GLOGtober 2023 #6: Spell Gardens - how much can one banana cast?
GLOGtober 2023 prompts are here.
4. Gardening.
Spellbooks are passe. The wizard of taste scribes his spells in the foliage of a carefully maintained garden (large enough to have a nice sit and a thoughtful pace, though only fantastically wealthy wizards would have casting gardens of a strollable size). Carefully shaped bonsais, artfully arranged flowers, and cautiously creeping vines hold the magical secrets wizards draw upon.
A wizard's spells cannot damage their own gardens, except as intended. Whenever a wizard suffers a mishap while in their garden, they take minimum damage (if the mishap is a damaging one) and may automatically save against any effects that call for a save. Whenever they suffer a doom while in their garden, they may save. If they succeed, the spell fizzles and the doom is negated. Finally, when preparing spells exclusively from their garden, they can prepare an additional spell.
Even a small garden can hold dozens of spells, though a spell garden typically has a minimum size - one adequate to support some thoughtful pacing (if not casual strolling) and a few benches to sit upon while contemplating.
Of course, spell gardens require maintenance - a master gardener can be paid to upkeep them (between wages and supplies, typically around 2 GP per month, but could be significantly higher). Additionally, they are generally immobile, requiring that the wizard return to their garden to prepare spells anew. Typically, recording a new spell into one's garden takes a week of daily labor (about an hour per day) by the wizard (though this work is already done for spells gained on level up - you just need to put in some quick finishing touches).
1d30 Unusual Garden Decorations
- A wizened tree with a face. Once per day, can augury, but only to help you choose between one of two spells to prepare (5-in-6 of accurately picking a spell if able, always answers uncertain on a failure).
- A giant chrysanthemum with bananas for petals that fluctuate from green and unripe to brown and overripe from dawn to dusk. The bananas are delicious. Has about 2 dozen, and recovers 1d6 each day.
- An everflowing fountain, carved like a nymph pouring from an amphorae, that provides clean water for your garden. Can be directed into a particularly charming little trickling stream.
- A deadly nightshade plant with softly glowing flowers. To wizards, the poison is a pleasant hallucinogen (instead of a potentially fatal toxin).
- A verdigris-coated copper sundial that works without the sun, and always tells accurate time - in the dark, it casts a sunbeam instead of a shadow.
- A patch of soft clovers that are perfect for sleeping on. Mundane insects and other such creepy crawlies won't harass people relaxing in the patch.
- Creeping vines that with leaves that can be written on that acts as an immutable ledger (barring blade or fire, but any such damage will be obvious). Grows a page worth of leaves per week.
- Giant dandelions that passively exude soft-white clouds of glittering moonlight light.
- Giant sunflowers that radiate gentle yellow light and warmth.
- A garden gnome that, when unobserved, animates to defend the garden from small unwanted pests (the gnome has 4 HD and is 3 times as fast a man).
- Monarch butterflies that always find the climate of the garden agreeable.
- Toadstool mushrooms half as tall as a man. Make for incredibly comfortable seats.
- A rose bush. Each individual rose flower is a random color, and 1-in-100 smoothly and randomly shifts through all colors.
- A circular path through the garden that is continuously uphill when traveled in a counter-clockwise direction.
- A large bush that with nebula-patterned and colored leaves. The bush grows Cosmic Crisp apples in all seasons (Typically 1d6 are ready on any given day).
- A mirror pool, suitable as a focus for divination magic. Once per day, stare into it as you use divination magic to grant advantage or disadvantage to a related roll (such as advantage on an X-in-6 chance to make an accurate augury or disadvantage on a target's save to avoid scrying).
- A large tree with stained-glass leaves. The sunlight passing through its leaves creates brilliant patterns.
- A miniature rainbow, stretching from one end of the garden to another. Great for storing prismatic spells and other especially colorful spells (like color spray and hypnotic pattern) - it takes only a day to store such spells in the rainbow and it is basically impossible to meaningfully destroy.
- A wise talking owl that gives good (but not supernaturally so) advice in exchange for snacks. Doesn't like being woken in the day.
- A big coral that grows on land. Can be periodically pruned for neat little decorations.
- A handful of particularly aesthetic lanterns which can float around the garden according to visitor's wishes. Require no fuel and cause no fires.
- A virtuoso nightingale. It takes requests as long they're made politely.
- A gazebo that stays comfy and dry even in heavy storms.
- One of those little take-a-book leave-a-book library box thingies. After 1d6 days, a book left will be replaced with a book of similar value and interest level.
- A giant, high-quality quartz crystal.
- A bellflower mound that gently tinkles and chimes in the breeze.
- A weeping willow that exudes a happy-sad aura, like when you finish a book series you loved and are happy about the story but sad its over.
- A pond with lily pads. The lily pads can support your weight and are supernaturally easy to balance upon.
- A single black rose, in a silver base, under a crystal dome.
- A patch of chocolate cosmos that also taste like fine chocolate.
1d6 Garden-Variety Spells
- Bottle Garden - Bottle your spell garden for transportation, leaving fertile soil behind (and requiring fertile soil). To bottle a garden, you must cast this spell with enough [dice] for the number of spells stored in the garden: 1 [dice] - up to 4; 2 [dice] - up to 8; 3 [dice] - up to 16; 4+ [dice] - any number of spells. The bottle takes up [dice] inventory slots. It takes about a week for a garden to settle in a new location and be usable to prepare spells, and you shouldn't bottle it again for at least a month.
- Fantastic Foliage - Target plant or garden decoration permanently gains a fantastic aesthetic that can be described in [dice x sum] words. Mechanical effects should be minor - no light brighter than a candle, no sound louder than softly speaking. Doesn't stack.
- Mend Garden - You repair up to [dice x sum] damage dealt to target garden, divided as you choose among any number of components.
- Rearrange Garden - Target garden comes to life for [sum] rounds and rearranges itself per your direction. Each thing can move about half as fast as a human. At the end, plants and such take root and settle in their new locations.
- Conjure Garden Pixie - You conjure a tiny pixie that serves loyally for [sum] days, so long as its tasks are gardening related. It flees from danger. It has a little bit of magic that allows it to perform gardening-related tasks as well as a full-size human.
- Garden Gate - You teleport to your garden. The garden must be within (per [dice]) 1 - 10 miles, 2 - 100 miles; 3 - 1000 miles; 4 - any distance.