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[Let's Read] The Nightmares Underneath: 2nd Edition
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8074613" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/CjptSqA.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter 5: Casting Spells and Other Enchantments</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Earlier Edits:</strong> For those reading along, I wanted to mention that I overlooked one little thing regarding equipment. The rules proper show up in Chapter 6, but heavy crossbows and firearms dispense with the need for a regular attack roll. Instead, the marksman saves against their Dexterity score, or half their score if the target is taking the dodge action, is behind cover, or is more than 50 feet away. If successfully saved, damage is applied normally. This means that such weapons are still useful besides the classic bow option, particularly if the wielder has a very high Dexterity score and the enemy is otherwise hard to hit due to a high Armour Rating.</p><p></p><p>From spells to magic items, this chapter covers all things magical in the world of the Nightmares Underneath. The spells which mortals can cast are in fact sapient formless beings from the distant realm of magic, and desire to be used as such. There are other forms of magic beyond that which is known (aka the stuff monsters and NPCs can do), but PC-friendly magic functions under a set of commonly-known rules. All (non-divine) mages make use of spellbooks which contain all of their known spells, and its presence is required when in the process of purifying corrupted spells. Spellbooks come in all shapes and sizes, but ones made by Chaotic casters tend to have unsettling supernatural tinges to their foundation (weighs too heavy for an object of its mass and material, throbs when touched, written in human blood, etc) while ones made by Lawful casters are often scientific, formal, and beautiful works of art treated with care. But their universal feature is containing a collection of written formulas, usually a number equal to caster level for the tomes of NPCs. Divine casters, meanwhile, have no need for such things but typically have holy symbols which aren’t strictly necessary but often carried out of a sense of obligation. Characters with a relevant Profession and/or subclass automatically learn new spells as they level, chosen randomly, but can choose for a specific spell if they have a spell formula on hand of the desired spell or can find and pay a mentor willing to teach them a specific spell.</p><p></p><p><strong>Spells</strong> in TNU are similar to that of other OSR/D&D games, but with a few exceptions. One, barring the exception of Champions of Chaos, there are no class-specific spell restrictions. Second, spells are not limited to a Vancian per-day formula, and casters can cast spells of any level. While mages can theoretically be cast an infinite amount of times per day, every attempt they must make a save against their casting attribute, known as Controlling a spell (half their score if casting a spell of higher level than their own level). Spells that are miscast have a d8 table of general unintended consequences: they’re cast on a different target, the spell has the opposite effect, is cast at half power, etc. Furthemore, knowledge of that spell becomes <strong>corrupted,</strong> meaning that every time the caster casts it again they take 1d4 damage to a random attribute score, to a minimum of 0.* Corrupted spells can be purified in hours or days,** representing meditation, consulting occult matrices. In short, casting spells can take a potential toll on the caster’s mind and body, and higher-level spells are more difficult to control and purify.</p><p></p><p>*which typically means falling unconscious, becoming invalid, or death in the case of Health.</p><p></p><p>**the duration being longer for spells higher than one’s level.</p><p></p><p><strong>Edition Changes:</strong> In 1st Edition, the Vancian system was still in place. Spells cast normally due to one’s Profession were limited in how many spells they could memorize to cast per day, and were ‘prepared’ via a ritual lasting 1d4 hours. The maximum amount being the caster’s level plus their Intelligence modifier. Once a spell is cast this way, it is gone from the caster’s memory, much like typical D&D mages. Additionally, scholars and wizards used to have the ability to learn new spells from formula via reverse-engineering it and paying time and money in research. Now in 2nd Edition they have to wait until their level-up just like everyone else. Another addition to 2e includes a new miscasting table pertaining specifically to spells involving spirits: that dearly departed ancestor you planned on contacting may instead bring a demon’s attention!</p><p></p><p>Spells can also be cast from formulas, which are akin to scrolls in being magical written text and anyone can cast from them, although they also have chances of miscasting and corruption (the formula itself becomes corrupted). The third way that spells can be cast is as rituals, which can be done normally or via a formula. The spell takes a number of hours per spell level to finish casting, but can never be corrupted as a result of being cast this way, and having assistants equal to spell level grants advantage on the save to control it.