Tags
B/X, BECMI, BX, fantasy, Old-School, OSR, spell list
Use this alternate Spell list in conjunction with your favorite version of the Bard Class.
It is assumed in all cases that the Bard must play their favored musical instrument to use their magic, and that no other “material components” are necessary.
Where necessary, the description of each Spell (or Bardic Song) is followed by one, two, or two additional terms defining the affected area of the Spell, its duration, and how the Spell if affected by a successful Saving Throw.
• If no [affected area] is indicated in brackets, a spell affects 1 target in visible range.
• If no {duration} is indicated in curly brackets, a spell lasts 1 hour (6 Turns)
• If no *Save effect is indicates after an asterisk, the spell does not allow a Saving Throw.
1st Level Bardic Songs (Spells)
1 | Fertility: The next time the Recipient can possibly conceive offspring (or impregnate another), it will happen. [1 person] *Save negates, if undesired. |
2 | Animal Friendship: Bard gains the companionship of twice their own HD of visible mundane animals, who can learn 1 “trick” or task per point of their Int. No more than twice the Bard’s HD of animals can be under the Bard’s influence at a time. Companions can be dismissed to make way for new ones. {As long as desired} |
3 | Banish Vermin: All vermin (rats, roaches, bedbugs, flies, worms, ticks, etc.) of normal size within a 25′ foot radius are forced to flee. {Until dawn} |
4 | Calm Animals: Bard calms all hostile, frightened, or otherwise uncontrollable animals, whether wild or domestic, in 50’ radius. {1 hour} |
5 | Charm Person: Victim regards the Bard as a friend and ally who has their best interests at heart. [1 humanoid person] {Until next full moon} *Save negates. |
6 | Gambler’s Curse: Victim is more likely to lose at games of chance. The Player must draw (or roll, spin, etc.) twice, and keep the worse result as the actual outcome of the “hand”, throw, or turn. {1 hour} *Save negates. |
7 | Gambler’s Luck: Recipient is more likely to win at games of chance. The Player may draw (or roll, spin, etc.) twice, and keep the better result as the actual outcome of the “hand”, throw, or turn. {1 hour} *Save Negates. |
8 | Protection From Serpents: Snakes of any size are unable to touch or attack the Recipient. [Bard, or 1 visible Recipient] {1 hour} |
9 | Remove Fear: All Fear effects, mundane or magical, are removed from the Recipient. [Visible range] |
10 | Resist Cold: Recipient can ignore damage from cold equal to 2 x Bard’s Experience Level. {1 hour} |
11 | Sleep: A visible, living Victim with no more HD than the Bard falls asleep. {Until dawn} *Save negates. |
12 | Summon Animals I: Bard summons local animals totaling no more than 2 HD, who will willingly perform one simple service lasting for no more than an hour. |
2nd Level Bardic Songs (Spells)
1 | Attract Lover: The Recipient will meet a temporarily devoted lover of the desired gender, at the next possible opportunity. The lover will leave at the next full moon, no matter how the Recipient pleads. |
2 | Summon Animals II: Bard summons local animals totaling no more than 4 HD, who will willingly perform one simple service lasting for no more than an hour. |
3 | Barrenness: Victim becomes completely unable to produce offspring. * Save negates. |
4 | Confusion: Victim becomes disoriented, and acts randomly. Roll d10 each round: 1-3 = normal action, 7 – 10 = pointless action, 10 = attacks nearest foe or friend. [50 feet] {1 Turn} *Save negates. |
5 | Ignore Pain: Bard or Recipient become immune to all pain, mundane or magical. {Until dawn} |
6 | Song of Love: The Recipient is overcome with romantic affection for the Bard. If the Bard fails to reciprocate properly, or ever mistreats the lover in any way, they will immediately depart (and regard the Bard with hatred thereafter). [1 person who can see and hear Bard] * Save negates.
