Runic magic/Ultima Underworld II spells

This sub article lists all the documented runic magic spells of Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds grouped by spell circle. Undocumented spells also appear, revealed by spoiler buttons.

Notes

The spells documented here match how they are presented in the Ultima Underworld II Player's Guide, with these exceptions:

• Type: The spell types in the maunal were a bit ambiguous, so here they have been given as:
  • Duration: A spell that stays active for a certain period of time, leaving an icon in the "spell shelf" area of the display.
  • Missile: A spell that will spawn a missle and provides the user an aiming cursor () to select a vector for it's trajectory.
  • Targeted: A spell that provides the user a targeting cursor () to select a target by touch, either out in the 3d world or in the inventory. The target must be within an arm's reach unless a telekinesis spell is active.
  • Instantaneous: A spell that has an immediate effect, no duration, and no user targeting needed.
• Icon: An icon has been provided to help visually represent some of the spells.
  • Duration spell icons have a gray background, similar to the color of the in-game spell shelf they will be seen on.
  • Missile spells have an image of the projectile they create
  • Some other spells have an icon picked from the game's graphics to represent the action or effect of the spell.
• Notes: Clarifications about the spell in addition to the provided documentation.

Undocumented spells can also be found on this page, hidden in the tables. To view them, click the spoiler toggle at the right of each table header.

Spells of the First Circle

	Spell	Words of Power	Description	Type	Icon	SPOILER Toggle Notes
	Bouncing	Uus Des Por	This spell keeps the caster from taking any damage from falls; in fact, the caster bounces right back up. It is very handy in the Scintillus Secure Vault, where you can bounce over all of the purple walls	duration		found in Britannia level 2 in Nystul's lab
	Create Food	In Mani Ylem	This spell causes a helping of food to appear	instantaneous		Creates a single piece of fresh food
	Detect Trap	Wis Jux	This spell informs the caster of any non-magical traps on an object	targeted
	Light	In Lor	This spell provides illumination	duration		Provides illumination greater than that of a torch but less than a lantern
	Locate	Bet Wis Ex	Many teleportals in the game cause you to become lost: your auto-map stops working until you can find your way back to a location where you have been before. This spell negates that effect	instantaneous		found in Ice Caves level 2 in City of Anodunos
	Luck	Bet Ort In	In combat, this spell improves the odds in the caster’s favor	duration		reduces opponent's attack skill
	Magic Arrow	Ort Jux	This spell fires a magic arrow at an opponent	missile		Can also toggle switches and levers, etc
	Resist Blows	Bet In Sanct	This spell offers the same protection as a suit of head-to-toe armor	duration

Spells of the Second Circle

	Spell	Words of Power	Description	Type	Icon	SPOILER Toggle Notes
	Cause Fear	Quas Corp	This spell can cause an opponent to lose heart and flee	targeted
	Deadly Seeker	Ort Wis Jux	This spell releases a projectile that tracks down and strikes an opponent	missile		The spell is called Deadly Seeker and the projectile is called a homing dart.
	Dispel Hunger	Quas Mani Ylem	This spell causes the caster to instantly become well fed. It replaces the need to carry food or cast multiple Create Food spells	instantaneous		Learned in Pits of Carnage level 1 from Zaria
	Jump Leap	Uus Por	This spell increases the height and distance of its caster’s jumping ability	duration		This spell is called jump in the manual and leap everywhere else
	Lesser Heal	In Bet Mani	This spell heals the caster’s minor wounds	instantaneous
	Rune of Flame	In Flam Jux	This spell creates a floating rune that explodes into flame if disturbed	instantaneous		lasts until disturbed
	Slow Fall	Rel Des Por	This spell briefly allows the caster to float in the air like a feather	duration		Allows the caster to fall slowly and to avoid injury when jumping or falling from great heights
	Valor	Quas An Corp	This spell increases the caster's combat statistics significantly. Specifically, a weapon skill is increased by 10, plus one per 5 points of casting skill	duration		Learned in Pits of Carnage level 1 from Zogith after giving him a Falm rune stone.

