Results 31 to 59 of 59
Thread: Weird old D&D spells
-
2011-07-03, 11:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
- Location
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Another one that I don't think made the transition to 3.x, but had entertaining possibilities, was Miscast Magic. It was a cleric spell that could only be cast on a wizard - if the wizard failed the save, the next spell he cast was randomly selected from all spells he had ready of the same level as the one he meant to cast, but the target remained the same. So the target of a Fireball might become the target of Fly, or vice versa.
Not as out there as some of them, but definitely amusing.
-
2011-07-04, 04:15 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Location
- Euphonistan
- Gender
-
2011-07-04, 04:51 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
- Location
- NJ
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
There was one spell that turned clouds into a sky boat.
There was one spacial spell that turned two locations a long way apart into one location making for easy travel without teleporting
And don't get me started on the Wild Magic school. Horung's Guess (useless, most DM's voulenteer this information anyways) to Horung's Random Dispatcher (totally awesome)
-
2011-07-05, 11:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Oh yeah, that's "send an enemy to a randomly selected outer plane", isn't it?
Wild Mage also had the gem of There/Not There mentioned earlier in this thread, as well as Nahal's Reckless Dweomer (roll 1d100 on this table and see what happens, with much bigger tables found on the web), and Chaos Shield (redirect any missile attack to a random creature within 30 feet or so).
Frankly I love that class when I'm the DM. When I'm a player and someone else is playing one, I love them quite a bit less That's mostly because every spell had a 5% chance of triggering a roll on that 1d100 table, and of course our party wild mage casting Silence did trigger the "very loud Ghost Sound" effect...Guide to the Magus, the Pathfinder Gish class.
"I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums. I'm not joking one bit. I would buy the hell out of that." -- ChubbyRain
Crystal Shard Studios - Freeware games designed by Kurald and others!
-
2011-07-05, 12:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
It's one of my favorites, too. It kinda came over to 3rd with Zone of Silence but not quite...
-
2011-07-05, 01:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
- Location
- Fort Wayne
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
and then there was that spell that allowed you to TRY to cast any spell you had in your spellbook, but it was automatically a Wild Surge...what was the name of that spell...dang don't remember but it was awesome. I played a Wild Mage that memorized that in every slot, every day*. WILD SURGES FOR EVERYONE!!
*give me a break I was like 13 at the time, rolling on charts was fun. DM hated it and eventually just made it whatever spell I wanted too cast. yeah for being a sorcorer lol
-
2011-07-05, 03:21 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
Re: Weird old D&D spells
A friend of mine contributed to the the Great Net Spellbook back in 1989 (Hi Shailar!)
Some of the spells are simple, some are way out there. All of them were for AD&D, which is your chosen setting.
I'm glad to see that a copy is still out there 2 decades later.
-
2011-07-05, 03:38 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
I actually have a copy of that from my last DM, who kinda ran a D&D 2.5 game with 2nd Ed throwbacks all over the place. One of the spellbooks my wizard for that game got had some spells from that and they were indeed rather weird and kinda vary in quality. YMMV, obviously.
-
2011-07-07, 09:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2007
- Location
- Canberra, Australia
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Nope, you can do it with the modify memory spell. Catch is, if the implanted memory is too far fetched it will be dismissed as a bad dream.
Some of the spells in 2nd edition were pretty brutal in terms of side effects or casting requirements. Identify took 8 hours to cast, had only 10% chance per level (maximum of 90%) then require 8 more hours of rest to recover from temporary CON damage.
The haste spell ages everyone affected by it by one year.
The restoration spell doesn't recover all XP lost and ages both the caster and recipient by 2 years.
-
2011-07-08, 04:06 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
- Location
- NJ
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Yeah, aging from casting spells was awful. It was to prevent players from using unlimited wishes. but a lich could cast that **** all day.
-
2011-07-14, 08:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Location
- Odenton, MD
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
The 2e Tome of Magic had a very fun cleric spell in the chaos sphere called Random Causality.
It is basically cast on a weapon and whenever that weapon strikes it damages a random companion of the wielder instead of the intended target.
-
2011-07-16, 10:56 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Central Minnesota
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
I am so surprised at the whole lot of you! Not one of you mentioned the various pun spells you can find in things like the old Spell Compendium series, or the goofy half spells you can find in Tome of Levity (it's a little paperback).
