Magic-User (3.5e Class)

Author: Ganteka Future (talk) Date Created: 18 September 2013 Status: Tentative Completion Editing: Clarity edits only please

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A basic spellcaster designed to fit alongside traditional casters. 20 1 Poor Poor Poor Good Spontaneous Arcane Spellcasting Spontaneous Divine Spellcasting Full

Magic-User

This is an arcane spellcaster with trim features that fit it between the sorcerer and wizard while gaining a few interesting features of its own. It doesn't gain a familiar, but it can regain its spell slots with less down time. Though, most of its spells will be weaker than counterpart casters of the same level, it can cast low level spells in high level slots for added effectiveness beyond heightening. As a magic-user gains levels, it can continually cast its lowest spells from select chosen schools.

Making a Magic-User

A magic-user, with an hour of down-time, is ready to go as a primary arcane spell caster. Like the typical mage, he's weak with weapons and physical defenses. Almost everything he does, he uses his spells for. He isn't particularly skillful, but he is slightly more robust than a sorcerer or wizard. It's handy to have an arcane caster around.

Abilities: Intelligence or Charisma determines a magic-user's primary casting ability and is paramount for their potential. Constitution and Dexterity typically follow in importance for defense/survival purposes.

Races: Any. Races with favorable Intelligence or Charisma are most common.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Gold: 3d4×10 gp (75 gp).

Starting Age: Moderate.

Table: The Magic-User

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Eschew Materials, Spells	4	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3		5	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3		5	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4		5	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4		5	5	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Unlimited Focus (0-Level)	5/∞	5	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5		5/∞	5	5	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6		5/∞	5	5	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6		5/∞	5	5	5	3	1	—	—	—	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Unlimited Focus (1st Level)	5/∞	5/∞	5	5	4	2	—	—	—	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7		5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	3	1	—	—	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	4	2	—	—	—	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	5	3	1	—	—	—
14th	+7/+2	+ 4	+4	+9	Unlimited Focus (2nd Level)	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	4	2	—	—	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9		5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	5	3	1	—	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	5	4	2	—	—
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Unlimited Focus (3rd Level)	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	5	3	1	—
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Spellcaster's Power Up	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	5	4	2	—
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Ancient's Power	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	5	5	3	1
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Unlimited Focus (4th Level)	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5/∞	5	5	5	5	4	2
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Knowledge (all skills) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the magic-user.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A magic-user is proficient with simple weapons (Reference: homebrew weapons). These weapons don't affect a magic-user's somatic components when held/wielded, counting as a "free hand" for spells with somatic components.

Eschew Materials: At 1st level, a magic-user gains Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.

Spells: A magic-user casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list (Reference: homebrew sorcerer/wizard spells). He may not learn spells from other lists, even if they are arcane. A magic-user may cast a spell he knows so long as he has a slot available. He may use either his Intelligence or Charisma as his primary casting ability score, chosen at his first level.

To learn or cast a spell, a magic-user must have his primary casting ability score equal to at least 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a magic-user's spell is 10 + the spell's slot + the magic-user's primary casting ability score modifier.

Regaining Spent Spells: So long as a magic-user is able to meditate for 1 hour while taking no other actions, he is able to regain any spent spell slots.

Similar to other spellcasters, a magic-user can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level slot until he meditates to regain his spent slots. However, as he gains higher levels, he may cast spells from his lowest level slots an unlimited number of times provided that they are from his focused school(s). His base spell allotment total is given on Table: The Magic-User. He receives no bonus spells known or spells per day for a high primary casting ability score.

Ingraining Spells: A magic-user's selection of spells is rather limited. The spells a magic-user learns are ingrained into his soul (or animating force), allowing him to function much like a wizard's spellbook with an amount of available spaces equal to his ECL × 10. A spell takes up 1 space per spell level (one space each for 0-level spells). A 1st level magic-user begins with knowing six 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the player's choice.

A magic-user learns new spells in several ways. At each new level, a magic-user may learn 2 new spells for any spell level he is able to cast. Alternatively, a magic-user may ingrain himself with a new spell from a spellbook or arcane spell scroll with a Spellcraft skill check (DC 15 + spell level) while meditating, taking 10 minutes per spell level to do so. If the process is interrupted or the Spellcraft check fails, it can be re-attempted after 24 hours. Lastly, a magic-user may learn an arcane spell after having witnessed it cast, making a Spellcraft skill check (DC 25 + spell level). If the Spellcraft check is successful, the ingraining attempt must be started within 1 hour, taking 10 minutes per spell level to complete while meditating.

