Bowgentle's Journal

Affect Normal Flames

For the duration of up to one hour, or until dismissed, the spell allowed the caster to affect an existing flame's luminosity, color, size, and even shape, or even to extinguish it completely. The spell did not affect the original flame's fuel consumption (although expanding the flame into a new location required some form of fuel), nor did it affect fire elementals.

The spell could be used in space to extinguish an open flame before it came into contact with the phlogiston, but did not prevent the explosion if the flame was exposed to the fluid before the spell could be cast.

Hold Portal

As the name said, hold portal magical held closed any door, gate, shutter, or window, whether it was fashioned of metal, stone, or wood. It could target only one such opening, but it could be up to 4 square meters in area and up to 20m away at minimum casting, while more experienced casters could extend this. For all intents and purposes, the door was securely closed and locked as it would be under normal circumstances. It could still be forced open, but was rather harder to do so.

The spell could also be used on existing portals that went through crystal spheres, as long as they were sufficiently small to fit within its area of effect.

The effect lasted for a number of minutes, or until the caster wished to dismiss it. However, a Knock spell or Dispel Magic would end it.

Identify

The caster instantly learned all properties and features of one selected magic item they could touch, such as how a function was activated and, if it contained charges, how many remained, as appropriate. It did not work on artifacts.

Mending

The spell could repair up to 30cm of damage in an object, leaving no trace of the break or tear. It could also repair spelljammer hulls. Although the spell could repair magic items and constructs, it was not capable of restoring magic to them.

The divine version of mending could repair one object of 30 cubic cm in volume (bigger objects were possible for more experienced casters). Metal objects, like a ring or a dagger, could be fixed if they had only one break. Objects with multiple cuts, breaks, or pieces could only be repaired if they were made of lesser materials such as wood or ceramic. Repairs were permanent and "good as new", and could not be dispelled after ten minutes had past. Like the arcane version, this spell could not repair magic items.

Read Magic

Magical writing or inscriptions were often ciphered, appearing as gibberish. A caster used this spell to read magical writing found in books, scroll or other objects. Afterwards, the caster was able to read the magical writing on the targeted object without re-casting the spell. A caster was able to use this spell to read glyphs of warding The reverse of this spell, unreadable magic, was used to cipher magical writing or inscriptions. This prevented anyone from reading the writing, even if read magic was cast on the object. The cipher lasted until the spell expired.

Sleep

Sleep, as the name of the spell implies, placed its targets into a light slumber when cast successfully, overcoming the creatures' willpower. It affected a number of creatures that depended on the caster's power.

Between the Spellplague and the Second Sundering, because of the complexity and energy involved in the spell, it could typically be cast only once per day and affected an area of roughly five feet in radius within a distance of 100 feet from the caster. Creatures that managed to stave off the intended effects of the spell nonetheless found their body fatigued, slowing their movements and thought processes.

Continual Light

This spell filled the area of effect with light equivalent to full daylight which lasted until negated magically, such as with Dispel Magic. It could be cast at a point in the air, onto an object, or possibly onto a creature. If successfully cast on the visual organs of a creature, it was effectively blinded.

The intensity of light from this spell was sufficient to harm creatures that were harmed by bright light or direct sunlight.

The divine versions of this spell had twice the range of their arcane counterparts. They were also reversible as continual darkness, and produced areas of permanent Darkness, 3m radius. This spell countered darkness spells of equal or lesser power, and vice versa.

Sinhalastones were also known to prevent magical darkness. Hambergyle gems could be used to turn a light spell into Continual Light.

This spell eventually consumed the material it was cast upon, but dense, hard, or expensive materials (like gems) could last hundreds to thousands of years.

Darkness, 3m radius

This spell was similar to Darkness except for the smaller radius of effect 3m instead of 4m and the ability to cast it at a range. The range of this spell increased with the experience of the caster. The darkness was total, preventing sight for even those creatures that could normally see in the dark, and immobile, because it affected an area rather than an object.

The illusionist version of this spell had a shorter, more unpredictable duration than the wizard version.

Darkness, 3m radius countered and was countered by light and Continual Light.

Sinhala stones were known to prevent magical darkness.

Detect Evil

There have been a few different versions of this spell over the years, but they all worked in about the same way: the caster concentrated in a particular direction and learned about any creatures or objects that radiated evil in the direction viewed.

The newer, cleric-only version of this spell had a cone-shaped area of effect and a range of 12m. Auras could be detected even with some interposing structures or surfaces, within limits. Anything less than 1m of dirt or wood, 30cm of stone, or 2.5cm of common metal could be penetrated, but a thin sheet of lead was proof against this divination. Upon first casting this spell and concentrating for a few seconds, the presence or absence of evil could be known. After a few seconds more, the most powerful aura was easily detected and a count of all detectable auras was possible. Upon further examination, the caster would know the power and location of each detectable aura, or at least their direction if out of the line of sight.

