Fifth Circle of SpellCraft

Alright — Fifth Circle is the first true “divine-tier” magic in The Veil, and it’s where mortals step into the same sandbox the gods once used for entertainment.
This is the tier of magic that entire religions are founded on, that rewrites nations, and that reshapes the mortal plane just to make a point.

Fifth Circle (The Godmaker Tier)

System Mapping (5e-style)

  • Equivalent: 6th–7th level D&D spells

  • Damage Output: 10d10+ or equivalent in persistent, multi-effect devastation

  • Veil Risk: Certain breach. The Veil will rip, and at least one significant entity will cross. Breach zones last years, sometimes centuries, and often become permanent Points of Interest in the magical world.

  • Legal Status: There is no “legal” Fifth Circle casting. Even sanctioned bodies like the ATO or Pendrakes will only approve it when reality is already falling apart — and even then, they hide it.

  • Historical Footnote: The first recorded Fifth Circle spell was Moses parting the Red Sea — a sustained world-scale transmutation that allowed mass mortal survival. The second was Merlin’s Great Binding, sealing an entire pantheon into a dream-realm.

What Makes a Fifth Circle Spell Different

  • World Rewrite: Fifth Circle doesn’t just change the rules temporarily — it restructures the playing field itself.

  • Lingering Lore: Even mundane humans remember these spells centuries later — not as “magic,” but as myth, religion, or folklore.

  • Veil Breaker: The Veil isn’t thinned — it’s shredded. This level will allow gods, primordial beings, and Veil-born nightmares into the mortal plane.

  • Double-Edged: Fifth Circle magic never leaves the caster untouched. Sometimes the price is physical (lifespan, body damage), sometimes spiritual (sanity loss, memory erasure), sometimes existential (erased from history).

Signature Fifth Circle Spells

Worldskin Molt — shed the realm like a serpent’s skin

  • School: transmutation/conjuration hybrid

  • Cast: 1 hour

  • Range: Up to 25-mile radius

  • Dur: Permanent until reversed

  • Effect: The land itself “sloughs” away into another realm, replaced with terrain and environment from another plane.

  • Damage: Anyone caught in the shift without proper protection takes 12d12 force and is shunted randomly between realms.

  • Lore hook: Used in the Old War by a bored goddess to swap two mortal cities’ locations — oceans apart — just to “see what would happen.”

Sovereign Plague — design a god’s disease

  • School: necromancy/abjuration hybrid

  • Cast: 10 minutes

  • Range: 1 mile radius per caster level

  • Dur: Until cured or burned out

  • Effect: Creates a custom disease with up to 3 magical properties (examples: ignores divine healing, spreads through thought, kills only those with a specific bloodline).

  • Damage: Progressive CON drain (1d6 per day) until 0.

  • Lore hook: At least 17 religions trace origin myths to the ending or prevention of a Fifth Circle plague.

Exile of Suns — banish the day

  • School: evocation

  • Cast: 1 action

  • Range: Global (per target sun/star)

  • Dur: Until manually restored

  • Effect: Extinguishes or hides the sun from a chosen region or planet. Plants die within days, ecosystems collapse in weeks.

  • Damage: Immediate 8d10 cold per round in exposed regions without magical heating.

  • Lore hook: Used by the Geats during their first war with the Ur’Vash as a “punishment” — led to the Year of Frozen Thrones.

The Commandment — write new law into mortal instinct

  • School: enchantment

  • Cast: 1 day

  • Range: 100-mile radius

  • Dur: Permanent until challenged by equal/higher magic

  • Effect: All mortals in the area adopt a new, irresistible core belief. Cannot directly compel suicide but can shape entire societies.

  • Side Effect: Veil-born entities may interpret the “law” creatively — leading to unexpected consequences.

  • Lore hook: Moses’ “Thou Shalt Not Kill” — later warped in translation — is suspected to have been a partial, weakened Fifth Circle Commandment.

Pantheon’s Judgment — trial by absolute manifestation

  • School: conjuration/divination hybrid

  • Cast: 1 hour

  • Range: Anywhere on the mortal plane

  • Dur: Until judgment delivered

  • Effect: Forces a god, demi-god, or legendary entity to manifest physically for direct trial or combat.

  • Damage: Variable — can be political, social, or annihilating if the entity is hostile.

  • Lore hook: Merlin used this to force the Norse gods to answer for Ragnarok-era incursions.

Seal of Nine Doors — lock away a concept

  • School: abjuration

  • Cast: 9 days

  • Range: Universal

  • Dur: Permanent until destroyed

  • Effect: Seals a concept from reality — e.g., “fire,” “sleep,” “the name of a god.”

  • Side Effect: History rewrites itself to patch the gap. Only the caster and those under their protection remember.

  • Lore hook: Used once to seal “immortality” itself from the reach of mortal kings.

Heaven’s Fist — drop a god’s hammer

  • School: evocation

  • Cast: 1 action

  • Range: Visible horizon

  • Dur: Instant

  • Effect: Calls down a meteor-sized blast of divine energy, 15d12 radiant + 15d12 force, leaving a permanent Veil breach crater.

  • Lore hook: Feared enough that the mere preparation for this spell has ended wars.

Casting a Fifth Circle in the Modern World

  • Immediate Consequence: The moment you begin casting, Watchers and surviving gods will feel it — like a spear through their skull.

  • Mortal Impact: Expect religions, governments, and magical factions to start rewriting their plans within hours.

  • Survival Rate: Less than 50% of human casters live through their first Fifth Circle. For those who do, life expectancy is drastically reduced.

  • Watcher Edict: A Fifth Circle is considered an act of war. If you cast one without permission, you’re marked for permanent elimination.