2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary - Day Seventy-Six

Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!

Today is Part 21 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.

Today we will look at more Magic-User spells that we created prior to when I obtained the Greyhawk Supplement. These spells were created by the players.

2nd Level Magic-User Spells:

11. Detect Gold
12. Detect Silver
13. Detect Gems
14. Detect Water

Detect Gold: This spell will detect Gold within 100 feet of the direction the caster is facing in an area the width of the casters body. The spell will give the caster a mental picture of the distance to the Gold. The more intense the feelings the larger the quantity of Gold. Duration 1 Turn.

The players wanted to develop a spell which would aid them in searching for treasure, so five Magic-Users spells months developing these spells, triple the time and expense for developing the a first level spell. I got them to tunnel 95 feet into a mountain and they found a rich vein of Gold. The party was a bit crestfallen when this happened, but the dwarves left the party and staked a claim and kept digging. They bought the rights from the party and recruited some more dwarves and settled down at the site.

Detect Silver: This spell will detect Silver within 100 feet of the direction the caster is facing in an area the width of the casters body. The spell will give the caster a mental picture of the distance to the Silver. The more intense the feelings the larger the quantity of Silver. Duration 1 Turn.

The players also tried this out at the same time they tried out the Detect Gold Spell and got a result showing Silver in the same area as the Gold. So there was a rich vein of Silver mixed into that vein of Gold. They tried these spells a number of times with rather mixed results and limited utility. (with one exception, see below) However, I the referee had a great time with it. Kind of how things work when the party would make a greedy wish (which came later on).

Detect Gems: This spell will detect Gems within 100 feet of the direction the caster is facing in an area the width of the casters body. The spell will give the caster a mental picture of the distance to the Gems. The more intense the feelings the larger the quantity of Gems. Duration 1 Turn.

They had a little better luck with this in locating a huge hoard of Gems, but they were very well defended by several dragons as they were soon to learn. There was also large quantities of Gold and Silver detected. While they are casting the spells and discussing if this the real thing or another mine in the making, several dragons fly up and ask the party what they are doing in the vicinity of their lair. The party is trying to talk their way out of it, but the dragons are not buying it saying they think they are trying to slip in and steal away the young dragons and sell them into slavery, which comes out of left field for the players who start stammering around in confusion. They ended up getting breathed on and chased for miles before the dragons let them go. What can I say, TANSTAAFL.

Detect Water: This spell will detect drinkable Water within a 100 radius of the caster. The spell will give the caster a mental picture of the distance to the drinkable Water. The more intense the feelings the larger the quantity and the greater the purity of the drinkable Water. Duration 1 Turn.

This was the first spell they created after a trip into a desert and almost dying of thirst. This one operated exactly as advertised and they were very happy with it.

So this all of the Magic-User spells they created prior to the introduction of the Greyhawk Supplement. Later when I go through the Greyhawk Supplement and the other Supplements I will conclude each of those sections with other spells that we created.

Tomorrow I will start going through the Cleric Spells.