Whether it’s Skeeve’s old master the hedge wizard Garkin or the Emperor of Melnibone, there always seems to be a brazier in the wizard’s workshop. There’s a great opportunity here to give wizards and elves an opportunity to ornament their tower with an essential tool to assist them, in a similar vein to the spell Wizard Staff does in the DCC Core Rulebook.
The idea of creating a tool for the wizard that leans in to the idea of ritual magic, by setting the scene with a mostly immovable object and extra time of preparation before casting -- it feels right to me. I played with the idea of specifying this brazier would augment selected divination spells by staring into the flames, or conjuration spells by using it as a focal point for casting, but it just made the spell description unwieldy – I ultimately decided to let the caster pick any selected spell(s) they want to augment, and if they want to use it for a home defense system with magic missile, so be it.
I also worked in the ability to allow a wizard to use the brazier as a focus for spellburn – but fuel that spellburn with an external force. This opened the door for all sorts of quirky wizard behaviour from Appendix N and what came afterwards – why does the witch need to sacrifice the heart of a weasel to cast her spell? Why does the hedge wizard live in the forest by himself? Why does the irascible and anti-social wizard have that apprentice, anyway? To fuel their spellburn, of course ….
Let me know what you think – always interested to hear if this is too powerful (or too weak) or you have ideas on ‘external fuel’ for spellburning that could be added. Drop me a note at archadethered@gmail.com.
Wizard’s Brazier
Level: 2
Range: Self
Duration: Permanent
Casting Time: 1 week per caster level
Save: N/A
With this spell, the wizard constructs a brazier an enchants it to assist
in focusing their spellcasting efforts. A
wizard can create only one brazier at a time and suffers great pains if it is destroyed.
The material cost is 500 gp per caster level, plus any unusual materials they
might desire (such as a mithral brazier), plus a minimum of 1 point of
spellburn per caster level to properly bond with the brazier. One point of this
spellburn never heals; it is permanent ability loss. Additionally, the caster
must have the requisite spells that will be placed into the brazier, and be
able to utilize them without rest during the casting period. The casting period
is ongoing with brief spurts of restless sleep, and the caster does not heal
spellburn (or other wounds) during this time.
A wizard can attempt to
further augment their existing magic brazier, while still requiring additional
material costs and spellburn, they do not need to further sacrifice a permanent
attribute point. Recasting the magic
brazier spell allows the wizard to rechoose their augmented spells.
A brazier is a large, heavy
piece of furniture (weighing at least 20 lbs), taking a full turn to set up
with fuel and fire to be used in assistance before casting an associated spell.
Misfire: N/A
Corruption: Roll 1d8: (1-4) minor; (5-6) major; (7-8) greater.
Spell Results
1: Lost, failure,
corruption, and patron taint!
2-11: Lost.
Failure.
12-13: Failure,
but spell is not lost.
14-16: The caster
succeeds in constructing a magic brazier, which is linked to his lifeforce. If
the brazier is ever destroyed, he immediately takes damage equal to 3d4 hit
points. The brazier grants +2 to any
casting of one chosen spell (of up to 1st level).
17-21: The caster
succeeds in constructing a magic brazier, which is linked to his soul. If the brazier
is ever destroyed, he immediately takes damage equal to 3d4 hit points. The brazier grants the same bonuses as a
result of 14-16, as well as granting a +2 to any casting of any two chosen spells
(of up to 2nd level).
22-25: The caster
succeeds in constructing a magic brazier, which is linked to his soul. If the brazier
is ever destroyed, he immediately takes damage equal to 3d4 hit points. The brazier grants the same bonuses as a
result of 17-21, as well as granting a +3 to any casting of any three chosen
spells (of up to 3rd level).
Furthermore, the caster may choose to further augment the casting of one
of their chosen spells with up to 2 points of spellburn from an external source
rather than the caster’s own lifeforce – upon construction, roll 1d8 to
determine the option attached to the brazier: (1) a freshly slain animal
sacrificed during the casting (+1 spellburn per HD); (2) the ashes of a cremated
undead corpse (+1 spellburn per HD); (3) burning magic scrolls or pages from a wizard’s
grimoire (+1 spellburn per spell level sacrificed); (4) rare incense, herbs or
wood used as fuel (+1 spellburn per 100 gp of materials that must be sought out);
(5) a cooperating wizard may provide spellburn if jointly casting the same spell
known (+1 spellburn per 2 attribute points spent); (6) twelve hairs of a living
demon (+1 spellburn per HD of the providing creature, who suffers 1d4 hit points
damage per hair burned); (7) the voice of a willing creature (+1 spellburn her
HD of the providing creature, who loses their voice for 1d30 days); (8) the tranquility
of the natural world (+1 spellburn for every cumulative and uninterrupted month
that no intelligent creature other than the caster speaks within 500 feet of
the brazier)
34+: The caster succeeds in constructing a magic
brazier, which is linked to his soul. If the brazier is ever destroyed, he
immediately takes damage equal to 3d4 hit points. The brazier grants the same results as a
result of 30-33, although they may choose two of their three selected spells
(up to 4th level) and grant it a total of a +4 bonus, and can
augment one of their three chosen spells with spellburn from an external source
of up to 8 points.
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