Spellnaming

>>44949073
That kind of naming convinced me that Abi Dhalzim is not to be fucked with, though none of my characters ever came into contact with him.

Personally I like it when each wizard nicknames his or her own variation of standard spells. No two fireballs are exactly alike as most wizards mistranslated or modify the spell to make it "theirs" in my setting. So one wizard might call magic missile "Hot rockets" and another will call it "Flightful fisting".

>>44949073

For spells that are avaliable broadly to players, i prefer descriptive but scientific(?)-sounding names.

For spells that are garnered as loot or from another magic user, i definetly find spells named after the creator highly appropriate.

>>44949073
Burning air ball that emerges from my hand is level 1.

>>44949073
I love it when the name of the spell gives the spell a bit of history, like when it's got the name of the inventor in it, especially when there are several spells with that person's name and when considered together give a sort of snapshot of what the person was like.

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>>44950274
>Nicknaming Magic Missiles
BEHOLD AS I SUMMON PUNCHES FROM FISTHEIM, THE PUNCH-REALM.

>>44950211
I absolutely agree. That guy was a terrible man.

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>>44949073
I like vaguely esoteric names like "Fifth Invocation to the Archangel of the North Watchtower, Element Fire".

>>44950735
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=darkritual

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=spell

I might get booed, but I like stuff like in SMT, where they name it for obscure ancient shit with a little twist. Agi, Garu, Samsara, Megidoloan, etc. I like to see the name or invocation of a spell and wonder what it might possibly do

>>44949073
>Bonus points for unnecesarily long names.
Eight Directions Entropy Invation -- Song of Eternal Decay.

It's a spell that essentially causes everything in a (Caster level + energy points/2 + 4)km radius to spontaneously decay/ignite/become diseased, spreading out from the caster. It's the setting equivalent of a nuclear bomb, more or less.

>>44950906

I like that as well, or at least I think I do. I'm not familiar enough with SMT to know exactly how they go about it

A good example of something I like is how the original .hack games did spells. There's the base incantation and then modifiers that are added or removed for different effects. I like it because you can get an idea of what a spell does by some of the components of its incantation, even if you're unfamiliar with the rest of it.

For those who are unfamiliar, here's some examples:

>Repth
Base healing spell.
>Ol Repth
Intermediate healing spell
>Pha Repth
Advanced healing spell
>La repth
Base healing spell, modified to effect all allies. The "La" modifier adds the effect to any variant of repth (eg. Ola Repth and Phal Repth)

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>>44950735
>>44950903
Avatar Ever-living: Sigil of the One

>>44951068
That's very similar to SMT.

>Agi
Base fire

>Maragi
Mass base fire

>Agidyne
Max fire

>Maragidyne
Mass max fire

The exception is spells that only one creature gets, like Salvation, and Die for Me

>>44951068
>>44951108
This is good too.

>>44950921
For something that powerful, that isn't a particularly long name.

>>44954728
>For something that powerful, that isn't a particularly long name.
Haha, true.

>>44950274
I like the idea.
I usually write up rules for altering spells and let my players choose how to alter their spells with added effects for lowered damage.

>>44949073
I like to go with descriptive names, but ones that are also a bit flowery.

It's how a random villager at the tavern brags about that one time he met a wizard. So the lasers that make a bit of a humming noise become "a choir of angels descending from the heavens and delivering god's justice upon the undead hordes".

Random bard hears that story and two decades later every mage from that area calls the spell Choir of Angels.

>>44949073
I feel the opposite way. A spell being called "fireball" just implies the caster has found a way to conjure flames in an explosive projectile, whic works for academic Wizards or tribal shamans alla the same. A name like "Rosencrantz's Finest Enchant of Enhanced Waiting" implies you have to study it specifically from a book or school that teaches it the way Rosencratz made it, rather than come out with it by yourself, or learnimg it from spirits or teachers not aware of Rosencrantz's work, which works only for some characters, not to mention settings. But if you're aware of that and just want to make spells that can only be learned "academically", that's fine and flavourful too.

>>44951068
>>44951108
.hack and SMT are both great.

Another example I like is Rudra no Hihou / Treasure of the Rudra, a SNES game that never got officially translated. Its gimmick was a 'mantra' system, where players would make their own spells.

Basic spells are really simply, such as "Tou" being a basic lightning spell. Then you add on prefixes and suffixes that modify the effect and cost. Players can often find spell words carved into chests or walls, and can pretty easily figure out new words and prefixes/suffixes from them. Or look up a guide.

I actually tried making a homebrew system using the idea, but I ran out of steam before getting more than a sparse list of notes.

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This honestly depends on how hermetic and weird you want your magic to be.

Do you want mages to fiddle with and invent their spells mostly on their own? Then more generic 'floating disc' or 'magic missle' works fine.

If you want the spells more mystical and strange, then you go for the longer and weirder names. Moonlight's Dance on the Poppy for instance may enchant a plant to be fully poisonous regardless of its normal properties, or Rattling the Mantle of the Smallest Gods may be a spell that shakes your enemies to the ground, but also likes to break their equipment with it.

