#cerynitus

(art by Christina Kritikou on Artstation)

 And we’re back with another elemental school, this time focusing on the first of the classic western elements: Air!

In case you missed the entry on Aether, elemental schools are an alternative to traditional arcane schools hailing from lands and locations where the elements take metaphysical precedent over what the spells themselves do. While these wizards are just as capable of all the same feats as more classically trained ones, their specialization is much broader than what you’d expect.

With that in mind, students of aeromancy are by default opposed to the magics of geomancy in the western elemental system… and outright unheard of to followers of the eastern elemental system as air is replaced by wood and metal in that system.

In any case, aeromancers are the masters of everything about the element of air, ranging from wind, weather, and even storms and electricity (shoots a look at Second Edition).

As such, they can be expected to have the solution when problems arise in the open air. Need more speed for your ship on the sea? Aeromancer casting gust of wind or control winds. Enemy in the air? Cast fly and bring them down with wind and lightning. Enemy on the ground with no good ranged weaponry? Take to the air again and rain down hell from above.

With all these offensive applications, one might assume that aeromancers are limited to careers in warfare but that is hardly the case. They can also be engineers of flying vehicles or even entire flying cities, important members of ship crews, long-distance communicators, messengers, and so on.

Unlike certain other elemental schools, the spells of what is “in school” for the element of Air doesn’t really include anything that is outside of normal wizard abilities, but naturally includes the basic spells that work with all elements, as well as those that manipulate wind, weather, electricity, and even sound in some cases, as well as those that grant aerial utility abilities such as flight.

 These wizards are true masters of the air, training themselves to be better fliers. What’s more, they devote some of the magic to defying gravity. At first they can use this to slow their fall at will, but later they can use it to ascend vertically, or even properly fly. At their zenith, their mastery of flight is so great that they cannot fall unless they want to.

As an offensive measure, they can discharge a small flash of lightning around themselves to harm foes and dazzle them.

They also learn to create a minature cyclone around themselves, blocking incoming projectiles, making it difficult to approach them, and even knocking flying foes above them out of the air.

The ability to eventually fly at will, as well as ground other fliers can be quite effective, and this school is perfect if you plan to be a flying spellcaster that rains down spells from above. Don’t forget to diversify though, for while you are certainly set up to blast from afar, wizardry is more than just damage-dealing spells.

 Air typically represents concepts like freedom, whimsy, and the like, and certainly a fair share of aeromancers share these traits, but they don’t necessarily have to. Indeed, some may have the even temper of still air, or they might be as tulmultuous as the storm.

  Though the sun hurts their eyes and their darkvision limits their abilities in the air at night, the orcs of Mount Yakraan have a special love for the sky and flight, wearing smoked goggles as they ride mighty flying steeds. Their shamans, however, need not steed, instead using arcane magic to master the sky all on their own, and strike down their enemies with lightning from above.

 Powerful and wary, the legendary emperor stags almost rival the legendary cerynitus in desirability as a hunter’s prize. Most nobles let their hunting hounds mostly do the work, but the most recently discovered bodies have been slain by even less sportsmanlike behavior, sporting burns on the tops of their backs. Someone with mastery of air magic has been ambushing them from above, taking their antlers and leaving the poor beasts to rot.

 I got a late start on this entry tonight, but that’s kinda appropriate since most classic vigilantes burn the midnight oil anyway.

This is easily one of my favorite vigilante archetypes, especially among the ones that grant spellcasting, since it manages to keep the dark and mysterious flavor of the class without any added effort from the character concept.

In short, the cabalist is similar to the warlock in that they practice their magic in secret. However, unlike the warlock, their magic is inherently dubious, channeling necromancy, shadow magic, and blood magic to get their way. The very name “cabalist” suggests that they are part of, or trained in a secret society of magic users with sinister powers at their disposal, if not sinister goals.

Regardless of exactly what they use this power for, these mystics have certain lines that they do not cross, which explains why their necromantic arts contain no spells that control or animate the dead. That being said, their use of blood magic and shadowy powers does mean that even the most benevolent of these vigilantes will likely have a poor reputation in the community, striking terror in foes, and unease in all but the most understanding populace.

Their reliance on blood magic does make them more melee-oriented than their warlock counterparts too, as they need to literally draw blood from foes to make best use of their abilities.

The result is a shadowy vigilante that strikes from the shadows and punishes foes with blood-drawing attacks and deadly spells.

 As one comes to expect from these spellcaster archetypes, the cabalist trades skill ranks and armor proficiencies for the ability to cast spells with mid-power progression. In their case, however, their spell list is that of the witch, though it is drawn from a spellbook. These dark powers provide them with plenty of support spells to heal and buff themselves up, but also deliver debilitating curses and debuffs to foes.

Experts in opening up a vein, these vigilantes are masters of causing heavy bleeding against foes that don’t see it coming, which in turn opens them up for their other abilities.

Cabalists gain access to a handful of special talents, such as the ability to gain vitality from spilled blood and even turn blood into a defensive shell around themselves; gaining a familiar; shapeshifting into living shadow; gaining a handful of debilitating necromancy spells; teleporting between shadows; and storing items in a pocket dimension and channeling any magical powers while so contained.

The real strength of this archetype is their skill as using the conduit that is blood to affect their targets more easily with their magic, especially necromancy spells.

Such bleeding foes also suffer grievous wounds or are otherwise wracked by their spells, striking fear into those who witness that power.

The most powerful among these sneaks can surround themselves in shadow to become harder to pin down, and can even briefly turn invisible as well.

Unlike other spellcasting vigilantes, this archetype fully expects you to get up into melee range with your foes, albeit preferably from ambush to lead with a bleeding attack which slowly drains them of health while also making them more vulnerable to the cabalist’s magic. From there you can continue to stack bleeding wounds, and/or cast debilitating curses, particularly necromancy debuffs, to set up their foes for a real bad time. With that in mind, I recommend a highly stealthy build that packs a lot of strong debuffs, but also useful battlefield control and buffing spells as well.

 A good portion of these vigilantes might be less crime fighters and more criminals, perhaps having inscrutable and selfish goals dealing with their dark magics. However, those that are not might have been part of a secret society, but saw them for what they were and fled, opposing their dark designs. Others might have belonged to entirely benign groups that simply use sinister magics. Either way, if the group still exists, their relationship with the vigilante might range from viewing them as a wayward pupil doing what they feel they must, to being a loose end that risks compromising their secrecy, no matter their goals.

  Born into a secretive clan of human-hating elves that seek to bring down their society from within, Norivas was trained early on in dark magics to subvert humanity. However, his status as a half-breed conceived to infiltrate did not do his reception among his kin any favors, so when the opportunity came, he fled, taking on the mantle of the Sylvan Shadow to oppose them.

 The clan seemed like it was perfect, a place where Syra could be herself. She didn’t mind the strange rituals, that is, until the day they captured and sacrificed a sacred cerynitus, one of the legendary golden hinds, that it hit her what they were capable of. Now, under the guise of the Golden Antler, she honors the fallen beast and works to make up for her hand in its death.