CyberSavant wrote:
>>Would anyone be able to help me with creating a spell for 2ed AD&D?
here is what i have worked out so far:
Earth Journey [in Common tongue] - level 3
- move through earth at level in miles per turn
-duration 1 turn per level
-self and items as long as unencumbered
-1/2 duration and distance if take 1 other person or encumbered
-cast time 3 rounds- to attune to the earth
-V,S,M [handful of earth to travel through, Dryad`s kiss*]
-available only to earth specialists and those attuned to the earth
-max turns=constitution score
==
similar concepts:
Dimension door lvl 4
Distance distortion lvl5
Shadow walk lvl7
BirthRight* blood ability travel
<<<<
Too be frank, I dont think your character will be able to research or at least cast such a spell yet. At least I would not allow it were I your DM. Heres why:
The spell is, in my opinion, probably a fifth or even sixth level spell. It is, in range and duration, definitely stronger than Dimension door, which is a short range and duration escape spell, in essence. Therefore it must be of higher level.
Distance distortion has not much in common with your spell, except for the earth theme. Any way, it requires another 5th lvl spell (conjure elemental, earth) as a prerequisite. Shadow walk actually transports the caster to another plane, which is not what you wish to accomplish (And actually traveling through the plane of earth would boost the level of your spell, probably to 7 as well). The Travel Blood ability is not scaled, so its difficult to use as a model.
I think you should look at the various teleport spell, as you want to achieve a similar effect (i.e. cover a great distance in a short time). However, the spells that pobably fit your idea most closely are the 5th and 6th level priest spells Pass Plant and Transport via Plants. With regard to range, your spell falls in between these two spells. However, they are weaker than your spell in other areas. First, they only work for the caster, i. e. no companions allowed. Second, the caster needs at least a man-sized plant for these spells to work. That means that they would not normally work underground, in deserts, plains or high in the mountains, whereas your spell would work nearly everywhere. Maybe you should specify what constitutes “earth” for the sake of your spell. Would it work on solid rock? Does the caster need to touch bare earth or could he also work the spell on a grassy field?
In addition, the spell Transport via Plants has a small chance that the caster arrives at a wrong destination.
Taking all that together, so far I believe that your spell is 6th lvl.
Now, lets look at the Teleport spells. Teleport without error is definitely more poweful than your spell, but hey, its a 7th lvl spell. With regard to Teleport, the matter is more difficult. The distance that can be covered is greater, but there is a considerably chance that the spell goes awry with even deadly results if the caster does not know his destination very well. In addition he cant take any other person with him. On the whole, that makes your spell slightly more powerful than Teleport, once again making your spell a sith lvl spell.
This level might be lowered to fifth, if you increase the casting time to 1 turn and include an expensive or hard to find material component. Im not certain what "Dryads Kiss" should mean. Must the handful of earth be kissed by a dryad (Not to easy to find in most cases, but not too hard (read: too easy) in your case, I guess) or do you have to haul a dryad around for this spell to work (That would be rather impractical)?
If you also include a considerable chance that the spell goes awry (i.e. wrong direction, accidently flung to the plane of earth), as a DM I would consider allowing the spell to be of fourth lvl, probably for a test phase at first.
3rd lvl, however is definitely too low for this spell.
BTW, Dragon 242 (Dec. 1997) has a good article on developing and scaling new spells. You might also find PO: Spells&Magic useful. I consulted both sources for writing this mail.
Christoph Tiemann
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