spell effect survey
August 8th, 2005
(Yet another repost from notes archived elsewhere. I originally put this on my personal blog in August of ‘05.)
The following is a continual survey that I am conducting of all magical effects that I have seen implemented in pen and paper rpg’s. The point here is to condense them into their barest forms and thus be able to categorize specific spells into individual categories - and to use the list as a sort of checklist when designing other magic systems.
affect metal - magnetism, rust
affect plants - growth, decay/rot, bless crops, alter the properties of fruit
affect stone - make hills/tunnels, sculpture, shift between mud/sand/clay/etc
affect water - sanctify, poison, alter temperature
affect wind - controlled bursts of wind, affect sailing/flight, stop wind
alter weight - make items heavier or lighter (with or without altering effectiveness)
animate objects - stones, cutlery, corpses, golems, plants
blindness - often caused by a flash of light or an illusion
breathe without air - breather under water or in other inhospitable environments
buff - generic statistic increasing
communication - send a message to someone, omens, dreams, telepathy, couriers
comprehend languages - foreign languages, magic, codes, written and spoken
concealment - cause target to blend in with surroundings - different than invisibility, also obfuscation by mists/smoke/etc
conjure minerals - create stone, water, metal, wood
control weather - cause/calm storms, alter temperature
damage - earth, fire, ice, lightning, stench, plasma, poison, sound, vacuum, wind, mental, spiritual, physical (blades and bludgeons)
darkness - cause an area to become dark - intercept light passing through it
debuff - generic decrease in ability levels
detect aura - detect magic, alignments, prowess, truth, life
detect invisible - see invisible or concealed things
detect minerals - hunt down gold, water, etc…
fear - cause a target to wig out - usually running away or becoming somehow paralyzed
flight - move while in the air - usually quite rapidly
heal - undo injury of one sort or another
identify - determine magical properties, history, composition, uses of an item
illusion, auditory - spooky noises, ventrilloquism, improving a visual illusion
illusion, visible - ranging from imaginary castles to pretty light shows to fireballs that can really kill the target
invisibility - different from concealment in that the target is actually impossible to see by mundane means
levitation - different from flight in that levitation is just the act of floating - usually no actual travel is allowed, or it is at least slowed significantly
light - cause something to glow so people can see - often conjure floaty balls of light, also flashes and colours bordering on illusion effects
mend - repair damaged equipment
mez - mesmerise, cause a target to become mentally befuddled/charmed to the point of nonaction or to changing sides
raise dead - either resurrect, reincarnate, or make zombies
repell - cause targets of a certain type to be kept at a distance either by fear, confusion, or sheer metaphysical effort
resist damage - protection from one or more types of damage
silence - target or area becomes silent, either stealth or preventing spellcasting/communication
sleep - victim falls into involuntary sleep, also healative uses
summon elemental - usually expendable force of nature becomes personified to help in combat, rarely summoned for nonviolent reasons
suspended animation - hibernation, feign death
telekinesis - move items around
teleportation - move between two locations without passing through the interposing physical space
track - follow the trail of a target object/creature
transfer soul - mind jar, soul gems, possession
transmutation - flesh to stone, shift between states of matter and fundamental elements
walking - surface tension is no problem, similar effects allow climbing up sheer surfaces and running across sand/water/uneven terrain
wall - physical or immaterial barriers of mineral, elemental, and biological matter
damage redirection; traps; alter alignment; instant death; summon other sorts of things; gates; permenance; counterspells, dispelling, and other meta-magic; polymorph; forgetfulness; generic ultimate spell of doom