![]() The planar binding spell, for example, can trap and compel service from any elemental or outsider with 12 HD or less. Incantations are most effective when they’re specific they should always be more narrowly focused than spells that accomplish similar tasks. Because incantations don’t require spell slots - or even spellcasting ability - you need to make sure that characters can’t simply cast incantations repeatedly, stopping only to sleep. Every incantation you create should have at least one component that’s difficult for the caster to deal with, such as an XP cost, an expensive material component, or a significant backlash component. Furthermore, you should emphasize how much faster, easier, and safer spells are than incantations. To keep incantations under control in your campaign, avoid creating incantations with skill check DCs lower than 20. Anytime you apply multiple modifiers to a single DC, the potential for accidental consequences or intentional abuse is there. It’s important to realize that this system for creating incantations is meant as a starting point, not the last word. BEHIND THE CURTAIN: CREATING INCANTATIONS If you gave low-level PCs easy access to the plane shift spell, on the other hand, they could wander the planes until they ran afoul of the first outsider more powerful than they are (which is almost any outsider). Because it requires the construction of a thatched hut in the middle of a forest and works only during the winter solstice, you don’t have to worry about the characters exploring the Outer Planes whenever they get the urge. If you want characters in your low-level game to take a brief sojourn to an Outer plane, you can introduce the incantation Hrothgar’s journey. Incantations are also more specific than spells, so the GM can introduce them into the game without worrying that they’ll spread beyond the immediate situation. PCs will still use spells rather than expensive, risky incantations whenever they can. Incantations provide a useful way to introduce powerful magical effects in a lower-level game under controlled conditions. Because many incantations require academic skills such as Knowledge, the characters best equipped to cast them are often spellcasters anyway. This variant gives a measure of magical power to nonspellcasters, but the incantations themselves are usually too specific in effect to increase a character’s power in the general sense. Instead it reverses itself on the caster, explodes with a cascade of magical energy, or weakens the barrier between worlds, enabling hostile outsiders to emerge onto the Material Plane. Most important among the drawbacks, an incantation rarely fades away quietly if the caster fails to perform the ritual correctly. Some incantations work only under certain specific conditions, such as during a full moon. They are often expensive, and some require additional participants to complete the ritual. Incantations have drawbacks: They’re time-consuming to cast, and success isn’t assured. Incantations don’t use spell slots, you don’t have to prepare them ahead of time, and you can use an incantation an unlimited number of times per day. ![]() This variant enables characters who know the correct ritual gestures and phrases for an incantation to achieve powerful magic effects. Incantations are like spells, but they can be cast by characters who are not spellcasters.
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