OSR: Calcomancer
- seeroftheabyss
- Jul 21
- 17 min read
This is a sub-class for my Wizard class, which can be found here. Ideas borrowed heavily from Arnold K (see here).
Do not refer to a Calcomancer as a 'Fire Mage', as they will loudly and quickly correct you. Calcomancers are Magi who use their abilities to manipulate both heat and cold, which are two sides of the same coin, according to some Sages. Calcomancers aren't really the introspective type, however. They specialize in magic that is flashy, loud and effective.
Reputation:
Calcomancers are almost always Chartered Wizards, as having a group of people who can turn an enemy shield wall into a pile of charred corpses is simply too useful to have, no matter how much of a headache they might cause. Calcomancer Orders are most popular during war-time for that reason, as their Magi are valued as bodyguards and magical artillery. When there is no war, Calcomancer Wizarding Orders encourage their higher-ranked members to sharpen their skills by acting as bounty-hunters, monster-hunters and dungeon-delvers.
Calcomancers are feared by the common people, but not in the same way they are some other types of Wizard. Commoners and peasants do fear Calcomancers, but not because they are dabbling in powers beyond their ken or intruding upon God's domain. Rather, the peasantry are scared of them because wherever Calcomancers do, things catch on fire and explode. As such, while no one wants to live near the Calcomancers, they aren't thought of as blasphemers and demon-worshipers like some types of Wizard are considered. They are often considered reckless and dangerous madmen, but that's for much more sensible reasons.
Culture:
Calcomancers are usually trained as parts of Wizarding Orders, which maintain monasteries on the edges of cities and other civilized areas, far enough away that if some novice fumbles a spell he doesn't burn down a tannery by mistake. These Orders are often highly respected, for obvious reasons, but also because they bring lots of money and trade to the cities and communities near them. In these monasteries initiates live very similarly to religious brothers, learning scripture, mathematics and writing while living lives of poverty and obedience. They even send out the students and older members of the Order to perform charitable works for the people in town.
The similarities usually end there, as these students also learn meditation techniques, how to draw mana from their surroundings and spell-craft. Their "charitable works" are very different too; instead of feeding the poor, the students do things like hunt the monsters prowling the sewers or prune the groves of venomous trees that have sprouted in the public parks.
There are still Calcomancers who learn from lone masters in the less civilized parts of the world of course, but this has fallen out of fashion and not just because most of those older Hedge-Witches have blown themselves to bits or burned down too many barns. Through the modern Wizarding Order, Calcomancers have been able to accumulate knowledge and compare notes for the first time ever, in some cases.
This has not only enabled the development of more powerful spells, but also safer methods of spell-craft and channeling magic. While that may not seem very important, when you practice a form of magic where the most common cost of failure is setting yourself on fire or exploding, knowing how to safely use it is worth far more than privacy or independence.
Power: You can heat or cool things by holding them in your hands, or by blowing on them. You can heat things up to barely frozen or barely boiling. Can also light cigarettes by breathing through them.
Drawback: You haven't started a fire today or frozen something with ice.
Spell List:
1d20
1- Burning Armor
2- Chill Breath
3- Cone of Cold
4- Conjure Ice
5- Dead Air
6- Fireball
7- Flame Blade
8- Flaming Sphere
9- Flashpoint
10- Fogbank
11- Freeze Ray
12- Freezing Wind
13- Hailstorm
14- Heat Metal
15- Light
16- Pyrophobia
17- Shape Ice
18- Smother Flames
19- Wall of Fire
20- Wall of Ice
Rare Spells:
1d8
1- Conjure Liquid Air
2- Fiery Holocaust
3- Fire Storm
4- Hibernation
5- Salamander's Roar
6- Sleet Storm
7- Summon Blizzard
8- Sun Razor
Legendary Spells:
Absolute Zero
Solar Eruption
Spells:
Burning Armor
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R: self T: creature or self D: [dice] rounds
Superheat the air around your body. All within 5' take [dice] fire damage.
Chill Breath
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R: 100*[dice]' T: [sum] cubic feet of air D: [sum] minutes
Super-chills all the air within a large area. All people must save or start developing hypothermia unless outfitted for cold weather, all liquids have their temperatures lowered to just above freezing, and all fires are instantly snuffed out.
Cone of Cold
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R: 50' T:10*[dice]' cone D: one action
You blast a wave of freezing air from your hands. All within a [dice]*10' cone take [sum] cold damage. They may save for half damage only if they have something that could protect them from cold temperatures or frigid weather.
