Kobold Deep Magic Spell Cards

“Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written.”

—C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

With apologies to Lewis, citing the Deep Magic is exactly what we’re going to do now. And not just cite it. We’re going to look deeply at Deep Magic, making suggestions for where, when, and how GMs can add these spells, domains, and traditions to their campaign. And there’s a lot of it!

In addition to being made available separately, blood magic and void magic appear in the Midgard Worldbook while angelic magic, clockwork magic, dragon aspects, elemental magic, elven high magic, chaos magic, geomancy, hieroglyph magic, ring magic, rune magic, and shadow magic all get a mention in the Heroes Handbook. But Kobold Press continues to produce supplements introducing new magical traditions, new domains, and new spells. Recent offerings include combat divination, mythos magic, time magic, winter magic, and the latest—alkemancy.

Now before we go any further, let’s be clear upfront that it is absolutely fine to play in Midgard without any deep magic. And it is equally fine to throw the doors wide open and allow your players unrestricted access to every single bit of it all at once. Who doesn’t love more magic? But what I’ve done in my own campaign is kept the deep magic, well, deep. If they’re not a disciple of a domain or arcane tradition specifically concerned with a form of deep magic, then they have to encounter it in the course of play. I’ve (strongly!) encouraged my players to select the arcane traditions from Midgard—it’s part of how I strive to make my Midgard campaign feel distinct and unique and not blend into my other campaign set in the Forgotten Realms and elsewhere. But outside of the players actually studying a specific school, I introduce the deep magic slowly. Perhaps a helpful professor at the Collegium lets a promising apprentice copy from a restricted book. Perhaps the wall of a long-hidden tomb contains eldritch inscriptions that must be copied right then and there if the party is willing to pause and take the time. Perhaps a defeated foe left his or her spellbook lying around their lair and in among the more “mundane arcane” there are a few spells the players have never heard of. By making deep magic a surprise, a reward,[1] a favor, a hard-won treasure, or the result of a quest, it feels special. It feels hidden. It feels truly arcane.

By way of example, in my current Midgard campaign, we have a dhampir necromancer named Nethrys. The party is based in Zobeck and has made several excursions into the Margreve Forest. Recently they encountered shadow fey and were escorted along a shadow road. After this, Nethrys the necromancer chose the Ley Initiate feat—a choice justified by his experiences—and he will now begin to study Geomancy and have access to ley line spells. Our gnome wizard Keller Garrick (sadly not from Neimheim, just the regular variety) has selected the Time Warden arcane tradition. He’s apprenticed to Master Diviner Rudwin Whitstone at the Arcane Collegium of Zobeck. Whitstone has allowed him to copy some low-level time magic spells from the college’s library as a result of completing a quest for him (“The Vengeful Heart” from Tales of the Old Margeve), but time magic isn’t the Master Diviner’s specialty. He’s suggested that our gnome visit Bemmea if he’s serious about pursuing his studies. (While researching this article, I realized this is a slight flub, about which more later.) Our bearfolk, Toleri Hive Tender, a member of the Lodge of the Dancing Bear from Björnrike, has taken the Rune Knowledge feat. And in our now-concluded Southlands campaign, I added some hieroglyph magic to the spells listed in the book belonging to the gnoll necromancer in Grimalkin as a way of introducing that to our campaign there.