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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jan 2012

    Default Wizard school abilities

    Minor Acroamatic Lore(Ex):
    At 1st level, your unflagging focus on your chosen school opens your mind to new possibilities and grants you the first taste of the unique skills of a specialist. You gain an ability from those below based on your chosen school.
    Abjuration: You gain a competence bonus on dispel checks equal to 1/2 your specialist level.
    Conjuration: Any creature you summon or call appears with extra hit points equal to your caster level.
    Divination: Divination spells you cast that have a duration of concentration remain in effect for a number of extra rounds equal to 1/2 your caster level after you cease concentrating. You can cast other spells and otherwise act normally during this duration.
    Enchantment: Targets of your charm spells do not gain a bonus on their saves due to being currently threatened or attacked by you or your allies. In addition, subjects of your compulsion spells do not get a bonus on saves due to being forced to take an action against their natures.
    Evocation: When casting an evocation spell, you gain a bonus on Concentration checks equal to 1/2 your
    caster level. In addition a target who fails a save DC against one of your evocation spells by 5 or more suffers an additional 20% Damage (rounded down) This effect stacks with Empower.
    Illusion: The save DCs of your illusion spells that have a saving throw entry of "Will disbelief" increase by 2.
    Necromancy: When you cast a necromancy spell, undead allies within 60 feet gain turn resistance and a bonus on saves equal to the level of the spell cast for a number of rounds equal to your caster level.
    Transmutation: When a transmutation spell you have cast is successfully dispelled, it remains in effect for 1 round and then ends as normal for dispelling. If a creature is responsible for the dispelling effect, it knows that the spell has been dispelled but is functioning for another round.
    Universalist: You can cast an additional number of 0-level spells equal to your intelligence modifier.
    Moderate Acroamatic Lore(Ex)
    At 7th level, your long study of your chosen school leads to a breakthrough. You gain an ability from those below based on your chosen school. Each ability is triggered automatically when you cast a spell from your chosen school and lasts for a number of rounds equal to the spell's level.
    Abjuration: If you are subject to a spell that has a partial or half effect on a successful save, you suffer no adverse effect if you successfully save.
    Conjuration: Dispel checks made against your conjuration spells treat your caster level as if it were 5 higher than normal.
    Divination: You gain uncanny dodge for the duration.
    Enchantment: You can immediately reroll any failed Will save against an enchantment or mind-affecting spell or ability; you must accept the result of the second roll.
    Evocation: You gain resistance 20 to any one energy type that matches a descriptor used by the spell you just cast.
    Illusion: You gain concealment.
    Necromancy: You are immune to ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, and negative levels.
    Transmutation: You can immediately reroll any failed Fortitude save against a transmutation spell or ability; you must accept the result of the second roll.
    Universalist: When you cast a spell your caster level of your next spell cast within 1 round increases by 2 (even if this would put the spell over its current maximum allowed caster level, eg you could be dealing 12d6 with a fireball at 10th level with this ability) Spells cast during this heightened magical might do no count towards enhancing other spells.
    Major Acroamatic Lore(Ex):
    At 12th level, your knowledge of your chosen school reaches its peak. You gain an ability from those below based on your chosen school; each one can be used three times per day.
    Abjuration: When casting an abjuration spell that normally has a range of personal, you can instead choose to cast it as a touch spell that affects a single creature. When casting an abjuration spell that is an
    emanation centered on you, you can instead choose to cast it as a touch spell that emanates from the touched creature.
    Conjuration: You can cast a conjuration spell with a casting time of 1 standard action as a swift action.
    Divination: When you cast a divination spell, you also gain true seeing (as the spell) for 5 minutes.
    Enchantment: Any creature that successfully saves against one of your enchantment spells must save again 1 round later (as if you had cast the spell again) with a +5 bonus on the save.
    Evocation: Any creature that is damaged by one of your evocation spells takes damage again 1 round later equal to the damage it took when you cast the spell
    Illusion: You can cast any illusion spell as a stilled and silent spell and eschew the materials (per the Still Spell, Silent Spell, and Eschew Materials feats) without an increase in caster level or casting time.
    Necromancy: When you cast a necromancy spell, undead allies within 60 feet gain fast healing 10 for 5 rounds.
    Transmutation: When a creature successfully saves against a transmutation spell you cast, it takes damage equal to the twice the level of the spell.
    Universalist: You can cast a spell with one Metamagic feat without changing the level of the spell.



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    Hey guys, I wanted something for a while now that better differentiates between teh various specialist wizards in D&D ( a bonus spell per level really don't cut it IMO nowaday in 3rd ed) So I decided to just turn the master specialist PrC into a base class feature, and added in some powers for a generalist wizard as well, just wondering if these are balanced somewhat amongts each other.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    NecromancerGirl

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    Mar 2009
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    Female

    Default Re: Wizard school abilities

    You might look at how Pathfinder does this as it's similar:

    http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core...arcane-schools

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    Ogre in the Playground
     
    MoleMage's Avatar

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    Default Re: Wizard school abilities

    I've also considered the idea of making spells that can only be prepared in bonus spell slots for wizards (thus the spell is only usable by a specialist wizard of its own school. These come with the following benefits:

    New ones easily introduced as scrolls.
    Player wizards can research their own once the idea has been brought up, if you're cool with that.

    Sadly, a lot of core spells would be prime candidates for fitting this theme (lookin' at you, Shapechange), but with some creativity you could probably come up with other ideas.

    Back to the topic directly at hand, the basic level looks pretty balanced. When you hit the mid-level, Abjuration and Transmutation get a little gimpy-looking, as does Divination. The effects are all good and thematic, but requiring a spell to be cast in order to gain "not flat-footed" for a few rounds is really silly (since casting would be an action anyway). Abjuration and Trans have similar problems, namely their effect is good and original, but requiring a spell to have been cast in the last few rounds means it isn't going to come up much. These three abilities feel more appropriately balanced to basic level.

    Major level are all pretty nasty powerful abilities, but some of them shine more than others. Here again abjuration gets slighted (name me spells that have a target of personal instead of touch. Now tell me how many are abjuration. Can you count them on fingers? Bet you can.) On the other hand, Universalist really shines here. Free metamagic on every spell? Why, yes, I did prepare nothing but fireballs and maximized fireballs. Why yes, I am doing 12 times my level fire damage each round (applying quicken spell to both of them). Quickened conjuration is a lesser version (universalist can do the same thing but for any spell or any metamagic) and pales in comparison to that brokenness, as does illusion's silent and still effect.

    Max spell level being 9, the max damage for the max level transmutation bonus is 18. That is less than a level 12 bard with a decent magic weapon will do on average. So could use some work.

    My two coppers.
    Currently operating the 5e Subclass Contest and the 5e Base Class Contest. Check them out if even just to vote or give feedback, we love that in there.

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    My DMsGuild content. Most of it was written with feedback from right here on the forums.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Dwarf in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2010

    Default Re: Wizard school abilities

    These look identical to the school esoterica of the Master Specialist in Complete Mage.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Banned
     
    willpell's Avatar

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    Aug 2007
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    Default Re: Wizard school abilities

    Could really use some white space in the OP and highlighting of the school names for readability.

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