Conjure Ice
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R: 50' T: surface D: [dice] x 2 rounds
You cover up to [sum] 10*10' squares in a thick layer of ice. Creatures attempting any action in the affected areas must save or fall prone.
Dead Air
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R: 50' T: 50 cubic feet of air D: [dice] hours
Heat a pocket of still air to up to 70 degrees F or chill it down to 20 degrees F.
Fireball
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R: 50' T: [dice]*10' diameter D: 1 action
Deals [sum] fire damage in a [dice]*10' diameter circle.
Fire Blade
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R: 30' T: Yourself D: [sum] rounds
You wrap a weapon in a coat of flames. This causes that weapon to do 1d6+[dice] fire damage on a hit.
Flaming Sphere
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R: 30' T: creatures or objects D: [dice] rounds
You conjure a ball of fire 5' in diameter. Anyone who is struck by this ball of fire takes [sum] damage, save for half. Each round this ball of fire is in existence you may make an attack against any creature or object you choose, within range. The sphere is not limited to moving within 30' of you, only 30' of itself.
Flashpoint
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R: 50' T: [dice] objects D: 1 action
Heat [dice] objects up to their flashpoints. They spontaneously combust. Living creatures get a save, on a successful save, they do not burst into flames.
Fogbank
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R: 100' T: 100' diameter D: [dice] hours
Chill the air around you, creating an impenetrable bank of fog. Lasts for [dice] hours, unless it is sunny, or strong winds are present, in which case it lasts for [sum] minutes.
Freeze Ray
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R: 30' T: creature D: one action
Fire a ray of freezing magic at one target. Make an attack roll. On a hit, they take [sum] ice damage.
Freezing Wind
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R: 50' T: [dice]*10' line D: [dice] rounds
Hailstorm
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R: 100' T: [dice]*10' diameter circle D: [sum] minutes
A small area is pelted by hail and everyone not protected by a roof or solid shelter takes [dice] bludgeoning damage. This also damages structures and anything that could be hurt by large chunks of ice falling on it.
Heat Metal
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R: 30' T: [dice] metal objects D: [sum] minutes
[dice] metal objects within range heat up, doing [dice] damage to their owners or objects around them if they aren't dropped and giving anyone still holding a heated object -[sum] to do anything.
Light
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R: touch T: Object D: [dice] hours
Object gives off light that illuminates 20 + ([dice] * 10). For a successful attack roll, you can shove this into someone's face and force them to save or be temporarily blinded. If 4 or more [dice] are used to cast this spell, then the light has all the qualities of natural sunlight.
Pyrophobia
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R: 25' T: creature D: [sum] minutes
One creature must save or be frightened by fire for the duration. If faced with fire, especially large amounts of it, an affected creature must save or flee.
Shape Ice
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R: touch T: ice or snow D: concentration
You can shape ice as easily as clay.
At 1 [dice], you can only roughly bend and twist the ice, or easily plough through snow. At 2 [dice], you can craft elaborate objects out of ice, though they will be very brittle. At 3 [dice], you may enhance the properties of objects you shape. For example, a sword or a plate mail made of ice can be used as if they were iron, or a gown of snow will not fall apart. However, your creations are no more resistant to thawing than normal ice. At 4 [dice], your creations will be resistant to heat (prolonged exposure to fire will still melt them, though).
Pyrophobic creatures take double damage from fire.
Smother Flames
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R: 30' T: [dice] sources of fire D: one action
[dice] sources of fire are immediately snuffed out. If four dice are put into this spell, it can affect magical flames as well.
Wall of Fire
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R: 50' T: A line up to 10*[dice]' long D: [dice] rounds
The caster creates a wall of fire up to 10*[dice]' long and 10+[dice]' high. The wall can be any shape, as long as it is one continuous path along the ground. The wall of fire does [sum] fire damage per round to anyone inside it and does 2[dice] fire damage to anyone within 15'.
The wall of fire has [sum] HP takes no damage from physical weapons or anything that could not extinguish a fire. The wall persists until destroyed or the duration ends.
Wall of Ice
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R: 50' T: A line up to 10*[dice]' long D: one action
The caster creates a wall of ice up to 10*[dice]' long and 10+[dice]' high. The wall can be any shape, as long as it is one continuous path along the ground. Any creature within the area where the ice wall is created must save. On a success, they take [sum] cold damage and are partially trapped by the wall. They will then take [dice] cold damage a round until freed. Creatures that fail their save take [sum] damage and are trapped inside the wall, where they will begin suffocating after 1 round. Any creature that gets within 10' of the wall takes [dice] cold damage.
The wall has [sum] HP takes half damage from bludgeoning damage and double damage from fire. The wall persists until destroyed or until it melts, which is in [sum] days, unless it is in a tropical or excessively warm climate, in which case it will melt in [dice] days.
