F**k it, invent your own D&D spells
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
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"...and certainly not my players who generally don't let a single D&D related thought sully their empty minds in between sessions."
As a forever GM I felt this in my soul.
Don't we all love the Casuals, who are solely present for socializing reasons, and would never admit to having something as mundane as TTRPGs as a hobby?
@@foolcat23 Urgh... The people that seem to think reading their three-page character sheet is akin to Tolstoy?
I dont understand that, I think about DnD all the time between sessions.
I felt it in my heart and in my soul. Which is part of the dramatic villain speech I'm concocting in my mind as I write this comment😉
Me too, buddy. Me too.
“That’s why I always carry a sword.” I’m noticing a running gag. 🤔
people are always asking me, "Ginny, why do you always carry a sword?" so I thought I'd let 'em know 😌
The correct response to that is, "why don't you?" It's not your fault they're grossly unprepared.
What type of sword is your favorite?
Ginny should do a colab with The Click, so they can compare blades.
It's a sword that casts fireball right?
To really hammer in the point: Mordekainen was Gary Gygax's character. Melf was Luke Gygax's character. Bigby was Rob Kuntz' character. Drawmij was Jim Ward's character. Leomund was Len Lakofka's character. Tasha is named after a kid who wrote letters to Gary. I could keep going for a long, long time. It is quite literally a day zero DND tradition to have your PC wizards make up spells and name them after them. Let them! Keep the tradition going!
Is Hadar anyone's character?
This is such a cool fact. I didn't know about Tasha's name!
@@aishaali9771 Hadar was from 4E, one of their range of "star-like Elder Evils" AKA Lovecraft meets Galactus. If I recall it correctly, a series of stars were infested by the Far Realm and became bizarre sentient evils of great and unfathomable power. This was the source of their Star Pact warlock's powers, and eventually got rolled into the Great Old One patron in 5E.
I think I knew 90% of these names were PCs at one point but hearing them all listed this way together is *so* impactful for some reason. Thank you for your comment!
If I recall correctly Tenser was Gary's son's Wizard
The big bad of our low level campaign raises his hand and proclaims: "I cast Fire.."
Our bard, Otto, interupts "BOLT".
The firebolt deals 1d10 damage to a floor tile in the middle of our group. We have once again been saved by "Otto's correct"
That's genius
Hahaha, that’s amazing.😂
The party breath of haze druid acquired a ring of spell change on one letter of a spell one per day. Been using goodberry and making slight research changes.
Dm let me know the druid is a crafter of a new spell series. Druids been baking "goodmerry" scones, muffins. They got a kick if there's extra berries in the scones.
Going to try "Goofberries" in the new batch. Field testing. "Hey party, who wants a muffin?"
Party - NOO!
Learning to bake spells responsibly.😊
@@saccherrirhysha2660"Godberry."
Holy crap this is such a good bard feat idea. Suddenly your encyclopedic knowledge of 5e spells becomes a super power 😂
One of my characters firmly believes that spells can be DOWNcast, not just upcast, so she keeps experimenting with magic until she discovers a way to do it
Very cool idea
@@logancuster8035 thank you! She’s one of my favorites I’ve ever made!
Downcasting would be WAY more powerful than upcasting. You'd be able to cast 9th level spells multiple times per encounter.
@@BiowareNut I’m well aware, a weaker but lower spell slot fire ball would be broken
I’ve had similar ideas as an expansion of ritual casting- by using various sacrificed and expanded geometry, you can cast spells above your station for expensive costs in time and effort
I could almost see incentivizing my players who play primary spellcasters to make at least one new spell by level 10 as a sort of "graduation", especially Wizards. A magical Thesis Project.
Oooh yes, great idea! I just love weaving it into character storylines
Love this idea!
I did this exactly. Twice.
There was a bundled magic missiles spell, (3rd lvl) shoots one target 4-6 times or so and then branches to that many secondary magic missile targets. (Loosely based on chain magic missile).
And a whole other character created an illusion spell where you enchant a bundle of sticks to look like wands of magic missiles, including firing illusory missile attacks that did psychic damage, briefly turning a crowd of peasants into a fairly formidable fighting force.
