Tis not the moment still and dread, when sorcerers use their baleful power; when graves give up their buried dead, to profit by the sanctioned hour. -Matthew Lewis, The Monk

A cleric uses a magical glyph to seal an ancient crypt, trapping the evil within. A necromancer toils in a moonlit graveyard, animating a horde of undead minions. Many characters in Ravenloft possess the power to twist or even shatter the laws of nature for their own ends. Magic allows mortals to control men's minds, smite their foes with supernatural energies, or even grant life to the dead. In short, magic allows mortals to play at being gods.

Spellcasters native to Ravenloft have learned most of the limitations of magic through generations of research. Folklore is likewise filled with warnings against the risks of tampering with the laws of nature, though these superstitions often exaggerate or distort the truth. If a spell effect simply doesn't function in Ravenloft, most spellcasters believe that the effect is inherently impossible. They may even scoff openly at the though that such things may be possible in "other lands".

Spellcasters from other worlds have to learn how magic has been warped through trial and error. If you're playing an "outlander" spellcaster, you may want to skip this section to preserve the mystery and allow yourself to learn magic's secrets along with your character.

Abjuration

These spells would normally return an extraplanar creature to its home plane, but the Dark Powers don't allow such an easy escape from their realm. Instead, abjuration spells transport the creature to a random location within Ravenloft (but not across closed domain borders).

Astral

The Dark Powers severely restrict Ravenloft's connection to other planes. Although astral matter can be drawn into Ravenloft, any spell that would normally project a subject into the Astral Plane automatically fails. However, see "Teleportation".

Closed Domain Borders

No amount of mortal magic can overcome the effects of a closed domain border. However, a creature's natural or extraordinary abilities may render it immune to the effects of a specific border closure.

For example, a creature that has no biological processes, and is thus immune to poison by its very nature, wouldn't be impeded by a poison-based closed border effect.

Conjuration

Conjured creatures are more difficult to control in Ravenloft. In the round that the creature appears, it can attempt a Wisdom saving throw with disadvantage against your spell save DC. Success indicates that the creature escapes your control and can act freely. Generally, it will seek to return to its home dimension.

All summoning spells contain an implicit pact between you and the summoned being; when the creature has performed its assigned task, it's normally free to return to its plane of origin. Yet the Dark Powers severely restrict escape to other planes, preventing a summoned creature from leaving Ravenloft unless it can find an exit, like any other being. When the called creature attempts to leave Ravenloft after completing its task, and discovers it can't, the pact is broken. You lose all control over the creature, which is likely to feel betrayed.

A called creature's behavior once a broken pact frees it from your control depends on the creature's alignment. Evil or neutral creatures might try to destroy you in retaliation.

If you summon an elemental, the spell produces a dread elemental instead. These are the same as standard elementals save they have the Mists descriptor and their moral alignment is always evil. Such beings are conjured from the Mists themselves - the very planar fabric of the Realm of Dread

Alternately, a spellcaster can summon a creature that it knows exists within the domain they currently dwell in. For instance, if the spellcaster knows a hive of Dretches lurks below ground somewhere in Darkon, when they cast Summon Lesser Demons, they can instead call upon these specific Dretches instead.

Detecting Alignment

The Dark Powers shield evil in their realm. Any attempt to detect a target's moral alignment automatically fails.

Some spells can or must be defined as affecting a specific alignment. In these cases, you specify only the intended target's ethical alignment. The spell then targets any applicable subject with the chosen aspect in its ethical alignment. However, these spells can be specifically targeted to affect Innocents.

Magical effects that detect alignment only in an indirect fashion (such as Protection from Evil) often still work normally.

Death

Spells that slay a creature via Necrotic damage often return from the grave as undead creatures.

Divination

Divination is notoriously untrustworthy in Ravenloft, except in the hands of the Vistani. Attempts to peer into the future or petition one's god for guidance often produces misleading results or fails completely. It might be said that the Dark Powers want mortals to make their own choices, for good or ill.

The Dark Powers shield undead creatures in their realm. Such beings can always attempt a Wisdom saving throw to avoid any spell effect that would reveal their undead nature.

Scrying. Scrying other locations, as with the arcane eye spell, is more reliable but carries its own risks. These spells normally create an invisible sensor. In Ravenloft, they create a visible, ghostly sensor resembling the caster's own equivalent sensory organ. A creature can detect the sensor by making a Perception check against your spell save DC.