Just strange stuff like that is interesting, but its a tough sell to make players want to use that kind of magic system. I personally don't know if any players would like it.

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This thread reminds me of how much I want this fucking game.
https://www.cryptozoic.com/games/epic-spell-wars-battle-wizards-duel-mt-skullzfyre

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>>44956498
The core mechanic is just forming the most metal sounding spell names.

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I like the idea of wizards naming spells, not after high-fantasy mumbo jumbo, but sometimes just after whatever retarded idea comes to their mind.

>>44951108

>Boom!
Base fire

>Kaboom!
Mass base fire

>Blam!
Max fire

>Kablam!
Mass max fire

>>44950365
Bigby was a chronic masturbator.

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You're not limited to three cards, you can put in as many descriptors (middle cards) you have. But I can't seem to find images of spells with more cards.
Each card has an effect and they resolve, I think, in order. Last wizard standing wins the battle
Is that awesome? I think that's awesome.

>>44956570
You are limited to three card you fuck.
>>44956541
What the hell this card is called "Dicey" are you playing some kind of chinese ripoff

>>44956642
Are you? I remember watching a review video where they said you're not limited to three, but longer spells resolve last. But what do I know?
I never got to play it, just took those images from google.

>>44956107
I get what you're saying but I'm a big fan of magic as some kind of "meta-science" where the way spells works can actually be studied and analyzed so when comes up with the best/most efficient way to conjure a certain kind of spell (say, a fireball), that method gets named after the person.

Then again, there needs to be a more common, basic version of that spell that anybody can cast by themselves or it wouldn't make sense.

>>44956706
It's limited to 3 card max, and i can tell you it's far enough. In a 6 player game, some player may never cast their spell. This game is brutal

>>44956107
For common low-ish level spells I think having basic names like "fireball", "magic missile" "shield" etc. makese sense since those are the kind of spells that are likely discovered independently by multiple mages and anybody with the required amount of magical talent can cast. Most likely there really isn't a single "fireball" spell, but a whole bunch of spells that result in a similar effect (a blast of fire in this case) that just all get called "fireball" for convenience's sake.
For high level spells I prefer them having longer and more "academic" names, as that implies they were invented by some particularly skilled and experienced magic user who figured out how to create a new very powerful magical effect, and other wizards since then have just used his method, like how physicists make use of Einstein's theory of relativity instead of coming up with their own theory to explain the relation between matter and energy every time they need to do calculations. People that are able to cast high level spells are pretty rare in most settings, so it would make sense that they and the spells created by them would be known by name, at least to other wizards.

For cleric spells I prefer esoteric names, like the name of a particular passage of the cleric's holy text that they're supposed to read while praying. "First book of the Audient Void; passage three, verse 21: Blessing of True Sight".

>>44957181
>"First book of the Audient Void; passage three, verse 21: Blessing of True Sight".

That shit sounds so fucking cool.

>>44956498
>>44956524
What game is this?

>>44949073
i treat them like equations.
so creator's name is usually included.

i love idea of mages being actually a group of petty academics - think of prattchet's Unseen University.

>>44949073

Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma
Djaf's Incantation of the Cursed Blades
Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting
The Purple Sun of Xereus
Arnzipal's Black Horror
Pann's Impenetrable Pelt
The Savage Beast of Horros
Enchanted Blades of Aiban
Fulminating Flame Cage
The Penumbral Pendulum
Vanhel's Danse Macabre (my absolute favourite)

Fuck you, Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield

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>>44959890
>Vanhel's Danse Macabre

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>>44957181
>>44950921

>Spells with touhou spellcard-esque names

This is my one true weakness

>>44949073
If you name a thing, it can be known, if a thing can be known it can be found, if a thing can be found it can be taken, if a thing can be taken it can be used against you.
Never name your spells save as a trap for your rivals, apprentice.

My character just made a custom spell as a scaled up icicle dagger meant to be a fireball equivalent. it can also be cast on other people to give them a temporary single casting of it

The character themselves isn't one for being showy so now its just called "Gult's Javelin" But they have currently been marked as magical Moses by the settings magic god so me and the DM agree it would probably be named something silly and extravagant like "Holy Lancet of the Ice Maiden" post Campaign.

>>44960550
>Using a spell against the wizard who has enough power, and knowledge on the subject to have created it by his own means
Yeah, good luck with that.

>>44960488
Yep. I'm a massive slut for them, and >>44957181
I'm also fond of quoting scripture being part of a spell's incantation/name.

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>>44949073
Probably because I'm simple, I like it when spells that have very simple names are profoundly powerful. Maybe they have an older, darker, more sinister origin and use. Like an olde magik kind of feel.

>Haunt
>Nightmare
>Wish
>Weird
>Hold
>Drown
>Absorb
>Multiply
>Succumb

etc

>>44960639
>Implying script kitties can't crash a system using code they don't understand.
You don't count your life in plural decades, do you?

>>44960806
The inverse is equally satisfying.

I usually give spells names for sheet purposes but the names never come up in play. The sheet might say something like Fireball or Summon Familiar but whoever knows when it comes up it gets a description and that's it.