Focused & Neglected Schools: A magic-user focuses and temporarily neglects spell schools. He must normally focus 1 school and neglect two others after meditating. He may optionally focus an additional school at the cost of neglecting an additional school. He may not cast spells from his neglected schools. Universal spells as a special case are treated as though focused. The schools are Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy and Transmutation.

His focused schools gain several benefits. Firstly, they may have metamagic effects applied without increasing casting time. They may be cast without expending a slot from any of his Unlimited Focus spell levels, even if those levels are empty from casting other spells. Lastly, if a magic-user first identifies a spell as it is cast with a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell's level) as a free action, and that spell is of his focused school(s), he may attempt to counterspell the spell as an immediate action rather than as a readied standard action.

Metamagic Spells: A magic-user may enhance his spells with metamagic effects, choosing when to apply these effects as the spell is cast. Like spontaneous casters (bards and sorcerers), a magic-user takes more time to cast spells with metamagic effects (unless the spell is of a focused school). If the spell's normal casting time is 1 action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action. For spells with a longer casting time, it takes an extra full-round action to cast the spell.

Retraining Spells: A magic-user may flush a spell from himself permanently, freeing up the space it took, by meditating for 1 hour while taking no other actions.

Spellcaster's Power: A magic-user casts spells differently than sorcerers or wizards. His spell's levels are instead treated as it's minimum spell-slot level from which it can be cast. He may cast spells from higher level slots where they are treated as spells of that level (similar to heightened spells). His spells are treated as the minimum level required to cast the spell from that level (until he reaches 18th level and gains Spellcaster's Power Up). Spells that normally have linearly-scaling limitations based on caster level have those limitations scaled and raised to the caster level the spell is cast at.

Example: A fireball is a 3rd level spell. For a magic-user, this is the minimum level slot the spell may be cast from. If he is a 16th level magic-user, he can cast the spell as an 8th level spell as if cast by a 15th level caster, dealing 15d6 damage with a Reflex save (DC 18 + his primary casting ability score modifier).

Table: Magic-User Spellcaster Power

Spell Level	Effective Caster Level	Spellcaster's Power Up
		+1 @ 18th	+2 @ 19th	+3 @ 20th
0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
3rd	5th	6th	7th	8th
4th	7th	8th	9th	10th
5th	9th	10th	11th	12th
6th	11th	12th	13th	14th
7th	13th	14th	15th	16th
8th	15th	16th	17th	18th
9th	17th	18th	19th	20th
10th	—	—	19th	20th

Unlimited Focus: At 6th level, a magic-user is able to cast any 0-level spell from his focused school(s) as well as Universal spells without the cost of a spell slot, even when all slots have been cast by other spells of that level. At 10th level, he gains this ability for his 1st level spells. At 14th level, he gains this ability for his 2nd level spells. At 17th level, he gains this ability for his 3rd level spells and at 20th level, he gains this ability for his 4th level spells. This ability does not extend to casting gained from other sources.

Spellcaster's Power Up: At 18th level, a magic-user's spells count as the minimum level required to cast the spell + 1 for each level at 18th and higher.

Ancient's Power: At 19th level, a magic-user gains access to 10th level spell slots, despite 10th level spells not being available for him to learn. It is traditional among magic-users that the first spell cast from his 10th level slot is a cantrip.

Epic Magic-User

An epic magic-user continues to gain feats as normal as he levels, but he may now gain Epic Feats for which he qualifies.

Table: The Epic Magic-User

Hit Die: d6

Level	Special
21st	Epic Ancient's Power (11th), Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+4)
22nd	Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+5)
23rd	Epic Ancient's Power (12th), Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+6)
24th	Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+7)
25th	Epic Ancient's Power (13th), Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+8)
26th	Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+9)
27th	Epic Ancient's Power (14th), Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+10)
28th	Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+11)
29th	Epic Ancient's Power (15th), Epic Spellcaster's Power Up (+12)
30th	True Level Spells
4 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Epic Ancient's Power: At every odd-numbered epic level, a magic-user gains access to a single higher level spell slot, despite spells not being available for him to learn of these levels.

