COMMANDMENT: Magic-User Spells Based Off Egyptian + Mesopotamian + Grecian Magic

Magic-Users in COMMANDMENT are different than those in classical OD&D. Their magics stems from the cultural mythologies of Mesopotamia, ancient Greece, and Egypt. They were not casting spells like light or hold portal. As useful as these may be while traversing a world Iron-plagued and rotting away, those are not the tools these magicians had.

A future post will be done for Cleric spells, as they are things dictated by omens, celestial events, and long prayers. Meanwhile, Magic-User spells are those sorceries learned by mankind from sphinx and spirit.

Below, 36 spells are offered for any game, really, if you want to add some spice to a warlock's life. Keep in mind all spells require a save vs Wands (or whatever your magic save is in your game). Research for these spells was done through a smattering of historical sources, none more valuable than Egpytian Magic by E. A. Wallis Budge. These spells are not intended to be 1 for 1 recreations of Egyptian/Mesopotamian magic, but instead spells inspired by these folklores.

Likely in the future, I'll turn a bunch of folk magic from these books, as well as key spells from the original MU spell list into enchanted items or potions. Easy treasure, really.

Note: " indicates multiply # by 10. So 1" is 10 feet

by Yeve Drovossekova

FIRST LEVEL

1. Anointed Skull's Midnight Whispers
2. Bare the Slave's Heart
3. Gift Them Their Misfortune
4. Nail to Them the Nomad's Curse
5. Tongue that Dream-Speaks
6. Ward the Evil Eye

SECOND LEVEL

1. Beget the Nest of Crowns
2. Blind the Readers of These Spells
3. Dusk that Settles On Mud
4. Keep Dead the Dead
5. Move the Warlord's Statue
6. To this Point, Bring the East

THIRD LEVEL

1. Exorcise the Hated Evil
2. Gather Forth All the World's Waves
3. Loosen Soul
4. Set Loose the Crocodiles
5. Spreading of the Repelling Minerals
6. Transfigure Dust to Vermin

FOURTH LEVEL

1. Block of Slaughter
2. From the Heaven's Eye, See Sin
3. Mold the Waxen Sacrifice
4. Paint a Curse Upon the Tomb
5. Passage Through the Underworld 
6. Ruin That which Ruins Me

FIFTH LEVEL

1. Evil Eye
2. Fashion the Chimera
3. Favor
4. Rule
5. Upon Me I Bestow the Strength of the Dead
6. Walk Again, Those Countless Dead

SIXTH LEVEL

1. Chain One's Fate to a Demon's Own
2. Destiny, Rewritten
3. Idols of Bestial Gods
4. In the Clay Container, Life Reborn
5. Serve
6. Unluck of the Doomsday

by Bartlomiej Gawel

Anointed Skull's Midnight Whispers (1st Level)

After anointing an undamaged skull in droplets of water from the Godsblood, hide it in a place where neither sun nor moon nor starlight will ever touch it. Upon casting this spell, the skull will begin to whisper. Said whispers ooze from you. Anything that is hostile towards you within 1" is terrorized by the whispers until they leave said radius. A creature terrorized can only commit simple acts, such as running, screaming, or untrained attacks. The morning after this spell is cast, the skull is destroyed and the spell ends.

Bare the Slave's Heart (1st Level)

Take the preserved heart of a slave and wrap it in hempen cord when you cast this spell. The next creature who touches this heart barehanded will become a slave to the spell's caster until the heart is destroyed or the magic dispelled. A slave will not do anything to harm itself or any friends it has, but will perform any manner of menial task for its master. An undead creature, or anything that is barbarous, will be immune to this enchantment.

Beget the Nest of Crowns (2nd Level)

Affix upon your brow a crown of twigs and feathers as a part of casting this spell. Birds without number will then cloud the heavens above and descend. All within 60" is considered obscured, ranged missiles will not hit their marks, no one can move more than 1" per round, and all sound is drowned by their chirping. These birds swarm until somehow killed en masse or dispelled. This spell is useless in doors.

Block of Slaughter (4th Level)

Slice your hand open with a ceremonial dagger and take 1d6 damage when you cast this spell. Point your hand towards a creature that can see it. Said creature will exert all of its efforts to kill as many creatures as it can other than you during the next 6 rounds.

Blind the Readers of These Spells (2nd Level)

Upon your spell book, light incense when you cast this spell. When someone attempts to decipher your spell book, or attempts to cast a spell that lets them do so, they will be blinded for 1d6 days time. Even a creature with no training in magick trying to read your spellbook will fall victim to this spell. After 1 creature is cursed in this manner, the spellbook is no longer protected.

