"Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically"
-Sol Lewitt
LS had a cool idea. I liked it enough that I took the spell list for first level Magic-Users from Moldvay and started rearranging. Then today he said magic words are hiding in the dictionary. Of course they are!
But back to Moldvay:
These are color coded:
green = The ones that I think are the most promising, or in other words, that I could actually think of a spell for.
grey = In the book!
Are there great spells in here that I'm missing?
charm
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person
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In the book!
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charm
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magic
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Counterspell – cast as a quick reaction against an attack spell. Time slows for the Caster and the spell
only. The Caster has 5 seconds to convince the spell to do what he wants,
then the DM makes a reaction roll to see what it does.
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charm
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disc
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charm
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portal
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A door that this spell is cast on will open,shut,lock, or unlock
anytime in the future in the presence of the caster or one other person.
Permanent.
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charm
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light
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charm
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missile
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charm
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evil
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charm
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languages
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I want this to do something cool but I’m not sure what yet.
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charm
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shield
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charm
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sleep
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When cast on a person as they go to sleep they will sleep incredibly
soundly and either: not wake up until forcibly shaken no matter how long they
lay there, or in the morning they’ll gain 1d6 HP.
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charm
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ventriloquism
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detect
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person
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Caster knows the direction of the target for the duration of the
spell. Must have a personal item of
the target.
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detect
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magic
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In the book!
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detect
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disc
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Those wily discs can be hard to find.
Maybe this could be used to find coins?
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detect
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portal
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Find secret doors.
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detect
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light
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If cast while lost in a cave this spell will whisper the direction of
the above ground world until the caster finds it.
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detect
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missile
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Caster cannot be surprised attacked with missile weapons. Is
dispelled after the first time anyone does try to ambush them.
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detect
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evil
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Caster knows who the bad guys are.
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detect
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languages
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detect
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shield
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detect
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sleep
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detect
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ventriloquism
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floating
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person
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Kind of a lame levitate spell?
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floating
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magic
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This spell needs a random table to see what it does.
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floating
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disc
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In the book!
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floating
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portal
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This is where the floating magic comes from.
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floating
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light
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floating
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missile
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The summoned “missile” hovers at the Magic-User’s shoulder and will
strike back at any creature that attacks and hits the magic-user with an
equivalent attack. (both roll and damage)
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floating
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evil
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Summons a bad feeling that hangs in the air. A dark cloud. Demon
whispers. 120’ range. 30’ diameter area of effect. Everyone effected must
make a reaction roll -1 and will be at best grouchy and at worst
argumentative or outright physically combative.
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floating
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languages
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floating
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shield
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floating
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sleep
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floating
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ventriloquism
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Like regular ventriloquism, but better because it can move around?
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hold
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person
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In a book, but not the one I used to make this list.
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hold
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magic
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Counterspell - cast as a quick reaction against an attack spell. Both
casters are locked in concentration. Neither the attacker nor the caster can
move or take any other action until the attacker concedes and cancels the
original spell. Each round both
casters can attempt to throw another spell by successfully saving vs. magic -
the opponents level.
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hold
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disc
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hold
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portal
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In the book!
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hold
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light
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hold
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missile
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Freeze an arrow, spear, etc. in mid-air.
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hold
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evil
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hold
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languages
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hold
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shield
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hold
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sleep
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Target of the spell does not require sleep for a number of days equal
to the Caster’s current Hit Points.
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hold
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ventriloquism
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magic
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person
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Target of spell can punch or otherwise physically interact with
creatures that can only be hit by magic weapons, incorporeal creatures, etc.
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magic
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magic
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Yes.
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magic
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disc
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magic
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portal
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magic
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light
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magic
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missile
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In the book!
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magic
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evil
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magic
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languages
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magic
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shield
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Ensorcels a mundane shield. +1 per caster level for 1 turn or +1 for
number of turns equal to caster level.
It’s a tough call for the Level 1 Magic-User.
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magic
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sleep
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magic
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ventriloquism
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protection from
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person
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Creates a magic barrier that prevents any one person from touching or
attacking the Caster.
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protection from
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magic
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Sounds handy.
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protection from
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disc
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protection from
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portal
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protection from
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light
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The target of this spell may Hide in Shadows as a 9th
level Thief (4/6 chance of success) until the next sunset or sunrise.
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protection from
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missile
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protection from
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evil
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In the book!
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protection from
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languages
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Renders any one intelligent creature dumb as an animal. Make a
reaction roll to see if they are helpful, peaceful, skittish, defensive, or
aggressive.
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protection from
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shield
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protection from
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sleep
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protection from
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ventriloquism
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This spell shouldn’t be allowed because it will encourage power
gaming.
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read
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person
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read
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disc
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read
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portal
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This spell will provide the Caster with a detailed description of
what is on the other side of a magic portal.
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read
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light
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read
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missile
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read
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evil
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read
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languages
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In the book!
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read
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magic
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In the book!
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read
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shield
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read
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sleep
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Allows you to see what someone is dreaming?
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read
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ventriloquism
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"Ventriloquism" and "Disc" are reeeeally hard to combine with other words to make cool spells. No disrespect to Floating Disc at all, I love that spell, but I just can't fathom how or why you would charm, detect, read or really do any thing to or with a disc.
"Charm", "Magic", "Person", "Protection from", those are way easy to combine with other words and come up with good spells.
This was a fun experiment and in my mind worth it for the counterspells Charm Magic and Hold Magic alone. I would not have thought of those with out this kind of process.
I went ahead and culled all the words from the standard BECMI Spell List here: http://blog.d4caltrops.com/2015/09/putting-user-back-in-magic-user.html and also included some weirder words on an additional table. Some interesting combinations occur with a little random generation.
ReplyDeleteI like what you've done here! Always exciting to see someone else play off of one of my ideas.
ReplyDeleteSomething I didn't mention in my original post (but which appeared in my second) is that once the words are combined, you can add connecting words ("the," "and," "of"), change tense (Charm, Charmed, Charming) and make other minor alterations which fundamentally keep the same combination of words, but allow you to find combinations which might otherwise be difficult.
Disc of Charming - Enchant a small disc like object so that it can be used to charm people when spun or swung back and forth.
Charming Missile could be the same thing. A cupid-arrow like spell.
Charm Light causes the lighting conditions in the room to favor you. If you're trying to hide in shadows, the shadows are a little deeper. If you're trying to find someone hiding, the shadows are a little smaller. Light sensitive creatures that attack you might be temporarily blinded.
Charming Language temporarily makes you a rhetorical genius. You intuitively match your diction and cadence to whoever you're talking to, and your words sound right purdy to their ears, providing a bonus on reaction rolls.
Protection from Ventriloquism is OP.
Here's a few descriptions for those Disc spells.
ReplyDeleteMagic Disc: sets a course for the disc to travel without need of the caster's attention or presence.
Charm Disc: allows a caster to gain control of a disc another magicuser has created.
Hold Disc: freezes a flaoting disc i place and binds it's master so they may may not move more than 60' from the disc.
Protection from disc: creates an area no flaoting disc may enter. If one is within the area of effect when cast it an all it carries vanish until the protection from disc spell expires.,
Read Disc: tells you where and unaccompanied disc is going and who created it. THis is enough evidence to use in combination with a Detect Person spell.
Yes! Watch out for the Disc Wizards!
Delete