Create Magen: Playing with Dolls

Usable By: Wizard

Spell Level: 7

School: Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 hour

Range: Touch

Duration: Instantaneous

Components: V, S, M (a vial of quicksilver worth 500 gp and a life-sized human doll, both of which the spell consumes, and an intricate crystal rod worth at least 1,500 gp that is not consumed)

While casting the spell, you place a vial of quicksilver in the chest of a life-sized human doll stuffed with ash or dust. You then stitch up the doll and drip your blood on it. At the end of the casting, you tap the doll with a crystal rod, transforming it into a magen clothed in whatever the doll was wearing. The type of magen is chosen by you during the casting of the spell.

When the magen appears, your hit point maximum decreases by an amount equal to the magen's challenge rating (minimum reduction of 1). Only a Wish spell can undo this reduction to your hit point maximum.

Any magen you create with this spell obeys your commands without question.

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden added three new spells to the game. Create Magen is a new toy for wizards to play with that gives you a tool to build however many CR 1-3 construct allies you’d like.

Three magen exist that you can spend an equal amount of gold on to create: Demos, galvan, and hypnos magen. All of them have the normal qualities you’d expect a construct to have, and the fiery end trait that destroys their bodys on death. Demos magen’s primary job is attacking. They come with multi attack, and make it with a Great-Sword for a solid 4d6+4 damage a round. Galvan magen have a Shocking Grasp like attack, and a recharge 5-6 4d10 Lightning Bolt ability. Hypnos magen come with a 2d10 psychic damage attack, and an at will Suggestion that seems very powerful, albeit with a low save DC.

Overall, they don’t seem overtly game warping on their own, but the critical element to consider about Create Magen is its odd limitation. For each 2k gold you cough up, you also need to lose some max HP to make them. This makes them less disposable than a lot of other creatures. This isn’t a spell that you’ll use to create endless armies, but a small army once at a steep cost potentially. If you only want two or three, the CR to cost is fairly low. Each one is offering way more hit points than they cost to create to your team, but in a way that is limited should it die. Five multi-attacking great-sword wielding monsters for 15 HP seems like a great deal to me, and I imagine is nearly always more game warping than the loss of a few levels of HP is in the upper tiers. This is the kind of spell that you’re to want to cast a dozen times for thirty-ish hit points, and can completely trivialize some encounters while you bring a battalion of construct soldiers armed with lightning canons and mental control tools to bend the world to your whim as you sit on the ethereal plane or invisible in the corner.

The ultimate restriction here isn’t the HP, but the gold cost and access to components. Very clearly this spell was made with the intention of it being something you do a handful of times a campaign. When used that way, it’ll probably feel like a party magic item or companion. In this case, it's still an excellent 7th level spell. If you’re ever pushing the boundaries and spending 40,000 gold on this, you are in for a treat as your private defense squad of constructs batter anything that comes within spitting distance of you. It can be busted with lots of money. It’ll probably just feel like a uniquely costed once or twice a campaign ally for most though.

5e Spells

Create Magen: Playing with Dolls