To Bend a Spell

To Bend a Spell

Lecture on Metamagic in Sorcery

by Rya Rezna

And so, on the second full day that Rya and Safad were staying at the College, Rya gave her presentation on metamagic or the ability to bend and twist spells while casting. Although Rya did not bring with her the Power Point illusions spell to aid in her lesson, she was determined to make the lesson engaging and interactive for all the students, and perhaps even the professors present as well.

And so, she began: 

“Once you have mastered the art of casting spells and reached the experience level equivalent to an Apprentice here (3rd level spell caster), sorcerers also gain the ability to twist our spells to suit our needs. The way in which you can twist your spells depends on which metamagic spells you have decided to master at this point, of which there are 8 possible options. Given the experience level of a sorcerer at this point in their magical journey, they are able to master 2 metamagic spells, and will in time be able to master additional spells as they gain a deeper understanding of and control over their magic.

Metamagic spells are cast to improve or enhance a spell you have already cast, though you can use only one Metamagic option on a spell when you cast it, with few exceptions. The 8 meta magic spells are Careful Spell, Distant Spell, Empowered Spell, Extended Spell, Heightened Spell, Quickened Spell, Subtle Spell and Twinned Spell. We will be working through some examples of each spell so that you can more easily understand the mechanics and usefulness of each option, and then I will have you guess which 2 spells I have mastered and which I am currently working on perfecting.

Let us first go over Careful Spell. Gavin, Yani, would you please join me? [Rya hands Yani an umbrella, and tells him to put it up] Now, you can think of Careful Spell as similar to this umbrella Yani holds. [Rya casts major image above Gavin and Yani, making it seem as though it is raining. However, because of the umbrella, Yani is unaffected by the effects of the major image, while Gavin appears sodden and shivers a bit - the image then disappears and both boys look somewhat stunned, though both warm and dry again] As you can see, the umbrella protected Yani from the effects of the rain, and in the same way, Careful Spell prevents a few individuals within range of a spell you are casting from feeling its effects.  

Now, let’s go over Distant Spell. [Rya turns to Denuce and motions him forward. She hands him one end of a string which has been doubled over once] Think of this string as the range a particular spell has. Denuce cannot move further away from me while still holding the string, just as the limits of a spell cannot exceed the range it is confined to. However, Distant Spell allows you to double the range of the spell [Rya unfolds the string and steps away to make it tight again, now standing double the distance from Denuce], just as unfolding this string allows us to double the length of this string. Distant spell can also be used on spells that only work while directly touching the object of the spell, and increase the range to all those within 30 feet. 

Now we come to the Empowered Spell, which is the only metamagic spell that can be cast along with another metamagic spell. I like to think of this spell as a second chance spell, you can cast it if you don’t think that the damage of the spell by itself will be enough when you initially cast it. This spell allows you to attempt to add a little bit more power to the spell, but note that the second chance may not always be better or more powerful than the first time around, and you cannot take the effects of the spell back once you have cast it.

With Extended Spell, I want you to all pick up a rubber band from the basket in the center of your tables and wrap it around your hands as so. [Rya holds up her hands and shows everyone how the rubber band is wrapped around both hands, with only the thumbs remaining outside of the rubber band] Without stretching the rubber band, notice how there is space between your hands - this represents the amount of time a spell can last normally. Now move your hands away from one another and notice how the rubber band allows them to move apart only a set distance - this represents the duration of a spell when combined with the Extended Spell. Extended Spell allows the caster to double the duration of a spell up to a maximum of 24 hours.

Next we have Heightened Spell, which puts a single target of your spell at a disadvantage the first time they try to resist the effects of the spell. Going back to the umbrella example I used earlier for Careful spell, I handed Yani the umbrella, and told him to put it up so that he would be protected from the effects of the spell. But what if I didn’t tell him to put it up before I cast the spell? He still could have put the umbrella up, but he would have been at a disadvantage when I first cast the spell and most likely would have gotten a bit wet before getting the umbrella up. Therefore while he could have still saved himself from the full effects of the spell, he would have initially been disadvantaged, similar to what the Heightened Spell does to a target when it is cast with another spell.

There is also the Quickened Spell which, as you may have already guessed, allows the caster to cast the spell more quickly than they otherwise might have. Now for those musically inclined in the audience, you can think of this as a slur. Instead of individually playing each note in a set, you can slur some of them together to increase the number of notes played in a single action. Dagnar, if you would please give us a short demonstration. [Rya motions to Dagnar, who plays a few notes without slurring them, and then plays the same notes again, this time slurring them together] Thank you Dagnar. So now, as you can see, the Quickened Spell works in much the same way.

Now you can think of Subtle Spell as a mask which covers your entire face. [Rya pulls out a mask and puts it on - see below] With this mask on you cannot see my mouth and therefore would not know whether or not I am smiling or frowning, or in the case of spell casting, casting a spell. This increases the sorcerer’s ability to surprise their opponent by removing all visual cues which could tip them off that a spell is being cast.

Finally, the last meta magic spell is the Twinned Spell, which allows the caster to take a spell that normally would only affect 1 target, and in 1 go, have it also affect another target within range. This spell is essentially 2-for-the-price-of-1, just look at your classmates, [Rya points out a set of twins sitting at one of the tables] their mother had 2 children, but only was pregnant and went through labor once. Thus this spell is aptly named.

Now all of these spells require some power to cast, and therefore require the caster to use up some of their sorcery power (points) - but in situations of life or death, that additional drain is well worth the effort.

So, that concludes my lesson on metamagic spells - as I mentioned at the start of the lesson, now I would like you to try to guess which 2 of these spells I have mastered and which I am currently working on to master as I continue gaining knowledge and experience. 

The students, rapt with attention on the magnetic sorceress, were able to guess: Subtle and Distant - and she was working on quickened spell

She demonstrated both, to the delight of the crowd, professors and students alike.

• For Subtle spell she message 2 students the phrase “Palm Tree” and had them both announce the phrase at the same time
• For Distant spell she fixes Dagnar’s string from a distance (without touching his fiddle)
• Safad then shows them how to use quicken spell by shooting off 2 fireballs at a wooden door which then goes up in flames - Dagnar then needs to go put out the flames (by throwing water on the door)