Important Definitions
Duration
One may increment and decrement the same spell (abandoning it), keeping the level the same, but the caster must be able to cast the higher level spell as a spell, and all controls available on the shorter duration are lost. So an illusion abandoned this way to five minutes of ordinary concentration might be able to move one or two elements back and forth, but make no other changes. A light spell could be abandoned just before bedtime, but the light would keep doing what it did when cast.
Unless mentioned otherwise, Durations for spells are one of:
Instant
If the spell is a bolt or ray, or some other instant sounding effect “unlocks a lock”, “sets fire to…”, etc, it is instant. The effects caused by the instant change carry on afterwards, and cannot be dispelled. The cooked steak is still medium rare.
Five minutes or until complete concentration ends
If the spell is creating a constantly varying, complicated effect with more than two distinct aspects varying at one time in a way alien to normal caster life (an octopus with eight legs, lightning bolts on 3 or more chosen targets each round, a visual illusion specified by the caster with no persistence, take over another’s body), then complete concentration is required to maintain the effect. The caster cannot do anything else, and if attention is forced elsewhere, the effect ends. Essentially think of walking across a tightrope or juggling. As with those skills, practice moves the concentration required down.
Twenty minutes or until concentration ends
If the spell has some ongoing effect “ball of …”, or it does something each round, or the caster is interacting with the effect in some way “talk to …”, it lasts twenty minutes or until concentration ends. Normal mages without special abilities can only concentrate on one thing at once, and can walk, skim text (but not read deeply), talk (but not conduct a screaming match of emotional intensity). A concentration spell can have an effect that moves, or strikes once per round, or is talked with, and that effect can have another aspect that varies at the caster’s whim throughout. Anything more complicated needs “Five minutes or until complete concentration ends”, unless well practiced. If the caster takes damage during concentration, the caster must roll a Wisdom save to maintain concentration. If the duration is reduced to this level, it does not require concentration, as it still has no knobs.
Five hours, or until unconscious
if a spell has no ongoing control levers, and requires an action to change or interact with, and has an ongoing effect, it lasts five hours or until unconscious. If a spell’s duration is reduced to this level, it still does not fade when the caster loses consciousness. One may increase and decrement the same spell to make it persist when asleep for five hours, and keep it the same level, but the caster must be able to cast the incremented spell as a spell, not a ritual.
One week
The caster can dispel the effect at any time as an action if they are near it, and can remember casting the effect. If they can be reminded of having cast it, roll an intelligence check to remember. If a spell is increased to this duration, it no longer requires caster consciousness to maintain — a reservoir of power was added to the spell.
Until Dispelled
Spells in this category may fade at different intervals based on ambient magic, power required, etc. As a rule of thumb, a force bridge that lasts a century is an engineering project.
Whatever
Whatever refers to anything the caster can see or describe, or define. It is mostly generic, and must be describable by a short phrase. So in the cantrip “Is this whatever”, the caster can ask if the item is living, or blue, or complicated. Whatevers cannot include mental states, worth (good/evil, valuable/junk, perfect/flawed), the future (doomed/saved, predetermined/flexible, solved or not), states of law (criminal/citizen, permitted/banned), or things depending on information that is too far away.
Element
Useful Examples: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, lightning, Life
Less useful examples: Time or magic (really hard to use), Fans (too specific), Good, Truth, or quality (not allowed)
It should be the sort of thing that can be conjured, imbued, animated, communed with, found, examined, conjured and manipulated.
Thing
The more specific the thing, the more powerful the effects one can have. It should be something that can be found, pointed at, examined, etc. It should also be something that would be run across in the game setting.
Useful examples: Chickens, boxes, roads
Less useful things: microprocessors, cleanliness, crime (nonlocal, involves quality)
Item
An item is any one unitary item in the environment that the caster can see or exactly locate while nearby (if they have special knowledge). A stone in a castle is not an item, but the same stone, when not part of a castle is an item. An unmortered stone at the top of a wall is an item, but not the ones underneath. The ground is not an item, but a ball of soil is. A grass plant is an item, even if it is rooted. Similarly a person would be an item. More power can bend the rules: a person’s shoe is an item extra power is added to overwhelm the person’s desire to not have the shoe be an item. More power is needed if the person is standing on it.
