The Mage

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d4.

 

Class Skills

The wizard’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Speak Language (n/a), and Use Magical Device (Cha). See Chapter 4: Skills for skill descriptions. 

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) x4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.

 

Table: The Mage
						––—— Spells per Day ——–—
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Spell Points
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Familiar, Eldritch Fire 1d6	4	1	—	—	—	—	—	6
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	1st True Spell Knowledge, Scribe Scroll	5	2	—	—	—	—	—	9
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Eldritch Fire 2d6	6	3	—	—	—	—	—	12
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	2nd True Spell Knowledge	7	4	1	—	—	—	—	20
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Mastery of Shaping	8	5	2	—	—	—	—	29
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Eldritch Fire 3d6	9	6	3	—	—	—	—	36
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	3rd True Spell Knowledge	9	7	4	1	—	—	—	51
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Arcane Reach, Countering Eldritch Fire	9	8	5	2	—	—	—	66
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Eldritch Fire 4d6	9	9	6	3	—	—	—	81
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	4th True Spell Knowledge	9	9	7	4	1	—	—	107
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Arcane Blast, Potent Eldritch Fire	9	9	8	5	2	—	—	133
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Eldritch Fire 5d6	9	9	9	6	3	—	—	159
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	5th True Spell Knowledge	9	9	9	7	4	1	—	197
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Improved Arcane Reach	9	9	9	8	5	3	—	255
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Eldritch Fire 6d6	9	9	9	9	6	4	—	294
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	6th True Spell Knowledge	9	9	9	9	7	5	1	350
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Mastery of Counterspelling	9	9	9	9	8	6	3	431
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Eldritch Fire 7d6	9	9	9	9	9	7	5	512
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	7th True Spell Knowledge	9	9	9	9	9	8	7	580
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Mastery of Elements	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	648

 

Table: Mage Spells Known
	———— Spells Known ————
Level	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	3	11	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
4th	4	3	11	—	—	—	—
5th	4	3	2	—	—	—	—
6th	4	3	2	—	—	—	—
7th	4	4	3	11	—	—	—
8th	5	4	3	2	—	—	—
9th	5	4	3	2	—	—	—
10th	5	4	4	3	11	—	—
11th	5	5	4	3	2	—	—
12th	5	5	4	3	2	—	—
13th	6	5	4	4	3	11	—
14th	6	5	5	4	3	2	—
15th	6	5	5	4	3	2	—
16th	6	6	5	4	4	3	11
17th	6	6	5	5	4	3	2
18th	6	6	5	5	4	3	2
19th	7	6	6	5	4	4	3
20th	7	6	6	5	5	4	3
1 Provided the mage has a high enough Charisma score to have a bonus spell of this level.

 

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the mage.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Wizards are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a mage’s movements, which can cause her spells with somatic components to fail.

 

Spells: A mage casts arcane spells which are drawn from the mage/sorcerer/ wizard spell list. A mage must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time (see below).

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the mage must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a mage’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the mage’s Intelligence modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a mage can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Mage. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score.

A mage may comprehend any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the mage decides which spells to prepare.

A mage has a number spell which it actually knows.  The mage can “lose” any prepared spell in order to cast any one of his known spells of the same spell level or lower.   The mage’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A mage begins play knowing three 0-level spells of your choice. At each new mage level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Mage Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a mage knows is not affected by his Intelligence score; the numbers on Table: Mage Spells Known are fixed.) These new spells can be common spells chosen from the mage/sorcerer/wizard spell list, or they can be unusual spells that the mage has gained some understanding of by study. The mage can’t use this method of spell acquisition to learn spells at a faster rate, however. To cast a known spell, the mage must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered mage level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a mage can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the mage “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level mage spell the mage can cast. A mage may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a mage need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level. He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast.

Bonus Languages: A wizard may substitute Draconic for one of the bonus languages available to the character because of his race.