Rare Spells:
Conjure Liquid Air
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R: 30' T: container D: one action
You chill the air in front of you enough that it produces a smoking, super-cold liquid. Any creature who touches this metal takes 2d6 damage and all physical objects have a [dice]-in-6 chance of shattering like crockery hit with a bat if they suffer a violent impact.
If cast with 1 [dice], you can fill a glass. If cast with 2 [dice], a bucket. If cast with 3 [dice], a bathtub. If cast with 4 [dice], a small pond's worth.
Fiery Holocaust
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R: 100' T: creature D: 2[dice] rounds
One creature becomes engulfed in flames. For the duration, it becomes immune to fire damage. It gets +[dice] to Atk. This bonus is also added to defense rolls. It also does +2[dice] fire damage on a melee attack.
If cast with 3 or more [dice], the creature can also fly for the duration, gaining a fly speed equal to double their speed.
After the duration, the creature loses it's immunity to fire damage and takes 2[sum] fire damage.
Fire Storm
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R: 50' T: [dice] 10 x 10 x 10' areas D: [dice] minutes
You can create [dice] 10 x 10 x 10 cubes of fire that can be placed anywhere within range. Anyone inside one of these cubes when it forms takes [sum] damage, save for half. Anyone within 10' of one takes 1/2[sum], save to take no damage. Anyone within 30' takes [dice] damage. Anyone further away takes no damage at all.
This fire is non-magical and will ignite all flammable things within it.
Hibernation
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R: 50' T: creature D: 10 minutes
Target falls into a magical slumber and can't be woken by anything less vigorous than a slap (a standard action). Non-alert, unaware targets are not allowed a Save. While asleep, target appears very pale, with bluish lips, cold skin and no visible breath.
Can affect creatures up to [sum] HD and if [sum] is at least 4 times the target's HD, the duration becomes permanent (until woken) and the creature no longer needs to eat or drink while sleeping. With 3+ [dice], the duration also becomes permanent and you can set the only condition that will cause the target to awake (the sunrise before the apocalypse, true love’s kiss, etc.).
Salamander's Roar
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R: self T: All within the line D: one action
You exhale a blast of fire from your mouth that blasts forward in a line that is [dice]' wide and 10*[dice]' long. Any creature within this line takes [sum] fire damage, save for half.
Sleet Storm
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R: special T: indicated area D: [dice] hours
You summon a cloud or clouds which begin dumping snow or sleet on the affected area. In that area, all open fires are extinguished and all outside are buffeted by freezing winds. Visibility is dropped to 10' and all who do not have protection from the cold, proper clothing or are huddled near a source of warmth must save or beging suffering from exposure.
If cast at 1 [dice], the spell affects 30' around one building or inside one room. At 2 [dice], it affects one neighborhood. At 3 [dice], it can affect a whole town. At 4 [dice], it can affect a whole city.
Summon Blizzard
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R: [dice] mile radius T: area D: [sum] hours
You summon a great blizzard. Temperature plummets, winds start to blow, snowfall smothers everything. With more [dice], the weather becomes even more extreme.
Sun Razor
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R: self T: all within a line D: one action
You fire a burning line of super-dense fire and heat outward. You can move this line vertically or horizontally. Any creature hit by this line takes [sum]+[dice] fire damage, save to take no damage.
Legendary Spells:
Absolute Zero
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R: 100' T: creature or object D: one action
One object or creature is seized by your magic and stopped, absolutely. This causes it to lose all heat and plunge to the coldest possible temperatures. Any non-magical object is instantly destroyed. Any creature afflicted by this spell must save or die. On a successful save, the creature takes 2[sum] cold damage.
Additionally, every creature within 10*[dice]' of the affected creature or object takes [sum] cold damage, save for half, as the heat is torn from their bodies to warm up the absolutely freezing area near them.
Solar Eruption
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R: [dice] miles T: [dice]*1000' cube D: 1+[dice] rounds
You call down the searing fire of the sun. All creatures and objects within the affected area take 1/2[sum] fire damage on the first round, then [sum] fire damage for the rest of the duration. This is sufficient heat to cause anything flammable to instantly ignite, metal and stone to melt and living creatures to instantly burn to ash.
Chaos:
Triggered whenever you roll doubles on your magic dice. The Spell still goes through, but you get an additional effect.
Additionally, whenever you roll on the Chaos Table, you get 1d2 Doom Points.
1d20
1- All flames within 50' of the Wizard are instantly extinguished.