Spells of the Third Circle

	Spell	Words of Power	Description	Type	Icon	SPOILER Toggle Notes
	Bleeding	Jux Mani	This spell drains blood from a selected creature	targeted		harm opponent, ignoring armor. Higher casting skill does more harm.
	Cure Poison	An Nox	This spell acts as an antidote to any poison currently in the caster’s system	instantaneous
	Dispel Rune	An Jux Ort	This spell dispels any magical runes	targeted
	Lightning	Ort Grav	This spell hurls a bolt of arcane energy at an opponent	missile
	Night Vision	Quas Lor	This spell allows the caster to see without benefit of torch or candle	duration		vision distance is greater than a lantern but vision is mostly grayscale
	Repel Undead	An Kal Corp	This spell can cause numerous undead in front of the caster to attempt to flee (or attack, if backed into a corner). It can affect one undead, plus undead whose hit points do not exceed 10 times the caster's casting skill. Already-fleeing creatures take a number of points of damage equal to the caster's casting skill	instantaneous		Learned in Killorn Keep level 1 from the merchant Merzan
	Speed	Rel Tym Por	This spell accelerates the caster’s thought and movement	duration
	Water Walk	Ylem Por	This spell allows the caster to walk on water	duration

Spells of the Fourth Circle

	Spell	Words of Power	Description	Type	Icon	SPOILER Toggle Notes
	Flameproof	Sanct Flam	Briefly grants a partial resistance to damage from flame	duration
	Frost	In An Flam	This spell creates frost in an area in front of the caster. This frost will inflict about 10 points of damage to every creature in the area.	instantaneous		Found in Pits of Carnage level 1 in the iced-over side room.
	Heal	In Mani	This spell heals the caster of even grievous wounds	instantaneous
	Missile Protection	Grav Sanct Por	This spell renders the caster invulnerable to most missiles, and offers protection from others	duration
	Poison Weapon	Nox Jux Ylem	This spell envenoms the caster’s weapons	duration
	Remove Trap	An Jux	This spell negates a non-magical trap	targeted
	Study Monster	Wis Mani	This spell gives the caster knowledge about a creature	targeted
	Thick Skin	In Sanct	This spell increases resistance to damage, more so than the First Circle spell Resist Blows, and less so than the Eighth Circle spell Iron Flesh.	duration		While never mentioned in the game, its runes may be deduced by examining those of the two related spells.

Spells of the Fifth Circle

	Spell	Words of Power	Description	Type	Icon	SPOILER Toggle Notes
	Fireball	Por Flam	This spell hurls a flaming missile at an opponent	missile
	Levitate	Uus Hur Por	This spell briefly allows the caster to rise vertically into the air	duration
	Mending	Rel Sanct Ylem	When cast on a weapon, armor, a light source, food or a door, this spell brings it to top quality	targeted		Found in Prison Tower level 5 on the corpse of the goblin blacksmith
	Name Enchantment	Ort Wis Ylem	This spell reveals the true nature of the object on which the spell is cast	targeted		identifies magical items and bones
	Open	Ex Ylem	This spell unlocks a locked door or chest	targeted
	Rune of Stasis	In Tym Jux	Similar to the Second Circle Rune of Flame spell, this spell creates a floating rune that paralyzes the first creature to touch it.	instantaneous		The spell lasts until disturbed. It is learned in Killorn Keep level 1 from the merchant Merzan
	Smite Undead	An Corp Mani	This spell destroys an undead creature	targeted
	Telekinesis	Ort Por Ylem	This spell allows the caster to pick up a single item and use it from a distance	duration		also works to manipulate doors, switches, and other objects, and extends the range of telekinesis

Spells of the Sixth Circle

	Spell	Words of Power	Description	Type	Icon	SPOILER Toggle Notes
	Charm	Quas Rel Wis	This spell causes the target to become friendly toward the caster	targeted
	Daylight	Vas In Lor	This spell provides bright illumination for extended periods of time	duration		the brightest light in game
	Gate Travel	Vas Rel Por	When cast on one moonstone, this spell takes the caster instantaneously to another moonstone	targeted
	Greater Heal	Vas In Mani	This spell brings the caster back to his or her original vigor (full Vitality)	instantaneous
	Invisibility	Vas Sanct Lor	This spell causes the caster to become nearly impossible to detect by normal means	duration
	Map Area	Wis Ex	This spell reveals an area around the caster to the auto-map. The radius of this area varies from 15 feet (at casting skill 0) up to 165 feet (at casting skill 30)	instantaneous		Found in Ice Caves level 1 among the corpses of the Arctic explorers near the entrance.
	Paralyze	An Ex Por	This spell prevents the target from moving	targeted
	Sheet Lightning	Vas Ort Grav	This spell causes a cone of lightning bolts to erupt from the caster’s hands	instantaneous

