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Here’s another set of ten spells for my GURPS Dungeons & Sorcery project (note that I changed the name slightly recently to make it clearer that this isn’t meant to be a direct plug-in to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy or the Dungeon Fantasy RPG).

Clairaudience (C)
Divination, Somatic, Verbal
93 points
Casting Time: 3 seconds
Casting Roll: IQ
Range: 1,000 yards
Duration: 3 minutes

After casting this spell, the caster can pick one location within 1,000 yards, and listen to anything going on there as if he were present. This requires an IQ + Talent roll to actually accomplish, and there is a -3 penalty if the location chosen is not currently visible. Failing this roll normally means that the spell fails, and nothing happens, but on a miss by one, the GM will pick another location, and the spell will function from there. Normally, locations that are out of sight can only be defined by bearing (e.g., ‘300 yards due west’), but ones that the caster is familiar with can be specified directly.

Unlike many spells, the caster can cancel the spell at any time, and return his sense of hearing to his own location, but he will be unable to use clairaudience again without re-casting the spell. While there is no visible manifestation of the effects of this spell, various detect spells will notice the focus of the spell, and it can be dispelled.

Clairsentience (Clairaudience, -30%; Extended Duration, x3, +20%; Increased Range, x100, +60%; Fixed Location, -10%; Fixed Range, -5%; No Strain, +25%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Second Nature, +70%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%) [1.85×50]

Clairvoyance (C)
Divination, Somatic, Verbal
93 points
Casting Time: 3 seconds
Casting Roll: IQ
Range: 1,000 yards
Duration: 3 minutes

After casting this spell, the caster can pick one location within 1,000 yards, and view anything going on there as if he were present. He cannot move the location he is viewing from, but can turn it in place to look in whatever direction he desires. This requires an IQ + Talent roll to actually accomplish, and there is a -3 penalty if the location chosen is not currently visible. Failing this roll normally means that the spell fails, and nothing happens, but on a miss by one, the GM will pick another location, and the spell will function from there. Normally, locations that are out of sight can only be defined by bearing (e.g., ‘300 yards due west’), but ones that the caster is familiar with can be specified directly.

Unlike many spells, the caster can cancel the spell at any time, and return his sense of vision to his own location, but he will be unable to use clairvoyance again without re-casting the spell. While there is no visible manifestation of the effects of this spell, various detect spells will notice the focus of the spell, and it can be dispelled.

Clairsentience (Clairvoyance, -10%; Extended Duration, x3, +20%; Increased Range, x100, +60%; Fixed Location, -10%; Fixed Range, -5%; No Strain, +25%; Normal Sight, -20%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Second Nature, +70%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%) [1.85×50]

Deeppockets (C)
Alteration, Somatic, Verbal, Buff
20 points
Casting Time: 1 minute
Casting Roll: None
Range: Touch
Duration: 15 hours

This spell allows a magic-user to prepare a garment (usually a robe, or large cloak) with a series of extra-dimensional magical pockets. The caster must specify a number of equal-sized pockets from 10 to 100 at the time of casting, and the spell will generate that number of equally-sized pockets hidden on the inside of the garment.

All together, the pockets can hold up to 100 pounds of items, which will not encumber or otherwise bother the wearer, nor will there be there any visible sign of their presence until they are pulled out again. Note that the pockets also have five cubic feet of volume, divided equally among them, so large, lightweight objects may not fit, and as they are ‘pocket shaped’ long objects such as rulers or swords will usually not fit either.

Once the duration expires, or the garment is dispelled, all items currently in the pockets immediately reappear around the wearer and fall to the ground.

Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage: Payload 5 (Accessibility: Only Small Items, -10%; Cosmic: Extra-Dimensional, +50%; Fixed Weight, +0%; Magical, -10%), +70%; Extended Duration, x1,000, +120%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x64, -60%) [1.95×10] Note: “Fixed Weight” decouples the weight limit of Payload from the user’s ST, and assumes ST10 (handy if your ST is drained!). 64 second cast time has been rounded off to 1 minute.

Dictation (C)
Evocation, Verbal
6 points
Casting Time: 1 second
Casting Roll: IQ
Range: 10 feet
Duration: Permanent

The magic-user designates a piece of paper and casts this spell, after which any words spoken by him, or anyone else within 10 feet of him, will be written down on the paper. No translation is done, and while words not understood by the caster are written down accurately, they will be transliterated into the caster’s native language, so while, say, French will be written down accurately by an English-speaking mage (with possibly some loss of diacritics), Korean would be transliterated into Latin characters instead of appearing in Hangul.

