Specialization spell for before 1st era games

Art by Luigi Castellani from the "Spears of  the Dawn" free art pack

The rule in brief: with this rule every spell-caster can specialize in a particular type of magic, when they specialize they will learn a "specialization" spell for each spell level they can use, such a spell when cast will let the caster choose a specific effect between a short list of spells (5 for each level usually) at the moment of casting.

This article is a modification of the Instant Spell Recall a spontaneous magic option for Vancian OSR systems rules. By changing a few assumption it catch 2 birds with one stone. In fact it represent specialization and it gives mage spontaneous magic in the framework of Vancian magic (cast and forget). Furthermore such a specialization can be also be seen as pact magic, as the spell can be easily represented as a special kind of magic that can be learned only if the spell-caster makes a pact with supernatural entity (gods, daeva, demons, faeries, dragon, immortal, aliens or whoever is able to give spell knowledge).

The spell for each level are are very similar to the ones presented in the previous article with the presence of a 1st level spell that let the spell-caster chose between 5 cantrips/orison (0th level spells)

Specialist Spontaneous Spell 0 - cantrip (1st level spell) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S + spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a single spell from a list of 5 (five) 0th level spells, the list is defined by the mage specialization.

Specialist Spontaneous Spell I - 1st level (2nd level spell) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S + spell components

When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a single spell from a list of 5 (five) 1st level spells, the list is defined by the mage specialization.

...

Specialist Spontaneous Spell VIII - 8th level (9th level spell) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S + spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a single spell from a list of 5 (five) 8th level spells, the list is defined by the mage specialization.

Once a specialization is chosen it's the same for each spell level (the Game Master can opt for multiple specialization but this should be unusual and with some restriction). Furthermore the GM can decide that such a specialization is at the cost of prohibited spells/schools or (for pact magic) at the cost of specific geas/quest.

let's see how two list of common specialization spells would look.

