Wizard Matchbooks

You're a wizard. You're really well-established in the magical arts. You can create life from non-living material, fly and shoot lightning out of your eyes. It gets to be that you think: "Hey, I'd rather spend my headspace remembering spells to shatter the boundaries between reality than how to illuminate stuff or detect an invisible something..." So you make wands or a staff and then one day it hits you. What can you carry in your pocket, with a little one-time shot of magic, easy, handy and convenient. A book of matches. Strike one, and your spell's done.

You start making simple stuff and then realise, "Hey, I could do a lot with this..."




Each matchbook has 1+2d4 matches left in it, and 95% of the time these matches will all have the same effect. Wizards and alchemists are known to not generally announce the effects of matches and will simply mark the book with a symbol of some kind, like an artist signing a painting. Most other wizards will recognise another's work from the symbols and be able to identify them, even if they are not fully aware of the effects.

Unless stated otherwise, matches burn for 5+d10 seconds.

1. Relbek's Lighter
Match stays lit for 24 hours.

2. Morangi's Deafener
When the match burns halfway down (approx 5 seconds after being struck) a clap of thunder is released, deafening anyone or anything within 100 feet, and potentially startling/alerting creatures up to 400 feet away. No accompanying air rushes or lightning.

3. Agmar's Personal Deluminator
The person who has struck the match is rendered invisible until the match burns out.

4. Merrial's Light Denial Sphere
Generates a sphere 20 feet in diameter around the location where the match was struck. Lasts until the match burns out and does not move with the match. Other light sources outside and within the sphere do not work (although torches will not go out, the light will simply not travel).

5. Corin's Globe of Quietessence
Upon being struck silence falls for 20 feet around the match. Noise does not radiate outwards or penetrate the boundary, which moves as the match moves.

6. Ribaldo's Impossib-light-y
Match only lights underwater.

7. Tabier's Reducer
Match being struck burns a HD off someone within 20 feet. 75% chance that it is the person/creature you're thinking of, 1% chance it is you, otherwise a random being (but not the creature you were aiming for).

8. Hawley's Inferno
The match flame is like a flare and burns with intense heat and light for 5+d10 minutes.

9. Walter's Compromise
The match lets out the sound of a cannon going off, but the flame opens any non-magical lock it touches (burns for 10+d20 seconds).

10. Mottle's Pointless Reversal (aka, I Want To Burn Your Fingers You Thieving Swine!)
Striking the match causes the matchstick to burn from bottom to top and vice versa. No other effects.

11. Tymion's Echoes
Possibly opens a brief window to somewhere else, or is a strange recording. When struck a voice calls out in a desperate manner, "Roberta? Oh Roberta where are you? I can't find you, I need you!" Voice responds to party voices, but never answers questions directly. I can hear you but I don't understand..." After d6 minutes the voice trails off with a series of sobs.

12. Zaubini's Big Flaming Dog Summoner
Summons a Big Flaming Dog (3HD, AC as leather but see below, d6 flaming bite). If hostiles present will automatically lunge for biggest hostile. If no hostiles or otherwise commanded, will be totally obedient to match striker in the usual dog way. Match burns for d4 minutes. When the match burns out, is dropped or the dog is otherwise killed it disappears with a howl that persists for d10 minutes and follows the person who struck the match. Flaming bite deals fire damage on a roll of 5 or 6 for damage.