Page 41: Spell Explanations (Cleric spells 1st to 3rd)

(Apropos of nothing in particular- here are the Kinks, for your listening pleasure.)

The section on spell explanation starts with a little vaporware (so to speak) promise from Gygax- “a playing aid” containing a “concise list of each spell herein, with name, level, range, duration, area of effect, and so forth tabulated and then special notes appended”.  I’m sure more than one database of this sort was cooked up by assorted DMs over the years, but TSR never put one out (for AD&D at least, I can’t speak to 3rd and 4th ed. games).  I’m amused at the suggestion that the DM always have this section at hand when spells are cast.  Sure…

I’ll list the spells, but only comment on the ones that strike me…

1st level- Detect Evil; This sort of thing always bugged me.  What if the Neutral Evil cleric was willing to parlay the release of prisoners?  How about the Chaotic Neutral bandit who is about to ambush us.  I guess trials in Good aligned kingdoms were easy, since intent doesn’t matter at all.  Detect Magic; Light; This spell, because you could cast it on someone’s eyes, was always a cheap means of incapacitating a foe.  I recall a rather dangerous stone giant who was rendered (relatively) harmless after failing his save.  Poor bastard.  Protection from Evil; The description makes it sound like no evil creature can touch the caster but the actual penalties imposed by the spell contradict this notion.

2nd level- Augury; The description suggests that people who find 10,000 sp and a +1 shield would be counted as rich, which belies everything else the DMG has taught us about character cash requirements.  Detect Charm; Find Traps; With a duration of 30 minutes, this spell must annoy thieves.  Silence, 15′ Radius; Another oft-used spell, this one tended to incapacitate spell casters (though there are a few spells that don’t require verbal components.  Snake Charm; I never realized that you could charm magical creature like the couatl.  Speak with Animals; “The more stupid [animals] will make inane comments too!”  Sounds fun.

3rd level- Animate Dead; One of the more potent permanent spell at low levels; you get to make yourself an undead chum.  There are some rules about making skeletons and zombies out of creatures over one hit die as well.  Of course, good clerics aren’t supposed to cast this spell.  Spoil-sports.  Continual Light; I always thought the continual light lantern or coin was an ad-hoc creation of players, Gygax suggests it here in the text.  Cure Blindness; Apparently you can’t heal someone who has lost their eyes, just the magically blinded and “conditions such as cataracts and glaucoma” as well as bad vision.  I guess that is why you never see characters with glasses.  Dispel Magic; Another interesting trinket- this spell causes magic items to be “non-operational for 1 round”.  That would have come in handy in certain battles.  Glyph of Warding; see below…

Art: (This might be cheating, but it is an image.)

There are images of the seven sample glyphs on the page. No source is given, but I’d have to assume Gygax since they are said to be from Greyhawk. They are in order Fire (fah), sort of like the two crossed swords symbol on a map indicating a battlefield; Lightning (leh), Cousin It on a skateboard, in profile; Cold (cuh), a snake making a capital U; Blind (beh) like this Cyrillic letter Щ and an L had a child; Paralysis (peh- anyone else see the glyph name pattern? I assumed as much.), another Cyrillic letter, Г, this one made from cuh’s snake; Energy (eha), in inverted C, but with curlicues on the end and two marks in the middle, (sort of like Э); and finally Drain (doh), which is an omega Ω mixed with a cartoon of a flip ‘do. Yeah, I wish I could have found a picture too.

New words: charmee, ophidian (and ophidianoid)