Wild Mage (3.5e Prestige Class)

Wild Mage
"Wait a minute, I thought you didn't prepare explosive runes today!"

A wild mage is much like any other spellcaster, specializing in the perusal of codices of arcane lore. But while wizards rely on their practiced discipline and sorcerers and warlocks on natural talent, the wild mage taps into the pure and unknown essence of magic itself to produce a result that even he doesn’t know beforehand.

Becoming a Wild Mage
Despite his prowess in the arcane arts, the nature of a wild mage's abilties are so volatile that he is often remembered as a mistake-prone oaf and an embarrassment to his peers. Oftentimes, though, wild mages could be perfectly competent wizards had they chosen other pursuits; perhaps they were lured to the notoriously unstable art of wild magic by promises of raw power, or maybe they just enjoy a good gamble.

Because wild magic is an arcane phenomenon, its users are always users of some arcane form, whether they are wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, or warmages.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the wild mage.

Weapon & Armor Proficiencies: A wild mage gains no additional weapon and armor proficiencies.



A wild mage that does not cast arcane spells may instead use these spells as spell-like abilities, useable once per day per rank of wild magic achieved (see below).

During spell casting, a wild mage sacrifices the meticulous consistency of his comrades for the chance to either potentially blast his enemy into oblivion or have his magic short out on him. When using arcane spells or spell-like abilities (including a warlock‘s invocations), a wild mage’s caster level is subject to change. Whenever he casts a spell, he rolls two 1d4’s, subtracts the second roll from the first and adds the result to his caster level. As such, a wild mage’s spells have no maximum level-dependent effects.

Every two levels thereafter, the wild mage’s ability to tap into wild magic increases, giving him access to a larger die for his first roll. With the chance for greater power, however, comes the chance for a greater misfire. The second die also increases proportionally to the first one, always as the next lowest die. For example, a 5th level wild mage would roll a 1d8 as his first die and a 1d6 as his second die.

 (Su): A wild mage is cloaked in the raw essence of chaotic energy, shielding him from harm. For each two caster levels a wild mage possesses, he has a cumulative 5% chance per class level of deflecting any ranged attack or ranged magical effect specifically targeting him. When deflected, such an effect rebounds to one of ten creatures that are closest to the wild mage, selected by assigning each a number 1-10 and then rolling a d10. A creature must have a direct line of effect to the wild mage in order to be counted; if fewer than 10 creatures apply and an unassigned number is rolled, the effect simply dissipates.

Once the wild mage reaches 3rd level, he attains a measure of control over this shield, allowing him to isolate six possible targets when he rebounds an attack and now roll a d6 instead of a d10. At 5th level, this ability improves further and the wild mage may pick down to three possible targets and roll a d3 when he reflects an attack. In either case, the effect dissipates normally if not enough creatures are present and an unassigned number is rolled.

When he casts a spell, he rolls a d100 die (or a d10 + another d10) as a free action to determine the bonus effect to the spell. If the bonus effect cannot be applied to the current spell being cast (such as the widening of a disintegrate spell or the maximizing of a finger of death, for example), treat that roll as having no bonus effect. At every even-numbered wild mage level after 2nd, the wild mage may make another die roll when using this table, and may choose the most favorable outcome of those rolls. These bonus rolls may not be used again if the wild mage chooses an outcome that allows him to make another roll.

* Any metamagic feat on this table does not count as a spell of a higher level than usual. While the effect chosen is random, the wild mage may still control the spell and metamagic effects fully as if he had the requisite feat.

 (Su): At 2nd level, a wild mage is permanently infused with the raw essence of chaos, making him immune to confusion and insanity effects as well as constantly under a constant nondetection spell.

 (Su): By 3rd level, the wild mage has become practiced enough in his art that he has obtained a heightened level of control over the seeming randomness of his magic. Whenever he casts a spell or uses an item that forces him to roll a die to determine an effect, he may roll one time per two class levels and choose the most favorable outcome. This only allows him to reroll when determining the particular effects of a spell or item with random effects (such as prismatic spray or a rod of wonder) and cannot influence attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and the like. In addition, he may only use this ability to choose the first outcome of the effect or item and not any bonus rolls he may acquire as a result.

This ability may not be used to affect the wild mage's wild magic ability, since interfering with such power directly has had historically cataclysmic results.

 (Su): At the beginning of each round in which the wild mage starts under a dispelling effect or in a magic-suppressed area (such as an antimagic field), he has a 5% chance per two caster levels of not being affected by any such spells for that turn. For any turn in which this occurs, all magical items and effects on his person function normally. The wild mage must roll again each turn to determine if he is affected.

This spell failure stacks with any chance incurred from wearing armor, but is not negated by anything that eliminates such penalties.

Playing a Wild Mage
Combat: A wild mage generally fills the same role as any other arcane character, but it is not unusual for his party members to exhibit less trust in him than they normally would since he probably has a habit of making things explode. Nevertheless, the wild mage tends to favor spells that rely on chance more than other casters due to his affinity for manipulating their alleged randomness, and his fluctuating caster level as well as his ability to disrupt the magic of others or overcome effects that would suppress his own can spontaneously turn the tide of a battle on its head.

Advancement: Most wild mages look for ways to take advantage of the gifts that they possess, often attempting to increase their sheer blasting power. Occasionally, a wild mage with a particular liking to prismatic spells will look to the Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil, while one who has truly embraced chaos will take a few levels of barbarian and then subsequently rage mage.

Resources: Like the art they practice, wild mages are disorganized and undisciplined. Shunned by other casters and society at large, it is rare for multiple wild mages to congregate without catastrophic results. Repeated initiatives from the local populace have prevented a newly created cadre of wild mages from meeting in any notable population center, since they often lack the means to establish their own centers for study without leveling them within the week.

Wild Mages in the World
"He went to cast a spell, and boom! The battle was over, with only a crater where two armies had been only a minute before."

Wild mages are forced recluses whose power is both feared and derided. In many areas, particularly those in which mages are already distrusted, wild mages are shunned into seclusion by all parties, including their fellow spellcasters, who view their approach to magic as dangerous to their tenuous holdings in civilization.

NPC Reactions: To the average layman, the wild mage represents the worst of both worlds; a person who seems to possess tremendous power but not the discipline to control and harness it properly. Because wild mages are often (unwittingly) destructive to their surroundings, that reputation is nearly impossible to shake off.

Wild Mage Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (arcana) can research wild mages to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.