Magic: the Gathering Classic Decks

This was last updated around February 2000. I'm amused where below I claim a deck could cost you "$1,000 or more." That same deck today would be ridiculously expensive. I used to have it, too. Damn thief.

I have taken a look at all those decks out there. I mean the big ones, the stereotypes, the ones it seems everyone has made or hated for one reason or another. There are many different deck types described here.

The deck types I'll be talking about are:
the Reanimator deck,
the Weenie Creature deck,
the Direct Damage deck,
the Land Destruction deck,
the Discard deck,
the Poison deck,
the Library Depletion deck,
the Permission deck,
the Pestilence deck.

WIZARDS OF THE COAST, Magic: The Gathering®, and Magic® are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast. ©1998 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

The Reanimator Deck

The purpose of this deck is to discard monstrous creatures, then bring them into play from the graveyard for two mana. The chief cards of this kind of deck are Animate Dead and Dance of the Dead. With support cards that can help you discard your creatures without just waiting until you have 8 cards in your hand, these decks can be rather effective.

Cards that can help you discard your big creatures are Mind Bomb, Jalum Tome and Krovikan Sorcerer. All of these are useful because they do more than get your big creatures into the graveyard. The Mind Bomb will either force your opponent to discard or take damage. The Krovikan Sorcerer and the Jalum Tome will simultaneously put a big creature in the graveyard and give you a new card! How nice! Some favorite big creatures for these decks include Polar Kraken, Deep Spawn, and Leviathan.

This deck has it's natural enemies, of course. Among the enemies of this deck are: Tormod's Crypt, Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant. The first two, Tormod's Crypt and Swords to Plowshares, are enemies because they remove your creatures from the game, and make it impossible to get them back into play. Even the life-gaining benefit of the Swords to Plowshares doesn't help you when you can't damage your opponent. For that reason, I recommend adding Counterspells and Flash Counters.

Other cards that may be helpful in this deck include Twiddle (free untapping of any of the monsters), Strip Mine (get rid of that pesky Maze of Ith or Ice Floes), Norrits (untap your blue creatures), Homarid Spawning Bed (sacrifice one big creature to get a bunch of little creatures) and Meekstone. Believe it or not, Meekstone is mostly ignored by a lot of this deck. If you have to untap the monsters the honest way, some untap during upkeep. If you use Dance of the Dead, they untap during upkeep, too, ignoring the Meekstone. If you want to, you can cast Paralyze on your own creature, and be able to untap it for 4 mana. Paralyze also ignores Meekstone.

The Weenie Creature deck (and its variations)

Weenie creature decks come in many different varieties, but are all focused on the same approach to killing their opponent. You bring out little wimpy creatures and pump them up with enchantments and instants.

The White Weenie deck works mostly from the enchantments Crusade, Jihad and Angelic Voices, and the instants Army of Allah and Morale. Another addition that gives the White Weenie deck an edge is Armageddon. Since the deck itself mostly functions using 2-3 mana, it can survive after an Armageddon takes all land out of play. White also has a great deal of creatures that are advantageous to use, like White Knight and Order of Leitbur, which have protection from black and first strike, Tundra Wolves with first strike for one mana, and Pikemen, with first strike and banding for only 2 mana. Banding is a great edge for the white deck when it has to play defensively (which seldom happens). It means that the white deck will typically lose fewer creatures when it is forced to be defensive. This situation usually happens when it plays against another weenie creature deck.

Another great and widely used weenie deck is the red/green weenie deck. These decks bring out hordes of cheap creatures, like Scryb Sprite (1/1 flier for 1 mana), Ghazban Ogres (2/2 for 1 mana) and Ironclaw Orcs (2/2 for 2 mana). These are some of the cheapest bargain creatures in the game. When they attack, they do a lot of damage through Bloodlust, Giant Growth, Berserk (for type I), Fanatical Fever, and Stampede. Having green also gives you access to Regrowth, one of the most powerful cards in the game (IMHO). Having red gives you fast damage in the form of Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning and Incinerate. These can be used to finish off your opponent or to take out your opponent's creatures so yours don't get blocked. Some people like to use Forbidden Lore and Aegis of the Meek in decks like this, but I have always found these two cards to be too slow to be effective.

There are other varieties of weenie creature decks, like Thrull decks, Goblin decks, and Merfolk decks.  Each of these deck varieties are good in their own right. The thrull deck not only has bad moons to pump up your creatures, but also Thrull Champions. The Goblin equivalent is Goblin King, and the Lord of Atlantis helps out your merfolk. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Arguably, the Goblin deck is the fastest of the three, but all of the goblin deck's damage comes from red, which is the most widely-protected-against color in the game. Thrull decks always have to worry about protection from black creatures (there are quite a few) and Karma, and with the release of Ice Age, Drought.

Another variation on the weenie deck theme is the Unstable deck. The Unstable deck is based on smaller creatures, along with Unstable Mutation and Essense Flare to pump up their power. Combined with Giant Growth and Blood Lust, this can be a fast, formidible deck. The problem with using all these cards is you have a three color deck, and may not reliably get the right color mana to do anything.

The enemies of the Weenie Deck include Pyroclasm, Moat, Island Sanctuary, Wrath of God, Pestilence, Drop of Honey, and The Abyss. Pyroclasm and Pestilence will take out your creatures frequently, since typically your creatures have lower defenses. Wrath of God is bad because it will take all of your creatures out of play, but typically the weenie deck will be able to put creatures into play fast enough to recover from it. Unless you have flying creatures in your deck, Moat and Island Sanctuary will shut you down completely. The Abyss tends to just slow a weenie creature deck down to a crawl, since you are losing creatures every round. Your defenses against the cards mentioned include Shield Wall (the anti-clasm), Disenchant, Tranquility and deck speed. Your deck should be fast enough to overcome many of the obstacles I mentioned. White weenie decks tend to be weaker against flying creatures. The most popular white flier in a weenie creature deck is Mesa Pegasus.

