Vecna’s Spellbook

In conversation with Mystech, he suggested that mage hand was simply the only surviving spell among many mage [body part] cantrips. I went straight from there to “mage hand is an echo of the power of Vecna on Oerth,” so that implies the existence of a mage eye cantrip, a very scaled-down version of arcane eye and clairvoyance. (Mage eye has been changed to use the possessive form, because it feels less like a pun and more like annoying auditory confusion with a common pronunciation of magi.)

Mage’s Eye

Divination cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a drop of vitreous humor)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

When you cast this spell, you draw an eye on a surface of at least one square inch. The eye appears to open, and it is obviously magical. Until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action to see through that eye instead of your own eyes, as long as you are on the same plane. You continue to see through the eye until the spell ends or you use a bonus action to see through your own eyes again.

The eye shares your visual senses and can see in the direction that the eye is facing. If you have the blinded condition or visual impairment, the mage eye doesn’t have that condition or impairment unless it gains them separately.

Claw of the Undying King

Necromancy cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (fingerbones of a spellcaster)
Duration: Instantaneous

One of your hands becomes skeletal and suffused with disruptive necrotic energy. Make a melee spell attack against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 necrotic damage, you learn the name of any spell or effect that it is concentrating on, and if that creature forces you to make a saving throw against a magical effect before the beginning of your next turn, you can roll 1d6 and add the result to your saving throw.

The spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).

Lore of the Whispered One

3rd-level necromancy (wizard)

Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (parchment that previously held a spell scroll)
Duration: Instantaneous

When you prepare this spell, you write the sign of Vecna on your spellbook so that you can perform a rite that is a secret even to you. When you cast this spell, you reveal the spells that were prepared for you in secret. Choose three spells that you are able to prepare but don’t have prepared. Those spells become prepared spells for you until you finish a long rest.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, you prepare one additional spell for each slot level above 3rd.

Design Notes

Okay, people like to dunk on chill touch for being neither cold damage nor a touch, and that’s completely earned. All I want to add to that is that:

· You should write lore for specific spells, because learning things about your spells and their history is a great way to get players invested in lore. You’re learning something cool about the thing you already own!

· Chill touch should obviously melee spell attack or ranged spell attack, just like a lot of spellcaster stat block special actions are getting.

Most of what I would say about mage’s eye is in the intro section.

Claw of the Whispered One is a bit Mage Slayer adjacent, and it’s designed on some assumptions that don’t completely work in the new NPC spellcasting frame. The whole conception of defensive magic, including defensive components of offensive spells, has to be reworked for the new model of special actions, so I don’t feel too bad about not presaging it.

Lore of the Whispered One is intended to be an emergency tradeoff between spell slots and spell prep. Sure, you can get to a level where a 3rd-level slot doesn’t matter; you can also get to a slot where three more prepared spells is a luxury. This was originally a 2ndlevel spell, but I bumped it up to 3rd to avoid a Spell Mastery exploit, and it was originally a divination, but I moved it necromancy (admittedly an arguable decision on the theme side) to avoid an Expert Divination exploit. Necromancy and divination both need the love, of course.

It would make me really happy to come up with a nice constrained function of this spell that worked for sorcerers, warlocks, Eldritch Knights, and Arcane Tricksters. I don't see how to make that work yet; the issue is the decision paralysis and resulting game slowdown of "all the spells you don't have" across multiple books. Creating a constrained list of 10-15 SRD spells is appealing on one level, but it's no coverage at all if that has to get stretched across a bunch of spell levels. I dunno.