Categories
Basic Fantasy RPG Creative Pursuits D&D Poems

Spell Rhymes of the Second Level

Here’s another installment of my short poems mages and clerics can utter while casting spells, this time of the second level. I previously wrote rhymes for first level magic user spells and first level cleric spells.

Continual Darkness

Inky darkness, down you clamp.
Spread and stifle beacons all.
Let no candle, torch, nor lamp
Shine its light beyond this wall.

Continual Light

Now from star and sun comes light
That spreads and stays forever long.
A shining beacon, true and white,
Proclaims the virtue of the strong.

Detect Evil

Open I pry my eyes to see
Any evil threats to me.
Glow, you creatures from planes beyond.
Open, eyes! Respond! Respond!

Detect Invisible

Spirits hiding from naked eye
Reveal yourself by outline drawn
With silv'ry pen of open sky
That shines your shape with bolts of dawn.

Invisibility

Descend yon darkened veil upon
Searching eyes now clouded, unclear.
You once were here, but now you've gone.
And with this touch you disappear.

Knock

For sticky door or stubborn key
With gentle tap, I now unlock.
To raise the bar and gain entry
Three times on solid clasp I knock.

Levitate

Now, rise by unseen hand. Soar high!
Keep floating while I concentrate.
Drift up from earth and towards the sky.
Behold the one that levitates.

Locate Object

By hoary hosts and spirits strange,
Upon my thoughts be fixated.
If found it could be within range,
Let now the thing be located.

Mind Reading

Thoughts are waves that through ether ride
Into my probing mind to scan.
The secret consciousness resides
And fills the space. My mind expands.

Mirror Image

Swirling, twisting, false images
Mimic form of magic casters.
Every strike must hit visages
Until final figment falters.

Phantasmal Force

A vision projects from my mind.
A silent illusion appears.
Concentration keeps it confined.
By doubt or touch the image clears.

Web

Like spider silk but more secure,
Now sticky strands extend and bind.
If ignited, let flames endure.
Entrap my prey in threads entwined.

Wizard Lock

Magic lock hold this portal fast.
Let wizard's knock only through.  
Make a seal that forever lasts,
So secret treasure hide from view.

The clerical spells follow.

Bane

Oh lord on high, fill my body
With a spirit inspiring dread.
Attacks will fail, and foes will flee,
Who within fifty paces tread.

Bless

Bless my friends, oh holy father.
Let courage fill their very hearts.
Pang of fear can never bother
Those who honor thy holy art.

Charm Animal

Music calms the savage beast, and
So do words most gently spoken.
That same creator joins our hands.
Friendship ties are now awoken.

Find Traps

Any peril laid by evil
I pray to see out before me.
Traps by glowing will be seen full.
Trust have I in him most holy.

Hold Person

Let glory hold thee in splendor.
My will is force, which I will prove.
Though mind is awake, surrender.
Limbs, be stiff unable to move.

Resist Fire

Fire harms none who honor the name
Of precious lord whose prayer they spoke.
Like saints of old who walked through flame,
Let faith provide a cooling cloak.

Silence

A globe of silence honors most
The one who spoke the world's first word.
In this moment speak no boast
Nor let no arcane spell be heard.

Speak with Animals

Creature made by the same divine,
Listen and understand my voice.
Converse with me if you incline.
To speak with me remains your choice.

Spiritual Hammer

By fervent faith in holy might
I call forth his awesome clamor.
Let my enemies quake in fright
From my spiritual hammer.

Update: see more Rhymes for Spells.

Categories
Creative Pursuits D&D Poems

More Spell Rhymes

Here are more short rhymes for spells, this time those for the first level cleric.

Cause Fear

Thy weakened will is torn away.
Flee, you coward, without delay.

Cause Light Wounds

Come black shadows, the sun descends.
Embrace the darkness without end.

Cure Light Wounds

Let holy light hold back death.
Mend the wounds and calm the breath.

Darkness

Ebon cloak of obscurity
Descend on eyes that none may see.

Detect Evil

Now I pray my eyes to see
Any evil threats to me.

Detect Magic

Holy patron, if it's present
Make magic incandescent.

Light

Eternal light that shines from high
Illuminate as bright as sky.

Protection from Evil

Within this circle I am secure.
Summoned evil must abjure.

Purify Food and Water

Banish all impurity.
This food and drink will nourish thee.

Remove Fear

Though fearsome shadows doth appear
Our hearts are troubled not by fear.