The Direct Damage deck (and it's variations)

Direct damage decks tend to be very fast, and very furious, trying to take out their opponent as quickly as possible. A rather "go-for-the-jugular" approach to deck design. The main cards to decks of this nature are red, including Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Incinerate, Fireball, Disintegrate, and many other spells. Direct damage from other colors include blue's Psionic Blast and green's Storm Seeker.

Due to its destructive nature, red seems to be better protected against than the other colors. However, the advantage to these decks is their quick-kill capability. Unfortunately, with all this quick destruction, one card per turn is seldom enough for these decks. Often, you will want additional cards to be able to do more damage to your opponent more quickly. Some of your options include Howling Mine, Jayemdae Tome and Elkin Bottle. The Howling Mine allows you to draw one extra card per turn for free. However, it also conveys this benefit to your opponent. The Jayemdae Tome is much slower, costing twice as much as the Howling Mine to put into play, and costing 4 to use. However, later in the game, the cost of 4 is not bad when you consider what you will be casting will either be a lightning-bolt type spell (1 or 2 mana) or a fireball (which you could theoretically hold until the following round for maximum damage). The Elkin Bottle is good in that it costs one less than the Jayemdae to cast and use, and most of the spells in your red direct damage deck cost one or two mana, thereby reducing the risk that the card you draw will be removed from the game. However, if you decide to incorporate some of reds more expensive spells and creatures, you may want to take one of the other options.

The downfall to these decks, of course, is that red has so many cards against it, that are common, and most anti-red cards are inexpensive to cast. Circle of Protection: Red is the most infamous and difficult to get around once it is in play. Conversion and Justice are others. However, not all the anti-red cards are in white. Blue has its fair share.

One of the variations of the direct damage deck a red and green deck designed to kill your opponent quickly with the aid of green's mana producers, which has become somewhat less popular with the banning of Channel. Some of the best cards for this kind of deck include Orcish Lumberjacks, Birds of Paradise and Tinder Walls. Fire Sprites may work well too, converting your green mana into red when needed.

If you play a direct damage deck, make some provision to take out enchantments that allow your opponent to stay alive. The green/red deck has access to Tranquility. Other cards include Anarchy (specifically against white) and Disenchant.

The Land Destruction deck

Land destructions work on the principle that if your opponent has no land, they do nothing but let you kill them. The purpose of the deck is to strip your opponent of mana to paralyze them until you can get something out that will kill them. A side effect of this is that they will have many cards in their hand, so a logical first choice would be Black Vise.

However, there are other effects that keep your opponent from being able to do anything. Nether Void (legends) is one such effect. If all spells cost 3 more to cast, and you keep your opponent under 4 mana in play, they are effectively paralyzed. Other choices may include Stasis or Winter Orb.

The most difficult part about constructing an effective land destruction deck is balancing land destruction effects out with non-land destruction effects. Typically, your opponent's deck will have 20 or more mana producing effects. However, it is probably overkill to have 20 different land destruction effects and will make your deck less effective rather than more. If your opponent has no lands in play, your land destruction spells are worthless to you.

Another difficulty is figuring out which route to take when thinking about what to include to kill your opponent. You could try creatures, or Black Vise as mentioned earlier (even though it's restricted in type 2), or maybe Storm Seeker. Strategies are diverse.

Cards that negate or equalize land destruction effects include Equinox (seldom effective), Consecrate Land, Pyramids (rarely seen), Land Equilibrium, Balance and decks that function on fewer than 2 mana effectively, such as a weenie creature deck. Also, if your opponent is able to get a Land's Edge into play, they may decide to simply discard land for damage, and discard other cards to avoid damage from Black Vises and Storm Seekers. Another annoying card is the Zuran Orb. It comes into play for free, and every time you target a land for destruction, your opponent will sacrifice it to gain 2 life. For reasons like this, you should not rely on the Black Vise and Storm Seeker to do your damage for you.

Many people put Dingus Egg and Ankh of Mishra into land destruction decks. This may be useful, but I have found them to be unreliable ways of inflicting damage. Besides, they may also do damage to you!

Of course, in any deck, you should be wary of Counterspells. Furthermore, if your opponent has 4 mana in play (this is a bad thing) and one of them is an island, don't forget Deflection (Ice Age).

The Discard deck

The Discard deck. One of my favorites. Well, ok, I hate them. I hate playing against them. I hate losing to them. I hate watching all the things I planned going to waste before I know what's going on. Discard decks work on the strategy of taking your opponents options away, thereby giving you more things to do, and them less, which eventually leads to victory. It's simple, really. Once again, you have to find some way of killing your opponent. The Rack works well, since you're constantly taking cards away from your opponent. However, these aren't the only thing you need. After all, if your opponent gets a Howling Mine or Jayemdae Tome into play, it makes your job more difficult, but not impossible. If your opponent gets a Library of Leng into play, they may be able to keep up with you, since they are able to decide what gets discarded to the graveyard and what gets discarded to the top of their library. The upside to this is that very few people play with the Library of Leng (unless they've been burned by discard decks a lot).

Some cards that you may want to include in this deck are: Mind Twist (banned from type 2 on Feb 1st, 1996, but still legal under the point system), Hymn to Tourach, Mindstab Thrulls, Hypnotic Specters (best creature for discard decks), Abyssal Specters (although this is debatable), Mind Ravel, Cursed Racks, Disrupting Scepter, and The Rack. Other cards may be thrown in, like Wand of Ith and Rag Man. In my opinion, Mind Warp is a bit too expensive. Dark Rituals add a great deal of speed to the deck, as can Demonic Consultation.

Some cards to watch out for are Library of Leng and Balance!! Balance will bring your hand down to where your opponent's hand is. Also, be cautious of Land Tax, since your opponent will be stuffing their hand with land to reduce the chances that you'll have them discard something useful, and keep themselves from taking damage from The Rack.

