True Mage (3.5e Class)

True Mage

The True Mage is an attempt to give an arcane spell user a bit more versatility by allowing them to memorize utility spells without giving up the ability to be an offensive force in the party.

Making a True Mage

Alignment: Any.

Starting Age: Complex.

Table: The True Mage

Hit Die: d4

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells Per Day										Spells Memorized										Fatigue Point
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th	7^th	8^th	9^th	0	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th	7^th	8^th	9^th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Summon Familiar, Feat Choice, Signature Style	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Spell Burn	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3		4	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4		4	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6	5	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus Feat	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	6	5	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	6
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5		4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	6	5	5	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	6
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5		4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	6	6	5	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	8
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6		4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	6	6	5	5	4	—	—	—	—	—	9
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6		4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	6	6	6	5	4	3	—	—	—	—	11
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Bonus Feat	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	6	6	6	5	5	4	—	—	—	—	13
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7		4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	—	—	—	15
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	—	—	—	17
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	—	—	19
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9		4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	—	—	22
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Bonus Feat	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	—	24
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	—	27
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	29
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	31
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	33
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Bonus Feat	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	35
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the true mage.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: True Mages are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a true mage's movements, which can cause her spells with somatic components to fail.

Spells: A true mage casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/mage spell list. A true mage must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time (see below).

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the true mage must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a true mage's spell is 10 + the spell level + the true mage’s Intelligence modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a true mage can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The True Mage. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score.

A true mage may know any number of spells. She must prepare her spells ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep and spending 1 hour studying her spellbook. While studying, the true mage decides which spells to prepare. Once a spell is memorized it occupies a space in the true mage's mind and stays there until willingly replaced, spellburned out, or otherwise forced from the true mage's mind. A normal spellcasting does not cause the spell to be forgotten.

Fatigue Point: A true mage runs the risk of becoming fatigued when they cast spells during combat. If a true mage casts a number of spell levels equal to or more than their levels fatigue point they are fatigued. Zero level spells count as 1/2 level towards figuring the fatigue point. The true mage may avoid this effect by making a successful DC 20 Fortitude save. For every spell level above the fatigue point add one to the save DC.

Bonus Languages: A true mage may substitute Draconic for one of the bonus languages available to the character because of her race.

Familiar: A true mage can obtain a familiar (see below). Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. A familiar is a magical beast that resembles a small animal and is unusually tough and intelligent. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

The true mage chooses the kind of familiar he gets. As the true mage advances in level, his familiar also increases in power.

If the familiar dies or is dismissed by the true mage, the true mage must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experience points per true mage level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a true mage's experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar’s demise or dismissal. A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may have only one familiar at a time.

Feat Choice: At 1st level, a true mage gains either Scribe Scroll, Parlour Tricks, or Toymaker as a bonus feat.

Signature Style: A brief description of the overall feeling behind a mages spells. I.e. Elemental (specific), Death, Natural, Force, etc. A mage can be identified by their signature style by a knowledge arcana check dc 15 for common styles up to really high DC's for unique/unknown styles. This is more of a flavor thing and does not influence the game mechanics behind a spell, merely changing the 'dressing' of the spell so that it reflects the casters nature/training. For example, Wensad's signature style is shadows and whenever he casts magic missile it appears as a shadowy bolt - but the spell is still a force spell and not a shadow spell.

Spell Burn: Starting at 2nd level, a true mage may convert a memorized spell into an attack. Doing so burns the spell from their memory causing them to have to rememorize the spell before they can cast it again. The true mage can choose to launch the attack in one of two ways either a ray or a burst. The ray has a range of 60 feet and does 1d6 points of damage per level (max 6d6). The burst does 1d4 points of damage per level (max 10d4) to everyone within 10 feet of the caster. These attacks deal force damage.

Bonus Feats: At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, a true mage gains a bonus feat. At each such opportunity, she can choose a metamagic feat, an item creation feat, or Spell Mastery. The true mage must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including caster level minimums.

These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. The true mage is not limited to the categories of item creation feats, metamagic feats, or Spell Mastery when choosing these feats.

