Wild Mage: The concept of wild magic was introduced in the Tome of Magic . Wild magic is a new theory of magic that emphasizes study of the forces of randomness; a wild mage never knows exactly what’s going to happen when he casts a spell. While there isn’t enough space here to reprint all of the wild magic rules and tables, this briefly sums up the specialist so that readers who don’t have access to the Tome of Magic can make use of this material.

Since wild magic is a new field of study, and a difficult one at that, a wizard must have an Intelligence (or Intelligence/Reason) score of 16 or better to specialize in this field. Wild magic has no opposition school—wild mages can freely learn any wizard spell they choose, and they’re also the only wizards who can learn spells of the school of wild magic. Like other specialists, they gain the bonus memorized spell at each level. They have no saving throw adjustments for their own saves or their targets’ saves. Wild mages receive a bonus of +10% when learning new wild magic spells, and a penalty of –5% when learning magic spells from other schools. When a wild mage researches a new wild magic spell, the spell is treated as if it were one level lower.

Wild mages have a special ability to control certain magical items that normally behave randomly for other characters. A wild mage has a 50% chance to control one of the following items, selecting the result of his choice: the amulet of the planes, bag of beans, bag of tricks, deck of illusions, deck of many things, and the well of many worlds. The wand of wonder is a special case; if the wild mage successfully controls the wand, he may use charges from the wand to cast any spell he already knows, whether or not he has the spell memorized. The number of charges expended equals the level of the spell chosen; if the mage fails his roll, he simply expends one charge from the wand and rolls for a random result.

Every time a wild mage casts a spell, the effective casting level may vary. While the level variation rules are explained in detail in the Tome of Magic , here’s a quick and simple method for determining the variation. When the wild mage casts a spell, roll 1d20: on a roll of 6 or less, the caster’s effective level drops by 1d3 levels; on a 15 or better, it increases by 1d3 levels; and on a roll of 10, the spell results in a wild surge. Note that the level variation can’t exceed the caster’s level, so a 2nd-level wizard can’t vary by more than two levels either way. Level variation affects all level-based aspects of a spell, including damage, duration, range, opponent’s saving throws, and other such factors.

Kelmaran, a 5th-level wild mage, casts a fireball spell at a band of orcs. He rolls 1d20 and comes up with a 1, so his effective level will be reduced by 1d3 levels. Rolling 1d3, he is relieved to see that he only loses 1 level, so his fireball does 4 dice of damage instead of 5 and may suffer a small reduction in range. With a lucky roll, Kelmaran’s spell could have done as much damage as an 8th-level wizard’s fireball.

Wild surges are strange manifestations of the randomness of wild magic. A complete table for wild surges appears in the Tome of Magic , but if a copy of this book isn’t available, use the random chart for the wand of wonder, in the magical item descriptions of the DMG . Note that a number of wild magic spells appear in the Tome of Magic and the Wizard Spell Compendium—if you’re really interested in playing a wild mage character, you should obtain a copy of one or both of those accessories.

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