Mage

The Mage
From the great towers of arcane teaching comes the Mage; wise and knowledgeable, with a low mutter he conjures great power. Mages are the basic arcane casters in the world. A common fortune teller is one while a harbinger of death, destroyer of souls, and bringer of charms are all Mages.

Adventures
Mages travel to improve their abilities. They see quests as a way to test their abilities and push their limits. Many are planners, and this applies to their adventures as well. They will look at all the information available before making decisions. They tend to act differently depending on their arcane school focuses. A necromancer will be colder and quieter while an enchanter is more likely to be outgoing. Most like to be prepared for a wide range of situations, as they are most vulnerable when caught off guard.

Service
Mages in military service are often ranged attackers or military planning advisors. They use their magic from the rear of formations to destroy their enemies. On the battle field they can prove extremely deadly; however, they are prone to a quick death and require others to defend them against the enemies who get too close. Those who have studied war can position and direct forces in the most deadly and effective ways. It is for this reason that they are sometimes found as advisors to military leaders.

Characteristics
Mages must study endlessly to obtain their magical abilities and are born with limited innate magical skill. They must be dedicated to their study to even cast the simplest of spells. Many do not learn their spells until later in life, without short cuts, following much disciplined study. Their powers are typically learned at arcane schools where they receive the teaching and structure required to learn the arcane arts. Many can enhance their life spans with their magical abilities, effectively slowing their aging process, but such power is often not available to most until late in life.

Background
Most Mage characters show promise at a young age where they excel academically. In most cases, potential Mage children are tested by arcane schools for their abilities and promise. If selected, they may travel to an arcane school to receive formal training. This training is a long process and the earlier in life it begins the better. Arcane schools are often secluded towers, halls or even castles where the chief focus is magic. Not all learn in these schools, some may learn their art from an elder mage or family member. Meanwhile, others are simply gifted in the arcane arts and are self-taught.

Role(s)
Due to their lack of ability to fight in combat without spells and often no armor the Mage typically falls into the roles of ranged attacker, or support. There are exceptions of course where they are able to excel in melee combat and stealth, depending on the prestige class.

Basics
Prestige Classes: Battlemage, Channeler, Shadow, Wizard

Races: Dark Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, High Elf, Human, Nai, Ogre, Orc, Sun Elf

Attributes: +1 Intellect, +1 Cunning, +1 Willpower

Resources: 3 Ether, 1 Health, 1 Mana, 1 Stamina

Training Points: 6 Discipline, 1 Skill

Starting Gold: 45g

Disciplines
Action: 3 Acuity, 1 Endurance, 1 Essence, 1 Toughness

Defense: Magic: 3 Arcane, 1 Divine
 * Avoidance: 1 Block, 1 Dodge, 1 Parry
 * Protection: 1 Light Armor, 1 Medium Armor, 1 Heavy Armor, 1 Shield

Resistance: 1 Fortitude, 3 Mental, 1 Reflexes

Tactics: 1 Archery, 1 Dual Weapon, 1 Mounted, 1 Throwing, 1 Two-Handed, 1 Weapon & Shield

Weapon: 1 Axe, 1 Bow, 3 Dagger, 1 Crossbow, 1 Hammer, 1 Pole Arm, 1 Spear, 3 Staff, 1 Sword, 1 Unarmed, 3 Wand

Skills
The Mage's base class skills (and the key attribute for each skill) are: Concentration (Vit), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge, Arcane (Int), Knowledge, Geography (Int), Knowledge, History (Int), Knowledge, Religion (Int), Knowledge, Cosmos (Int), Profession (Cun), and Spellcraft (Cun). See the Skills section for descriptions.

Arcane Spells
All Mages cast arcane spells. Arcane spell casters may cast any spell for which they have access to a spellbook for, see below for details on Spellbooks. Thus, arcane casters must choose and prepare their spells ahead of time by studying their spellbook(s) for 1 hour. An arcane spell caster may only prepare a number of spells for each school of magic equal based upon the discipline rank. Each spell is worth its spell level +1 in discipline points. The arcane caster may prepare any number of spells from that school of magic so long as they do not spend more points on spells than their discipline rank without any unnatural improvements. For example, a caster with a discipline rank of 10 could choose to spend all 10 points for that day on 5 level 1 spells from that school of magic, or they could choose to select 10 level 0 spells.

Spellbook
Arcane spell casters must study their spellbook(s) each day to prepare spells. They cannot prepare any spells not recorded in their spellbook, except for read magic, which all arcane spell casts can prepare from memory. An arcane caster begins play with a spellbook containing all level 0 spells plus a number of 1st level spells from each school of magic equal to the associated discipline modifier / (Spell Level +1). At each new level the mage’s number of spells is recalculated and they may add new spells based upon the same formula. When an arcane caster increases in level they may have gained the ability to add new spells to the spellbook.

At any time, an arcane caster may also prepare spells found in other caster’s spellbooks to their own, however, doing so is not always successful. When adding spells from another spellbook, the caster must first decipher the writing of the spell which requires a Decipher Script check. The DC of the Decipher Script check is equal to 14 + the spell level +1. If the check is successful, then they arcane caster may prepare that spell for the day, if it fails they cannot prepare any spells from that mage’s spellbook, for that particular spell level or higher, and may not attempt again until the following day. An arcane spell caster may also attempt to transcribe another’s spell from their spellbook. Again, this requires a check and may only be completed after a successful preparation of the borrowed spell. The DC to transcribe a spell is 20 + (the spell level x 2). To determine the success the character rolls d20 + associated school discipline modifier + Knowledge (Arcane) skill rank. Transcribing a spell takes 1 hour to complete.