</p><p></p><p>The arcane/divine division still exists in TNU, albeit the divine option is presented as an optional ruleset that all classes (even scholars) can choose. The text doesn’t outright state it, but heavily implies that you cannot be Lawful when the source of your magic comes from an otherworldly patron*. Said patron can be a deity in the traditional sense, but can also cover spirits of various kinds, demons, lovecraftian entities, and so on. Being a divine caster comes with benefits and drawbacks: on the downside said caster cannot create or learn from spell formulas** and they can only give consumable magic items to people in service to their patron. But on the plus side they gain advantage on controlling spells when casting rituals and auto-succeed on said attempt if they have a number of assistants who worship or are allied to said patron equal to the spell level. Additionally they can delay the effects of attribute damage from corrupted spells while performing tasks and quests given to them by their patron; the damage comes all at once after the caster completes or defies said task. They also don’t use spellbooks, and instead have holy symbols or sacred texts which are tangential to the need to work their magic.</p><p></p><p>*<strong>Edition Changes:</strong> 1st Edition was explicit under the hindrances list.</p><p></p><p>**but can still cast them while reading aloud.</p><p></p><p>As there is no “save vs spells” in TNU, all six attributes are used: Dexterity for when swiftness is in order; Health for resisting necromancy, disease, and the like; Willpower to avoid enchantment and involuntary shapeshifting, and so on. Ferocity is even used, to break out of magical bindings or avoid incapacitation by such things which sounds rather limiting in scope. Furthermore, characters who are under the effect of an enchantment have various means of ending it beyond just waiting out the duration and saving throw: a variety of options are given, such as being confronted with direct evidence contradicting the spell’s reality, applying anti-magic substances to oneself, voluntary possession by a spirit antithetical to the enchantment’s nature, etc.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/FfoEsWk.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Spells and Spell Schools</strong></p><p></p><p>There are 100 spells and 10 schools of magic in the Nightmares Underneath. For the sake of brevity I’m not going to cover each one, instead covering the broad diversity of choices by school. We have quite a bit of iconic D&D options (Charm Person, Detect Magic, Magic Missile, etc) but also a few familiar entries have interesting twists: Protection from Evil, for example, doesn’t provide a static bonus vs. a being of Evil alignment but rather imposes disadvantage on all forms of intentional harm directed against the caster.</p><p></p><p><strong>Edition Changes:</strong> Generic spell descriptors such as duration, effect, & range are much more detailed, with their own entries and typical designations on what they plausibly cover. In the case of Range’s example, Infinite denotes no limitations on distance, Senses means being able to see, hear, touch, or otherwise reliably detect the target, etc. Additionally, some spells have an additional sentence or two in clarifying previously-vague territory or have been altered to be more or less powerful.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Battle</strong> is more about improving one’s ability to inflict and resist violence as opposed to direct damage spells. Its spells include effects such as granting a single weapon (or entire squad) advantage on attack rolls, allow a weapon to strike targets as though they were unarmoured, grant immunity to non-magical projectile weapons, the ability to manifest and throw eldritch darts, and so on. It’s a very good school on account that even its lower-level spells can make a big difference in the party’s ability to harm the opposition.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Divination</strong> lets the caster know about things they wouldn’t or shouldn’t It includes limited scrying (only locations the caster knows to exist or an unknown place beyond a door they know of), the ability to detect evil intentions rather than the alignment itself, the ability to detect poisonous items, creatures and poison in a person’s system, the ability to detect traps which include natural hazards and shoddy construction provided that someone is intentionally planning to use said hazards against others, the ability to detect the corruptive influence of nightmares and those tainted by them, among other things. Divination is another solid choice, and has a lot of utility depending on how the caster makes use of it.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Enchantment</strong> includes spells that affect one’s emotional state. It includes the classic Charm Animal/Person/Monster array (which all end immediately if the caster betrays the target), the ability to instill fear in a target, grant immunity to all forms of fear, and can allow a target to re-roll their Disposition or Psychic Armour (or add Caster Level to current Disposition is the result is lower), and force a target to tell the truth and they cannot choose to remain silent if engaged in conversation, as but a few options. I do have to like that the “restore hit points” spell is enchantment rather than healing, although the School of Healing covers attribute loss and proper Wounds.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Evocation</strong> covers the creation of things, but unlike summoning (which mostly creates sapient beings) evocation focuses on items and energy. It includes the obvious blasty holdovers like throwing magic missiles, rainbows that deal random energy damage, and spraying acid at targets, but also includes spells that can create bridges and inanimate objects, a pair of ghostly hands to safely touch things at a distance, and the ability to make a touched object shine (which the caster can choose to make permanent until dispelled if desired).