@@GinnyDi I did this when I played a Dread Necromancer. His Thesis spells were a spell that made an eye function like a video camera, and another that trapped the soul of a recently slain character in that dead characters skull. The DM liked the idea, and we got a really cool NPC out of that last spell 😁
Oh, that is a solid idea!
I’ve never made a homebrew spell, but I’ve taken to being a bit lenient with the spell lists. I recently let my party’s Eldritch Knight take the spell Ceremony even though it wasn’t on the list, solely because we agreed it would be hilarious for this deranged little chaos gremlin to be able to officiate weddings.
😆😆 brilliant. Honestly, if there's a feat that lets characters take spells that aren't on their class list, I can sure as heck just give one to a PC if I like.
MOM! Ginny called me a coward.
Seriously though, my main issue with spell invention is taking the time to look over their ideas. It wouldn't even take me that long... I think I'm just lazy.
Honestly there is SO much to manage as a dm. Not wanting to do this too is valid!
Put some of the burden back on the players then. Have them give you a few examples of similar spells and their spell levels so you can make sure it is in line with the power. That way the approval process is you reading one new and two or three existing spells and just comparing.
You're not a coward if you intend your puns.
I have them cover their spell ideas with me in-between sessions myself. Gives everyone more time and less pressure.
Also tell them to look up example spells from their current casting level that are already game approved. They should get an idea of how their own spell should go based off that
My wife developed a psychic-themed version of wither and bloom and it's a very fun addition to our campaign.
Ooh that sounds amazing!! 😍
I remade the spell for Clerics, with slight adjustments. It seems silly that the servants of deities with power over life and death can't tap into your will to live, but the schmuck that stumbled into a fairy circle can.
Love this topic. Make your own EVERYTHING!
Yesssss 🙌🙌 why not spend ALL our time making D&D content, spells, stories, characters....
‘There’s no limit to what you can homebrew’ is my motto!
Why can't anyone protect a standard noble from being assassinated by a single disgruntled sorcerer casting magic missile?
*Welp* time to write a whole subclass for it! - Me...too often
And put them all in a cauldron which you name after yourself?
**wink**
I saw four types of GMs
1 Master picked any prepared start campaign and just goes with thing that written in the book
2 Master makes a campaign in prepared setting like world of forgotten realms
3 Master makes own world and campaign in ready system
4 Master creates just new full system for each campaign (and you have no right to not read all this 20 pages explanation how to cast spell building it with different 'forms' 'appearances' and 'elements' like some Lego)
I found myself in last group and that's why no one ask me to play oneshot (they will have to learn stuff for half of session)
"I have a scroll of Emesis."
- "Nemesis?"
"No, I said it right. I wonder what the spell does. You want to try it out?"
In my Sunday game, I had the idea that the party’s wizard could take the Wall of Force spell and modify it, eventually inventing a new spell called Nemezark’s Naval Ram.
My interpretation of things was that the spells that have a name are because they were notably tied to the creator. And that all the "generic spells" used to be tied to a name at one point but it has been so genericized and ubiquitously known about, but the creator's name has been forgotten to time and only the spell name is retained.
"Kanavad's Low-Fat Grease (trademark) has now entered the public domain."
You heard it here first, mages! Protect your trademark! 😂
A safety valve I like to use when a player wants a custom spell is to tie a spell component to it (that is just costly enough to not be able to be bypassed by focuses, etc). Then you have leverage to make the component more expensive (More people have heard about the spell and the demand has driven up the market) if you need to reign it in, or give the player a deal buying it in bulk once it has been proven safe.
I like that. I'm gonna steal it. Thx
You've sold me. I picked up "Vordanin's Book of Spellcraft" today.
As someone who has been playing versions of D&D since the 1980s, it is always fascinating to see a person like you who is so enthusiastic about gaming referring to "things you learned on the internet" and the like as if it was your character excavating an ancient tomb or library. It really make me realize how long the hobby has been around and how far it has come in across the decades.
I think it's awesome how much bigger the game has gotten thanks to the internet!
We have so many awesome creators sharing their ideas in online spaces. Even in the last 5 years, the game has changed so much.