2- If this spell would do fire damage, it instead does nothing but produce a bright flash of light.
3- A random flammable object within 100' catches fire.
4- The weather changes. Reroll on the Weather Table.
5- For the next 1d20+4 hours, any fluid you touch freezes solid.
6- For 1d6 hours, you attract fire. Flames will try to reach out and embrace you if you stand close to them. The next time a fire damage spell is cast within 100' of you, save or it targets you instead.
7- For 1d6 hours, your body heats up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. This does not harm you, but it will set anything flammable you are holding on fire.
8- All water within 30' boils away.
9- Whenever you are agitated, you must save or set something you're holding on fire.
10- You constantly smell like smoke. -2 to any attempt at sneaking.
11- You now derive pleasure from watching things burn. When you have the chance to light something on fire, particularly something that would look cool while it burned (such as an expensive painting, a palace, etc) you must save or try to set it on fire.
12- Your next ice spell produces [sum] gallons of delicious ice cream. If the spell you just cast was an ice spell, it does that instead.
13- The next time you light a fire, it conjures a Fire Elemental. The Fire Elemental will want you to 1d4 [1= Fill out some forms to explain why you have been setting so many things on fire; 2= Provide it with fuel to burn; 3= Give it something expensive to burn; 4= Help it negotiate with an Elemental of a different type.] If you refuse to help it, each time you cast a Fire spell there is a 2-in-6 chance of the spell producing nothing but a jet of hot air until you help the Spirit or get it to leave you alone.
14- Your next fire spell heals a creature for an equivalent amount to the damage it would have done.
15- Malevolent fire demons will start appearing in your dreams and attempt to corrupt you with promises of knowledge and power. They want to trick you into opening a Gate to the Lower Worlds so they can enter your world and enact their own wicked agenda.
16- The next time you kill someone morally superior to you with fire, they are resurrected as a burning Spirit of Vengeance which pursues you until it kills you and drags you to perdition or you make amends to the loved ones of the person you killed. Each time the Spirit of Vengeance is killed, it returns to life in 1d3 days.
17- The next time you hit a piece of metal with fire, it transmutes into 1d8 [1= Copper; 2= Silver; 3= Fool's Gold; 4= Gold; 5= Good quality iron/steel; 6= Bronze; 7= Tin; 8= Radioactive uranium.]
18- For the next 1d6 hours, any metal you touch for more than 1 minute heats up till it glows red. You are not immune to any damage this might cause.
19- Roll 1d6. On a roll of 1-3, for the next 1d6 hours you leave burning footprints wherever you go. Your shoes are definitely going to burn. On a roll of 4-6, you leave frozen boot prints wherever you go. Your shoes freeze to your feet and if you attempt to remove them, you take 1d2 damage.
20- Whenever you light a fire, you see dancing images in it. These are visions of the future. These visions are 1d4 [1= Completely wrong; 2= Wrong, the opposite will occur; 3= Right, 50% of the time, otherwise they are just nonsense; 4= Always correct, but can be changed or affected by actions taken to prevent or ensure they come to pass.]
Corruption:
Occurs when you roll Triples. If you roll Corruption, the Spell fails.
Additionally, when you roll on the Corruption Table, you get 1d4 Doom Points.
1d20
1- You burst into flames. You take 1d6 damage per round until you extinguish the flames.
2- You start attracting lightning. Every time you are outside during a lightning storm, save or be struck by lightning. Lightning bolts do 3d6 damage and occasionally, much more.
3- You develop a craving for roasted human meat (or the flesh of your race, if not human). Whenever you kill someone with fire, you must save or feast on their flesh. Do this enough and you will turn into a Ghoul.
4- The next time you freeze someone to death, he will not actually die, but fall into a coma at 1 HP, though he will appear to be dead. When he thaws out, he will remember what happened to him and presumably seek revenge.
5- For the next 1d6 days, your fire can only burn 1d6 [1= Wood; 2= Cloth; 3= Metal; 4= Stone; 5= Flesh; 6= Water.] That one substance burns like gasoline for the duration, everything else is completely unaffected by the flames for the same amount of time.
6- The weather for 1d6+1 miles around you changes. For the next hour, the weather is 1d6 [1= Scorching heat; 2= Heavy Rains; 3= Snow; 4= Thunderstorms; 5= Thunderstorms with hail; 6= Tornado.]
7- The next time it snows, the snow will form 1d20+10 Ice Men (2 HD) who will want to (1d4 1= Kill you; 2= Kill people and offer them as blood sacrifices to you as you are their god; 3= Take you North to marry the Queen of Winter (who may not even exist); 4= Nothing. They will just rampage and go wild). It will keep snowing until the Ice Men are defeated.
