First-Level Spells
Chill Touch: This spell becomes even more deadly when
cast in Ravenloft. If the victim fails a saving throw vs. spell,
the touch inflicts 2d4 points of damage and drains one point
of both Strength and Constitution. If the target makes a
successful saving throw, the touch still inflicts 1d4 points of
damage and drains one point of Strength.
Casting this spell requires a Ravenloft powers check.
Conjure Spell Component: This spell cannot retrieve
components from outside the domain where it is cast. The wizard
does not realize that this is the reason for his spell failure.
Depending upon the type of component being
summoned, it may require a Ravenloft powers check.
Detect Undead: In Ravenloft, each undead creature can
attempt a saving throw vs. spell to prevent detection. If
four or more similar creatures are grouped together, they
make a single roll with a -2 penalty. A natural roll of 20
always indicates success. As stated in the Player's
Handbook, the spell cannot penetrate stone more than one
foot thick (in other words, most castle walls).
Find Familiar: Any wizard may send out a call for a
familiar in Ravenloft, but only those of evil alignment are
sure to receive what they expect. Wizards of less sinister
bents will find their summons answered by creatures far less
helpful than they might appear at first.
If a neutral or good wizard casts this spell, the Dungeon
Master should roll on Table 26 to determine the nature of
the creature summoned. No matter what the result, the
creature is actually a pseudo-familiar as described in the
Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix III.
Table 26: Good or Neutral Familiars
| 1d8 Roll
|
|
Familiar Summoned |
| 1 |
|
Cat, House |
| 2 |
|
Cat, Wild |
| 3 |
|
Crow or Raven |
| 4 |
|
Owl |
| 5 |
|
Toad |
| 6 |
|
Rat |
| 7 |
|
Viper |
| 8 |
|
None |
Should an evil character cast such a spell in Ravenloft,
the Dungeon Master should roll on the Table 27 to
determine what creature (if any) answers his summons.
Table 27: Evil Familiars
| 1d8 Roll |
|
Neutral Evil |
|
Lawful Evil |
|
Chaotic Evil |
| 1 |
|
Bat, Sentinel |
|
Bat, Sentinel |
|
Bat, Sentinel |
| 2 |
|
Dog, Death |
|
Imp, Assassin |
|
Familiar, Undead |
| 3 |
|
Familiar, Pseudo- |
|
Bat, Night Hunter |
|
Imp, Mephit (Fire) |
| 4 |
|
Wolf, Worg |
|
Gremlin, Mite |
|
Gremlin |
| 5 |
|
Bat, Sentinel |
|
Imp |
|
Gremlin, Galltrit |
| 6 |
|
Imp, Mephit (Mist) |
|
Boowray |
|
Imp, Quasit |
| 7 |
|
Rat, Giant |
|
Cat, Midnight |
|
Baobhan Sith |
| 8 |
|
None |
|
None |
|
None |
No matter what the alignment of the caster, such intimate
contact with the fabric of Ravenloft can have a corrupting
effect upon the wizard. Because of this, casting a find
familiar spell in the Demiplane of Dread requires a Ravenloft
powers check.
Metamorphose Liquids: This spell is unchanged in
Ravenloft. While this spell can certainly change water into
blood, the artificially created blood lacks a vital
component of the owner's life force; thus, nosferatu and
other blood-drinking creatures derive no sustenance from
the metamorphosed liquid. If a vampiric creature drinks
blood made with this spell, the meal does not slake his
thirst and causes him to vomit up his offensive meal 1d4
turns later. In fact, any evil, magical creature that sustains
itself solely on fluids from a living creature suffers the
same effects that the vampire does, though normal
creatures can still draw nourishment from water and other
fluids created by this spell.
Second-Level Spells
Detect Evil/Detect Good: No one can magically detect evil
in Ravenloft. This spell and its reverse, detect good, simply
do not function.
ESP: Unlike undead in other realms, unliving creatures in
Ravenloft with "low" Intelligence or better can choose to
project false thoughts to those who use mental powers on
them (though a creature unaware or caught by surprise
cannot project its thoughts). Therefore, the ESP spell
seldom captures the true thoughts of the creature. The
creature usually projects safe, friendly, and reassuring
thoughts. Wizards do not know about this spell's altered
effects when they cast it.
At the Dungeon Master's discretion, an evil creature may
choose to project its true thoughts. Sensing thoughts so
horrid will almost always require the caster to attempt a
madness check.
Know Alignment: As usual, the target of this spell gets a
saving throw to avoid detection. Failure indicates that the
spell reveals whether the target has a chaotic, neutral, or
lawful alignment; it never detects good or evil alignments.
Nahal's Nonsensical Nullifier: This spell scrambles
detection spell results. In Ravenloft, only lawful and chaotic
tendencies can be detected. After this spell has scrambled
the detected alignment, the lawful and chaotic portions are
still the only parts of the alignment reported.