"That's why I carry a sword!" The GinnyDi tag line - we may need a t-shirt
I added a simple reskinned spell to my island-hopping campaign called "freeze" which was just a water-based version of the "entangle" spell. It was granted to the party druid by an ancient lizardfolk shaman. The player has since used it to great effect. New spells are great for adding more flavor to your game.
You find a spell scroll for a cantrip called "Derrick's Dirty Down Rust". It makes things lightly rust as if you were in a grimdark story. It seems to allude to an entire set of oxidizing various metals. Why Derrick was interested in mildly oxidizing metallics is unknown but it does instantly add a cool roughness to your armor
Lol 😂
Lol
Amazing 😅
A couple of years ago, I played a Shadow Sorcerer/Great Old One Warlock whose gimmick was that all his "spells" were actually just him ripping open a portal to the Shadowfell and grabbing a horrific little creature (picture all the gnarly non-humanoid ghosts that show up in the "everything is going wrong" montage in every Ghostbusters movie) that creates the spell's effect and disappears back to the Shadowfell when the spell ends. So I came up with a cantrip to replace taking something like Mage Hand or Prestidigitation and give me more of that summoner vibe. Plus, I gave them some "ill-behaved pet" vibes like knocking stuff over or eating the object you wanted them to fetch.
*Iwen's Minute Monsters*
Conjuration cantrip
*Casting Time:* 1 action
*Range:* 30 feet
*Components:* V, S
*Duration:* Up to one minute
Calling out the name of a tiny creature from another plane, you bring it to your current plane to complete a simple task. You create one of the following magical effects within range:
* *Glow.* The creature glows or produces faint flames or sparks, shedding dim light of a color of your choice in a five-foot cube.
* *Eat.* The creature eats one tiny, nonmagical object that weighs less than 5 pounds and that isn't being worn or carried.
* *Ruin.* The creature scratches, bites, spews slime over, or otherwise causes minor cosmetic damage to one object no larger than one foot on each side, or it befouls up to 1 cubic foot of food, causing it to taste and smell disgusting. If possible, it may knock the object over as part of this effect.
* *Speak.* The creature makes a loud call that can be heard up to 100 feet away.
* *Fetch.* The creature picks up one tiny, nommagical object that weighs less than 5 pounds and that isn't being worn or carried and brings it to you. When you give this command, there is a 50% chance the creature will take the Eat action instead.
If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three creatures each performing one of its 1-minute effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.
*Spell Lists:* Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock
give that spell to a imp or trickster enemy "terrorizing" a small village.
This is WAY too cute
This is great fun! And brilliant for distractions. I bet your rogue LOVED you 😆
I have a wizard player who really wanted to cast a cleric/paladin spell, so I let his character focus on studying the spell for two days, and roll a D20. He rolled a Nat 20, and he now knows lesser restoration. Not inventing a new spell, but letting him feel like he did something impossible. Which he kinda did.
as a person playing a non-religious wizard in a part of 2 clerics, 2 paladins, and a cleric/monk multiclass, i would *love* to be able to go "see? i can do your magic too"
@@splatman7300 "Oh, it's just a couple of runes and a weird swishing motion. It was nothing, really"
Letting people learn a spell from outside their class is great. Sure some are broken but most are perfectly fine. No one was ever been hurt by letting an eldritch knight learn a healing spell.
@Merilirem Works especially well if it's something your party doesn't have access to. If you have no Cleric or Druid, learning to heal or revive is super useful for the continuation of the story
As a former choir bro myself, your altos vs sopranos jokes speaks to my deeply and tickles me immensely 😂
This is something I love doing with spooky and weird material components being added to spells. Experiment! Try adding monster parts of rare minerals to the spell components list! Do you like spooky symbolism? Make a new material component for Fireball from Fulgurite (lightning struck sand) - TAH-DAH! Lightning Ball! Get out there and get creative!
I recently saw a reel about the fact that spell components are actually funny jokes/puns related to the spell's effects.
If a player came to me with a pun and a component, I would be SO on board.