Resist Cold

Let inner warmth be never lost.
Resist the hands of chilly frost.

Update: see more Rhymes for Spells.

Categories
D&D Poems

Dungeon Shanties

Players in adventure games (TTRPGs) behave much like pirates. They probably should sing songs about their experiences.

Dead Companion

(Sung to the tune of Drunken Sailor)

What can you do with a dead companion?
What can you do with a dead companion?
What can you do with a dead companion,
Deep down in the dungeon?

Chorus
Run, run, run for the exit!
Run, run, run for the exit!
Run, run, run for the exit
Deep down in the dungeon!

Heave him out and bury him proper
Heave him out and bury him proper
Heave him out and bury him proper
Deep down in the dungeon!

Chorus

Loot the body and let it rot there
Loot the body and let it rot there
Loot the body and let it rot there
Deep down in the dungeon!

Chorus

Feed him to your mates as iron rations
Feed him to your mates as iron rations
Feed him to your mates as iron rations
Deep down in the dungeon!

Chorus

That's what we do with a dead companion
That's what we do with a dead companion
That's what we do with a dead companion
Deep down in the the dungeon.

Chorus
Categories
Creative Pursuits D&D Poems

Rhymes for Spells

When a wizard casts a spell, he utters a few words, perhaps a lone “abracadabra”, but more dramatically, a rhyming couplet or even an entire poem, as in “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble…” Here are a few rhymes for spells of the first level.

Charm Person

By this wink and by this smile,
My new friend I do beguile.

Darkness

Ebon cloak of obscurity
Descend on eyes that none may see.

Detect Magic

Cosmic forces arcane and divine
Illuminate thyself with pale outline.

Floating Disc

Invisible porter, hand like a plate,
Remain at my side and hold my weight.

Hold Portal

Portal, hatch, door, and gate,
Let no intruder infiltrate.

Light

Eternal light that shines from high
Illuminate as bright as sky.

Magic Missile

Missiles, missiles, one, two three,
Strike my foes unerringly.

Magic Mouth

Listen and watch, mouthy illusion.
Deliver my words upon instrusion.

Protection from Evil

Within this circle I am secure.
Summoned evil must abjure.

Read Languages

Jargon, gibberish, and obscure babble,
Decipher prose from scribble-scrabble.

Shield

Stop the arrow, stop the sword,
Magic shield, be my ward.

Sleep

Count the sheep of endless number.
Resign yourself to peaceful slumber.

Ventriloquism

I send my words without a trace
To speak as from another place.

Update: see more Rhymes for Spells.

Categories
Personal Poems

Mourning is a doorway back into daylight

Following is a song I wrote about 15 years ago. I thought I knew what it meant when I first wrote it, then I discovered a new meaning about seven years ago. I’ve discovered a more profound meaning, and it probably had this meaning all along. Before I explain, here are the words.

How Long Must You Cry

How long must you cry before you wonder why your life’s filled with pain? How long must you cry?

How long must you weep, crying yourself to sleep? Tear-stained memory. How long must you weep?

I know why you cry. I know why you cry. It’s for me. It’s for me. It’s for me. You cry for me.

How deep must you age before you turn the page? Gone is yesterday. How deep must you age?

How wise must you grow before you will know. I’m beyond your reach. How wise must you grow?

I know why you cry. I know why you cry. It’s for me. It’s for me. It’s for me. You cry for me.

When I first wrote this, this was kind of a bitter warning to someone who foolishly spurned my offer of friendship. I didn’t take the song very seriously and thought of it as “you don’t know what you’re missing”. The language is kind of extreme for the actual situation, but it’s stylized.

Years later, I discovered that instead of it being me speaking to someone else, it was someone I’d lost speaking to me. I imagined my father asking me how long I was going to feel sad about him dying. I took it as a statement to myself to suck it up, to repress the bad feelings.

Today, I started thinking of this song as an ideal version of myself, a version of myself who I dreamed I’d be as a child, speaking to myself as I really am. And I’m curious: when will I give up comparing myself to that unattainable ideal? When will I cease entertaining the idea of having a chance to replay the past?

So in this sense, I’m not attacking myself for feeling sad. There’s a version of me that could have been. There were decisions I made that got me where I am, and there were circumstances beyond my control that probably had a greater influence. It’s legitimate to mourn the loss of what could have been. The mourning is a doorway back into daylight. So, I’m pleased to find the song is not a bitter rant, nor a vigorous self-attack. It’s simply a question about when the truth will be accepted.