I lied!
I sometimes like to create weird spells that the characters can use, like this weird-ass animal messenger spell or that one witch curse.
And I thought, man, why not create some weird level one spells for the Cockroach people?
Also I'd thought, how lame would it be if these cockroach dudes just put every party member to sleep? Well maybe not that lame, but I want to reduce the probability of that happening
I'll create 5 level 1 spells for a random table and 3 level 2 spells for the Cockroach leader.
Level one Spells
Explode Self
Range: self
Well, what do you think? It fucking nukes the magic-user. Everyone around it saves vs. breath or takes 2d6 damage per HD of the caster. Naturally, this kills the magic-user and destroys their body.
Shape valuable Metal
The magic-user can shape a small amount of gold, bronze or silver to their liking. The items created this way show really weird intricate fractal patterns.
Really mesmerising when observed under a microscope.
magic missile, recursive
Range: 150'
This Spell conjures a glowing fractal dart of energy, made out of glowing fractal darts of energy.
The missile hits unerringly (no attack roll required).
If this is your first cast of this spell this turn, roll a d3. If not, take the previous roll of this spell and decrement it by one.
On a one, this spell does 1 damage to your target.
Else, your target suffers this number as damage and you'll immediately recast magic missile, recursive at the position of your target.
control body part
Duration: 1 turn
Range: 150'
The caster gains control of one body part of a target. Doesn't have to be living, but has to be functional. He has to concentrate to use it. Attacking with it is a bit finicky, because there is more to an attack than just swinging an arm. -2 to attack rolls if the caster wishes to attack with it. The target looses full control over the body part. Targeting the head is suuuper tricky and can possibly fry the magic-users brain, because he has to control the flow of two separate consciousnesses at the same time. The caster instantly dies if he fails a save against magic, but is still in control for 1 turn of the body.
I hope so much that my players will use this spell to let people shit themselves, I know I'm so immature I'm sorry.
microscopic vision
Duration: 6 turns
Range: 60'
Select an eye as a target. That eye can now magically observe microscopic things. Really fucking trippy, -2 to attack-rolls because the eye is essentially useless for other things and is really hella distracting.
Level two spells
Control Undead
Sorry man, I promised you new wacky spells, but I need a reason how the bugs are controlling undead. It's charm person, but with undead. Will give control over unclaimed unintelligent undead indefinitely. If they're controlled, the INT of the original owner is used.
Kick-start Consciousness
Duration: 6 turns
Range: touch
The caster needs to touch an exposed brain for this spell. Will reanimate and reinvigorate the brain, which will have impaired control of the dead or dying body. Being an undead creature helps in that regard. The caster has telepathic control over the brain while touching it, can communicate with it and give it orders. There is no real conciousness or soul inside the brain, only a proxy, which runs through the simplest thought-loops, but has access to the memory, the personality, instincts and bodily functions. After the spell ends, the brain will melt into an bubbling goo, which promptly will exit the head through the nose, mouth and ears. This goo is intoxicating and lets the drug-user hallucinate weird and unusual dreams filled with foreign emotions. Comparable with an okayish to semi-bad salvia trip, the cockroach people enjoy the shit out of this high.
Solve Equation
Another rather gimmicky spell. The caster can ask wolfram-alpha a single question.
I think this draws an interesting picture about the cockroach dudes. They have a weird concept of self, see themselves as an instance of the universe rather than individuals, are highly curious about the universe and would love to understand how life and consciousness works. They never fear death but would like to prevent it, for the sake of experiencing things. Like psychopaths, in a sense.
| 1d6 | Random spell |
| 1 | Explode Self |
| 2 | Shape valuable Metal |
| 3 | Magic Missle, recursive |
| 4 | control bodypart |
| 5 | microscopic vision |
| 6 | Reroll on another table. Maybe your own spell-list, idc |
These are cool! I especially like Control Body Part and Kick-Start Consciousness. Recursive Magic Missile seems unnecessarily fiddly for not much of a real effect? Have you considered making it instead "roll a d3, on a 3 roll another d3 and so on".
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I haven't read anything else about your cockroach people but just this spell list paints an interesting picture of them, which I like.
Yeah recursive magic missile is a really bad idea, it's finnicky on purpose to paint a picture about how weird these dudes are. I'm glad you like the other ones though!
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