@@GinnyDi You know the famous Detect Thoughts spell? Well... A penny for your thoughts is quite literally the component!
When we were playing Curse of Strahd, the DM had corrupted our thoughts and tried to turn us on each other. I tried to pass "Power Word Kenku Kill" as a fourth level Bard spell. My DM... Didn't approve it for some reason.
"That's why I carry a sword" is my new favorite bit-always gets a bank out of me.
0:14 The Return of the Sword
Many campaigns ago, one of my player's signature moves was casting Flaming Sphere and rolling it through combat. This was great at lower levels, but the players started to razz him because he would keep using it even when they were 15th level and he wasn't really pulling his weight.
So the player made a new spell... it LOOKED just like flaming sphere, but it did more damage, and it worked like a Resilient Sphere... only it could roll over things and trap them inside where they burned round after round. No one complained again after seeing Jaust's Incendiary Sphere in action. O.o
I love using homebrewed spells and in my long running games I have been introducing them here and there with some twists. One trick that's been fun has been the introduction of what are *objectively worse* spells here and there.
Like I gave my wizards (I have two in one party) a spellbook that had a selection of a few spells that were entirely new or powerful but, it was also full of others things like a spell that looked an awful lot like fireball but did less damage and was 4th level, or one that was similar to the arcane deflection feature of War Wizards but cost a spell slot and gave a much smaller bonus. I also sometimes give these sorts of spells to enemies I want to give spellcasting but not scale as much as it normally does.
Not only did my players love feeling like magic as a whole has been progressing in the world over the many centuries but they occasionally get to feel uniquely powerful amongst their modern peers. It's brought such a fun dynamic to the history of my world and I love it!
There's something about a girl covered in the brightest colors of the rainbow describing Hellraiser-esque blood magic that makes my brain happy.
I love featuring spells from other source materials as lost or forgotten spells from earlier eras.
Also, I'm gonna send a clip of your Sickening Radiance joke to my party. They've all become shellshocked from their experiences of my Warlock using it while they're in the danger zone. The argument I present is always "I trust you all to pass".
One (free) suggestion that some can explore is looking to the UA Mystic for inspiration. It's a complicated class, but the psionic disciplines have interesting twists on classic spells. I got to play one in the last campaign, and it definitely reignited my love for casting. Broke the whole repetition of "at level one I better take shield, ok level three its time for misty step".
Great tip!!
Homebrew Spellcrafting 101:
- Take any pre-existing spell
- Change one letter
- Profit
Our sorcerer started my Witchlight campaign by purchasing three misprinted spell scrolls. So far, Find Stud has provided some useful (sexy) mobility, while a Magic Scone laced with sleeping potion is ready to be dropped in the nearest monster's gullet!
Ahhh, Find Stud, the signature spell of every dad preparing to hang something to the wall. (Everyone within audible range needs to make a Wisdom save to prevent themselves from groaning when the dad inevitably casts it on themselves)
This reminded me of when I was reading the effect of Find steed and read "warhorse" as "warehouse" and my dm loved the idea. We did not use it but still
“Scroll of Inn Visibility - You can see all inns and taverns in a 10 mile radius.”
This is a great idea:
-Tragic Missile: Inflicts unstoppable psychic damage as the target remembers their most anguishing regrets.
-Mireball: Drown a 20 foot radius sphere in a sudden eruption of swamp muck.
-Contusion: Inflicts bludgeoning damage on one target.
-Leomund's Tiny Hat: The whole party can take refuge for their long rest inside the wizard's pointy hat.
Wither and Groom: you may be rotted, but at least you'll look good!
Beacon of Dope: Makes everyone around you slightly more gullible.
Arcane Date: adds an entirely new day to the calendar year.
Hemiplane: it's the same thing, but now you get into arguments with linguists about it.
Cone of Old: self-explanatory.