Spells of the Seventh Circle

	Spell	Words of Power	Description	Type	Icon	SPOILER Toggle Notes
	Enchantment	Vas Ort Ylem	This spell can either be used to add charges to any magic item which can take charges, or to permanently enchant a weapon or armor. If cast on an item which can not take charges, and is neither a weapon nor a piece of armor, the spell fails with no beneficial or detrimental effects (except the caster's loss of mana)	targeted		Learned in Killorn Keep level 1 from Altara
	Magic Satellite	Ort Por Grav	This spell creates an object that orbits the caster, and that explodes on contact with any creature	instantaneous
	Mass Confusion	Vas An Wis	This spell causes foes to become disoriented	instantaneous
	Portal	Vas Ex Ylem	This spell transports the caster forward some distance, regardless of intervening objects, as long as there is an open space to arrive at	instantaneous
	Reveal	Ort An Quas	This spell reveals hidden objects and concealed exits from the caster’s current location	instantaneous
	Shockwave	Jux Hur	This spell causes a devastating shockwave to expand outward from the caster’s body	instantaneous		Higher casting skill means a bigger shock wave - bigger radius, same damage
	Summon Daemon	Kal An Mani	This spell summons a daemon whose power depends on the casting skill of the summoner. Unfortunately, being a daemon, it will be hostile.	instantaneous		Found in Pits of Carnage level 2 in the bloodstained pentagram room.
	Tremor	Vas Por Ylem	(undocumented)	instantaneous		This spell is truely undocumented. It isn't mentioned in game, nor in the Player's Guide, nor in the Clue Book. You'd have to know it from Ultima Underworld.

Spells of the Eighth Circle

	Spell	Words of Power	Description	Type	Icon	SPOILER Toggle Notes
	Armageddon	Vas Kal Corp	This spell kills all creatures, destroys all objects, doors, stairways and bridges, and has other strange effects on all realms in Underworld II. Not recommended.	instantaneous		Not referred to in game. Can only be found in the Player's Guide or in Ultima Underworld.
	Flame Wind	Flam Hur	This spell unleashes a storm of fireballs in front of the caster	instantaneous
	Fly	Vas Hur Por	This spell allows the caster to fly through air for a time, and then glide gently to the ground	duration
	Freeze Time	Flam Hur	This spell stops the flow of time for all save the caster	duration
	Iron Flesh	In Vas Sanct	This spell greatly increases resistance to damage	duration
	Restoration	Vas Mani	This spell restores the caster to full health, wakefulness and satiation	instantaneous
	Roaming Sight	Ort Por Wis	This spell allows the caster to move his or her point of view at will, regardless of physical constraints	duration
	Smite Foe	Vas Jux Mani	This spell is a more powerful version of the Third Circle Bleeding spell. It causes a single creature (which must be one that can bleed) to take 110 points of damage, plus 3 points per level of the caster's casting skill. It will kill almost any creature.	targeted		Not referred to in game. It can be found in the Player's Guide or figured out based on the Bleeding spell.

Additional Information

Casting a spell requires mana three times that of the spell's circle number. See Runic Magic for more information.

MechanicsSpell Mechanics

From the Ultima Underworld II Clue Book:

Resist Blows, Thick Skin and Iron Flesh essentially act as additional points of armor.
Their armor values are: Resist Blows--2; Thick Skin--3; Iron Flesh--5

Lesser Heal and Heal restore 2d8 (2 to 16) and 4d8 (4 to 32) Vitality points, respectively.
Greater Heal restores all damage.

Luck reduces the attack skill of all opponents by 3, which is significant in lower-level combat, but should be replaced by Valor as soon as possible.

Bleeding does 10 points of damage, plus half the caster's casting skill. The target's armor value does not affect this.

Note that you do not have to touch a magical rune to set it off. You can also Use the rune to fire it on purpose. This is occasionally useful.

Shockwave affects all creatures within 12 feet of you, and does 15+(casting/2) points of damage to each creature in the area.

Study Monster really comes into its own once you know just how much damage you can do with various combat spells. For example, with it you can tell just how many Bleeding spells you will need to cast to defeat your foe, and you can figure out whether that is within your current mana budget. In addition, you should consider casting it whenever you encounter an unfamiliar creature type.

Trivia

• All spell circles in Ultima Underworld II have exactly eight spells, including the undocumented ones.

SpoilerLearn from the wisps

In several of the Ultima games the Avatar is able to learn the Armageddon spell from the wisps. The wisps are present in this game, and have other knowledge to trade, but do not teach the spell this time.

See Also

• Runic magic/Ultima Underworld spells
• Runic magic/Undocumented spells
• Runic magic/All spells