New Spell: Thorn Whip

Thorn Whip
Spell Level: Druid 1
Range: Touch
Duration: 6 turns
When this spell is cast, the Druid can touch any flexible length of plant material such as a blade of grass or plant stalk of 5 ft long or less. The plant material transforms into a thorny vine-like object that can be wielded like a 5 ft whip dealing 1d4+1 points of damage.

New Spell: Thunderwave

Thunderwave
Spell Level: Druid 3
Range: Self
Duration: Instant
Similar to the shockwave spell, once the Druid completes the casting he raps his staff or cudgel on the ground. The sound caused from the rap is increased many-fold into a thunderous boom that affects every creature in a 10 ft radius around the Druid. Victims suffer 1d6 points of damage plus an additional 1d6 per 4 caster levels. If the victims fail a Toughness saving throw, they are struck deaf as well. A silence spell or similar effect will negate this spell for anyone within its area of effect.

More uses for Spell Slots in a Vancian World

I don't know about all gamers or other people's games, but from playing D&D for over 30 years I know this has happened to me more than a few times...my favorite class are Magic-users (Wizards, Arcanists, Arcane Spellcasters, however you want to call them). Being that 1st level noob to the career is always fun when you find ways to make your cantrips last, load up on normal gear and find interesting ways to use a wet bedroll, 10 ft of rope and a 10 ft pole to confound your enemies and amaze your friends. To say the least, having a vancian spell casting system makes you think hard not only in spell selection, but how to survive without spells too.

There comes a time though, if your lucky and smart, where you reach the level when your character is ready for the heady power of a 2nd level spell...and you don't have any. Back in the day the Referees I've played under have run the gamut from 'tough luck' to allowing the use of the spell slot for lower level spells and adding some wild effects. In more recent years I've toyed with the extra effects for using a higher powered slot for lower level spells. When 3e came out it provided more of a template for what those slots can do (via Metamagic feats). Now don't turn your nose up Gentle Reader! While 3e may have been a departure from D&D (only in my own humble opinion) it took alot of things from what WAS in many homegrown D&D campaigns. So presented here is one such retro system that grants more felxability to those spell casters that may be suffering from a small spell selection, hopefully allowing them to remain useful for their party.

As a side note, we've allowed this for all spellcasting classes (including Clerics). While it might not seem like much use, it is impressive when a Cleric uses a 4th level slot to make a Cure Light Wounds spell into a range 30ft magic that increases the healing done by +50% and can be cast even while silenced, allowing him to keep an ally on his feet that's in melee while he guards the Magic-user.

Mixing Spell Slots

If a player wishes to do so, he may use higher level spell slots to memorize lower level spells by exchanging the slots (not the spell’s level vs the spell slot level used to memorize it) on a 1-for-1 basis. For example, an Arcanist (3rd level Magic-user) could use his 2nd level spell slot to memorize a 1st or 2nd level spell if he desired to.

If a spell is memorized in a slot 1 level higher than normal the caster can apply one of the following effects:

·          Increase the base duration of a spell by 50%.

·          Inflict a -2 penalty on saving throws against the spell’s effect.

·          Increase the range of a spell by 50% or give a touch spell a range of 30 ft.

·          Remove the need to use somatic (gestures) or the need to recite the spell’s chant to cast.

If a spell is memorized in a slot 2 levels higher than normal, the caster can apply one of the following effects:

·          Apply any 2 separate effects from above.

·          Change the area of area effect spells to a cone, cube or diameter of the same size.

·          Increase all dice effects of a spell by 50%.

·          If the spell deals elemental (Cold, Fire or Lightning) damage, change it to another element.

·          Inflict a -3 penalty on saving throws against the spell’s effect.

If a spell is memorized in a slot 3 levels higher than normal, the caster can apply one of the following effects:

·          Apply any 2 separate effects from above.

·          Double the area of effect.

·          Increase all dice effects of a spell by 100%.

·          Increase the range of a spell by 100% or give a touch spell a range of 60 ft.

·          Inflict a -4 penalty on saving throws against the spell’s effect.

