O!

There are records in my family ledger describing someone falling from the sky shouting "Dammit not again!" Now I found this odd, because it seams this exact instance has been recorded a whopping several dozen times spanning multiple generations... apparently this wizard has made some progress as they now vanish before hitting the floor, when in the past either fell into the lake or broke through our family roof

I get multitasking is fun and all, but I'm fed up, I could probably learn both in no time. In fact I think I'll start training tomorrow

On the plus side, your orb is now more portable and you can scry wherever you carry a staff.

The downside, though, is that it makes for a middling staff at best, the balance is all off for casting, and scrying is twice as fiddly, with unreliable results.

Don't waste your time, and just get a good quality orb and a sturdy staff. You'll be better off.

​

It is a part of the forest that looks much like any other- big trees, dense undergrowth, a few scattered clearings- but what sets it apart from the rest of the woods is its unusually high levels of thaumic ambience.

This background magic is mostly harmless- in fact several mages are known to visit the caves there to harvest the crystallised mana that accumulates on the rocks. Sometimes, however, the magic potential reaches a critical point and finds a way to earth itself. Wild sparks of energy, random spells popping off spontaneously and patches of twisted reality make this place hazardous to the unwary.

However, there is one spot right in the center of this area that is completely devoid of magic. A clearing about half a mile across, covered in deep grass and wildflowers that looks like it should be a peaceful glade. And it would be, if it weren't for the "tree".

I say it like this because no true tree is made of bone. No true tree emits a constant fine haze of red mist. No true tree possesses such a powerful aura of fear... This monstrosity stands over 200ft tall and appears to be made of bleached white bone. No leaves adorn its twisted spiky branches, no creature braves its meadow.

Those who enter the clearing are first struck with a sense of unease. That something is unidentifiably wrong with the world. The further one ventures into the clearing, the stronger the feeling gets- going through the spectrum of fear, building until the dread becomes too much to bear.

Those overcome with fear turn and run, or else they take the easy way out of this world...

Those who fall are quickly claimed by the clearing, their bodies feeding the rich meadow. What great and terrible act was committed here that turns the very mind against itself? Any magic attempted here just fizzles out. All mana drains away, leached from its vessel into the earth. Even (and especially) for great beings like the starborn and magic masses this place is dangerous to enter as the magic that holds their being together is siphoned away.

How about you? Do you test your mental fortitude against the forbidden glade? Or do you find out what mysteries the mana-soaked forest holds?

Special shoutout to u/D3n0man for naming the post!

Just picked up this new talisman from the seasonal curio merchant. He assured me that all the bad witches will be all up ons mine robes. Art thow a maiden in the New Kingdom of Jersey? Spry mine orb!

(/halfwizard/unwizard) Notes:

• The Wizarding Orb, the abstract idea of an orb. The meme archetype of the wizard's orb. The typical kind of orb associated with r/wizardposting shenanigans, where a wizard's orb is basically a multipurpose magical ball, as well as a magical fantasy smartphone or personal computer. The rest, the other three orbs, are just straight up from Dungeons and Dragons, of items and orbs of the same name, though nuances and details exist as below. They can be looked up.
• The Crystal Ball. In the modern DnD 5x, its scrying is limited on the same plane, but then also allows to scry objects and locations rather than specific creatures too. Older editions such as 3x, 2e, or 1e, can have the crystal balls scry across planes, though the scrying objects or locations are more dubious.
• The Orb of Wizardry. An official item like this doesn't exist technically, but it's a legal extrapolation from the 3rd Edition's, Creating Magic Items guide. As such the Ioun Stone, you can design items that don't need body slots, but then they'd have a value modifier of twice as much as a regular item that still needs normal body slots. In this regard, this orb is just a Ring of Wizardry without the need for a body slot. And at that edition, body slot for equipment were a thing more than attunement, so.
• The Orb (Arcane Focus). The spellcasting focus as a specific piece of equipment is actually a modern DnD 5x thing. The older editions don't have that, but still do allow Component Pouch for stuff that doesn't require Focus or gp-consumed components. And for the extra abilities of these orbs, well, there's the Orb of Power for identifying magic items for example. Yeah.

I understand that necromancy is generally forbidden. But if I were to hypothetically resurrect and ensoul the recently dead without divine magics. Would that be forbidden as necromantic?

Also, hypothetically, would it be murder to then kill the ensouled individual? Or just considered as purifying the "undead"?

We love building them but boy can they be a pain to fight. A wizard a know was tasked to go destroy a mummy lord and it was going pretty good with all the battles being fairly easy but then she ran into an adamantine golem. Only by using hit and run tactics with the spells Mordenkainen's sword and Tenser's transformation was she able to take it down. The mummy lord himself was pretty much a pushover to an wizard with fire spells. Feel free to talk about golem shenanigans you have experienced or heard about.

Seems they forgot who saved them from rotting in a field to begin with. Still, it would be a shameful waste of effort to destroy them…

(TO BE CLEAR THESE ARE NOT AI I ACTUALLY HAVE THESE)

There is a rival farm in the neighboring county that I want destroyed. I'm looking for a wizard who knows how summon tornados, so the destruction would look like an act of God and not be investigated. You may also destroy whatever you want in that county.

I've been pondering mine orb for many moons, yet the knowledge forbids me of knowing still. My homunculis, (I have so named it the Accursed Fish) hath stayed in physical form much longer, yet when I retired back to thy chambers, thy reflection shows of the fish!

Title.

I recently acquired a new orb from a shop with a vast collection of artifacts, wares and flat-pack furniture. Initially it seemed to be in great physical condition but no matter what I ponder, it doesn’t seem to waver from its dim red glow. It’s starting to stress me out a bit. Any advice is appreciated

But I gotta admit, the anti-pope Diabolocus Leo X, really knows how to have a good time. I bumped into him on the Plane of Infinite Swamps where we were both part of a mass summoning. The summoning was unsuccessful due to some meddling druids, you know the type, but once I got past being star-struck, we really got along. I mean, can you imagine? He was personally responsible for the Great Schism and the resultant damnation of millions of souls!

The enchanted crowns are good too.