What are some spells that might not be regularly useful to an adventurer, but probably would exist in a place like Golarion?
I’ll go first
I can think of a bunch of different spells related to pregnancy/childbirth. Here are some examples:
Artificial insemination; contraception cantrip (24h duration?); safe abortion; way to monitor fetal health; safe delivery with painkiller (I think we can do better than CLW, such as with a cantrip for cheap potions); something that makes breastfeeding easier (ideally for the next week or something); better paternity test
Ferment liquor, sanitize (for sickrooms), purify metal, find ore, bless crops, repel pests, (un)luck of the road, project voice. A few quick thoughts.
Prestidigitation can already be used to clean a surface, so sanitize is not really needed. Plant Growth has an enrichment option so Bless Plants is also not needed. Repel Vermin is already a spell. Detect Metal might be able to find ore. Fabricate could be used to transform raw ore into a more refined state and to ferment liquor. Ventriloquism already exists.
Not sure what (un)luck of the road would do but there is probably a spell for that as well.
|
What are some spells that might not be regularly useful to an adventurer, but probably would exist in a place like Golarion?
I’ll go first
I can think of a bunch of different spells related to pregnancy/childbirth. Here are some examples:
Artificial insemination; contraception cantrip (24h duration?); safe abortion; way to monitor fetal health; safe delivery with painkiller (I think we can do better than CLW, such as with a cantrip for cheap potions); something that makes breastfeeding easier (ideally for the next week or something); better paternity test
Thoughts on some contraception magic below!
A version of Aid that is explicitly for childbirth (longer duration, requires casters touch/concentration making it not useful for combat) or even a version of Shield Other that is designed to allow a partner to share the pain of someone giving birth (which I'd imagine would be super-popular in Nidal, where the men are *jealous* of their wives getting to 'enjoy this sacred experience' of childbirth and want to share the pain!) could be interesting.
A cantrip to determine who is related to whom by blood would be a great divination tool! So much more reliable than 'wait, why are these kids blonde, I thought all the Barathians were brunettes?' :)
Ferment liquor, sanitize (for sickrooms), purify metal, find ore, bless crops, repel pests, (un)luck of the road, project voice. A few quick thoughts.
I like most of these, and have some thoughts on sanitize and repel pests. Project voice sounds like a fun low level evocation cantrip, to allow one to be heard at much greater distances (and not via illusion magic).
Since Prestidigitation can only sanitize/clean a 1 cubic foot surface or item at a time, a larger area effecting specialized cantrip would be cool.
And it would fit the theme of necromancy. A Sanitize Area cantrip could affect a 10' square area, causing all within to feel a sudden chill and creatures taking 1 hit point of nonlethal negative energy damage as the wave of energy kills and sterilizes all microorganisms that aren't already 'safe' within another organism (so no curing people of diseases for cheap, or making someone sick by killing their gut bacteria, anymore than you could use a 'destroy water' type spell to destroy the water inside someone's cells).
Similar creative uses of necromancy;
Contraception. A wave of negative energy specifically targeted inside a person requires touch, a full round action (making it not terribly useful in combat) and causes 1 hit point of nonlethal damage and sickness for 1 round, but kills reproductive cells in a living creature. If the gamer wants to get all science-y, it could last 5d6 days for a woman (or be 'timed' along with her cycles for a 30 day ish maximum duration), or 5d6 *hours* for a man (who replace their losses faster), or it could just be *magic!* and last 30 days for everyone! (Or perhaps only a 1st level version lasts for 30 days, and a cantrip version only lasts a week, meaning that most people likely can only afford the weekly contraceptive magic.)
Pest Control. A standing wave of negative energy in a 10' area causes creatures entering it to feel a slight chill and distinctly unwelcome. Fine vermin in particular, the sorts of creatures that are too small to generally have hit points, refuses to enter such an area, as it engages their 'threat' response. If brought into such an area, they flee as fast as possible. Larger creatures just feel uneasy, but plant growth is mercifully not affected, making it useful for crops, as well as homes and businesses. The effect only lasts 24 hours as a cantrip.
Each School could have their own special cantrips.
