#subschool

 Here it is, the last entry on the traditional schools of the wizard class, though not the last wizard school we’re covering. We still have all the elemental schools to cover as well!

Just as the universalist is not really a specialization school on it’s own, today’s subject isn’t really a sub-school of it’s own either, but rather, a specialization all it’s own.

So-called “arcane builders” are just that, those that devote themselves to the crafting of magical items. If there is someone to thank or blame for the proliferation of magic items in your setting, these may be a likely candidate.

The reason why these crafters are derived from universalists is fairly simple, after all, only a universalist can learn the wide variety of spell needed to craft magical items without hinderance or penalty, reducing the difficulty to create any item significantly.

Needless to say, most arcane crafters will have a wide variety of spells drawn from all disciplines, though not necessarily those that are practical for adventuring. With that in mind, a lot of their personal budget will probably go towards learning a wider variety of spells or procuring scrolls of said spells when necessary.

Arcane builders have a profession of sorts built into the very nature of their specialization, but this can still vary a lot depending on what crafting feats you decide to take. You could be an armorer, a crafter of exotic trinkets, or the local potion-brewer supplying the locals with useful concoctions, scrolls, and so on.

 Rather than learn the “hand of the apprentice” power, these mystics instead learn an additional crafting or metamagical feat a bit later into their careers. What’s more, when a magic item calls for a metamagical feat, their understanding of such things give them greater insight into applying them to a magical object.

If you want to be a master craftsman or just have an extra metamatic feat to use with the metamagic mastery ability later on, this archetype can certainly be interesting. Just remember that you can end up lacking a bit of offensive potential in early levels due to not getting the normal 1st-level offensive power. Like a normal universalist, you’ll probably want to choose a focus item over a familiar for the bonus slot, but there’s numerous ways you can build this archetype depending on what items you want to craft. Metamagic rods are a natural choice, of course, though you can also go for a variety or focus on fast-tracking a greater feat like craft construct. Regardless, you’ll definitely be carefully managing your feats, spells, and gold to get the most out of them.

 The stereotype of the bookish, insular wizard that spend most of their time in their workshop certainly fits an arcane builder, but you might also see more charismatic arcane shopkeepers that understand the art of haggling and establishing rapport with customers. Some may even be just in it to gain extra metamagical training, fancying themselves masters of metamagical techniques.

  Utterly fascinated by arcane magic’s ability to transform, Mikki, a gnome-born ganzi, has been studying magic item crafting since she was very young, her lifelong dream being seeing a wild magic event spontaneously create a stable magical item, easily a one in a million event.

 The local bounty board has a quest for hunting giant frilled lizards, presumably because their frill-skin can be used to craft magical items dealing with fear-related spells. However exactly why the wizard needs such an item is another story entirely.

While transmutation can be used for a lot of things, one of it’s more subtle, but no less practical, uses, is the tendency to use it to bolster that which already exists. Admittedly, transmutation already simply alters things, but I am referring to less drastic changes.

Indeed, many of these spell may cause very little physical changes at all to their target, living or not. Anything from bolstering the physique or mind of the target, altering a metal object to be perfectly polished for use as a mirror, hardening brittle weapons, altering the physical age of a target, accelerate the effects of a poison, harden cloth into effective protection or weaponry, accelerate the flow of time for a subject, adding magical effects to weapons, grant magical adaptation to another plane of reality, and so on.

The exact limits of what spells belong in this category vary from person to person, but in general, these spells are not overt transformations, and bolster the target in some way.

The transmuters that specialize in this sort of magic are often called enhancers, and can find work almost anywhere, since they can bolster the might of armies and workers alike. However, I imagine that they are frowned upon in the world of professional athletics and sports, for obvious reasons. They can even find work in architecture, with higher-level enhancers able to permanently increase the durability of objects, including structures.

 While these mages do retain the core school’s modular physical enhancement that can change from day to day, they also learn how to imbue enhancements on others with a touch, bolstering their mental or physical abilities, or else toughening their skin, hardening it against attack. As they grow in power, so too does the degree of enhancement.

At greater degrees of mastery, they can also briefly attain surges of even greater physical perfection, surging with strength, agility, or heartiness for a few seconds, just enough to use for a few brief moments before fading.

Interested in using your spells primarily for buffing? This particular school and subschool may be what you’re after. While support spells are your bread and butter, like all wizards you should diversify and plan carefully for what is coming up. Also, don’t pick your buffing spells carelessly. Consider the party’s makeup and prepare buffs that are useful to the group, and make sure to double check which spells are self-only. Speaking of self, remember how these transmuters can buff their own stats up in various ways, particularly physical stats. You can really catch a foe off guard if they underestimate what you can do just because you are a casting class.