You should also be cautious of Feldon's Cane, since your opponent can use it to get back everything they lost, but it doesn't pose much of a threat.

The Poison deck

Poison decks work by bringing your opponent to ten poison counters, whereby they lose. There are four poison counter-type cards in Magic at present: Pit Scorpion, Marsh Viper, Swamp Mosquito and Serpent Generator. Poison decks also got a big boost with the release of Swamp Mosquito! These poisonous suckers are flying and don't even have to deal damage!

These cards aren't enough to win the game, of course, though the Swamp Mosquito's flying ability helps tremendously. For the ground creatures, it helps if you can get your attackers through to your opponent unmolested. Tawnos' Wand and Dwarven Warriors are good for this. Anything that keeps your creatures from being blocked are helpful, like Fear.

By itself, the poison strategy will not make a really good deck. You need defenses and backup plans. I suggest Will-O-The-Wisp or Drudge Skeletons for defense, since they regenerate. You may want to put Venom or Fear on your poison creatures to keep them from being blocked. You may also wish to consider some kind of direct damage, like Drain Life, Black Vise or Storm Seeker.

Of course, this deck's enemy is any deck that can take out your poison-counter creatures, either by direct damage or Swords to Plowshares and Disenchants (on the Serpent Generators), as well as the new card Leeches (but who plays with them?).

The Library Depletion deck

This deck type relies on going through your opponent's deck at maximum speed, making them run out of cards as quickly as possible. Cards that work well in this kind of deck include Howling Mine, Braingeyser, Millstones, Rays of Erasure, and Wheel of Fortune. One trick is to Braingeyser your opponent, Mana Drain it, and on your next turn, Regrowth the Braingeyser and cast it again for more. Of course Forking a Braingeyser is just as mean, if you can get that much mana into play!

The biggest enemies of this deck are Timetwister and Feldon's Cane. Both of these cards can make your job of eliminating your opponent's library extremely difficult, since their library recycles. Also, you have to watch out for cards like Regrowth, Recall, Raise Dead, Soul Exchange, Animate Dead and Dance of the Dead. These cards are actually increased in power simply because you give them access to more cards to use them on. The biggest thing to combat these is Tormod's Crypt. If they don't have any cards in their graveyard, they can't recycle it or get anything back from it! Lucky for you, Regrowth and Timetwister are restricted. Unfortunately, the new restricted list for type 2 has removed Recall and Feldon's Cane, so it seems unlikely that without 4 Tormod's Crypts in your deck, you will be able to win with this type of a deck in the type 2 environment.

The Permission Deck

The most famous at the time was Brian Weissman's "The Deck."

One of the most annoying decks to play against is a permission deck. One of the most difficult decks to play (or grow accustomed to) is a permission deck. You have to decide which cards of your opponent's deck are threatening, and which ones you can allow to be cast, hence the name permission deck.

The first thing people think about for permission decks are Counterspells and their kin (Power Sink, Spell Blast, Remove Soul, Force Void, Force Spike, Blue Elemental Blast, Red Elemental Blast, etc). Of course, permission doesn't necessarily mean counterspell. Other things to consider for a permission deck are Swords to Plowshares, Moats and Disenchants. If you have to counterspell everything your opponent attempts to do, you are going to run out of counterspells rather quickly.

Be very careful and try to determine how what your opponent casts is going to affect you and your deck. If your opponent brings out, say a Will-O-The-Wisp, don't worry too much. However, a Ball Lightning might hurt.

Speaking of damage, sometimes, the best thing to do is to take it. If you've been doing rather well, you may want to just take three points from a Lightning Bolt, if it isn't going to be lethal or bring you into an easy kill range. Remember, life is simply a resource to your deck.

Of course, you will want to have some way to kill your opponent (as usual). My favorite choice is Serra Angel. You get yourself into a secure position where your opponent can't do anything to you without you being protected from it. Then you bring out the Serra Angel and continue to hit your opponent for 4 damage per round. Repeat until dead.

It is very important to remember that these decks do not work if you do not play as if you are in control of the game at all moments. You don't want your opponent to ever think he's going to do anything effective against you. The old trick of keeping two islands untapped at all times is true. It is very intimidating and could keep your opponent from casting anything important, even if you don't have a counterspell in your hand.

When your opponent casts a spell that you know you are going to counter, pick up a non-counterspell card out of your hand, pause (acting like you're contemplating it), and put it back. Then, taking the counterspell you were going to use, say, "No, I'll do it this way." That way, your opponent will think you have another counterspell and will hesitate to cast anything else, especially if you keep some islands untapped.

You know you are playing effectively if your opponent hesitates every time he or she casts a spell. It shows that you are in control of the game.

One of the most infamous decks is built on this concept. Here's the (very expensive) deck by Brian Weissman (note that this is not the most recent version):

4 Mana Drain
3 Counterspell
1 Braingeyser
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Recall
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Regrowth
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist (now banned)
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Disenchant
2 Serra Angels
2 Moats
3 Disrupting Scepters
1 Jayemdae Tome
1 Sol Ring
5 Moxes
1 Black Lotus
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Strip Mines
3 City of Brass
4 Tundra
2 Plains
4 Islands
1 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Plateau

Sideboard:
3 Blood Moon
1 Plains
2 Islands
2 Dust to Dust
1 Jayemdae Tome
1 Moat
2 COP: Red
1 Counterspell
1 Control Magic
1 Balance

This deck could cost you over $1000.00 if you had to buy all the cards in it. Chances are you don't have a spare set of Moxen sitting around the house. However, for type II, permission decks can still be made, since you still have access to Balance, Disenchant, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Spell Blast, and Power Sink. Force Void, in my opinion, is too expensive for the benefit you get from it.

