Spell Changes
The following section contains notes about all the spells available within the game and how they differ on Wyrlde. They are guides for each of the aspects of a spell to converting it to use here.
Spells herein override any published spell or list from the main game.
Planar Conjurations
The Planar Conjurations are all formally included in the Rite of Summoning or similar Ritual, as are certain other dimensional spells. The core conceit is that if you want to cross a dimensional boundary, you must use a ritual.
As a rule, if it comes from another dimension, then summoning it can only be done through the Rite of Summoning ritual. Summoning a sentient being is considered a rather evil action, even if they are in the same dimension.
In as brief a reasoning as possible, you really don’t want to be able to summon these beings on the fly. It makes them intensely angry, and there are planar rules at play that would allow them to summon you, in turn.
Additionally, spells which call up particular spirits will have been changed primarily by the absence of those spirits, but that can be somewhat variable, as Shamans do a lot of dealing with spirits, and there are ill humours and such to deal with.
Wish
Wish is not available as a spell on Wyrlde. Wishes are out there, but the spell Wish is not. Wishes require a being which is not Mortal to cast it, for a wish is the ultimate expression of magical power, and mortals are not given to all of it.
It was created, and even cast, but the cost of casting the spell rendered it undesirable, as the caster died every single time immediately, having destroyed themselves trying to cast it. Apparently, Wish has a Mana cost of 500 points, requires 4 days of constant chanting, and a complex jig. That a mage was able to survive 4 days without water was a testament to their enduring will.
Spell Levels
Several Spells have had their locations within the published spell lists altered here. This was done due to the introduction of Spell Complexity as the basis for the Spell Levels. Some spells that are historically seen from a different perspective as higher level are lower level now, and other spells have been moved to reflect the shifts in damage. The spell lists here override those of the books.
Schools
Wyrlde only has Seven Schools of Spells. Conjurations are all Evocations. Some minor tweaks exist throughout the rest as well, focusing on proper placement of certain conjurations.
Single thing
As noted in the Theorems of Magic, a published spell which does more than one thing must be reset as several different spells, each doing that one thing.
When the spell is memorized, that one thing has to be specified. This is reflected in the Spell Lists.
Examples include Control Flames, Druidcraft, Gust, Mold Earth, Prestidigitation, Shape Water, and Thaumaturgy.
Spell Damage & Healing
Spell Damage follows a Unified Spell Damage approach, as shown on the table below.
Simple |
Rudimentary |
Intermediate |
Advanced |
Expert | |
Die Used |
D6 |
D8 |
D10 |
D12 |
D14 |
For each level of the spell caster, 1 die is rolled. Thus, a 1st level Mage rolls 1 die, a 2nd level rolls 2 dice, etc.
Regular Damage
There are certain kinds of regular damage.
Abrasion |
Bludgeoning |
Crushing |
Piercing |
Slashing |
Elemental Spells
All Elemental Spells can be used with any of the elements, and the specific nature of that elemental damage is described under that damage type.
As with all elemental spells, the particular element is designated by the caster.
Air |
Earth |
Fire |
Frost |
Spirit |
Lightning |
Stone |
Poison |
Sand |
Smoke |
Sun |
Thunder |
Water |
Acid |
Force |
Dimensional Energy
Many spells make use of Planar Energies. When a spell is described as a Planar Energy Spell, the caster may have the ability to select the energy type. Planar Energies include all of the following:
Spectral |
Celestial |
Infernal |
Radiant |
Necrotic |
Shadow |
Nethic |
Nebulous Energy
There are certain kinds of Nebulous Energies that do unique forms of harm.
Corruption |
Heart |
Manic |
Pain |
Psychic |
Concentration
The default 5e Concentration rules do not apply. Spells which require concentration are spells that have a long duration and generally involve keeping an active awareness of the spell going. They will be explicit in the description of the spell.
Converting Published Spells
Because this book cannot contain all the spells possible on Wyrlde, nor all the spells within the game, here are some rules for converting spells published spells not found here.
Spells on Wyrlde generally improve and become more powerful as the character advances through their levels and the spell levels. A 20th Level Wizard is ultimately a weapon of mass destruction all by themselves – until someone gets their True Name, of course. And someone always does.
Spell Slot Use
When casting a spell using a spell slot of a higher level, as per the spell description, you use the Empowering a Spell rules.
Optional Spell Slot Rule
However, spell slot rules do have a sort of place here. When memorizing spells, there is a base number that a character can memorize, and a character can choose to use a slot from a higher spell to memorize additional lower level spells.
For this purpose, a 9th level spell is equal to 9 Cantrips or 9 1st level Spells. A cantrip is equal to a 1st level spell for this purpose, but a 2nd level spell is equal to two 1st level or two Cantrip spells. A 3rd level slot is equal to three C/1 or one 2nd and one C/1.
Spell Levels
For the level of a converted spell some folks may want to move them around when converting because of the damage structure in use here.
A consideration is that, in general, 5e tends to be heavy on the lower-level spells, whereas Wyrlde is more evenly spread out. By using the Damage guidelines, it shifts a large number of very potent weapon spells to higher levels, even as they are adjusted for damage when actually used.
To do this, look at the maximum damage the spell does as stated in the spell description of the published spell, and then divide that by 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 so that it comes out evenly. That would be the damage die to use. Then, look up that on the damage chart for Wyrlde. That gives you an idea of where to locate the spell.
