Wizard

A few unintelligible words and a fleeting gesture carry more power than a battleaxe, when they are the words and gestures of a wizard.  These simple acts make magic seem easy, but they only hint at the time the wizard must spend poring over her spellbook preparing each spell for casting, and the years before that spent in apprenticeship to learn the arts of magic.

     Wizards depend on intensive study to create their magic.  They examine musty old tomes, debate magical theory with their peers, and practice minor magics whenever they can.  For a wizard, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art.

     Adventures: Wizards conduct their adventures with caution and forethought.  When prepared, they can use their spells to devastating effect.  When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable.  They seek knowledge, power, and the resources to conduct their studies.  They may also have any of the noble or ignoble motivations that other adventurers have.

     Characteristics: The wizard's strength is her spells.  Everything else is secondary.  She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards.  In addition to learning new spells, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way.

     Some wizards prefer to specialize in a certain type of magic.  Specialization makes a wizard more powerful in her chosen field, but prevents her from being able to cast some of the spells that lie outside her field (see the School Specialization links).

     Alignment: Overall, wizards show a slight tendacy toward law over chaos because the study of magic rewards those who are disciplined.  Illusionists and transmuters, however, are masters of deception and change, respectively.  They favor chaos over law.

     Religion: Wizards, as a whole, commonly revere the pagan god, Boccob.  There are others that draw the worship of wizards, such as the barbarian cult that worhips Wee Jas, the gnomes have numerous gods among the Tuatha de Danann that wizards and illusionists revere.  Wizards in general, however, are more devoted to their studies than to their spiritual studies.

     Background: Wizards recognize each other as comrades or rivals.  Even wizards from very different cultures or magical traditions have much in common because they all conform to the universal laws of magic.  Most wizards of the Thunder Rift come from the Bigby Academy, the local college of the arcane that caters to wizards, sorcerers, and even bards.  All wizards that hail from the Bigby Academy have common bond and access to the academy.  Most guild wizards tend to look down their nose at "rustic" wizards who learn their arts from more primitive ways.

     Races: Humans and minotaurs make up the bulk of wizards, with gnomes comprising the majority of illusionists within Thunder Rift.  Wizards among the hobbits are a rarity, but they are most often illusionists or transmuters.

     Orcs and elves veer away from the studies of a wizard and instead pursue the path of the wu jen.  However, the uruk-hai and the eta have the option of learning the arcane arts of the wizard.

     The thri-kreen are a primitive people who rarely pursue the path of the arcane and instead follow the divine.  Despite this there are thri-kreen that become masters of powerful arcane magics.

     Dwarven wizards are an unheard of thing, instead they produce witches and warlocks.

     Other Classes: Wizards prefer to work with members of other classes.  They love to cast their spells from behind strong fighters, to "magic up" rogues and send them out to scout, and to rely on the divine healing clerics.  They may find certain types, such as sorcerers, rogues, and bards, not quite serious enough, but they're not judgemental.

Game Rule Information

Wizards have the following game statistics.

     Abilities: Intelligence determines how powerful a spell a wizard can cast, how many spells she can cast, and how hard those spells are to resist.  To cast a spell, a wizard must have an Intelligence score of 10 + the spell's level.  In addition, a wizard gets bonus spells based on Intelligence.  The Difficultly Class of a saving throw against a wizard's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the wizard's Intelligence modifier.  High Dexterity is helpful for a wizard, who typically wears little to no armor, because it provides her with an Armor Class bonus.  A good Constitution gives wizards extra hit points, a resource that she is otherwise very low on.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d4

Class Skills

The wizard's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (Int, Arcana) Knowledge (Int, Planes), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int) and Use Magic Device (Cha; exclusive skill).

Skill Points at 1st-Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the wizard.

     Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Wizards are skilled with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff.  Wizards are not proficient with any type of armor nor shields.  Armor of any type interferes with a wizard's movements, which can cause her spells to fail (if those spells have somatic components).  Note that armor check penalties for armor heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket, and Tumble.  Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armor and equipment carried.

     Spells: A wizard casts arcane spells.  She is limited to a certain number of spells of each spell level per day, according to her class level.  A wizard must prepare spells ahead of time by getting a good night's sleep and spending 1 hour studying her spellbook.  While studying, the wizard decides which spells to prepare (see the Player's Handbook, page 154).  To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, a wizard must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the spell's level.  A wizard's bonus spells are based on Intelligence (see the Player's Handbook, page 8).  The Difficulty Class for saving throws against wizard spells is 10 + the spell's level + the wizard's Intelligence modifier.