Player Characters are considered immune to the Song of Love. |
7 | Mesmeric Healing: Bard places the Recipient in a trance. If they fail their Saving throw and listen to the end of the Song, they will be temporarily healed of all damage, blindness, deafness, lameness, paralysis, or disease. {Until dawn} |
8 | Resist Fire: Recipient can ignore damage from fire equal to 2 x Bard’s Exp. Level. {1 hour} |
3rd Level Bardic Songs (Spells)
1 | Babble: Victim loses the ability to read, comprehend, or speak any language. [1 victim] {1 hour} * Save negates. |
2 | Blind/Deafen: Bard makes the Victim either blind or deaf, with all appropriate Penalties. {Until next new moon} *Save negates. |
3 | Decrease Ability: One of the Victim’s Abilities temporarily decreases by 4 points (to a minimum of 3), with all corresponding consequences. {1 hour} |
4 | Increase Ability: One of the Recipient’s Abilities temporarily improves by 4 points (to a maximum of 18), with all corresponding benefits. {1 hour} |
5 | Reconcile/Separate: Two former friends or lovers reconcile, or two current friends or lovers become hostile. One of the pair must be present. *Save negates. |
6 | Suggestion: Bard causes the Victim to obey a reasonable sounding directive which can be phrased in one sentence. {Until dawn, or suggested action is completed} *Save negates. |
7 | Summon Animals III: Bard summons local animals totaling no more than 6 HD, who will willingly perform one simple service lasting for no more than an hour. |
8 | Witch’s Mount: Victim is under the Bard’s control, can Fly, is as strong as a draft horse, and can be used like a mount or farm animal (but cannot be made to fight). [1 person within 50’] {Until dawn} *Save negates. |
4th Level Bardic Songs (Spells)
1 | Remove Curse: Recipient is freed from any supernatural curses currently afflicting them. A “curse” is defined by any Spell which includes the word “curse” in its description. |
2 | Curse: Bard inflicts a negative magical condition upon the Victim, lasting until a specified event occurs. Typically: -4 on one Ability; -3 on all Attack rolls; or -1 on all Saves. {Until released} *Save negates. |
3 | Din: The Bard’s instrument makes a sound that deafens every being within 50’ (except themselves), inflicts 4d6 points of Damage, and shatters glass and crystal. *Save negates deafness, and reduces damage by half. |
4 | Haste: Recipient moves twice as fast as normal. Receives +3 on AC; two actions per Round; and +3 on Saves versus Wands & Breath. Loses 1 point Constitution, and ages 1 year! {1 hour} *Save negates |
5 | Mass Confusion: All within 50’ (except Bard) become disoriented, and act randomly. Roll d10 each Round per Victim: 1-3 = normal action, 7 – 10 = strange and pointless action, 10 = attacks nearest foe or friend. {1 Turn} *Save negates. |
6 | Mass Sleep: As many visible Victims as the Bard has Experience Levels fall asleep. Those with more Hit Dice than the Bard are immune. {Until dawn} *Save negates. |
7 | Slow: Victim moves half as fast as normal. Suffers -3 on AC; acts every other Round; and makes Saving Throws versus Wands & Breath with a -3. {1 hour} *Save negates |
8 | Summon Animals IV: Bard summons local animals totaling no more than 8 HD, who will willingly perform one simple service lasting for no more than an hour. |
5th Level Bardic Songs (Spells)
1 | Commune With Fairies: Bard mentally contacts a powerful Fairy, whose name they know, and asks them a question. The Fairy may lie, or refuse to answer, depending on their reaction. {1 Question} |
2 | Curse of Lycanthropy: Bard curses the Victim to become a Lycanthrope, starting on the next Full Moon. The Bard specifies the type of Lycanthrope. [1 victim within 25’] {Permanent until curse is lifted} |
3 | Curse of Undeath: Bard curses the Victim to rise again as an Undead Monster after their death, of a type with the same HD as their Level before they died. The Monster is not controlled by the Bard, and may seek revenge. [1 victim within 25’] {Permanent until curse is lifted} |
4 | Discover Treasure: The day after employing this effect the Bard will somehow be told (or otherwise learn) the location of a treasure within 1 week’s journey – but not how to recover it, or overcome its guardians. |
5 | Exorcism: All supernatural creatures must flee, and all Spells from Evil sources immediately end. Any Planar Spirits or incorporeal Undead inhabiting living creatures are forced out and Banished to their home Plane (or Plane of final rest). [A 25’ radius] *Save negates |
6 | Fame: Recipient becomes internationally famous; are immediately recognized everywhere; is mobbed by adoring fans, cannot hide under any circumstances, and loses all privacy. Dispelled by Obscurity. {Permanent} *Save negates |
7 | Feeblemind: Victim’s Intelligence is reduced to 2. [25’] {Until next full moon} *Save negates |
8 | Insect Plague: Bard summons a swarm of locusts (or other destructive vermin) that covers a full acre of land. All edible plants within are consumed, visibility is 5’, and creatures under 2 HD flee. {1 hour} |
9 | Obscurity: Victim cannot achieve any form of glory or recognition. Only friends and family can remember them. Dispelled by Fame. {Permanent} *Save negates |
10 | Raise or Calm Storm: The Bard either creates a violent storm of a type appropriate to the climate and location (a blizzard during the winter months in a temperate climate, a sandstorm in a hot desert, etc.), or calms such a storm already occurring. [10 mile radius] {Until dawn} |