Conjuration • Legacy Witch Fertility Magic
Magickal Conception
Magickal Conception is a rare ritual that creates a pregnancy through supernatural life magic. The original Witch tradition uses a one-hour rite, a chalice, prepared components and a substantial expenditure of the caster’s vitality. It is legacy 7th-level Witch magic, not a standard 2024, 2014 or Pathfinder spell.
Magickal Conception at a Glance
| 5.5e / 2024 | No published spell of this name in SRD 5.2.1 |
|---|---|
| 5e / 2014 | No core spell by this name |
| Pathfinder 1e | Not on the default Pathfinder Witch spell list |
| D&D 3.x Legacy | Witch 7, Cleric 7, Fertility 7 in the original Witch source |
Spell Rules by Edition
Magickal Conception — 5.5e / 2024
Status: no equivalent spell of this exact name is published in SRD 5.2.1. Any adaptation is a separate campaign rule, not an automatic Witch spell grant.
Magickal Conception — 5e / 2014
Status: no 2014 core spell by this name. The original XP expenditure and legacy Constitution checks do not use fifth-edition mechanics.
Magickal Conception — Pathfinder 1e
Status: not a standard Pathfinder Witch spell. Do not assume the XP-cost rite or legacy conception checks transfer to Pathfinder’s spellcasting system.
Magickal Conception — D&D 3.x Legacy
| School | Conjuration |
|---|---|
| Level | Witch 7, Cleric 7, Fertility 7 in the original source |
| Components | V, S, M, DF, XP |
| Casting Time | 1 hour |
| Range | Visualized or Touch |
| Target | One target |
| Duration | Permanent |
| Saving Throw | Will negates |
| Spell Resistance | Yes |
The original ritual can create a pregnancy through magic. The caster and recipient each suffer 1 point of temporary Constitution damage and then make the specified Constitution checks for success. The rite uses the prospective parent’s bodily component, candles, a chalice and a printed expenditure of 1,000 XP.
The original source includes rules for willing and unwilling targets, reproduction between women and inherited traits; these are fantasy mechanics rather than real-world biology. Preserve the original language as source material without treating its coercive use as an ordinary player action.
Read the original archived ritual and its historical notes
Makes a woman pregnant via magic.
Liber Mysterium
The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks
By Timothy S. Brannan and The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks Team
Conjuration
Level: Witch 7, Cleric 7, Fertility 7
Components: V S M DF XP
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Visualized or Touch
Target, Effect, Area: One target
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
Magickal Conception is a complicated spell in which the witch can make a woman pregnant by magic. This is possible even for female witches. The child is normal, with inherited traits from both parents. If the witch that casts the spell is a woman, the child will always be a girl. A female witch can cast this spell on herself and give birth to an exact copy of herself.
The target can be willing or not. A willing target needs not make any type of save, except to see if the spell was successful. An unsuspecting or unwilling target can make a Will check to avoid the effects.
Both the casting witch and the recipient target take 1 point of Constitution damage. This is regained after normal sleep. This can be dangerous to anyone already at Constitution loss.
To determine if the casting and impregnation was successful the caster and the target both need to make checks vs. their Constitution scores (after the Constitution penalty for casting is applied).
Material Components: Semen or blood from the spellcaster. Hair, blood or flesh from the prospective mother (material component). Candles to be lit during the ceremony. The Chalice (divine focus, symbol of the Goddess) is used to contain all the material components. A plea to the Goddess must be made to transfer the life energy of the witch to the prospective mother. The witch also pays 1,000 XP for this casting in life force.
History: This spell is quite old, but the first recorded use of it was by two female witches in service of Diana. Belen researched the spell so that she and her lover Damara could have a child of their own. Known then as “A Spell to Ease a Mother’s Sorrow”, it appeared in a collection of spells known as the -Dianic Rites-. Other witches known to have used this spell are Liath and the druidess Bodhmal (but they were unsuccessful) from pagan Celtic Ireland, and the witches Saillie and Teamhair a couple of hundred years later. It has since been copied many times and at least a dozen variations are known to exist.
What Changed?
Only the historical Witch source supplies mechanics under this name. The legacy XP cost, Constitution score checks and permanent outcome are not automatically reproducible in Pathfinder 1e, 2014 D&D or the 2024 rules.
Using Magickal Conception in Play
As a plot device, the ritual can explain an unusual family history, a fertility shrine’s secret or the origin of a magically inherited lineage. It should be treated as rare and consequential magic, with player agreement about whether pregnancy and reproductive coercion are appropriate subjects for the campaign.
Counterplay and GM Rulings
- Agency: agree in advance on boundaries. A player character’s pregnancy, reproductive choices or bodily autonomy should not be overridden as a surprise mechanic.
- Legacy defences: the original text provides Will resistance and spell resistance; keep them within the old edition and distinguish them from the later Constitution checks for success.
- Costs: the one-hour casting, component rite, Constitution damage and 1,000 XP expenditure are separate requirements; do not substitute modern spell-slot costs without an explicit conversion.
- Permanent effect: counterspelling the ritual may prevent its completion, but dispelling a subsequent pregnancy is not an automatic effect of Dispel Magic.
Related Legacy Magic
Crossbreed · Control Outcome of Birth · Make Fertile · Witch Spell Lists
Mythical Context
Taweret, the Egyptian protective goddess represented with hippopotamus, lion and crocodile features, was associated with pregnancy and safe childbirth. Her formidable shape makes life-preserving magic look neither fragile nor harmless. This provides a mythic parallel to the ritual’s protective hopes, not its literal mechanics. See the Metropolitan Museum’s Taweret figure.
Historical Context
A New Kingdom Egyptian stela pairs Taweret with Mut and appears to have been offered in the hope of a successful pregnancy and birth. Archaeology therefore documents prayers and protective images around childbirth; it does not establish magical conception as a historical event. See the Metropolitan Museum’s stela of Taweret and Mut.
Rules Sources and Attribution
The original historical spell appears in Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks, credited to Timothy S. Brannan and the Netbook team. The full original ritual and its accounts of Belen and Damara are preserved in the expandable source section. The original public-domain Klimt painting remains. The spell is not a published modern-edition conversion.
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