One of the biggest advantages you can gain in a deck like this is to draw cards more than your opponent. This is one of the keys to winning in Magic. Card domination gives you more options than your opponent, and increases your chances of winning for every card you can get into your hand.

For type 2, however, I haven't seen a permission deck that could consistently outperform all other decks. The type of deck that best emulates a permission deck where you just wait and see what your opponent does is a red and white defensive-style deck. Here, you can use Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Disenchant, and Fireballs to get rid of whatever your opponent puts into play as a threat. Also, the direct damage is versatile, in that you can use it also to kill your opponent.

The Pestilence deck

Pestilence, a black enchantment, does one point of damage to each creature and each player for each black mana you pump into it. This can be a tremendous advantage if all your creatures regenerate, and you have protection from black for yourself. This is easily achieved using black and white in combination. Black gives you many inexpensive regenerating creatures, like Drudge Skeletons and Will-O-The-Wisps. White offers Circle of Protection: Black. This deck can be very difficult to beat once it gets going. The creatures brought out against it are blocked, and the blockers regenerated, until you have enough black mana to kill the offending creature, regenerate your creatures, and prevent the damage to yourself.

Cards that are difficult to deal with in this deck are protection from black creatures, Circle of Protection: Black, and Drought. Of course, since you would probably have white in the deck, a few disenchants may be able to save you.

A Couple Custom D&D Spells

This was originally posted in 1997, when I was playing AD&D regularly, and apparently THAC0 was still a thing.

Melf's Acid Missiles (Invocation)
Level - 3
Duration - Instantaneous
Casting Time - 3
Area of Effect - One creature or object per missile
Range - as per magic missile
Components - VSM
Saving throw - 1/2 damage.

A cross between Melf's Acid Arrow and Magic Missile, this spell produces multiple missiles with an instantaneous acid splash, inflicting 2d4+1 points per missile, for one round only. Casters get one missile for every two (2) levels of experience, to a maximum of 5. At 9th level and higher, maximum damage potential is 45 points, median is 30 (for 5 missiles), minimum is 15. Comparable damage: Fireball (9th level) max 54, min 9, median 31.5.

Perimeter Watch (Abjuration)
Level - 4
Duration 1d6 hours + 1/2 hr per level
Casting time - 4
Area of Effect - 30' radius sphere
Range - 0
Components - VSM
Saving throw - none.

This spell establishes a circle around the caster (and his encampment) and alerts the caster when someone has entered this circle (who did not previously exit). It also gives him a general idea (within 90 degrees) in which direction the perimeter was broken. Perimeter Watch can detect creatures of one hit die or larger, or multiple creatures of less than one hit die. The perimeter, once broken, will only remain in effect for one round per level of the caster. Note that this spell will awaken the caster if necessary, but will not interrupt spellcasting in progress. The material component is a bit of string tied around a canine tooth.

Deception (Illusion/Phantasm)
Level - 5
Duration - 1d6 rounds + 1 round per level
Casting Time - 5
Area of Effect - The Caster
Range - 0
Components - VSM
Saving throw - none.

This spell creates 1d4 images of the caster plus an additional image per two levels, all of which seem to constantly shift, thereby making direct attacks virtually ineffective. If an image is attacked directly, the attack roll is made at a -4. Furthermore, when an image is attacked directly, it disappears, thereby making the process of finding the mage one of elimination. Area of effect attacks such as fireballs, etc., cause damage to the caster (when applicable), but do not cause any of the extra images to disappear unless the caster falls dead or unconscious. The target of a melee or missile attack is determined randomly from among the images, one of which is the actual caster. If the attack roll indicates a "hit" but not on the actual mage, one image is removed. If the mage casts any offensive-type spells, two images are removed. Note that illusionists get one extra image, and gnomish illusionists automatically get a 4 for their roll to determine how many images will appear. The material component is a clear, multi-faceted gem of at least 1000 gp in value, wrapped completely in a piece of fur from a displacer beast. Researched using Blur (Wiz:2), Mirror Image (Wiz:2) and Improved Phantasmal Force (Wiz:2).

Holl's Shadowdog (Conjuration/Summoning, Illusion/Phantasm)
Level - 6
Duration - 2 hours per level (max 48 hours)
Casting time - 6
Range - 0
Components - VSM
Saving throw - None

Casting this spell summons materials from the demiplane of shadow to come together in the form of a dog of the same alignment as the caster, that will act as both a travelling companion and a fierce guard dog. The dog will have a low intelligence and an empathic link with his summoner. If for any reason the dog loses all his hit points, he will be abjured back to the demiplane of shadow. The Shadowdog is 80% undetectable unless in bright light, where it suffers a -1 to attack and armor class. Note that this spell may only be cast once a day (DM determines the effects of multiple castings in one day), and that with each casting, there is a 1% chance that the shadowdog will become living. A living shadowdog loses one full hit die, but they gain the ability to heal their wounds overnight by licking them. If the caster is 16th level or higher, this chance increases to 5%. The following table determines the combat abilities of the shadowdog:

Caster Dog's
Level HD Thac0 # Att AC Damage
12-13 3+3 17 1 6 1d8
14-15 4+4 17 1 5 1d8+1
16-18 5+5 14 2 5 1d6+1
19+ 7+3 11 3 4 1d6+11d6+1/1d8+1

Note that Holl's Shadowdog and Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound will attack each other on "sight." 

A Couple New D&D Monsters

This was originally posted in 1997, when I was playing AD&D regularly, and apparently THAC0 was still a thing.

I have designed several creatures for use in my AD&D campaign. You might just find a use for them as well. Take a look at the Swamp Lizard and the Blood Wraith.