Spell  Level	Black Mage	White Mage
1'	Obscure Poison: Makes poison detectable only if the caster of the detect poison can make an Int roll. Inflict Minor Wounds: Touch attack, 1 point of damage. Un-Light: dispel a Light cantrip Breaking: Makes minor damage on an object. Putrify Food and Drink: Putrifies 1 cu. ft./level of food or water.	Cure Minor Wounds: Cures 1 point of damage. Detect Poison: Detects poison in one creature or object. Guidance: +1 on one skill check. Light: Object shines like a torch. Purify Food and Drink: Purifies 1 cu. ft. of food or water. Resistance: Subject gains +1 on saving throws.
2'	Bane: Enemies take -1 on attack rolls and saves against fear. Cause Fear: One creature of 5 HD or less flees for 1d4 rounds. Command: One subject obeys selected command for 1 round. Curse Water M: Makes unholy water. Hide from Undead: Undead can’t perceive one subject/level.	Bless Water M: Makes holy water. Cure Light Wounds: Cures 1d8 damage +1/level (max +5). Divine Favor: You gain +1 per three levels on attack and damage rolls. Protection from Evil: +2 to AC and saves, counter mind control, hedge out elementals and outsiders. Shield of Faith: Aura grants +2 or higher deflection bonus.
3'	Death Knell: Kills dying creature; you gain 1d8 temporary hp, +2 to Str, and +1 level. Desecrate M: Fills area with negative energy, making undead stronger. Enthrall: Captivates all within 100 ft. + 10 ft./level. Hold Person: Paralyzes one humanoid for 1 round/level. Undetectable Alignment: Conceals alignment for 24 hours.	Delay Poison: Stops poison from harming subject for 1 hour/level. Gentle Repose: Preserves one corpse. Remove Paralysis: Frees one or more creatures from paralysis or slow effect. Restoration, Lesser: Dispels magical ability penalty or repairs 1d4 ability damage. Zone of Truth: Subjects within range cannot lie.
4'	Animate Dead M: Creates undead skeletons and zombies. Bestow Curse: -6 to an ability score; -4 on attack rolls, saves, and checks; or 50% chance of losing each action. Blindness/Deafness: Makes subject blinded or deafened. Contagion: Infects subject with chosen disease. Speak with Dead: Corpse answers one question/two levels.	Cure Serious Wounds: Cures 3d8 damage +1/level (max +15). Daylight: 60-ft. radius of bright light. Remove Blindness/Deafness: Cures normal or magical conditions. Remove Curse: Frees object or person from curse. Remove Disease: Cures all diseases affecting subject.
5'	Death Ward: Grants immunity to death spells and negative energy effects. Giant Vermin: Turns centipedes, scorpions, or spiders into giant vermin. Planar Ally, Lesser X: Exchange services with a 6 HD extraplanar creature. Poison: Touch deals 1d10 Con damage, repeats in 1 min. Repel Vermin: Insects, spiders, and other vermin stay 10 ft. away.	Discern Lies: Reveals deliberate falsehoods. Dismissal: Forces a creature to return to native plane. Divination M: Provides useful advice for specific proposed actions. Neutralize Poison: Immunizes subject against poison, detoxifies venom in or on subject. Restoration M: Restores level and ability score drains.
6'	Command, Greater: As command, but affects one subject/level. Insect Plague: Locust swarms attack creatures. Slay Living: Touch attack kills subject.. Symbol of Pain M: Triggered rune wracks nearby creatures with pain. Unhallow M: Designates location as unholy.	Atonement F X: Removes burden of misdeeds from subject. Break Enchantment: Frees subjects from enchantments, alterations, curses, and petrification. Hallow M: Designates location as holy. Raise Dead M: Restores life to subject who died as long as one day/level ago. True Seeing M: Lets you see all things as they really are.
7'	Create Undead: Create ghouls, ghasts, mummies, or mohrgs. Geas/Quest: As lesser geas, plus it affects any creature. Harm: Deals 10 points/level damage to target. Planar Ally X: As lesser planar ally, but up to 12 HD. Symbol of Fear M: Triggered rune panics nearby creatures.	Banishment: Banishes 2 HD/level of extraplanar creatures. Forbiddance M: Blocks planar travel, damages creatures of different alignment. Heal: Cures 10 points/level of damage, all diseases and mental conditions. Heroes’ Feast: Food for one creature/level cures and grants combat bonuses. Undeath to Death M: Destroys 1d4 HD/level undead (max 20d4).
8'	Blasphemy: Kills, paralyzes, weakens, or dazes nonevil subjects. Destruction F: Kills subject and destroys remains. Symbol of Stunning M: Triggered rune stuns nearby creatures. Symbol of Weakness M: Triggered rune weakens nearby creatures. Word of Chaos: Kills, confuses, stuns, or deafens nonchaotic subjects.	Dictum: Kills, paralyzes, slows, or deafens nonlawful subjects. Holy Word: Kills, paralyzes, blinds, or deafens nongood subjects. Regenerate: Subject’s severed limbs grow back, cures 4d8 damage +1/level (max +35). Restoration, Greater X: As restoration, plus restores all levels and ability scores. Resurrection M: Fully restore dead subject.
9th	Cloak of Chaos F: +4 to AC, +4 resistance, and SR 25 against lawful spells. Create Greater Undead M: Create shadows, wraiths, spectres, or devourers. Symbol of Death M: Triggered rune slays nearby creatures. Symbol of Insanity M: Triggered rune renders nearby creatures insane. Unholy Aura F: +4 to AC, +4 resistance, and SR 25 against good spells.	Antimagic Field: Negates magic within 10 ft. Cure Critical Wounds, Mass: Cures 4d8 damage +1/level for many creatures. Dimensional Lock: Teleportation and interplanar travel blocked for one day/level. Holy Aura F: +4 to AC, +4 resistance, and SR 25 against evil spells. Shield of Law F: +4 to AC, +4 resistance, and SR 25 against chaotic spells.

Instant Spell Recall a spontaneous magic option for Vancian OSR systems

Art by Joyce Maureira from Scarlet Heroes free Art Pack

Instant Spell Recall I-VIII is a group of spell that let the spell-user to use an higher level spell to have the possibility to chose which spell to memorize between a small group of lesser level spell.

Instant Spell Recall I (2nd level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S + spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a single spell from a list of 5 1st level known spells (known spells are spells that were understood and wrote on the spell-user spell book), the spell-user will decide these 5 spells when he memorizes Instant Spell Recall. 

Instant Spell Recall II (3rd level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S + spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell he is able to cast a spell from a list of 5 2nd level known spells (known spells are spells that were understood and wrote on the spell-user spell book), the spell-user will decide these 5 spells when he memorizes Instant Spell Recall.

Instant Spell Recall III (4th level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S+ spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a spell from a list of 5 3rd level known spells (known spells are spells that were understood and wrote on the spell-user spell book), the spell-user will decide these 5 spells when he memorizes Instant Spell Recall.

Instant Spell Recall IV (5th level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S+ spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a spell from a list of 5 4th level known spells (known spells are spells that were understood and wrote on the spell-user spell book), the spell-user will decide these 5 spells when he memorizes Instant Spell Recall.