The caster may be vulnerable to attacks sent through the sensor. Visual sensors can channel gaze attacks and auditory sensors can channel sonic attacks. A vampire that notices the ghostly eye created by clairvoyance can target the caster with its domination gaze, for example.

Enchantment

Some darklords have the ability to control certain creatures within their domains. If you attempt to control the mind of a creature under the influence of a darklord, or try to free a creature from the darklord's influence, that creature stacks the lord's Charisma bonus onto its save. No creature under the influence of a darklord can be directed to attack that darklord; if ordered to do so, the creature flees.

Ethereal

Any spell effect that would normally transport a subject to the Ethereal Plane actually leads to the Near Ethereal, the borderland between Ravenloft and the Deep Ethereal. A character who shifts to the Near Ethereal is still within the Realm of Dread and cannot travel deeper into the Ethereal Plane.

The Near Ethereal is known by many names in Ravenloft. It's the Other Side in Mordent, the Gray Realm in Darkon, and the Spirit World in many mystical traditions. The Near Ethereal is a land of lingering memories and of the dead, where incorporeal undead linger, unable or unwilling to move on to their final rest.

Strong emotions can take on tangible form in the Near Ethereal (see Sinkholes of Evil).

Extraplanar

Although Ravenloft is located in the Deep Ethereal, by fiat of the Dark Powers, all spell effects functions as thought it were on the Material Plane. Creatures originally from the Material Plane elsewhere, such as a person from another world drawn into Ravenloft, are considered to be on their home plane. Only outsiders are considered extraplanar.

Illusion (Shadow)

Ravenloft has strong ties to the Plane of Shadow. Spells utilizing shadow material are more effective, but dangerous to cast.

Any spell cast involving shadows, such as Grasping Tentacles or Summon Shadowspawn, are cast at +1 spell level for free.

When the spell ends, you must make a Wisdom save against your own spell DC. If you fail, any shadow creations that haven't been dispelled spontaneously transform into true shadows. These monsters are free-willed and hostile.

Mind-Affecting

Undead creatures with Intelligence scores can choose to project false thoughts to those who use mental powers on them. An undead creature can project these false thoughts automatically (without need for a saving throw), but if the creature is unaware of the attempt to read its mind or caught by surprise, it cannot hide its true thoughts.

Typically, undead creatures project peaceful, friendly, and reassuring thoughts to lull the caster into a false sense of security. The creature can allow access to its true thoughts, if it desires.

If you attempt to contact an alien mind of an aberration, elemental, ooze, outsider, plant, darklord, or any creature suffering from any Madness effect, you must make a Madness save yourself. Druids and clerics with the Nature domain are exempt when contacting plants.

Necromancy

In Ravenloft, it's often easier to create undead creatures but harder to control them. Many Necromancy spells harbor enhanced effects or carry risks not found when cast in other worlds. Such is the peril of disrupting the natural cycles of life and death.

Teleportation

The Dark Powers allow teleportation spells to function in their realm - but only under their own rules. In Ravenloft, teleportation is instantaneous transportation through the Mists.

For most purposes, each domains within Ravenloft is considered a separate plane. No spell can transport anyone or anything across a closed domain border or out of Ravenloft.

Weather

Some darklords can control the weather in their domains, or at least exert an influence on it. Spell effects cannot override the darklord's control of the weather. The darklord may choose to let the spell work normally, but will be aware that this spell was cast, even if they take no action to thwart it.

Spells in Ravenloft

• Animate Dead. See Necromancy. This spell works almost too well in Ravenloft. Normally, you can raise one skeleton or zombie from a corpse or pile of bones. This spell allows a caster to raise up to three skeletons or zombies, without need to use a higher spell slot. After 24 hours, when you would cast this spell to maintain control over your created undead, they can make a Wisdom or Charisma saving throw to regain their autonomy. Undead who make this save will instantly turn on their creator.
• Antimagic Effects. These spells don't allow the caster to ignore the effects of a closed domain border.
• Awaken. If you awaken a plant to humanlike intelligence, it slowly and inexorably absorbs the taint of the Realm of Dread from the very soil. Once a month, the awakened plant must succeed on a Charisma save (DC equal the number of months that have passed since it awoke) or have its mortal alignment permanently shift to evil.
• Banishment. Any outsider or elemental targeted by this spell makes the saving throw with advantage.