Chain One's Fate to a Demon's Own (6th Level)

You must know the true name of a demon to cast this spell. You must also anoint a creature in strange oil as a part of this spell's casting. The anointed creature is possessed with a demon whose true name you announce. The demon will lie sleeping within the anointed creature. Should the creature ever die, the demon shall be released to do battle with all that is hostile towards you until it is slain or banished.

 by Eugene Medvediev

Destiny, Rewritten (6th Level)

As a part of this spell's casting you must know the birth place of a creature within 10". The creature's birth place is changed, and thus its entire life path is changed. The creature's memories are rewritten, as is their personality and alignment, and they disappear, reappearing somewhere else in the world.

Dusk that Settles On Mud (2nd Level)

Sprinkle the dust of a black ore onto clay, mud, soil, brick, limestone, or any other earthen substance. It will turn into constricting, hard, black metal and shrink slowly in size. A 1" x 1" x 1" area of earth can be enchanted in this way. After 1 round, it will have shrunken down to the size of a pebble.

Evil Eye (5th Level)

When you cast this spell, one of your eyes goes blind. A creature that you look upon when you cast this spell is cursed by the evil eye. You can see what it sees through one of its eyes, but only see, not hear, feel, or hear thoughts. At the end of every day, the creature must roll 1d20. On a 1, the die size reduces. When the die size reduces below a 1d4, the creature dies, and sight is returned to your blind eye.

Exorcise the Hated Evil (3rd Level)

Grab the throat of a barbarous or possessed creature and press a polished opal to its forehead. Pull the opal back, and all evil from the creature will exit it in the form of black, ichor-filled vomit. Afterwards, if the creature was barbarous or possessed, it is no more. Likewise, if the creature was cursed, it is cursed no more.

Fashion the Chimera (5th Level)

Take the body of a dead man and lay the corpse of an animal upon it. Only then may you cast this spell. The two bodies fuse in a way of your choosing. The new creature is risen as a chimera that will faithfully serve you. It has as many HD as you do, and has one aspect of the animal that it is fused with, such as an eagle's wings, a lion's claws, or a shark's water breath. If the chimera is ever exorcised, it dies instantly.

Favor (5th Level)

This is one of the words of power. Utter it, and one creature whose hand you hold will be able to cast any 1 spell you have memorized. Once cast, they will be compelled by fate to do you a single favor.

From the Heaven's Eye, See Sin (4th Level)

Stare into the sun when you cast this spell and do not look away until you wish it to end. While staring into the sun, you shall see anything that the sun could see, in any part of the word. You can see it as close as if you were currently 10" above ground. At night, this spell does naught, and it cannot be used in doors.

Gather Forth All the World's Waves (3rd Level)

Lift your hands and sing to all the seas you cannot sea. A 3" radius of space around you is filled with churning, crashing waves of white-crested green water. Creatures in the water begin to drown, and thus can not speak or cast spells. If they fail their save, they are picked up and moved to random locations, taking a number of damage dice equal to your levels at the end of every round. Thus, at 6th level, they will take 6d6 damage, and at 7th, they will take 7d6 damage. After 1 round, the waves dissipate, returning to their distant homes.

Gift Them Their Misfortune (1st Level)

When you are missing hit points, suffer 1 damage as you smear the wound with bewitched ointments of your own make. Then smear the blood-oil produced on another creature. It will lose twice the hit points you have lost.

Idols of Bestial Gods (6th Level)

You must have fashioned from clay an animal the size of a small hut before casting this spell. This spell is cast on this the idol. The idol turns into a flesh-and-blood version of itself, intelligent, sentient, and speaking all languages. It has HD equal to your total levels + 5. It will serve you loyally as a sage or as a warrior. It has 9 thac0 and deals 3d6 damage with its attacks. The animal has all the traits of whatever animal you sculpted it after. When it dies, is dispelled, or is exorcised, it turns into clay and shatters.

by Victoria Dame

In the Clay Container, Life Reborn (6th Level)

You must have access to the corpse of a creature with its head attached before you can cast this spell. As a part of the casting, cover the corpse in clay. The next round, the creature will be reborn, healed of all ailments and wounds. 

Keep Dead the Dead (2nd Level)

Gather the blood of a wounded creature and imbibe it when you cast this spell. The creature cannot ever be brought back from the dead, as its body will turn to sour soil upon death, unfit for the hosting of a soul.

Loosen Soul (3rd Level)

Work a short ceremony that loosens your soul from your body. It remains so for 6 rounds. While your soul is loosened, it can slip out of your body and move up to 2" away, sliding through walls or doors. You see and hear whatever is within the same area or space as your soul.

Mold the Waxen Sacrifice (4th Level)

Present a waxen figure you have made as a part of casting this spell. Affix to the figure via nail a piece of another living creature. Whatever the figure feels so too will the living creature, though it will suffer no other ill effects from the figure's defacing. 10 times may the figure be manipulated before this spell ends.

Move the Warlord's Statue (2nd Level)

A statue of animated stone constructs itself. It stands twice your height and is decorated and painted to mimic that of a famed warlord. It will follow in your footsteps indefinitely, or until you command it to take a single action. If that action is to attack, it will deal 5d6 damage to that which fails its save. If that action is to defend, it will absorb the damage from the next attack launched upon its ward. If is to lift, it will lift one thing weighing 10,000 gold coins or less. After any of these acts, it will turn into mud and disintegrate.