Epic Spellcaster's Power Up: At every epic level, a magic-user's minimum level caster level for spells continues to increase by 1 per epic magic-user level (up to +12 at 29th level).

True Level Spells: At 30th level, a magic-user's spells now count as his full caster level when cast.

Human Magic-User Starting Package

Weapons: Quarterstaff (1d6/1d6, 4 lbs., bludgeoning), dagger (1d4 19-20/×2, 1 lb., piercing or slashing)

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier +1 for being human.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
Concentration	4	Con	—
Craft	4	Int	—
Decipher Script	4	Int	—
Diplomacy	4	Cha	—
Gather Information	4	Cha	—
Knowledge (any)	4	Int	—
Perform	4	Cha	—
Profession	4	Wis	—
Spellcraft	4	Int	—

Feat: Improved Initiative.

Bonus Feats: Silent Spell for being human.

Gear: Backpack (2 lbs.), bedroll (5 lbs.), scroll case (1/2 lb.), flint & steel, ink & inkpen, parchment ×4, trail rations ×4 (4 lbs.), torch ×4 (4 lbs.), waterskin (4 lbs.).

Gold: 57 gp, 9 sp, 6 cp.

Campaign Information

This class is purposely designed to be sparse on flavor. Your character provides the flavor you want while the class provides the mechanics to back it up. Call him a shaman or a wizard, an eldritch enchanter or an occult incantator. Have him gain arcane inspiration from a powerful outsider patron, or from ancient tomes, or from a tribal ritual. Do you find the above mechanics interesting but something is a little off? Check the variations and adaptations below and maybe you'll find what you're looking for there.

Playing a Magic-User

Religion: Religion isn't a focused aspect of a magic-user, though some may worship deities of magic.

Other Classes: Magic-users are often accompanied by a fighting man and a cleric when adventuring.

Combat: Magic-users focus on specific roles for expected situations. If needed, they can provide battlefield control, ranged artillery, support augmentations, summoned monsters or circumventive solutions with their spells. As they are fairly delicate and less able in combat, they attempt to avoid direct confrontation that puts them in danger. A magic-user's counterspelling lets him handle enemy spellcasters.

Advancement: Most magic-users continue through the class for their full career, aiming for those capstone abilities.

Magic-Users in the World

“	It is the deep of night and the time that monsters awaken.	”
—Indora Argool, candothist magic-user

The magic-user has always had a place in high-fantasy realms.

Daily Life: The life of a magic-user is a life often reflected over during meditation. However, it is often tactics and strategies that they review, rather than introspection.

Organizations: Magic-users don't form colleges like wizards and they don't naturally develop their full potential like sorcerers. Magic-users rely on others who have maintained collections of spells, and may eventually form magic libraries or magic item shops. With their diplomatic charm, they often gain access to what resources other arcane casters have squirreled away.

Magic-users are most likely to gather for militaristic purposes or under the employ of rich patrons in need of spell casters capable of putting in a robust work day.

NPC Reactions: Common folk fear and revere magic. Wielding such a pervasive and destructive force makes others cautious.

Magic-User Lore

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

Knowledge (arcana)

DC	Result
5	Magic-users are arcane spellcasters that refresh their spells through hour-long meditations.
10	Magic-users focus their talents to a limited selection of spells. Though they may cast many spells, some are weaker and some are stronger than their contemporary arcane casting counterparts.
15	Magic-users may eventually cast their weakest spells at leisure if properly focused. Their unusual casting allows them to break the ordinary limits of a spell's power.
20	Magic-users eventually gain access to a level of spells known only to the ancients. Even the earliest of spells learnt can be formidable in the hands of a magic-user.

Magic-Users in the Game

PC magic-users fill the role reserved for a primary arcane spellcaster, which is usually the sorcerer or wizard, bringing the same spells to the table but with a little twist that requires some tactical forethought and decision making when choosing which spells to focus and ignore (and even learn in their limited capacity). They can hold a lot more low-level spells for greater versatility, or just a few higher level spells with room for a few lower spells to fill in their lower slots.