     Unlike bards and sorcerers, wizards may know any number of spells.

     Bonus Language: A wizard may substitute Draconic for one of the bonus languages available to the character because of her race, since many ancient tomes of magic are written in Draconic and apprentice wizards often learn it as part of their studies.

     Arcane Bond: At 1st-level, wizards form a powerful bond with either an object or creature. This bond can take two forms; a familiar or a bonded object. Once a wizard makes her choice, it is permanent and cannot be changed (except through retraining).

     Bonded Object: Wizards who select a bonded object begin play with one at no cost.  Objects that are the subject of an arcane bond must fall into one of the following categories: amulet, ring, staff, wand, or weapon.  These objects are always masterwork quality.  Weapons acquired at 1st-level are not made of any special material.  If the object is an amulet or ring, it must be worn to have effect, while staves, wands, and weapons must be held in one hand.  If a wizard attempts to cast a spell without her bonded object worn or in hand, she must make a Concentration check or lose the spell. The DC for this check is equal to 20 + the spell's level.  If the object is a ring or amulet, it must be worn around the neck or a finger accordingly.

     A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell that the wizard has in her spellbook and is capable of casting, even if the spell is not prepared.  This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the wizard, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the wizard's level.  This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities.  The bonded object cannot be used to cast spells from the wizard's opposition schools.

     A wizard can add additional magic abilities to her bonded object as if she has the required item creation feats and if she meets the level prerequisites of the feat.  For example, a wizard with a bonded dagger must be at least 5th-level to add magic abilities to the dagger (see the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat in the Player's Handbook).  If the bonded object is a wand, it loses its wand abilities when its last charge is consumed, but it is not destroyed and it retains all of its bonded object properties and can be used to craft a new wand.  The magic properties of a bonded object, including any magic abilities added to the object, only function for the wizard who owns it.  If a bonded object's owner dies, or the item is replaced, the object reverts to being an ordinary masterwork item of the appropriate type.

     If a bonded object is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the wizard prepares her spells.  If the object of an arcane bond is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week by using the Arcane Bond spell (see sidebar).

     Familiar: Wizards who select familiar begin play with one at no cost.  A familiar is a magical, unusually tough, and intelligent version of a small animal (see the sidebar).  It is a magical beast, not an animal.  The creature serves as a companion and servant.

     The wizard chooses the type of familiar she gets.  As the wizard advances in level, her familiar also advances in power.

     If the familiar dies, or the wizard dismisses it, the wizard must attempt a Fortitude saving throw (DC 15).  If the saving throw fails, the wizard loses 200 xp per wizard class level.  A successful saving throw reduces the loss to half that amount.  However, a wizard's xp total can never go below 0 as a result of a familiar's demise.  For example, Mialee is a 3rd-level wizard with 3,230 xp when her owl is killed by a bugbear.  Mialee makes a successful saving throw, so she loses 300 xp, dropping her below 3,000 xp and back to 2nd-level (the Dungeon Master's Guide has rules for losing levels).  A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and a day.  Slain familiars can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, but do not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.

     Arcane School: A wizard can choose to specialize in one school of magic, gaining additional spells and powers based on that school.  This choice must be made at 1st-level, and once made, it cannot be changed.  A wizard that does not select a school receives the wizardry school instead.

     A wizard that chooses to specialize in one school of magic will have one or more opposition schools, representing knowledge sacrificed in one area of arcane lore to gain mastery in another.  Each school of magic dictates what their opposition school is and spells of the school or schools that the specialist gives up are not available to her, and she can't even cast such spells from scrolls or wands.  A wizard of the wizardry school can prepare spells from any school without restriction.

     Each arcane school gives the wizard a number of school powers.  In addition, specialist wizards receive an additional spell slot of each spell level she can cast, from 1st-level on up.  Each day, a wizard can prepare a spell from his specialty school in that slot.  This spell must be in the wizard's spellbook.  A wizard can select a spell modified by a metamagic feat to preapre in his school slot, but it uses up a higher-level spell slot.  Wizards of the wizardry school do not receive a school slot.