For example, you can have endless fun with your player by giving them various Fireball spells on scrolls, like:
Firebawl: Summons a depressed fire elemental that bawls uncontrollably, showering all in the target area with fiery tears.
Fire Ball: Teleports target to the Plane of Elemental Fire where they must complete an entire ballroom dance whilst on fire.
Firebowl: Summons a big old ball of fire with 3 little holes for the caster's fingers, which knocks down and sets on fire anyone hit with it, but the caster must roll the ball into the targets.
See what I mean? I once used a cursed magic item, it was simply a barrel that glowed magically. When one of the players insisted in sticking his head inside, he immediately turned into a white ape, and then hundreds of little white monkeys popped out of the barrel one by one. It was "A Barrel of Monkeys."
And the fun to be had from the various Encyclopedia Magica volumes was hysterical. I think there was an enchanted teddy bear that was guaranteed to protect you from spells which affected one's sleep, but you had to hug it all night long to get the benefits.
I gave it to the dwarven Battlerager....
-
2011-07-16, 01:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
Re: Weird old D&D spells
I remember the Arrow of Sleighing... it's an arrow that turns into a sleigh when shot, and deals quite a lot of bludgeoning damage.
And of course the Ring of Spell "Turning", which when activated goes T-U-R-N-I-N-G...
And let's not forget the Lesser Ring of Invisibility, that when worn, turns itself invisible. No, not the wearer, itself...Guide to the Magus, the Pathfinder Gish class.
"I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums. I'm not joking one bit. I would buy the hell out of that." -- ChubbyRain
Crystal Shard Studios - Freeware games designed by Kurald and others!
-
2011-07-16, 02:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Central Minnesota
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
The Hammer of Dwarven Throwing, which when said dwarf tries to throw it, it throws the dwarf! Heck, you could have all cursed items go bad but in a funny way if you wanted...
-
2011-07-17, 09:23 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
Re: Weird old D&D spells
The Mirror of Sophistication would cause any woman looking into it to grow a thick, luxurious beard.
And of course, Saxon Violins are never found in D&D. (try saying that out loud).A System-Independent Creative Community:
Strolen's Citadel
-
2011-07-17, 10:41 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Central Minnesota
- Gender
-
2011-07-17, 10:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2008
- Location
- Chicago
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
-
2011-07-18, 06:29 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Yeah, you really need to pickup the old Tome of Magic for AD&D. Technically, 2e can be played with only the trio but in practicality, you really wanted Tome of Magic....a fair number of latter 2e books assumed you had access to it (Player's options, the Faith & Avatars series...)
-
2011-07-18, 08:32 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Central Minnesota
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Dude, speaking as a guy who experienced it, Skills & Powers sucked rocks. Twink city. If you want something like that book, go grab Pathfinder instead. The Magic book of the series rocked, though.
-
2011-07-19, 09:10 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
I really liked Dig and sorely missed its passing in later editions. Can be used to bypass layered dungeons! Also a good explanation of how to build dungeons cheaply.
Pages from the Mages was a great source of weird and wonderful, rarely seen spells, some useful, some not. Things like Skyhook spring to mind. "With this spell, the mage creates a solid hook of force invisible to all but the caster at a desired location. The hook need not be attached to anything, and indeed is usually created in midair over a pit or chasm, but it remains absolutely immobile. Creatures can hang on to it, ropes be tied to or hooked over it, and so on. It supports up to 30 tons of weight. [...]"
Also Ray of Ondovir "[...] An affected creature exactly repeats the actions it took in the preceding round. Thus, if it took two steps forward and
one step left in the previous round, it would take two steps forward and one step left in the current round. The repeated actions are carried out even if they force the affected creature into an obstacle, over a cliff, or into a chasm. [...] "
-
2011-07-21, 05:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2005
- Location
- Seattle, WA
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Nahal's Reckless Dweomer!!!
I played a wild mage, too. I didn't (usually) have more than 2 slots--usually 1--devoted to that spell, but it was in there. As a general rule, my character tended to keep it as a last-resort kind of thing...unless he got angry, in which case he tended to haul it out due to his first ever casting of it returning the result "Spell functions at 2x the power" and thus creating a precedent of it being at least possible to REALLY blow the stuffing out of someone.