Abjuration;
Cook's Helper. This spell renders a small object, such as a pan, not only slightly fire resistant (fire resistance 3), but causes heat to flow through and around it, so that it conducts heat far more efficiently than a standard pot or pan of it's composition. A cook inexperienced with such a heat-conducting pan will A) burn the heck out of their hand using it and B) burn the heck out of their food as it cooks faster on the hotter surface! Great for grilling surfaces and charring or searing things quickly.
Enduring Trance. You enter a trance that is disrupted by any other spellcasting, but during which you can sleep or perform other light activity (not combat!). When in this trance, you, and only you, have the effects of endure elements, but must choose when you begin weather you are going to acclimatize to cold or heat.
A cantrip to make an item weatherproof or waterproof? To heck with the powder, keep those *spellbooks* dry, people!
Conjuration
You Know What Would be Handy to Have? Conjures to hand a small thing from the core rulebook's equipment list, which cannot be expendable, too expensive, too heavy, masterwork, alive!, or made of special materials. Just some cheap tool or item that would be handy to have, right at this moment, up to a crowbar or hemp rope. Lasts for up to 10 minutes, but can't have more than one conjured item in existence at a time, and it is obviously fake and can't be sold (not that anything expensive can be made anyway).
Divination
Counting Beans. This cantrip counts all of a named thing that fits within a 1 cubic foot square. All coins, for example, although it would take three castings to tell how many coins of copper, of silver, and of gold, there are in a mixed grouping, and the cantrip is hopeless at determining if a coin is counterfeit.
Take Your Measure. This cantrip determines the exact weight, height, mass or volume of a thing or substance within close range. It can also be used to determine the distance or velocity of an item within long range. It cannot identify anything that the caster cannot, and will be fooled by any illusion that fools the caster, and so cannot be used to tell that a 180 lb. hag is not the 105 lb. waif she appears to be, for instance.
Evocation
Flash-Freeze. This cantrip inflicts 1 hit point worth of cold damage to a nonliving item or substance up to 10 lbs.as a full round action by touch. Food or liquids are frozen solid, and remain so until they thaw naturally.
Cook. This cantrip takes anywhere from a full round to a minute, depending on the desired level of cooking (and requires a Profession (cook) check to do anything fancy), and uses heat (but creates no visible flame) to heat and sear enough food or liquid to serve up to 1 person per caster level.
The aforementioned voice amplifying cantrip, useful for actors, politicians, lawyers, gladiators, battlefield commanders, etc.
Illusion
Bauble. This cantrip attaches a fine-sized persistent silent image to a physical item, usually a locket, cameo or 'gnomish memorial charm/crystal,' and used most commonly to create a miniscule non-moving illusion of a loved one's face, or a teeny little nature scene. Moving versions, or versions that include sound, can be created as an enchanted item, but cost more (and require a 1st level spell). Optional for the wee figure to say, 'Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.' Why yes, this tiny bauble could serve as an adventure seed, I'm glad you noticed! (While the image is persistent, it's super easy to dispel, and destroying the fine bauble also destroys the image.)
Transmutation
Gather. All loose tiny or smaller unattended objects of a specific named sort within a 10' area gather together into a neat pile. Great way to pull together dropped or spilled items, or even clean the floor by pulling all the dirt or dust into a pile for ease of removal. Useless on liquids. Has an effective strength of 1 (which means it will gather a maximum of 10 lbs. worth of loose material), and objects gathered move at only a speed of 5', so an item that is pinned under a heavier item, for instance, will remain where it is.
|
|
Ooh, I forgot Enchantment!
Tickle Clam. This cantrip, a favorite among sea elves and merfolk, allows the caster to stroke a clam or oyster and cause it to open up, allowing them to search it to see if it contains a pearl, remove said pearl, or implant a 'seed' that will later become a pearl. This spell has no components that cannot be used underwater, and only requires one hand to use (but does require a 10 gp. pearl as a focus component, which is not expended upon casting).
None of this barbaric 'pry it open with a knife and traumatize the poor beastie!' nonsense in magical Golarion!
'Send Letter'
All the long-ranged communications methods are basically terrible. Just let me send someone a letter. Doesn't even need to be fast.
|
|
'Send Letter'
All the long-ranged communications methods are basically terrible. Just let me send someone a letter. Doesn't even need to be fast.
