For QAL ASHEN.
A mesopotamian-esque setting, where the world is consumed by a curse that infuses all living things with Too Much Life, turning them into immortal monsters. The only safe place, where uncursed people remain, is a bleak, theocratic city where the God of Death is worshipped: Qal Ashen.
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The Magus, Vigilant, Necromancer and Sacred One all use this list.
Some of these spells are from Vain the Sword 2e.
1. Grave Fire – Ignite [dice] 10-foot square areas in your vision with a silver flame which burns only the living, but otherwise spreads normally. Living people killed by Grave Fire are instantly reduced to ash.
2. Instant Summons - You mark items with a special glyph that you learn when you learn this spell. You may snap your fingers and summon a marked item, expending an MD. You can have [level] active glyphs at once.
3. Boneyard - Mark an area up to [dice * 50] cubits on a side, with four skulls at the corners. For [dice] days, anything which dies in this area is immediately raised as a feral undead. Undead which are re-killed in this area are instantly reduced to ash.
4. Lore of the Herald - Cast upon a banner or similar heraldry, learn the name of its owner and [dice] of their notable deeds.
5. Secret Combination – Cast as you swear an oath. If any participant breaks the oath, they take [sum] damage instantly, with a blast of heat.
6. Travelling Whisper - Choose a target, and whisper a message of [sum] words into the ear of a person. They will then whisper it to the next person they meet, forgetting the contents of the message. Then, the next person will whisper it to the next person they meet, continuing until the message reaches the target. This only works in populated areas, but is totally secret. The message takes 1d6-[dice] hours to arrive, to a minimum of 1.
7. Wall of Bronze - [dice * 5] bronze panels the height and width of an average human rise up from the ground. You can arrange them how you like. They have images of warriors on them.
8. Defiance – Reflect [dice] commandments back onto an authority figure in an ironic or karmic manner.
9. Conjure Mighty Steed – From the ground you summon up a [dice]HD horse with [sum] strength. It is docile only with you, and attempts to dismount and trample other riders.
10. Borrowed Grace – Summon a porcelain mask depicting a perfect skull onto your face. For [sum] minutes, humans see you as human, undead see you as undead, monsters see you as a monster, divines see you as divine, and so on.
11. Illusion - Create a moving, silent image which lasts for [sum] minutes, centred on a tiny songbird you conjure, which flies away into the sky at the spell’s end. You can move and reshape it as you like if the songbird can hear you whistle. If the songbird is killed, the illusion is destroyed.
12. Earth Glide - For [sum] rounds you treat stone and soil like water. Any parts of your body still inside the earth when the spell ends are ejected, unless you are completely beneath the soil, in which case, you are buried.
13. Golden Sword – Summon a shimmering blade of plain gold into your dominant hand. Choose [dice] of the following effects:
1. The blade deals +1d4 damage on the first attack you make with it in a round.
2. The blade glows as brightly as a torch.
3. The blade dances in your hand to parry, conveying +[dice] AC while held.
4. The blade temporarily transforms metals into gold, weakening metal equipment by [dice].
5. If all four other options are already chosen, the blade can harm divine beings.
14. Grim Resolve - You have a pool of [sum] points, which are depleted before the HP of nearby allies. The pool is shared between all nearby allies (but not you). If an attack drops the pool to zero, you suffer any overspill damage.
15. Darkness - Summon a black torch, which sheds darkness as a torch does light. It lasts for [sum] minutes.
16. Ostentation - Rich clothing counts as armour that conveys 11+[dice] AC. You gain +1 AC if you are wearing a mask. This lasts for the day, or until your clothing is tattered.
17. Strength of the Dead – Absorb the vital strength of a corpse, creating a pool of [sum] points which you can add to Strength rolls, which last until you sleep. Corpses targeted by this spell are mummified and cannot be targeted by it again.
18. See Shame - Shame, guilt and embarrassment appears to you as blue-black smoke, for [sum] minutes.
19. Burden – Increase the weight of a person or carryable object: twofold/threefold/fivefold/tenfold.
20. Interrogate Deodand - Ask [sum] questions of something which has killed someone by harming yourself with it, dealing 1d8 - [lowest] damage.
