Last night I started to think about magic and spells which normal people (instead of adventurers) would like to know. Going through the lists in PHB, I came up with following list for spells I'd be having if all of a sudden I was transformed into level 20 sorcerer, with CHA 19 of course, and if material components were not a problem (rather hard to get eyelashes of rakshasa in real world...).
0:
Daze
Detect Poison
Light
Mage hand
Mending
Open/close
Prestidigation
Ray of frost
Resistance
1:
Charm person
Comprehend languages
Disguise self
Expeditious retreat
Unseen servant
2:
Bear's strength
Detect thoughts
Fox's Cunning
Invisibility
Knock
3:
Clairaudience/clairvoyance
Haste
Suggestion
Tongues
4:
Greater invisibility
Lesser geas
Locate creature
Scrying
5:
Dominate person
Fabricate
Telekinesis
Teleport
6:
Disintegrate
Legend lore
Suggestion, mass
7:
Greater teleport
Limited wish
Phase door
8:
Clone
Moment of prescience
Polymorph any subject
9:
Foresight
Time stop
Wish
Yup, I am a weasel and would make really lousy adventurer :)
Couple of spells like Clone are not that great as sorcerer spells but hey, if you need it even once, it is worth it. And choices in level 2 was rather hard, as all the stat boosts would be great...
And of course I made an assumption that I would be the only spellcaster in the world and would like to keep all the flashy effects down (that's why I dropped Mount from the list). And I don't really have a need to kill anyone, so no phantasmal killers...
You missed a few (imho):
Spider clib
Fly
Water Breathing
Passwall
Just a few off the top of my head =)
Silent Image
Blur
Blink
Mirror Image
Cat's Grace
Eagle's Bearing
all things polymorph
- Created spells
Forecast the market - see the performance of a single stock one week forward
Haggle - gets you a discount on any single purchase equal to 10% or half your ranks in diplomacy whichever is greater
Grrr - causes a single individual to feel remorse so intense it caause nausea and pain for one hour - and to rember with intenisty a sing action they have commited upon you that was annoying
Law Enforcement - make police notice and compels them to take action versus a driver that annoys you
Run the table - increases your luck at a card or dice game so that over the course of one huar you double the total amount of money wagered over the period
Sense Opportunity - allows you to find the perfect job opening for yourself or a person you have been in contact with in the last 24 hours - within 15 minutes of surfing the internet
Amoromancy - allows you to find a date who will think you are monumentally cool within 15 minutes of surfing the internet
Libromancy - allows you to touch a book and absorb the contents - the book can there after be quoted as if memorized - the text is understood at your level of intelligence/wisdom
Libromastery - as above but book is understood as if you took a full PhD level course specifically on that text and got an A
Librum Arcana - as above but in addition makes the connections between all knowledge you possess - granting you the equivalnt of +10 ranks of knowledge on the topic the book addresses - or in the case of literature htat level of knowledge specific to the genre of the book
Skill Spike - allows you to learn a musical instrument (or tool, or artistic technique) and become proficient within an hour
Expansion - makes the interior of a space larger than the exterior - mansions in closets, bags of holding, etc.
Back to work now -
Another modern spell I'd like to see:
Driver's Arcane Mark--if another driver put his arcane mark on your car, it means you're a total idiot driver. Once you've received five arcane marks, the police come and tow your car away.
Fly and passwall were seriously considered...the image spells would be interesting as would naturally all polymorph spells but I decided to go either for a simple change self or high level polymorph.
Eagle's splendour was a hard choice to drop. Blur, blink and spider climb are in my opinion too marginal spells to be interesting. And I probably would come to regret that omission of water breathing...
I would love to have those libromancy spells though for similar purposes I did include fox's cunning and moment of prescience. And I was seriously considering also bestow curse and contagion but my NG alignment stopped me...
Actually it was weird to notice that the most useful spells tended to crop up on levels 1 and 2, on higher levels the spells were much too battle-oriented to be interesting in real life.
Ars Magica has plenty of entertainingly mundane spells which of course anyone with any sense would come up with in real life...like spell to spread the pelvis of a woman giving birth. Or personal favorite, a spell to transform water into wine, with duration. In the morning, the wine turns back into water as do all the nasty hangover-causing chemicals...
... Blur, blink .. And I probably would come to regret that omission of water breathing...
Well I am a martial artist so blur and blink would rock - especially as techniques I could pass onto students.
Also blink lets you walk through walls.