"Altos can hold a pitch and a grudge" SENT MEEEEEEEEEE
As a Bass, I'm cackling 😂🤣
@@khayyin359 I'm a soprano and fully believe we deserve all the hate we get 😂
@@lacey_moon At the height of my choir time, our bass section was really skilled, but being basses we spent a lot of time waiting while everyone else learned their more complicated parts. I distinctly remember me and a couple other basses singing along with the sopranos at one point, then purposely pulling them slightly off-key 😂 (we were buttheads 😅). Our choir teacher was impressed, but not impressed, you know? 😅
No lie detected! Do you know how many of us altos it takes to change a lightbulb? Only one, but I'm going to bitch and moan about how high it is.
@@lindafreeman7030 LMAOOOO I think the soprano version of that joke was something along the lines of "one to do it, and three others to watch and commend her on how it was done" 😂😂😂
my experience of being a dm is mostly just saying "woah that's fucked, go on then"
In my games, I allow my players to get creative with their spells and even combine or expand them. This often comes at a great cost, particularly on a critical fail, but allows for some more flexibility and creativity.
For example, I had a player who rolled a Sorcerer who loved Magic Missile and would use additional spell slots to change the damage type, add an explosive effect, or even fuse the missiles into one "Magic ICBM," as we came to call it.
(Edited for grammar)
This is cool!! It's arguably easier to get creative with existing spells rather than inventing totally new ones
@GinnyDi It definitely is. Restriction can breed creative thinking and it's often very helpful to have a basic idea to work off of... as long as the spell isn't obviously game-breaking or ridiculous, of course. There will be no shotgunning fireball spells or Power Word Kill-ing an entire city because you "summoned an eldritch megaphone."
College of Scribes Wizards get to change damage types on spells at second or third level I think.
Ginny in her Sword Era
One more video and it's a tax write off, yes??
"Never half-ass homebrew two spells, always whole-ass homebrew one spell" but really, I can't agree with this video enough, one small thing I love to this day is that one DM of mine let me reflavour Eldritch Blast so it more closely fit whatever patron I went with, go with some kind of fiery devil? It's now a streak of fire from your hand, and it deals fire damage not force. Swear your allegiance to some ancient beast whose corpse was found encapsulated in ice? It's now a spray of ice shards and deals cold damage. It's such a tiny thing but it feels so fun when you can reskin you most commonly used spells to feel more flavourful to the character
I’m playing a Wizard/Rogue in a campaign and I’ve worked with my DM to make a couple of spells through the course of the campaign, specifically ones that tie into my character. They’re really awesome - Cormo’s Compelled Duel will go down in history!
I wholeheartedly agree, I love making new spells or modifying preexisting ones. Sometimes I just ask the dm if I can change the damage type to better suit my character’s aesthetic, or create something new together!
I wish my players were that inventive! I've given them many hints and straight-to-the-point possibilities, but they can't be bothered.
I appreciate that it is now canon that Tenser is the Disney of the DnD realm.
I commented on your last video about how i was going to play dnd for the first time. It sadly got delayed by one day, but everyone had a great time and I think my dad had a really fun time being the dm 😁
Glad to hear it!! Hope you get to play another session soon 😊
Making our own spells has been something my brother and I have enjoyed in our games.
Great video Ginny. Totally agree with all the points you made on home-brew spell use. Like that you touched on old-school 1st edition spell creation. Back in the day I allowed players to use spells from the Great Net Spell Book and the Great Net Prayer Book. Nearly 2000 completely different spells from Cantrips through 10th level deity-level in effect. The players loved it, but you had to provide copies of the spell when handed out, as they did not have PDF files... just hard copy. 😀
There are a couple places on-line that you can still get a copy of them. It's great source material if you want ideas for new spells.
45 seconds in Ginny perfectly describes the pain of every DM.
I love alternate version of the core requisite spells. I have a Magus in a pathfinder game that uses Shadow Vortex, which is basically fireball, but looks like a swirling vortex of shadows and lightning and does half and half Lightning/Cold damage. Also, it's area is centered on the caster so the use-case is different.
My wizard bluffed his way into making a "Wizard's Promise" with another person and he ended up inventing a spell by the same name that holds someone accountable to a promise or they take psychic damage and the other person is made aware they broke their promise.
ALSO, Transmuted spell! Take it on your Wizards with a feat! Every spell becomes 5 more spells!
So like a mini-Geas? very cool!