* It’s a good mixture of offensive and utility effects, although the results feel a bit unfocused in comparison to other schools.</p><p></p><p>*a massive boon considering that infravision/darkvision isn’t really a thing PCs can get barring an appropriate magic item, and most nightmare incursions are dark and dreadful places.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Healing</strong> focuses on purging maladies from the body and soul. It’s purely a defensive school, containing spells that can heal wounds, regenerate lost body parts, cure instantaneously and make said target immune to a specific disease for a year, remove non-magical poisons and other impurities from food and drink, restore someone’s Disposition at a cost to the caster’s own, and even raise the dead but no more than 1 day/caster level! This school is always a solid choice.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Illusion</strong> confounds the senses much like Enchantment confounds the mind. In addition to the detection and creation of illusions of various sizes and senses, the school also contains a renamed Mirror Image (Duplicate Images), the ability to blow itchy, sticky, or blinding faerie dust over an area, making an object appear more valuable than it really is, the ability to send a message (words, images, or even emotions) to a known person or location regardless of distance, and of course the vaunted invisibility which lasts until the affected target commits a harmful attack/spell or has said spell dispelled. Illusion is broadly useful in utility, although unlike D&D none of the options have a Phantasmal Killer style effect that causes damage from sensory shock. It’s a purely utility school, but a strong one.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Law</strong> relates to holiness and the protection of others from malign influences. A surprising amount of spells involve the immobilization of targets, whether it be summoning constricting chains or the Immobilize Animal/Monster/Person chain of spells. It is notable for having one of the few 9th level spells in the book, Forlorn Encystment, which imprisons a target in a time-frozen prison deep within the earth. Its other spells include a selective multi-target dispel magic centered on the caster, and Protection from Chaos/Evil.* But its most broadly useful spell is the creation of Holy Water: with one flask per caster level created, this sacred liquid can harm nightmare, undead, and non-lawful and non-good extraplanar creatures. But that’s not all! It can give advantage on saves to control spells if used as a consumable in the casting of a spell! School of Law is all over the place; a good amount of its spells involve restricting a target’s mobility in some way, and two protect the target from harm. Holy Water is perhaps the most broadly useful, as advantage on controlling checks is a very strong option for any spellcaster no matter their specialization.</p><p></p><p>*The former imposes disadvantage/grants the affected target advantage on beings of Chaotic alignment, a rather odd feature in comparison to Protection from Evil which is ‘intent not alignment’ in function.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Quintessence</strong> is a peculiar school. In post-AD&D terms it would be known as ‘metamagic,’ as it pertains and relates to the enhancing of existing spells. As such a caster who knows spells only from this school is of limited use in a proper campaign, a PC whose spell options are only Quintessence can reroll their results. Quintessence spells are often cast as part of, before, or after a spell of another school is cast. Quintessence’s options range in effects from being able to ignore range restrictions when using objects that were part of or have significance to the target, can have a spell trigger later based upon a contingent event, the ability to counterspell magic afflicted upon the caster, the ever-useful Dispel Magic, and the ability to double a spell’s area/duration/damage/etc in exchange for suffering 1d4 attribute score damage. Quintessence’s usefulness widely depends upon the spell array of a caster, but is quite broad in application.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Summoning</strong> edges a bit into Evocation’s territory in that a few of its spells can create items, but are more restrictive: Create Food and Drink vs Evocation’s broader Create Object. But it’s strong suit is summoning NPC allies of various sorts to aid the caster. From the humble invisible servant who can also telepathically communicate with and fight to defend the caster, to elementals and a broad Summon Monster, the duration of said summons are often keyed to the relative power of the being. A steed to ride upon lasts for 1 hour per caster level, while elementals last for 1 turn.* Summon Monster lasts for 1d8 rounds or until the being completes an assigned task from the caster, whichever comes first. Summoned minions can be of variable level as well, depending on the spell in question. Given that action economy is a boon in just about every RPG with combat, and there’s no limit to how many summoned creatures a caster can have at once, it’s a very strong school.</p><p></p><p>*10 minutes, a common descriptor in pre-3.0 and OSR games.</p><p></p><p><strong>School of Transformation</strong> involves the alteration of people and objects which already exist. It spells include the ability to transform non-magical items into other items of the same relative mass, allow the target the ability to effortlessly walk on walls and ceilings, cause two objects within sight to become strongly magnetized to each other, shapeshift into an animal and gain its features (but no bonus damage or venom), and make a creature suffer double damage against a specific source of harm. Transformation is a very good utility/buffing school, and has a nice “double damage” debuff which I expected to see under Battle. The animal shapechange ability is pretty good, and the “item-alteration” spells are instantaneous in duration meaning that they may as well be permanent. The only limit is the player’s imagination... and perhaps the laws of conservation of mass.