21. Deferral - This spell is cast in response to taking damage. The incoming damage is reduced by [sum], and [dice] black pins appear in your arms. Wrenching these pins free deals 1d12 damage to you. If you have more pins in you than you have Max HP, you die by rotting over the course of a minute.
22. Ritual Square – When used on a square area [dice * 5] cubits on each side, marked at the corners by fires, the proper space for a complex ritual is created. The floor is marked with complex symbology, and a sense of uncanny otherness falls across the square. If you learn this spell, you also learn one ritual that would require such a square.
23. Ghoul Guts - For [sum] hours you can digest anything you eat that isn’t indestructible. All organic materials can be consumed as rations without negative repercussions, and you gain an extra save against ingested poison.
24. Ironflesh – Turn up to [highest] sixths of your body into immobile iron. Lasts until you desire otherwise.
25. Spine Sword - Wrench the spine from a corpse, turning it into a medium bone sword. Casting this spell on a living person does [dice] damage. If this reduces them to 0 or below, you successfully wrench out their spine and gain a sword with a negotiated power. Otherwise, they simply take the damage as their back twists.
26. Forbidding Gate - Target a gate or a doorway, causing it to resist [sum] attempts to break it down or magically pass through it. While this spell is active, the door is inexplicably ominous.
27. Conjure Arms – Grow [dice] extra sets of arms. They last until you want them to vanish, or until you cast this spell again.
28. Enervate - Inflict [dice] Fatigue on a target, or [sum] if you have a part of their body in your hand (plucked strands of hair, for example).
29. Mimic – Disguise yourself as an object you have seen, which is smaller than a cart. The object must at least be big enough to contain your body, unless you cast with 3 or more MD, then it can be any size, down to a pin. Objects you mimic work perfectly well for mundane purposes. You can be harmed and injured normally if people attack your Mimic’d form.
30. Water of the Black River – Choose an aperture you can see. The black waters of the Underworld pour from it for [sum] rounds, inundating the surroundings. The waters are freezing cold, and any shade, disembodied undead or Denizen which touches it must save against banishment to the Underworld. You may choose your own mouth as the aperture, but you cannot breathe for the duration.
31. Shatter - Target object is struck as though by [sum] iron hammers, with a loud bang.
32. Call Denizen – Summon a random Underworld Denizen of [dice]HD. It is bound to not harm you and to follow at least the vague suggestion of your orders for [lowest] seasons. Summoning multiple Denizens is liable to get out of control rapidly. If you have a piece of galena, you can call a specific Denizen by name.
33. Protective Mudra - While you hold an empty hand in the form of a protective gesture, all damage from spells and magic is reduced by [sum], and you cannot be possessed or charmed.
34. Cup of Jade – You conjure a goblet of green jade, polished and shining. Choose one of the following:
1. The Cup fills with a powerful venom, dealing [sum] damage to imbibers.
2. The Cup fills with antivenom, curing the wielder of ordinary poisons, or filling a pool of [sum] points which are lost before HP when taking damage from poison. These points last [dice] days.
3. The Cup fills with plain but pure water, indistinguishable from the venom and the antivenom.
35. Pain Link – For [sum] rounds, whenever you take damage, the target of this spell takes the same amount.
36. Spider Climb - For [sum] minutes, you can stick to surfaces by an invisible force, ignoring gravity.
37. Corpse Mask - Turn a corpse’s face into a magical mask with [dice] of the following properties while worn: resemble the face’s owner, gain their voice, learn one of their languages, recognize what they recognize.
38. Wretched Chimera – Fuse together up to [dice + 1] corpses, at least one of which must be human, in whatever manner you desire. The creature has [dice]HD and begins with an -2 in all stats. You have [sum] points to spread among the stats. You may only have one Wretched Chimera at a time. It follows verbal and gestural orders perfectly, but you have no mental link to or control over it.