     Specialist wizards gain a +2 bonus to their Spellcraft checks and save DCs when it relates to their school of magic.

     Each arcane school has 1 or more sub-schools associated to it.  A specialist's spell selection does not change, but the school powers granted to her do.

     Arcane Study (Ex): A wizard receives a bonus to her Spellcraft skill checks equal to half her wizard level (minimum +1).

     Cantrips: Wizards begin play knowing all cantrips commonly available to a wizard, including cantrips of opposing schools. A wizard can cast any cantrip she knows without preparing or memorizing it, meaning that in effect wizards can cast all cantrips spontaneously as a sorcerer, however she is still limited by the number of cantrips (0-level spells) she can cast per day.

     Scribe Scroll: At 1st-level, a wizard gains the Scribe Scroll feat as a bonus feat.

     Bonus Feats: At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th-level, a wizard gains a bonus feat.  The bonus feat must be selected from either Spell Focus, Spell Mastery, Spell Penetration, or any Item Creation or Metamagic feat.  In addition, the wizard may choose an arcane discovery in place of her bonus feats (see below).

     Arcane Discoveries: Wizards spend much of their lives seeking deeper truths, hunting knowledge as if it were life itself.  The wizard's power is not necessarily the spells she wields; spells are merely the outward, most visible manifestation of that power.  A wizard's true power is in her fierce intelligence, her dedication to her craft, and her ability to peel back the surface truths of reality to understand the fundamental underpinnings of existence.  A wizard spends much of her time researching spells, and would rather find an undiscovered library than a room full of gold.  A wizard need not be a reclusive bookworm, but she must have a burning curiosity for the unknown.  Arcane discoveries are the results of this obsession with magic.

     A wizard can learn an arcane discovery in place of a regular feat or a wizard bonus feat.

     Arcane Builder (Ex): Select one type of magic item (potions, wondrous items, etc).  You can create items of this type 25% faster than normal, and gain a +4 bonus on Spellcraft checks (or other checks, as appropriate) to craft items of this type.

     You may select this discovery multiple times; its effects do not stack.  Each time you select this discovery, it applies to a different type of magic item.

     Balanced Summoning (Sp): You maintain balance by calling on opposing forces when summoning.  Whenever you cast a summon monster spell, you can summon two creatures from a single list 1 or more levels lower than the level of the spell.  The two creatures must have alignments that are opposite along at least one axis (chaotic and lawful or evil and good.  For example, if you cast summon monster II, you can summon a celestial wolf and a fiendish hyena from the 2nd-level list.

     Beyond Morality (Su): As long as you are neutral, you may choose to be treated as the most favorable alignment when affected by spells whose effects vary based on alignment (such as holy word).  If you are neutral in relation to evil and good, you may choose to be treated as good or evil.  If you are neutral in relation to chaos and law, you may choose to be treated as lawful or chaotic.  You may only choose to be treated as one alignment type along a single axis at a time (for instance, if you were within the area of both a magic circle against evil spell and an unholy blight spell, you would have to choose to be either evil, good, or neutral for the purpose of determining the spells' effects).

     To take this arcane discovery you must be neutral in alignment and a wizard of 9th-level or higher.

     Creative Destruction (Su): When you cast an evocation spell that deals damage, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the total number of dice used to determine the damage caused by the spell.  Temporary hit points gained from this discovery do not stack and disappear after 1 hour.

     Defensive Feedback (Su): When an abjuration spell you cast prevents damage (with damage reduction or energy resistance), if the attacking creature is within 30 feet of the protected creature, the foe takes 1d6 points of damage for every 10 points of damage prevented.

     Faith Magic (Ex): Select one spell granted by a domain belonging to the god you worship.  This spell must be at least 2 levels lower than the highest-level wizard spell you can cast.  When you first prepare your spells for the day, you can prepare this spell once, using a spell slot 1 level higher than the spell's actual level.  This is cast as a divine spell.

     Fast Study (Ex): Normally, a wizard spends 1 hour preparing all of her spells for the day, or proportionately less if she only prepares some spells, with a minimum of 15 minutes of preparation.  Thanks to mental discipline and clever mnemonics, you can prepare all your spells in only 15 minutes, and your minimum preparation time is only 1 minute.

