Wizardry: Air Spells I

Wizardry: Air Spells I

Air Walk is actually a divine-only spell in D&D, but I think it makes sense as an arcane spell too. Since this is a very powerful effect with a long duration, I decided to increase the FP cost and make casting time long. By doing this, I also brought down the price to neat and round 20 and 35 points. Pentaphilia! Gaseous Form grants the subject a variant of the Body of Air meta-trait. Gust of Wind is a reworked Air Jet from Sorcery. Now it's not a jet, but a 1-yard-cone that uses the rules from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 4: Dragons. Finally, Wind Wall is a reworked variant of my Wall of Wind. Replaced Affliction that gives Blindness with Obscure Vision, and made it much cheaper.

Wizardry: Meta-Spells I

Wizardry: Meta-Spells I

Meta-spells are very important, as they often define what countermeasures to magic are available in the game world, and in general make magic much more interactive. Detect Magic from D&D 3.5 works significantly different from the one in Sorcery, as it is based strictly on vision, allows an analysis roll, and also allows detecting residual auras created by spells cast in the past. Thus, it basically combines the effects of the GURPS Detect Magic and Reconstruct Spell spells. Dispelling Touch isn't actually a D&D spell, but an ability of a certain monster from Monster Manual V. I wrote it up in the first post, but will repost it here for convenience. Dispel Magic is very similar to the GURPS one, but has a fixed area. I also increased the casting time and cost to bring down the full cost a bit. Still, quite expensive, but powerful. Identify requires an expensive material component and a lot of time (but not as much as the original D&D spell), but costs only 1 point. So, basically every wizard can have it in their spellbook. Antimagic Field is an expensive, but powerful spell that can shut down any spellcaster. I had to add Switchable, +100% to Static, even though you can switch this advantage off by switching to another spell in your alternative abilities array. Without Switchable, +100%, that'd be a point crock, I think.

Wizardry: Movement Spells I

Wizardry: Movement Spells I

Did you think that my previous post is merely a consolidation of rules? No, that was a start of another project of mine. One thing that the Sorcery book advocates for and that some GMs seem to ignore is that you have to curate your spell list. The GM must clearly define what spells are available in his game, and what spells are not. Otherwise, Sorcery really gets out of hand with its improvisation mechanics. I know that I bitch about RPM and magic-as-skills often (even though I still have a soft spot for the latter), but sorcery can be as abuseable as the other systems with a GM who doesn't limit the players. In the past, I did limit players to spells from my blog, but I still had to do some oversight, because I wouldn't allow many of the spells that I have here. Now, I'm going to create a grimoire of wizardly spells for my setting, taking into account the new system's limitations and interaction between the spells. This is the perfect time to rebalance some spells with different casting times, costs, durations, and components, and even include some countermeasures. For example, do you remember that lead blocks most divination spells in D&D? I'm definitely going to include things like that here.

    While I'm not satisfied with D&D as a system, its assortment of spells is a treasure trove of ideas. For starters, I will go through the D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook, convert all the spells I want to wizardry, and add some spells from GURPS Magic to patch up the holes. You know that D&D is mostly combat-oriented, so GURPS Magic spells would be a great addition to create a more believable and worldly spell grimoire. Overall, while the entire sorcery conversion thing was both "for me" and "for others," this project is mostly "for me," but if anyone will find it useful, then that's great, isn't it?

    I already went through the book and assigned all the spells to different GURPS magic colleges, and let's start by converting some movement spells.

Introduction to Wizardry

Introduction to Wizardry

What is this? If you're here, then you probably aware of my collection of Sorcery spells, but those are very generic. Sorcery is a generic adaptation of the non-generic GURPS Magic. Remember that the book tells you to make every spell cost 1 FP and take one second to cast? All spells work the same, have the same internal structure, mechanics, requirements, etc. On one hand, it's lame, as everything feels the same, but on the other hand, it's good - you have a list of generic spells that you can use as a base to make them less generic. In my opinion, one shouldn't simply "use Sorcery." It's merely a framework, and a framework that is based on GURPS Magic at that, trying to be both generic and not generic at the same time.