I made a warlock spell called “shadow” where the caster sinks into their own shadow on a wall or similar and are then able to move along surfaces, under doors etc
In the current campaign I am playing in, my wizard character has invented a new branch of magic. Door magic. Which is the ability to summon different types of run-of-the-mill doors. Single. Double. Stable. He has you covered for all your suddenly blocking line-of-sight, but in a way you can go through later needs.
Ooooo….
I laughed out loud and looked at my wife (who looked guilty) at your proclamation that your players don’t sully their thoughts with gaming between sessions. I feel seen.
Something to consider when inventing spells is how often creatures will resist them. If a damage type is more likely to be resisted, such as poison, fire, necrotic or cold then it should do more damage than one that isn't resisted often such as thunder psychic or force. Also certain damage types usually have saves associated with them, like cold or acid is usually constitution, lightning or fire is Dexterity, intelligence or wisdom for psychic etc
in autumn you hear a songs in the tavern
There's blood on your lies
The skies open wide
There is nowhere for you to hide
The hunter's moon is shinin'
The way you talk about the invention of spells in the intro gave me an idea for an adventure (y'all are free to use this and write it however you'd like): a corporation of wizards buys/steals/forges the IP rights to every spell, threatening "legal action" (read: cruel violence) against any other casters who are allegedly "plagiarizing", and it's up to the party to climb up their skyscraper and fight pencil-pushing mages along the way to defeat the CEO and win back the magic for all. Different departments could even be themed around different schools of magic, like the illusionists department is a stealth section, and the conjuration department involves a portal puzzle, etc
can we talk about the subtle dig at Leomund? had me ROLLING
Back when I was running AD&D games, I created a spell that was a variant of the popular 2nd level Web spell: Constricting Web as a 3rd level spell. It had all the normal Web effects...but the web strands would tighten around those caught in it, squeezing them for minor damage every round on their turn while stuck in it.
Ive messed around with making spells specifically for the way of the shadow monk.
I really wanted to play a character inspired by Dishonoured with some added planar-stuff added in for good measure. So I made sword spells and a better blink spell.
Pretty basic stuff but incredibly useful. They're going to be essentially for my character's playstyle as a stealth-support/high-value-target eliminator.
Essentially, sit back and aid the other players through giving weakness information on enemies, abuse the environment to weaken enemies e.g: dropping chandeliers on them and taking care of the big bad mage that no one else can reach.
Homebrewing spells (alongside HB'ing just about anything fr) is one of my favorite parts of being a DM. Allows you to tell a ton of storytelling with them and the process of learning them.
My GM peppered the last game he ran with "spell augments"-variants of existing spells you could choose to cast in place of its usual effects-and "artefact spells", which were new spells with big effects that could only be cast once each between long rests. As I was playing a wizard at the time, these were my favorite treasures. The spell augment for lightning bolt to let me refract it off surfaces with trigonometry a set number of times became my Int 22 wizard's signature spell.
Custom spells can be really fun and a personal touch to get you the slightest bit more invested. Discuss with your DM what spells you'd like to have. Their intent, if a reflavor would suffice, if not, start on that homebrew
I have a nostalgia favorite from a group i played with ages ago. The wizard had created 'Inebriation' and 'Mass Inebriation'. Saved our butts when a big bad wizard flubbed his saving throw, and instantly became wasted. He was still too protected for us to hurt, but he couldn't hit us either.
I've never played anything beyond 3.5 and never seriously tried playing as a spellcaster, but tying the invention of a new spell into a quest just sounds so good!
"Altos can hold a pitch AND a grudge." PREACH IT!!!
Trying new spells is so much fun and adds so much variety to characters!
"Altos can hold a tune, AND A GRUDGE!"
We have always done this. Back when I was doing the cons, we always left with stacks of photocopies of spells people made and circulated at the con. Sometimes, they needed rebalanced. Sometimes, they were awesome. We built on them and modified them. I expect in a way that wizards would actually do when interacting with other wizards in a social type setting. A few spells were even a hold my beer moment...
My DM and I worked out a home brew Hex for my celestial warlock called “Ire”. It causes Radiant Dmg in place of Necrotic and provides advantage on intimidation checks instead of targeting the choice of ability check. I love it!
