:: Grimoire Class—Mage ::

Mage (wizard variant)

by Wm Jay Carter III, inspired by the Incanter class from Spheres of Power

a mage

Having studied in an academy of arcane education, the mage finds her truest self in the possession and wise use of knowledge. She prizes information above most other treasures and pities the fools who do not have enough sense to use what knowledge they have. To her magic is a science; empirical and exact. For this reason the mage’s approach to magic is a practical, methodical, and exhaustive.

A mage in Athanasia begins as a scholar magician in Elementary School where she learns how to harness the classical elements from arcane textbooks called grimoires. There, she also learns the Wizard’s Creed, a set of ideological tenets that are intended to guide a mage’s actions when using magic. The next step is Dueling College where she learns the form and function of the Wizard’s Duel, and focuses her arcane learning toward one or more specializations (spheres).

After graduating she is known as a mage, and she may wish to join a mage’s guild focused in her specialization, or further her education pursuant to becoming an archmage. Those mages who learn the arcane arts outside of Euzoria’s educational system are known as hedge-mages.

Among spellcasters, archmages are the academic elite, regarded as the foremost authorities in their specializations, even taking part in composing grimoires for the up-and-coming generation of scholar magicians. Archmages may choose to teach in institutions of arcane learning, or establish their own guild. An archmage’s journey is not complete, however, until she one day becomes a fully-fledged wizard.

Wizards are spellcasters appointed by the Wizard’s Tribunal to be the steward of some powerful magical artifact or crucial ley-line. A wizard is granted a tower in order to better safeguard her magical charge, and she receives a personalized staff from the Tribunal as a symbol of her position. Should a wizard ever fail to follow the Creed or dishonor the Tribunal and her craft, her appointed stewardship is revoked, she is dismissed from her tower, and her staff is broken.

The Wizard’s Tribunal is composed of three governing members: Alkandros of the bóreans, Kléber of the leonians, and Ipiktok of the seraphim, each of whom holds one of the three remaining staffs of power. Based out the Tower of Towers, the Tribunal oversees the creation of arcane curriculum, enforces the proper use of magic by the Wizard’s Creed, and monitors the activities of all wizard’s towers across Athanasia.

Throughout a scholar magician’s education, career as a mage, and her potential appointment as a wizard, she is always seeking knowledge from any source available. The most accessible source is a network of formless, ambient intelligences that pervade the length and breadth of Athanasia. According to extensive academic research, these intelligences are theorized to be the state of fey beings before they materialize in the Fey Realm. Regardless of their true nature, however, they are employed constantly to aid a mage in her research, most notably through the Divination sphere.

The subject of a mage’s research is most often words of power from the language of the Strangers (Druidic), a language that actually defies being written, and is only comprehensively understood by the dendrites. The Wizard’s Tribunal has formally requested that the Circle divulge the language many times, always with the provision that its use would be duly regulated, but over the centuries the Circle has consistently refused.

Spheres

Mages from Euzoria consider at least some knowledge in Divination and Destruction as essential components of their magical education. Beyond this, they are equally likely to learn any other sphere, with the sole exception of the Death sphere (Necromancy), which is forbidden by the tenets of the Wizard’s Creed. Hedge-mages (from inside or outside Euzoria’s boundaries) do not follow the Creed and acknowledge no such limitations—much to their dismay when the Tribunal sends representatives to censure them...

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d6

Starting Wealth: 3d6 x 10 gp (Average 105 gp) In addition, each character begins with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The mage's class skills are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Knowledge (all; Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 2 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Simple Weapons

Casting (Su)

A mage may combine spheres and talents to create magical effects. A mage is considered a High-Caster and uses Intelligence as her casting ability modifier. (Note: All casters gain 2 bonus talents and may select drawbacks the first time they gain the casting class feature. Mages may not select the Focus Casting drawback.)

Spell Pool

A mage gains a small reservoir of energy she can call on to create truly wondrous effects, called a spell pool. This pool contains a number of spell points equal to 1 + her level + her Intelligence modifier (minimum: 2). This pool replenishes once per day after roughly 8 hours of rest. The mage gains a bonus spell point every 6 levels. (+1 spell point at 6th level, +2 at 12th, and +3 at 18th.)

Magic Talents

A mage gains a magic talent every level, according to Table: The Mage.

Table: The Mage

Magical Education

Every scholar magician learned the tenets of magic use by attending an institution of arcane learning. During her time there, she was required to choose a specialization. At character creation, the mage chooses one sphere as her specialization. She gains this as a bonus sphere at level 1 and has a +1 bonus to her caster level when using abilities, talents, and powers from this sphere. This choice cannot be changed.

A mage’s ability to use magic comes from study. She must always refer to a book of instructions, called a grimoire, in order to use sphere abilities and talents. Without her grimoire, she can only use sphere abilities and talents if she succeeds on a concentration check. This class feature functions as the Focus Casting drawback.

Duel Training

Scholar magicians are taught defensive magic from the first year of their education. This comes into play no more often than in the Wizard's Duel, a long-standing tradition of chivalrous competition among other students. The mage gains Counterspell at 1st level as a bonus feat, even if she does not meet the prerequisites.