Instant Spell Recall V (6th level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S+ spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell  she is able to cast  a spell from a list of 5 5th level known spells (known spells are spells that were understood and wrote on the spell-user spell book), the spell-user will decide these 5 spells when he memorizes Instant Spell Recall.

Instant Spell Recall VI (7th level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S+ spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a spell from a list of 5 6th level known spells (known spells are spells that were understood and wrote on the spell-user spell book), the spell-user will decide these 5 spells when he memorizes Instant Spell Recall.

Instant Spell Recall VII (8th level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S+ spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a spell from a list of 5 7th level known spells (known spells are spells that were understood and wrote on the spell-user spell book), the spell-user will decide these 5 spells when he memorizes Instant Spell Recall.

Instant Spell Recall VIII (9th level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S+ spell components

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell she is able to cast a spell from a list of 5 8th level known spells (known spells are spells that were understood and wrote on the spell-user spell book), the spell-user will decide these 5 spells when he memorizes Instant Spell Recall.

This article present a simplified version of the Polyspell this option don't need a repertorie.

Human as demi-humans in OSR rule systems

Art by Andrew Krahnke
from the Spears of the Dawn free art pack

The Adventurer Conqueror King System has one of the most extensive tool set to build balanced custom class, firstly presented in the Player's Companion and then extended in books and articles (most notably in the Heroic Fantasy Companion with a lot of new classes and some magical systems and the Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu with a lot of racial values).

The class system has also a "custom race" value that helps the creation of demi-human classes.

What we did was to create a "human custom race" in terms of the ACKS class system on one hand to recreate the already presented human classes and on the other to have ready tools for creating new human classes. We already had human with racial levels in Barbarians Conqueror of Kanahu (page 143 of the book Terran Custom Classes).

Why? Well the principal reason was to had a way to recreate the more advanced classes of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in ACKS terms, thinking of this I had also an inspiration to add a little more fluff to this article.

The First Empire (1st E.)
The First Empire, the Empire, the Great Empire was the first to unite Human, Dwarf, Elves and others under One banner, was the first to control the eight seas and the one hundred thousand rivers. The first, and only one, to dominate the world for ten thousand years. The First Empire was truly cosmopolitan, and the various race mixed freely, after ten thousand years the humans of the empire were a little more sophisticated than the barbarian from outside the empire, an unique mix of different bloods, culture and traditions made them special. Only the First Empire Human can hope to follow the paths of the thousands of special martial and magical traditions (classes) that flourished in the First Empire.

1st E. Human Value

Value	1st E. Human	Cost*	Max Lvl
4	Human + Thievery 4 (15 skills)	1500	9
3	Human + Thievery 3 (10 skills)	1000	11
2	Human + Thievery 2 (5 skills)	500	12
1	Human + Thievery 1 (3 skills)	300	13
0	Human (Heroic Spirit)	0	14

*NOTE: the cost of Heroic Spirit is not much (maybe 25 xp) so I decided to balance this to fudge the numbers. I'll lower the cost of  0 Value in Human so to not mess the cost of existing classes, and I will increase progressively the cost of the additional Thievery. To keep it nice I have simply calculated a cost of 100 xp per number of Thief skills.

Giving Humans a Thievery value permit the creation of a great number of custom classes since the Thief skills from the thievery value can be converted in various powers with the "custom powers trade-offs" rule

Here an example class built with this system

Art by Luigi Castellani
from the Spears of the Dawn free art pack

1st E. Human Loremaster (hd 1d4, max level 12th)
Mage 4, Human 2

Loremaster are mages specialized in knowledge and languages. They roam the world in search of knowledge both mundane and arcane and so are easily encountered in adventuring party.

The character will have all the ability and spells of the standard mage.

This character will advance to 2nd level at 3000xp, human 2 will give him thievery 2 (5 skills).
Custom Power Trade off (First Draft)
1: 1 skill at 1st level
2: 1 skill at 2nd and 1 skill at 12th
3: 1 skill at 3rd and 1 skill at 11th
4: 1 skill at 4th and 1 skill at  10th
5: 1 skill at 6th and 1 skill at 8th