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/yjn99Kh.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Magic Items</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Edition Changes:</strong> This entire section has been added in 2nd Edition. The 1st Edition section was a mere 1 page of brief guidelines.</p><p></p><p>It wouldn’t be a proper retroclone without magic items for PCs to loot as treasure, and the Nightmares Underneath does not disappoint! The setting does have a few key differences than others: one, alignment-restricted magic items are strongly discouraged. They might grant a better bonus in the hands of a shared alignment, but ones which are practically nonmagical in anyone else’s hands aren’t really a thing in the Kingdom of Dreams. Secondly, while there aren’t Magic Item Marts, PCs are capable of crafting magic items to a limited extent. Formulas and spell containers specifically, the latter being a catch-all term for potion-like consumables. Casters need to spend a number of days or weeks (respectively) equal to the imbued spell’s level and pay a number of cyphers times the level depending on the quality of materials they have at hand. Outright permanent magical items cannot be crafted by the PCs, only found or taken.</p><p></p><p><strong>Edition Changes:</strong> Crafting magical formulas is much quicker in 2nd Edition, in days times the spell level rather than weeks.</p><p></p><p>Although the Kingdoms of Dreams are making great strides in (arcane) magical research, the majority of magic items lay within the ruins of the Vale of Serpents. Even in such enlightened times most people assume that magic items in general are instruments of chaos, even if they’re not…</p><p></p><p>...which kind of makes the whole “go to court to earn the right to use forbidden magic” mini-game a lot more difficult and hindering of a game mechanic than it needs to be.</p><p></p><p>There are six types of magic items. Arcane Accoutrements, which provide a +1 (or +2 for alignment-appropriate wielders) to various common rolls or attribute scores; Arcane Tools, which grant advantage to rolls related to the item’s purpose (weapons apply to attack and damage rolls, tools to saving throws for their related skills, etc); Charged Items which contain a spell within and can be cast/miscast and are recharged via obscure measures (buried in a grave, fed fresh blood in Wounds, submerged in expensive alchemical fluids, etc); Spell Formula, which are scrolls save that anyone can read and use them;* Spell Containers, which the creator “casts” ahead of time and whose effects (and miscast) takes effect once the imbiber makes use of it; and finally, Unique Magic Items, which are special enough to have a category all their own.</p><p></p><p>*unless specifically encrypted via code.</p><p></p><p><strong>Unique Magic Items</strong> are a catch-all category for gear that are mostly either permanent in function or always-active barring a rare few exceptions. We have a d100 table of results, with instructions to cross out a result rolled and replace it with one of the GM’s own creation to ensure that each item is truly one-of-a-kind. I won’t go over all of them, but there’s quite a bit of cool entries such as:</p><p></p><p>An amulet that can prevent Wounds via siphoning the wearer’s Willpower at a 1-1 rate.</p><p></p><p>Plate mail which rings when struck, dealing damage to those who hit the wearer in melee.</p><p></p><p>Incense which if smoked communally creates a telepathic bond among the users.</p><p></p><p>A keffiyeh which if thrown over the top of the wearer transports them to the land of Faerie.</p><p></p><p>A self-repairing orb which if broken can change the weather to that of the breaker’s choice.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jericho" target="_blank">A life-draining horn which if blown can send violent vibrations that can destroy a wall or standing building.</a></p><p></p><p>A portable kitchen in a box which compresses an entire meal’s worth of food into a highly-nourishing pellet.</p><p></p><p>A flare gun whose noxious gas forces disadvantage on all rolls to those who breathe in its fumes.</p><p></p><p>An animated suit of plate armor that can carry objects for the attuned wielder and instantly surround said wearer’s body via command.</p><p></p><p>A waterskin perpetually full of water, but whose elemental spirit will be violently offended at not being drunk if used for other purposes.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> The magic system of the Nightmares Underneath is both recognizable and quite different than the Vancian system to which most gamers are familiar. Still, I overall like the changes; getting rid of spells-per-day in favor of making casting inherently risky still places a limit preventing frivolous use of sorcery. Keying spell level to character level is a choice that I like, and wish base D&D did this rather than the confusing array used now: “Wait, so I need to be 5th level to cast 3rd level spells?!” The spell selection is broad and versatile, and there’s enough magic items to populate a campaign’s worth of dungeons for enterprising adventurers. I don’t have many criticisms or negative things to say about this chapter besides the public association of magic items in general with the forces of Chaos. Which seems a bit odd with the initial setting, which has anti-undead lightning rods in Geth and spell formula and containers being something casters in general can craft. Add the fact that scholars are a celebrated occupation who take well to magical knowledge, and one cannot help feel that the Nightmares Underneath is trying to have its cake and eat it, too.