Books I Sell

2017/03/07

OSR: Wizard Schools Stolen from Goblin Punch, Part 1

This post has been made obsolete. Please see this post.



Arnold K over at Goblin Punch wrote up some very nice wizard schools for his fantasy heartbreaker system. Unfortunately, most of the assorted wizard ideas posted across his blog don't fit the format. Here are the tweaked versions I'm using for my games.

All ideas are stolen from Goblin Punch. If you see something  you don't like, it's mine. If you see a good idea, it's Arnold's.

This post lists the schools and the general class template. The actual schools will appear in the next post.



Wizard Template:

Class: Wizard
Starting Equipment: varies by School, spellbook, ink, quill
Starting Skill: [d3]: 1. Literature, 2. Alchemy, 3. History
A: +1 MD, +1 Spell Slot, +2 Spells (1-6), Spell Development

B: +1 MD, +1 Spell Slot, +1 Spell (1-8), Book Casting
C: +1 MD, +1 Spell Slot +1 Spell (1-10), Careful Preparation
D: +1 MD, +1 Spell Slot, Master of Magics 

You gain +1 Magic Die and +1 Spell Slot for each Wizard template you possess, to a maximum of 4 each.


Schools of Magic

The first time you gain a Wizard template, select a school of magic. The schools are:
1. Animist

2. Biomancer 
3. Drowned Wizard
4. Elementalist
5. Elf Wizard
6. Garden Wizard
7. Illusionist
8. Necromancer
9. Orthodox Wizard
10. Wizard of the White Hand

As you level, you will gain spells from your school’s spell list. You still can learn and cast spells from outside your school, but until you cast them 8 times, MD spent on them do only return on a 1, rather than a 1-3.

Spell Development
With a week of downtime, you can turn two spell scrolls into a new spell scroll. Choose whether the new spell will be (a) a random spell from your spell list, depending on school and level, (b) a random spell from a random spell list, or (c) a mutant version of one of the two spells.


Book Casting
You can cast from a scroll or a spellbook in a way that does not expend the spell. You do not gain the bonus MD that consuming a scroll generates. You automatically lose initiative, and you automatically fumble the spell if you take any damage during the round. The spell vanishes from the scroll and returns the next morning.

Careful Preparation
You can prepare any number of spells very, very carefully each day. Mark a “C” on your character sheet next to the spell slot. When you use the spell, you never a Mishap, but you can only cast it once per day. You can still suffer a Doom.
 

Master of Magics
Learn up to 6 spells from your school’s spell list, or invent an entirely new spell (GM’s discretion).


Schools of Wizardry

1. Animist: Could also be called “Witch”. You curse the powerful, intimidate the weak, and cut deals. This is a very Miyazaki class. It's also entirely written by me, so it's probably terrible.

2. Biomancer: Fleshcrafters, alchemists, and brutes. One of the strongest schools in terms of raw damage and survivability, but it leads to a horrible and messy end. Cronenber and body horror.


3. Drowned Wizards: Monastic, secretive wizards who fear water and love coins and secrets. They deal relatively little damage but their utility spells are very diverse. I'm not sure where these guys are from. Maybe a drowned city of sorcerers that was claimed by the ocean out of love.

4. Elementalist. Lots of damaging spells, and some defensive spells, but few utility spells and weak cantrips. Elementalists can get the attention of powerful spirits, like forest fires and floods, but this is not always a good idea.

5. Elf Wizard. Elf only. A mixed bag of alteration spells at early levels and damage-dealing spells later. Some ideas stolen from here.

6. Garden Wizard: Unusual roving wizards who seek to pacify nature. A capable melee fighter, but with some very decent utility and damage spells as well.

7. Illusionist. Few direct damage spells, but loads of mind-altering effects. Colourful but manipulative.

8. Necromancer. Raise the dead, speak with the dead, command the dead, and all that sort of thing.

9. Orthodox Wizard. A “classic” D&D Wizard. Fireballs, missiles, that sort of thing. A good all-rounder, but slightly unreliable thanks to their Mishaps and Doom.

10. Wizard of the White Hand. Unsympathetic but competent order, with their own traditions and ways. They can directly heal, which is very rare, and they can cast spells over vast distances.

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