The Grand Mysteries: White and Black

Flip back here for rationale, and move here and down for the other colors' Grand Mysteries.

The Grand Mysteries of the sacred schools of magic, White, Black, Gold and Brown, are not carved on a cobwebbed tablet in the cellars of any ruin. The quest for them must needs involve the Divine, if it exists in the world; or at the very least, must involve a contact with a Principle higher than one's own mortal self. That Divinity, that Principle, may set additional tests, quests and trials before the Mystery is revealed. Attaining a level, at least three higher than that required to cast the sixth level spells, is recommended. Beyond that, the use of each Mystery is shrouded, though their power and dangers tend to make them once-in-a-lifetime choices.

The Grand Mystery of the White School: The Angel of Justice

The Angels of sacred magic are Presences that embody a Principle, within or beyond the Divine. Any manifestation of them to the senses is both fleeting and profoundly awe-inspiring: a vast shadow, a footfall with a sound as of an army, an addictive smell of petals and incense.

The White Angel champions the principle of Justice. Its Mystery consists of a petition to right a wrong, balance the crooked, forgive a mistake. The aspirant before this Angel must be sincere, must be persuasive, and above all must be right. The powers of Justice are legendary and approach those of the fabled Great Gray Mystery, the Wish.

But the White Mystery represents a fearful departure. Until now, the White powers of the aspirant have not been used impartially. They have been used to protect self and friends, blast the evil and those considered evil. The danger of the White Mystery is this: that justice is impartial. Justice may not see things your way. "Give back the children of Vadia the Notched Rose," petitioned her former comrade, a mighty hierarch whose name is lost, "it is not just that the plague should take all three but leave the mother to grieve." And, miracle! they came to life; but as they stood restored in the graveyard, passing goblin bandits slew them, just as Vadia had slain goblin children without mercy in her days as a freebooter. The decision of the Judge is final.

The Grand Mystery of the Black School::   The Angel of Death 

This is the deciding point for the practicioner of Black Magic. All the grimoires bound in human skin celebrate this achievement as the Triumph of Death, the chance to sit on a skeletal throne and rain vengeance down upon enemies heretofore distant or resistant.

A different possibility is mentioned by the few White Magic scholars who choose to mention the dire Angel of Death. Having abused, defiled, and added prematurely to the ranks of the dead many times over, the necromancer, approaching this Mystery, is given a final choice to stand with the Law of the Universe or defy it. In defiance, he is granted a grim, land-ravaging Triumph full of dancing corpses and tolling bells. But no true Angel of Death appears, just a lawless counsellor spawned of the sorcerer's own desires that will eventually either destroy him or condemn him to eternal misery as a lich.

With submission to the Law, the Angel appears in true aspect as Monarch of the Kingdom of the Dead, and grants the necromancer a painless, instant, inviolate death. In exchange, he may take with him three mortals by name, whoever or wherever they may be.

One Black tome (the fabled and possibly spurious Melanchiridion) claims it is possible to swear to both Law and Chaos, and reap eternal undeath that can end when it becomes wearisome, together with three flawless assassinations. Whether any aspirant has tried this audacious move, the Melenchiridion does not say.

Sacred Magic: Level 4 Spell List

With little commentary ... the fourth level.

1	Mass Cure	Gold	0’	None	None
Heals 2d8+2 damage to each living being in 10’ radius
2	Mass Protection	White	0’	3 hrs	None
Gives 2d8+2 extra hit points to each living being in 10’ radius (unholy sources do half damage against them)
3	Mass Wounding	Black	30’	0	Body (Con)
Does 2d8+2 damage to each living being in 10’ radius from target
4	Cure Poison	Gold	0’	None	None
Removes the effects of poison from a living target
5	Protection from Poison	White	0’	1 day	None
Makes a living target immune to poison
6	Poison	Black	5’	None	Body (Con)
Poisons a single living being
7	Banish Unholy/[Holy]	White/[Black]	30’	1 day	Will (Wis)
Sends unholy [holy] being to its own plane, or to its lair for a day if it is of this plane. Save is at +/-1 for each HD/level of difference.
8	Holy[Unholy] Weapon	White/[Black]	0’	1 day	None
Gives weapon +1 per 4 caster levels to hit and damage, bonuses doubled against unholy [holy] creatures
9	Cure Critical Wounds	Gold	0’	None	None
Heals for 6d8+6 points of damage
10	Cause Critical Wounds	Black	30’	None	Body (Con)
Wounds for 6d8+6 points of damage

Sacred Magic: Level 3 Spell List

Okay. After a sojourn in Spain, and being laid low by a nasty bug, I'm back on the case. In actual play news, rumor has it a couple of local friends are looking to get into some roleplaying, including a girlfriend who has never played before and is rarin to go. Stay tuned...

Some notes:

Animate Dead spells are always hard to balance. The 4 zombie/8 skeleton max per level is a decent compromise, letting lair-sized armies accumulate without being ridiculously strong.

There ain't no disease rules like Runequest disease rules, attacking stats directly (Yet another reason why 3E D&D can also be subtitled "Runequest Wins!").

The full writeup will have a table of suggested curses. Things like "Misses the first time in combat against any opponent," the old reliable charisma busters, "takes double damage from swords/animals/fire/etc." At this level, the black magic diseases and curses are nasty, more about vengeful NPCs than combat effective PC's. 

Protection from Disease: Your friend under carousing rules ...

