What's in the mage's mailbox?

Random Mail Generator
D12	Letter
1	A letter from mum: Dear son, It’s been a long time since I’ve heard from you. You haven’t written me in a long time and you never come to visit. Is it that much trouble to come to tea  now-and-then? I've talked with Margaret about it and she think’s it’s shameful how little attention you pay me. Love, your mother.
2	An advertising brochure: Buy a can of brown tea at Mademoiselle Vita’s and get a bag of green tea worth 5 copper pieces for free!
3	A bill of 25 gp of the local laundry service. (Expensive, but magicians get very dirty).
4	A letter from a young man from Pretomournon who would like to apprentice to the mage.
5	A map of the village of Tealief.
6	An invitation to the birthday party of Mr. Sonder Klomt, in two days.
7	A letter that begins: I finally found the formula to turn potatoes into gold! Start as follows… But the letter has been wet and the rest is smudged and  illegible.
8	A letter from a little boy: Dear wizard-sir, can I borrow your wand of fireballs? Dink is bullying me all the time and I want to teach him a lesson. Greetings, Timmie.
9	Spam: Visit the casino! If you visit the casino you get 30 gold pieces of me to try our games. All you have to do is fill in the reply card below and return it.
10	Fanmail: I'm your biggest fan! You are the best magic-user in the country! No, in the world! Can I have your autograph?
11	Hatemail: You’re stupid! You're the worst magic-user in the country! No, in the world! Go jump into a ditch!
12	A chess move: Knight to C3. Checkmate! Hahahahaha!

The spells of Ermard the Entomomancer

The mage Ermard the Entomomancer lives in the cellar of a ruined keep a hour out of Tealove village. His specialties are insects, spiders, and bug magic. In his spellbooks are common spells like web and delay poison, as well as some unique spells researched by Ermard himself.

False Tremors

Level: Magic-user 1

Duration: 1d6 rounds

Range: 60’

This spell causes small tremors in one spot designated by the caster. At the same time, any vibrations the caster makes are masked. Blind creatures that detect their prey by sensing tremors (giant centipedes, for example) will mistake the false vibrations in the ground for a moving creature  in contact with the ground, and will focus on that spot.

Swarm Form

Level: Druid  2, Magic-user 2

Duration: 1 round per level

Range: 0

As soon as this spell is cast, the caster’s body breaks up into a number of crawling ants, beetles, or spiders equal to his age. The caster’s clothes and possessions fall unchanged to the ground. The insect swarm occupies an area of 10’x30’ and may engulf an opponent. It does not need to roll to hit, and inflicts 2 points of damage per round to the person engulfed. Double damage is dealt to characters wearing no armor. The swarm does not sustain damage from weapons, but fire, such as that from a torch, does 1d4 hit points damage. Other fire-based and cold-based attacks do normal damage. Smoke or water may be used to ward off a swarm.

After the duration ends, all surviving insects crawl back in the clothes of the caster and transform back into his body. If more than half the bugs survive, the body will be intact. If more than half of the insects is slain, the body may miss a finger, hand, or other body part.

The spells of Ostal the Ornithomancer

The mage Ostal has dedicated his life to the study of birds. He lives with his apprentice, a 10-year old girl by the name of Lessie, in a tower with many nests, birdhouses and a dovecote on the roof.

His spellbooks contain some unique bird-related spells, researched by Ostal himself.

Carrier Pigeon

Level: Magic-user 1

Duration: One delivery

Range: 40’ per level

Casting this spell calls to the caster the closest bird, be it a normal bird or of the giant variety. The bird will be friendly or non-threatening to the caster, and will allow him to tie a letter or small package to its paw. If the package is light enough for the bird to carry, it will then deliver it to the person named by the caster.

The recipient must live within half a day flying. If there’s no bird in range when the spell is cast, no bird will come.

Stork’s Legs

Level: Magic-user 1

Duration: A number of turns equal to the caster’s level

Range: 0

The caster’s legs grow to a length of 2 yards. The caster can use stork’s legs to reach for things on the upmost shelf of a cupboard, look over walls, and look into a window on the second floor.

When walking, the caster moves at 1.5 times his normal speed. His clothing and shoes grow as well to fit his new legs. The caster can dismiss the legs before the spell’s duration is over.

The Spells of Bymen the Botanomancer

The magician Bymen is the world's leading authority in the field of plants and plant-like creatures. He lives in a small hut surrounded by a beautiful garden, where many rare and endangered plants grow.

In addition to more common spells like find plant, speak with plant, etc., Bymen’s spellbook contains dried leaves and flowers, and some spells of his own devising.

Flower Bomb

Level: Magic-user 1

Duration: 2d6 turns

Range: 120’

The mage throws an acorn, peanut, pine cone or similar nut to his opponent. It explodes in a cloud of colorful flowers, which remain whirling in the affected area. All creatures in the area must save vs. spell or become trapped in the area of swirling flowers. Mesmerized and disorientated, the victims cannot leave, cast spells or perform other significant actions, and can talk about nothing else except the beautiful colors and wonderful fragrance of the flowers. After the duration expires the flowers float to the ground and the victims are freed.

Unaffected creatures can try to pull a victim out of the cloud but must make a new save or become stuck themselves. Flower bomb does not work on undead or very large creatures like dragons.