I love reflavored spells. The picture in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything with Magic Missile shaped like chickens is one of my favorites.
One of my players had a kobold sorcerer with a black dragon bloodline. He took all of his spells as acid based like fireball became acid blast. Also all his spells looked like he belched them out like a breath weapon.
I had an elf wizard with bright blue hair that cast all his spell in a vibrant blue color.
As a DM I enjoy giving out new spells as scrolls or wands. Or having a wizard or cleric learn spells by seeing them cast by someone else.
All of your suggestions are great.
"Altos can hold a pitch and a grudge" 😂 Yes but they only have to work with 2 notes😊
Homebrew spells are awesome and create such joy in players. My wife was playing a oath of ancients paladin in one campaign, but wanted a more nature inclined version of Divine Favour. So we made one that instead deals elemental damage instead of radiant. Years pass and the next campaign we play, two of the artificers break out this spell out of the blue. She still smiles when they use it.
I have a bone to pick about your jokes, you rib us with your puns and it leaves me unsupported on the floor in a puddle of laughter. Thank you, genuinely, I am delighted.
My two favorite spells of all time are from the Talislanta RPG: Rodinn's Spell of Instant Sobriety, which is great for sudden mischief to be had, and Rodinn's Spell of Sartorial Splendor; the well-kempt wizard won't ever leave home without it. Both are from a 3rd edition supplement called The Archaen Codex (old editions of Talislanta are completely free, btw).
Still the only creator I will watch every single video from, a year in. Thanks Ginny!
I loved the jokes and delivery in this video❤😂 You are a sweet genius Ginny❤
Order of the Scribe Wizard is always making new spells.
one big idea about how to test a new spell is to introduce it in an ancient and almost crumbling wand, that every time it's used has a chance of breaking up. This let's you introduce the spell, test it daily and then take it away by the wand breaking if it's deemed flawed.
I also introduced spell reskinning for a only ice wizard. I just said to her, pick any spell you like, treat is as if it's made of ice, and if it introduces any secondary effect by the spell element, change it to slow.
One of the things I actually found myself doing was getting inspiration from the Mercurial Magic from Dungeon Crawl Classics. It gives some extra area or aesthetic effects to spells that aren't overpowered to add.
Even creating magic the players can't learn helps give players a reason to look for NPCs. Spells cast in an ancient time that supposedly killed the caster to create a permanent barrier, ritual spells that require many casters like the Red Wizards of Thay.
Thank you so much just for the title to this video!!
I worked with my DM to create a spell to act as a magical prosthesis for my warlock's missing forearm. It's a shadowy limb that works just like normal, including transmitting sensation, even pain in the form of psychic damage. Sylvaris' Phantom Limb!
I'm workshopping an idea for an upcoming campaign where the players' loved ones are dragged through time by an evil wizard with access to the lost art of Chronomancy and to stop him they have to find a Chronomancer NPC character I've created and convince him to help. Because 5e doesn't have a ton of great spells for time magic, I've invented a number of Chronomancy spells that were all canonically invented by the aforementioned NPC, Azaril. That way, if they can't convince Azaril to help them (he's a bit of a wildcard), they can find other ways to learn the spells themselves and become Chronomancers in their own right. It's been so much fun coming up with them and I hope at least one of my players tries to learn from Azaril's spellbook!
Wow my DM wrote Vordanin’s Book of Spellcraft!! it’s so cool to see you talk about it 🙌 I’ve been using some of these spells for years I hope others enjoy them as much as our group has
I personally love the reskinning tip in here, I didn't know that's even what it was called, but I do it all the time for villains, like liches & Hags to keep game play interesting
Probably the most fun spell I have ever created made all combatants reroll their initiatives on a failed save, and the round continues on the Master's turn. This had the interesting effect of having some people completely losing their turn that round or other having a second turn on the round
my favorite method is *REPLACING THE ENTIRE SPELL CASTING SYSTEM WITH A NOVELS WORTH OF RULES DESIGNED TO FACILITATE COMPLEX SPELL CRAFTING*
I'm running a game that has a lot of ritual spells, and I'm making most of them up on the fly. A lot of the rituals are actually hyper specific, tailored to the exact situation. They invoke symbolism to cause an effect, and I go into detail about what the casters have to do (such as in last night's game, tie a silver cord to a fae and then tie the cord to a padlock made of Cold Iron to bind it). They had to trick the creature into allowing this
I was just talking to my group about this concept! It's like your videos always come the second that I need them.
