Shaping Spicy Spellcraft: How To Personalize Your Spells And Abilities In TTRPGs
How To Reflavor Your Spells
Spellcraft is one of the quintessential tropes within many stories of the fantasy genre. Whether it is the bastardized Latin and swishy wand movements of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series or the esoteric martial arts of something like Avatar The Last Airbender, every spellcaster has a unique flavor to them that makes their magic system sing with creativity. So, how can you make your TTRPG character or non-player character have a fun and unique form of casting their spells? Well, dear reader, join me as we go from cantrips to cataclysms and break down the myriad ways you can add a bit of spice to your spells.
What Does Personalizing Your Spells Even Mean?
First, let's start with an example. In Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons, the spell fireball has the following components and description: "Components, Verbal, Somatic, and Material(A tiny ball of bat guano and sulfur). A bright streak flashes from your pointing finger to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with a low roar into an explosion of flame."
While adequate, the fireball spell evokes a particular image of a wizard pointing at a location and sending it spiraling into an instantaneous explosion with the force of a small firebomb. However, what about a druid or cleric who casts the same spell? While they can utilize the same description in the book, there are a billion other ways to describe your magic beyond just pointing at a single location and saying, "Die."
Why You Should Reflavor And Recontexualize Your Spells
You spend your spell slot and roll for damage, the game's mechanics facilitate the effects, and you move on. Why would you need or want to flavor your spell beyond what the text implies? My counter to that is, why describe your character? Why play with funny voices or write your own story?
First off, because it's fun. However, secondly and arguably more importantly, flavoring your spells allows you to express yourself in a unique and memorable way. It helps to get you and the others at your table into character and, if done right, can inspire others to do the same, deepening the game's impact and giving you a sense of deep immersion you could never have thought possible.
Spellcasters Aren't The Only Ones Who Can Get Spicy
Before we get into how to personalize your spells, it's important to state that this guide isn't just for spellcasters. While the magically inclined will likely get the most out of this article, they aren't the only ones who can flavor their abilities. Fighters, monks, barbarians, and even the less magical rangers or paladins all have non-magical skills that can be recontextualized to add more flavor and pizzaz. For example, a battle master using their shoving attack, can slam a shield into their opponent, punch them in the face with a mailed fist, or swipe with a grand sweep of their axe and set the enemy on the back foot.
How To Make It Your Own Taste
Finally, we get to how to flavor your spell casting.
Choose A Theme: The most memorable spellcasters in modern literature have a theme and tropes they fall into regarding their spellcasting. If you are a warlock of the fey, perhaps your magic has a theme centered around colorful lights and glitter that trails behind your eldritch blasts. Maybe an arcane trickster utilizes shadows to bend the light around their illusions and craft beguiling magics. The sky is the limit here, but settling on a core theme can inform your spellcasting as you learn new magics and set you on the path of making something uniquely you.
Interpret The Rules: While you don't want to break the rules, for example, using a lightning bolt in replacement for a divine smite, there is a certain level of flexibility in the magic systems of various fantasy RPGs. While the components for fireball are bat guano and sulfur, not everyone will have to use the same. You can interpret those material rules as meaning some kind of explosive components. Flint, volatile chemicals, alcohol, or unrefined oil are all mildly flammable and can replace bat poop and sulfur for your character without changing the game's rules.
Verbal Components: ALAKAZAM! Magic words, sometimes called incantations, are a common trope from fantasy works, both contemporary and historical. However, your verbal components need not be just Latin phrases or gibberish. Bards can speak a poem in a thunderous voice and shatter their opponents, while a warlock may adopt a deep death metal voice as they growl their magics into existence. Play with different audio cues for your spells and find the one that fits your character.
Somatic Components: For anyone familiar with the Shonen anime Naruto you will be well acquainted with somatic components. Handsigns or wand movements that are practiced and precise to help the caster weave their magics into reality. But what if your character doesn't want to gesticulate madly? That's where characters such as Gandalf can be an inspiration. Your somatics can be as simple as lifting your staff to the heavens or clapping your hands together to perform alchemy.
Non-Magical Components: For more martial-minded characters, you won't need to shout obscenities in a dead language or wave your hands around to call down the hurt. Use what is on your character and allow the environment or your weapons to be your components. Use the hilt of your sword to disarm an enemy, or lick the blood from your axe and go into that barbarian rage. Just remember the theme of your character and try to think of a signature style for them as they engage with the mechanics of their particular fighting style.
Reflavoring Examples
Lastly, let's explore a few examples of how the classes of D&D can personalize their spells and abilities just to give you a little boost of inspiration and get those creative gears spinning.
Artificer- Casting scorching rays, the Artificer has a small lighter-like device with flint and steel. When struck, the lighter activates and draws some of the Artificer's natural magical energy into itself, creating small controlled explosions that can be manually aimed.
Bard- When trying to bless their allies with Heroism, the bard gives a motivational speech, acting as a hype person that bolsters the spirit of the party, making them immune to fear and able to push through light wounds.
Barbarian- Fury incarnate burns in the barbarian's chest, yet to access their most profound powers requires a calm rage. Like a blizzard that strips the flesh from unprotected mortals, their blood runs as ice, anxiety fleeing from their singular purpose, and they breath deep, the air filling their lungs as they prepare to push themselves beyond human limitations.
Cleric- Divine healing is more than just a simple incantation and application of magic. To cast the Mass Heal, the cleric must offer a portion of their very soul, entrenching themselves deeper into their God's grasp and letting go of a fragment of their humanity to embrace the divine. This process leaves them numb as they glow with the light of a seraphim angel that sears away the wounds of their allies.
Druid- Wildshaping into an animal sounds fun, but nothing is enjoyable about the process. The natural magics of the druid twist their body, breaking and reshaping bones, tearing and restoring muscles into new configurations. At the same time, the mind is compressed or expanded to fit the new skull. It is a painful process that is grotesque to witness as the druid's mortal body contorts and tears itself apart to create something new.
Fighter- Left without the ability to use magic, the samurai has mastered breathing techniques taught by the barbarian and can maximize the oxygen in their bloodstream, pushing their body to its physical peak. While they can gain a burst of speed and power, the body grows tired after only a few seconds of utilizing its full potential. Thus, they can only use their breathing techniques during a surge of action.
Monk- Being one with the universe and everything within it, the monk's extreme sense of sight, touch, hearing and smell allows them to predict the movements of their opponents, meaning their defense, while patient, nearly impenetrable as they dodge and weave between the attacks of their foes.
Paladin- Divine burning rage at the injustices committed by their foes drive the paladin to scream in fervor and chant holy texts while they swing their mace to crush their enemies. Shouting "SMITE" as they strike holy lightning crashes from the sky, imbuing their weapon with the power of unadulterated godly radiance.
Rogue- Stealth is more than creeping softly and sticking to the shadows. It's about creating subversion, distracting the opponents, and striking when they least expect it. The rogue always keeps the enemy looking in the vault while they rob the bank office, making their score on stolen bonds and evidence for blackmail.
Warlock- Selling your soul to darkness allows the warlock to call upon eldritch horrors. All of their magics, from Eldritch blasts to demon summoning, twist reality around them, fracturing their psyche and shattering the world like glass as the unnatural powers manifest from beyond the pale.
“Kill ‘em with kindness, and if that doesn’t work use this.” -The Bard Casting Magic Weapon On The Paladin’s Sword
