# Lesson #7: .lst - Spell Basics

By Professor Andrew McDougall (Tir Gwaith).

File(s) Covered: *spells.lst

Spells.lst is probably the most "data" like of all the different file types. This lesson is going to cover the basics on that data entry. Parts for Temporary bonus information (applying a spell to a character) will come later.

Tags used:

`SCHOOL, SUBSCHOOL, DESCRIPTOR, CLASSES, DOMAINS, TYPE, COMPS, CASTTIME, RANGE, TARGETAREA, DURATION, SAVEINFO, SPELLRES, DESC, VARIANTS, COST, XPCOST`

Please notice the _order_ of the tags I put them in. That is how I enter spells into LST format, mainly because, that is the spell block found in most sources. For my example, I'll be using Blasphemy from the RSRD (it covers most of the tags). I'll use other spells as examples of the different tags Blasphemy doesn't use.

Breaking it down:

### Part 1: Schools of Magic

Tags covered:

`SCHOOL, SUBSCHOOL, DESCRIPTOR`

The line below the spell name is usually in this format: School (Subschool) [Descriptors] Note that I mention Descriptors in plural. There generally is only one School and Subschool, but many spells have more than one descriptor. DESCRIPTOR is | delimited, so put a | between more than one descriptor.

Blasphemy has "Evocation [Evil, Sonic]" so it has a School and 2 descriptors.

> `SCHOOL:Evocation
> DESCRIPTOR:Evil|Sonic`

Animal Trance has all 3 tags:

Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting, Sonic]

> `SCHOOL:Enchantment
> SUBSCHOOL:Compulsion
> DESCRIPTOR:Mind-Affecting|Sonic`

The tag associated with Descriptor is VARIANTS, but I normally enter it when doing DESC, since this field usually comes from the body of the spell description, but is usually linked with the DESCRIPTOR.

### Part 2: Linking to a spell list:

Tags covered:

`CLASSES, DOMAINS, TYPE`

This is only part of the way of linking. If adding a new spell, this is the method used. When adding a new class and linking an old spell, the SPELLLEVEL tag is used.

The first two are easy. TYPE is then based on the first two tags. Our example from Blasphemy: Level: Clr 7, Evil 7 Which would translate into:

> `CLASSES:Cleric=7
> DOMAINS:Evil=7`

Since both of these are for Divine spellcasters, it would get:

> `TYPE:Divine.`

Both tags are pipe ("|") and comma delimited, such as Antimagic Field Level: Clr 8, Magic 6, Protection 6, Sor/Wiz 6

Which would translate into:

> `CLASSES:Cleric=8|Sorcerer,Wizard=6
> DOMAINS:Magic,Protection=6`

Now, because the above list has both Arcane and Divine spells, the next tag would be:

> `TYPE:Arcane.Divine`

There are a lot more aspects to linking spells, castability, etc. but those are global tags not normally used in a spells.lst, and we can cover those later.

### Part 3: Spell Components and Casting time

Tags covered:

`COMPS, CASTTIME`

This section is easy, especially for those people that like to cut and paste.

Components: V
Casting Time: 1 standard action

Goes to:

> `COMPS:V
> CASTTIME:1 standard action`

Exact entry into the tag field. Easy.

### Part 4: Range, Duration, and Target / Area / Effect

Tags covered:

`RANGE, DURATION, TARGETAREA`

Ok, the first two are easy.

1) Range: We have a nice bit of code that autocalculates the Close / Medium / Long ranges for spells (well, it is done through a GameMode file, so you can add more if you wish, etc.) So whenever you see one of those, you merely need to put in the word for the range.

2) Duration: We have a nice bit of code that will do math functions, and the character casterlevel can be checked via ( ) - everything in there is reduced to a number, and CASTERLEVEL refers the to spellcasting level when inside the ( ). For normal parentheses like for (D) where spellcaster can end the spell sooner, we use [ ].

3) Target / Area / Effect: I have only once or twice seen a spell that had more than one of these three. Hence we combine them into one tag.

Example:

Range: 40 ft.
Area: Nonevil creatures in a 40-ft.-radius spread centered on you
Duration: Instantaneous

Goes to:

> `RANGE:40 ft.
> TARGETAREA:Nonevil creatures in a 40-ft.-radius spread centered on you
> DURATION:Instantaneous`

Example (from Antipathy spell):

Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One location (up to a 10-ft. cube/level) or one object
Duration: 2 hours/level (D)

Goes to:

> `RANGE:Close
> TARGETAREA:One location [ up to (CASETERLEVEL*10) cubes] or one object
> DURATION:(CASTERLEVEL/2) hours [D]`

### Part 5: Saving Throws and Spell Resistance

Tags covered:

`SAVEINFO, SPELLRES`

Again, this is easy copy/paste stuff

Example:

Saving Throw: None or Will negates; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes

Goes to:

> `SAVEINFO:None or Will negates; see text
> SPELLRES:Yes`

### Part 6: Description and Variants, and extra costs.

Tags covered:

`DESC, VARIANTS, COST, XPCOST`

These tags are from the spells description, and require some judgment calls.

1) DESC is usually pulled from the "one-liners" in spell list descriptions, such as the SRD SpellListI.rtf etc. Otherwise, reducing a paragraph into something that will fit on a character sheet (and will require the user to still own the book the item came from) becomes an editing call. We try to have less than 50 character long field here.

2) VARIANTS are from the description, where the caster makes a decision on how a spell works when casting, such as Fire Seeds, where the caster uses either Acorns or berries. This also applies to things like Energy Resistance, where the energy type is decided at casting.

3) COST - specific cost of material components, usually listed at end.

4) XPCOST - again, listed at the end. Like COST, variables in these fields aren't accepted yet.

Example from Blasphemy:

> `DESC:Kills, paralyzes, weakens, or dazes nonevil subjects.`

(Copy/Paste from SpellListI.rtf)
No Cost or XP Cost.

Example (from Clone):

Clone M F: Duplicate awakens when original dies.
Material Component: The piece of flesh and various laboratory supplies (cost 1,000 gp).
Focus: Special laboratory equipment (cost 500 gp).

Which went to:

> `DESC:Duplicate awakens when original dies.
> COST:1500`

Now, adding the cost of the Focus may not be the right thing to do here (I just used the example from the RSRD, so I could find one for the field...). The deciding factor on that would be how the cost of the Focus would be added into the creation of an item based on this spell (Material component costs are added into item creation costs).

The XPCOST example is easier (from Commune)

XP Cost: 100 XP.

> `XPCOST:100`

Throw in a `SOURCEPAGE:` tag, and basically, that is a spell, minus any Temp bonus tags for applying spell effects to characters.

Tir Gwaith
LST Chimp