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

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

Today is Part 24 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.

Today I will look at the Cleric Spells that we added in the early days prior to obtaining the Greyhawk Supplement.

1st Level:

7. Open Lock 

8. Repel Vermin

Open Lock: This spell is used to open locks on doors, chests and other things. At 2nd level the lock will open on a 1-2 on a six-sided die, at 4th level the lock will open on a 1-3 on a six-sided die, at 7th level the lock will open on a 1-4 on a six-sided die and at 10th level the lock will open on a 1-5 on a six-sided die.

As noted the Cleric has a Find Traps spell, so we added an Open Locks spell. 

Repel Vermin: This spell will repel all manner of vermin ranging from ticks, fleas, lice, bed bugs and the like, up to rats and mice. This will keep bedding or an area free of vermin for 12 hours. It will also banish them from all creatures within the area of the spell. Covers an area of 400 square feet.

Yeah, some inns, most inns are not so clean when it comes to bedding. Travel in the Wilderness also tends to make you acquire these smaller creatures too. Many animals and monsters have ticks, fleas and lice, among other things.

2nd Level:

5. Bless Non-edged Weapon

6. Bless Sling Stones 

7. Owl Hearing 

8. Elephant Memory

Bless Non-edged Weapon: When fighting a creature that required a magic weapon to hit, a Cleric may bless their weapon (or the weapon of someone else) and it will function as a +1 to Hit Magic Weapon for a period of 1 Turn.

This was so a Cleric could temporarily upgrade the weapon of a hireling.

Bless Sling Stones: This spell will cause slings stones to function as magical +1 to hit weapons for a period of 2 Turns. Roll 2 six-sided dice +4 for the number of sling stones affected.

Our Cleric wanted to have a magical missile weapon too, as magical arrows did not help him.

Owl Hearing: This spell gives the caster the sharp hearing of an owl for a period of 5 Turns.

Very good for listening at doors and lasts long enough to listen to multiple doors in close proximity.

Elephant Memory: This spell allows the caster to remember an event in great detail and the memory is a permanent memory. The duration for the purpose of an event is two hours.

Note: This required the player in question to take notes and then have the notes vetted (and initialed) by the referee and the other players. 

3rd Level:

5. Cure Moderate Wounds 

6. Hold Monster 

7. Eagle Sight 

8. Bloodhound Smell

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

We added this spell to move the former Cure Serious Wounds down one level. We had a very lethal game during those years. Zero hit points was death.

Hold Monster: This spell is the same as Hold Person but applicable to Monsters.

Just adding in a spell that was obviously missing.

Eagle Sight: This spell gives the caster the distance vision of an eagle for a period of 5 Turns.

Very useful for looking a valley over from a high place before entering it, good for studying a village, town or city or castle before approaching it.

Bloodhound Smell: This allows the caster to track creatures as a bloodhound for 10 Turns.

This was added long before we learned of the ranger and his tracking ability.

4th Level:

2. Cure Serious Wounds(Revised) 

7. Remove Traps 

8. Cure Major Disease

Cure Serious Wounds (Revised): This spell is like a Cure Light Wounds spell, but the effects are tripled, so three dice are rolled and one pip is added to each die. Therefore, from 6 to 21 hit points will be healed by this spell.

As noted we added a Cure Moderate Wounds spell and then beefed the Cure Serious Wounds spell up to a more powerful spell.

Remove Traps: This spell will remove both magical and non-magical traps without setting them off. This is successful on 1-3 on a six-sided die. At 8th Level this increases to success on a 1-4 on a six-sided die. At 10th Level this increases to success on a 1-5 on a six-sided die.

Cleric Detect Traps and also Remove Traps.

Cure Major Disease: This spell functions the same as the Cure Disease spell, except instead of affecting one creature it affects 10-25 creatures per casting. Three six-sided dice +7.

This spell can be used to cure disease affecting a village or hamlet and a group of clerics can use it in towns or cities. It is also especially valued by armies during times of war.

5th Level:

7. Water Walk 

8. Speak Languages

Water Walk: This spell enables a Cleric to walk on water while unencumbered for a period of five Turns.

This can be used to walk across a swift flowing river to tie a rope to a tree which the party will then use to make their crossing more likely to not involve a mishap. And many other things, of course.

Speak Languages: This spell enables a Cleric to speak any one language and understand that language for a period of ten Turns.

This was after players lobbied for a way to speak to any creature whose language was not known. I created this spell as something I saw as a reasonable development.

We also boosted the number of spells that Clerics get per level.

Tomorrow we will finish out Men & Magic Book 1.