Familiar: A mage can obtain a familiar (see below). Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. A familiar is a magical beast that resembles a small animal and is unusually tough and intelligent. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

The mage chooses the kind of familiar he gets. As the mage advances in level, his familiar also increases in power.

If the familiar dies or is dismissed by the mage, the mage must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experience points per mage level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a mage’s experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar’s demise or dismissal. A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may have only one familiar at a time.

Eldritch Fire (sp): By calling upon deep eldritch powers the mage posses, he may hurl a bolt of raw magical fire. Eldritch fire is subject to spell penetration.  You must make a ranged touch attack.  The bolt has a range of 25ft+5ft/2 levels.  Those struck by the bolt may make a fortitude save to cut this damage in half.  At level 11, those struck by the eldritch fire are hit with such force that they are dazed for one round.  Those who make a successful fortitude save are stunned for one round.  Eldritch fire may be counter by any ray spell.

Scribe Scroll: At 2nd level, a wizard gains Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat.

True Spell Knowledge (sp): A mage chooses permanently prepare one of his arcane spells known as a spell-like.  The mage’s caster level is equal to ½ his class level for this spell like ability.  The mage does not use any components when casting the spell, although a spell that costs XP to cast still does so and a spell with a costly material component instead costs his 10 times that amount in XP.  The mage may use this spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to his charisma bonus minus the level of the spell.  If this would allow him to use the spell 5 times per day or more he may use this spell like

Mastery of Shaping: The mage can alter area and effect spells that use one of the following shapes: burst, cone, cylinder, emanation, or spread. The alteration consists of creating spaces within the spell’s area or effect that are not subject to the spell. The minimum dimension for these spaces is a 5-foot cube. Furthermore, any shapeable spells have a minimum dimension of 5 feet instead of 10 feet.

Countering Eldritch Fire: The mage may attempt to counter any ray spell with his Eldritch Fire.  To do this he must make a ranged attack roll equal to or higher than that of the ray spell he is trying to counter plus the level of the spell.  If he succeeds in the attack roll he then makes an opposed caster check.  If he succeeds the spell is countered.  The Mage does not need to prepare an action to use this ability.  Using this ability is an immediate action.

Arcane Reach (Su): The mage can use spells with a range of touch on a target up to 30 feet away. The mage must make a ranged touch attack. Arcane reach increases to 60 feet at level 14.

Arcane Blast (Su): The mage gains the ability to change arcane spell energy into Arcane Blast, manifesting it as a bolt of raw magical energy. The bolt is a ranged touch attack with long range (400 feet + 40 feet/level of mage) that deals 1d6 points of damage per two class levels of the mage plus 1d6 points of damage per level of the spell used to create the effect.

Mastery of Counterspelling: When the mage counterspells a spell, it is turned back upon the caster as if it were fully affected by a spell turning spell. If the spell cannot be affected by spell turning, then it is merely counterspelled.

Mastery of Elements: The mage can alter an arcane spell when cast so that it utilizes a different element from the one it normally uses. This ability can only alter a spell with the acid, cold, fire, electricity, or sonic descriptor. The spell’s casting time is unaffected. The caster decides whether to alter the spell’s energy type and chooses the new energy type when he begins casting. The mage may cause his Eldritch Fire to deal elemental energy acid, cold, fire, electricity, or sonic.

 

FAMILIARS

A familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a mage, sorcerer, or wizard. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but it is treated as a magical beast instead of an animal for the purpose of any effect that depends on its type. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar. An animal companion cannot also function as a familiar.

A familiar also grants special abilities to its master (a mage, sorcerer, or wizard), as given on the table below. These special abilities apply only when the master and familiar are within 1 mile of each other.

Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master’s level.

 

Familiar	Special
Bat	Master gains a +3 bonus on Listen checks
Cat	Master gains a +3 bonus on Move Silently checks
Hawk	Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in bright light
Lizard	Master gains a +3 bonus on Climb checks
Owl	Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in shadows
Rat	Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
Raven1	Master gains a +3 bonus on Appraise checks
Snake2	Master gains a +3 bonus on Bluff checks
Toad	Master gains +3 hit points
Weasel	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
1 A raven familiar can speak one language of its master’s choice as a supernatural ability.
2 Tiny viper.