1st E. Human Loremaster level progression

Experience	Title	Level	Hit Dice	Powers
0	Scholar	1	1d4	Loremastery
3'000		2	2d4	Prestidigitation
6'000		3	3d4	Bonus Languages (+4 languages)
12'000		4	4d4	Read Languages (at will, casting time 1 turn)
24'000		5	5d4	--------
48'000	Doctor	6	6d4	Speak with Animals (1/hour, casting time 1 turn)
100'000		7	7d4	-------
200'000		8	8d4	Speak with the Dead (1/8hour, casting time 1 turn)
300'000	Loremaster	9	9d4	Speak with Plants (1/day, casting time 1 turn)
500'000	Loremaster of the words	10	9d4+1	Command of Voice
700'000	Loremaster of the planes	11	9d4+2	Contact Otherwordly Powers (1/week, casting time 1 turn)
1'000'000	Loremaster of the ages	12	9d4+3	Longevity

Polyspell an option for spontaneous casting, a middle step between classic vancian and sorcery

Art by Luigi Castellani, from the Scarlet Heroes Art Pack

Polyspell is a spell that when casted enable the wizard to use a spell of lesser level than the polyspell from his repertoire (a short list of known spells).

So there will be Polyspell I (a 2nd level spell) to Polyspell VIII (a 9th level spell), differently from a lesser wish or wish spell the Polyspell can be used only to cast spells from the mage repertoire and only using the required components (you cannot cast a Fireball w/out bat guano for example) and paying the requested penalty from the spell (if for example you use a Polyspell VII to cast a Limited Wish).

In short you sacrifice an higher level spell slot for the flexibility of being able to decide which spell to use at the moment of casting.

Repertoire

The repertoire of a spell-caster is equal to 3+number of spell slot. So a 3rd level magic user (2 1st level spell slot and 1 2nd level spell slot) will have a repertoire of 5 1st level spell and 3 2nd level spells).

A spell repertoire is permanent until changed, to put a spell in his repertoire the mage must take 1 week per spell level and spend 1000 gp in various materials, furthermore the mage needs his spell book with the spell to be put in the repertoire on it.

Once in a repertoire spells can be memorized (or locked see: Recharging Spell a Vancian optional system) without the spell book, this is a good reason to have a repertoire even without a polyspell ready. (this option can be ignored by the DM).

I have a longer article on repertoire here: Inner book a repertoire of spells for old school spell-users

Polyspell I (2nd level) Conjuration/Summoning

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell the effect is to be able to cast another repertoire (see before) spell of 1st level.

Polyspell II (3rd level)

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell the effect is to be able to cast another repertoire (see before) spell of 2nd level or less.

Polyspell III (4th level)

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell the effect is to be able to cast another repertoire (see before) spell of 3rd level or less.

Polyspell IV (5th level)

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell the effect is to be able to cast another repertoire (see before) spell of  4th level or less.

Polyspell V (6th level)

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell the effect is to be able to cast another repertoire (see before) spell of  5th level or less.

Polyspell VI (7th level)

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell the effect is to be able to cast another repertoire (see before) spell of  6th level or less.

Polyspell VII (8th level)

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell the effect is to be able to cast another repertoire (see before) spell of  7th level or less.

Polyspell VIII (9th level)

Duration: Istantaneous	Casting Time: 1+spell casting time
Saving Throw: none	Area of Effect: self
Range: self	Components: V, S

Description: When the spell-caster cast this spell the effect is to be able to cast another repertoire (see before) spell of  8th level or less.

Art by Nikola Avramovic, from the Silent Legion Art Pack

Designer's Notes

It's been a few years since a lot of system have incorporated the "sorcery" spell system, a sorcery system is a spell-casting mechanic where spell-casters have a short list of ready spells, a repertoire in ACKS terms, and they have spell-slots to cast them.

First seen as the special feature of the Sorcerer class in the third edition (A)D&D (hence the name) it is now the standard system of the 5th edition of D&D and the system of choice of one of the best OSR game out there, the Adventurer Conqueror King System.

The philosophy behind my rules is to keep changes at minimum and to have them ready to be used in any old school D&D inspired games.

Here I wanted the possibility to cast spontaneous spell as a resource but not as the normal casting method, and without resorting to rituals or other system that give ulterior resources to casters.

Furthermore I wanted it to be as Vancian as possible (but as discussed in Recharging Spells a Vancian optional system with some difference).

Curiosity: this is a variation of a system I first published on rec.games.frp.dnd on 1996/09/23 here the link: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.games.frp.dnd/7jMpLKyf77U/PsxoML8kqg8J

there I used two spell of the same level for a similar effect, and I didn't give a repertoire out of the box, following the previous link you will find also other useful spells :-) have fun!

Dark Albion Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Appendix 3

The Dark Albion setting book is an excellent exercise in how to use the old rules in a historical setting, we have said something on the whole book in the Dark Albion Cult of Chaos and the Rose War reviews and we will come back to the two books in some future, and separate, post. Since a brief description as in the previous review is just not enough to transmit the exceptional value of the two books.