Water breathing I would've added but was beaten to the punch - as a scuba diver - well diving is about as close to magic and adventure as one can get in the real world. I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to explore the worlds oceans in greater depth (pun intended) to say nothing of retreiving sunken pirate gold, and finding lost civilizations.
I have queried about that a couple different times.
It seems to me that magic that supported:
Agriculture
Husbandry
Engineering
Education
Medicine
Personal Growth
or enhanced
Sex
Perception (Drugs)
Music
Art
and especially War (as opposed to the limited personal combat of adventurer types)
would be much more common (in practice) than the kinds of spells typically seen in the game. There wasn't much interest in thte query - which is logical enough most gamers want to adventure not roleplay the application of mystic fertilizer, but I think those types of spells make a lot of sense in a world with magic - they also don't need to be cast in a fraction of a second - one could take minutes, hours, days to generate a desired magical effect, use cumbersome components, even multiple casters - that is really something to get your head around - spells with multiday casting, and whole choirs of casters raising their voices, over the sacrifice of hundreds of bulls to bring about a desired outcome - gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.
I even submitted an article a couple years back (still waiting for a reply) with littel magic items that say turned the water in a single glass into wine.
The problem with such things - is cost - even cantrip type magic items translate into big money (for a commoner). If you add a factor for longer casting times to mitigate this you can make them work but that is a pretty serios house rule.
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I would be happy with fly, teleport, and heal. Although dimension door might be fun.
Heal is for the altruistic side of me. The rest is so that I don't ever have to commute to work again.
(OK, throw in water breathing and feather fall. You just never know...)
(Hmm. And Endure Elements. Especially if it actually makes you feel comfortable even though its extremely hot or cold.)
Prestidigitation.
Ooh! Teleport would have been really useful back when I was commuting from Vallejo to Berkeley for an 8 am class!
I should think charm and dominate spells would be very handy, though perhaps ethically dubious. Who needs to kill 'em when you've got 'em wrapped around your little finger.
I was thinking that this thread was going to be more focused on the kinds of spells that mundane NPCs might use on a regular basis for their paying clients, etc.
In my homebrew I have a number of deities devoted to fertility and childbirth (typically a great concern for ordinary people in an age when heirs = social security for old age). They get spells like remove barrenness as domain spells. There are also two deities focused on vengeance. If you make a pact with a cleric of such a deity, she can cast a spell on you that gives you a number of powers to help you track down and slay your enemy, if you're willing to put up with geas-like side-effects if you decide to abandon pursuit. I've also developed an order of sea paladins who are sort of like the coast guard--they go around rescuing shipwrecked sailors and such, and have a number of spells (with names like buoyancy, shoring, lifeline, message in a bottle, and so forth) to duplicate what modern technology can do to rescue sailors in distress. It seems to me there are all kinds of areas like this in which people would develop magic, but the spells would not be very attractive to adventurers. However, if they exist, and players know about them, they can use them to great roleplaying effect. (Cure the baron's wife of her barrenness--oops very bad unintentional pun--and you've got an instant ally).
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i've gotta go for the druid spells here:
Plant Growth: healthy crops for almost half a small field? huge plantations unneccesary.
Wood Shape: why build a house/silo when you can grow it.
Awaken: arise my squirrel-ninja-army, arise!
Neutralize Poison/Resist Energy: smokejumpers friend!
Quench: 1 druid fire-brigade!
Control Winds: be Storm? ok.
Transmute Rock to Mud/vice versa: a couple of druids, and New Orleans has nice, new, sandstone levy-walls...in days, not years.
Wall of Stone. nuff said. combine with Stone Shape or the above 2 for even greater effect.
Whirlwind/Earthquake. cuz, sometimes, no means NO, STUPID!
and last but not least:
Shapechange. cuz its the best. and you can be a dragon.
-the hamster
Prestidigitation.
What she said.
I can guarantee you that there is no one in the real world that has more than 101 hp if one hit with a longsword is 1d8. ;)
Abstract concept, tho - doesn't mean exclusively drawing blood.
Power Word: Kill
Utterly untraceable by forensics and I can guarantee you that there is no one in the real world that has more than 101 hp if one hit with a longsword is 1d8. ;)
Remind me never to get on your bad side!
When I actually think about Power Word Kill it kind of freaks me out. It's a pretty horrifying concept.
I don't know... I'd be more worried about the guy who tears a hole in reality and calls forth an army of demons (Gate), or the one who can create a shimmering, impenetrable bubble of doom that blinds anybody who gets too close (Prismatic Sphere) than the one who can snuff out a single person's life with a word.