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we get into the nitty-gritty of dungeon-delving and various rules in Chapter 6: Raiding the Nightmare Realms!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8074613, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/CjptSqA.png[/img] [b]Chapter 5: Casting Spells and Other Enchantments[/b][/center] [b]Earlier Edits:[/b] For those reading along, I wanted to mention that I overlooked one little thing regarding equipment. The rules proper show up in Chapter 6, but heavy crossbows and firearms dispense with the need for a regular attack roll. Instead, the marksman saves against their Dexterity score, or half their score if the target is taking the dodge action, is behind cover, or is more than 50 feet away. If successfully saved, damage is applied normally. This means that such weapons are still useful besides the classic bow option, particularly if the wielder has a very high Dexterity score and the enemy is otherwise hard to hit due to a high Armour Rating. From spells to magic items, this chapter covers all things magical in the world of the Nightmares Underneath. The spells which mortals can cast are in fact sapient formless beings from the distant realm of magic, and desire to be used as such. There are other forms of magic beyond that which is known (aka the stuff monsters and NPCs can do), but PC-friendly magic functions under a set of commonly-known rules. All (non-divine) mages make use of spellbooks which contain all of their known spells, and its presence is required when in the process of purifying corrupted spells. Spellbooks come in all shapes and sizes, but ones made by Chaotic casters tend to have unsettling supernatural tinges to their foundation (weighs too heavy for an object of its mass and material, throbs when touched, written in human blood, etc) while ones made by Lawful casters are often scientific, formal, and beautiful works of art treated with care. But their universal feature is containing a collection of written formulas, usually a number equal to caster level for the tomes of NPCs. Divine casters, meanwhile, have no need for such things but typically have holy symbols which aren’t strictly necessary but often carried out of a sense of obligation. Characters with a relevant Profession and/or subclass automatically learn new spells as they level, chosen randomly, but can choose for a specific spell if they have a spell formula on hand of the desired spell or can find and pay a mentor willing to teach them a specific spell. [b]Spells[/b] in TNU are similar to that of other OSR/D&D games, but with a few exceptions. One, barring the exception of Champions of Chaos, there are no class-specific spell restrictions. Second, spells are not limited to a Vancian per-day formula, and casters can cast spells of any level. While mages can theoretically be cast an infinite amount of times per day, every attempt they must make a save against their casting attribute, known as Controlling a spell (half their score if casting a spell of higher level than their own level). Spells that are miscast have a d8 table of general unintended consequences: they’re cast on a different target, the spell has the opposite effect, is cast at half power, etc. Furthemore, knowledge of that spell becomes [b]corrupted,[/b] meaning that every time the caster casts it again they take 1d4 damage to a random attribute score, to a minimum of 0.* Corrupted spells can be purified in hours or days,** representing meditation, consulting occult matrices. In short, casting spells can take a potential toll on the caster’s mind and body, and higher-level spells are more difficult to control and purify. *which typically means falling unconscious, becoming invalid, or death in the case of Health. **the duration being longer for spells higher than one’s level. [b]Edition Changes:[/b] In 1st Edition, the Vancian system was still in place. Spells cast normally due to one’s Profession were limited in how many spells they could memorize to cast per day, and were ‘prepared’ via a ritual lasting 1d4 hours. The maximum amount being the caster’s level plus their Intelligence modifier. Once a spell is cast this way, it is gone from the caster’s memory, much like typical D&D mages. Additionally, scholars and wizards used to have the ability to learn new spells from formula via reverse-engineering it and paying time and money in research. Now in 2nd Edition they have to wait until their level-up just like everyone else. Another addition to 2e includes a new miscasting table pertaining specifically to spells involving spirits: that dearly departed ancestor you planned on contacting may instead bring a demon’s attention! Spells can also be cast from formulas, which are akin to scrolls in being magical written text and anyone can cast from them, although they also have chances of miscasting and corruption (the formula itself becomes corrupted). The third way that spells can be cast is as rituals, which can be done normally or via a formula. The spell takes a number of hours per spell level to finish casting, but can never be corrupted as a result of being cast this way, and having assistants equal to spell level grants advantage on the save to control it. The arcane/divine division still exists in TNU, albeit the divine option is presented as an optional ruleset that