 Exactly what is it that makes a person choose to specialize in enhancement though? Some may be seeking the limits of mortal perfection, like an ascetic but with arcane magic. Others might see the potential for greatness in all things, seeking to bring it out the best in everyone. Others may be arcane craftsfolk, and see enhancement as a natural focus for their craft. The possibilities are out there.

  None now know what the exact cause of the wyvaran degeneration was, whether it was biological or merely cultural, but the fact remains that their civilization collapsed. Convinced that his people lost some natural trait that led to their downfall, Ogan Firetongue is determined to breathe new life into wyvaran civilization with arcane magic, but as his obsession grows, his methods warp.

 The party happens across a goblin tribe. Normally, this wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, but this batch apparently has gained access to potions that bolster them in various ways. The big mystery being that these potions were actually meant for the goblins, an experiment by a cunning bugbear wizard seeking a spell to make himself utterly unstoppable when stalking prey. If not stopped, he will eventually undergo a ritual transformation into an implacable stalker.

We’ve seen various forms of “white” necromancers in the past, but now we’re focused on those who specialize in the creation, control, and bolstering of the undead.

These are your classic necromancers, creating servants and bodyguards from the dead. If a spell deals with the undead directly in any way, that is a spell that these dark necromancers, or perhaps euthanatomancers. That isn’t to say they don’t find use for the other spells found in the necromancy school, far from it, but they know their specialization and revel in it.

As such, many of these mages actively seek out some way to become undead themselves, the transformation into a lich being the most infamous of these, though vampirism, and other forms of intelligent undeath have their appeal, with those that are guaranteed to retain memory of their past lives and skill being preferred, obviously.

Many cultures might see these necromancers in particular as always being evil, and while that might be the case in most instances, there is technically no requirement to embark on this path of study. Such non-evil necromancers might come from a society where the sanctity of corpses is viewed differently, or perhaps they see themselves as a shepherd of the dead, guiding them as they come to find peace in the material plane on their own. Of course, guiding the dead is more the spiritualist class’ schtick, but the world is big and full of different paths.

In society, these mages are mostly self-employed except for in nations that must deal with the undead regularly. In the former case, these mystics might live on the fringes of society or in plain sight, peddling non-necromantic services by day, but practicing their dark craft whenever they feel safe to do so. In the latter case, they might openly serve as specialists against the dead, the people not knowing or caring about the difference between them and a white necromancer.

 Rather than inducing fear with a touch, these mages learn to empower the undead, bolstering them with negative energy to make them stronger and more resilient to harm, those such benefits are stripped from undead if they enter an area with sufficiently potent goodly divine magic in it.

With this, their ability to take control of undead, as well as the ability to sense the living and the dead alike, these necromancers are ever so slightly better equipped to command a force of undead. As such, if you are using this subschool, there really is no point in not going all in on a necromancer build specializing in an army of undead minions. Spells and feats meant to aid in this control are a must, of course.

 Playing a goodly dark necromancer is not easy. Firstly, a GM has to allow it, which is probably not likely, but possible depending on the game they want to run. Secondly, a goodly necromancer who creates undead must either limit themselves to mindless undead, which, depending on the setting, do not interfere with the soul’s passage, or must barter with the spirit of the dead person in exchange for service, no doubt inventing spells or rituals to call up said soul for that purpose. Some settings might even have such a necromancer surrounded by such spirits, by choice if the necromancer is good, which with their binding magic, inhabit a body they have prepared, not necessarily their original.

  Recently, gnolls have been spotted near the barrow hills. Launching an investigation reveals that a surprisingly proactive matriarch has taken up necromancy, having concluded that an undying workforce can do all the work that a living one can, save for specialized labor.

 On the world of Ecraz, the dead do not move on so much as linger, then fade. A proactive necromancer can employ them to perform great works. But a wicked one might enslave them far beyond their spirit’s expected span, creating deadly automatons that are all but soulless.

In the time between now and when I did the entry on the primary necromancy school, We’ve talked about Hallowed Necromancers. Now, we’ll talk about another sort of “white necromancer”.

The subschool of life seems less like it is based on actual subschools and descriptors of necromancy spells, and more like a specialization born out of philosophical differences. As such, life necromancers, which might be known as white necromancers, (or perhaps aoinomancers, going by the greek roots of the word) specialize in magic that affects the living specifically, as well as secret healing arts rarely seen in arcane magic, except in the form of mystical archetypes that can learn spells of other classes, white mage, arcanists, and the like.