Ranges/Areas
In general, if the caster does not know where something is, or it cannot be pointed at, it cannot be targeted. This means unseen, enclosed or blocked items cannot be targeted.
Areas of effect use the
Self
Covers the caster, only. If something can deliver a touch effect, it can count as self.
Touch
Any target the caster can touch.
One pace
Anything 5-6 feet in front of caster, or a single five foot area
One room/nearby
Within the same room, or no more than 30 feet. “Find nearby” and similar refers to this range.
One building
Same building, provided it is smaller than 100 feet.
One location
No more than 200 yards
In the neighborhood
In the same neighborhood of a city, no more than half a mile. “Find” spells refer to this range.
Metro area
Within a metro area, or a half day’s walk. “in city” refers to this range
100 miles
Within the range of a single teleport. It is not known why 100 miles is special. It just is.
One frame
The larger area enclosing the players, the country/area and environs.
Larger
Spells with longer range than one frame will generally have text describing their range or area more carefully. If a spell is range or area extended here, the DM will ask more details how, and those details will dictate the range.
Protection check
An item is protected if it is owned by someone else, and that person is there. If a spell says it works on items, and the item is protected, and the person who owns/protects the item doesn’t consent, you have to roll an opposed wisdom check, called a “protection check”, adding +4 per level, subtracting -4 per their level. Add a modifier, typically between -20 and 20 for proximity/importance to the owner.
Also add an emotional modifier based on situation, as critical blackmail is much harder to affect than an old receipt. If the owner is not aware they own the possession, it doesn’t count. People who feel protective towards things/people add modifiers as well.
The size/scope of items protected by people increases exponentially with level and brainpower (up to human). So a squirrel might be able to protect its nut, maybe. A normal person could protect their items and house. A great archmage would lend protection to a much larger area, based on power and emotional attachment. This can cut both ways: a powerful leader can be outed as a traitor because of failed protection.
An area effect spell that destroys many items must roll a tougher protection roll based on the number and power of the affected people — blowing up a house is much easier than razing a city block.
Combat spells against similar level opponents need not worry about these effects, except for collateral damage to items of unrelated parties.
Specializations
Everyone
This “specialization” is assumed to be the standard operating toolkit shared by all normal mages. Each mage typically has one element and one thing, though they can learn additional things and elements as desired, time, study and resources permitting. Elements are technologies: a story must be created to explain why/how a mage got a weird element no one else has. Things are more individual, with more diversity and less overlap.
C: Conjure elemental bolt
1d8 damage plus elemental effect, to a target in the same room. Damage varies with element/target
C: Conjure elemental fountain
1d4 damage each round with elemental effect within 5 feet of a fixed point touched by the caster.
C: Conjure elemental ball
A ball appears in front of the caster. It does 1d4 damage each round plus elemental effect to whatever it touches for five minutes with concentration. Can move at walk as directed by caster.
C: Conjure elemental spray
1d8 damage plus elemental effect to everyone standing in front of the caster within 5 feet in a cone.
C: Communicate with element
Talk to a nearby reasonably pure instantiation of the element. The larger the instantiantion is, the more intelligent the conversation. It won’t do anything based on conversation.
C: Animate my element
Touch to animate a small amount of this to do whatever is exactly specified. Concentration scales with complexity. Some elements are easier to animate than others.
C: Imbue with element
Touch to imbue something with the element. This will make it wet, burning, heavy, etc
C: Mage hand
A nearby floating hand that can use a fork or knife, pick up 20 pounds. It can’t do great feats of dexterity or strength, such as surgery or weightlifting. It pops when damaged. It lasts five minutes or until concentration ends, since casters are assumed familiar with hands. As with other concentration spells, if strongly practiced, it can last five hours or until unconscious.
C: Write
No need for ink or paper. Writes in a desired color on any surface, get rid of it later if you wrote it and can remember doing so. Can be dispelled.
C: Light
Conjures a medium light that can float around. Can vary its color/shape. As with other effects of similar complexity, this lasts five hours, or until the mage is unconscious. It must be nearby, or motionless.
1: Examine Element
gain useful info about the element itself (purity, temperature, etc).
1: Communicate with thing
Communicate with my thing – allows the caster to talk to a reasonably good example of my thing. If the thing is living, it may react as it wishes, with a friendly bias. If it is inanimate, it may do simple animated actions (such as open or close, if it is a box or door). This lasts five minutes or until concentration ends.