After gleaning all that could be perceived in one direction, the caster could turn and look in another direction, subject to the duration of the spell.

Auras were described by their strength, being dim, faint, moderate, strong, or overwhelming. Dim auras were those left behind after the death of an evil creature or the expiration of an evil spell, or perhaps after an active evil presence departed the area, and they lasted for a few seconds to a few days depending on the strength of the original aura. Active auras ranged from faint to overwhelming. Casters of good alignment could be stunned for a few seconds by detecting a sufficiently overwhelming evil aura. If this happened, the spell was canceled.

Examples of things that gave off an evil aura: evil creatures such as rakshasa, undead, clerics of evil deities, evil outsiders, evil magic items, evilly cursed objects, unholy water. Things that did not give off an evil aura: traps, poisons, animals.

The older versions of detect evil had a corridor-shaped area of effect, with the divine version having a range of 110m and the arcane version half that. Priests also had a slight chance of perceiving the disposition (malignant, gloating, or expectant, for example) of an evil aura and where it stood on the lawful/neutral/chaotic spectrum.

Detect Invisibility

When cast, the spellcaster's eyes could see invisible and ethereal things as translucent shapes for a distance as far as he or she could normally see. It was easy to determine which things were visible as opposed to invisible while under the effects of the spell.

The spell did not provide any information about whether the invisibility was the result of a spell or of some supernatural quality. It did not permit the caster to see through other opaque objects. Someone or something hidden in a natural manner was not revealed by this spell.

The ability provided lasted at least a half hour and longer if cast by a more powerful spellcaster. The effect could also be made permanent.

Dispel Silence

For the duration of the spell, the area of effect was protected against silence spells. The area of effect was a sphere whose radius on the skill of the caster, and was immobile. Any silence effects inside or overlapped by this volume did not operate, allowing speaking, spell-casting, etc.

ESP

The caster was able to sense the surface thoughts of beings within range. How long they examined an area or subjected decided what kind of information was received. It could penetrate barriers, but 30cm of stone, 2.5cm of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 1m of wood or dirt blocked it. The spell worked across the void of wildspace, but could not penetrate crystal shells at all.

The post–Second Sundering version of the spell also allowed the caster to detect the surface thoughts of a creature and "detect" where they were. This spell could be used for interrogation and also to probe deeper into the target's mind. The spell could not detect or read the mind of very unintelligent creatures or creatures that did not speak any language. The spell reached 6m, and lasted 1 minute but could not penetrate 1m of wood or dirt, 0.5m of stone, 5cm of regular metals, or a thin layer of lead.

Forget

The skill of the caster determined how many previous minutes were forgotten by the targets, up to a maximum of four targets, within a 4m cube. The smaller the number of targets selected by the caster, the harder it was for them to resist the spell's magic.

Knock

This spell would instantaneously unlock or unstick a number of doors within a range of at least 20m, depending on the power of the spellcaster. Bars holding doors shut would be lifted, and padlocks closing an item would become unlocked. Secret doors could be unlocked as well, but they still had to be found to be passed through. Magical locks could be unlocked—unless they had been protected by the secure spell—but they would relock after ten minutes. Even existing portals through crystal spheres could be opened by the spell (or locked by its reverse form).

The spell had a number of limitations. It only affected doors, boxes, or chests or other such things that could be opened. It did not actually open the door or box; it only removed the hindrances toward doing so, so a heavy gate or portcullis might still pose a problem for the caster. The spell had no affect on ropes or vines, so a box wrapped tightly in rope still had to have the rope untied or cut to be opened. It was limited to undoing only up to two means of preventing access, so that the contents of a locked chest welded shut and wrapped in a locked chain could still not be fully accessed by a single casting alone.

One strange use of the knock spell was its ability to "unlock" the healing power of a star ruby when followed by the wraithform spell. The star ruby would then become a thick red vapor, which had powerful healing properties when inhaled.

The reverse form, lock, shut, locked and bolted a door it was cast upon.

Levitate

The caster could choose to levitate him- or herself or a creature or object within a close range. The weight of the creature or object lifted depended on the power of the caster but at a minimum, the spell could lift anything under 200 pounds. Only a willing creature could be lifted. Levitated persons or objects could be moved mentally at a speed of 200 feet per minute but only in the up or down direction.

It was difficult to maintain one's balance if attempting to engage in combat while levitating. If cast aboard a spelljammer, the caster floated away from the ship's gravity plane. The effect ended if the caster exited the gravitational field or air envelope of a ship or celestial body.

The effects of this spell lasted for several minutes, depending on the power of the caster.