Grimoire Spells

ALTER WEATHER: moderates or exacerbates any weather condition. Large groups may cast the spell to achieve great meteorological effects. The keeper establishes the base conditions. Every ten magic points sacrificed effects one level of change (see further below). The caster may expend as many magic points as he or she is able, as can any participant who knows the spell. Those ignorant of the spell can contribute 1 magic point only. Casting the spell costs every participant 1 current Sanity point, and requires a song-like chant to be uttered for three minutes per level of weather change. The effective radius of the base spell is two miles; this area can be widened for a cost of ten magic points for each additional mile. The change in the weather lasts thirty minutes for every ten magic points of the total contributed, but violent weather such as a tornado lasts a much shorter time. Five weather components can be changed, in varying levels of effect. One level costs 10 magic points to change: thus to change the two levels from partly cloudy to heavy clouds takes 20 magic points to change. For snow to fall, the tempe ature must be 30°F or lower, otherwise the precipitation is rain, not snow. Cloud Cover Levels: (1) clear, (2) foggy, (3) partly cloudy, (4) cloudy, (5) heavy clouds. Wind Direction Levels, the eight compass points: (1) north, (2) northeast, (3) east, (4) southeast, (5) south, (6) southwest, (7) west, (8) northwest. Wind Speed Levels: (1) calm, (2) breezy, (3) gusty, (4) strong steady wind, (5) gale, (6) local hurricane, (7) tornado. Temperature Levels: one level raises or lowers the temperature in the area of effect by five degrees Fahrenheit. Precipitation Levels: (1) dry, (2) drizzle or mist, (3) rain [snow], (4) hail [snow], (5) heavy rain [heavy snow], (6) thunderstorm [blizzard].

APPORTION KA: the caster can place a portion of his life essence, or ka, into one or more of his vital organs. This done, the wizard can then remove the enchanted organ from his or her body. The organ continues to live and sustain the caster's identity. Having one's own insides removed costs 2D10 SAN and the permanent loss of 1 POW per organ removed. This spell was first used by followers of the Dark Pharaoh, Nephren-Ka, who would remove vital organs and lock them away in safe places. This would make the caster virtually impossible to kill, if not for the spell's one weakness. The brain is the seat of the spell's power and, as such, could not be removed. If the brain was destroyed the other organs would lose their magical properties and the caster would die. (Other spells no doubt supplied the priests with means for seeing, touching, and so on.) The priests of Nephren-Ka could not transplant themselves into other people. With transplant technology, today's sorcerer can. Even while disembodied, the caster is able to sense where the other parts are, and subtly guide the bodies toward each other. When two bodies are as close as a block or two, the caster regains full consciousness, with access to all memories, knowledge, and spells. The caster also takes command of these proximal bodies, and they all become of one mind. POW is his or her own, but the magic points are the sum of those he or she controls as well as owns. His or her own magic points regenerate, but the rest are one-time use only, and only as long as the caster maintains sway.

ATTRACT FISH: a fisherman's aid, to be cast over salt or fresh water. The cost is 2 magic points and no Sanity. Bait must be placed in the water and a simple sing-song chant uttered for two minutes. In 1D6 minutes, D100 local fish congregate in the area.

AUGUR: grants portents of the future if the caster is clever enough to understand them. Augur costs 4 magic points and 1D2 SAN to cast. Media varies, from animal entrails to tea leaves to the casting of stalks. The chance of understanding an augury is equal to or less than the augurer's POW x5. A portent may be vague, subtle, dream-like, or in a cryptic verse; if the future were easy to know, everyone would know it.

AWAKE ABHOTH: this spell wakens the sleeping god Abhoth to begin the great feast for which it waits and hungers. The spell costs 12 magic points, 1D10+2 Sanity points, and long rituals that prove the caster's faithfulness to the god. BAIT HUMANS: causes the image of a fabulously large and beautifully cut diamond to float in the air before the target. The spell costs the caster 1 magic point per casting, lasts for five minutes, and can be repeated indefinitely. Approximate range of the spell is one mile. As a target approaches the illusion, the diamond recedes at approximately the same speed, in the direction the caster wills, presumably to where the hungry chthonian waits. As in sport fishing, the target decides whether or not to take the bait. Only chthonians have this spell. A variation, Bait Sand Dwellers, exchanges the image of a floating diamond for that of a tender human haunch, dripping flesh blood. BALK BROOD: calls forth the Brood of Eihort from a victim. The spell requires three rounds to intone and costs 1D3 Sanity points per participant. The caster and other people who know the spell can expend as many magic points as desired. Those who touch the caster while the spell is intoned can add 1 magic point per person, though the Sanity cost remains at 1D3 points each. Learning the spell requires a roll of INT x2 or less on D100 and 15-INT days of study. Using the Resistance Table, match the total of the magic points expended against the number of days elapsed since the injection of the Brood. If the spell succeeds, the Brood infesting the victim promptly cascade out of the victim's orifices, costing him or her 1D3 Sanity points for pain and embarrassment. The victim also loses 1 hit point for each day of infestation. The infestation may already have caused the victim great harm, which their presence keeps from being obvious. Removing the Brood actually may kill the victim, but he or she is doomed in any case. At each casting of this spell, the participants risk the appearance of Eihort: the chance accumulates at 10 percentiles per cast. Eihort will attack the caster first.

