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Life (Color = Green, Associated Stat = Constitution): This important school has dominion over living things. The smallest bacteria, to the largest whale, can be affected by the School of Life. Individuals skilled in life can enhance living tissue (stronger, faster, healthier, etc.). They can heal or harm. They can alter or transform one type of life into another (turn an apple into a butterfly). Masters of Life can take the shape of other creatures. They can create life or snuff it out. It should be noted that creating a handful of insects is a simple task; creating a sentient life form is quite another on a much grander scale. Sentient life requires not only a body but also a mind and a spirit (other schools of magic are needed in conjunction to accomplish these changes).
In the realm of magic, where the arcane arts intertwine with the very fabric of existence, there exists a venerable institution known as the School of Life. Situated amidst the illustrious ten schools of magic, this particular discipline is a sanctuary of knowledge that delves into the intricacies of the biological tapestry that weaves through every living being, from the tiniest microorganism to the grandest dinosaurs.
The curriculum is an intricate blend of botany, zoology, and medicine, with magical elements woven seamlessly into the scientific foundations. Students are taught to understand the intricate dance of ecosystems, from the symbiotic relationships between organisms to the delicate balance of predator and prey. They delve into the cellular mysteries that govern life, learning how to harness the magical potential within every living cell. One of the core tenets of the School of Life is the augmentation of living entities. Mages of this school can manipulate the growth of plants, coaxing them into vibrant health or stunting their development. They can breathe new life into barren lands, turning deserts into lush oases with a mere wave of their hands. In the animal kingdom, these mages can enhance the physical prowess of creatures, granting them fortitude, strength, speed, or even the ability to adapt to different environments.
Healing and harming are dual aspects of the magical coin wielded by the practitioners of the School of Life. With a touch, they can mend wounds, cure diseases, and restore vitality. Conversely, they can harness their powers to inflict harm upon adversaries, withering crops, and sapping the life force from living beings – not all mages that study the school of life are benevolent. Some seed to understand the inner meanings of life to extend their own lifespan, gain superhuman abilities, and dominate lesser creatures.
The most esteemed graduates of the School of Life are often seen as benevolent caretakers of the natural world. Their connection with the intricate web of life allows them to cultivate bountiful harvests, ensuring food security for entire communities. Mages who champion this school are known for their robust health, vitality, and deep empathy for all living things.
The pinnacle of mastery in the School of Life is the ability to undergo transformative rituals. These mages can shape-shift, assuming the forms of various animals or even mythical creatures. This metamorphosis is not only a display of their magical prowess but also a profound connection to the diverse expressions of life on the mortal plane.
Note: Life-healing effects are considered permanent even at the lowest levels of mastery. Shapeshifting, alterations, and augmentations both on self and others, unless augmented by the school of time, are never permanent.
Faith & Life Healing Combined: Life and Faith magical spells can only be cast by priests, making priests superior healers as these two schools combine to enhance healing. Simply stated, each rank in Faith added to a healing spell grants +1 to the number of hit points healed. Further, the faith school allows even the lowest level spells to be cast on others with a touch. Thus, a priest with Faith 3 and Life 1 could heal 4 hit points each time he casts Cure Superficial Wounds on himself or others. Finally, priests always use the ‘Self-healing’ category to heal both themselves and others when combined with faith.
Rank-1
Rank-1
First Rank - The mage can feel life around him. He can sense injury or sickness in a subject. With practice, he can focus on a single creature to learn its type, sex, health, and relative age. Although he cannot yet affect this flow of life, just feeling the presence of living things can be comforting. Dimension & Distance, and Life together make a nice sort of ‘radar sense.’
Examples of 1st Rank:
Diagnosis - by touching a subject, the mage can diagnose ailments
Detect Life - the mage can feel the presence of life in his immediate area (great for detecting vampires). With Dimension & Distance, this range can be extended greatly.
Analyze Plants - this spell allows the mage to gain insight into the type, relative age, and physical makeup of plants. With the addition of associate skills, more knowledge can be gained.
Confirm Death – simply by looking and touching a body, the mage can confirm that it is no longer living; with additional study (and healing skill check), the mage may be able to determine the cause of death.
Heal Superficial Wounds – Spell that heals 1 hit point.
Rank-2
Rank-2
Second Rank - The mage can now exert some control over the life around him. Healing himself is simple – he knows his own body, how it should be, and how to fix it. Dealing with other life is more difficult, and the mage must follow the path of evolution. At this level, he can only affect plants, invertebrates, algae, or fungi, coaxing them to move and grow in certain ways. However, causing an enemy stronghold to crawl with deadly sickness (bacteria) is quite a useful ability in and of itself.
Examples of 2nd Rank:
Heal Minor Wounds - the mage can affect minor cure upon himself (or superficial wounds on others, with a touch).
Heal/repair plants - the mage can repair plants
Personal Changes - the mage can alter his eye and skin color, make minor alterations to bone/teeth structure, and increase/decrease weight by 10% on a temporary basis.