You may also cast this spell to add [dice] corpses to an active Chimera, giving it [dice] extra HD (to a maximum of 5) and [sum] extra stat points. 5HD Chimera cannot be further upgraded.
39. Warding Talismans - Enchant [dice] pieces of paper, bronze or bone. When placed or hung over doorways, they silently alert you if anyone moves through the doorway. Intangible creatures must save to pass beneath the amulet. You can also place them inside a container to receive a silent alert when someone opens it.
40. Enter Crypt – Opens a doorway in a nearby surface, to a sub-real dungeon with [sum] rooms. The door opens into the same structure every time. The dungeon may be inhabited. Keep note of the highest [sum] you have cast this spell with, as that is the total amount of rooms. Recasting with a higher [sum] causes new rooms to appear.
41. Bestow Name - Combine a deed of great heroism or villainy, and an item of personal significance, into a name or epithet with [dice] negotiated effects. You get to keep the item.
42. Spectral Lantern - Conjure a cold, wet, and pallid flame, which hovers near you for [dice] hours. Its light sheds for [sum] cubits, and illuminates invisible creatures and shades.
43. Moonview – You see the terrain around you from the perspective of the Moon, which sits unmoving in the sky.
44. War Form – You mantle a terrible form of great power, taking on a monstrous aspect. Choose [dice] of the following effects:
1. Your strength increases by [dice + 2].
2. You grow massive claws, piercing fangs, horns, etc. of your choice, equivalent to a medium weapon.
3. Your terrifying visage inflicts fear on all present foes that fail a save.
4. You tower above those around you, gaining +2 AC and the intimidating power of height. Should you have claws or fangs from the second option, they are heavy.
45. Water Walk - For [dice] hours, you treat all liquid surfaces as a stone floor. You choose when the spell ends.
46. Sacred Bond - With a one hour ritual, establish a bond between yourself and another creature whom you trust, which contains [sum] points. You may each draw from points from the bond to restore missing HP. You may only have one Sacred Bond at a time.
47. Silence - [dice] creatures are made incapable of making sound for [sum] minutes. With 4MD, can instead made a single creature permanently silent.
48. Scourge - Smoking chains lash forcefully from your hand, striking a target within 10ft. Deals [dice + highest] to armoured targets, and [sum + dice] to unarmoured ones.
49. Scorn of the Judges – Your eyes burn with red light - [sum]HD of creatures in front of you must save or be inflicted with terror and hopelessness.
50. Plague of Locusts - A swarm of locusts descend on your surroundings for [dice] days. Intensity and number of locusts increase with dice, ruining a farm at one, starving a district at three and annihilating all plant life in a city-sized area at five.
51. Stone Plague - Your touch ‘infects’ stone, transforming [sum] cubic cubits of stone into damp sand over the course of [dice] minutes.
52. Iron Pill – This spell requires a piece of iron small enough for you to swallow. When you cast the spell, you swallow the iron. You may end the effect of up to [dice] poisons, drugs, or other chemicals you are under the effect of, and store them in the iron, which you regurgitate. The next time it touches wine or stomach acid, the pill releases whatever you stored in it, causing the wine or the stomach acid to inflict the effects of the original chemic.
53. Bottomless Stomach – Create [sum] slots of inventory in your stomach that last [dice] days. You store things in these slots by harmlessly swallowing them, and can retrieve one item at a time by spitting it back up. When the duration ends, all contents are harmlessly vomited back up.
54. Glibness - For [sum] minutes, people are incapable of disagreeing with you and treat everything you say as reasonable and worth consideration.
55. Flying Fangs - You throw a handful of animal teeth into the air. They animate as a flying mouth for [sum] rounds, which attack who you direct as a light/medium/heavy/massive weapon with +[dice] to Hit. You are free to do other things while the fangs bite.
56. Sturdy Ring In The Air - You summon a shimmering semi-visible ring with a diameter of up to [dice * 5]ft, which hangs unmoving in the air in whatever orientation you desire. It lasts for [dice] hours, or until you dispel it.
