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Mirage — Spell List Draft

Working draft, not locked in. Mirage is a Moon-school covering Illusion and Compulsion together. Pulled from High Magic's illusion and mind-affecting entries.

Identity notes

  • Mirage holds both "affects perception" and "affects mind directly" inside one school, so the line between them is a matter of degree, not of rival institutions.
  • No school-affiliation bonus mechanic — the curated list itself is the specialization (consistent with the Crimson/General approach).
  • Includes two High Magic spells originally filed under plain detection — routed here instead of General on the judgment call that reading/controlling a mind without consent is closer to compulsion than "minor convenience." Still open for Rich to overrule.

Spell List (draft)

Tier 1 - Mind's Yoke (adapted from Ineluctable Shackles of Volition) — Visible living target within 100 ft, Mental save (at a penalty equal to caster's Magic skill) or become enthralled — obeys physical commands (nothing suicidal, nothing requiring independent judgment or use of the victim's own abilities/spells). Victims appear torpid and dazed. Lasts until dispelled/released; every recast gives prior subjects a fresh unmodified save. - Borrowed Face (adapted from Phantasmal Mimesis) — Illusion at a visible location within 100 ft/level, occupying a number of 10-ft cubes equal to caster level, with visual/audible/olfactory/tactile elements. Convincing enough that onlookers with no reason to doubt it will unconsciously act as if it's real. - Whisper Through the Skull (adapted from Imperceptible Cerebral Divulgence) — Immediately sense a target's surface thoughts and interests, no shared language needed. Can ask one memory-question per caster level, but each question risks a Mental save from the target ending the spell early. Subtle — no visible gesture or audible incantation. (Judgment-call inclusion — see Identity notes.) - Stolen Sense (adapted from Damnation of the Sense) — Take control of one of a target's senses for the scene on a failed save. (Judgment-call inclusion — see Identity notes.) - March Away (adapted from Expulsion of the Unwanted Occupants — fan homebrew) — Plant your feet and demand nearby foes leave; each designated target who can see/understand the caster makes a Mental save or is compelled to walk away until they break line of sight. Success instead just shoves them back 10 ft. A softer, non-damaging compulsion option — good for a Mirage practitioner who wants to end a confrontation without escalating it. - Bound Word (adapted from Reckless Display of Trust — fan homebrew) — Two people clasp hands and magically bind themselves to answer one question from the other truthfully and completely — though nothing forces them to actually honor the bargain. The real effect: each will believe whatever answer they're given, however far it stretches their imagination. A distinctly Mirage kind of magic — not force, a false sense of certainty. - Dreamscrape (adapted from Exfiltration of Slumber's Eye — fan homebrew) — Touch a sleeping target's forehead to learn one thing they fear, anticipate, or take pride in (or attempt to target one specifically with a Magic+WIS check). Overlaps conceptually with Whisper Through the Skull above (both are mind-reading) — this one only works on the sleeping and reads emotional content rather than surface thoughts/memories, so there's a real distinction, but worth deciding if Mirage needs both. - The Long Sleep (adapted from The Wind of the Final Repose) — Puts all living targets of 4 HD or less within the area to sleep. Mirage's real multi-target tier-1 spell — this is the one that answers the "generous at level 1" expectation, just via sleep rather than damage.

Tier 2 - The Compelling Word (adapted from The Inexorable Imputation) — Speak a single one-sentence statement, disguised as ordinary conversation. Everyone within 40 ft who hears it and fails a Mental save comes to believe it's true (unless physically impossible or emotionally intolerable to them). Caster can exempt allies. Lasts 1 hr/level.

Tier 3 - Borrowed Skin (adapted from Adopt the Simulacular Visage) — Transform a target into a chosen humanoid shape until the next dawn. Straightforward disguise magic — the practical, non-combat cousin of Borrowed Face. - Borrowed Body (new) — Touch a living humanoid target, who makes a Mental save. On a failure, the caster's mind takes over the target's body for up to an hour per character level, while the caster's own body lies helpless. The caster uses the target's body and physical attributes, with their own mind and skills, but can't cast spells through it. The target gets a new save whenever the body is forced into something suicidal or deeply against their nature. The spell ends if the caster chooses, if the save succeeds, or if either body is harmed; the caster's mind snaps back home either way. The tell: the possessed body's eyes become the caster's eyes — the same tell that betrays a Changeling, in reverse. Separate from Psychic Fetters: Borrowed Body is temporary but personal, and Fetters makes a permanent puppet.

