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

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

Today is Part 20 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.

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

1st Level Magic-User Spells:

  9.  Silence
10. Lesser Wards
11. Lesser Barrier
12. Imaginary Knife
13. Blank Face
14. Gopher Holes

Silence: This spell is used to silence an opposing spell-caster, it will interrupt any spell being cast the same round and will prevent other spells from being cast by the target. Range 12", Duration 2 Turns, And a -4 to the targets saving throw.

 This spell was very popular with our Magic-Users. 

Lesser Wards: This spell is used to guard a campsite or other area from intrusion. It does not block entry, but once set it is active for a period of 12 hours. It will alert any three party members designated by the caster, one for each 4 hour block of the night, to the intrusion of any thing larger than 40 pounds in size. This will supplement each watch of the night. It protects a radius of 120 feet.

This spell was much requested by the party and the Magic-Users rotated who memorized this spell each day. 

Lesser Barrier: This spell is used alongside Lesser Wards in areas that are more hostile and will cause 2 points of damage to any creature larger than 40 pounds that intrudes upon the protected area. It will last for a 12 hour period and it protects a radius of 110 feet.

This spell was also much requested by the party and the Magic-Users rotated who memorized this spell each day. 

Imaginary Knife: This spell creates a magical knife of overall length 15 inches. It can be summoned by a single thought by the caster and has a +1 to Hit and a +1 to Damage. Duration 1 Turn

Our Magic-Users wanted to feel less defenseless if they had to fight lobbied for this spell quite strongly. Even more than for Silence. 

Blank Face: This spell is a strong illusion that hides the face of the caster with totally blank unmarked and featureless flesh. There is no saving throw for the viewer. It also creates a -2 to the Morale of intelligent creatures of less than 4 HD.

Our Magic-Users, backed by the rest of the party, lobbied for something that would make them less of a target by encouraging opponents to shy away from them.

Gopher Holes: This spell creates 4-24 gopher holes around a camp site or other area. Each hole is 1 to 2 feet in diameter and 2 feet deep located at the outer edge of a 59 to 61 foot radius and located as chosen by the caster. Duration 12 hours, sans gophers.

As you can perhaps guess by now, my players did not like night attacks. Three of the above spells were for helping them with night encounters. The purchase of caltrops was also quite popular.

Tomorrow we will look at new 2nd Level Magic-User Spells.