Spellbooks: A true mage must study her spellbook to prepare her spells. She cannot prepare any spell not recorded in her spellbook, except for read magic, which all true mages can prepare from memory.

A true mage begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level true mage spells (except those from her prohibited school or schools, if any; see School Specialization, below) plus three 1st-level spells of your choice. For each point of Intelligence bonus the true mage has, the spellbook holds one additional 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new true mage level, she gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new true mage level) for her spellbook. At any time, a true mage can also add spells found in other casters' spellbooks to her own.

Arcane Spells and Armor

School Specialization

A school is one of eight groupings of spells, each defined by a common theme. If desired, a true mage may specialize in one school of magic (see below). Specialization allows a true mage to cast extra spells from her chosen school, but she then never learns to cast spells from some other schools.

A specialist true mage can prepare one additional spell of her specialty school per spell level. She also gains a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks to learn the spells of her chosen school.

The true mage must choose whether to specialize and, if she does so, choose her specialty at 1st level. At this time, she must also give up two other schools of magic (unless she chooses to specialize in divination; see below), which become her prohibited schools.

A true mage can never give up divination to fulfill this requirement.

Spells of the prohibited school or schools are not available to the true mage, and she can’t even cast such spells from scrolls or fire them from wands. She may not change either her specialization or her prohibited schools later.

The eight schools of arcane magic are abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation.

Spells that do not fall into any of these schools are called universal spells.

Abjuration: Spells that protect, block, or banish. An abjuration specialist is called an abjurer.

Conjuration: Spells that bring creatures or materials to the caster. A conjuration specialist is called a conjurer.

Divination: Spells that reveal information. A divination specialist is called a diviner. Unlike the other specialists, a diviner must give up only one other school.

Enchantment: Spells that imbue the recipient with some property or grant the caster power over another being. An enchantment specialist is called an enchanter.

Evocation: Spells that manipulate energy or create something from nothing. An evocation specialist is called an evoker.

Illusion: Spells that alter perception or create false images. An illusion specialist is called an illusionist.

Necromancy: Spells that manipulate, create, or destroy life or life force. A necromancy specialist is called a necromancer.

Transmutation: Spells that transform the recipient physically or change its properties in a more subtle way. A transmutation specialist is called a transmuter.

Universal: Not a school, but a category for spells that all true mages can learn. A true mage cannot select universal as a specialty school or as a prohibited school. Only a limited number of spells fall into this category.

Familiars

A familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a true mage. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but it is treated as a magical beast instead of an animal for the purpose of any effect that depends on its type. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar. An animal companion cannot also function as a familiar.

A familiar also grants special abilities to its master, as given on the table below. These special abilities apply only when the master and familiar are within 1 mile of each other.

Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master’s level.

Familiar	Special
Bat	Master gains a +3 bonus on Listen checks
Cat	Master gains a +3 bonus on Move Silently checks
Hawk	Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in bright light
Lizard	Master gains a +3 bonus on Climb checks
Owl	Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in shadows
Rat	Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
Raven^1	Master gains a +3 bonus on Appraise checks
Snake^2	Master gains a +3 bonus on Bluff checks
Toad	Master gains +3 hit points
Weasel	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
A raven familiar can speak one language of its master's choice as a supernatural ability. Tiny viper.

Familiar Basics: Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar’s kind, but make the following changes:

Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher.

Hit Points: The familiar has one-half the master’s total hit points (not including temporary hit points), rounded down, regardless of its actual Hit Dice.

Attacks: Use the master’s base attack bonus, as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to get the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons.

Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar’s kind.

Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use either the familiar’s base save bonus (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +0) or the master’s (as calculated from all his classes), whichever is better. The familiar uses its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any of the other bonuses that the master might have on saves.

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever are better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar’s total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar’s ability to use.

Familiar Ability Descriptions: All familiars have special abilities (or impart abilities to their masters) depending on the master’s combined level in classes that grant familiars, as shown on the table below. The abilities given on the table are cumulative.