Schools
All Conjurations Spells are now Evocations for any purpose requiring that information. Wyrlde only has 7 schools, and considers 8 to be a deeply unlucky, demonic number, so actively avoids it.
Casting Time
When converting, Casting time is always a function of the level of the spell:
Complexity |
Time to Cast |
Complexity |
Time to Cast |
Cantrips |
1 action |
5 Level Spells |
3 actions |
1 Level Spells |
1 action |
6 Level Spells |
4 actions |
2 Level Spells |
2 actions |
7 Level Spells |
4 actions |
3 Level Spells |
2 actions |
8 Level Spells |
5 actions |
4 Level Spells |
3 actions |
9 Level Spells |
5 actions |
Components
All Spells have Verbal and Somatic Components. All of them.
Only Rituals have Material Components, and they require them. You can use published spells to determine what the material components are, or ask your DM.
All Rituals have Material components, Verbal components, and Somatic components, and require a number of uninterrupted hours to cast equal to the spell level unless explicitly stated otherwise. In such cases, it is to lengthen the time to not more than 3 days, or 72 hours, never to shorten it.
Range
AoE Categories | ||
Size |
Space / Up to |
Up to Height |
Micro |
1 in by 1 in | |
Bitty |
3 in by 3 in | |
Wee |
6 in by 6 in | |
Tiny |
9 in by 9 in | |
Little |
18 in by 18 in |
1½ ft to 3 ft |
Small |
3 ft. by 3 ft. |
3 ft to 6 ft |
Medium |
6 ft. by 6 ft. |
6 ft to 9 ft |
Big |
9 ft. by 9 ft. |
9 ft to 12 ft |
Large |
12 ft. by 12 ft. |
12 ft to 15 ft |
Huge |
15 ft. by 15 ft. |
15 ft to 18 ft |
Gigantic |
18 ft. by 18 ft | |
Massive |
21 ft. by 21 ft. | |
Immense |
24 ft. by 24 ft. | |
Monstrous |
27 ft by 27 ft. | |
Humongous |
30 ft. by 30 ft | |
Gargantuan |
36 ft. by 36 ft | |
Colossal |
42 ft. by 42 ft | |
Titanic |
48 ft. by 48 ft |
Range is always a number of feet in a number divisible by 3 or 10. So 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300. One of those numbers will always be the range of a spell. Because Wyrlde enables a caster to empower a spell and alter the range, there is little need to change it otherwise.
Wyrlde uses a 3-foot basis, so a standard 5’ is more likely to be a 6 foot area, but 10 feet is still 10 feet.
Area of Effect
Area of Effect is a separate quality, and is often the same, but in some cases the AoE will be set to increase according to the level of the caster. When possible, Wyrlde uses the same areas as it does sizes of creatures, as shown in the table.
In terms of 3 dimensional spaces, Wyrlde snaps to the grid the Cube, Sphere, Hemisphere, Cylinder, and Cone, if there is a question about a grid or hex based system. Preference is for flexibility and narrative, but there you have it.
For spells which describe a “ring” or “circle” and have vertical effects, the effect is 3, 5, 6, or 9 feet high.
Attack
Attack rules remain the same for the most part, altering only when it reflects some difference in the setting.
Save
Save remain the same for the most part. Changes may happen as a result of damage types or conditions.
Some spells that do multiple things in the books may have slightly different saves for the individual things.
Effect
Some effects may be slightly changed by the different Conditions that are present here, the different energies/damage types that exist, and how damage is calculated. For the most part, it is a direct conversion.
Duration
Spells which have a duration as a set amount of time allow for Empowering a Spell to extend that duration. Spell durations are given in Rounds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, and Years, based on whatever the published spell provides. For spells that have a duration in minutes, it is given in rounds for up to 4 minutes and 54 seconds (49 Rounds), with 5 minutes and longer being given in minutes.
Targets
Spells which have a set number of targets can be Empowered to add additional targets one at a time up to a maximum number of targets possible for them (see Empowering). Additionally, there is a maximum number of targets that can be directly targeted by a spell (unless caught in an area of effect) as follows:
Cantrip |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
7th |
8th |
9th | |
Max Targets |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
12 |
The number of targets can only increase over time according to the Degree of Mastery, however, if there is to be an increase in the number of targets built into the spell.
In some cases, the spell’s Area of Effect will be listed as the target, indicating it only impacts that target.
This does not change the effect – effects often need to be Empowered further as well. This does mean one can take a fireball spell and split it up into several smaller fireballs and target different areas. Not that I would ever do that, mind you. Nope, not me. Rafael is above such petty things.
Spell Damage & Healing
Spell Damage follows a Unified Spell Damage approach, as shown on the table below.
Simple |
Rudimentary |
Intermediate |
Advanced |
Expert | |
Die Used |
D6 |
D8 |
D10 |
D12 |
D14 |
For each level of the spell caster, 1 die is rolled. Thus, a 1st level Mage rolls 1 die, a 2nd level rolls 2 dice, etc.
At Higher Levels
When a spell description mentions higher levels, use the Empowering a Spell rules. Note that Spells in Wyrlde are generally designed to become much more powerful as the caster improves. Spells which don’t improve over time are very rare, and very notable because they do a very specific thing.
When in question, examine Cantrips. Cantrips are just as useful to 20th level casters as they are to low level casters. Possibly more so because they do significant damage at a relatively low cost and minimal casting time.
Descriptions
Spell descriptions for Wyrlde will list the kind of damage, but not the die roll or amount unless it is a fixed amount or does not rely on a die roll.