1	Animate Dead	Black	30'	None	None
Animates 2 skeletons or 1 zombie per caster level. Caster may control undead equal to two castings of the spell, and have undead equal to four castings.
2	Hallow Dead	White	30'	None	Monster
Protects 1 corpse per caster level from animation or conversion to undead, and does 1d6 damage/caster level to all undead in 30' radius, save for half.
3	Curse	Black	30'	None	Mind (Wis)
Target either does 1 worse on all his or her rolls until dispelled, or some other curse approved by GM (not more powerful than other 3rd level Black magic)
4	Remove Curse	Gold	0'	None	None
Removes a supernatural curse from target
5	Fortune	White	0'	1 day	None
Target is protected from supernatural curses, does 1 better on all his or her rolls, and gets 1 reroll this day (as Prayer)
6	Protection from Disease	White	0'	1 day	None
Target is immune from contracting new diseases
7	Cure Disease	Gold	0'	None	None
Target is healed of one disease
8	Cause Disease	Black	30'	Until cured	Body (Con)
Target contracts a disease (choose random ability, lose 1d6 points/day if save fails, until dead at 0; 3 saves in a row heal disease)
9	Circle of Protection	White/[Black]	10'	1 hour	None
Unholy [holy] beings cannot cross 10' radius circle
10	Cure Serious Wounds	Gold	0'	None	None
Heals 4d8+4 damage
11	Protection from Serious Wounds	White	0'	30 min	None
Gives 4d8+4 temporary hit points (unholy sources do half damage against them)
12	Cause Serious Wounds	Black	30'	None	Body (Con)
Harms for 4d8+4 damage

Sacred Magic: Level 2 Spell List

And now, back to magic. A few notes.

Prayer is a less wimpy buff even as a level 2.
Sympathetic Healing is inspired by Meditations on the Tarot (for that matter, so is Constraint/ Break Constraint) and is an attempt at a powerful but more strategic healing spell for level 2.

1	Evoke Auras	Black/White	30’	3 min	None
Causes visible light or darkness to outline holy or unholy beings, places and objects within sight range
2	Constraint	Black	90’	1 min	Mind (Wis)
Stops one being from moving or speaking
3	Drain Light Wounds	Black	30’	None	Body (Con)
Living being takes 1d6+1 hp damage, heal the same amount of caster’s hp damage.
4	Prayer	[Black]/White	30’	3 min	None
Allows target's controller to reroll one die for an attack, save or action within the spell’s duration
5	Restore Object	Gold	0	None	None
Physically mends a broken or corroded object
6	Slow Ailment	Gold	0	1 day	None
Delays the effects of poison or disease
7	Sympathetic Healing	Gold	0	None	None
Heals 3d6+3 hp, caster takes the middle die rolled as hp damage; or transfers poison or disease to caster, new saving throw
8	Break Constraint	White	90’	None	None
Loosens physical or magical restrictions on movement or speech; if magic, 5% to fail per level of difference vs. higher level caster

Sacred Magic: Level 1 Spell List

Spells are grouped together to show parallels and symmetries in form.

Gold is the more valuable school with fewer effects, just because I think access to healing magic is one of the most sought-after things out there and players would run a cleric class with no armor, no turning, and no spells other than healing, strictly to min-max the party, even if it would get boring after a while (cleric henchmen would be ideal). I have, however, buffed up a number of things I always have considered weak, like bless.

Yep, turning is a spell (series of spells, really) without a wonky table. Raggi's Flame Princess rules also handle things this way, but of course worldmakers are free to include any spell as an inherent class ability. Bless and Consecrate don't stack with themselves.

Also, some of my cleric class options include spells from other schools, so they can do divinations, Bible-style miracles, and the like. These three schools' spells are very tightly focused on what they do.

I like the idea of Black magicians and priests being scary in the same way a Rust Monster is scary, hence the  spell Defilement.

Is the White School monster-huntery enough for ya?

#	Name	School	Rge	Dur	Save
W1	Consecration	White	0	3 hrs	None
Imbues object or 1’ cube of substance with holy essence that does 2d4 damage (substance) or +1d4 damage (object) vs. unholy; protects it from physical corruption
B1	Defilement	Black	0	Perm	None
Physically corrupts object or 1’ cube of substance (rusts metal, rots wood, fouls food and drink) [or makes it unholy, with effects as Consecration but against holy beings]
G1	Purification	Gold	3’	Perm	None
Frees object or 1’ cube of substance from unholy influence and physical corruption
W2	Protection From Light Wounds	White	0	30 min	(Con)
Protects from 1d6+1 hp damage, plus a like amount from unholy beings or Black magic
B2	Cause Light Wounds	Black	30’	None	(Con)
Harms for 1d6+1 hp
G2	Cure Light Wounds	Gold	0	None	None
Heals 1d6+1 hp
W3	Turn Unholy	White	30’	1 hour	(No stat)
Repels 1d8HD + 2HD/ caster level unholy beings in 120 degree arc; affected beings group save, at +/-2 per point difference between group HD and caster level
B3	Command Unholy	Black	30’	1 hour	(No stat)
Charms 1d4HD + 1HD/ caster level unholy beings in 120 degree arc; affected beings group save, at +/-2 per point difference between group HD and caster level
G3	Banish Unholy	Gold	30’	1 hour	(No stat)
Destroys 1d4HD + 1HD/ caster level unholy beings in 120 degree arc; affected beings group save, at +/-2 per point difference between group HD and caster level
W4	Holy Light	White	0	3 hours	None
60’ radius light in air or nonliving object, brightens when unholy beings or objects are in 60.’
B4	Unholy Darkness	Black	0	3 hours	None
20’ radius magical darkness on air or nonliving object, [darkens when holy beings or objects are in 60’]
W5	Bless	White	3’	1 hour	None
Up to 6 beings get +1 on hit, damage, save rolls, and armor improves by 1, double effect fighting unholy beings.
B5	Curse	Black	3’	1 hour	(Wis)
Up to 6 beings get -1 on hit, damage, save rolls and armor worsens by 1, [double effect fighting holy beings]