Hit Points as Real Damage, Part II

In the last post, small changes to how healing worked were introduced into the current system of Onn and in general any retro- or oldschool-style game. I say small, but also far reaching due to the fact that hit points are a central part of the game, as is their loss and recovery.

Damage and Death is the way hit points are lost (obviously). Individual Referees may desire to come up with systems of their own to simulate the declining health of an adventurer as they lose hit points, but for the scope of Onn, the fact they are getting so close to death is enough for this one.

If a character is reduced to 0 hit points exactly, he is unconscious but stable. If left alone long enough, the character may recover or die on his own (Referees are free to adjucate this to what best fits their game).

Under 0 hit points, a character is considered dying from internal and/or external damage. Each round the character rolls a Toughness saving throw with his negative hit point total applied as a penalty to the roll. If he fails the roll he takes an additional point of damage; suceeding the roll places him stable at 0 hit points.

Characters reaching a negative hit point total equal to their maximum 1st level hit points are dead.

If a character heals naturally or is magically healed back to positive hit points, he suffers a -4 penalty to all die rolls until he has a full day of rest.

Natural Healing is the most often neglected recovery method of hit points. In worlds where magical healing is available, natural recovery is often moot or all but forgotten. Characters regain their Constitution's Natural Healing rate for each day of rest. Rest is considered non-stressful activity (equipment upkeep, foraging, small game hunting, sitting around or praying/studying, etc) no matter where the character is. Adventurers don't need a warm bed and cushy settings to be considered resting (though of course it is the most preferred!).

Now, if a character spends 2 weeks in a civilized location and comfortable while under the care of another tending to him, he regains full hit points at the end of the 2 week period regardless of how hurt he is.

Fast Healing is a weaker form of regeneration (that all-too-familiar property of Trolls). Characters with Fast Healing heal the indicated rate regardless of their activity level until they reach 0 hit points...at that point the body is too damaged to continue to repair itself.

Magical Healing is the most common form of healing adventurers encounter. The 4 healing spells Clerics, Druids, Divine Champions and Rangers have access to in the World of Onn would look like so:

Cure Light Wounds*

Spell Level: Cleric/Druid, 1st Level

Range: Touch

Duration: Instant

Immediately cures wounds on the target equal to 1 point, plus the target's natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis but when cast in this fashion no damage is cured.

An evil reversal of this spell allows an Anti-cleric to cause light wounds for 1+1d6 damage if he successfully strikes the victim with a +2 bonus on the ‘to-hit’ roll.

Cure Serious Wounds*

Spell Level: Cleric/Druid, 4th Level

Range: Touch

Duration: Instant

Immediately cures wounds on the target equal to 4 points, plus double the dice of the target’s natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis, cure blindness or deafness but when cast in one of these fashions no damage is cured.

An evil reversal of this spell allows an Anti-cleric to cause 4+2d6 points of damage if he successfully strikes the victim with a +2 bonus on the ‘to-hit’ roll.

Healing Circle*

Spell Level: Cleric/Druid, 5th Level

Range: Self

Duration: Instantaneous

This spell heals the caster and all allies in a 10 ft radius around the caster of 4 points, plus double the target’s natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis, cure blindness or deafness in an ally at the caster’s desire, but when these maladies are removed only 1 point, plus the target’s natural healing rate are cured for that individual.

An evil reversal of this spell allows an Anti-cleric to cause a circle of wounds inflicting 4+2d6 points of damage to all enemies in a 10 ft radius around the caster.

 

Cure Critical Wounds*

Spell Level: Cleric/Druid, 7th Level

Range: Touch

Duration: Instant

Immediately cures wounds on the target equal to 16 points, plus quadruple the target’s natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis, cure blindness or deafness but when cast in one of these fashions no damage is cured.

An evil reversal of this spell allows an Anti-cleric to cause 16+4d6 points of damage if he successfully strikes the victim with a +2 bonus on the ‘to-hit’ roll.

