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Crimson — Spell & Arts Draft

Working draft, not locked in. Status: tier 1–5 spells drafted from High Magic adaptations; Arts drafted from Elementalist adaptations. Needs review, balance pass, and gaps filled once Rich has time to go through it against the book directly.

Identity notes

  • Two energy signatures: Force ("magic bullets," kinetic-arcane, no elemental flavor) expressed as an Art, used to power Hurlants — this is what Gun Mages draw from. Red crackling energy (lightning-like in appearance, explicitly non-electrical) is the signature look of the actual spell list.
  • Power target: roughly Elementalist-tier, since Primal is also Elementalist-based — Crimson shouldn't be a diluted also-ran.
  • "Combat engineer" identity: walls, area denial, and battlefield coordination matter as much as direct damage. A Crimson mage who only knows how to blow things up is considered half-educated.
  • Tier 1 High Magic doesn't have strong multi-target damage — the real crowd-control/area spells start at tier 2–3. Confirmed as an acceptable curve rather than a gap to fill artificially, though still open if Rich wants an original tier-1 multi-target spell added later.

Spell List (draft)

Tier 1 - Crimson Lance (adapted from The Coruscating Coffin) — Single visible target, 1d8 dmg/caster level, Physical save for half. 1 HD enemies die outright. Ignores non-magical cover. Signature opening spell. - Clearing Rot (adapted from Decree of Ligneous Dissolution) — Destroys all non-magical plant-derived matter in the target area. Battlefield-clearing utility — brush, wooden barricades, siege ladders. One-line summary only; full mechanics not yet pulled from the book.

Tier 2 - Bladewind Mantle (adapted from Mantle of Disjecting Dissection) — Willing target wrapped in whirling red-edged force; anyone who melees or touches them (ally or foe) saves or takes 1d6 + caster level before their attack resolves. Persists while the warded target spends a Move action sustaining it. - Crimson Lash (adapted from A Most Debilitating Flensing — fan homebrew, "Project Gemini" spellbook) — Red energy lashes out at a target within 60 ft with no barrier between caster and target, opening bleeding wounds. 1d8 dmg/turn with a Physical save for half, persisting a number of turns equal to caster level. Also leaves the target Frail until treated. A genuine damage-over-time option, distinct from every other Crimson spell so far being single-instance. - Spire of Dread (adapted from Daunting Spire of Anmados — fan homebrew) — Erupts a spiraling pillar of crackling red-glass up to 10 ft/level tall, 30-ft diameter, at a point within 100 ft. Hostile creatures who see it rise must make a Morale check. A battlefield-shaping/intimidation piece rather than a damage piece — reinforces the "combat engineer" identity with a purely visual/psychological tool. - Chain Detonation (adapted from Detonation of Numerous Dangers — fan homebrew) — Target (ally or foe) is marked but untouched; anyone adjacent to them must Evasion save or take 2d6 concussive dmg. Next round, anyone who took that damage releases their own blast, hitting anyone adjacent to them for 2d6 (Evasion save negates). Doesn't propagate further after that. A genuinely different damage shape than anything else on the list — delayed, chained, good for punishing clustered enemies without a single big blast radius. - Breach (adapted from Decree of Lithic Dissolution) — Destroys non-magical stone, earth, or non-metal minerals in the target area. The "breach a fortification" spell — pairs naturally with Clearing Rot's plant-clearing as Crimson's demolition side. One-line summary only, needs mechanical detail. - Second Wind (adapted from Resounding Temporal Echo) — Grants targets an extra Main Action for a short time, at a System Strain cost. Pure tactical/action-economy spell — the "coordination" side of combat engineering rather than damage or walls. One-line summary only. - Bramble Wall (adapted from The Verdant Vallation) — Conjures a solid wall of plant life; persists indefinitely if planted in good earth. A second, physical-obstruction wall option alongside Ward Line's pure exclusion barrier — different tool, different use case (blocking sightlines/movement bodily vs. warding a category of target). One-line summary only.

Tier 3 - Crimson Thunderclap (adapted from The Howl of Light) — 20-ft radius blast at a point, 1d8 dmg/level, Evasion save for half. Channels down corridors if cast somewhere under 40 ft wide. - Wildfire Vortex (adapted from Flame Vortex — fan homebrew) — A spiral of red energy erupts within sight, up to 100 ft away per level, 15-ft radius. Creatures caught inside make an Evasion save or take 2d10 damage and get dragged toward the center, knocked prone and piled together. Scorched ground left behind does 1d6 dmg to anyone starting their turn there. Currently the single hardest-hitting Crimson area spell at this tier — worth comparing against Crimson Thunderclap for redundancy once the list is reviewed. - Red Frost (adapted from Exhalation of Congelating Cold) — Radius 10 ft/level, 1d6 dmg per 2 caster levels, Physical save for half; failed save also loses Move action for 1d4 rounds. Control-through-damage, distinct from Thunderclap's pure blast. - Shattering Chimes (adapted from Glass Chimes of the Bamboo Terrace) — Summons resonant chimes usable for long-range signaling; struck hard as a Main Action, shatters for 3d6 dmg in a 40-ft radius. Doubles as a battlefield-coordination tool. - Dread Volley (adapted from Phobic Storm) — 40-ft radius, forces Morale checks; failures flee, successes take dmg equal to caster level. - Ward Line (adapted from Vallation of Specified Exclusion) — Drawn line up to 20 ft/level becomes an invisible barrier excluding one named category of target from crossing/attacking through it. Pure battlefield-shaping, no damage.