Spectral Hand: This necromantic spell lasts twice as
long in Ravenloft. Casting this spell requires a Ravenloft
powers check.
Third-Level Spells
Alternate Reality: The dark powers hold sway over reality
in the Demiplane. As a result, mechanics unique to
Ravenloft are largely unaffected by this spell. Fear, horror,
madness, and powers checks cannot be changed from
failed rolls into successful ones (though the Dungeon
Master can feign rerolling them). However, the secondary
die rolls determining the precise results of these failed
checks can be rerolled.
For example, if a character who fails a horror check ends
up obsessed with the horrific scene casts this spell to get a
new horror check roll, the rerolled horror check
automatically fails (although the Dungeon Master rolls a die
to fool the player). If that same character casts the spell to
affect the result of the horror check, however, he might end
up with an aversion rather than an obsession.
Clairaudience: Normally, this spell allows the caster to
hear noises in a familiar or obvious place. A "familiar" place
is one that the wizard has visited personally. Verbal
descriptions and viewing through spells or pictures do not
make a place completely familiar, so the wizard will have
only a 50% chance to make the spell work. The Dungeon
Master should roll once per location; if the wizard is
unsuccessful, future attempts will also fail unless he gathers
more information.
An "obvious" place denotes one directly connected to the
scene before the caster. If the wizard sees a door, he can
cast the spell on the other side of the door. He cannot cast it
around the corner and through the door, however.
Clairaudience normally creates an invisible sensor that
can be magically dispelled. In Ravenloft, the spell forms a
visible, ghostly ear of normal size. If detected, the ear can
be dispelled, or the parties involved can adjust their speech
to compensate.
Magical attacks that depend upon sound affect the caster
normally if he hears it via his clairaudiance spell. Thus, if
the sensor is within range, a banshee could feasibly kill the
caster with her wail.
This spell can reach across only a single Mist-bound
region, which may include more than one domain (such
as the Core or a Cluster). However, the spell does not work
in the Mists themselves, as they distort location and
distance. The caster is not immediately aware of any of
these changes.
Clairvoyance: This spell is restricted like Clairaudience,
above. It allows the caster to view things only in a familiar or
obvious location. If the area does not meet those
qualifications, the spell has a 50% chance of failing. The
spell can reach only across a single Mist-bound area and
does not work directly in the Mists.
In Ravenloft, the formerly invisible sensor created by
this spell becomes a visible, ghostly eye of normal size. A
gaze attack on the sensor also affects the caster. For
example, a vampire can charm a wizard watching with a
clairvoyance spell.
Feign Death: The caster of this spell must make a
Ravenloft powers check.
Hold Undead: Undead monsters strongly resist this type
of magic in Ravenloft. All undead - even mindless ones -
can avoid its effects with a successful saving throw vs. spell.
Self-willed undead each gain an additional +2 bonus to their
saving throws. This spell cannot affect domain lords.
Lorloveim's Creeping Shadow: This spell animates the
caster's shadow in order for him to see through its eyes and
hear through its ears. Manipulating the stuff of shadows is
dangerous in Ravenloft, as these patches of darkness
sometimes take on a life of their own.
The Dungeon Master should secretly roll a saving throw
vs. spell for the caster on the round the spell is cast. If it
succeeds, nothing unusual happens, and the spell functions
normally. The caster will probably not know that it was even
possible for something unusual to happen. If the saving
throw fails, then his shadow animates. Once animated, it
remains so until killed, and the caster loses his real shadow
until that time. Beings without shadows seem rather spooky,
so nonplayer characters are likely to think the worst of a
character without one.
In campaigns not utilizing the Requiem rules accessory,
the character's shadow transforms into the monster of the
same name (as described in the MONSTROUS MANUAL
tome). Such a monster will seek to kill the caster, but not
always immediately. It will more likely follow him around
and wait for the best opportunity. The shadow defends
itself if attacked, but will willingly flee if it is in danger of
being destroyed.
If the campaign does utilize the Requiem, rules, then a
much more fiendish transformation occurs. When the
shadow animates, it promptly takes control of the
character's living shell and shunts the hero's life force into
the animated shadow. The player should use the Requiem
rules to convert the character into this new form. Then, the
creature in possession of the wizard's body will attempt to
kill the shadow player character. Further, the creature will
attempt to enlist the help of other player characters in its
dread task.
Since the other players might detect the transpossession
immediately, Dungeon Masters should have the player keep
control of that character's body for the first day. That night,
the shadow monster runs away with the body. The player
now plays a shadow in search of its body.
Casting this spell requires a Ravenloft powers check.
Monster Summoning I: This spell can summon only
monsters native to the region in which it is cast. Refer to the
descriptions of the particular domain to determine exactly
what type of creatures respond to the summons. The
summoned creatures vanish when the spell expires.
