Minimalist Spell Scaling

Rachel Suggs

I like GLOG spellcasting. I like Knave spells. Here’s a system that combines the two, with a lot of inspiration drawn from Mimics & Miscreants’ spell list.

The Format

Spells are written in "[title]:[effect]" format, using plain language and as few words as possible.

Unless specified by the spell text, the following spell properties change based on the [dice] invested in the spell:

[dice]	Object Size	Area Size	Range	Duration
1	Smaller than a head	Smaller than a bedroom	Within reach	[sum] rounds
2	Smaller than a person	Smaller than a courtyard	Across the room	[sum] minutes
3	Smaller than a wagon	Smaller than a hillside	Across the battlefield	[sum] hours
4	Smaller than a house	Smaller than a city	Within earshot	[sum] days
8+	Smaller than a castle	Smaller than a country	Visible from a distance	[sum] eternities

 

Some examples:
Menagerie: Inanimate object transforms into a mundane animal of similar size. It has no allegiance to you.
“Object” changes with [dice]. If [dice] = 2, the object can be anything the same size or smaller than a person. If [dice] = 8+, you can turn a castle into a dinosaur.  

Dredge: Buried objects (or memories) rise to the surface in an area (or creature).
“Object” and “area” change with [dice]. If [dice] = 3, you can dredge any number of wagons out of a swamp within shouting distance. If [dice] = 8, you can raise Atlantis.

Objectify: You become an inanimate object between the size of a grand piano and an apple.
“Object” would change with [dice], but the size is specified by the spell description.

Why This Format?

I use this format because its easy to write, I don’t care to specify range and duration for every spell, and I like giving players the freedom to define how “Summon Candles” scales to 8+ MD.

Here’s d20 of my favorite spells using the format, most of which are stolen or half-stolen:

1. Arms to Arms: Your hands become weapons.
2. BEES: Object contains more bees than one would expect.
3. Blazing Gaze: Anything you glare at catches fire.
4. Delicious: Object smells and tastes delicious.
5. Dinnertime: Object is edible AND eatable.
6. Dull Senses: Creature loses [dice] senses.
7. Feather: Object weighs as much as a feather.
8. Forecast: The weather changes as you wish after one day/hour/minute/round (based on MD).
9. Gate: Open two linked portals. If cast for 1 hour, open a portal to a random plane instead.
10. Mutate: Creature gains a random mutation.
11. Oops: [dice] creatures trip whenever they run.
12. Raise Dead: Corpse rises as a [dice] HD undead. It has [dice] special abilities it had in life.
13. Smite: Creature rolls [dice] additional damage dice on their next hit.
14. Spider Step: You walk securely on any surface: walls, ceilings, water, etc.
15. Take Aim: Name a creature. Object will always strike that creature when thrown.
16. Time Jump: An object disappears, jumping into the future. It reappears at the end of the spell duration.
    
17. Umbrella: Falling objects don’t touch you.
18. Upwell: A spring of seawater appears.
19. Vermin Sovereign: Rats and other vermin obey you so long as you wear an appropriate crown.
20. Ward: Draw a circle on the ground and choose a category (i.e. living, dead, good, evil, metal, bees). Things of that category cannot cross it.