What happens when your attention waivers when trying to cast that tricky spell?
What about using a magic item you don’t understand?
Troika! has a fantastic set of rules for spells going wrong and a brilliant ‘Oops!’ table of magical effects for when a spell goes wrong.
I’m working on a fair way to integrate these effects into my 5e campaign, I think spell failure adds a huge amount of fun to the game. The wild magic Sorcerer is proof of that!
Here are a few more ideas for unwanted magical effects:
| D12 | Oops! |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your body is mirrored, but your understanding of space is not. For example, when you try to move your right arm, your left arm moves instead. |
| 2 | You get a scratch in your nasal cavity and immediately sneeze out a small beetle. For the next Ud6 hours, you loudly and painfully sneeze out another beetle every few minutes. |
| 3 | Every bone in your body disappears and will regrow over the next 2d6 days. You count as prone at all times until fully healed. |
| 4 | You forget how to speak your first language. If it is your only language, it is replaced with another. |
| 5 | Your hands become slippery as though coated with butter. This effect lasts until you can find an effective degreaser. |
| 6 | Every metal item on your person sparks and crackles with electrical energy for 1 minute. Whenever you come close to anyone (5ft) the electricity arcs to a metal object on their person and deals them 1d6 lightning damage. |
| 7 | You cast another spell of the same level at random. If the spell requires a target, you are the target. |
| 8 | You swap places with the nearest person. |
| 9 | It becomes night time. Everyone’s body clocks are affected appropriately. |
| 10 | You summon a small imp from the plane of darkness. The imp speaks none of the languages you understand but seems to regard you favourably. It is testy and aggressive towards everyone else. |
| 11 | It begins raining in a 10ft radius around you. The rain has no effect on you other than to make you wet. It has a detrimental effect on the mood of other people who come close enough to be under the rain, making them hopeless and despondent. |
| 12 | Your true thoughts become audible for anyone nearby to hear, as though you were speaking them aloud. |
Harry The GM 
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