BANEFUL DUST OF HERMES TRISMEGISTUS: similar to the Dust of Suleiman, it only affects creatures of nonterrestrial origin (that excludes humans, deep ones, ghouls, servants of Glaaki, sand dwellers, serpent people, and chthonians, but not flying polyps, elder things, mi-go, star-spawn of Cthulhu, or shoggoths). It costs 4 magic points and no Sanity to cast the creation spell; thereafter anyone may use the gold-colored dust created. Only the most fearsome entities continue to fight after an application of this powerful dust. To apply the dust requires that the target be within reasonable Throw range. With a successful Throw roll, the dust burns the extraterrestrial creature for 2D6 points of damage. Armor does not protect against the dust. Each successful Throw of the dust does the same damage. If Thrown and missed, the nimbus of the dust still does 1 hit point of damage. The creature escapes damage only if the Throw roll is fumbled. The dust's effects are horrible, and cost sensitive observers 0/1D3 Sanity points to see. The creature flinches and flails, and sometimes screams. Its body smokes and burns as if eaten by powerful acid. The formula for the dust requires common chemicals and ingredients in a proportion of combined weight about equal to two pounds. Two ounces of this concoction is enough for one dose. Sixteen doses would be made each time the formula is followed. A successful Chemistry or Pharmacy roll is required for a batch to work; the keeper should make this roll, for the caster should have no idea if a batch will be effective.

BANISHMENT OF YDE ETAD: It sends home most transdimensional human or human-like intelligences that are under their own volition. It is not effective against servitors, hirelings, thralls, or any creature commanded by another intelligence. Correctly performed, the banishment is permanent and irrevocable. Each banishment is of an individual, not of a class. At least three people must participate in the spell. All participants must know the spell. More participants add to the effectiveness. The total number of participants must be divisible by three. Each participant donates 1D4+3 magic points and loses 1D4 Sanity points. Learning this spell requires twelve hours of time, a roll of INT x4 or less, and 1D3 Sanity points. This banishment works by destroying with ritual flames a sigil representing the target. The target's personal sigil is best, but a substitute can be prepared according to a formula described with the spell. The spell must be performed in the open air in the middle of the night, ideally in a place of power associated with the subject. The target's known haunts, its last known location, or its point of entry into this dimension are all suitable sites. The spell casters must divide their numbers: one third remain outside a protective circle and the rest stand within. Using a mixture of ground silicon dioxide, lime, or magnesium silicate, combined with dried and ground henbane or garlic, the larger group of spell casters inscribes a circle on the ground around them, one large enough to accommodate the group as well as leaving room for a fire in the center. As the circle is made, the casters must recite a complicated verse. Then more of the compound is used to trace a series of complicated symbols, accompanied at all times by the chanting of verses read aloud or declaimed from memory. The spell casters outside the circle then trace a second larger circle of the compound, surrounding all. The casters in the central circle place their personal sigils (a sigil can be a handwritten signature, or something equally characteristic) at evenly spaced intervals around the inside perimeter of the inner circle. As the sigil is placed, that participant must speak his or her name aloud to the heavens. These personal sigils must remain in place until the ritual is completed. The protective circles complete, the casters in the inner circle build a ritual fire upon a grate suspended two to six inches above the ground. The fire must be of moderate size, with plainly visible flame. As the ritual fire is lit, all casters repeat yet another complicated verse. The fire must burn steadily from this time until the sigil is utterly consumed. If the fire flags or dies, the banishment fails, so the inner circle also must contain plenty of fuel. Once the fire is burning steadily, the casters within the inner circle throw locks of their own hair and nail clippings into the flames, accompanied by more chanting. As the smoke rises from the clippings, the casters within the inner circle place the sigil of the intended target on the fire so that it is clearly visible to all the spell casters, and it must remain visible until utterly consumed. At that point the image of the thing to be banished appears, howls in fiery agony, and gradually returns to its own plane of existence. As it burns, the casters within the circle repeat a final verse, then remain silent until the fire dies, an additional 3D10 game minutes. The casters then may destroy the circles and freely move about. BAT FORM: lets the caster assume the form and capabilities of a flying fox, while retaining his or her intelligence and intentions. The spell costs 12 magic points to cast; assuming the form of a bat costs 1D8 Sanity points. The spell must be cast while the sun is down, and its effects last only until the sun rises. Capabilities of a bat include those of flight and of acute hearing.

