A write-up I did for a Thousand Thousand Islands game I never got to run. The magic is more oriented around everyday life (rattan puppets to tend crops, for example), so this was an experiment to see how I could supplement or even replace Vancian magic for it while still fitting into an old-school play structure. A PC probably wouldn’t know more than 1 or 2 or these, and they wouldn’t be restricted by class. They might even be built into items–you need a hairpin, necklace, tattoo, etc in order to cast them. Any charm that can be “used as a weapon” deals d6 damage, Save vs Spells to negate.
If you have ideas for charms of your own, I’d love to hear them.
D13 CHARMS
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Blade charm. You can slice things by tracing where you want to cut with your fingertip–a single slice as shallow or controlled as a razor or as deep as a single stroke with an exceptionally sharp cleaver. Can be used as a weapon.
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Hammer charm. You can strike anything in earshot with a hammer blow when you clap your hands–as gentle as a mallet tap or as forceful as the swing of a sledgehammer. Can be used as a weapon.
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Flint charm. Snap your fingers to ignite or extinguish a fist-sized flame in earshot. Can be used as a weapon.
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Breeze charm. Whistle to call up, change the direction of, or quell a stiff breeze or any weaker wind. Area of effect is earshot.
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Dead charm. If you cross your fingers, you don’t need to breathe.
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Cooking pot charm. If you mutter this song while cooking a meal, it produces twice as much food as it should (e.g. ingredients for soup for 2 will produce a pot of soup for 4).
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Oath Charm. If someone gives you one of their hairs as a token of a promise they make to you, you can braid it just so into a coil of thread. As long as it is whole, they are physically incapable of violating the letter of their agreement.
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Truth charm. If you put your hand over somebody’s heart while they speak, you can tell whether or not they are lying.
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Gossiper’s charm. If you start a rumor, it will spread like wildfire within the community you mentioned it within the week. Be careful though. It doesn’t necessarily make people believe the rumor, and it doesn’t keep people from tracing it back to you.
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Glue charm. If you hold two objects together and click your tongue, they become affixed to each other as if with superglue. Lasts until you touch them and click your tongue again.
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Burial charm. Once per day, you can converse with the ghost of any person whose funerary rites you conducted.
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Gambler’s charm. If you play a game of chance, the stakes and rules agreed to by all participants are ineluctable and inviolable.
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Dreamer’s charm. You have a dream-spirit familiar you can talk to through specular surfaces and in your sleep. It can visit and control the dreams of anyone whose reflection you have seen. It obeys the letter, but not always the intent, of your commands.