Relatively speaking, of course. ;)
C'mon you guys! All these are core rulebook spells. Think outside the box. It's fun in D&D and it would be fun in real life. Sniloc's Snowball Swarm!
I should think charm and dominate spells would be very handy, though perhaps ethically dubious. Who needs to kill 'em when you've got 'em wrapped around your little finger.
I was thinking that this thread was going to be more focused on the kinds of spells that mundane NPCs might use on a regular basis for their paying clients, etc.
In my homebrew I have a number of deities devoted to fertility and childbirth (typically a great concern for ordinary people in an age when heirs = social security for old age). They get spells like remove barrenness as domain spells. There are also two deities focused on vengeance. If you make a pact with a cleric of such a deity, she can cast a spell on you that gives you a number of powers to help you track down and slay your enemy, if you're willing to put up with geas-like side-effects if you decide to abandon pursuit. I've also developed an order of sea paladins who are sort of like the coast guard--they go around rescuing shipwrecked sailors and such, and have a number of spells (with names like buoyancy, shoring, lifeline, message in a bottle, and so forth) to duplicate what modern technology can do to rescue sailors in distress. It seems to me there are all kinds of areas like this in which people would develop magic, but the spells would not be very attractive to adventurers. However, if they exist, and players know about them, they can use them to great roleplaying effect. (Cure the baron's wife of her barrenness--oops very bad unintentional pun--and you've got an instant ally).
I vote for you as the guy on the board I would most want to game with.
All of your posts makes sense.
And it all seems to lead to a viable gaming world.
Not any chance you're are visiting Dubai is there?
Not any chance you're are visiting Dubai is there?
Or QATAR!
That goes for you too Kyr...you travel around the middle east on business....convinve your superiors you really need to go to Qatar to explore expansion opportunities!!Also anyone else on the boards is welcome to come visit....i'm desperate for people to game with lol...can you tell? =p
Be safe all
Thank you for the invite!
Luck me, my middle east travel is to Saudi!
Pretty much every week I get to leave Dubai to go to Riyadh.
I'm not sure who I offended or how but thats my deal.
I haven't made it to Qatar yet.
I have been to Oman a couple of times.
I hope your gig in Qatar is going well.
BTW I just finished a good book "Lord of the Fire Lands" the protagonists name was "Raider" (it makes sense in the book) In an event you are in good company (namewise)
I was thinking that this thread was going to be more focused on the kinds of spells that mundane NPCs might use on a regular basis for their paying clients, etc.
For those purposes, I would guess that from the sor/wiz PBH spell list mending would be among the more popular ones...easy and cheap which performs an important function. Continual light is probably another favorite...and if you hire a caster into your household, unseen servant and maybe detect poison (for all you paranoid royalty) would be required.
For the filthy rich, there is of course permanency...I didn't go to cleric/druid lists as there are plenty of obvious ones like every cure spell ever, create water, plant growth...though I must say that they tend to be somewhat limited on variety. They have plenty of spells which boost attack bonus or damage, which are pretty much useless in "normal" life. The direct damage spells and summonings are not particularly great either...
Dragon occasionally publishes articles on low-level spells (cantrips and 1st level) which fit into "useful magic". A simple issusion to make your clothes look nice or a cantrip to find things in your room...who here wouldn't want these spells?
While spontaneous casters like bards and sorcerers would generally avoid utility spells like the ones you described, I would guess that at least one or two mages have researched the topic so their spells should be somewhere written down. Just imagine the wizard's happy smile when after fighting dread dracolich he finds a thick grimoire...detailing housekeeping cantrips. Well, at least his beer will never go stale in the future. After all, weren't most mages supposed to spend majority of their time in their laboratories and libraries instead of dungeondelving?
And clerics should definitely have access to effects like these when they want to. Also I would guess that adepts, not being adventurous sort, will be concentrating mostly on utility spells instead of blasts and shields.
Most of the more useful spells tended to fit into illusion, charm and alteration school while many necromancy and summoning spells are specialized and funnily obscure. Of course that means that anyone who knows necromancy is suspicious...
Of course that means that anyone who knows necromancy is suspicious
Thats not really surprising though is it?
Thank you for the invite!
Luck me, my middle east travel is to Saudi!
Pretty much every week I get to leave Dubai to go to Riyadh.I'm not sure who I offended or how but thats my deal.