This spell can record conversations, letters, lectures, and notes and observations. It is not used as a substitute for copy magic as it does not protect against accidental errors and insure accuracy as it does, and the occasional charts and tables cannot be copied over correctly. In fact, while it will generally correctly format sentences and paragraphs, that is about the limit of what it can do. The spell will end, when the sheet of paper is full, or the caster wills it to end (this is a concentrate maneuver).

Create 1 (Writing; Accessibility: 1/10 pound (1/100 weight), -40%; Magic, -10%; Reduced Fatigue 1 +20%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [0.6×10] (The character point cost to ‘stabilize’ is waived as it’s ~$1 of ink (1/10 point), and severely limited.)

Hold Person (C)/Hold Monster (SC)
Enchantment, Somatic, Verbal, Area (Fixed), Resisted (Will)
29 points
Casting Time: 3 seconds (5 seconds)
Casting Roll: Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Range: 100 yards (50 yards)
Duration: 10 seconds

This spell allows a magic-user to immobilize several people. The caster picks an area within 100 yards to affect, and then selects who he wants to affect within a 2-yard radius of that spot, and the victims then all engage in a Quick Contest of Will with the caster. Note that this only works on living ‘people’ (intelligent humanoids) of SM 0 or less. Undead, and anything larger than SM 0 cannot be affected by this spell.

Other than that, victims that lose the Quick Contest are held in place, unable to move, for 10 seconds. This does not become ‘lost time’, as they will be completely aware of what is going on. Nor will they fall over, being magically held up, no matter what position they’re in, but objects not in touch with the ground will still fall. Any momentum they had (i.e., from running or flight) is gone, and a victim will also have to recover from having stopped whatever action they were in when they were held.

A rarer version of the spell, hold monster, will affect any living target, but takes 5 seconds to cast, and only has a 50-yard range.

Affliction 1 (Will; Paralysis (Magical, -10%), +135%; Accessibility: IQ 6+, SM 0- Non-Undead Humanoids Only, -15%; Area Effect, 2 yards, +100%; Based On Will, +20%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Malediction 2, +150%; Reduced Duration, 1/20, -25%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Selective Area, +20%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%) [2.9×10] Hold Monster removes the Accessibility, increases Takes Extra Time to x4, -20%, and adds Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%. [2.85×10]

Knock (C)
Alteration, Verbal
35 points
Casting Time: 1 second
Casting Roll: None
Range: 50 yards
Duration: Special

Casting this spell will attempt to open a locked, barred, or held door (or other locked items, such as chests and manacles). First, if the door is subject to a hold portal spell, that spell is canceled. If it is locked, the knock will then unlock the mechanisms on the door. Finally, if the door is barred or wedged shut, it will unbar the door (shifting the offending object out of the way). This will work on hidden mechanisms and locks on secret doors, but the door itself must be found and identified first.

But, only two of these actions take place. If there are three locks on the door, knock will unlock two of them, and then must be cast again for the third lock. If it is held, locked, and barred, it will cancel the hold portal, and unlock the door, but not move the bar, and so on. Everything except the cancellation of hold portal takes time. Unlocking a mechanism generally takes but a few seconds, but more complex ones can take longer (the spell will start with the easiest lock), and truly fiendish locks can take up to a half minute (exact times are up to the GM if it becomes important; pace it with an eye to drama!) or possibly be too complex for the spell. Similarly, bars and wedges will take a short amount of time to move aside, but the spell can only shift up to 60 lbs., so large bars (say on a castle gate) may be beyond the capabilities of this spell.

Telekinesis 5 (Cosmic: No Die Roll Required, +100%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; One Task, Open Locks/Bars, -40%; Sorcery, -15%) [1.35×25] + Accessory (TK Lockpicks) [1] Note: C:NDRR is effectively ‘always roll a 3 with no Critical Success’, and assuming IQ 10 (not likely on a magic-user) no Talent, no Lockpick skill, and a +4 for fine lockpicks, effective skill is 9, or success by 6, for a 30-second lockpick time (see B206) with a standard lock. It is assumed that most situations are much better, but the general capabilities are respected.

