How to: Wizard Abilities

How to: Wizard Abilities

The wizards in D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder RPG do not have many class abilities. But wizard still is an iconic class, and here's how I represent it in my games. I will also describe the general limitations of arcane magic (mostly inspired by the Wizardry Refined article from Pyramid #3-60)  in this post.

Arcane spellcasters wield mysterious magical powers. Some learn spells from dusty tomes, some possess innate powers thanks to their bloodline, and some channel magic through bardic arts. In any case, their power depends on the ambient mana and can be neutralized by certain spells and advantages. While arcane magic typically is the most flashy and obvious, it has a limited scope:

- Arcane spellcasters cannot learn Fungus spells, unless the spells may be learned as a part of another allowed college.

- Arcane spellcasters cannot learn Animal and Plant spells with no exceptions.

- Arcane spellcasters cannot learn the following Food spells – Purify Food, Create Food, Essential Food, and Monk’s Banquet. Spells such as Create Object cannot create food.

- Arcane spellcasters cannot learn Healing spells, with but three exceptions: Lend Energy, Recover Energy, and Share Energy. As these manipulate magical energy directly, wizards may learn them as Meta-Spells.

- Arcane spellcasters cannot learn Weather spells, with the exception of those dealing with lightning – a traditional wizardly attack. Wizards learn these as Air spells for all purposes.

- Arcane spellcasters cannot learn Clerical spells off the following list, inspired by “Holy” Spells (GURPS Magic, p. 200): Bless (Meta-Spells), Curse (Meta-Spells), and Vigil (Mind Control). If a spell seems much more appropriate for a divine spellcaster than for a scholarly wizard, then it probably should not be available for arcane spellcasters. Consult your GM when in doubt.

- Arcane spellcasters cannot learn Druidic spells off the following list: Create Animal and Create Mount (which feel more like Animal spells than Illusion and Creation spells), and Create Spring and Dry Spring (powerful, permanent Water spells that call for a strong rapport with nature).

- Many arcane spellcasters (especially wizards) have familiars (see GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 5: Allies and Pyramid #3-75 for an example of implementation).

- Banish, Hellspawn, and Summon Demon for thematic reasons belong to the Gate college.

- Plane shifting spells that transport subjects to a conterminous or a separate plane transport the subjects to the destination they must visualize clearly, but with a deviation of 1dx100 miles.

- Mind Control spells and similar abilities of other power sources (for example, Telepathy) work only on subjects with sapience (racial IQ 6+) and free will (free will is hard to define, but any being with the Automaton meta-trait (p. B263) doesn’t qualify). Thus, they will not work on most animals, golems, robots, zombies, etc. As a rule, if there’s a specific spell for the purpose of controlling a creature (Control Zombie, Control Elemental, etc.) it cannot be affected by Mind Control spells. This calls for the Accessibility, Only on sapient creatures, -10% limitation.

- Magic Resistance affects only arcane spells. Magic Susceptibility typically only affects arcane spells, but variants of the disadvantage that affect other kinds of magic can be taken.

- Trading Fatigue for Resistance (GURPS Powers, p. 169) is in use.

- Spells cannot make anyone better at using magic. A spell can never give a bonus to casting rolls, bestow Sorcerous Empowerment, Sorcery Talent. Unlike normal Luck, Luck granted via a spell cannot be used for spellcasting. While a spell can add HP or FP to a subject, these cannot be sacrificed for magical energy. Compartmentalized Mind granted via a spell cannot be used to speed up casting. This restriction does not apply to permanent magic, such as that found in places of power, enchanted items, and some soulmelds. If the GM is sure that he can prevent possible abuses, he can relax this restriction.

- When using Sorcery-based casting, “switching” to a new spell is considered a part of casting it. It cannot be separated from the casting and must be performed consecutively. This is a quite vague matter, so the GM might want to not use this restriction.

- Weak Latency (Arcane) perk exists, and most arcane spellcasters are able to combine their powers with other arcane spellcasters as per Combining Powers (GURPS Powers, pp. 170-172). Exceptions are detailed in the traditions’ entries.

Wizardly Spellcasting: This is how I do it.

- Use Wizardry as the system.

- Alternative Rituals from GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery, p. 7, are not in effect, because each spell has defined somatic and verbal components.

- Spell scrolls that can only be used to transcribe a spell into your spellbook cost $2 per point of the spell’s full cost. Transcribing a spell requires identifying it first. Transcribing takes 1 day per 20 points of the spells’ full cost.

- Spells are usually restricted by MLC (for now use the guidelines on GURPS Fantasy, p. 71; probably will assign values to all spells individually later).

- Wizards can use spell components as described in Simple Spell Components (Pyramid #3-113, pg. 13-14).

- Some wizards may take additional limitations to represent the specifics of their tradition or magic school.

- Wizardly Styles are a possibility. So far, only Black Magic has been written up as a magical style.

- When enchanting items, wizards may omit ritual limitations (Requires Gestures, Requires Magic Words, Requires Material Component) by increasing the form multiplier by 0.1.

- Trading Fatigue for Skill (GURPS Powers, p. 161) is available.

- When rolling a critical failure on a casting roll, use the Critical Spell Failure Table (p. B236).

What is a spell?

If you have ever played with Sorcery, you probably encountered players upgrading their spells with earned points or applying limitations to make them affordable. It is important to establish what is considered a single spell and what is considered a separate spell, especially when spells in some subsystems have assigned skills.

Of course, if a spell has multiple levels or has an improved version, it still uses the same skill. However, some additions might change the spell in a way that does not feel right (unless it is done by using a spell technique of a wizardly style). For this purpose it is suggested to allow the casters to modify casting time and cost to make spells more affordable, but still allowing using the same skill. Anything else, even removing somatic or verbal components, requires buying the modified spell as a separate spell. Such limitations are appropriate for “scholarly” magical traditions, such as wizardry, shadowcasting, symbol magic, archivism, but many other traditions work better if the character is able to improve his abilities in ways that represent better control over the character’s powers. Why would a sorcerer that uses the power of his bloodline be limited to static spells of a wizard? But the power still should cost something – do not let characters remove FP costs.