I had three different ideas related to magic come to me today.

• What are the effects of light emitting spells on infravision?
• Cursed item idea.
• Luck Blade Idea.

Light Emitting Spells and Infravision

Fireball, lightning bolt, light, shocking grasp are all light emitting. 

What is the effect of using them in the dark?

Infravison, ultravision, and normal vision would all be seeing spots if in a certain range and not killed. Even the caster would be affected.

At least the next round possibly -2 to -4 to hit. Casting spells might not go where you want.  You might accidentally heal an opponent in the fight, or wound an ally.

I think we’re used to light spells, lanterns, torches, candles, and campfires spoiling infravision, but I don’t recall ever having a DM rule that casting lightning bolt, fireball, or other light emitting spell does anything to vision.

Similarly, a lightning bolt should produce a thunderclap. How loud will this be underground or indoors where the sound wave is bounded? Will it cause a ringing or other issue with hearing? Will it give a penalty to hear noise?

Cursed Item

My idea for a cursed item can be anything, a book, scroll, ring, weapon, or other mundane item. If the person suffering under the curse can’t get remove curse, their only recourse is to give it to someone who willingly accepts it —as long as they do not know it is cursed. One might suspect it is cursed, but only if they know it is cursed can they avoid taking on the curse.

If the cursed person gives it to someone who knows it is cursed, their only recourse is remove curse or other magical means.

Luck Blade

A luck blade is a +1 weapon with one to three wishes. What if a luck blade were also an intelligent sword, but it had no more wishes? I see a couple of possibilities:

The blade long ago granted it’s last wish and is now “merely” a +1 blade, but it longs for the glory days of having such power within. It might be boastful, needy, cowardly, smug, or helpful. It might have vague, unreliable memories of the past locations of ancient rings of wishes, genie lamps, scrolls, etc. The locations are so ancient that they now lie in buried ruins, sunken cities, or someone in the more recent past has already found and removed the item(s). The removed items might have had their wishes used.

Another way to handle this is that while intelligent and no longer having any wishes to grant, the sword still thinks it has wishes. Somehow the “counter” of how many wishes it has is broken, and it will say it has 1d6 wishes available, and never less than one.

Perhaps it secretly knows this but strings along it’s bearer hinting about the possibility of granting wishes if the bearer completes a great deed. Once completed, the great deed’s achievement is somehow flawed, or they say the wish will bear fruit once the time is ripe. Anything to avoid admitting they don’t have any wishes left.

Maybe there is a way to truly restore its ability to grant wishes by performing some great deed, but the sword and bearer have to work together to figure out what that is.

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