8- The next person who dies by fire you caused curses you to "Taste the fires of Hell!" Until this curse is broken, you take double damage from fire. You can break this fire by serving a Dragon for a year or by killing one and drinking it's blood.
9- For the next 2d6 days, any building you sleep in has a Xd10% of catching fire in the night and burning down, where X is your Level.
10- The next fire lit by the Wizard creates hallucinogenic smoke. Those who are within 30' of this fire must save or suffer from hallucinations. These visions are 1dX [1= Nonsense hallucinations; 2= False visions of the future; 3= True visions of the future; 4= Horrific scenes of torture and torment.]
11- The next fire lit by the Wizard becomes Hellflame, inky black fire that consumes mana and life-energy but leaves physical objects undamaged. It will consume any life-force fed to it and rage out of control until it is starved of energy or extinguished with holy water.
12- The Wizard is frozen into a block of ice. He cannot cast spells, talk or move. He will also take 1 CON damage per minute until he is thawed out. If reduced to 0 CON, he dies of hypothermia.
13- For 1d6 minutes, in a 100' square area centered on the Wizard, it rains fire. All creatures not under shelter take 2d6 fire damage, save for half. Any fires started by this continue to burn naturally after the duration is up.
14- All 1d6 [1= Stone; 2= Wood; 3= Cloth; 4= Metal; 5= Water; 6= Smoke] within 30' instantly superheats causing it to catch fire, melt or otherwise react to an immense amount of heat being placed inside it. This does damage to creatures as per the spell 'Heat Metal' if they are touching such substances and may cause fires, as per normal.
15- 1d6 blistering lasers descend from the sky and move along the ground like tornadoes, cutting through anything in their way and setting flammable objects on fire. Any creature or object hit by one of these lasers takes 3d6 damage, save for half. The lasers can cut through anything that is non-magical or cannot resist extreme heat. The lasers move in straight or horizontal lines for one minute (10 rounds) after which they disappear.
16- For the next 1d6 days the Wizard no longer produces feces or urine, but instead produces searing-hot volcanic rock and burning oil respectively. This does not burn the Wizard when it leaves his body, but triggers fires and behaves normally once it has left the Wizard's body.
17- The Wizard learns that he has been abandoned by the Flames. The next time he attempts to cast a fire spell, it instead triggers a 3d6 explosion, save for half, centered on him. If he survives the explosion, he may cast fire spells normally once more.
18- Walls of Force (solidified mana) appear around the Wizard, trapping him in a 10*10*10' cube. The air within the cube then either begins to heat up or rapidly drop in temperature (50% of each). The Wizard is trapped inside until the walls of the cube are destroyed. The walls take half damage from non-magical weapons and are immune to poison, psychic, necrotic and radiant damage. They are also immune to the type of damage they are using to harm the Wizard inside- so one heating the Wizard will be immune to fire, for instance. The walls have 3d6 HP and the Wizard takes 1d4 damage per round he is trapped inside.
19- A pillar of fire rises by the Wizard and causes him to have a revelation. He believes that if he dives into the fire, it will 1d4 [1= Burn away impurities and make those exposed to it stronger; 2= Heal injuries; 3= Transport those who step into it to a different world; 4= Purify evil creatures or objects.] In reality, this belief is 1d3 [1= Completely false; 2= True, but not in the way you think; 3= True.]
20- The Wizard has a vision of a frozen, lightless world inhabited by unseen, but hungry creatures. He will go there whenever he dreams. If he dies in his dreams, his body disappears, leaving behind nothing but signs of a struggle and some smears of frozen blood. This is a Curse and can be broken by pouring molten metal on yourself or by stopping your heart and having someone restart it before the creatures from that dark, frozen world tear you to pieces.
Doom of the Calcomancer:
When you suffer Chaos or Corruption, you gain Doom Points. When you gain 10, 20 or 30 Doom Points you suffer the Doom of Fools, Doom of Kings and the Ultimate Doom respectively. You can escape this Doom, but only if you go on a quest to save yourself.
Doom of Fools- You erupt into a living inferno or ice storm (whichever is more appropriate). You fly around, shooting flames while being on fire and blowing shit up. Your only goal is the destruction of people and property, and you go about this task with insane, cackling gusto. Lasts 2d6 minutes.
Doom of Kings- As above, but lasts 2d6 days.
Ultimate Doom- As above, but permanent.
You can escape this Doom by journeying to the Sun and making a contract with a Noble Fire Spirit or by killing a powerful Ice Elemental (if such a thing exists?) or a Winter Faerie and eating their heart.
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