Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Common, un-common & rare spells
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 2652031" data-attributes="member: 2020"><p>The Wizard's Spell Compendium broke spells down into Common, Rare, and so on.</p><p> I think this was a good idea. Not so much a good idea for the purposes of limiting the power of PCs, but as a story device.</p><p></p><p> For example, consider the following spells and how they might be ranked:</p><p></p><p> 1st level:</p><p></p><p> Magic Missile (Common)</p><p> Regenerate (Rare)</p><p></p><p> 2nd level:</p><p></p><p> Blur (Common)</p><p> Invisibility (Uncommon)</p><p> Gemidon's Paralytic Missile (Very Rare)</p><p></p><p> 7th level:</p><p></p><p> Power Word Stun (Common)</p><p> Lifeproof (Rare)</p><p> Magic Manager - for non-Chronomancers (Very Rare)</p><p></p><p> This assumes that at each level of spell, initial research created weak spells, but as the research progressed the spells grew stronger and stronger at that level. Indeed, advanced research produced some real dousies.</p><p> But the intrepid adventurers cannot just trade with the local wizards (even when the local wizard demands an arm and a leg for common spells!) for Rare spells: Rare spells must be found, or some sort of special mentor must be found who knows them.</p><p> These produce motivation for wizards and bards, and adventure ideas.</p><p></p><p> For example, Edena (the character, not this SN) became a wizard. And he knew, from watching wizards for endless decades, that the truly 'Good Stuff' was out of reach for most wizards, and the 'Special' stuff was basically impossible to obtain.</p><p> So, he went to the Tomb of Horrors, confronted Acererak ... and asked to be his apprentice.</p><p> Edena got away with this because:</p><p></p><p> 1. He was VERY lucky (the DM couldn't figure out how to kill him, with Acererak, after trying for an hour. Clerical spells from the old Tome of Magic come in handy ...)</p><p> 2. Acererak was intrigued by anyone so audacious as to walk into his Tomb and make such requests.</p><p> 3. Acererak was a non-demon, and neutral, in our campaign ... and his primary interest was in magic and magical research, and handing down what he knew to an apprentice. This is, indeed, what Edena had gambled on.</p><p></p><p> So, to obtain the Regenerates, Gemidon's Paralytic Missile, Lifeproof, Magic Manager, and other such Rare spells of the Planes, Edena took the ultimate risk (when a fellow can stare at you and turn your body into rot and fluid and evaporate it, then devour your soul in a twinkle, with no saving throw and NO magic resistance either, that's taking the ultimate risk.)</p><p></p><p> Sometimes it pays off. Sometimes it does not. But the relative rarity of spells makes for interesting play ... and powerful wizards after they succeed in finding the Rare spells.</p><p></p><p> Now, if Edena had only been so lucky when he squared off against Kargoth, Lord of Death Knights, he would have been spared endless, endless grief ...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Edena_of_Neith, post: 2652031, member: 2020"] The Wizard's Spell Compendium broke spells down into Common, Rare, and so on. I think this was a good idea. Not so much a good idea for the purposes of limiting the power of PCs, but as a story device. For example, consider the following spells and how they might be ranked: 1st level: Magic Missile (Common) Regenerate (Rare) 2nd level: Blur (Common) Invisibility (Uncommon) Gemidon's Paralytic Missile (Very Rare) 7th level: Power Word Stun (Common) Lifeproof (Rare) Magic Manager - for non-Chronomancers (Very Rare) This assumes that at each level of spell, initial research created weak spells, but as the research progressed the spells grew stronger and stronger at that level. Indeed, advanced research produced some real dousies. But the intrepid adventurers cannot just trade with the local wizards (even when the local wizard demands an arm and a leg for common spells!) for Rare spells: Rare spells must be found, or some sort of special mentor must be found who knows them. These produce motivation for wizards and bards, and adventure ideas. For example, Edena (the character, not this SN) became a wizard. And he knew, from watching wizards for endless decades, that the truly 'Good Stuff' was out of reach for most wizards, and the 'Special' stuff was basically impossible to obtain. So, he went to the Tomb of Horrors, confronted Acererak ... and asked to be his apprentice. Edena got away with this because: 1. He was VERY lucky (the DM couldn't figure out how to kill him, with Acererak, after trying for an hour. Clerical spells from the old Tome of Magic come in handy ...) 2. Acererak was intrigued by anyone so audacious as to walk into his Tomb and make such requests. 3. Acererak was a non-demon, and neutral, in our campaign ... and his primary interest was in magic and magical research, and handing down what he knew to an apprentice. This is, indeed, what Edena had gambled on. So, to obtain the Regenerates, Gemidon's Paralytic Missile, Lifeproof, Magic Manager, and other such Rare spells of the Planes, Edena took the ultimate risk (when a fellow can stare at you and turn your body into rot and fluid and evaporate it, then devour your soul in a twinkle, with no saving throw and NO magic resistance either, that's taking the ultimate risk.) Sometimes it pays off. Sometimes it does not. But the relative rarity of spells makes for interesting play ... and powerful wizards after they succeed in finding the Rare spells. Now, if Edena had only been so lucky when he squared off against Kargoth, Lord of Death Knights, he would have been spared endless, endless grief ... [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Common, un-common & rare spells
Top