 

Familiar Basics: Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar’s kind, but make the following

changes:

Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher.

Hit Points: The familiar has one-half the master’s total hit points (not including temporary hit points), rounded down, regardless of its actual Hit Dice.

Attacks: Use the master’s base attack bonus, as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to get the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons.

Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar’s kind.

Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use either the familiar’s base save bonus (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +0) or the master’s (as calculated from all his classes), whichever is better. The familiar uses its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any of the other bonuses that the master might have on saves.

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever are better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar’s total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar’s ability to use.

Familiar Ability Descriptions: All familiars have special abilities (or impart abilities to their masters) depending on the master’s combined level in classes that grant familiars, as shown on the table below. The abilities given on the table are cumulative.

Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the familiar’s existing natural armor bonus.

Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score.

Alertness (Ex): While a familiar is within arm’s reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.

Share Spells: At the master’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his familiar. The familiar must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit.

If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the familiar if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the familiar again even if it returns to the master before the duration expires. Additionally, the master may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself.

A master and his familiar can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the familiar’s type (magical beast).

Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the familiar’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.

Because of this empathic link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does.

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.

Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex): If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers). Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures.

Spell Resistance (Ex): If the master is 11th level or higher, a familiar gains spell resistance equal to the master’s level + 5. To affect the familiar with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the familiar’s spell resistance.

Scry on Familiar (Sp): If the master is 13th level or higher, he may scry on his familiar (as if casting the scrying spell) once per day.

 

Master Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Int	Special
1st–2nd	+1	6	Alertness, improved evasion, share spells, empathic link
3rd–4th	+2	7	Deliver touch spells
5th–6th	+3	8	Speak with master
7th–8th	+4	9	Speak with animals of its kind
9th–10th	+5	10	—
11th–12th	+6	11	Spell resistance
13th–14th	+7	12	Scry on familiar
15th–16th	+8	13	—
17th–18th	+9	14	—
19th–20th	+10	15	—

 

Spellbooks: A wizard must study his spellbook each day to prepare his spells. He cannot prepare any spell not recorded in his spellbook, except for read magic, which all wizards can prepare from memory.

A wizard begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level wizard spells (plus three 1st-level spells of your choice. For each point of Intelligence bonus the wizard has, the spellbook holds one additional 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new wizard level, he gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that he can cast (based on his new wizard level) for his spellbook. At any time, a wizard can also add spells found in other wizards’ spellbooks to his own.

 

ARCANE SPELLS AND ARMOR

Mages do not know how to wear armor effectively.

If desired, they can wear armor anyway (though they’ll be clumsy in it), or they can gain training in the proper use of armor (with the various Armor Proficiency feats—light, medium, and heavy—and the Shield Proficiency feat), or they can multiclass to add a class that grants them armor proficiency. Even if a mage is wearing armor with which he or he is proficient, however, it might still interfere with spellcasting.

Armor restricts the complicated gestures that a mages must make while casting any spell that has a somatic component (most do). The armor and shield descriptions list the arcane spell failure chance for different armors and shields.

By contrast, bards not only know how to wear light armor effectively, but they can also ignore the arcane spell failure chance for such armor. A bard wearing armor heavier than light or using any type of shield incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance, even if he becomes proficient with that armor.

If a spell doesn’t have a somatic component, an arcane spellcaster can cast it with no problem while wearing armor. Such spells can also be cast even if the caster’s hands are bound or if he or he is grappling (although Concentration checks still apply normally). Also, the metamagic feat Still Spell allows a spellcaster to prepare or cast a spell at one spell level higher than normal without the somatic component. This also provides a way to cast a spell while wearing armor without risking arcane spell failure.