The rest of the party did not like to hear that the wild mage was "almost out of spells."
And then there was the time I tried to cast a Lance of Disruption and got something like "spell functions continuously for 10 rounds." I was knocked unconscious during the same round, so there was an unconscious wild mage with a 60' long, 5' wide lance of sonic force sticking out of his hand for the rest of the battle.Author of Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure, a comedic fantasy novel set in a version of our world where reality TV show heroes slay actual monsters and the Greek gods have their own Twitter feeds!
Now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!
~ ~ ~
Twitter: @TheWriteMunzspace My Blog: GeekNotesspa!
-
2011-07-21, 06:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Central Minnesota
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Yeah, I recall some of those goofy cursed magic items from the Encyclopedia. "Omlet of the Planes", The Yo Yo of Fate...and let's not forget "The Mini Onions of Set".
Oh, and check out that silly Tome of Levity paperback. It even has "Summon Gamemaster" for crying out loud...Last edited by Jeebers; 2011-07-21 at 06:57 PM.
-
2012-02-05, 07:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Old thread is dead.
Last edited by Wings of Peace; 2012-02-05 at 07:40 PM.
Doc Roc: We're going to eat ourselves.
-
2012-02-05, 10:34 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- North Jersey
- Gender
-
2012-02-06, 04:33 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Location
- Dallas, TX
- Gender
Re: Weird old D&D spells
In Original D&D, some spells could be cast in reversible form by reciting it backwards. That how you changed Turn Mud to Stone into Turn Stone to Mud. Attacked by poisonous snakes, my roommate recited Turn Sticks to Snakes backwards.
Here's the closest equivalent I know:
In the game Toon, if your character attempts to do anything clearly impossible (an elephant tries to run through a mousehole), you roll against his Smarts. If you fail the roll, he can do it.
-
2012-02-14, 03:38 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
-
2014-02-25, 08:55 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2014
Re: Weird old D&D spells
just came across this post. Don't know if you are still looking for weird spells, but I have a Kender Wildmage that loves to use the following spell from the Great Net Spellbook:
Legolath’s Weird Wildball (Invocation/Evocation, Wild
Magic)
Range: 10 yards + 10 yards per level
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Instantaneous
Casting Time: 3
Area of Effect: 20-foot radius
Saving Throw: ½
Legolath’s weird wildball is identical to a fireball in all respects, except
that the elemental type it is based on is different with each casting.
Those creatures that are particularly susceptible to the various
elemental types take double damage; normal damage if they make
their saving throw — those that are particularly resistant take half
damage, none if the saving throw is successful (unless the monster
description suggests another method for handling attacks like this).
Roll on the following table for elemental type. Remember to roll for
a wild surge besides any strange effects that may happen due to this
spell.
For the wildball’s results, roll on the following table:
D20 Roll Wildball Result
1 Fire.
2 Magma (use only half the # of dice, but the magma
sticks: each round it does one less die of damage
until it is at 0) — this is nasty versus things that
don’t like fire or heat, taking an extra hit point of
damage each round.
3 Earth (-1 to all dice of damage, but it also knocks
the victim prone: must spend next round getting
up and re-oriented) — nasty versus air elemental
creatures.
4 Ooze (victim cannot breathe normally the next
round, not harmful but prevents spellcasting that
requires verbal components) — only particularly
nasty versus breathing creatures (this is not a
double damage case. Like many of the others this
will generally only affect creatures that breathe but
does not do double damage).
5 Water (use only half the number of dice, the victim
is drenched afterwards if he fails his saving throw:
watch those paper items) — again, only particularly
nasty versus breathing or fire-based creatures
(imagine casting it at people in a pit and getting
this) — this is a double damage case, versus fire.
6 Ice (normal damage, but of course the specifics will
differ) — nasty versus things that don’t like cold.
7 Air (use only half the number of dice, victim is
knocked prone and must spend next round getting
up and re-oriented) — nasty versus earth elemental
creatures.
8 Smoke (no damage, but it is hard to breathe: −2 to
attack and damage, spells with verbal components
have 30% chance to fail — the smoke stays in the
area like a stinking cloud, 1 round per level) — only
nasty versus breathing creatures, really.