Summoned monsters are very resistant to control in
Ravenloft, and they can attempt a saving throw vs. spell
with a -2 penalty to avoid the summons. If the summoned
monsters are minions of the lord, the creatures still appear,
but the lord retains control.
Vampiric Touch: Ravenloft enhances the effects of this
spell. For every die of damage inflicted, the victim
permanently loses 1 hit point unless a priest successfully casts a
restoration spell on him within twenty-four hours. For
example, if a 7th-level wizard touches a warrior with this spell,
the warrior would suffer 3d6 points of damage, three points of
which would be lost permanently unless he convinces someone
to cast a restoration spell on him within a day.
The caster of this spell must make a powers check.
Fourth-Level Spells
Contagion: The caster of this spell must make a Ravenloft
powers check.
Dimension Door: This spell cannot transport the caster
across a domain border.
Enervation: This spell is quite deadly in Ravenloft. Each
level drained from the victim also drains 1 hit point
permanently. For example, if a succession of these spells
causes a character to lose three levels, he also loses 3 hit
points permanently. Only a restoration spell cast within
twenty-four hours of the enervation attack can restore those
lost points.
Casting this spell requires a Ravenloft powers check.
Locate Creature: This spell is unable to cross the Misty
Border that separates one domain from another. This spell
cannot detect a creature on the other side of such a border,
even if within normal range. Indeed, if this spell were cast by
a wizard looking across a domain border directly at the
creature, he would still not detect it.
The lord of a domain can always attempt a saving throw
vs. spell to avoid being discovered by this spell. If the saving
throw succeeds, the lord also instantly knows the location of
the person who cast it.
Magic Mirror: Although it does not function in the Mists
themselves, the magic mirror can view any location within a
single domain. The mirror still acts as a scrying device, but
a ghostly mirror with the caster's face appears at the
location being viewed by the caster. A gaze attack directed
at this image affects the caster normally. The caster does
not immediately know of these changes, as he cannot see
this ghostly image.
Mask of Death: This spell normally enables the caster to
alter the features of a dead body to resemble another
person. In Ravenloft, adventurers should not dabble so
readily with the dead. The caster must roll a saving throw
vs. death magic; failure indicates that he takes on the
features of the dead body. If the body is in an obvious state
of decay, then the caster looks like a zombie. The
spellcaster is unaware of this change, so unless he looks in
a mirror or someone tells him, he will notice nothing.
If a corpse is given the appearance of someone else who
is also dead and is then subjected to a raise dead or similar
spell, the corpse becomes a wight, animated by the spirit of
the dead person it resembles. The wight is unlikely to be
pleased at returning from the dead in someone else's body,
even if it does look like its own.
Casting this spell requires a Ravenloft powers check.
Monster Summoning II: This spell can summon only
monsters native to the region in which it is cast. Refer to the
descriptions of the particular domain to determine exactly
what type of creatures respond to the summons. These
summoned monsters vanish when the spell expires.
Summoned monsters are very resistant to control in
Ravenloft, and they can attempt a saving throw vs. spell
with a -2 penalty to avoid the summons. If the summoned
monsters are minions of the lord, the creatures still appear,
but the lord retains control.
Remove Curse/Bestow Curse: Remove curse works
poorly in Ravenloft, where its duration is limited rather
than permanent. The target of this magic must make a
successful saving throw vs. spell to temporarily be rid of a
curse; the duration of relief is only one turn per level of
the spellcaster.
Curses are very powerful in Ravenloft (see Chapter
Twelve). The stronger the curse, the less likely it is that a
mere spell can suspend it. Use Table 28 to find the saving
throw modifier for the power of the curse.
Bestow curse works as described, but it requires a
Ravenloft powers check with the modifiers given in the
table below.
Table 28: Remove Curse/Bestow Curse Penalties
| Curse |
Saving Throw Penalty |
Powers Check Penalty |
| Embarrassing |
0 |
0% |
| Frustrating |
-1 |
+1% |
| Troublesome |
-2 |
+2% |
| Dangerous |
-3 |
+3% |
| Lethal |
-6 |
+6% |
Summon Lycanthrope: For this spell to work, the caster
and the lycanthrope must be in the same domain. This spell
can call creatures under the control of the domain lord, but
they are utterly free of the caster's control and will do the
bidding of their true master as soon as they arrive. This spell
can summon a lycanthrope domain lord only if he allows it.
Upon arrival, the magical circle does not bind him, although
he may pretend for a time that it does.
Once summoned, a lycanthrope has a chance to break
the imprisoning circle. In Ravenloft, the chance is 30%, plus
(or minus) the difference in level/Hit Dice between the
caster and the creature.
Summoning a lycanthrope requires a Ravenloft powers
check. Otherwise, the spell works as described in the Tome
of Magic.