all classes (even scholars) can choose. The text doesn’t outright state it, but heavily implies that you cannot be Lawful when the source of your magic comes from an otherworldly patron*. Said patron can be a deity in the traditional sense, but can also cover spirits of various kinds, demons, lovecraftian entities, and so on. Being a divine caster comes with benefits and drawbacks: on the downside said caster cannot create or learn from spell formulas** and they can only give consumable magic items to people in service to their patron. But on the plus side they gain advantage on controlling spells when casting rituals and auto-succeed on said attempt if they have a number of assistants who worship or are allied to said patron equal to the spell level. Additionally they can delay the effects of attribute damage from corrupted spells while performing tasks and quests given to them by their patron; the damage comes all at once after the caster completes or defies said task. They also don’t use spellbooks, and instead have holy symbols or sacred texts which are tangential to the need to work their magic. *[b]Edition Changes:[/b] 1st Edition was explicit under the hindrances list. **but can still cast them while reading aloud. As there is no “save vs spells” in TNU, all six attributes are used: Dexterity for when swiftness is in order; Health for resisting necromancy, disease, and the like; Willpower to avoid enchantment and involuntary shapeshifting, and so on. Ferocity is even used, to break out of magical bindings or avoid incapacitation by such things which sounds rather limiting in scope. Furthermore, characters who are under the effect of an enchantment have various means of ending it beyond just waiting out the duration and saving throw: a variety of options are given, such as being confronted with direct evidence contradicting the spell’s reality, applying anti-magic substances to oneself, voluntary possession by a spirit antithetical to the enchantment’s nature, etc. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FfoEsWk.png[/img] [b]Spells and Spell Schools[/b][/center] There are 100 spells and 10 schools of magic in the Nightmares Underneath. For the sake of brevity I’m not going to cover each one, instead covering the broad diversity of choices by school. We have quite a bit of iconic D&D options (Charm Person, Detect Magic, Magic Missile, etc) but also a few familiar entries have interesting twists: Protection from Evil, for example, doesn’t provide a static bonus vs. a being of Evil alignment but rather imposes disadvantage on all forms of intentional harm directed against the caster. [b]Edition Changes:[/b] Generic spell descriptors such as duration, effect, & range are much more detailed, with their own entries and typical designations on what they plausibly cover. In the case of Range’s example, Infinite denotes no limitations on distance, Senses means being able to see, hear, touch, or otherwise reliably detect the target, etc. Additionally, some spells have an additional sentence or two in clarifying previously-vague territory or have been altered to be more or less powerful. [b]School of Battle[/b] is more about improving one’s ability to inflict and resist violence as opposed to direct damage spells. Its spells include effects such as granting a single weapon (or entire squad) advantage on attack rolls, allow a weapon to strike targets as though they were unarmoured, grant immunity to non-magical projectile weapons, the ability to manifest and throw eldritch darts, and so on. It’s a very good school on account that even its lower-level spells can make a big difference in the party’s ability to harm the opposition. [b]School of Divination[/b] lets the caster know about things they wouldn’t or shouldn’t It includes limited scrying (only locations the caster knows to exist or an unknown place beyond a door they know of), the ability to detect evil intentions rather than the alignment itself, the ability to detect poisonous items, creatures and poison in a person’s system, the ability to detect traps which include natural hazards and shoddy construction provided that someone is intentionally planning to use said hazards against others, the ability to detect the corruptive influence of nightmares and those tainted by them, among other things. Divination is another solid choice, and has a lot of utility depending on how the caster makes use of it. [b]School of Enchantment[/b] includes spells that affect one’s emotional state. It includes the classic Charm Animal/Person/Monster array (which all end immediately if the caster betrays the target), the ability to instill fear in a target, grant immunity to all forms of fear, and can allow a target to re-roll their Disposition or Psychic Armour (or add Caster Level to current Disposition is the result is lower), and force a target to tell the truth and they cannot choose to remain silent if engaged in conversation, as but a few options. I do have to like that the “restore hit points” spell is enchantment rather than healing, although the School of Healing covers attribute loss and proper Wounds. [b]School of Evocation[/b] covers the creation of things, but unlike summoning (which mostly creates sapient beings) evocation focuses on items and energy. It includes the obvious blasty holdovers like throwing magic missiles, rainbows that deal random energy damage, and spraying acid at targets, but also includes spells that can create bridges and inanimate objects, a pair of ghostly hands to safely touch things at a distance, and the ability to make a touched object shine (which the caster can choose to make permanent until dispelled if desired).