Chapter 8:

New Schools

of Magic

This chapter introduces four new types of specialist wizards: the alchemist, geometer, shadow mage, and song wizard. The schools of magic that these wizards specialize in are unusual because they are artificial: they contain only spells drawn from other, existing schools. All of the usual rules regarding specialist wizards apply to these four, unless the description states otherwise. Using these as a guide, players and DMs can experiment with creating their own, unique specialist wizards.

Magic The Skills and Powers rules add flavor and breadth to the spellcasting character classes. Use of these rules is optional, though recommended for characters created with the Skills and Powers systems.

Wizards and Character Points

When a wizard character is created, and each time he advances in level, the player can elect to spend 2 or more character points to acquire an additional spell for his character’s spellbook. This is similar to the specialist wizard’s ability to automatically add one spell of his specialty to his repertoire each time he gains a level. The player is allowed to pick any spell his character could normally cast (i.e., he can’t pick spells from opposing schools), and no roll for learning the spell need be made.

The spell purchased with character points must be of equal or lower spell level than the highest-level spell currently entered into the character’s book. The cost is 2 character points for a 1st-level spell, +1 character point for each level of the spell beyond first. For example, a 3rd-level spell would cost 4 character points; a 7th-level spell would cost 8 points.

No more than one additional spell can be acquired with character points when the character is first created, and a character can add no more than one such spell each time he advances a level of experience. However, this ability is cumulative with a specialist wizard’s bonus spell—when a specialist wizard gains a level, he learns one spell from his specialty school free, and can spend additional character points to automatically learn a second spell from any school he knows.

Wizard Specialists:

New Schools of Magic

As magic users in the multitude of campaign worlds have progressed in their arts, an ever-greater diversity of styles and types of wizardry have been developed. Growing from the rigid schools of opposing magical powers outlined in the Player’s Handbook, more and more disciplines have branched out as young wizards have taken a more liberal interpretation of their masters’ teachings. These developments have resulted in new types of spellcasting, each of which focuses on the way in which magic is drawn from the environment and bent to the wizard’s will.

When a wizard character is created (or an existing AD&D character is converted to Player’s Option rules), the player can elect for his character to specialize in one of the following new schools of magic. These schools are similar to the elemental wizard or wild mage introduced in the Tome of Magic, but the new specialist wizards defined here—the alchemist, the shadow mage, and the song wizard—have developed alternate styles of spellcasting and spell organization.

The main purpose for specializing in a magic type is as an aid toward effective role-playing, though the specialties can benefit and hinder characters in various game situations. The use of these new magic types, like any other subsystem in the AD&D game, is subject to the DM’s approval. Several of these new schools require a certain amount of campaign or encounter background. The powers of the shadow mage, for example, vary with the prevalent lighting conditions, and the DM must be prepared to answer a player’s questions about these conditions any time the player character wishes to cast a spell.

Choosing a Magic School Specialty

To select a specialty, a wizard character generally has to meet more demanding ability score criteria than a standard mage, and he may have certain backgrounds or origins (in other words, character kits) barred to him. A player is free to choose any specialty the requirements of which his character meets. Naturally, a player may wish to select his character’s specialty based on his own interests—song wizards provide good role-playing for players inclined toward music, while scientifically-minded players might enjoy an alchemist who can constantly fuss with odd ingredients and complicated formulae.

Creating New Schools: The magic types listed in this chapter are the most common examples of alternate spellcasting techniques. However, other approaches are certainly possible. If a player comes up with a great concept for defining a new school or discipline of magic, he can do so with the DM’s approval. In turn, the DM should carefully review the player’s design for concept, playability, and game balance before allowing the new specialist in game play.

Generally, a specialist mage should have spells that he can cast with superior skill, balanced by a loss of spells from outside his specialty. All specialists should gain the standard extra spell memorization slot at each level, as well as advantages in learning spells from their specialty and penalties for learning generic spells. Last but not least, a specialist may have non-spellcasting benefits or hindrances, such as the alchemist’s ability to create potions, or modifiers to their saving throws.

Effects of Magic School Specialization

· Choosing a specialty provides a wizard character with a number of benefits. For all the schools introduced in this chapter, the following advantages apply:

· A specialist gains one additional spell per spell level, provided the spell is taken in the specialist’s school. Thus, a 1st-level alchemist can memorize two spells instead of only one, as long as at least one of them is from the school of alchemy.

· Specialists receive a bonus of +15% when learning spells from their school, and a penalty of –15% when learning spells from any other school. The bonus or penalty is applied to the percentile roll the player must make when the character is attempting to learn a new spell.

· Whenever a specialist reaches a new spell level, he automatically gains one spell of his school to add to his spell books. This can be selected by the DM or he can allow the player to pick. No learn spells roll need be made.

· When a specialist wizard attempts to create a new spell using the rules given in the DMG, the DM should count the new spell as one level lower if the spell falls within the school of the specialist. An alchemist attempting to create a new 2nd-level alchemy spell conducts his research as if it were a 1st-level spell, since the character has a superior understanding of his school.

Note that the saving throw modifiers granted to specialists in the Player’s Handbook and Tome of Magic aren’t abilities of the specialist wizards described in this book. They have other abilities that are more specific to their particular methods of spellcasting, described later in this chapter.

Specialist wizards also have several significant disadvantages to balance their bonuses. First and foremost, each of the new schools described here have opposition schools, just like specialists in the Player’s Handbook. A specialist cannot learn or cast spells from an opposing school, or use magical items that duplicate the effects of spells from that school. Secondly, the character has a reduced chance to learn spells of other non-opposing schools, as noted above.

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