57. Cloud Reading - You can, with a view of the clouds, ask [dice + highest] questions about the weather, the heavens, the events of yesterday, today and the next day, and receive one or two word answers.
58. Naturalise - Suppress a spell, curse or enchantment for [sum] rounds.
59. Familiar – Summon a one-foot-tall little guy up from the ground. He can turn into any non-winged animal, and serves you loyally. He has [highest] hit points. Familiars are about as smart as your average peasant, and are rarely literate. You cannot have more summoned Familiars than you do [templates].
60. Life Shell - Create an inert homunculus, a simulacrum of a human being, with [sum]HP. Intangible creatures, like ghosts, droughts, comets and plagues, can safely inhabit the body and use it to interact with others.
61. Haruspicy - Ask [sum] yes/no questions about a place or event in the entrails of a dead animal.
62. Skeleton Fence - Turn [dice] skeletons into a barrier of smoke and hovering bones, which is made of [dice] 10ft. square panels. If a creature tries to cross the Fence without your permission, they suffer [sum] damage, save for half.
63. Become Dust – You transform into a mobile cloud of dust for [sum] minutes.
64. Entomb - Target creature with less than [dice + highest]HD must save or be buried six cubits underground. Inanimate objects fail this save automatically.
65. Mutate – Cause target creature to suffer [dice] mutations. Unwilling creatures may save. Considered extremely heretical. With special and rare reagents, called blood blossoms, once can control and shape the mutations thus inflicted.
66. Impious Word – You pronounce a stolen word of the divine tongue. All who hear it will turn their head and look at you in shock. This additionally amuses Denizens, terrifies Shades and angers priests and Divine beings. This spell has no effect on those who cannot hear.
67. Rust - You summon a red dagger. At its touch, up to [sum] slots of metal which can decay, decay as if [dice] decades have passed. The dagger lasts until you have used up all of its points, or until you will it to be gone.
68. Hide - Enchant a hooded cloak to disguise you from [highest] senses, sight counting as two. Fire touching your cloak reveals you.
69. Evil Eye - Something you make eye-contact with suffers a [-dice] malus to all rolls, until you next see from the eye with which you cast this spell.
70. Self-Echo – Create [dice] ghostly echoes of yourself, each with 1HP. They can hold things in their hands and move through any gap smoke could. They have no to-hit bonus or inventory space.
71. Flicker – [highest] times after you cast this spell, you can choose to not be real when something tangible would affect you, such as an attack or a spell. You are unreal for an entire round.
72. Silvery Fog – Summon a rolling cloud of silver fog which remains for [sum] minutes in still air or [sum] rounds in wind. Living creatures inhaling the fog must save or hallucinate.
73. Bell of Pain - You summon a heavy bronze bell into one hand. The next [dice] times it is struck, it strikes severe agony into everyone that can hear it, causing them to be stunned for a round on a failed save.
74. Ghost Jar - Seal an intangible creature of [dice] or less HD inside a specially prepared container, such as a clay jar or iron box. If you carve a face on the outside of the container, the inhabitant can talk.
75. Conjure Pit - [dice * 5] cubits wide, [sum] cubits deep.
76. Swords to Winds - Destroy [dice] swords and conjure [dice] days of dangerous high winds spreading from your location. Destroying magic swords causes weird weather to accompany the winds.
77. Bow and Arrows - Instantly conjure a heavy bow and [sum] arrows with bone arrowheads. They vanish after all of the arrows have been fired, or after an hour.
When cast with 2 or more dice, you may select [dice - 1] of the following properties:
1. The arrowheads are iron, +2 damage.
2. The fletching is eagle-feather, +2 to hit.
3. The shafts are monster-bone, making the arrows re-usable within the hour. 4. The bow itself makes the scariest, loudest twanging noise you’ve ever heard in your life.
78. Contingency - Set a condition in which a chain of [dice] spells will trigger. Lasts for [dice] days. You must have the MD for the spells to trigger.
79. Evil Sealing Tree - Remove [dice] curses, hexes, banes, negative magical effects, etc, and lock them inside a tree. If you lock too many inside one tree it may become weird.