In this article we will concentrate on a small part of the book, Appendix 3 which weigh 21 pages on 275 pages of contents. 

And this 21 page are very interesting, classes that perfectly fit into Dark Albion and rules tuning for using the Fantastic Heroes & Witchery retro-rpg in the Dark Albion setting.

So let's get back to Appendix 3 of Dark Albion, it's divided in 7 subsection:

• Character Races
• Character Classes
• More character Classes
• Albion as a Low-Magic Campaign Setting
• A Simple Cosmology
• New Spells
• Summoning Magic

Character Races

Since in the Dark Albion setting we have only human, this is quite a short paragraph, but longer than what you could expect. We are introduced to three "non human" that look very human: the Changeling, the Cursed One and the Fey Touched. The three of them are reskinned races from the FH&W rule book.

Character Classes

In this chapter we have new classes for the Fantastic Heroes & Witchery (see next paragraph) that are lovingly tailored to the Dark Albion setting, they are:

• The Cleric (of the Unconquered Sun): this are a fighting friar with skill in armor and combat plus the prayers as presented in the FH&W book (you can call upon specific powers rolling a dice, each time you call upon a specific power the difficulty to beat rise by one starting by 0; also turn undead is a prayer; the dice goes from 1d6 at 1st level to 3d12 at 13th)
• The Cymric Bard: an almost classical bard, spontaneous casting (as sorcerer of 3.x edition) of nature and illusion spells, countersong, inspire allies and legend lore.
• The Demonurgist: a bad news character class, more apt for NPC or for an evil bent campaign. Quite interesting
• The Hedge Witch: A nice presentation of the witch, a mix between druid and magic user. Not an evil class, but surely a class that will have some problems in the Dark Albion setting.
• The Magister: a twist on magic user coming from Cambridge or Oxford, must choose between white or gray magic at the start but than can try to learn black magic with great risk and slowly loosing his previous spells. Furthermore the Magister is a master of rituals and from 9th level can memorize spell in higher level slot to apply meta-magic effect to them.
• The Noble Knight: master swordsman in shiny armor. In a setting where being part of the aristocracy is an huge advantage the Noble Knight know how to make their status part of the equation.
• The Warrior: master of the fight, are further detailed in 3 "sub-classes" with specific class skill and special abilities: Bandit, Gallowglach and Knight-Errant.
• The Yeoman: master of the Bow, they are higher up than peasant and dedicate themselves to mastering the bow gaining the ability (at 11th level) of doing impossible shots.

More Classes

Here we have almost a full page discussing which classes from the FH&W book can be used and how much they would feel out of place in the Dark Albion setting, this is necessary because the FH&W rule set has lots and lots of classes, if you consider just the main rulebook you have: 

14 Traditional Fantasy - Core Classes (fighter, thief and so on; p. 27-39)
10 Traditional Fantasy - Racial Classes (your elf eldritch archer, halfling scout etc.; p.40-49)

7 Weird Tales - Alternate Classes (psychic, rifleman or wild brute; p. 51-58)

6 NPC Classes (Fighting-man, clergyman etc.; p.129-131)

4 religious variant classes of previous core classes (p.147-149)

30 religious variant classes based on type of deity (p. 149-153)

3 Champions classes (agents of law/chaos and neutrality - the classic clerics and druid; p. 157-159)

6 Additional Classes (in appendix 12; p.394-402)

to all this classes you can add the ones you find in the free downloads section of the Heroes and Witchery site where you can find also a compiled list of all classes (except the ones in Dark Albion).

So it's easily understandable why it's needed a page just to discuss which class can be adapted to the setting and which would prove more alien to it.

Albion as Low-magic

Two short paragraph for two options, the first option introduce spell failure (that goes from 0% of failure for spell cast at night to 10% of failure (per level of the spell) for Necromancy (and others) spell cast inside a temple of the Unconquered Sun; the second option suggest using the optional "Danger of preparing spells" mechanic from the FH&W book.

Albion's Cosmology

Almost a full page on the planar aspects of Dark Albion, a fun read that present 4 plane (underworld, celestial realm, ethereal and astral).

New Spells

Two new spells related to the underworld

Summoning Magic

Here are presented two incantation (rituals as presented in the FH&W book) related to demons: Call Infernal Myrmydon and Infuse Demonic Talisman.

Conclusions: a very fun and useful appendix for a great (really great) setting book. A nice addition to the plethora of classes and option that are the signature of the FH&W system.