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>>44960488

Don't forget martial techniques with the same naming style.

>Big Four Arcanum ~ Knock Out in Three Steps
>Feat of Strength ~ Storm on Mt. Ooe
>Sword Skill ~ Sword of Ebullience
>Clenched Fist ~ Deadly Wind of Penitence
>Divine Fist ~ Hell Thrust from Above the Clouds

Getting to do this is one of the many pleasures of playing wuxia settings.

>>44965582
As my setting is totally Wuxia with mostly European overlay I am totally going to do this!

That said I do have Asian and Middle Eastern areas in my world as well.

>>44965582
I like these because there's plenty of room for completely over-the-top references to mythology/religion or anything else thematically relevant e.g. all of the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=711z-Z_Awwo

>>44949073
If I was a wizard and invented a spell, I would name it something dirty like "I Love Elf Dicks", and then anyone who casts it would have to say the name every time.

I'm a massive autist and get a nerdboner when spell names are really archaic and mystical sounding, more in the vein of a spoken incantation or some manner of sign. However, because I lack creativity when it counts, these names usually end up sounding like bastardized Latin, or whatever other language I might be inspired by at the time.

Most recently, I've been looking at the Shouts from Skyrim when it comes to a sort of naming framework. Spells are comprised of words that each work in tandem when used together. Think .hack, which someone brought up earlier.

Given that I tend to end up in games where "spells" are semi-intelligent actors, interacting mostly with other spells, I tend to give them names like "Fred" and "Dave".

>>44966769
>fucking wizards

>>44967437
Nobilis?

>>44966769
>If I was a wizard and invented a spell, I would name it something dirty like "I Love Elf Dicks", and then anyone who casts it would have to say the name every time.

This is why magic names are always in a foreign language so that the listeners won't understand.
"Hey that guy is chanting some hardcore as fuck german!"
"Oh man, he's speaking latin!"

When it's all done just to hide them from knowing he has to chant that he loves elf dicks.

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>>44956372
and then you have sorcerers that recite their bad romantic poetry as they pull wild magic from the air

>>44949073
>the best sort of incantation, but hard to do in a game
He chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying.
Then sudden Felagund there swaying
Sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power,
Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
And trust unbroken, freedom, escape;
Of changing and of shifting shape,
Of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps.
Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and miht he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words.
Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond,
The sighing of the sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand,
On sand of pearls in Elvenland.
Then the gloom gathered; darkness growing
In Valinor, the red blood flowing
Beside the Sea, where the Noldor slew
The Foamriders, and stealing drew
Their white ships with their white sails
From lamplit havens. The wind wails,
The wolf howls. The ravens flee.
The ice mutters in the mouths of the Sea.
The captives sad in Angband mourn.
Thunder rumbles, the fires burn –
And Finrod fell before the throne.

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>>44949073

>I haven't read The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, or Rhialto the Marvellous, but I'm going to talk about spell names anyhow

Op pls

>>44974783
I've only heard of one of those.

>>44949073
i like the idea of pretty much all spells having there creaters names at first but after a while unless the mage is really famous people just stop bothering to add the name.

>>44950428
what other names could you have for magic missile

im sure we can come up with a list of names to rival the alliteration armarda

im a little ashamed that i cant think of anything myself though

>>44956055
i like it

i generally dont use settings where meeting a mage is uncommon enough to brag about but i could still see the basic idea of somebody in the tavern exaggerating a spell they saw somebody cast.

>>44956554
eventually he had to resort to more and more extreme methods to get himself off

>>44957181
This seems like a pretty good way to go about it.

>>44949073
I prefer using Latin words for spells, or use other dead real world languages like ancient Greek, something oriental or Quechua

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One idea I had is constructing spells or sigils out of word squares like this one. Obviously the words have actual Latin meanings, but imagine something like

Sator - Fire, burning

Arepo - Throw

Tenet - Burst

O - Including, Pera - Man

Ro - Excluding, Tas - Land

And you'd get a spell that shoots forth, bursting on impact and burning every man it lands on while not affecting the surrounding environment.

>>44976316
Underrated post.

>>44949073
Being me, and loving my poison magic, I love it when a spell is named something sickly. Contagion, Blight, pathogen, carrier, anything that denotes that the spell is going to fuck the body up in some way.

>>44981049 It's a nice idea, but palindromes mean every term comes with consistent extra baggage.
>fire is never associated with land
>throwing is always associated with people
:/

>>44981575

I've got a good word for you next time you want to brew up a spell.

>Malaise

>>44981592
You're a champion. Gonna tuck that one away for later.

>>44981579
Wouldn't have to be a palindrome, could be something like

L A Y O

A G S I

Y S I R

O I R A

>>44977557
Arcane Arrow
Blazing Bolt
Conjured Crossbow
Dazzling Dart
Enraptured Explosive
Flashy Firearm
Ghostly Gun
Haunted Harpoon
Nothing Starts with I
Jaunty Javelin
Can't think of a good K
Laser Lance
Magic Missile / Mystical Musket
And I'm bored trying to think of more, so I'll stop there.

>>44983515
i love them.