9 Radiance (not as hot as fire, it does only 1 point of
damage per level of the caster — those that save
are outlined as by a faerie fire, those that do not are
blinded as by a light spell) — nasty versus sighted
creatures.
10 Ash (not as hot as fire, it does only 1 point of
damage per level of the caster — same affect as
smoke otherwise but only for that round and the
next — the ash falls off) — nasty versus breathing
creatures (fire elementals take normal damage as
their very fabric is weakened by exposure to this,
1% chance per 5 levels of the caster that the
elemental will be drained 1 HD).
11 Minerals (normal damage, all metallic weapons and
armour are raised by +1 for 1 turn by the
temporary exposure to the pure element).
12 Dust (does only 1 point of damage per caster level,
all metallic weapons and armour are drained by −1
for 1 turn by the temporary exposure to this plane,
also affects as smoke for the remainder of this
round) — nasty versus breathing creatures (earth
elementals take normal damage, as their very fabric
is weakened by exposure to this, 1% chance per 5
levels of the caster that the elemental will be
drained 1 HD).
13 Steam (−1 to all dice of damage, the victim is
drenched afterwards if he fails his saving throw,
but in this case the residual heat makes it evaporate
quick).
14 Salt (use only half the number of dice, all liquid
items on the victim must save whether he does or
not or be dried up) — nasty versus water-based
and moist creatures (especially amphibians) (water
elementals take normal damage as their very fabric
is weakened by exposure to this, 1% chance per 5
levels of the caster that the elemental will be
drained 1 HD).
15 Lightning (does normal damage).
16 Vacuum (does half damage) — nasty versus
breathing creatures, others still take damage
because of the slap when the air rushes back in (air
elementals take normal damage as their very fabric
is weakened by exposure to this, 1% chance per 5
levels of the caster that the elemental will be
drained 1 HD).
17 Positive Energy (heals the amount of damage
rolled) — hit points can go to up to twice the
maximum (temporary gain, 1 turn, damage comes
from these hit points first), but if the victim exceeds
this he explodes.
18 Negative Energy (does double damage to all but
undead, save for only "normal" damage) — if
victim is slain by this he turns into a free-willed
ju-ju zombie with 3+12 HD.
19 Roll again ignoring 19’s and 20’s — the spell effect
takes a 10-foot radius (not 20-foot) on victim and
caster — both suffer only half damage.
20 Spell affects random person (if cast on a person) or
object (if cast on an object) within 50 yards of the
caster (roll again to determine exactly what kind it
is, ignoring 19’s and 20’s).
The material component is a wonderstone (a stone of many colours
all mixed together, probably sedimentary, and not really all that
wonderful).
-
2014-02-25, 10:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Weird old D&D spells
I remember the druid spell combination: Wall of Thorns (creates a wall of wooden vegetation that does ungodly amounts of damage to everyone who passes through it), plus Turn Wood (makes all wood in the direction you're facing move away from you at rapid speed). Lethal combo.
Another good druid spell for abuse was the first level Plant Growth. Go read the spell description. Now consider what happens if you cast that on - a humble potato.
Edit: another spell that had a quite unintended consequence was Polymorph Self. "When you turn back into your own form" (it said somewhere), "you can heal 1d12 damage on yourself". But there's nothing to indicate that this ends the spell - you can go on changing forms, as much as you like until the duration expires. So, for the price of one 4th level magic-user spell (one that was pretty damn' useful in itself), a MU could also completely heal him/herself.Last edited by veti; 2014-02-25 at 11:34 PM.
"None of us likes to be hated, none of us likes to be shunned. A natural result of these conditions is, that we consciously or unconsciously pay more attention to tuning our opinions to our neighbor’s pitch and preserving his approval than we do to examining the opinions searchingly and seeing to it that they are right and sound." - Mark Twain
-
2014-02-26, 12:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
Re: Weird old D&D spells
Unearthed Arcana had a neat little spell that I like: Ceremony. Basically, it allowed a cleric or druid (both got it with variations) that allowed them to preform little rituals that would be important in a culture, like laying the dead to rest, consecrating ground, preforming marriages, helping with a coming of age ceremony, and quite a bit more. It was a nice reminder that your gallivanting cleric or druid wasn't just an adventurer, you were a priest, part of a community and social structure. Quite a bit of of Wu Jen spells in 1st edition Oriental Adventures were like that as well.