A wizard’s connection to magic comes from his keen intellect. They use their knowledge of how magic works to produce wondrous and dangerous magical effects. Some wizards come to this knowledge through studying books and ancient lore. Others through an innate connection with magic itself. With such a wide variety of spells available to them, no two wizards end up exactly the same. In some places wizards are viewed with awe. In other places they’re viewed with suspicion. In other places, they’re just an exotic part of everyday life. Wizards who rely on study to learn about new and exciting spells often find themselves drawn to places of learning. Wizards who rely on their innate connection with magic, aren’t as likely to spend time in libraries or schools. Wizards of any sort will likely be found just about anywhere.
Characteristics: Because of their weak hit die and attack bonus, wizards often avoid combat altogether. This influences their feat selection heavily. The nature of their spellcasting often draws wizards to take metamagic feats. Wizards often turn their skills toward knowledge and mastery of magic.
Role: The strengths of the wizard class are in his spells. They typically rely on their magical might to cover a variety of situations.
Game Rule Information
Wizards have the following game statistics.
Abilities: As arcane casters, Intelligence and Charisma are important to wizards. Dexterity is important to a wizard, who wears little if any armor.
Hit Die: d3+2
Starting Gold: 5d4x10
lvl BAB F R W Class Abilities
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Path, +1 arcane spellcasting level
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 +1 arcane spellcasting level
3 +1 +1 +1 +3 +1 arcane spellcasting level
4 +2 +1 +1 +4 +1 arcane spellcasting level
5 +2 +1 +1 +4 +1 arcane spellcasting level
6 +3 +2 +2 +5 +1 arcane spellcasting level
7 +3 +2 +2 +5 +1 arcane spellcasting level
8 +4 +2 +2 +6 +1 arcane spellcasting level
9 +4 +3 +3 +6 +1 arcane spellcasting level
10 +5 +3 +3 +7 +1 arcane spellcasting level
11 +5 +3 +4 +7 +1 arcane spellcasting level
12 +6 +4 +4 +8 +1 arcane spellcasting level
13 +6 +4 +5 +8 +1 arcane spellcasting level
14 +7 +4 +5 +9 +1 arcane spellcasting level
15 +7 +5 +6 +9 +1 arcane spellcasting level
16 +8 +5 +5 +10 +1 arcane spellcasting level
17 +8 +5 +5 +10 +1 arcane spellcasting level
18 +9 +6 +6 +11 +1 arcane spellcasting level
19 +9 +6 +6 +11 +1 arcane spellcasting level
20 +10 +6 +6 +12 +1 arcane spellcasting level
Class Skills: The wizard’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), and Spellcraft (Int). See the Player’s Handbook Chapter 4: Skills for skill descriptions.
Skill Points per Level: 2 + Int modifier
Class Features
All the following are class features of the wizard
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Wizards have proficiency with Basic Weapons Group and one other weapon group of their choice. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield.
Spells: Wizards are arcane casters and draw their spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list.
Path: At level 1, a wizard must choose a path of magic to pursue as he advances levels. There are nine different paths to choose from: Magician, Abjurer, Conjurer, Diviner, Enchanter, Evoker, Illusionist, Necromancer, or Transmuter. Depending upon his chosen path, the wizard gains different class abilities as he advances.
Magician: Magicians are the masters of all schools of magic. He can literally fill any arcane casting role in a party, due to his study of all schools of magic. A magician is just as well suited being a blaster as he is being a caster that manipulates people through subtle magical arts. He has chosen to forgo specializing in any one school of magic. Because he maintains access to all schools of magic, the class abilities he gains are more limited than his specializing brethren.
Familiar: A level 1 magician gains a familiar. This familiar may be a size fine living construct of his choice, a size fine elemental of his choice, or a size fine animal of his choice. The familiar has a number of hit dice equal to the wizard’s class level –2 (minimum ½). The familiar has average ability scores at level 1, and gains special qualities and bonuses as the wizard’s class level increases. The familiar gains an enhancement bonus to its natural armor equal to half the wizard’s class level. The familiar gains an enhancement bonus to any one ability score each even character level the wizard gains, though the maximum bonus any single ability score can be granted is equal to the wizard’s intelligence modifier or +6, whichever is lower.
At this point, I do not have the elemental or construct versions of the familiars available. I plan on using an animal statistics and modifying it slightly to create these to familiars. For flying versions I would probably use the base statistics for a raven or hawk. Land based would probably be like a cat or badger. The familiar also gains special qualities as found in the sorcerer entry in the Player’s Handbook.
Bonus Feat: At levels 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20, the wizard may choose any item creation feat or metamagic feat for which he meets the prerequisites.
Magician’s Boon (ex): A magician learns to prepare more spells than other casters. A 1st level magician can choose to sacrifice a 1st level Spells per Day spell slot in order to prepare an extra 1st level spell (Spells Prepared). At every odd class level (3rd level, 5th level, and so forth), the spell level for both the sacrificed spell slot and the extra prepared spell increases by 1.
1 – Familiar, Magician’s Boon, Any metamagic or item creation feat
5 – Any metamagic or item creation feat
10 – Any metamagic or item creation feat
15 – Any metamagic or item creation feat
20 – Any metamagic or item creation feat