I feel like Artificer is just the perfect class for people who like to create their own spells as if you use a normal spell and don't really describe it as something else, you lose touch with the class. Whereas if you come up with new names and unique descriptions, it really feels good~
Knave 2e has great rules and tables for generating random spells. Basically different d100 tables and matching different results. It’s pretty cool
in third edition there was a feat that gave all of a caster's spells a theme making it harder to recognize and counterspell it, but that theme could also change the damage type or similar, not much difference but imagine encountering an ice mage who freezes people with technically a fireball.
My first time running my own campaign, I was with a group of veteran players who wanted to challenge themselves. One of them was a wizard who relied exclusively on traps, who grew up in the forest teaching himself magic. Because of that, most of his spells were his own creation, designed to trip up opponents creatively. I worked with him to create the spells Valen's Adhesive Armor (which causes melee weapons to stick to his skin) and Spitfire (a touch-triggered version of Fireball that takes 10 minutes to cast), and both of them made the campaign so much more fun and unique. 10/10 would reshape reality to our will again.
Talking about the mage’s own spells made me think that if a new spell appeared in that way, untested, whenever you cast the spell you also roll on the wild magic table. This would also work as a way to balance it if it is pretty powerful
"Magic massage" - like magic missile, but you do not damage to the targets in the round you cast it. It actually feels good. But you are allowed a free question to the recipients. According to the answers, the caster may choose to damage or heal the subjects of her/his spell.
Old editions had rules for spell creation. Bigby was an OG PC and his spells were player created.
(Bard Spell) Psychic Peanuts LVL 3. Target: one creature. Target creature makes a CHA save, or takes 2d6 psychic or necrotic damage, and spends 3 rounds with the stunned condition singing of darkling goblins from necrotic space or super-intelligent spelljamming dinosaurs.
The campaign that I have been working on for a while now is in a new world where there is no civilization at all yet…
And magic works differently there, meaning new spells need to be made, starting with runes written on paper or carved into objects.
I’m planing on running it in Minecraft so the players can build whatever they want (if they have the ability to of course)
They start in a burnt crater where the portal from the previous campaign that they played ended (or completely new characters), sort of Terminator time portal style… (Except they still have their gear and clothing)
I’ve done this before, I made a transmutation/enchantment spell called “Zip lips” that requires charisma save or your mouth is forcibly closed for 1 minute, they can repeat the save at the end of each of their turns after the initial cast.
I was once given a Ring of the Grammarian in a one shot, and my friends still talk about me creating Thunder Rave, which was an AOE spell that turned the entire room into a loud and boisterous rave, requiring all within to begin dancing, and rendering enemies unable to attack due to the dancing and the sick beats (the party also could not attack, but we could maintain awareness and therefore dance our way out of the room).
Everyone should know this kind of joy.
As a baritone, I felt and agreed with every milligram of spite with the "pitch and a grudge" line.
The first sorcerer I played had ranks in perform:comedy and a suite of custom spells to match. Bigby's Middle Finger. Tasha's Uncomfortable Chuckle. You get the idea. Worked like a charm.
I like to use the old College of Wizardry supplement from AD&D, updating the rules to match the campaign obviously, and one of the requirements to graduate the College in full is to research a spell as your thesis that is then added to the college's great library if accepted.
If anyone *did* want to look up some of the old rules/suggestions for creating new spells, there's some details in "The Complete Wizard's Handbook" (from the AD&D 2e era "Player's Handbook" splatbook range).
Humerus, bad to the bone....Ginny Di, out there, proving that you don't need to be a dad to dad joke. :D
That would make her a Faux Pa 😉
I haven't been in a choir for 15 years and now I'm remembering all the Baritone/Tenor beef.