BECOME SPECTRAL HUNTER: turns the target into a monster which can attack while invisible. The spell requires 2 POW from the caster (who also may be the recipient), a small specially made figurine, the blood of several animals, and the loss of all Sanity points by the target of the spell. The target must be a knowledgeable volunteer. If the caster is not also the recipient, he or she loses 3D6 Sanity points in performing the ritual. The target transforms into a spectral hunter, a hideous humanoid described in the 1982 supplement Shadows of YogSothoth. The new spectral hunter is psychically linked to the figurine which holds its soul. If this figurine is destroyed, the spectral hunter is injured or killed. BIND ENEMY: either by physical attack or magical attack, the spell renders the target unable to harm the caster for the next seven days. A variable number of magic points are sacrificed into a small effigy of the target, and then matched against the target's POW on the Resistance Table. If the target wins, the spell fails. No Sanity points are expended. It takes about a day to gather the materials, construct the effigy, and chant the ritual that seals the magic points into the effigy. The effigy must contain a few hairs or nail clippings from the target, or something else of a personal nature. The spell is broken if the caster attacks the target or if the effigy is destroyed.

BIND LOUP-GAROU (Cage of Kind): removes a werecreature's desire to control his or her shape-changing, quickly condemning him or her to the life of whatever animal the character's animal alternate is. Bind Loup-Garou needs 14 magic points per targeted loup-garou. It consumes 2D4 Sanity points per ceremony, no matter how many loups-garous are involved. A loup-garou so bound sheds its human side in a number of game days equal to its POW. Once the spell is cast, the target loup-garou steadily loses his or her ability to choose when to shape-change. More and more he or she becomes the animal alternate when primal emotions such as rage, fear, lust, or hunger become strong. The shape-change is more and more triggered, and not a choice. The effect strengthens over time. After 1/2 POW days, the target spends half its time in its animal form. After POW days, the human side is utterly unattractive and tedious. The loup-garou then lives out the remainder of its life as an animal in the wild. To perform this spell, the caster needs a bowl of solid silver or gold. The bowl must be inscribed with the incantations of the spell on its inner surface. The caster must also carve a circular talisman into the surface of the area where the spell is to be cast. Six candles are placed and lit clockwise around this talisman. Once the candles are lit, the caster may not leave the circle, or he or she must repeat the ceremony from the beginning. At least six drops of uncoagulated human blood must be added to the bowl. To target an individual, place some of his or her body hair, fingernail clippings, personal possessions, etc., in the bowl. More than one person may be targeted at a time. Incantations must be chanted without interruption for an hour. If all goes well, the bowl briefly glows and the spell begins its work. After the spell is cast, the targeted loup-garou experiences growing fears and desires based on the need of its animal side. For instance, if the loup-garou is half mountain lion, then while on the human side the loup-garou becomes increasingly aloof, predatory, and territorial with rivals. The affected loupgarou loses no Sanity unless it understands what has happened to it; then the Sanity loss is 1D3+1 SAN per day, until POW days have passed. Then it loses all remaining SAN and as a human is permanently insane.

BIND SOUL: allows the caster to imprison a human soul and thereby control or murder the body from which the soul came. Cost to cast the spell is 10 magic points and 3 Sanity points. The caster must be able to find the soul before it can be imprisoned; see Snare Dreamer for one way to achieve that. See Compel Flesh for a way to control the body. The caster must defeat the target soul by matching POW vs. POW on the Resistance Table. If the soul is trapped, the victim's body begins to die, at the rate of 2 CON per day. When CON reaches zero, the body dies and the soul is released. If the soul is not trapped, the magic points and Sanity points are lost without effect.