Lizard, Swamp

Climate/Terrain: Subtropical/Swamp, Subterranean
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Solitary or Small Pack
Activity Cycle: Day (Subter.: Any)
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Animal (1)
Alignment: Nil
--------------------
No. Appearing: 1 (1-8)
Armor Class: 6
Movement: 8, Sw 12
Hit Dice: 7
THAC0: 13
No. of Attacks: 3
Damage/Attack: 1-8/1-8/1-6
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon, Grapple, Surprise
Special Defense: Surprised only on a 1
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: L (9' Long, 3 1/2' Tall)
Morale: 11-12 (Steady)
XP Value: 1,600

The swamp lizard appears as a normal lizard with a stubby tail. It has green and grey striped scales, and is often covered in slime. It's mouth is filled with two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

The swamp lizard's breath weapon is a stream of powerfully sprayed swamp slime mixed with natural corrosive acids from the lizard. This spray inflicts 2d8 points of damage (save vs. breath weapon for half damage) and worsens the AC of metal armor by 2 (save applicable for magical armor). If the character's armor's AC is reduced to no protection (i.e., scale mail gets hit twice, reducing the character's AC from 6 to 10), it is completely disintegrated and falls off the character's body.

The lizard can employ this breath weapon every round it is available, but the corrosion happens only every three rounds. The lizard can store enough slime in his body for 3 breaths, after which it must submerge for 3 rounds to "recharge."

Grappling: On a successful claw attack roll, the victim must roll DEX or be knocked prone, at which the lizard would clamor atop his victim, causing large weapons, i.e., two-handed swords, to be rendered ineffective, and the victim fights at a -2 to attack and -1 per die of damage. If the victim did not have a small weapon drawn when the lizard climbed on him there is a 50% chance that the victim cannot get to that weapon.

Wraith, Blood

Climate/Terrain: Any
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Band
Activity Cycle: Any darkness
Diet: Blood
Intelligence: High (13-14)
Treasure: Incidental
Alignment: Neutral Evil
--------------------
No. Appearing: 2-12
Armor Class: 4 (see below)
Movement: 10, Fl 18
Hit Dice: 8
THAC0: 16/13 (see below)
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 1-10 or 2-12 (see below)
Special Attack: Blood Drain
Special Defense: +1 or better to hit
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: L (8 1/2' tall)
Morale: Special
XP Value: 4,000
The bloodwraith is an evil undead spirit of a powerful human or demi-human, akin to a wraith. It seeks to absorb life energy from other men through their blood.

The appearance of the bloodwraith varies with it's feeding activity. Those who haven't fed for a while appear to be just normal skeletons wearing tattered robes, while those who have sated their appetite seem to glow a fiery red color. Blood wraiths must feed at least once in the span of a month as a minimum or it will perish. Note that bloodwraiths who are near destruction from hunger have a THAC0 of 13 and inflict 2-12 points of damage.

Combat: The bloodwraith inflicts damage in two ways. First, the fingers of the bloodwraith are extremely sharp, and cause 1-10 points of piercing damage. Second, when a victim is hit by a bloodwraith, the wraith attempts to steal the blood of his victims. It does this through suction holes in it's fingertips (hence the adjusted THAC0). The victim must make a strength check when hit. Failure indicates that the bloodwraith is maintaining it's hold on it's victim (automatic damage in the next round).

Once a victim has taken 10 points of damage, he must roll vs. his constitution or pass out from blood loss for 1d4+1 rounds. If this check is made, he must continue to check CON at a -1 for each time he is hit. Should the victom pass out, his CON temporarily lowers by 3. This lowering remains in effect for two days per 10 points of damage done by the blood wraith.

Blood wraiths are immune to normal weapons. An attack with such a weapon passes through its body inflicting no damage. However, the weapon emerges with a reddish color to it that cannot be simply wiped or polished away. It will wear off over approximately 3-4 weeks of use. Silver weapons cause only half normal damage. A bloodwraith regenerates hit points at a rate of 1 point every 6 hours. They are immune to to sleep, charm, hold, death and cold-based spells. They are immune to poison and paralyzation. A vial of holy water causes 1-6 points of damage. A raise dead spell will destroy a bloodwraith if a saving throw versus spell is failed.

Wraiths who have even a slight reddish tint give off a strong, coppery scent within 20 feet. Animals and experienced adventurers will notice the scent, and will recognize it for what it is; blood.

Bloodwraiths are turned as Vampires. Those near starvation are turned as ghosts.

Any human or demi-human killed by blood loss become a blood wraith within 8 hurs (5 hit dice) unless a remove curse, limited wish or wish spell is cast.

If the bloodwraith scores two consecutive critical hits (20 on an attack roll), it is assumed that the bloodwraith has pierced the chest cavity of it's victim and has wrapped it's hand around it's victim's heart. This inflicts 4d10 points of damage per round, and the bloodwraith enters a state of feeding ecstasy, where it lifts it's victim and spins with it's head thrown back and mouth open. During this, it's AC is 8, but it also regenerates hit points at the rate of 1/4 of it's lost hit points per round. This ecstasy lasts for 4 rounds, at which point the victim is drained fully and the bloodwraith is sated. If the blood wraith is undisturbed throughout the entire feeding, he emerges with full hit points.

Material Components in D&D 3E

This was originally posted in 1997, when I was playing AD&D regularly.

