D&D General GM's Closet for the CONAN RPG

[Water Bob]

Fantastic Spell: GELID BONES



From page 245 of the core rulebook. Great spell. Only costs 1 Power Point to cast. Casting time is one standard action. Somantic component, which is that the sorcerer must touch his target.

Lasts One Hour Per Level!

Requires Magic Attack Bonus +2, and must know Lesser Ill-Fortune and Calm of the Adept (and therefore, must have WIS 13+).

The sorcerer will generally have to be 4th level to use this spell, and the downside is the prerequisite spells just mentioned (if you want different spells for your character and have access to those spells).

And, of course....the sorcerer must touch his victim in order to cast the spell. That's a Touch Attack roll.




But.... what a monster this spell can be. Victim gets a Willpower Save to negate the spell--which is gives the victim two defenses in the Touch Attack and then, if successful, the Save. Magic Attack roll sets the DC for the Will Save.



IF the spell is successful, the sorcerer can take down ANYBODY. This spell was actually mentioned in the Howard story, Beyond the Black River. The victim was described as stopping and basically melting, rubber like, folding, into a lump of bendy flesh.

Can you imagine? A human body with no bones? It just flips and flops where gravity takes it.

This is POWERFUL spell, especially for a sorcerer who takes Feats and Skills to help him make Touch Attacks or increase his Magical Attack roll.

Once your foe is a tangled blob at your feet (for hours!), you can do with the flabby stuff as you will.

 

[Water Bob]

Fantastic Spell: ILL-FORTUNE



What's neat about this spell is that the victim may not know that he is being affected by it. Look at the rules for determining curses on page 242 of the core rulebook.

This spell lays a -2 modifier on the victim for a month. This penalty applies to all attack throws, saving rolls, and ability/skill checks.

In order to keep it secret, the GM must apply the modifier without alerting the player, if the target is a player character.

Casting time is one standard action. Range is Evil Eye, Touch, or Magical Link. So, if you can get a piece of the victim's clothing or a strand of hair, the sorcerer can use that Magical Link in order to cast the spell. The component is Verbal only.

A 1st level Sorcerer could conceivably use this spell if he had access to the spell and Lesser Ill-Fortune.

Of course, the Lesser version of the spell is easier and convey's a -1 modifier.

 

[Water Bob]

Fantastic Spell: NOT THIS HOUR


The downside to using this spell is that it requires that all remaining power points must be used. So, the sorcerer won't be casting any spells after casting this.

The upside is that this spell can save a sorcerer's life.

Casting time is immediate, so it takes a blink of an eye to cast. Component is Verbal, so think of a quick, probably one syllable word to use for that.

When the spell is cast, the character receives 1d6 Hit Points for every Power Point spent. The spell lasts for just that one round, but any damage taken to the character comes off the bonus Hit Points first.



This is another spell where the sorcerer can screw with the mind of his opponent. A foe attacks and hits, yet no damage appears on the sorcerer (because of the extra hit points). A crafty sorcerer can use that to his advantage, trying to make his foe think that the sorcerer is invincible.

Great spell to throw if the sorcerer is running away, too, and might trigger an Attack of Opportunity.

 

[Water Bob]

Fantastic Spell: PSYCHOMETRY



This spell was seen on one of Howard's stories, The Hour of the Dragon.

This is a great spell for a GM to have in his game. If he knows that a player-sorcerer has this spell, the GM can really make the outcome spectacular and fun.

The spell allows the sorcerer to follow or tell something about a target after casting the spell on an object that was touched previously by the victim.

In Hour of the Dragon, tracking showed were a fight took place on the sands, and blood could be seen. From this, the sorcerer was able to tell that King Conan still lived, and that he had traveled southward on a ship.

The spell takes only a standard action to cast, but gaining information from the spell takes 10 minutes plus 1 minutes per level--with the sorcerer gaining generic to specific information each minute.

See the spell for complete rules. Page 247 of the core rulebook.

I think that this can be a dynamite spell that will add a lot of flavor to the game if the GM uses it appropriately in his game.

 

[Water Bob]

Fantastic Spell: ENTRANCE



This is not a real spell. It is hypnotism being used. It requires no power points. In fact, this may be the "spell" that Thulsa Doom used to chop off the head of Conan's mother in the 1982 movie, Conan The Barbarian.

Remember how Thulsa just stared at Conan's mother?

The first part of Thulsa Doom's staring could be the power boost gained by concentration as described by the spell.

I say "could", because I'm not sure that this is the spell that Doom used. First off, the spell in the book requires a material component, and Doom used no component other than to just stare at his target. Maybe, the master sorcerer has learned a new way to cast the spell without any component needed.

Also, Conan's mother might be flat footed while entranced.

I'm guessing that Doom knows an alternate or improved version of this spell.

The rest of the spell describes exactly what happens in the film. The sorcerer concentrates on his victim, and as he concentrates, the target cannot take any actions.

Even if using the required component, this is a great spell to use. If successful, it renders your unable to act unless attacked.





Note that Terrible Fascination is a similar spell that can affect all in a 10 foot radius of the caster.

 

[Water Bob]

Fantastic Spell: HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION


This spell is a true spell as it requires 1 Power Point. Components are Verbal and Somatic. Duration is 10 minutes plus one minute per level.