2: Find thing
Find my thing – Dowse or play “hot and cold” to find an example of my thing. The better the example, the further the range. Living things will know they are being found, and can recognize the finder if they have been found by that finder before. This spell lasts five minutes or until concentration ends. Irritatingly, it always finds the nearest instance of thing.
2: Manipulate thing
Manipulate my thing – make living things do things they might normally do, or do actions that are normally done to things that are non-destructive. So a sheep could be sheared or guided to go somethere, but not broken down into mutton chops. A cardboard box could be flattened or unflattened, sealed or unsealed. This spell lasts until 5 minutes or until concentration ends, and the thing target can be changed at any time.
Divination
C: Is this whatever?
Get a yes no question about an item in front of the caster, rolling a protection check if needed.
C: Find nearby whatever
Finds the nearest item that is whatever. Unless the protection roll would always succeed, protected items are skipped over.
1: Question room
Ask the current room questions, and get answers. Everyone can hear the questions and answers.
1: Count whatever nearby
Two significant digits of precision
2: Talk to item
Complicated items are frequently smarter. Does not work on living things.
2: Open mind
Use full concentration to learn more about what you know. You are having a magically enhanced conversation with yourself.
3: Determine purpose
This may be cast on a nearby object, or a room. You will get a single answer, and can ask questions for five minutes or until concentration ends
3: Map dowse item
Methods vary, but you can use this to locate a single item on a map that covers no more than a city range, to a given location. You may trigger protection checks against the city and/or the item being located.
Summoner of X
Summoners summon from the “plane of X”, or the idealization of X. Ongoing research into exactly what that means delights and frustrates the researchers in equal measure. Summons last until concentration ends, and have personality/intelligence appropriate to the level and element.
Sprites are nearly mindless, with just a scrap of personality, and 3 HP. Elementals can exude their aspect, making everything more like that (wetter/heavier/flamier), and regenerate from reasonably pure collections of their element, in addition to firing their element.
C: Summon Motionless X Sprite
A motionless fire sprite might fire flames at anyone nearby for 1d4 damage. A water sprite fixate on the first thing they see, until they can no longer see it, and spray it with a jet of water, soaking it and spoiling concentration. A plant sprite would be a wall of vines, or a tangled bush.
1: Summon Sprite
More brain and more movement!
1: Summon X from same location
Summons an X from the same location as the caster. The caster can choose, if desired, from any they know about. When concentration ends, the X is returned.
2: Summon tiny elemental
Summons, but does not control an X elemental. Usually dangerous. There are two saving graces: concentration is required, and magic circles/lines can contain/block the elemental.
2: Summon/control same location X
Control means that the caster can boss it around. If it is inanimate, control allows resizing, temporary growth/reshaping, and temporary blooming or evolving along expected lines.
3: Summon/control tiny elemental
Now the X elemental has to listen to you, and follow your orders
3: Control X aspect
Control how fast fires burn near you, or what they burn. Control how much water dissolves, or permanently make a plant grow/shrink some, or bloom/unbloom. Or make a tree get up and leave.
Illusionist:
C: Minor illusion
The caster creates a minor illusion of something describable with a short phrase. It does not move, or interact with the environment, or do anything interesting. Close examination will usually reveal it as fake, unless it is really simple, or the caster is an expert in the illusion.
1: Redecorate/revamp
Makes trivial, consistent changes nearby to change its theme or style. None of the items are moved, and no function is changed. Careful examination of the scene will reveal/dispel the effect.
1: Hide
1: Illusionary thing
2: Disillusion
2: Distraction/Event
3: Illusionary critter
3: Restyle
Mechanic
C: Mending
1: Animate item
1: Pick and place
2: Weld/join
2: Fit/Grounch
3: Assemble
3: Recondition
C: Haul
C: Shield
1: Heave
1: Chop
2: Excavate
2: Supply
3: Continue
3: Compress
Movement
C: Speed/slow movement
C: Bypass
1: Add/remove drag
1: Spin
2: Rearrange
2: Hustle
3: Orchestrate
3: Nimble
Perception
C: Scent track
C: Watch
1: Details/Summary
1: Scry Nearby
2: Plant wizard eye
2: Scan Item
3: Extra sense
3: Speed perception