     Feral Speech (Su): You gain the ability to speak with and understand the response of any animal as if using speak with animals, though each time you speak to animals, you must decide to communicate with either amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, or reptiles, and can only speak to and understand animals of that type.  You can make yourself understood as far as your voice carries.  This discovery does not predispose any animal addressed toward you in any way.  When you reach 12th-level, you can also use this ability to communicate with vermin.

     Forest's Blessing (Ex): You cast any spells that appear on both the wizard and druid spell lists at +1 caster level and with a +1 to the save DC.  In addition, you may replace the material component of any arcane spell with gems of the same value.

     You must be a wizard of 5th-level or higher to select this discovery.

     Golem Constructor (Ex): You have learned the art and craft of creating a single type of golem (such as stone golems or iron golems).  When creating a golem of this type, you count as having the Craft Wonderous Item, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, and Craft Construct feats.  You must meet all other construction requirements for the golem as normal.

     You may select this discovery multiple times.  Each time you select this discovery, it applies to a different kind of golem.

     You must be a wizard of at least 9th-level or higher to select this discovery.

     Idealize (Su): In your quest for self-perfection, you have discovered a way to further enhance yourself and others.  When a transmutation spell you cast grants an enhancement bonus to an ability score, that bonus increases by 2.  At 20th-level, the bonus increases by 4.

     You must be a wizard of 10th-level or higher to learn this discovery.

     Immortality (Su): You discover a cure for aging, and from this point forward you take no penalty to your physical ability scores from advanced age.  If you are already taking such penalties, they are removed at this time.

     Only wizards of 20th-level can select this discovery.

     Infectious Charms (Ex): Any time you target and successfully affect a single creature with a charm or compulsion spell and that creature is within 30 feet of another opponent, your spell has a chance of affecting the second creature as well.  As a swift action immediately after affecting a creature with a charm or compulsion spell, you can cause the spell to carry over to the nearest creature within 30 feet.  The spell behaves in all ways as though its new target were the original target of the spell.

     You must be a wizard of 11th-level or higher to select this discovery.

     Ioun Bond: You can form an arcane bond with an ioun stone.  If you choose this arcane discovery at 1st-level, you gain a dull gray ioun stone as a bonded object at no cost.  A bonded ioun stone must be orbiting your head to have effect.  At 12th-level, you can turn a bonded dull gray ioun stone into another kind of ioun stone as if you possessed the Craft Wondrous Item feat; if you die or replace a bonded ioun stone that has been transformed in this way, the stone reverts to a dull gray ioun stone.

     You must have chosen a bonded object as your arcane bond to select this discovery.

     Multimorph (Su): When you cast a spell of the polymorph subschool on yourself, you may expend 1 minute of the spell's duration as a standard action to assume another form allowed by the spell.  You can do this as often as you like, subject to the duration of the spell.

     You must be at least a 5th-level wizard to select this discovery.

     Observant Illusion (Su): You can project your senses into any ongoing figment or shadow illusion you create with a spell of at least 3rd-level.  You can see through its eyes and hear through its ears as if you were standing where it is.  And during your turn you can switch from using its senses to using your own, or back again, as a swift or move action.

     Only gnome wizards of 9th-level or higher may select this discovery.

     Opposition Research (Ex): Select one of your opposition schools; you may now prepare spells of that school, but it requires 2 spell slots of the appropriate level.  You also take a -4 Spellcraft penalty when crafting items from that school.

     You must be a 9th-level wizard to select this discovery.

     Resilient Illusions (Ex): Anytime a creature tries to disbelieve one of your illusion effects, make a caster level check.  Treat the illusion's save DC as its normal DC or the result of the caster level check, whichever is higher.

     You must be an 8th-level wizard or higher to select this discovery.

     Split Slot (Ex): Once per day when you prepare spells, you may treat any one of your open spell slots as if it were two spell slots that were two spell levels lower.  For example, a 9th-level wizard can split a 5th-level slot into two 3rd-level slots, preparing fireball and lightning bolt in those 3rd-level slots.  For all purposes, the two lower-level slots are treated as that lower level (so the split 5th-level slot used for a fireball has a DC as if it were in a normal 3rd-level slot).  This discovery has no effect on cantrips or 1st & 2nd-level spells.

     You may select this discovery multiple times; each time you select it, you may split another spell slot when you prepare spells.  You cannot split a slot that you created by splitting a higher-level slot.