Skin to Hide - increase the thickness of his skin to provide +1 point of PDR.
Affect the Unseen – the mage can enhance or retard the growth rate of bacteria at this level. He cannot create these organisms and thus must have a group of these organisms to manipulate.
Rank-3
Rank-3
Third Rank - With greater control over his own body, the alteration a mage can make becomes more pronounced. Though complete shape change is out of the question, the mage can augment muscles, skin, and bone strength. With the addition of the Primal Essence school, the mage can create insects and simple plants out of thin air. Given time, the mage can shape the growth pattern of plants, kill swarms of insects, or kill a small tree with the wave of his/her hand. At this rank, a Mage can also heal other humanoids, which is commonly a lengthy process, as her understanding of complex life forms is not complete.
Examples of 3rd Rank:
Improved Self-Healing - the mage can cast a cure upon himself
Actor's guise - change facial appearance, increase/decrease body weight by 20%.
Enhance Body - Temporary boost strength, constitution, dexterity, or appearance
Personal Fortitude - Temporary increase personal hit points (+2 hit point)
Heal Light Wounds - the mage can cure himself for 1d6 hps (or others as Heal Minor Wounds)
Transfer Health – by touching another creature the caster can transfer health from his body to the target creature. This heals wounds in the target but causes damage to the caster.
Rank-4
Rank-4
Fourth Rank - The mage now understands himself better, not only able to repair his body but to alter it as he wishes. He must remain fundamentally human – altering oneself into a bird or a fish cannot be done yet – but could grow gills or flaps of skin for gliding, deadly claws, or tough skin. With simpler lifeforms, a mage can make more drastic changes – turning a crawfish into a clump of grass or making a simple bacteria into a deadly killer. He might also strike at his foes, twisting their bodies to cause damage. With the aid of other Schools, a mage might create life out of nothing, causing insets to appear or transform an apple into a rock. However, it is important to note that without high levels of thought school, these creations would have no minds. A mage growing flippers won’t instinctively know how to use them and often requires some practice to fully master.
Examples of 4th Rank:
Body Augmentation - Grow gills, fins, claws, etc, Increase/decrease height and weight by 30%
Personal Fortitude - Temporary increase personal hit points (+4 hit point)
Enhance Others - Boost strength, constitution, dexterity, or appearance of others on a temporary basis.
Fortify Others - Temporary increase hit points of others (+2)
Heal Serious Wounds – Cure self for 2d4 hit points (Cure others as Heal Light Wounds)
Rank-5
Rank-5
Fifth Rank - The mage now has enough expertise to work with humans and larger animals. He can heal with a touch, bestow great strength upon an ally, or cripple a foe. He can perform anything he could do to himself or others, although with the same restriction that they must remain fundamentally humanoid. As for himself, the Mage can transform his body into anything he desires (+/- 40% of body height/weight). However, he still gains no instinctual use of his new body and must spend time becoming accustomed to not being human.
Examples of 5th Rank:
Polymorph - take the shape of common animals
Personal Fortitude - Temporary increase personal hit points (+8 hit point)
Fortify Others - Temporary increase hit points of others (+4 hit points)
Grow Exoskeleton - By covering his body with bony plates the mage can increase his armor class and PDR by 2 points each without a major reduction to speed of mobility.
Rank-6
Rank-6
Sixth Rank - The Master of Life can now alter life at his whim. He can reshape any creature into any other, as long as the mass remains similar, or he uses another School to account for it. The mage can make himself immune to disease, thirst, and hunger. He can consume food/water or disrupt the cells of a living creature by touch. Shapechange into any natural animal form without difficulty (+/- 50% body weight) and gain some measure of control over the new body.
Examples of 6th Rank:
Superior Polymorph - take the shape of any natural animal
Personal Fortitude - Temporary increase personal hit points (+16 hit point)
Fortify Others - Temporary increase hit points of others (+8 hit points)
Heal Critical Wounds – Cure self for 4d4 hit points (others for 3d4 hit points)
Rank-7
Rank-7
Seventh Rank - with the addition of dimension & distance school, a group of enemies can become large, flopping fish. Self-transformation is perfect, allowing him to alter not only shape but also size and mass +/- 60% or more with the aid of other schools), and instinctively gain some measure of control over the new body. The mage can assume the shape of non-natural monsters such as dragons (though innate magical abilities are not gained). A mage can create a complex life from nothing with the aid of the Primal Essence School. With mastery of Life and Primal Essence, Thought, and Spirit schools, a Mage could create from nothing an intelligent humanoid being. Of course, creating life raises all its own ethical and spiritual questions.
Examples of 7th Rank:
Become the Monster - take the shape of any creature.
Personal Fortitude - Temporary increase personal hit points (+32 hit point)
Fortify Others - Temporary increase hit points of others (+16 hit points)
Create Complex lifeform – create complex humanoid creatures
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