    Remember D&D? There are many spellcasting classes, flavorful casting traditions, etc. but they all work more or less the same. Wizards get their power through intense study, sorcerers have innate magical powers. Why do they use the same spells? How come innate powers are the same as arcane formulae from dusty tomes? To me, it never made sense. Fortunately, I'm playing GURPS now, and I can make different spellcasters actually different. A learned wizard can cast arcane spells via gestures and incantations, while a sorcerer more-or-less simply has access to a power (in the GURPS Powers sense) that, while more flexible in terms of abilities, has a narrower scope.

Monsters: Devils VII

Monsters: Devils VII

At last, I'm done with devils! This post details the three pre-3e devils. There are some new and actually interesting devils in D&D 4e, but that's something for another time. It's time to pat myself on the back and switch to a more interesting project.

Monsters: Canomorphs

Monsters: Canomorphs

Canomorphs are fiendish hounds (hell hounds, shadow mastiffs, and vorrs) who learned to assume a humanoid form.

Monsters: Imps II

Monsters: Imps II

While the first Monster Manual only has one imp type, Fiend Folio introduces three more, and I managed to find two more in sources from other editions.

Monsters: Devils VI

Monsters: Devils VI

Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine didn't really have many new devils, surprisingly - only two and a half (I don't think Canian pit hound should even count, as it is an advanced hell hound).

Monsters: Monster Manual V Devils

Monsters: Monster Manual V Devils

I want to finish converting the D&D devils (there's probably going to be four more posts after this one), because I have another, more interesting project in mind.

Monsters: Devils V

Monsters: Devils V

Even more devils from Fiendish Codex II and other sources.

Monsters: Devils IV

Monsters: Devils IV

More devils from Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells.

Monster: Vaati

 Monster: Vaati

The D&D multiverse has a long history, and some ancient events might have affected all worlds regardless of the campaign setting in question. For example, most of you probably know about the Blood War – the endless war between demons and devils that is usually contained to the Lower Planes, but sometimes spills over to other planes, including the Material one. But the Blood War is merely a continuation of a much more ancient conflict. Forces of chaos and law were at war in the Age before Ages, when mortal life was barely a thing. The forces of chaos were led by the Queen of Chaos, an obyrith demon lord, and Miska the Wolf-Spider, her demon lord consort. The forces of law were led by the vaati, also known as the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. These beings of elemental air managed to expand their empire and conquer all the elemental planes and many planets on the Material plane. Eventually, they managed to turn the war into a stalemate, and then uneasy peace, despite that bringing their empire to ruin; the balance was sort of restored, but the demons and devils kept fighting – that’s how the Blood War started.

Monsters: Miscellaneous Diabolic Monsters

Monsters: Miscellaneous Diabolic Monsters

There are some D&D monsters that live in Baator, but are not baatezu. Fiendish Codex II still classifies them as devils (even though, in the case of the rejkar, Monster Manual III explicitly says that they are not devils), so let's get them out of the way.

Sorcery: Winged Folk Spells

Sorcery: Winged Folk Spells

Man, it's been a while since I made any sorcery spell! As you know, GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk came out recently, and it's pretty good, I recommend you buy it (and Pyramid #3-14 to complement it). The magical styles of the winged folk feature three two new spells. Earthbind paralyzes the subject's wings. I already had a spell with that name, so I renamed the old one to Maw of the Earth. Flock of Ravens creates an illusion around the subject that makes it difficult to see and hit. Wrath of the Gods is identical to Lethal Lightning to GURPS Magic: Death Spells.

Monsters: Devils III

Monsters: Devils III

Interestingly enough, D&D has many more demon varieties than devils. Perhaps, it has something to do with Abyss being infinite and Baator not.

Monsters: Fensir

Monsters: Fensir

Fensirs, or Ysgardian trolls, are extraplanar giants from Fiend Folio. Female fensir can undergo a transformation into a ravenous rakka that devours everything in sight.

Monsters: Nerra

Monsters: Nerra

The nerra appeared in Fiend Folio for D&D 3.5. I really like the concept of these extraplanar mirror-people, and in GURPS their racial abilities are more fun. I used these monsters in D&D, but not in GURPS yet.

Monsters: Fiend Folio Giants

Monsters: Fiend Folio Giants

Fiend Folio for D&D 3.5 has two new giants - bog giant and shadow giant. I've never used them, but I find the concept of the shadow giants pretty interesting.