In the hands of a creative player, this can be one incredible spell. For example, the suggestion could be to sleep, if the sorcerer can make this action reasonable to the target.

The spell is versatile, too, in that it can be used, instead, to create illusions for the target.

 

[Water Bob]

Spell IDEA: SPELLCAUGHT



In Robert Jordan's excellent Conan book, Conan The Invincible, the sorcerer Amanar uses a spell on his slaves to keep them from escaping.

Velita, the dancing girl, explains to Conan that she cannot escape with Conan because of the spell. She says that she had tried to escape once, and she found her feet taking her to Amanar, involuntarily telling him what she had tried to do.

Another time, she tried to kill herself, but when the tip of the dagger touched her breast, she found her arms to become locked like iron. She couldn't move her own muscles in order to impale herself.

Conan figures that the spell will fail if he kills Amanar, which shows us that Conan knows the sorcery Rule of Impermanence from the RPG!



I haven't put any thought into how to cast this spell. The actual casting is not shown in the book. My feeling that the material component is at least Verbal, probably Somatic, and I'm thinking a Magical Link (such as a strand of the slave's hair) as the Spell Range.

I don't know how many Power Points would be required. Your thoughts?

Casting Time?

 

[Water Bob]

Spell Idea: GEAS



This spell is actually named in the novel, Conan The Invincible. The geas spell compels a captive to tell the sorcerer if the captive sees or speaks to Conan. I'm sure that the sorcerer can use the spell for different instructions.

Amanar, the sorcerer, said that the captive was crying and begging to be killed rather than be compelled to betray Conan, but betray him she did because of the spell.

This spell may be the same spell mentioned above referred to as "spell caught".

I would guess a magical link is needed for this spell, like a strand of hair. Certainly a Verbal component, too.

 

[Water Bob]

Red Sonja and Sorcery



Just a few random notes....



The Children of the Night spell, from the core rulebook, was taken from a Howard story, Hour of the Dragon. In the comic, Red Sonja/Claw: The Devil's Hands, there is a similar version of the spell where a real raven, not a conjured one, spies from the air then flies to the sorcerer. There, the sorcerer kills the bird, squeezing its body so that the blood forms a pool on the floor. In reflection of the blood, the sorcerer sees what the bird saw.





In the movie, Red Sonja from 1985, there is a version of a crystal ball/silvery mirror, used by the sorcerer Ikol, who serves Queen Gedren.

Also in that movie is an animated aquatic dragon-serpent made of iron, obviously powered by sorcery.



There is also a Mighty Artifact, central to the film's plot, called the "talisman". It looks like a rock, about the size of a large watermelon, with glowing green parts of it. The rock is encased in a non-symmetrical metal web.

Remember all of the green stone that Howard wrote about in his Conan stories.

The talisman can be used to control the weather. In the film, it is used to destroy an entire town. We see it cause lightning and wind. It is said that it can cause earthquakes and such.

Only women can touch the talisman. Any man who touches it is absorbed (maybe the stone benefits from power points as in a ritual sacrifice?).

There is a cult that has been created to watch over and protect the talisman. This cult is divided into two halves--a female/priestess half that directly watches over the talisman in the temple. The other half is all male--a warrior/priest half that operates as the temple's defenders.

The two halves are kept in separate temples, far apart. The women are trained as warrior monks, too. The male warriors are akin to an army that can be summoned when the heavy infantry is needed.

Each half of the cult is watched over by a head Priest and Priestess.

The talisman must be kept in darkness. When it is exposed to light, it becomes more powerful. If it is exposed to too much light, it will destroy the world.

The Priestesses keep the talisman in a dark, deep pit in the center of their temple.

Although it is not specifically stated, the movie seems to be set among the city-states of Hyrkania.

 

[Water Bob]

More Red Sonja and Sorcery



A few more random notes...


Sometimes, it is unclear whether the gods are real in the Hyborian Age. In Black Colossus, Conan speaks with a god, but it can be debated if that were really a god.

At the beginning of Red Sonja, the red haired warrior woman is given the power of the sword from a god-like being. She takes an oath that she will lay with no man who cannot best her in combat. And, since her skill with the sword is un-worldly, no man can.

It it assumed that it is a goddess who gives Sonja this power. But, again, it can be debated. I don't remember if it is ever made clear in the film, but the idea of Red Sonja's power being bestowed upon her from a god is also in the comics.





During the climax fight with Queen Gedren, there is a lacky sorcerer off to the side who aids his Queen. He's in front of a long, flat table. As he throws flash powder at the table, Gedren teleports around the room during the fight. As Sonja attempts to strike, the sorcerer will pop Gedren from one place to another.

Again, the sorcerer will throw sand or some type of powder on the slab in front of him. This time it is not flash powder. The sorcerer pulls a knife and scrapes a line through the powder in front of him. A slice appears on Sonja.

In this way, the spell provides a means to attack Sonja from a distance.



Sonja uses acrobatics during her fights. She uses the Use The Battlefield Combat Maneuver. And, at the climax fight, you can see her use the Sunder Combat Maneuver several times until she breaks Gedren's sword. As in the game, not all swords break on the first attempt. In the movie, Sonja tries somewhere around four times or so.