1st Level
Affect Normal Fires	VS
Alarm	VSM	Tiny bell, piece of very fine silver wire
Armor	VSM	Piece of finely cured leather blessed by a cleric
Audible Glamer	VSM	Bit of wool or small lump of wax
Burning Hands	VS
Change Self	VS
Charm Person	VS
Chill Touch	VS
Color Spray	VSM	pinch each of powder or sand that is colored red, yellow and blue
Comprehend Languages	VSM	Pinch of soot, few grains of salt
Dancing Lights	VSM	Bit of phosphorus or wychwood, or a glowworm
Detect Magic	VS
Detect Undead	VSM	Bit of earth from a grave
Enlarge	VSM	Pinch of powdered iron
Erase	VS
Feather Fall	V
Find Familiar	VSM	Brazier of charcoal, 1000 gp worth of incense and herbs
Friends	VSM	chalk or white flour, lampblack or soot, vermilion
Gaze Reflection	VS
Grease	VSM	Bit of pork rind or butter
Hold Portal	V
Hypnotism	VS
Identify	VSM	Pearl (at least 100 gp), owl feather steeped in wine, optional powdered luckstone
Jump	VSM	Grasshopper’s hind leg (expended)
Light	VM	firefly or piece of phosphorescent moss
Magic Missile	VS
Mending	VSM	two small magnets of any type or two burrs
Message	VSM	short piece of copper drawn fine
Mount	VSM	bit of hair from the type of animal to be conjured
Nystul’s Magical Aura	VSM	small square of silk
Phantasmal Force	VSM	Bit of fleece
Protection from Evil	VSM	Powdered silver
Read Magic	VSM	Clear cystal or mineral prism
Shield	VS
Shocking Grasp	VS
Sleep	VSM	pinch of fine sand, rose petals or a live cricket
Spider Climb	VSM	Drop of bitumen, live spider
Spook	VS
Taunt	VSM	Slug
Tenser’s Floating Disc	VSM	Drop of mercury
Unseen Servant	VSM	Piece of string, bit of wood
Ventriloquism	VM	Parchment rolled into a small cone
Wall of fog	VSM	Pinch of split, dried peas
Wizard Mark	VSM	Pinch of diamond dust (100 gp worth) and a pigment or pigments for the coloration of the mark, optional stylus (for invisible mark)
2nd Level
Alter Self	VS
Bind	VSM	Rope
Blindness	V
Blur	VS
Continual Light	VS
Darkness, 15’ Radius	VSM	Bit of bat fur, drop of pitch or piece of coal
Deafness	VSM	beeswax
Deeppockets	VSM	garment affected, tiny golden needle, strip of fine cloth given a half-twist and fastened at the ends.
Detect Invisibility	VSM	pinch of talc, small sprinkling of powdered silver
ESP	VSM	a copper piece
Flaming sphere	VSM	bit of tallow, pinch of sulphur, dusting of powdered iron
Fog Cloud	VS
Fools’ Gold	VSM	powdered gem
Forget	VS
Glitterdust	VSM	Ground mica
Hypnotic Pattern	SM	glowing stick of incense or a crystal rod filled with phosphorescent material
Improved Phantasmal Force	VSM	bit of fleece
Invisibility	VSM	eyelash and bit of gum arabic
Irritation	VSM	leaf from poison ivy, oak or sumac
Knock	V
Know Alignment	VS
Leomund’s Trap	VSM	Piece of iron pyrite, 200 gp of dust
Levitate	VSM	small leather loop or piece of golden wire bent into a cup shape
Locate Object	VSM	Forked twig
Magic Mouth	VSM	Small bit of honeycomb
Melf’s Acid Arrow	VSM	dart, powdered rhubarb leaf, adder’s stomach
Mirror Image	VS
Misdirection	VS
Protection from Cantrips	VS
Pyrotechnics	VSM	Existing fire
Ray of Enfeeblement	VS
Rope Trick	VSM	Powdered corn extract, twisted loop of parchment
Scare	VSM	Bit of bone from undead skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, mummy
Shatter	VSM	Chip of mica
Spectral Hand	VS
Stinking Cloud	VSM	Rotten egg or several skunk cabbage leaves
Strength	VSM	A few hairs or pinch of dung from a strong animal (ape, bear, ox, etc.)
Summon Swarm	VSM	Square of Red Cloth
Tasha’s Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter	VSM	Small feather, minute tarts
Web	VSM	Bit of spider web
Whispering Wind	VS
Wizard Lock	VS
3rd Level
Blink	VS
Clairaudience	VSM	small horn of at least 100 gp value
Clairvoyance	VSM	Pinch of powered pineal gland
Delude	VS
Dispel Magic	VS
Explosive Runes	VS
Feign Death	VS
Fireball	VSM	tiny ball of bat guano, sulphur
Flame Arrow	VSM	drop of oil, small piece of flint
Fly	VSM	Wing feather of any bird
Gust of Wind	VSM	Legume seed
Haste	VSM	Shaving of licorice root
Hold Person	VSM	Small, straignt piece of iron
Hold Undead	VSM	Pinch of sulphur, powdered garlic
Illusionary Script	VSM	Special lead-based ink
Infravision	VSM	Pinch of dried carrot or an agate
Invisibility, 10’ Radius	VSM	eyelash and bit of gum arabic
Item	VSM	Item to "itemize"
Leomund’s Tiny Hut	VSM	Small crystal bead (expendable)
Lightning Bolt	VSM	Bit of fur and amber, crystal or glass rod.
Melf’s Minute Meteors	VSM	Nitre and sulphur plus pine tar. Small hollow tube fashioned from gold
Monster Summoning I	VSM	Tiny bag, small candle
Non-Detection	VSM	Pinch of diamond dust
Phantom Steed	VS
Protection from Evil, 10’ Radius	VSM	Powdered iron
Protection from Normal Missiles	VSM	Piece of tortoise or turtle shell
Secret Page	VSM	Powdered herring scales and either will o’ wisp or boggart essence
Sepia Snake Sigil	VSM	100 gp worth of powdered amber, a scale from any snake, and a pinch of mushroom spores
Slow	VSM	Drop of molasses
Spectral Force	VS
Suggestion	VM	Snake’s tongue, either a bit of honeycomb or a drop of sweet oil
Tongues	VM	Small clay model of a ziggurat (expended)
Vampiric Touch	VS
Water Breathing	VSM	Short reed or piece of straw
Wind Wall	VSM	Tiny fan and a feather of exotic origin
Wraithform	SM	Bit of gauze and a wisp of smoke
4th Level
Charm Monster	VS