Lovely Fragrance

Level: Magic-user 1

Duration: 12 turns

Range: 60’

The mage casts this spell on a flower, plant, or weed, which will grow a pink flower. This new flower gives off a delicious sweet scent that anyone within 60’ who smells it is filled with romantic thoughts and feelings. Creatures in the area of ​​effect must save vs. spells or fall in love with someone of the preferred sex (if present) or else the non-preferred sex (if the player agrees). Furthermore, all victims receive a -4 on saves against charm and similar spells while still in smelling range of the flower.

When the duration ends, the flower wilts and the smell disappears. The player (in the case of a player character) or the DM (in the case of a sample or NPC) may determine if the infatuation also ends.

Botanoids

Requirements: DEX 8

Ability Modifiers: None

Botanoids are plant people, mobile plants. They are very diverse in appearance, from green humans with leaves for hair to tree people with bark-like skin. Height and weight are very diverse, ranging from 4 to 6 feet and from 120 to 150 pounds. Botanoids do breathe and eat, but do not sleep and are immune to sleep and similar spells.

Botanoids have infravision of 60 feet. In bushes or other outdoor cover, botanoids can hide with 90% ability. They can also hide in shadows or behind other forms of cover when underground in labyrinths or caverns on a roll of 1-2 on 1d6, but they must be silent and motionless.

Botanoids are hardy beings, resistant to poison, paralyze and polymorph effects, and as such they receive a +4 saving throw bonus to defend against these effects. However, as plants, botanoids are vulnerable to fire and get double damage from fire, regardless of a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.

Botanoids can speak their alignment language, common, gnoll, gnome, goblin, and  hobgoblin. They can Speak to Plants as per the spell.

Botanoids may select from the following classes, with the indicated level limits.

BOTANOID CLASSES AVAILABLE

Class	Level Limit
Cleric	6
Druid	11
Fighter	10
Ranger	12
Thief	12

Botanoid thieves receive the following bonuses and penalties to thief abilities:

BOTANOID THIEF SKILL ADJUSTMENTS

Skill	Adjustment
Pick Locks	-5%
Move Silently	+7%
Pick Pockets	+5%
Hide in Shadows	+10%
Hear Noise	+1*

*Botanoids receive a better dice range for hearing noises. For example, 1st level botanoid thieves hear noises on a 1-3, and at 9th level it is 1-5. Hear noise may never be better than 1-5.

Magic in Weird opera

These are my house-rules for Magic in the Weird Opera campaign. Most of the rules are cobbled together from various sources, mostly Swords & Wizardry and Labyrinth Lord.

In Weird Opera, there’s no distinction between arcane and divine spells. However, many spells are kept secret by the Guilds or other powerful groups. For example, most spells on the Druid spell list are kept secret by the Druids of the Ancient Mother. Often the only way to learn such a spell is joining the group, or steal it.

Spells and Spellbooks: A spell is an semi-living thing with a disposition and instincts of its own. When a Mage memorizes a spell, it actually leaps off the parchment into the wizard's mind, where it waits impatiently to be released. During that time it’s no longer in the Mage’s spellbook, leaving behind a blank page.

When it’s released, the spell reappears on the page of the spellbook, unless in the meantime something else was written on that page. If a spell is unable to return to its page, it starts wandering and is lost to the Mage.

Spell Casting: The number of memory slots a Mage has is equal to the sum of his INT bonus and his experience level. All memory slots have equal value. The higher the spell level, the more slots that are required to memorize it. One slot equals one spell level. For example, to memorize a  4^th level spell a Mage must use 4 slots.

If you don't have enough slots to even memorize the spell, then it's too advanced for you to attempt to memorize it. Otherwise, there’s no restriction to what spell levels a Mage may memorize. A Mage of 1^st level with an Intelligence score of 18 (INT bonus +3) may use his 4 memory slots to memorize a single 4^th level spell, for example, as long as he has that spell in his spell book or on a scroll.

Knowing Spells: A beginning Mage’s spellbook contains detect magic plus four other first level spells, determined by the DM. Since the Mage received these spells as an apprentice, the DM should take the Mage’s teacher into account when selecting these spells. Beginning spells do not require a roll to see if the Mage can understand them.

New spells are found during play; a wizard must find the higher-level spells in dungeons or musty libraries and copy them into a spellbook, or trade copies with other Mages. If a Mage finds scrolls of spells or other Mages’ spell books while adventuring, these spells can be added to the Mage’s spellbook. There is no limit to how many spells a wizard can learn at a given level.

Check each new spell to see if the Mage can learn and know it, by making an Intelligence check modified by the spell's level. For example, to learn a new 5^th level spell, the Mage must make an Intelligence check with -5 penalty. Each time the magician gains a level (if the DM permits) he or she may re-check the spells not understood before, to see if increased experience has granted new understanding.

High-level Magic: In Weird Opera, spells go up only to 6th level. All the higher-level spells are rituals. To learn and cast a ritual spell is a serious undertaking of magic, requiring research, adventuring, and the expenditure of huge quantities of gold. There are books to be found and studied, expensive arcane components to locate, particular times of the year or lunar cycle when the magic can be performed, runes to know, circles to scribe, and other strange and forbidden knowledge to be researched.

As a rule of thumb, learning a ritual should cost at least 1,000 gp, and casting the spell would require about 500 gp per spell level.

I'm Back

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted here! (And a couple of weeks before that too.)
Well, the summer holidays are over, and I'll have more time to work on my D&D stuff in the coming weeks. I expect semi-regular updates twice a week or so.