Tier 4 - Gale of Iron (adapted from Sigil of Aeolian Auctoritas) — 100 ft x 30 ft line, knocks down/hurls back man-sized-or-smaller targets, 1d6 dmg, loses next Main Action. Flattens light structures.

Tier 5 - Hellfire Barrage (adapted from Deluge of Hell) — Capstone. Up to 200-ft radius/level at a distant point, 1d8 dmg/level, Physical save for half, auto-kills 4 HD or less, levels light structures, seriously damages fortifications. Caster risks a quarter of the damage on a failed Mental save. - Prism of Ruin (adapted from The Dazzling Prismatic Hemicycle) — Blasts targets in a 100-ft cone with random gruesome effects. The wild-card capstone — unpredictable rather than reliable, a real contrast to Hellfire Barrage's straightforward math. One-line summary only, needs the full effects table pulled from the book before use.

Arts List (draft)

  • Force Discipline — Commit Effort as an Instant action while wielding/near an attuned cannon or mortar; shots charged with kinetic Force (bonus damage or range — exact numbers TBD pending Hurlant base stats). This is the Force Art that powers Hurlants and what Gun Mages draw from.
  • Crimson Bolt (adapted from Elemental Blast) — Commit Effort as a Main Action; ranged attack vs. a visible target within 50 ft/level using Magic skill, 1d6 + level + attribute mod dmg on a hit. At-will fallback attack.
  • Overcharge (adapted from Stunning Shock) — Commit Effort for the day as a Main Action vs. a visible target in range; failed Physical save loses next Main Action (success downgrades to losing Move action instead). No conductive-metal requirement — this is force, not electricity.
  • Sapper's Ward (adapted from Pavis of Elements) — Commit Effort as an On Turn action; +4 AC while committed, from a deflecting force field.
  • Detonation Rune (adapted from Rune of Destruction) — Commit Effort for the day as a Main Action; mark an adjacent surface with a rune that triggers on proximity, 2d6 + level dmg in a 5-ft radius. Represents Crimson's "lays mines/traps" identity.
  • Blast Discipline (adapted from Preparatory Countermagic) — Commit Effort for the scene; unaffected by the direct damage of your own area spells.

Still open

  • Whether to add an original tier-1 multi-target spell, or leave the curve as-is (single-target tier 1, area starting tier 2–3).
  • Balance pass once compared side-by-side with actual WWN High Mage/Elementalist power curves.
  • Possible additional Arts — haven't checked Healer/Vowed lists exhaustively for more candidates.
  • Crimson Thunderclap vs. Wildfire Vortex — both are tier-3 area blasts with different secondary effects; worth deciding if both stay, or if one should be retired/moved to a different tier to avoid redundancy.
  • Some tier-3/4 Arts (Crimson Bolt, Overcharge, Sapper's Ward) are near-direct reskins of core Elementalist Arts, and Primal is now also Elementalist-based. Not a hard conflict — Primal keeps the originals with true elemental flavor, Crimson's are Force-reskinned — but flagged as a spot to double check for enough distinction once Primal's list exists alongside this one.
  • Six spells (Clearing Rot, Breach, Second Wind, Bramble Wall, Prism of Ruin) added from the full High Magic audit only have the book's one-line summary, not full mechanical text — need a direct read-through of the PDF/hardcover before these are usable as written. See /High_Magic_Audit.md for the complete cross-school assignment this was pulled from.
  • Resolved: this list previously had Bastion of Red Glass (adapted from Invocation of the Invincible Citadel); that spell is now Haras-exclusive (Unbreakable Ward) per the full-list audit, since a defensive capstone fits a dedicated Protection school better and Crimson already has offensive tier-5 coverage.

Sources used

  • Official WWN High Magic spell list and Elementalist Arts (Worlds Without Number Free Edition PDF, pages 60–93).
  • "A Most Debilitating Flensing," "Daunting Spire of Anmados," and "Detonation of Numerous Dangers" adapted from the same author's fan homebrew, not official Sine Nomine content — "Project Gemini" spellbook (sites.google.com/view/projectgemini/spellbook) and "Prompts Without Number" Inktober page (sites.google.com/view/projectgemini/inktober).
  • See /High_Magic_Audit.md for the full 52-spell cross-school assignment.