Bonus Feat

At 2nd level and every even level thereafter, a mage gains a bonus feat. This may be spent to gain an extra magic talent, any feat which has casting as a prerequisite (craft item feats, metamagic feats, sphere focus, circle casting, etc.), or a guild power (see below).

Guild Training

The natural next step in a mage's education is to train with a mage's guild. The saying goes that in order to become an archmage the mage must learn more and more about less and less until she knows everything about nothing. While this may not be strictly true, the mage's tendency is to spend ever-increasing amounts of time learning the nuances of only a few fields of magic.

Each time the mage would gain a bonus feat, she may instead gain a power associated with a particular mage's guild. If acquiring a guild power at 2nd level, the mage gains the minor power from a guild of her choice.

At 4th level and every even level thereafter, the mage may choose to gain the minor power of new guild, or gain access to the next higher power from a guild she has already trained with (lesser, greater, or master).

A mage cannot gain a lesser power before 4th level, a greater power before 8th level, or a master power before 10th level (unless specified otherwise). You must have the sphere associated with a guild power before you may learn it.

The more a mage trains with the guild of her specialization, the easier it is for her to recall the steps necessary to use magic from that sphere; eventually, simple magics from her specialization sphere become rote. Each time the mage gains a power from her chosen specialization sphere, she also gains a +5 circumstance bonus on all concentration checks made to use magic from that sphere without the use of a grimoire.

Large urban centers commonly have mage’s guilds for every sphere except Death, Conjuring, and War. Necromancy (the Death sphere) is forbidden by the Wizard’s Tribunal, and is only practiced by hedge-mages who refuse to follow the Wizard’s Creed. Conjurers and war mages tend to be solo practitioners and do not congregate in guilds. The guilds of smaller towns may offer only a handful of spheres, while villages might only have a solo guild practitioner who may train in one or two guild powers.

If a mage’s guild specializing in a given sphere is not available at the time a mage would choose her next guild power, the GM may rule that choosing a power from that sphere is not possible. Alternatively, guilds might lend grimoires to the occasional adventuring mage...for a price or other favor. The GM is the final arbiter for whether training in a particular sphere is available.

Guild Powers

Guild powers are identical to the specialization abilities offered in the Incanter class from Spheres of Power; the first specialization ability counts as the minor guild power from the same sphere, the second ability counts as the lesser guild power, and the third counts as the greater guild power. Master guild powers are based on Advanced Talents from Spheres of Power and are listed below. If a master power has prerequisite talents, you gain these prerequisite talents when you gain the master power (if you do not already have them).

Alteration

            Minor: Shapeshifter's Renewal

            Lesser: Battleshaping

            Greater: Change Shape

            Master: Permanent Transformation

Creation

            Minor: Creator's Focus

            Lesser: Create Gear

            Greater: Forceful Alteration

            Master: Fabricate

Dark

            Minor: Home in the Dark

            Lesser: Binding Darkness

            Greater: Shadow Step

            Master: Shadow Walker

Death

            Minor: Power over Undead         

            Lesser: Bolster

            Greater: Spirit Touch

            Master: Possession

Destruction

            Minor: Intense Magic

            Lesser: Movement Burst

            Greater: Elemental Wall

            Master: Elemental Defense (You gain Resistance 20 vs. one chosen energy type—acid, cold, fire, or electricity. Stacks with other sources of energy resistance.)

Divination

            Minor: Forewarned

            Lesser: Diviner's Fortune

            Greater: Foretell

            Master: Scrying

Enhancement

            Minor: Physical Enhancement

            Lesser: Augment

            Greater: Perfection of Self

            Master: Bestow Life

Fate

            Minor: Fated Protection

            Lesser: Prescience

            Greater: Tugging Strands

            Master: Greater Geas

Illusion

            Minor: Extended Illusion

            Lesser: Illusionary Marvels        

            Greater: Invisibility Field

            Master: Permanent Image

Life

            Minor: Life Essence

            Lesser: Steal Essence

            Greater: Life Sight

            Master: Resurrection

Light

            Minor: Lighteyes

            Lesser: Blinding Ray

            Greater: Revelation Aura

            Master: Daylight

Mind

            Minor: Enchanting Smile

            Lesser: Terror

            Greater: Aura of Despair

            Master: Greater Communication

Nature

            Minor: Animal Companion         

            Lesser: Wild Empathy

            Greater: Empower Companion

            Master: Rapid Growth (15th level)

Protection

            Minor: Resistance

            Lesser: Protective Ward

            Greater: Energy Absorption

            Master: Anti-Magic Aura

Telekinesis

            Minor: Telekinetic Stability

            Lesser: Telekinetic Impediment

            Greater: Great Flight

            Master: Effortless Telekinesis

Time

            Minor: Fast

            Lesser: Slowing Touch

            Greater: Retry

            Master: Temporal Stasis (15th level)

Warp

            Minor: Shift

            Lesser: Diagram

            Greater: Aura of Banishment

            Master: Portal

Weather

            Minor: Untouched

            Lesser: Wind Servant

            Greater: Cloak of the Elements

            Master: Climate