Shatter (C)
Alteration, Somatic, Verbal, Area (Fixed)
13 points
Casting Time: 2 seconds
Casting Roll: Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Range: 50 yards
Duration: Instantaneous

This spell creates a loud, high-pitched noise at a location chosen by the caster that can shatter all forms of glass, ceramic, porcelain, and crystal. This does not cause more than momentary discomfort for hearing, but will break most affected objects up to about a pound (8 HP), and therefore can break glasses and bottles by the dozen within a two-yard radius of the source of the noise. It will do 2d damage to any creatures within 2 yards made of these materials, with an armor divisor of (2).

Innate Attack 2d (cr; Accessibility, Crystal/Fragile Only, -20%; Area Effect, 2 yd, +50%; Armor Divisor, (2), +50%; Environmental, Air, -5%; No Knockback, -10%; Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%) [1.3×10]

Slow (C)
Alteration, Somatic, Verbal, Area (Leveled), Resisted (Will)
36 points + 5 points/level
Casting Time: 3 seconds
Casting Roll: Innate Attack (Gaze) to hit.
Range: 100 yards
Duration: 3 minutes

All creatures caught in the area of a slow spell make a Quick Contest of Will with the caster. Anyone who loses this Quick Contest finds their perception of time altered, such that they only experience one second for every two that actually occurs. Normal events seem to move extraordinarily fast, and in combat the character only gets a turn every other regular turn. Wait maneuvers and defenses work normally, but the loss of turns will limit options and can pile on penalties for multiple Dodges. Actions taken against the character that depend on his reactions (such as a Feint) will have to be ‘slowed down’ to actually work, which would restrict the non-affected character to basically taking a Concentrate maneuver as the second part of the action.

Affliction 1 (Will; Disadvantage: Altered Time Rate -1, +100%; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Malediction 2, +150%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%; Variable, Area, +5%) [3.6×10]

Spectral Hand (C)
Necromancy, Somatic, Verbal
53 points
Casting Time: 2 seconds
Casting Roll:
Range: 30 yards
Duration: 10 seconds

This spell forms a ghostly hand out of the caster’s life force. This hand can reach up to 30 yards away from the caster, and will allow him to touch subjects in that distance as needed by various other spells. This does not allow the caster to do something completely separate with the spectral hand and the rest of his body at the same time (see Coordination, B53), though it could be used to get a bonus to touch someone from behind while he distracts the target from the front. The hand moves no faster than the caster’s normal (unencumbered) Basic Move.

The spectral hand can be attacked, and will be eliminated if it takes 1/3 the caster’s HP in damage, and any damage up to that point will also apply to the caster himself. And naturally, the hand cannot exist in a No Mana area, or could be dispelled.

Extra Arm (Cosmic: Hand Only, Not Attached to Body, +50%; Extra Flexible, +50%; Long, No Physical Attack, +10, +500%; Magical, -10%; Reduced Duration, 1/6, -15%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%; Weak, -50%) [5.3×10] Note: Long is being rated at half cost, as No Physical Attack eliminates the use of Long’s swing damage bonus.

Tongues (C)
Alteration, Verbal
17 points
Casting Time: 3 seconds
Casting Roll: None
Range: None
Duration: 10 minutes

This spell allows the caster to speak in any one language he cares to specify. It does not confer any reading or writing ability, but he will understand anything said to him in the language, and make himself understood clearly. There will be no missed idioms, or other trouble, and the caster can specify a specific dialect. It does not help with codes, or deliberately obscure meanings. The caster can specify a particular language when casting the spell, or just say ‘whatever he’s speaking’. Non-languages (the grunts of a per-sentient animal), and non-spoken languages, are not valid subjects for this spell.

Cosmic Pool: 3 points (Extended Duration, x10, +40%; Limited: One Spoken Language, -50%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%) [0.55×30]

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I’m really happy with the write up for Knock (which does owe much to Locksmith on T:S22), though I had to make a pretty big leap of logic to figure out ‘just what can you do with default Lockpicking and good lockpicks?’ Spectral Hand also took a bit to work out, though some form of Extra Arm was pretty obvious from the outset.

Hold Person is one of the classics (along with Knock), so it’s nice to get that one up as well. Really, people should just fall over when paralyzed mid-stride, but fiction almost always keeps people upright, so the magic goes with that. Defining that all momentum is gone should also help people picture what’s going on.