     You must be a wizard of 5th-level or higher to select this discovery.

     Steward of the Great Beyond (Su): Whenever a creature attempts to use a teleportation effect or summon a creature within 30 feet of you, you may attempt to black the effect.  Make an opposed caster level check (1d20 + caster level) as an immediate action.  If the check succeeds, the spell or effect fails and is wasted; otherwise, it is unaffected.  You can use this ability once per day plus one additional time for every 5 wizard levels you possess beyond 10th.

     You must be a wizard of 9th-level or higher to select this discovery.

     Time Stutter (Sp): You can briefly step out of time, pausing the world around you.  This ability acts as the time stop spell, except that you gain only 1 round of apparent time.  You can use this ability once per day plus one additional time for every 5 wizard levels you possess beyond 10th.

     You must be a 10th-level wizard or higher to select this discovery.

     True Name (Sp): Your research into ancient tomes and your inquisitions of bound spirits have led you to one of the best-hidden secrets of the multiverse: the true name of an outsider -- the name that defines the very essence of the creature and that gives the speaker control over the being.  This outsider can have no more than 12 Hit Dice.  Once per day, you can speak the common name by which the outsider is known, and the outsider travels to you as if you had cast planar binding upon it.  It must obey you to the best of its ability, without pay or bargaining for its services, for its fear that you might release its true name to the wider world is enough to bring even the most recalcitrant of outsiders to bear.

     If the creature is within 100 feet, as a move action, you may punish it by deliberately mispronouncing its name, wracking its very essence and giving it the sickened and staggered conditions for 1 round (even if the creature is normally immune to these conditions).  You cannot use true name in an area of silence, but the creature does not have to be able to hear you for it to be harmed by the ability.

     It is in your best interest to call this creature only sparingly, and occasionally reward it in some fashion to mollify its wrath.  If you repeatedly fail to offer it a reward appropriate to its type and ethos, the creature may begin plotting ways to destroy the bond between you, whether by creating an accident that will destroy your memory of the name, by plaguing you with nuisances or dangers until you vow never to call on it again, or by actively seeking to destroy you through its own devices or those of an underling.  If this creature is of a lawful type and you are violating its ethos, its superiors may even destroy it or you rather than allow you to contaminate their servant further.  Worse, they may establish situations where it is necessary for you to summon this outsider, opening gateways to infernal or angelic interference, in order to gain a foothold in the Known World.

     You may select this discovery multiple times. Each time you select this discovery, it applies to a different, specific outsider.  If you select this discovery at 15th level or higher, the creature may have up to 18 Hit Dice and the call acts as greater planar binding instead of planar binding.

     You must be a wizard of at least 10h-level to select this discovery.

Iaijutsu Duels

     This is a ritual known to most arcane magic-users who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of magical study.  Generally this includes wizards, sorcerers, wu jen, and witches.  This ritual has two functions: to bond a object to the caster or bond a familiar to the caster.  In both uses of the ritual the magic-user must expend 100 gp per magic-user level in materials that are consumed in the ritual, they must perform the ritual for 8 hours, and they must have the focus of the ritual (animal or object) present for the entire duration.  When it is over, the focus of the ritual is bonded to the magic-user.

     Bonded Object: The first usage of this ritual is to bond an object to the magic-user.  The ritual can only be performed on items that are of masterwork quality or higher (magic), and the cost of such an item is not included in the cost of the materials necessary to perform the ritual.  A magic-user can designate an existing magic item as his bonded item.  This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic item retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded item.

     Familiar: As with the bonded object, the magic-user must have the animal with him when the ritual it performed.  At the end of the ritual the animal and magic-user are bonded and become one.  The animal is no longer just an animal, but is now a magical beast.  The list of available familiars and all rules for them can be found in the Player's Handbook, page 51.  At the DM's discretion, the player may choose a familiar not found on the list.

Arcane Bond

Iaijutsu Duels

     Below are the nine standard arcane schools of magic, and listed beneath each one is one or more sub-schools associated with it.  The sub-schools have access to the same list of spells as the primary school, but the school abilities change to reflect the change in style of standard school.

     Illusion

       - Deception

       - Mage of the Veil

       - Phantasm

       - Shadow

     Necromancy

       - Life

       - Undead

     Wizardy

       - Arcane Crafter

Arcane Schools