Wall of Thorns

Wall of Thorns
Spell Level: Druid, 6th Level
Range: 80 ft
Duration: Permanent

The Druid conjures up thorny vines filling a 5 ft x 5 ft x 10 ft cube per two levels. Creatures in the area of the thorns suffer 2d4+2 points of damage. Hacking through 5 ft of vines with edged weapons inflicts full damage, whiel blunt weapons and piercing weapons inflict minimum damage. Each round spent hacking through the wall inflicts damage to the character. Each 5 ft section of the wall possesses 24 hit points plus the caster's level. Moving through a hole created thusly inflicts half damage each 5 ft moved due to the stray vines sticking and hanging out to catch the unwary. Normal fire is ineffective against the wall of thorns, but magical fire will burn them, creating an effect similar to a wall of fire for 1d4 turns if the damage is not enough to outright destroy it.

Shillelagh

Shillelagh
Spell Level: Druid, 1st Level
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 turn

The Druid can enchant a wooden club or staff to be a +1 weapon that inflicts 2d4+1 points of damage. For the purpose of damage reduction, it functions as Arc Wood as well.

Flame Winds

This spell, ripped from the Ultima V computer game, seemed like such a good fit for the Druid class. Ultima's magic system was a cool blend of alchemy and mysticysm. You had to procure spell components (called 'reagents') and actually take the time to mix the reagents into spell formulae before you could cast the spells. Since all of the book keeping was done by the game, it worked beautifully and made the setting almost unique for the way it handled it's magic. Another tidbit about how Ultima is influencing my Onn.

Flame Winds
Spell Level: Druid, 5th Level
Range: 150 ft
Duration: Immediate

Flame Winds causes the air in a 15 ft x 15 ft cube to burst into flames, burning any victims within for 5d10 points of fire damage (Toughness saving throw for half damage allowed). At 10th level and every 3 levels afterwards, the area of the cube increases by 5 ft. Unlike a fireball, Flame Winds can only burn the air in the available area, so it will not expand beyond its defined area if there is not sufficient room.

Lightning Strike

Lightning Strike
Spell Level: Druid, Magic-user, 1st Level
Range: Caster
Duration: 1 round / 2 levels

Lightning Strike encases the caster's empty hand in a sheath of visible lightning. The first creature the caster strikes with a +2 bonus on his to hit roll recieves 1d8 points of lightning damage, plus 1 point per 2 caster levels. Metal armor and shields are useless and provide no benefit in defending against this spell.

Lightning Stroke

Though impressive in name, this spell is a simple one for budding Magic-user-types and Druidic Initiates...

Lightning Stroke

Spell Level: Druid, Magic-user, 1st Level

Range: 90 ft

Duration: 1 round

When this spell is cast a small, rumbling stormcloud immediately forms over the head of the designated target. On the round after the spell is cast, the cloud emits a small stroke of lightning, inflicting 1d6 points of damage, plus one point per caster level. There is a 10% chance of a forked stroke of lightning, also affecting a single victim within 5 ft of the target (chosen randomly if more than one creature is near the target). Victims of this spell gain a Dodge saving throw for half damage.

Resist Lightning

I don't know why, but it seems like the early editions of D&D (and their retro-clones) forgot all about lightning and electricity. There are attack spells to inflict it, but the elemental defensive spells only protect against Cold and Fire damage. So, The Druids of Onn have a spell to help survive those dangerous attacks, Resist Lightning:

Resist Lightning
Spell Level: Druid, 3rd Level
Range: Touch
Duration: 12 turns

Resist Lightning halves any lightning-based damage the recipient takes as well as granting a +3 bonus to saving throws to resist lightning-based effects.

Dust Devil

The Onn / S&W treatment of the Dust Devil spell:

Dust Devil
Spell Level: Druid, 2nd Level
Range: 30 ft
Duration: 2 rounds, +1 round / level

Dust Devil summons a minor air elemental-like entity that creates a swirling flow of dirt, sand or dust (depending on the dominant grit of the area it is in) about 3 ft high. The dust devil can attack creatures, pass through small cracks and crevasses and lift items of 1 lb or less.

Dust Devil (Small-size) - AC 9[11], HD 1d4 hp, Att claw (1d3), Save 18, Special flight, Move 150(50) fly or 15 fly (S&W), CL/XP B / 10