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Mage (Beta Test)

The Mage is an alternative to the Wizard class, intended as an option to replace the core Wizard class in campaigns where it is deemed appropriate, with improvements for both suspension of disbelief and balance with the Sorcerer class. The Mage class retains some of the Vancian flavor of the D&D game, but substantially alters it to appear less arbitrary and translate better to an in-character understanding of magic. While the core mechanics for Wizard spellcasting have been replaced by a new system for the Mage, the rest of the class is essentially unchanged.

Because flavor and explanatory text in the Pathfinder RPG Beta rulebook is identified as Product Identity, and therefore is not covered by the terms of the OGL, all such text will have to be replaced from scratch to complete this page. As such, a lot of text on this page has yet to be included despite the essentially identical design of the Mage class to the Wizard class; I just haven't gotten around to it, and may not do so for a while yet. It is recommended that you download the free PRPG Beta from the Paizo Website and use the explanatory and flavor text there to fill in the gaps in this document. Of course, you should have a copy of the PRPG Beta by now anyway, if you're using this class for a Pathfinder game.

Note that I've included the Investigate skill in Class Skills for the Mage. Paizo has eliminated both the Gather Information and Search skills in the PRPG Beta, assigning the former's function to Diplomacy and the latter's to Perception. I don't think either is a very good fit, so I've pulled them both out of those other skills and combined them into a single Intelligence-based skill called Investigate. If you don't like that, just remove Investigate from the list and add Diplomacy and/or Perception in its place, as suits your whims.

This is the Beta Test version of the Mage class. It has been superseded. To see the current version of the Mage class for Pathfinder RPG, click here.

Role:

Unlike the Sorcerer, whose magical abilities are the result of an inborn talent, a Mage's power is hard-won through long study and effort. He must painstakingly learn the intricacies of each spell's properties, and carefully construct pathways through which magical energies can be made to flow, filters that shape and mold these energies to produce effects beyond mortal kenning. While a Sorcerer may be as powerful as the Mage in his own right, he is certainly not as knowledgeable about the power he wields as this scholar of magical principles.

GAME RULE INFORMATION

Alignment:

Any

Hit Die:

d6

Class Skills

The Mage's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise [INT], Craft (any) [INT], Decipher Script [INT], Fly [DEX], Investigate [INT], Knowledge (any) [INT], Linguistics [INT], Profession [VAR], and Spellcraft [INT].

Skill Points Per Level:

10 + INT Mod

Level Advancement Chart

 Level  Base Attack  Saves       Mastery   Prepared   Limit   Special Abilities
   0    +0           +0/+0/+1    None      0          0       Arcane Bond, Spellcasting
   1    +0           +0/+0/+2    0         1          1       School Power, Scribe Scroll
   2    +1           +0/+0/+3    0         3          1       School Power
   3    +1           +1/+1/+3    0         5          2
   4    +2           +1/+1/+4    1         7          2       School Power
   5    +2           +1/+1/+4    1         9          3       Bonus Feat
   6    +3           +2/+2/+5    1         11         3       School Power
   7    +3           +2/+2/+5    2         13         4
   8    +4           +2/+2/+6    2         15         4       School Power
   9    +4           +3/+3/+6    2         17         5
  10    +5           +3/+3/+7    3         19         5       Bonus Feat, School Power
  11    +5           +3/+3/+7    3         21         6
  12    +6/+1        +4/+4/+8    3         23         6       School Power
  13    +6/+1        +4/+4/+8    4         25         7
  14    +7/+2        +4/+4/+9    4         27         7       School Power
  15    +7/+2        +5/+5/+9    4         29         8       Bonus Feat
  16    +8/+3        +5/+5/+10   5         31         8       School Power
  17    +8/+3        +5/+5/+10   5         33         9
  18    +9/+4        +6/+6/+11   5         35         9       School Power
  19    +9/+4        +6/+6/+11   6         37         10
  20    +10/+5       +6/+6/+12   6         39         10      Bonus Feat, School Power

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Mage.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:

Mages are proficient with clubs, daggers, light crossbows, and quarterstaffs, and not with any shield or armor types.

Special Abilities

Arcane Bond, School Power, Scribe Scroll, Bonus Feat:

These special abilities work as described in the PRPG Beta. If there are any compatibility issues with making these work as described in the Beta with how the Mage class is described here, chalk it up to the incompleteness of class development at this time. I haven't yet agonized over every single detail, though I'll get to it soon since I'm actually running a game with a Mage PC in it at this time.

Spellcasting:

A Mage casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the Mage must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell's magnitude. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Mage's spell is 10 + the spell level + the Mage's Intelligence modifier.

Spells are learned by spending skill points, "bought" just like normal skills, but they are used much differently. Each rank of skill in a given spell determines its "caster level". Spells are always treated as "cross-class" skills in terms of advancing the skill itself, so that the maximum number of ranks it may have is exactly equal to the character's Mage experience level.

A Mage can cast any spell in which he has skill ranks, at any time. Each time he does so, the character must make a Will Save versus a DC of 15 + Magnitude, and the character's skill ranks may be added to this number. Normally, if the save fails, the character takes a number of points of damage equal to the spell's Magnitude.

Spells can be "prepared" for later casting, reducing the danger of spellcasting. Each time the spell is cast, a Will Save versus DC 15 + Magnitude must be made, and the character's skill ranks in the spell are added to the roll. If the character sleeps, a save must be made for every spell he currently has prepared as if they had all been cast at the moment the character wakes. In either case, if the save fails, the spell will no longer be considered "prepared" when the Mage next tries to cast it.

A mastered spell is a spell with which the Mage is so proficient that casting it is second nature, and itself presents no danger to the spellcaster. To master a spell, the Mage must have a number of ranks in it at least equal to its Magnitude. Mastered spells can be cast like prepared spells, except that no save needs to be made, and a spell never becomes "unmastered" (barring trading it out for a different mastered spell, as described below).

Three columns on the Mage's level advancement chart, described below, are directly relevant to his spellcasting abilities.

• Mastery: The Mastery column notes the maximum total of all the magnitudes of spells the Mage can have mastered at one time. Upon reaching each new level, the mastered spells a character chooses can be changed, so long as the total magnitude doesn't exceed this number. Magnitude 0 spells, also known as "cantrips", each count as half a normal spell magnitude for purposes of mastering spells, and in addition to this a Level 1 character chooses a Magnitude 0 spell that he has mastered and that spell remains mastered forever after. That Magnitude 0 spell is the only exception to the general rule that mastered spells may be changed at each level; it is the very first spell he learned, when he was a Level 0 apprentice.

• Prepared: The Prepared column notes the maximum total of all the magnitudes of spells the character can have prepared at one time, where Magnitude 0 spells count as one half a Magnitude each for purposes of preparing spells. Thus, a Level 3 Mage may prepare three Magnitude 1 spells and four Magnitude 0 spells. For ease of adjudication, preparing spells takes exactly one hour -- no matter how many spells are being prepared.

• Limit: The Limit column notes the maximum magnitude of any spell the character may learn. Thus, a third level Mage may not learn (i.e., buy skill ranks in) any spell of a higher Magnitude than 2.

School Specialization:

A school is one of several groupings of spells, each defined by a common theme. If desired, a Mage may specialize in one school of magic. Specialization allows a wizard to cast extra spells from his chosen school, but he then never learns to cast spells from some other schools. See the PRPG Beta for more information about school specialization.

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