Spell Casting in Dark Sun

by Gerald Arthur Lewis email: U15959@snet.net

*The PlayerÆs Handbook; Earth, Air, Fire and Water; Preservers and Defilers of Athas Dark Sun and the world of Greyhawk are copyrights of TSR Inc.

Most people would agree that the sentence: "The Gaj bolts after you and rams its ugly head right into your chest, take sixteen points of damage," is a lot more compelling than this sentence: "The Gaj hits you, take sixteen points of damage."
The reason for this is that the first sentence gives one a good view of the action, while the other merely relays the technical aspects of the fight. The proÆs of good story-telling have already been established plenty of times throughout numerous AD&D supplements. So letÆs apply this attention to story-telling to another aspect of the Dungeons and Dragons game that hardly ever gets the dramatic detail it deserves: Spell casting.
Dragon Kings scratched the surface of the iceberg with itÆs new proficiency "Sensory Alteration". Sensory Alteration made it harder for a mage to simply make a few simple gestures and cast a spell. It introduced new rules to give spells some flair: flashes, the sound of chimes ringing, earthquakes. That just wasn't enough though. Spells are supposed to be extraordinary, unique, and fun! Adding sound effects and light shows is great, but there could be more to it than that.
So how could one really improve those same old spells? ItÆs easy, and all one needs is a good imagination and a good character. The key is to customize the spells to the personality. Everyone has different ways of looking at things, so wouldnÆt it stand to reason that one mageÆs casting of a spell might alter slightly from anotherÆs? There are no rules saying that minor adjustments canÆt be made to spells, and a player who makes only slight modifications to her characterÆs dweomer shouldnÆt gain any unfair advantages because of them.
When the Preservers and Defilers of Athas supplement came out, three new sources of magical power were revealed: the Cerulean storm, the Black, and the Grey. With Earth, Air, Fire and Water came four new sources of elemental energy: Silt, Magma, Sun and Rain. The greatest thing about so many sources of power is that a clever mind could find new ways to make old spells exciting.
LetÆs say that a Shadow Mage was being made, who draws his power from the Black. The Black is an icy-cold void, like outer space without the stars. Naturally, one would be inclined to pick out all the spells (and only the spells) that specifically have to do with shadow: Continual Light, Cooling Canopy, etc..
A Dungeon Master might even rule that these shadow-spells are the only ones the character can cast. Another way of looking at this would be to let the spells conform to the caster, and not the other way around. Picture this:

RanÆhos nocked his bow and aimed it at the unarmed spell caster. The slight mage put his hand beneath his long, scarlet cloak, and began rummaging through a pocket.
"Prepare to die, mage scum!" RanÆhos hissed.
"You are unwise. You should have worried less about preparing me for death, and more about killing me when you had the chance," said the mage. The spell caster drew a pebble from his scarlet cloak.
Before the archer could fire his bow, the mage flung the pebble into the air.
Instantly, with the speed of heat-lightning, shadows from all around the area sped across the ground to the mageÆs feet. From there, they radiated up the manÆs thin body, until he was covered by a thick layer of the murky black substance. The shadows froze with a hiss, milliseconds before the bow hit the mages now thick carapace. With a quiet ætink,Æ the arrow rebounded off the dark mass, and fell harmlessly to the ground.

What was described above was the first level Armor spell. The mage recieved no special benefits from the armor, and this method is much more dramatic than simply waving oneÆs hands and whispering a few odd syllables.
Customization of a characterÆs spells should not just be limited to the energy source though. Some spells could be altered to reflect the characterÆs personality. Take a mage with a bad temper, for instance.

"Hand over the money," the unruly Templar ordered.
JaÆcor squeezed his hands into a ball. He had to calm himself, or he might do something rash. Images of the Dragon flashed before his eyes, as they had every time he got this angry.
"Hand over the money, half-breed!" the Templar screamed.
That was the final straw. JaÆcor was proud of his half-human, half-elven lineage, and he couldnÆt stand bigots. In a flash, JaÆcor tore out his necessary spell component, flailed his arms madly and cast his spell. All of a sudden, a torrent of flame exploded from JaÆcorÆs palms.
An old woman across the street watched in horror as a ball of fire shaped like a dragon consumed the now sorry Templar.

The mage cast the third level Fireball spell, and the images of the Dragon shaped the blast. If the above mage cast the armor spell, his skin may even become scaly like a large reptile. This character might only cast spells that resemble dragons when heÆs mad, at all other times, his spells could come out normally.

Clerical Spell Improvisation

Cleric spells are great for improvisation. Because priests arenÆt confined to spells that have already been researched and then written down (like mages do), they have much more freedom when it comes to spells. If the DM is comfortable with making on-the-spot judgement calls, then a completely free-form way of casting clerical spells might work out better than simply picking ones from the PlayerÆs Handbook.
Take, for instance this predicament:

Cathaklan, a Cleric of Silt, came across a pack of Gith.
"Give self up, or die," said one Gith in broken Trade tongue.
Cathaklan took a look at the Gith. There were five of the repugnant, scaly creatures. The cleric was outnumbered and had no weapons on his person. Thinking quickly, Cathaklan reached into his belt pouch, and withdrew a handful of grey silt.
"Ha-hz," laughed one Gith as the priest flung the dust in the creatures direction.
With a silent prayer, Cathaklan turned each partical of silt into a pebble. When the stones hit, the surprised elflings fell to the ground. The Silt Cleric was gone before they got up.

The above shows how a free-form spell might work. The situation was one where the cleric had to think of a less orthodox way to escape his foes. A lot of fun can be had using this method of spell casting.
DMÆs, though, might have a tough job designating which level the spell might belong to. The above example might be considered 2nd level if it did no damage, but maybe third level if it inflicted a d3 of injury to the Gith. A ninth level of the spell might turn the silt into boulders, inflict pretty massive damage to foes.

New Spell Names

Dark Sun is completely shut off from other planes of existence. So why is it that there are spells named after mages in Greyhawk_ floating about Athas? Some alternate names for use in Dark Sun have been created:

Bigby : Atlin
Drawmij : Solrexi
Evard : Asdora
Leomund : Enalam
Melf : Mannon
Mordenkainen : Sizzrianbel
Nystul : Panrin
Otiluke : Dacne
Otto : Maj
Rary : Aris
Tasha : NÆneela
Tenser : Taree

So, if a mage cast the BigbyÆs Crushing Hand spell, he would actually be casting AtlinÆs Crushing Hand.
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Some Examples of Customized Spells