Spell Failure Results Ideas! I started writing a few of these up last night and thought I would share one. Please post your own ideas as well!
Charm Person –
1. The spell works, but works on you too. You and the target now perceive each other as close personal friends. It’s like a super intense bromance buddy movie now.
2. The spell works TOO well. The target is now in love with you. Permanently.
3. The spell works, but it works on one of your allies, and makes them perceive the target as a friend.
4. The spell backfires in the worst way. You think the target is a close friend, but they don’t see you any differently.
5. The spell goes awry, and instead of evoking friendship, the target now has an intense permanent hatred of the caster.
6. The target thinks you are a long dead friend or relative, and is completely at a loss as to how you are there and alive. They will probably be heartbroken and very upset once the spell wears off.
Awesome, particularly the last one. Its as if the charm person spell drags up old feelings to make the spell work, and when it goes wrong it messes with their perceptions.
From now on I might have charmed people call the caster by a different name…
Fireball:
1. The spell goes as planned, but the ground at your feet becomes a sheet of thick ice. -1 forward to defying danger with Dex.
2. The spell takes on a life of it’s own and flies away. It may return later, for good or ill.
3. The spell fizzles out as it travels, landing on the ground as a glowing lump. It will explode like a firework shortly, but you won’t know when.
4. The spell misses the target and sets something of import ablaze.
5. The spell explodes in a burst of flame, knocking you off your feet.
6. The spell is released as a band of searing heat. All within your line of sight burn. Deal 1d4 damage to each.
7. The spell hits the target and engulfs them, but it was so strong it burnt you in the process. Take 1d4 damage.
David Guyll Tony Ferron These are great! Here is another one:
Cause Fear
1. The spell works too well, and affects everyone, including allies.
2. The spell works, but you also are fearful of the object you targeted.
3. Your spell creates a living illusion which is a manifest of the target’s worst fear. A demonic snake or spider perhaps, or a giant dark water elemental with people drowning within it. The spell terrifies the intended target, but now has a mind of its own.
4. The spell instead causes fear in an ally near the target.
5. You are uncontrollably terrified of whatever you cast the spell on.
6. Like #3, but the living illusion is YOUR worst fear made manifest.
7. You or an ally falls into a deep sleep, plagued by horrendous nightmares.
8. The target is not fearful of the object, but instead covets it deeply and will stop at nothing to possess it.
another one for Magic Missile
– Your fingers glow bright with power and launch off, becoming arcane bolts. The spell works normally but you are missing some fingers for a while (one finger per missile).
Yesterday, we had a cleric who tried to sanctify swamp water and failed. The water bubbled away and created an acrid fume that sickened everyone in the area.
Cure Light Wounds
1. Your spell works, but regenerates too much tissue. Perhaps it creates a nasty strange scar, a growth like an ear or nose, or a large tumorous growth full of teeth and hair and meat. Removing it would be painful. Perhaps moving around with it is clumsy in the meantime.
2. Your spell stops bleeding, but coagulates too much blood. The limb or area of the body is numb for a time as the circulation is adversely effected.
3. The spell causes excessive painful bone growth. The target experiences severe growing pains, and the limb or limbs elongate slightly over the next few days. (you could make this a debility if you wanted to be ruthless)
4. The target cannot be healed. Your deity will not allow you to heal this person for the rest of the day. What have they (or you) done to anger your god?
5. You heal the target, but the wound transfers to you. It cannot be healed magically.
6. The spell works, but you channel so much divine energy that it heals everyone within sight, with a warm burst of light.
7. The spell works, but now any creature powered by unholy energies or demonic energies notices the sudden surge of power. Undead might swarm you, demons may seek to destroy you, or whatever else the GM thinks of.
8. The spell works, but you draw so much divine power that you heal everyone within sight, and a herald of your deity arrives(an angel or some other celestial being appropriate to your deity) and tasks you with a quest from your god.
David Guyll Another couple for Invisibility
The spell works, but the invisibility is a field around you that works on ALL living creatures in the area, including your enemies. They disappear when you approach.
Your clothes and equipment are now invisible.
Great ideas
Tony Ferron Forgot to mention how much I like the first result you have for Fireball, indicating that it perhaps is draining heat from the area to make the fire. I love this. Alternately instead of slipping you could be shivering from cold as the heat is drained from your own body.
I hope you collate these into some file. You have the great makings of imaginative misfortune, a primer for GMs.
Fr. Tom that’s a great idea. I am keeping a list and will add them to a Google doc to share once we have several listed. Here is another:
Magic Weapon
1. Your weapon becomes magical but also ethereal and can only harm ghosts and other non physical creatures. It passes harmlessly through physical creatures.