I haven't made it to Qatar yet.
I have been to Oman a couple of times.I hope your gig in Qatar is going well.
BTW I just finished a good book "Lord of the Fire Lands" the protagonists name was "Raider" (it makes sense in the book) In an event you are in good company (namewise)
Hey don't mention it bud...it goes without saying that if you are ever coming to Qatar please give me a shout. And thanks for the compliment =).
The same goes for any of you other cool cats on these boards...if I ever find out you were in Qatar and didn't look me up...there will be hell to pay =p...oh and Ultradan, whenever I get back to Montreal i'm definetly calling you up (that is if you give me the right number LOL).Be safe all.
Power Word: Kill
Utterly untraceable by forensics and I can guarantee you that there is no one in the real world that has more than 101 hp if one hit with a longsword is 1d8. ;)
Remind me never to get on your bad side!
When I actually think about Power Word Kill it kind of freaks me out. It's a pretty horrifying concept.
or wierd... or disintegrate... or finger of death... or wail of the banshee... or implosion (ewww...)
as "useful" real world spells Id agree with what others have said, add darkness as well
I vote for you as the guy on the board I would most want to game with.
All of your posts makes sense.
And it all seems to lead to a viable gaming world.
Not any chance you're are visiting Dubai is there?
Sorry--I've been there before (2 weeks fixing fuel tanks and lines at Dubai Drydocks in July, six months at Continental Marine in San Diego fixing the generator that burned up when its cooling system got plugged with plastic ventilation tubing that was dumped in the harbor instead of the dumpster by the yardbirds doing the work). Dubai is the nicest port in the Gulf, but that's not saying much. I feel your pain, but not enough to visit there. Good luck finding some gamers!
Thanks for the compliments, though, and if the Navy finds my name in an old file somewhere and activates me and packs me off to run sealift in Bahrain, I'll come look you up. Otherwise, you're certainly welcome at my game table if we ever find ourselves in the same part of the planet.
Ooh! Teleport would have been really useful back when I was commuting from Vallejo to Berkeley for an 8 am class!
Therein lies the problem. If teleport was actually used in rl to replace school buses, pretty much all children in Cnada would hate you! No more snow days ack!! LOL
Cast true res on this thread
Hehehehehe ah those snow days could be fun back in elementary and high school, of course they also clogged a lot of other traffic making it more likely parents would stay home and keep you busy with school work. Oh well
As far as spells that would be useful in real life, depending on the situation, summoning, dragon ally, planar ally and planar binding spells would be useful to bring in a biological construction, repair, or rescue team 9celestial or good or neutral aligned creatures only; fiendish or evil would cause too many problems. The small creatures could scout out a site of a building collapse or other disaster to locate survivors or could scout pipes and conduits in a standing structure to check for damage. The bigger creatures could lift debris out of a collapse area, or carry building supplies to a construction site. Help might not be over an overly long period but it would still be useful. As a note, what led me to think of this was seeing a bridge collapse in Montreal on the news this past week and realizing how frightening it would be for anyone who was nearby. So to all those who either read and/or post on these boards and either live or have friends or relatives living in or near Montreal, I hope all of you and your families and friends are safe and sound.
Cast true res on this thread
Hehehehehe ah those snow days could be fun back in elementary and high school, of course they also clogged a lot of other traffic making it more likely parents would stay home and keep you busy with school work. Oh well
As far as spells that would be useful in real life, depending on the situation, summoning, dragon ally, planar ally and planar binding spells would be useful to bring in a biological construction, repair, or rescue team 9celestial or good or neutral aligned creatures only; fiendish or evil would cause too many problems. The small creatures could scout out a site of a building collapse or other disaster to locate survivors or could scout pipes and conduits in a standing structure to check for damage. The bigger creatures could lift debris out of a collapse area, or carry building supplies to a construction site. Help might not be over an overly long period but it would still be useful. As a note, what led me to think of this was seeing a bridge collapse in Montreal on the news this past week and realizing how frightening it would be for anyone who was nearby. So to all those who either read and/or post on these boards and either live or have friends or relatives living in or near Montreal, I hope all of you and your families and friends are safe and sound.
Thanks Steve...although I am currently living in Doha, Qatar (Persian Gulf), I still have lots of friends in Montreal. Thankfully none of them were near that bridge when it collapsed (although there were 4 dead by the last count I heard). Tragic that these things happen on top of all the wars and natural disasters in the world!
Be safe all.