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

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

Today is Part 23 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.

Now to take a look at the Spells for Clerics for Levels 4 and 5:

4th Level:

Neutralize Poison: A spell to counter the harmful effects of poison. Note that it will not aid a character killed by poison, however. It will affect only one object. Duration: 1 turn.

Please note that this spell applies to objects and not to creatures. This is used to neutralize poison before it is ingested  or absorbed, etc. Note also that the duration is only 1 turn.  When you look at the way it is written it is not nearly as useful as it appears at first glance. So I rewrote this spell, to be more in line with what I think the intention should be.

Negate Poison: A spell to counter the harmful effects of poison. While it will not aid a character killed by poison, it will negate  poison in liquids or foods, on or in objects and it will negate poison that has been ingested or absorbed, etc. Duration: Permanent.

This IMO makes a lot more sense, neutralizing poison temporarily and for a very short time has virtually no benefit.

Cure Serious Wounds: This spell is like a Light Wound spell, but the effects are double, so two dice are rolled and one pip is added to each die. Therefore, from 4 to 14 hit points will be removed by this spell.

That is like a Cure Light Wounds spell.

Protection from Evil, 10’ radius: This spell is the same as that for Magic-Users.

Except it is a 4th Level Spell for Clerics instead of a 3rd Level Spell for Magic-Users.

Turn Sticks to Snakes: Anytime there are sticks nearby a Cleric can turn them into snakes, with a 50% chance that they will be poisonous. From 2–16 snakes can be conjured (roll two eight-sided dice). He can command these conjured snakes to perform as he orders. Duration: 6 turns. Range 12”.

One: the snakes have a 50% chance of being venomous not poisonous. This is a very common error and why having an editor does have its good points. I also added a list of snakes and you would roll on that list for what snakes were conjured. There are about 3500 different snakes in the world and about 600 of them are venomous. (Not that I knew there were anything close to that many back then) I made a list of 12 of each. I will append that list to the bottom of this post.

Speak with Plants: This spell allows the Cleric to speak with all forms of plant life, understanding what they say in reply. Plants so spoken to will obey commands of the Cleric, such as part to allow a passage and so on. This spell does not give the Cleric the power to command trees as Ents do. Duration: 6 turns. Range: 3”.

Plants have their own way of thinking and their own frame of reference so questioning them can be difficult.

Create Water: By means of this spell, the Cleric can create a supply of drinkable water sufficient for a party of a dozen men and horses for one day. The quantity doubles for every level above the 8th the Cleric has attained.

It does what it says and I never worried about nailing down how many gallons that would be.

5th Level:

Dispel Evil: Similar to a Dispel Magic spell, this allows a Cleric to dispel any evil sending or spell within a 3” radius. It functions immediately. Duration: 1 turn.

This is very useful and, as an example, allows the Cleric to block a Finger of Death from an Anti-Cleric for 1 Turn (10 rounds) for anyone within a 3" radius of the casting Cleric. (see below for Anti-Clerics and the Finger of Death)

Raise Dead: The Cleric simply points his finger, utters the incantation, and the dead person is raised. This spell works with men, elves, and dwarves only. For each level the Cleric has progressed beyond the 8th, the time limit for resurrection extends another four days. Thus, an 8th-level Cleric can raise a body dead up to four days, a 9th-level Cleric can raise a body dead up to eight days, and so on. Naturally, if the character’s Constitution was weak, the spell will not bring him back to life. In any event raised characters must spend two game weeks’ time recuperating from the ordeal.

I allowed this spell to work for Hobbits also, I did not have the Gygax aversion to Hobbits.

Commune: A spell which puts the Cleric in touch with the powers “above” and asks for help in the form of answers to three questions. Communing is allowed but once each week maximum (referee’s option as to making less frequent). Veracity and knowledge should be near total. Once per year a special communing should be allowed wherein the Cleric can ask double the number of questions.

I never liked this spell, but I still let the players use it even so.

Quest: This is similar to the Geas, except that the character sent upon a Quest by the Cleric is not killed by failure to carry out the service. However, the Cleric may curse him with whatever he desires for failure, and the referee should decide if such a curse will take effect if the character ignores the Quest, basing the effectiveness of the curse on the phrasing of it and the alignment and actions of the character so cursed.

This one can also be a lot of fun for the referee. 

Insect Plague: By means of this spell, the Cleric calls to him a vast cloud of insects and sends them where he will, within the spell range. They will obscure vision and drive creatures with less than three hit dice off in rout. The dimensions of the Insect Plague are 36 square inches. Duration: 1 game day. Range: 48”. (Note: This spell is effective only above ground.)

Yes, the Cleric can ride and direct the swarm ahead of him for a full day. It is rather amusing when it is directed into a building or a courtyard or something else that you want cleared.

Create Food: A spell with which the Cleric creates sustenance sufficient for a party of a dozen for one game day. The quantity doubles for every level above the 8th the Cleric has attained.

Again it does what it says it does and I never worried about defining a quantity.

Note: There are Anti-Clerics (listed below) who have similar powers to Clerics. Those Clerical spells underlined on the table for Cleric Spells have a reverse effect, all others functioning as noted. The chief exception is the Raise Dead spell which becomes:

The Finger of Death: Instead of raising the dead, this spell creates a “death ray” which will kill any creature unless a saving throw is made (where applicable). Range: 12”. (A Cleric-type may use this spell in a life-or-death situation, but misuse will immediately turn him into an Anti-Cleric.)

Anti-Clerics: Evil Acolyte, Evil Adept, Shaman, Evil Priest, Evil Curate, Evil Bishop, Evil Lama, Evil High Priest.

You may ask in regard to a saving throw what does "where applicable" mean? I ruled that less than 4 full HD (i.e. not 3+ HD) does not get a saving throw, it just kills them and 10 HD or more does not need a saving throw because it will not work on something of that size and power. In between those limits a saving throw is given.

Tomorrow I will look at the Cleric Spells that we added prior to obtaining the Greyhawk Supplement.

Oh and here are the tables I promised you.

Table 1 Venomous Snakes
1.    Black Mamba
2.   King Cobra
3.   Fer-de-lance
4.   Bushmaster
5.   Spitting Cobra
6.   Puff Adder
7.   Water Moccasin
8.   Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
9.   Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
10. Copperhead
11. Eastern Coral Snake
12. Cottonmouth

Table 2 Non-Venomous Snakes
1.    Anaconda
2.   Rock Python
3.   Boa Constrictor
4.   Kingsnakes
5.   Black Racer
6.   Blacksnake
7.   Bull Snake
8.   Garter Snake*
9.   Hoop Snake**
10. Reticulated Python
11. Great Plains Rat Snake
12. Twin-Headed Snake**

* Garter Snakes are quite harmless.
** Hoop Snakes and Twin-Headed Snakes are not real, but you can spin quite a story if people do not know better. Hoop Snakes are something I was told about as a child. It will hold its tail in its mouth and roll along very fast until it catches you.