Tier 4 - Psychic Fetters (adapted from Obnubilation of the Will) — Helpless/restrained living target only; Mental save or become permanently subject to the caster's will (even suicidal acts, if intelligence/capability allow), immune to the spell forever after if the save succeeds. The most ethically loaded spell on this list — probably worth a content-tone conversation before it's finalized (compare to the doc's original warnings about Al-Salat's "impossible to ban because every government employs it" reputation). - Conjured Double (adapted from Calculation of the Phantasmal Eidolon) — Summons an obedient phantasmal servitor that can actually fight for the caster. Mirage's one real combat-summon option — a fitting fit given the school's illusion identity, even though most of the list is control rather than direct force.

Tier 5 - The Glass Maze (adapted from Banishment to the Black Glass Labyrinth) — Exiles a target to an extradimensional prison-maze for a time. Mirage's tier-5 capstone — fills the gap flagged earlier, and the "labyrinth of black glass" imagery fits the school's reality-bending identity well.

Arts

Mirage's Arts are deliberately narrow: one sense, a still image, or an illusion nobody mistakes for real. Full, convincing, many-sense illusions are what the spells are for.

  • Restrained Casting (from High Magic) — Commit Effort for the day as an Instant action when casting a spell. You cast it in perfect silence and without gestures, though damage still disrupts the casting.
  • Mask — Commit Effort as a Main Action while touching a non-living object no bigger than a person. As long as the Effort stays committed, the object looks like a different object of roughly the same size and shape. Visual only: handling it reveals what it really is.
  • Parlor Illusions — Commit Effort for the scene. You create moving images and sounds for entertainment, or to show what a place, thing, or person you've seen looks like. They're always obviously illusions — translucent, shimmering, or otherwise clearly unreal — and nobody mistakes them for the real thing.
  • Painted Veil — Commit Effort as a Main Action. As long as the Effort stays committed, a flat, still image covers a surface — a wall, a door, a floor — up to 10 feet square per character level. Anyone who touches it, or tries to pass through it, knows it isn't real.
  • Thrown Voice — Commit Effort for the scene. Your voice can come from any point you can see within 100 feet, instead of from you.
  • Phantom Sounds — Commit Effort for the scene. You create sounds at a point you can see within 100 feet — footsteps, a crowd, a slammed door, an alarm bell — no louder than a shouting crowd. Not speech: that's Thrown Voice.
  • Dread — Commit Effort for the scene as a Main Action against a visible target within 30 feet, who makes a Mental save. On a failure, they spend their next turn getting away from you, and an NPC must also check Morale. A target can only be affected once per scene.
  • Distraction — Commit Effort for the scene as a Main Action against a visible target within 30 feet, who makes a Mental save. On a failure, until the end of your next turn their attention is fixed on a point or object of your choosing that they can see, and they notice nothing else unless they're harmed or touched. A target can only be affected once per scene.

Still open

  • Decided: Mirage is a reskinned High Mage (see WWN conversion notes). Its Arts are settled (2026-10-13), to be adjusted in play if needed. The compulsion Arts are Dread and Distraction; anything stronger is a spell.
  • Compulsion: no Charm Art. Strong compulsion is a spell (Mind's Yoke, Tier 1), and domination is Psychic Fetters (Tier 4). Possession is a separate Tier 3 spell, Borrowed Body, kept at Tier 3 because it leaves the caster's body helpless. Open: its details.
  • Confirm whether Whisper Through the Skull and Stolen Sense belong here (Mirage) or should default back to General per the source material's own categorization.
  • Dreamscrape / Whisper Through the Skull overlap — both are mind-reading; decide if both stay.
  • The fan spellbooks also had one comedic curse-illusion spell, "Alabaster's Quizzical 'Stache" (forces a target to speak only in riddles/grows an unshakeable mustache until answered), left out for tone — could be reworked seriously if wanted, or kept as-is for a lighter moment.
  • Resolved: this list previously had Storm of Despair (adapted from Phobic Storm), duplicating Crimson's Dread Volley. Removed — Phobic Storm is now Crimson-exclusive per the full-list audit.

Sources used

  • Official WWN High Magic spell list (Worlds Without Number Free Edition PDF, pages 60–93).
  • Fan "Project Gemini" spellbook and "Prompts Without Number" Inktober page (sites.google.com/view/projectgemini/spellbook and /inktober) — homebrew, not official Sine Nomine content.
  • See /High_Magic_Audit.md for the full 52-spell cross-school assignment.