spell at a target coats its lower body in bitterly cold ice, freezing it in place and injuring the flesh. The target takes 1-3 hit points of damage and is immobilized for the spell's duration unless they can break free; a successful Strength check will enable escape in 2-4 rounds, and strong creatures break free in 1-2 rounds. Application of flames will free the target but also inflict appropriate damage.


The Fire Rose
Level: M1
Range: 0
Duration: 4 turns
Effect: A flower-like sphere of flame

Casting the fire rose conjures to the magic-user's hand a rippling, twisting sphere of flickering fire that resembles a stylized rose of flame. The magic-user may elect to use the fire rose as a melee weapon (as a dagger, with +1 to to-hit and damage rolls), or release it as a single-use projectile with a range of 60', 1-6 hit points damage and a +3 bonus to hit.


Pale Winds Gifting
Level: M2
Range: touch
Duration: permanent
Effect: Sacrifice lifeforce for healing another

A rare curative trick in the magic-user's arsenal, this spell allows the caster to give up their own lifeforce for others. For every hit point sacrificed by the caster, the recipient is healed two hit points. This spell's dweomer resists being cheated; if a clerical healing spell is applied to the caster to heal the sacrificed hit points, it is only half as effective.


Storm of Doves
Level: M2
Range: 120'
Duration: 1 round
Effect: Creates doves of lightning

Storm of doves creates a flock of fluttering birds of crackling electricity that swarm all within a 15' radius of the spell's point of origin. The doves inflict 2-8 hit points of damage, and victims must save vs. paralyzation or be stunned for one round.



White Queen Tail: The tail dangling from the Book of the White Cat functions as a low-powered, universal magery that requires lifeforce in order to function. Every day a single spell level may be created and stored within the Tail by sacrificing two hit points which may not be healed that day; the Tail will hold no more than that single spell level at a time, which may be tapped when the owner of the Tail wishes in order to cast any single first level spell currently available to the owner.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice. Does anyone know who created the book and spells?

David The Archmage said...

Very cool. I think that Winters Talons might be a bit strong for a 1st level spell.

taichara said...

@seaofstarsrpg:

There are stories that it belonged to Tambiya, a magic-user who took on the shape of a golden-furred cuon ("jackal-man") and haunted the trade routes of the Shining Sands. Others claim it belonged to one of the kings of Peribast, which would make the Book centuries old.

(I knew I forgot something ...)


@David:

Thank ye kindly :3

Being a scaled-back version of web with an easier escape and shorter duration, though a bit of damage, winter's talons works for our games -- being able to still act, just not move from one spot, makes it more tolerable.

That said, feel free to adjust to taste X3

David The Archmage said...

Ahh! I hadn't realized that it was a spell that you've used in game! I also hadn't really considered it in light of Web. In that light I can see it being more balanced than I had originally thought.

taichara said...

@David:

*grins* Some version of this spell -- or one like it with different visuals -- manages to crawl its way into every iteration of D&D we experiment with ~

Iirc the first inspiration was a backfired casting of web that caught most of the party, come to think.

Jeff Rients said...

Hey, taichara. I want to use some of your spells in a book. Shoot me an email at jrients at the gmail to the dot com if you are at all interested.

satyre said...

Great spells and love the idea of the tail on the book.

Altaf Khan said...

good.....






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Alex Schroeder said...

I think I'll make this book part of a treasure next session. We have a new 1st level wizard in the party.