A flavorful spell might be one that has the spellcaster write a note to someone, then fold it into an origami bird or butterfly, and it then flies to the recipient. A mages academy might even have a 'paper garden' full of flitting paper butterflies and hummingbirds visiting various fragrant paper flowers, that any mage can use to send a note to any other mage within the academy, as the papers flitter to the hand of someone who reaches for one, and then flitters to whomever they write a message to, wait until 'dismissed' by the recipient and the erase themselves and return to the garden (unless the recipient quickly pens a return note on them!). That would look super elegant for a Tien magical school, in particular (although one that used tiny carved figurines that run to deliver things, in the Magaambya, could be neat as well, stats for tiny animated objects for these occasionally cute, occasionally creepy looking nkisi figures or carved ivory tupilak used by snowcaster elves or whatnot). At the Acadamae in Korvosa, they just use imps. Boring. Also, not always the best idea, as bored imps sometimes alter or misdeliver messages (or share their contents with someone who ranks higher than you on their infernal heirarchy)...
A more practical one might be for a large manor or castle, and consist of a bellpull in each room that is magically connected to a bell in the servants quarters, which has a row of such bells, all marked in different colors or with different sigils, so that those in the rooms can quickly tell which room is 'calling' for them.
Or a magically enhanced version of the speaking tubes sometimes seen in old pulps, only glamered up to magnify the voice of the speaker, and perhaps even connecting distant parts of a keep, or even the walls of a city (looong thin brass pipes connecting distant areas), so that someone in the central guard keep can pick the right tube and give instructions to (or receive verbal reports from) guards or soldiers halfway across town.
|
|
An evil aligned GM spell that blocks all access to boards.
A curse that makes someone overconfident and unwilling to ask for directions or accept help, not benefitting from the Aid Other action, or gaining flanking bonuses, and even attempting to save against beneficial spells, like cures.
The afflicted can be easily recognized, as most of them are wandering around lost, angrily insisting, "I know exactly where we are, and I don't need to ask for directions, Sheila!"
It should also work fine to prevent folks from going to message boards to seek out build advice or recommendations. :)
An evil aligned GM spell that blocks all access to boards.A curse that makes ...
casting OMG Felicia:Ench2 is as common as MurderHobo:Ench1, Powergamer:evoK1, or Summon Greater Munchkin:Conj0 from the Annoyance Subdomain.
A spell to remove the daily chore of shaving. Men (and some women) spend so much of their lives getting smooth, clean-shaven skin. In AD&D 2nd Edition, the cantrips were shorten growth and hairy (its reverse). In Pathfinder you get depilate, which isn't shaving, it's making hair fall out in unattractive clumps.
This makes a lot of sense. I know I'd use such a spell, especially if it was permanent.
Skype
School: Divination
Sorcerer/Wizard 2
Other classes probably
Focus: two halves of a ring or other piece of jewelry worth 100GP or more, only one of which needs to be in the spellcaster's possession
Duration: 1 minute/level
Save: Will negates (Harmless)
Effect: The paired piece of jewelry begins to vibrate loudly. Anyone holding it can willingly accept the spell's effect. If they do, each half of the piece of jewelry projects an illusory image of the person holding the other half. The caster and recipient's speech and movements are reproduced, allowing them to talk with one another for the duration of the spell. The illusory images are 1/10th the size of the actual people involved
Skype, Greater
Sorcerer/Wizard 4
Duration: 10 minutes/level
As above, except the noted duration. Additionally, the illusory images are full size, and they can reproduce smell and thermal effects as Major Image.
Symbol of head explosion. It's X over 0 as a fraction. Possibly level 9 or epic.
Comprehend math sounds different from comprehend languages. As far as I know, languages are a human invention used to communicate about the world, entirely invented. In contrast, math, in a sense, already exists. So when you cast comprehend math, how much of that infinite range of possible maths do you grasp?
Unreal numbers are imaginary. Real numbers can be represented by real things. You can have 1 apple. You can dig a hole 2 feet deep giving you a hole -2 feet above ground. But an apple divided zero times cannot exist in this world.
Yes, as an unreal number you can have X/0 going downward from the number line. Mathematically you can depict it. Even in a simulation, like Pathfinder, you would have to go to a chaotic outer plane and be merging apples. One apple divided by one is also one apple left alone.