* It’s a good mixture of offensive and utility effects, although the results feel a bit unfocused in comparison to other schools. *a massive boon considering that infravision/darkvision isn’t really a thing PCs can get barring an appropriate magic item, and most nightmare incursions are dark and dreadful places. [b]School of Healing[/b] focuses on purging maladies from the body and soul. It’s purely a defensive school, containing spells that can heal wounds, regenerate lost body parts, cure instantaneously and make said target immune to a specific disease for a year, remove non-magical poisons and other impurities from food and drink, restore someone’s Disposition at a cost to the caster’s own, and even raise the dead but no more than 1 day/caster level! This school is always a solid choice. [b]School of Illusion[/b] confounds the senses much like Enchantment confounds the mind. In addition to the detection and creation of illusions of various sizes and senses, the school also contains a renamed Mirror Image (Duplicate Images), the ability to blow itchy, sticky, or blinding faerie dust over an area, making an object appear more valuable than it really is, the ability to send a message (words, images, or even emotions) to a known person or location regardless of distance, and of course the vaunted invisibility which lasts until the affected target commits a harmful attack/spell or has said spell dispelled. Illusion is broadly useful in utility, although unlike D&D none of the options have a Phantasmal Killer style effect that causes damage from sensory shock. It’s a purely utility school, but a strong one. [b]School of Law[/b] relates to holiness and the protection of others from malign influences. A surprising amount of spells involve the immobilization of targets, whether it be summoning constricting chains or the Immobilize Animal/Monster/Person chain of spells. It is notable for having one of the few 9th level spells in the book, Forlorn Encystment, which imprisons a target in a time-frozen prison deep within the earth. Its other spells include a selective multi-target dispel magic centered on the caster, and Protection from Chaos/Evil.* But its most broadly useful spell is the creation of Holy Water: with one flask per caster level created, this sacred liquid can harm nightmare, undead, and non-lawful and non-good extraplanar creatures. But that’s not all! It can give advantage on saves to control spells if used as a consumable in the casting of a spell! School of Law is all over the place; a good amount of its spells involve restricting a target’s mobility in some way, and two protect the target from harm. Holy Water is perhaps the most broadly useful, as advantage on controlling checks is a very strong option for any spellcaster no matter their specialization. *The former imposes disadvantage/grants the affected target advantage on beings of Chaotic alignment, a rather odd feature in comparison to Protection from Evil which is ‘intent not alignment’ in function. [b]School of Quintessence[/b] is a peculiar school. In post-AD&D terms it would be known as ‘metamagic,’ as it pertains and relates to the enhancing of existing spells. As such a caster who knows spells only from this school is of limited use in a proper campaign, a PC whose spell options are only Quintessence can reroll their results. Quintessence spells are often cast as part of, before, or after a spell of another school is cast. Quintessence’s options range in effects from being able to ignore range restrictions when using objects that were part of or have significance to the target, can have a spell trigger later based upon a contingent event, the ability to counterspell magic afflicted upon the caster, the ever-useful Dispel Magic, and the ability to double a spell’s area/duration/damage/etc in exchange for suffering 1d4 attribute score damage. Quintessence’s usefulness widely depends upon the spell array of a caster, but is quite broad in application. [b]School of Summoning[/b] edges a bit into Evocation’s territory in that a few of its spells can create items, but are more restrictive: Create Food and Drink vs Evocation’s broader Create Object. But it’s strong suit is summoning NPC allies of various sorts to aid the caster. From the humble invisible servant who can also telepathically communicate with and fight to defend the caster, to elementals and a broad Summon Monster, the duration of said summons are often keyed to the relative power of the being. A steed to ride upon lasts for 1 hour per caster level, while elementals last for 1 turn.* Summon Monster lasts for 1d8 rounds or until the being completes an assigned task from the caster, whichever comes first. Summoned minions can be of variable level as well, depending on the spell in question. Given that action economy is a boon in just about every RPG with combat, and there’s no limit to how many summoned creatures a caster can have at once, it’s a very strong school. *10 minutes, a common descriptor in pre-3.0 and OSR games. [b]School of Transformation[/b] involves the alteration of people and objects which already exist. It spells include the ability to transform non-magical items into other items of the same relative mass, allow the target the ability to effortlessly walk on walls and ceilings, cause two objects within sight to become strongly magnetized to each other, shapeshift into an animal and gain its features (but no bonus damage or venom), and make a creature suffer double damage against a specific source of harm. Transformation is a very good utility/buffing school, and has a nice “double damage” debuff which I expected to see under Battle. The animal shapechange ability is pretty good, and the “item-alteration” spells are instantaneous in duration meaning that they may as well be permanent. The only limit is the player’s imagination... and perhaps the laws of conservation of mass. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/yjn99Kh.png[/img] [b]Magic Items[/b][/center] [b]Edition Changes:[/b] This entire section has been added in 2nd Edition. The 1st Edition section was a mere 1 page of brief guidelines. It wouldn’t be a proper retroclone without magic items for PCs to loot as treasure, and the Nightmares Underneath does not disappoint! The setting does have a few key differences than others: one, alignment-restricted magic items are strongly discouraged. They might grant a better bonus in the hands of a shared alignment, but ones which are practically nonmagical in anyone else’s hands aren’t really a thing in the Kingdom of Dreams. Secondly, while there aren’t Magic Item Marts, PCs are capable of crafting magic items to a limited extent. Formulas and spell containers specifically, the latter being a catch-all term for potion-like consumables. Casters need to spend a number of days or weeks (respectively) equal to the imbued spell’s level and pay a number of cyphers times the level depending on the quality of materials they have at hand. Outright permanent magical items cannot be crafted by the PCs, only found or taken. [b]Edition Changes:[/b] Crafting magical formulas is much quicker in 2nd Edition, in days times the spell level rather than weeks. Although the Kingdoms of Dreams are making great strides in (arcane) magical research, the majority of magic items lay within the ruins of the Vale of Serpents. Even in such enlightened times most people assume that magic items in general are instruments of chaos, even if they’re not… ...which kind of makes the whole “go to court to earn the right to use forbidden magic” mini-game a lot more difficult and hindering of a game mechanic than it needs to be. There are six types of magic items. Arcane Accoutrements, which provide a +1 (or +2 for alignment-appropriate wielders) to various common rolls or attribute scores; Arcane Tools, which grant advantage to rolls related to the item’s purpose (weapons apply to attack and damage rolls, tools to saving throws for their related skills, etc); Charged Items which contain a spell within and can be cast/miscast and are recharged via obscure measures (buried in a grave, fed fresh blood in Wounds, submerged in expensive alchemical fluids, etc); Spell Formula, which are scrolls save that anyone can read and use them;* Spell Containers, which the creator “casts” ahead of time and whose effects (and miscast) takes effect once the imbiber makes use of it; and finally, Unique Magic Items, which are special enough to have a category all their own. *unless specifically encrypted via code. [b]Unique Magic Items[/b] are a catch-all category for gear that are mostly either permanent in function or always-active barring a rare few exceptions. We have a d100 table of results, with instructions to cross out a result rolled and replace it with one of the GM’s own creation to ensure that each item is truly one-of-a-kind. I won’t go over all of them, but there’s quite a bit of cool entries such as: An amulet that can prevent Wounds via siphoning the wearer’s Willpower at a 1-1 rate. Plate mail which rings when struck, dealing damage to those who hit the wearer in melee. Incense which if smoked communally creates a telepathic bond among the users. A keffiyeh which if thrown over the top of the wearer transports them to the land of Faerie. A self-repairing orb which if broken can change the weather to that of the breaker’s choice. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jericho]A life-draining horn which if blown can send violent vibrations that can destroy a wall or standing building.[/url] A portable kitchen in a box which compresses an entire meal’s worth of food into a highly-nourishing pellet. A flare gun whose noxious gas forces disadvantage on all rolls to those who breathe in its fumes. An animated suit of plate armor that can carry objects for the attuned wielder and instantly surround said wearer’s body via command. A waterskin perpetually full of water, but whose elemental spirit will be violently offended at not being drunk if used for other purposes. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] The magic system of the Nightmares Underneath is both recognizable and quite different than the Vancian system to which most gamers are familiar. Still, I overall like the changes; getting rid of spells-per-day in favor of making casting inherently risky still places a limit preventing frivolous use of sorcery. Keying spell level to character level is a choice that I like, and wish base D&D did this rather than the confusing array used now: “Wait, so I need to be 5th level to cast 3rd level spells?!” The spell selection is broad and versatile, and there’s enough magic items to populate a campaign’s worth of dungeons for enterprising adventurers. I don’t have many criticisms or negative things to say about this chapter besides the public association of magic items in general with the forces of Chaos. Which seems a bit odd with the initial setting, which has anti-undead lightning rods in Geth and spell formula and containers being something casters in general can craft. Add the fact that scholars are a celebrated occupation who take well to magical knowledge, and one cannot help feel that the Nightmares Underneath is trying to have its cake and eat it, too. [b]Join us next time as we get into the nitty-gritty of dungeon-delving and various rules in Chapter 6: Raiding the Nightmare Realms![/b] [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] The Nightmares Underneath: 2nd Edition
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