Confusion	VSM	3 nut shells
Contagion	VS
Detect Scrying	VSM	Small piece of mirror and miniature brass hearing trumpet
Dig	VSM	Miniature shovel and tiny bucket (expended)
Dimension Door	V
Emotion	VS
Enchanted Weapon	VSM	Powdered lime and carbon
Enervation	VS
Evard’s Black Tentacles	VSM	Piece of tentacle from giant octopus or giant squid
Extension I	V
Fear	VSM	Heart of a hen or a white feather
Fire Charm	VSM	Smal piece of multi-colored silk of exceptional thinness (expended)
Fire Shield	VSM	Live firefly or glow worm or the tail portions of 4 dead ones
Fire Trap	VSM	Sulphur or saltpeter
Fumble	VSM	A dab of solidified milk fat
Hallucinatory Terrain	VSM	A stone, a twig and a bit of green plant - leaf or grass blade
Ice Storm	VSM	Pinch of dust and a few drops of water
Illusionary Wall	VSM	Rare dust that costs at least 400 gp
Improved Invisibility	VS
Leomund’s Secure Shelter	VSM	Square chip of stone, crushed lime, a few grains of sand, a sprinkling of water and several splinters of wood, optionally a string and silver wire and small bell)
Magic Mirror	VSM	Finely wrought and highly polished silver of a minimum cost of 1000 gp (not expended) and the eye of a hawk, an eagle or even a roc, and nitric acid, copper and zinc (expended)
Massmorph	VSM	Handful of bark chips from the type of tree the creatures are to become
Minor Creation	VSM	Tiny piece of matter of the same type of item he plans to create by menas of the spell
Minor Globe of Invulnerability	VSM	Glass or Crystal Bead (expended)
Monster Summoning II	VSM	Tiny bag, small candle
Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere	VSM	Hemispherical piece of diamond or similar hard, clear gem material) and a matching hemispherical piece of gum arabic
Phantasmal Killer	VS
Plant Growth	VS
Polymorph Other	VSM	Caterpillar cocoon
Polymorph Self	V
Rainbow Pattern	SM	Crystal prism and a piece of phosphor
Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer	VSM	Piece of string, an ivory plaque of at least of 100 gp value, ink consisting of squid secretion with either black dragon’s blood or giant slug digestive juice (expneded)
Remove Curse	VS
Shadow Monsters	VS
Shout	VM	Drop of honey, drop of citric acid, small cone made from a bull or ram horn
Solid Fog	VSM	Pinch of dried, powdered peas combined with powdered animal hoof
Stoneskin	VSM	Granite and diamond dust
Vacancy	VSM	Square of the finest black silk
Wall of Fire	VSM	Phosphorus
Wall of Ice	VSM	Small piece of quartz or similar rock crystal
Wizard Eye	VSM	Bit of bat fur
5th Level
Advanced Illusion	VSM	Bit of fleece, several grains of sand
Airy Water	VSM	Small handful of alkaline or bromine salts
Animal Growth	VSM	Pinch of powdered bone
Animate Dead	VSM	Drop of blood and pinch of bone powder or a bone shard
Avoidance	VSM	Magnetized needle
Bigby’s Interposing Hand	VSM	Soft glove
Chaos	VSM	Small disc of bronze and a small rod of iron
Cloudkill	VS
Cone of Cold	VSM	Crystal or glass cone of very small size
Conjure Elemental	VSM	Burning incense (air), soft clay (earth), sulphur and phosphorus (fire) or water and sand (water)
Contact Other Plane	V
Demi-Shadow Monsters	VS
Dismissal	VSM	Item that is distasteful to the creature being dismissed
Distance Distortion	VSM	Small lump of soft clay
Domination	VS
Dream	VS
Extension II	V
Fabricate	VSM	The ingredients for the item being fabricated
False Vision	VSM	Ground dust of an emerald worth at least 500 gp
Feeblemind	VSM	Handful of clay, crystal, glass or mineral spheres (expended)
Hold Monster	VSM	One hard metal bar or rod for each monster to be held
Leomund’s Lamentable Belaborment	V
Leomund’s Secret Chest	VSM	Pair of chests, one small, one large
Magic Jar	VSM	???
Major Creation	VSM	At least a tiny piece of matter of the same type as the item he plans to create
Monster Summoning III	VSM	Tiny bag, small candle
Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound	VSM	Tiny silver whistle, piece of bone, a thread
Passwall	VSM	Pinch of sesame seeds
Seeming	VS
Sending	VSM	Two cylinders, each with one open end, connected by a short piece of fine copper wire
Shadow Door	S
Shadow Magic	VS
Stone Shape	VSM	Soft clay
Summon Shadow	VSM	Smoky quartz
Telekinesis	VS
Teleport	V
Transmute Rock to Mud	VSM	clay and water (or sand, lime, and water to reverse)
Wall of Force	VSM	Pinch of powdered diamond worth 5000 gp
Wall of Iron	VSM	Small piece of sheet iron
Wall of Stone	VSM	Small block of granite
6th Level
Anti-Magic Shell	VS
Bigby’s Forceful Hand	VSM	A glove
Chain Lightning	VSM	Bit of fur, piece of amber, glass or crystal rod, and one silver pin for each experience level of the caster
Conjure Animals	VS
Contingency	VSM	Components of companion spell plus 100 gp worth of quicksilver and an eyelash of an ogre mage, ki-rin or similar spell-using creature, plus a statuette of the wizard carved from elephant ivory which must be carried during the duration of the spell
Control Weather	VSM	Burning incense and bits of earth and wood mixed in water
Death Fog	VSM	Pinch of dried and powdered peas, powdered animal hoof and strong acid of any sort (including highly distilled vinegar or acid crystals)
Death Spell	VSM	Crushed black pearl with minimum value of 1000 gp
Demi-Shadow Magic	VS
Disintegrate	VSM	Lodestone and a pinch of dust
