Spells Beyond 9th Level (HLC)

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It is commonly supposed that the 9th-level wish spell is the most powerful and difficult enchantment known to mortals. The supposition is only partially true, however. The wish spell's ability to literally change reality to match the caster's desires is indeed mighty. Nevertheless, extremely powerful spellcasters have discovered a whole new class of magic that, while more time consuming to cast than a wish spell, can create stupendous effects without a wish's attendant dangers (five years of magical aging, possible weakness and incapacitation, and the possibility of failure due to poor wording). The difference between these new spells, often called 10th-level spells or true dweomers, is the approach to magic the caster takes when employing them.
Standard AD&D game spells depend on painstakingly derived formulae that produce fairly predictable effects when properly used. Characters who know how to complete the formulas correctly can cast spells even though they don't know why the formulas work. Most spells involve laboriously building mental patterns that channel and release external energies, often with the help of complex gestures and material components. Wizards do the job all by themselves, and priests get divine help.
Other approaches can also produce extraordinary effects. Psionics employ intense mental discipline to tap internal energies that can be just as potent as the universal energies spellcasters use. Some individuals have natural talents that allow limited use of these personal energies (wild talents).
Very high-level spellcasters begin to understand how magic really works, and they become aware of their personal energies. With enough attention and labor, a spellcaster can manipulate universal and personal energy directly, without building a mental pattern or developing a rigid discipline first. The process is time consuming and often costly, but very flexible. On Athas, the process has been formalized into a class of high-level spells called psionic enchantments, but it works in essentially the same manner.
Because a true dweomer directly manipulates universal and personal energies whose flows are constantly changing, every true dweomer is a little different each time it is cast. The character is fully aware of exactly why the spell works the way it does, but no spell works the same way twice.
A true dweomer can never be written onto a scroll, fully recorded in a spellbook, or stored in a magical device.