Most Impactful Spells on Dungeon Exploration

Fine, FINE…TAKE MY MONEY!!!

…oh, wait - what product was that?

In all seriousness, I think Autarch could do with getting several (smaller?) products rolling out the door. It makes the company, and the system, seem much more alive and interesting to potential buyers (i.e. those who aren’t yet Autarch customers). I also happen to think the game could do with a few modules structured to highlight gameplay assumptions and differences with ACKS, particularly with mid- to high-level play (and I will fully admit to being unsure of how to do this, exactly, since the system is almost entirely compatible with what has come before, and many of the coolest properties are emergent through play).

And we look forward to giving it to you!

A small-region sandbox for mid-level play would be publishable, I think. Something like Pathfinder’s Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale or any of the FGG Hexcrawl Classics, but ACKS’d. I also think Domains at War: Campaigns is just waiting to have some modules written for it - it would be quite funny to do campaigns from existing fantasy settings using canon numbers and watch the Good Guys get steamrolled by the hordes of orcs who are meanwhile starving for lack of sufficient supply…

Sleep is far and away the most campaign warping - it lets a low level party punch way above their weight class and turns any NPC encounter into a wizard into a potential TPK.

For clerics, Hold Person is an extremely impactful low level spell (and not limited to nuking low level characters like Sleep).

Thanks for the feedback.

I’m working on it. Aaaaaahhhhh

Sleep is also a good reason for your 1-spell-per-day level 1 Mage to shine once a day… Maybe it could be altered for a shorter duration as an area effect spell with a save rather than based on Hd and lacking a save.

I would add Phantasmal Force into the mix for combat. I don’t know if it was because of the magic item I received that let me cast it, but I became very used to my mage using the hell out of that spell in low level B/X. Having a phony frontline to soak hits and distract is so useful as well as the fun of a illusionary fireballs that knock humanoids unconscious.