Master Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Int	Special
1st-2nd	+1	6	Alertness, Improved Evasion, Share Spells, Empathic Link
3rd-4th	+2	7	Deliver Touch Spells
5th-6th	+3	8	Speak with Master
7th-8th	+4	9	Speak with Animals of Its Kind
9th-10th	+5	10
11th-12th	+6	11	Spell Resistance
13th-14th	+7	12	Scry on Familiar
15th-16th	+8	13
17th-18th	+9	14
19th-20th	+10	15

Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the familiar’s existing natural armor bonus.

Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score.

Alertness (Ex): While a familiar is within arm’s reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.

Share Spells: At the master’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his familiar. The familiar must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit.

If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the familiar if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the familiar again even if it returns to the master before the duration expires. Additionally, the master may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself.

A master and his familiar can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the familiar’s type (magical beast).

Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the familiar’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.

Because of this empathic link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does.

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.

Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex): If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers). Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures.

Spell Resistance (Ex): If the master is 11th level or higher, a familiar gains spell resistance equal to the master’s level + 5. To affect the familiar with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the familiar’s spell resistance.

Scry on Familiar (Sp): If the master is 13th level or higher, he may scry on his familiar (as if casting the scrying spell) once per day.

Familiars at Epic Level: Special abilities granted to a familiar continue to grow as the level of its master increases beyond 20th, as shown on Table: Epic Familiar Special Abilities. Even though the table shows advancement only to 42nd level, that is not the limit. The patterns in the table continue infinitely. Familiar special abilities gained at less than 20th level also continue to improve.

Table: Epic Familiar Special Abilities

Master Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Int	Special
21st–22nd	+11	16	Familiar Spell
23rd–24th	+12	17
25th–26th	+13	18
27th–28th	+14	19
29th–30th	+15	20
31st–32nd	+16	21	Familiar Spell
33rd–34th	+17	22
35th–36th	+18	23
37th–38th	+19	24
39th–40th	+20	25
41st–42nd	+21	26	Familiar Spell

Familiar Spell: The familiar gains the benefit of the Familiar Spell epic feat for the spell its master chooses.

Ex-True Magi

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Epic True Mage

Table: The Epic True Mage

Hit Die: d4

Level	Special
21st	—
22nd	—
23rd	Bonus Feat
24th	—
25th	—
26th	Bonus Feat
27th	—
28th	—
29th	Bonus Feat
30th	—
2 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Spells: The true mage's caster level is equal to her class level. The true mage's number of spells per day does not increase after 20th level. Each time the true mage achieves a new level, he or she learns two new spells of any spell levels that he or she can cast (according to his or her new level).

Familiar: The true mage's familiar continues to increase in power. Every two levels beyond 20th the familiar’s natural armor and Intelligence each increase by +1. The familiar’s spell resistance is equal to the master’s class level + 5. At 21^st level and again every ten levels higher than 21^st, the familiar gains the benefit of the Familiar Spell epic feat for a spell of its master’s choice.

Bonus Feats: The epic true mage gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic true mage feats) every three levels after 20th.

Epic True Mage Bonus Feat List: Augmented Alchemy, Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell, Automatic Still Spell, Combat Casting, Craft Epic Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Epic Rod, Craft Epic Staff, Craft Epic Wondrous Item, Efficient Item Creation, Enhance Spell, Epic Spell Focus, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Spellcasting, Familiar Spell, Forge Epic Ring, Ignore Material Components, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Improved Spell Capacity, Intensify Spell, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Scribe Epic Scroll, Spell Focus, Spell Knowledge, Spell Mastery, Spell Penetration Spell Stowaway, Spell Opportunity, Spontaneous Spell, Tenacious Magic. In addition to the feats on this list, the true mage may select any item creation feat or metamagic feat not listed here.

True Mage Starting Package

Weapons: .

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty

Feat: .

Bonus Feats: .

Gear: .

Gold: .

Playing a True Mage

Religion: .

Other Classes: .

Combat: .

Advancement: .

True Magi in the World

“		”
—,

Daily Life: .

Notables: .

Organizations: .

NPC Reactions: .

True Mage Lore

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

DC	Result
5	.
10	.
15	.
20	.

True Magi in the Game

Adaptation: .

Sample Encounter: .

EL : .

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