Nail to Them the Nomad's Curse (1st Level)

Write upon papyrus the wrongs a creature has committed and nail them to its home or lair. For every wrong written, the creature will be unable to return to its home and unable to rest anywhere else. At the dawn of every day, one of the wrong's disappears. Creatures who are unable to rest due to this curse take 1d6 damage at the dawn of every day, and they cannot rest to regain hit points.

Paint a Curse Upon the Tomb (4th Level)

As a part of this spell, drench an object in the same paints used to adorn the tombs of god-kings and god-queens. Any creature that takes the object other than you is curs'd. Said creature rolls twice on all die rolls and takes the worse result. If this would result in a failure for any reason, the creature suffers 1d6 damage. This curse persists until somehow dispelled, or if the curs'd object is destroyed by fire.

Passage Through the Underworld (4th Level)

Cover your ears and close your eyes as a part of this spell's casting. Then, walk forward. Your body will descend underground, to a place no living or undead creature may follow. The following round, appear anywhere within 36" of your original location (up or down). You know exactly where you will go. When you emerge, one ghost emerges with you, and will aggressively haunt wherever you appear.

Ruin That which Ruins Me (4th Level)

You can cast this spell only when you die. That which kills you dies for 1 round, resurrecting after that round with hit points equal to its total hit dice.

Rule (5th Level) 

This is one of the words of power. Utter it and a legion of 20 6th level fighting-men (Myrmidons) will gather to you in 1d4 days. They will be loyal to you for one battle, after which they will disperse randomly into the world.

By Ian Barker

Serve (6th Level)

You utter a word of power. This utterance forces the world to serve you. You can use this spell to part water up to 10" deep, or lower the water level of a body of water by 50%. You can create weather of any kind, or raise up great walls 10" tall and 50" wide. Casting this spell allows only one of these feats to be achieved.

Set Loose the Crocodiles (3rd Level)

A moat 2" deep, 1" wide, and with a radius 3" away from you is suddenly carved into the earth and filled with water. If these dimensions cannot be met, then the moat tears through any non-magical obstructions to form itself. Inside of the moat, countless crocodiles. Creatures who attempt to swim or leap across must save or take 1d6 damage as they are pulled in. Creatures in the moat cannot move, and take 3d6 damage every turn until they save and can swim out. 

Spreading of the Repelling Minerals (3rd Level)

Scatter minerals strange and esoteric as a part of this spell's casting. A magical zone is created 10" by 10" by 10" in size. Any and all metal objects are thrown out of it with haste, as are weapons made of stone or bone, over the next 4 rounds.

To This Point, Bring the East! (2nd Level)

Take a stone stele and affix it into a point of your choosing when you cast this spell. The next creature that attacks you within 10" of theis stele will be drawn to destroy it instead. The stele can take 1d6 hits before it is ruined.

Tongue that Dream-Speaks (1st Level)

Split your tongue with a bronze dagger and read aloud a text before you. You need not understand it or know the language, and you have 1 round with which to read. When you are done, sleep. In your dreams you will understand all that you read and wake with a tongue healed. This spell allows you to understand even the ciphered text of other spellbooks. 

Transfigure Dust into Vermin (3rd Level)

Motes of dust are turned into lice, rats, and scorpions around you. Point to a creature. The vermin swarm them, biting and gnawing, dealing damage equal to your levels. At 6th level, this will be 6d6 damage, and at 7th, 7d6, and so on. This damage continues until the target brings fire to the vermin, or the spell is dispelled.

by Marius Bota

Unluck of the Doomsday (6th Level)

Roll 1d20 when you cast this spell, and stare at the creature whom you are cursing. On that day, the creature must succeed on its save or die. If it has less then 20 hit points, it will die no matter what.

Upon Me I Bestow the Strength of the Dead (5th Level)

You may only cast this spell while having the skull of a 4th level fighting-man (Hero) or higher in your inventory. You gain their Strength score and skill at arms, as well as the ability to use a fighting-man's magical and non-magical armors, shields, and weapons, and their thac0 for 6 rounds. 

Walk Again, Those Countless Dead (5th Level)

To cast this spell, you must have a scrap of flesh from a dead man's face. Once cast, you call forth the dead to serve you. For the number of dead animated simply roll one die for every level above the 8th the Magic-User is, thus a "Sorcerer" gets one die or from 1-6 animated dead. Note that the skeletons or dead bodies must be available in order to animate them. The spell lasts until dispelled or the animated dead are done away with.

Ward the Evil Eye (1st Level)

Cover one eye in its entirety when you cast this spell. While covered, no one may target you with a spell, but will instead target the creature nearest to you. Lasts until your eye is uncovered.

by Irina Vizhevskaya