2. Your weapon is filled with divine righteous fury. It has a mind of its own and attacks with wanton destruction.
3. The spell works, but your weapon shines bright with divine light and flashes and cracks with thunder with every attack. Attempting anything subtle would be very difficult.
4. The spell works and also fills YOU with divine fury giving you an additional +1 damage. You are divine vengeance, your voice is a rolling thunder, your eyes are the sunfire that burns the unrighteous. For as long as a foe can be found in the immediate area, you must attack them using your magically enhanced weapon if possible. You can take no other actions but attacking with your enchanted weapon during the scene, and will fight even if mortally wounded. Your weapon cannot be destroyed or disarmed during this time. Once the fight/scene is over you are immediately affected by any wounds you sustained and may even collapse dead.
5. Your weapon is magical but cannot kill anything which is not demonic or undead. It can knock down and knock out living creatures, but they will not be killed by the blows of your weapon.
6. Your god refuses to enchant the weapon, and urges you to seek peace with those you would harm for now.
Turn Undead –
Undead flee recklessly harming anything in their way
The undead are fearful but blindly attack in frenzy to snuff this magical threat
The undead call upon reinforcements from the grave all around to bolster their number
A dark and ancient buried force is awoken by your holy light and it is not amused by such parlor tricks
The undead laugh at your gesture and your party’s morale is greatly reduced in your failure
The undead are so reviled by your spell/invocation/charm that the forces within them are exorcized violently….point blank corpse explosion in your party’s face. Any armor, bits, and bones become shrapnel.
Taking that Druid down a notch
1 Shapeshift –
A territorial beast of your type is attracted and so enraged by your beast-self’s encroachment that they attack. They won’t listen to your thingtalk
You transform into a runt of your creature type
The beast within takes over and fears this the raging battle. Attack the nearest creature/PC/NPC in range
(if predator)The smell of blood or the sight of or wounded triggers your killer instinct. Go for the kill (your own party?)
3 Eyes of the Tiger –
Who says that a marked animal has to do something cool? Maybe a marked dog just sniffs butts or licks his crotch….yeah you get to see that now
4 Barkskin
Not all bark is created equal – Some bark is paper thin and sheds like a sheet of paper. Cork is actually bark. Some bark has oozey sap and might make things stick
5 Weather Weaver –
When is the weather guy ever really right?
6 Druid Sleep –
This foregin land’s spirit is strong and will not bond easily
The land’s spirit may want to commune longer than you like, the sleep is extended until the land is finished with you
Zane Dempsey some good ideas in there. I have some others to add today when I get a moment.
Alarm / Sanctuary
1. The spell works perfectly, but is set off anytime another living creature enters the area. It cannot be dismissed for the rest of the day/night. Good luck getting any rest if you are the caster.
2. The spell works, but the area is covered by a glowing dome of luminescence and cannot be dismissed for the rest of the day/night.
3. The spell works, but if someone enters the area, there is a loud repeating noise like a strange war-horn which alerts the intruders that they have been detected.
4. The spell works, but the perimeter is guarded by glowing ghostly apparitions of some type.
5. The spell backfires, and your voice now sounds like an alarm or warning horn for the rest of the night/day.
6. The spell does not work, and a huge beam of light fires up into the sky as the magic dissipates.
7. The spell works, but the spirits/souls/divine entities that are guarding the area for you are visible and audible to you. Their constant disturbance as they move through the area watching will keep you from resting for the night/day.
8. The spell works extremely well, no evil beings or those with ill intent can even enter the area, but any undead, demons, or other appropriate evil beings are drawn to the power of the holy magic. Driven to snuff out the source of this holiness. They cannot enter the area, but instead wait patiently along its perimeters, until the spell dissipates.
9. The spell goes awry. You and your companions are trapped within the area for the day/night, though it does not prevent other creatures from passing the perimeter and the spell still functions normally to alert you.
Summon X –
It seems to me that it would be handy to know WHERE these things are summoned from. Are they summoned from a pocket universe of just YOUR creatures (pokeball)? Are they snatched from another plane? Are they just kind of conjured/created from the ether? Are they at rest/stasis waiting for you or roaming doing their own thing? So time for failure:
1. Your summoning works too well. Accidentally summon multiple creatures which together you don’t have the willpower to control. Will you focus on the dire wolf or the giant crab?
2. You summon with a portal and it cuts off part of the creature as it closes early
3. Your summoning port is jammed open. What’s waiting on the other side to join the parrty?
4. Your summon was doing something else. I mean Pokemon surely drop a deuce or sleep at some point.
5. Your summon is bewildered by its surrounding and makes a wild attack/breaks your control till you pass a check of some sort
6. Your summon is frightened or indifferent and will defend but not fight. Give it motivation?
7. Your summon arrives in the wrong spot. Too far away or right in front of the threat and gets attacked when unready.