AD&D Character Creation 18: Spells

CANTRIPS: Magic Users and Illusionists learn cantrips during their apprenticeships. These may be used in lieu of spells during adventures. It is unclear whether Wizards of High Sorcery are permitted cantrips; MyWorld rules do not allow these, but other DM's may allow them.

Magic users, Illusionists, Wizards of High Sorcery, and Wu Jen must additionally test for their ability to know spells which are not in their books. Book rules are vague on this point, and some referees allow a character to test to see whether he understands a spell when he finds it; MyWorld rules find this more difficult to track, and prefer to have the player roll to see which spells he understands at the time he reaches the level at which he may learn such spells, recording those spells as "knowable". Thus, first level spells are tested at this time.

The percent probability of being able to know any given spell is based on character intelligence, which also creates a minimum number of spells and a maximum number of spells of each level which the character can understand. The player may select which spells he wishes to test, and should note both those passed and those failed. If he reaches the maximum number he can know, he must stop rolling. If he tests every spell and fails to reach the minimum (extremely unlikely at first level), he may re-roll spells which he failed to obtain on the first roll until the minimum number is met.

This table gives the basic information:

Intelligence	Chance to Know	Minimum	Maximum
9	35%	4	6
10-12	45%	5	7
13-14	55%	6	9
15-16	65%	7	11
17	75%	8	14
18	85%	9	18
19	95%	*11	All
20	96%	12	All
21	97%	13	All
22	98%	14	All
23	99%	15	All
24	100%	16	All
25	100%	17	All

*Source material disagrees on this number; one book gives the minimum as 10, but another lists it as 11. MyWorld rules, in a consistent effort to interpret in favor of the player character, use the higher minimum.

These are the first level Magic user and Wizard of High Sorcery spells: Affect Normal Fires, Alarm, Armor, Burning Hands, Charm Person, Comprehend Languages, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Enlarge, Erase, Feather Fall, Find Familiar, Firewater, Friends, Grease, Hold Portal, Identify, Jump, Light, Magic Missile, Melt, Mending, Message, Mount, Nystul's Magic Aura, Precipitation, Protection from Evil, Push, Read Magic, Run, Shield, Shocking Grasp, Sleep, Spider Climb, Taunt, Tenser's Floating Disk, Unseen Servant, Ventriloquism, Wizard Mark, Write.

These are the first level Illusionist spells: Audible Glamer, Change Self, Chromatic Orb, Color Spray, Dancing Lights, Darkness, Detect Illusion, Detect Invisibility, Gaze Reflection, Hypnotism, Light, Phantasmal Force, Phantom Armor, Read Illusionist Magic, Spook, Wall of Fog.

All spell casters need to indicate what spells they will normally carry. The house rule is that the character paper will indicate the spell or spells carried by the character, and it will be assumed that these spells have been learned or received before the adventure begins. If the player (character) wishes to carry a different spell, this needs to be announced before the adventure begins (usually on the preceding game calendar day so that the character may obtain it); otherwise, the indicated spell is carried.

Magic users, Illusionists, Wizards of High Sorcery, and Wu Jen begin with the ability to carry one spell. Magic users and Illusionists may if they desire replace one first level spell with four cantrips of their choosing. Obviously, the one spell carried must be a knowable spell contained in the character's spell books.

Clerics, Druids, Holy Orders of the Stars, and Shukenja do not test spells; it is assumed that their gods will give them their desired spells from the complete list of possible spells. However, they must indicate which spells will normally be carried. Also, although these classes begin with one first level spell, characters with high wisdom gain bonus spells. A cleric sub-class character with a wisdom of 13 carries 2 first level spells at the beginning, and a cleric sub-class character with a wisdom of 14 or higher begins the game with three. A Holy Order of the Stars connected to a Neutral god (of Krynn) begins with 2 first level spells, plus any bonuses for wisdom. These may be all the same, partly the same, or all different.

Note that Holy Orders of the Stars may have additional spells conferred upon them by the specific god they serve; these do not change the selection of first level spells carried, except that the player will want to be aware of which spells are associated with the god he serves so as to select additional spells sensibly. These spells are otherwise selected from the list for clerics.

Note that some of the listed spells may be learned reversed, to do that which is the opposite in some sense from the normal use. Thus Bless, which normally enhances the attacks of the subject, becomes Curse, which penalizes such attacks. The names of the reversed forms are given in parentheses after the spell they reverse.

The list of first level Cleric spells includes: Bless (Curse), Ceremony, Combine, Command, Create Water (Destroy Water), Cure Light Wounds (Cause Light Wounds), Detect Evil (Detect Good), Detect Magic, Endure Cold (Endure Heat), Invisibility to Undead, Light (Darkness), Magic Stone, Penetrate Disguise, Portent, Precipitation, Protection from Evil (Protection from Good), Purify Food & Drink (Putrefy Food & Drink), Remove Fear (Cause Fear), Resist Cold, Sanctuary.

First level Druid spells are: Animal Friendship, Detect Magic, Detect Snares & Pits, Entangle, Faerie Fire, Invisibility to Animals, Locate Animals, Pass Without Trace, Predict Weather, Purify Water (Contaminate Water), Shillelagh, Speak with Animals.

Shukenja first level spells are: Animal Conjuration, Augury, Beneficence, Bless (Curse), Calm, Cure Light Wounds (Cause Light Wounds), Deflection (Attraction), Detect Disease, Detect Evil (Detect Good), Detect Harmony, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Divining Rod, Know History, Omen, Purify Food & Drink (Putrefy Food & Drink), Resist, Snake Charm, Trance, Weapon Bless.

M. J. Young's Dungeons & Dragons Materials
Collection of such pages as the much-praised Alignment Quiz, What is an RPG? (excerpted from Multiverser), the highly valued Confessions of a Dungeons & Dragons™ Addict, along with special rules and player aids in both written and computer formats, this site was highly praised by RAWS, linked by Gary Gygax, and is worth a look even if you don't like what you found here.

The Multiverser Information Center
The complexity of creating a D&D character always reminds me of how much simpler it is to play Multiverser®, the game which incorporates all other games, all other worlds, everything imaginable, with nothing else to buy.

Temporal Anomalies in Popular Movies
There are enough time travel films out there now that most of the things which could go wrong in time have been shown on the silver screen. This page applies a new conception of how time works (discussed in the Multiverser® game system to help referees sort out game scenarios in which player characters travel in time) to unraveling the most popular of such movies. An Event Horizon Hot Spot and Sci Fi Weekly Site of the Week which has won the author national recognition as an authority on time travel in fiction.

Index to the Pages of M. J. Young
An eclectic collection of materials which includes RPG stories, commentary on law and Bible, song lyrics, and indices to material all over the web.