Enchant an Item	VSM	Vary according to the item being enchanted
Ensnarement	VSM	???
Extension III	V
Eyebite	VS
Geas	V
Glassee	VSM	Small piece of crystal or glass
Globe of Invulnerability	VSM	Glass or crystal bead (expended)
Guards and Wards	VSM	Burning incense, a small measure of sulphur and oil, a knotted string, a small amount of umber hulk blood and a small silver rod
Invisible Stalker	VSM	Burning incense and a piece of horn carved into a crescent shape
Legend Lore	VSM	Incense, strips of ivory formed into a rectangle, and some item of value to the spellcaster must be sacrificed
Lower Water	VSM	Small vial of water
Mass Suggestion	VM	Snakes tongue and either a bit of honeycomb or a drop of sweet oil
Mirage Arcana	VS (M)	Material component optional
Mislead	S
Monster Summoning IV	VSM	Tiny bag and a small candle
Mordenkainen’s Lucubration	VS
Move Earth	VSM	Mixture of soils in a small bag and an iron blade
Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere	VSM	1000 gp diamond
Part Water	VSM	Two small sheets of crystal or glass
Permanent Illusion	VSM	Bit of fleece
Programmed Illusion	VSM	Bit of fleece
Project Image	VSM	Small replica of the wizard
Reincarnation	VSM	Small drum and a drop of blood
Repulsion	VSM	Pair of small magnetized iron bars attached to two small canine statuettes, one ivory and one ebony
Shades	VS
Stone to Flesh	VSM	Lime, water, earth
Tenser’s Transformation	VSM	Potion of Heroism or superheroism (expended)
Transmute Water to Dust	VSM	Diamond Dust of at least 500 gp value and a bit of seashell
Veil	VS
7th Level
Banishment	VSM	Substances harmful, hateful or opposed to the nature of the subject of the spell.
Bigby’s Grasping Hand	VSM	Leather glove
Charm Plants	VSM	Pinch of humus, a drop of water and a twig or leaf
Control Undead	VSM	Small piece each of bone and raw meat
Delayed Blast Fireball	VSM	tiny ball of bat guano, sulphur
Drawmij’s Instant Summons	VSM	Gem worth at least 5000 gp (expended)
Duo-Dimension	VSM	Flat ivory likeness of the spellcaster (costing 500-1000 gp), strip of parchment (both expended)
Finger of Death	VS
Forcecage	VS+ special	1000 gp worth of powdered diamond (used during spell memorization)
Limited Wish	V
Mass Invisibility	VSM	eyelash and bit of gum arabic
Monster Summoning V	VSM	Tiny bag, small candle
Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion	VSM	Miniature portal carved from ivory, small piece of polished marble, tiny silver spoon (expended)
Mordenkainen’s Sword	VSM	Miniature platinum sword with grip and pommel of copper and zinc, minimum 500 gp cost (expended)
Phase Door	V
Power Word, Stun	V
Prismatic Spray	VS
Reverse Gravity	VSM	Lodestone, Iron filings
Sequester	VSM	Basilisk eyelash, gum arabic, dram of whitewash
Shadow Walk	VS
Simulacrum	VSM	Form of the duplicated individual made of ice, something that belongs to the duplicated individual, powdered ruby
Spell Turning	VSM	Small silver mirror
Statue	VSM	Lime, sand, drop of water stirred by an iron bar (such as a nail or spike)
Teleport Without Error	V
Vanish	V
Vision	VSM	Sacrifice of something valued by the spellcaster or by the power supplicated
8th Level
Antipathy-Sympathy	VSM	Lump of alum soaked in vinegar (antipathy) or 1000 gp worth of crushed pearls and a drop of honey (sympathy)
Bigby’s Clenched Fist	VSM	Leather glove, small device consisting of 4 rings joined so as to form a slightly curved line with an "I" upon which the bottoms of the rings rest, the whole fashioned of an alloy of copper and zinc
Binding	VSM	???
Clone	VSM	Small piece of the flesh from the person to be duplicated
Demand	VSM	Pair of cylinders, each open at one end, connected by a thin piece of copper wire and some small part of the subject creature, a hair, bit of nail, etc.
Glassteel	VSM	Small piece of glass, small piece of steel
Incendiary Cloud	VSM	Fire source, scrapings from beneath a dung pile, pinch of dust
Mass Charm	V
Maze	VS
Mind Blank	VS
Monster Summoning VI	VSM	Tiny bag, small candle
Otiluke’s Telekinetic Sphere	VSM	Hemispherical piece of diamond, matching piece of gum arabic, pair of small bar magnets
Otto’s Irresistible Dance	V
Permanency	VSM	???
Polymorph Any Object	VSM	Mercury, gum arabic, smoke
Power Word, Blind	V
Prismatic Wall	VS
Screen	VS
Serten’s Spell Immunity	VSM	Diamond of at least 500 gp value (expended), each subject carries a diamond of at least 1 carat
Sink	VS
Symbol	VSM	Powdered black opal and diamond dust, worth not less than 5000 gp each
Trap the Soul	VSM	Gem of at least 1000 gp value per hit die of the creature to be trapped
9th Level
Astral Spell	VS
Bigby’s Crushing Hand	VSM	Glove of snake-skin and the shell of an egg
Crystalbrittle	VS
Energy Drain	VSM	Essence of a specter or vampire dust
Foresight	VSM	Hummingbird’s feather
Gate	VS
Imprisonment	VS
Meteor Swarm	VS
Monster Summoning VII	VSM	Bag, small candle
Mordenkainen’s Disjunction	V
Power Word, Kill	V
Prismatic Sphere	V
Shape Change	VSM	Jade circlet worth no less than 5000 gp (expended)
Succor	VSM	Gemstones totalling not less than 5000 gp (can only be enchanted once a month)
Temporal Stasis	VSM	Powder of diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire dust, each crushed stone of at least 100 gp value
Time Stop	V
Weird	VS
Wish	V