The Wizard Kits

Each wizard kit consists of a variety of elements.

Description: This section explains the cultural background, appearance, and manner of characters associated with this kit. It also lists any requirements necessary for characters taking the kit; for instance, characters taking the Amazon Sorceress kit must be female. Suggestions are also given for how a character might abandon the kit.

Preferred Schools: This lists which specialists are most appropriate to the kit. As explained in the Kits and Schools of Magic section above, there are many exceptions, and these should be considered suggestions only.

Chapter 1 outlined an ethos for each school, suggesting philosophies, attitudes, and personality traits for each specialist. When designing a character, the player should compare the personality traits and attitudes of the character's school with those of his kit. If a conflict arises, the player can choose whichever traits and attitudes he prefers, or whichever seem to make the most sense for his character. For instance, according to the abjurer's ethos in Chapter 1, an abjurer tends to be gentle and soft-spoken. However, a player who chooses the Amazon Sorceress kit may decide that his Amazon Sorceress abjurer is out-going and boisterous, as is appropriate to the Amazonian culture of his campaign world. With the DM's permission, an out-going, boisterous Amazon Sorceress abjurer is perfectly acceptable.

In general, a character's cultural background will have more influence on his personality than his school. Therefore, if a player cannot decide between the personality traits associated with his school's ethos and the traits associated with his character's kit, he should give more emphasis to the kit traits.

Barred Schools: This entry explains which schools are inappropriate for the kit. Though the DM is free to make exceptions, it is usually not a good idea to assign a kit to a specialist from a barred school.

Role: This section describes the role of a particular wizard in his society and in his campaign. For instance, an Amazon Sorceress has a different cultural role than a Witch, even if both are enchanters.

Secondary Skills: If you're using the Secondary Skills rules from the AD&D® 2nd Edition game rules, then a kit may require a character to take a specific skill instead of choosing or rolling randomly for it. (When choosing kits for characters, we suggest you use the Weapon and Nonweapon Proficiency rules instead of the Secondary Skills rules.)

Weapon Proficiencies: If you are using the Weapon Proficiency rules from the AD&D 2nd Edition game, this entry indicates which Weapon Proficiency is required for characters taking this kit. In some cases, a specific Weapon Proficiency is required; in other cases, a Weapon Proficiency can be chosen from among a list of recommended proficiencies.

Nonweapon Proficiencies: If you are using the Nonweapon Proficiency rules, this entry indicates whether specific Nonweapon Proficiencies are required for characters taking this kit. However, unlike Weapon Proficiencies, the Nonweapon Proficiencies are bonuses. If a kit requires that the character must have Astrology, then the character gets that proficiency free, above and beyond the slots he is normally granted. Even if such proficiencies belong to groups other than the Wizard or General groups, the character still gets them as bonuses at no charge.

If the kit grants a Nonweapon Proficiency that the wizard already has because of his specialization, the character receives instead one extra free Nonweapon Proficiency slot. He may spend this free slot on any specialization of his choice.

Some Nonweapon Proficiencies are recommended, not required. In such cases, the character is not required to take the proficiency if he does not want it. If he takes a recommended proficiency, he spends the normal number of his available proficiency slots.

Table 38 on page 55 of the Player's Handbook lists Nonweapon Proficiency crossovers for various groups. The crossover groups that apply to mages and illusionists also apply to specialists from all other schools; that is, any specialist selecting a Nonweapon Proficiency from the Wizard or General groups shown on Table 37 (page 54-55 of the PH ) spends the listed number of proficiency slots. When any specialist selects a proficiency from any other category, he must spend one additional slot beyond the number listed (exceptions are given in the Nonweapon Proficiencies entries for the various kits).

Equipment: Some wizard types tend to use specific equipment. Others have limitations or restrictions on the way they acquire or use equipment. This entry details the equipment employed by characters using this kit. (In no case is a wizard allowed to purchase armor.)

Special Benefits: Most kits grant special benefits to characters. Often, these benefits are defined as special reaction bonuses when encountering certain classes of society, or as special rights in specific cultures.

Special Hindrances: Each kit carries certain disadvantages to hinder the wizard. Often, these are reaction penalties or cultural restrictions.

Wealth Options: Some wizard types have special rules regarding their wealth. Usually, these rules specify differences in the amount of money received when the character is created and limitations on how the money can be spent.

Races: If a kit is not available to particular races, this will be noted here. Unless the DM makes exceptions for his campaign, humans can choose any of the kits.

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