NPC magic-users are often temporary hirelings, merchant shopkeeper, magical emissaries and ambassadors, guides or squads under the employ of warring leaders.

Variants & Adaptations

Divine Magic-User: For an added twist, try this class as a divine caster instead. Simply swap out the references to arcane and divine spells above, grant light armor proficiency and set the primary casting ability modifier to Wisdom. At early levels, they'll be able to fully heal the party between combat given some downtime. Since by default they can't turn undead, summon animals, wear platemail or turn into a tyrannosaurus, a divine magic-user has to focus on providing support and make use of spells that become uncapped.

Slow Recharge Magic-User: If you feel that all spell slots recharged after an hour is too much for your game style, then try this instead: A magic-user, upon meditating for an hour, has a number of slots restored equal to his primary casting modifier bonus (minimum 1), starting with the lowest slots restored first. You may even want to try this out in survival-based games or if the character has been unable to rest properly or is fatigued. This adjustment may narrow down disparity if this class is used with high balance range characters in the party, though this is subject to play-style.

Basic Magic-User: Confused by all that "minimum spell level" and "linearly-scaling limitations based on caster level" business? Get rid of it and use a basic magic-user instead. A basic magic-user casts spells similarly to a spontaneous wizard with fewer known spells. For starters, he gains Heighten Spell at first level instead of Eschew Materials. He no longer gains the Spellcaster's Power Up ability (and epic equivalent), instead gaining a bonus feat for which he meets the prerequisites at those levels. His spells entry now reads as this:

Basic Spells: A basic magic-user casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list (Reference: homebrew sorcerer/wizard spells). He may not learn spells from other lists, even if they are arcane. A basic magic-user may cast a spell he knows so long as he has a slot available. He may use either his Intelligence or Charisma as his primary casting ability score, chosen at his first level.

To learn or cast a spell, a basic magic-user must have his primary casting ability score equal to at least 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a basic magic-user's spell is 10 + the spell's slot + the basic magic-user's primary casting ability score modifier.

Regaining Spent Spells: So long as a basic magic-user is able to meditate for 1 hour while taking no other actions, he is able to regain any spent spell slots.

Similar to other spellcasters, a basic magic-user can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level slot until he meditates to regain his spent slots. However, as he gains higher levels, he may cast spells from his lowest level slots an unlimited number of times provided that they are not from his ignored school(s). His base spell allotment total is given on Table: The Magic-User. He receives no bonus spells known or spells per day for a high primary casting ability score.

Ingraining Spells: A basic magic-user's selection of spells is rather limited. The spells a basic magic-user learns are ingrained into his soul (or animating force), allowing him to function much like a wizard's spellbook with an amount of available spaces equal to his ECL × 10. A spell takes up 1 space per spell level (one space each for 0-level spells). A 1st level basic magic-user begins with knowing six 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the player's choice.

A basic magic-user learns new spells in several ways. At each new level, a basic magic-user may learn 2 new spells for any spell level he is able to cast. Alternatively, a basic magic-user may ingrain himself with a new spell from a spellbook or arcane spell scroll with a Spellcraft skill check (DC 15 + spell level) while meditating, taking 10 minutes per spell level to do so. If the process is interrupted or the Spellcraft check fails, it can be re-attempted after 24 hours. Lastly, a magic-user may learn an arcane spell after having witnessed it cast, making a Spellcraft skill check (DC 25 + spell level). If the Spellcraft check is successful, the ingraining attempt must be started within 1 hour, taking 10 minutes per spell level to complete while meditating.

Neglected Schools: A basic magic-user temporarily neglects two spell schools. He may not cast spells from a neglected school, but may change his neglected schools after meditating. Universal spells as a special case and may never be neglected. The schools are Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy and Transmutation.

If a basic magic-user first identifies a spell as it is cast with a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell's level) as a free action, and that spell is not of a neglected school, he may attempt to counterspell the spell as an immediate action rather than as a readied standard action.

Metamagic Spells: A basic magic-user may enhance his spells with metamagic effects, choosing when to apply these effects as the spell is cast. Unlike other spontaneous casters (bards and sorcerers), a basic magic-user does not take more time to cast spells with metamagic effects.

Retraining Spells: A basic magic-user may flush a spell from himself permanently, freeing up the space it took, by meditating for 1 hour while taking no other actions.

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