80. Iron to Glass - With a wave of your hand, [sum] slots of iron you can see transform into cloudy glass.
81. Wild Beasts - You summon [sum]HD of slavering beasts up from the ground. They are hostile to everyone, and rapidly mutate as the Curse seizes them.
82. Read Intent - You read the next [dice] immediate actions a creature intends to take, so long as you can see them. This lasts for [sum] rounds.
83. A Little Mercy - Roll an MD and lay on hands to ease a childbirth, soothe the passage of the dying, or provide relief from pain.
84. Sympathy - Two similar objects borrow each other’s temperature, velocity, or light. Strength of the bond increases with [dice].
85. Speak With Dead - Ask [dice + highest] questions of a skull or dead body. -1 [dice] to compel truth, -1 [dice] to hear the emotion of the voice.
86. Deacon - You summon a watchful Denizen of the Underworld, which is bound to defend the area in which it is summoned for [sum] hours, after which, it vanishes into choking smoke. It has up to [dice + 2]HD. The Denizen is likely a mighty foe in combat, but is bound by the same rules as other Denizens - and almost certainly by its vices, too.
87. Scorpion Sting - Summon a curved light knife made of chitin. The first [dice] creatures stabbed with this knife take [sum] extra poison damage, save for half,
88. Lead to Ruin - Turn [sum] slots of lead into stygium, which heats to searing temperatures when exposed to sunlight, and explodes violently when exposed to magic.
89. Wolf’s Revel - [sum] affected creatures react to violence with excitement and joy rather than horror or fear, possibly encouraging them to also partake in violent action.
90. Sticks to Snakes - Transform [sum] pieces of wood into 1HD snakes.
91. Crush Dissent - [sum] creatures save or lose the will to oppose you for [dice] days. Rulers are immune, beings that fear you fail automatically.
92. Prince’s Elixir - You produce [dice] doses of a water-soluble crystal poison which, when consumed, prevent the poisoned target from feeling emotions for a day per dose.
93. Sleep - You summon a blue rope which, while tied around a limb, causes that limb to become dead and insensate. If you can successfully tie it around the neck of a living creature (which can be done as a grapple), they must save. A failed save means they fall asleep, a successful one means they become drowsy. These effects end when the rope is removed. The rope is strong and difficult to break for [dice] days, and becomes fragile after that.
94. Wrath - Target an area up to [dice * 20] cubits on a side, marked at the corners by swords, spears, arrows or daggers. Name an action, such as betrayal, drunkenness, violence, etc. A creature undertaking that action in the area is lit aflame, suffering 1d10+[dice] damage per round until extinguished.
95. Secret Shield - Target a creature other than yourself. Unbeknownst to all, they receive an invisible shield which resists the next [dice] attacks made against them. If you tell the creature benefitting from the shield that they have it, it breaks.
96. Foul Work – Extract [dice] dangerous properties of a given material over [sum] hours, transforming them into potions with those same properties.
97. Blood Price - By touch, transform [sum]HP worth of blood into [sum] gold coins. Note: Not necessarily your blood.
98. Bull’s Stamina - You are incapable of becoming tired, gaining fatigue (or even needing to sleep) for [sum] hours. You ignore the first [dice + highest] damage you take when this spell is active.
99. Falling Star - You conjure a spark of light to fall from the vaults of the sky. At one dice it deals 1d8 damage to a creature you can see. At two it deals 2d8 in an area with a 10ft radius. At three it deals 3d8 in an area with a 20ft radius. At four, it deals 4d8 in an area with a 30ft radius, and so on.
100. Judge of the Dead – Invoke the name of a Judge. You automatically learn the name of one Judge when you learn this spell. They rule whole stretches of the Underworld, and serve Qal Ashen. It is considered heretical to disturb their holy duties. One dice allows the Judge to see and hear, two, be seen and be heard, three, to interact with the world, and four, to arrive in all of their terrible glory. This spell has never before been cast with five dice, but surely something will happen…?
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