With that in mind, It can be easy to see how aoinomancers might be more widely accepted in society, but keep in mind that there are many necromancy spells that affect the living that are not so beneficial. The ability to erode the bodily functions and life force of foes is nothing to sneeze at, and such necromancers have many, many ways to do that, as well as instantly slay foes, unleash waves of fear, exhaust the minds and bodies of others, and so on. Furthermore, they have no actual pacts preventing them from using other necromancy spells dealing with the undead. As such, aoinomancers could be healers in areas where divine magic is in short supply, or they could go a more sinister route, becoming torturers, assassins, and so on.

 Subtly weaving positive energies into their spells, they can heal the living or harm the undead. Its not much, but providing an extra benefit to most of their spells can go a long way, especially since they can allocate the positive energy between targets as they please.

Additionally, they can choose to drain their own reserves of energy to help bolster others, pushing themselves closer to unconsciousness, but allow the recipient to keep fighting longer, though doing so does not truly heal wounds.

Though not perfect healers, these necromancers can provide a little extra, perhaps supplementing the healing of another lesser healer in the party. Additionally, they also tend to specialize both in buffing spells, to better heal allies, as well as debuffing and harming spells, as well as anti-undead measures. Keep that in mind when building such a necromancer.

 Masters of the life subschool likely got into necromancy not for power, but out of a desire to understand the true nature of life and death, and would have also have had to seek out specialists and special texts. What fuels this desire is another story. Perhaps they witnessed the death of a loved one, and vowed to master death and protect life?

 They say that the elves of the Singing Towers have long pondered the mysteries of reality through an arcane lens. As such, they have little knowledge of divine magic, and prefer to use healing through various arcane traditions, including necromancy. However, experiments into those dark arts have led to problems in the past, some of which still wander the catacombs.

 Thanks to the associations with the fey realms, life, and illusion, a tradition of necromancers which blend minor healing into soothing illusions has cropped up, promoting long-term healing as doctors. However, this also attracts fey creatures both friendly and hostile, like the kelpie that now lurks in the pond in Saint Mathrod’s Healing House.

Posting early today on account of my new work schedule. Enjoy!

 Most illusions are just that, illusions, figments both projected into realspace and clouding the minds of those affected. The shadow subschool, however, is a different sort of beast. Drawing upon the half-real energies of the Plane of Shadow, where the line between reality as objective truth vs reality as perception blurs in a very literal way, mages who cast such spells can create seemingly real effects that add a surprising amount of substance to what is normally thought of as school of magic with little substance.

Of course, a lot of shadow magic still relies on belief and acceptance of the imposed changes to reality, the same as any illusion. Anyone who realizes the true nature of such magic finds the effect suddenly becoming insubstantial and nowhere near as effective as before.

Shadow magic tends to come in two varieties, those that perform a simple effect with shadowstuff, such as forming a weapon from shadowstuff, or anchoring a target with tendrils of shadow. More powerful shadow spells, however, serve as universal catch-alls, able to mimic any spell of a specific school and power level depending on the spell used.

This gives the mage a massive amount of variety to work with, using a single spell to replicate dozens depending on the situation, at the cost of a higher amount of magic energy required and the chance that those affected disbelieve it and be only marginally affected.

Such magic can evoke a shadowy reflection of elemental energies, create shadowy minions, and even infuse targets in body or mind, temporarily rewriting their behaviors or bodies if they believe the effect to be fully real.

Furthermore, this magic can also be used to directly enter the Plane of Shadow itself, circumventing traditional plane shifting and effectively mimicking the effects of spells that use the ethereal plane to travel long distances and return to the material, albeit less accurate and with the inherent dangers of that twisted, dark reflection.

Pretty much every wizard can benefit from such spells, providing a universal option for specialists and generalists alike. However, those the specialize in shadow magic specifically might serve as arcane troubleshooters, able to provide solutions to almost any problem with minimal use of spells.

 Wizard specialists in shadow, or shadow-mancers, umbramancers, or whatever you wish to call them, gain access to a few unique tricks, including the ability to launch strands of binding shadow, entrapping foes and engulfing them in darkness, making it difficult for light-reliant allies and enemies alike to understand the target’s situation.

They can also, in a dark parallel of conjurers, these illusionists can step into the shadows, reappearing some distance away. However, due to how the shadow plane differs from the material, this minor shadow walking is never quite accurate, almost always depositing them nearby, rather than perfectly on target.

Looking for an arcane school to pair with the shadow caster archetype, or want traditional wizarding with a focus on shadow spells? This is what you’re looking for. I recommend a shadow and darkness-themed build focused on controlling the battlefield and packing a lot of shadow spells once you get to mid and high levels, providing you with a tool for nearly every situation.

 While these illusionists are more likely to be knowledgible of the secrets of the shadow plane, they do so at great risk, for there are things that lurk in the shadows, some menaces, some more insidious threats. The shadowmancer that ignores the warnings might end up the victim or thrall, willing or unwilling, of the denizens of the dark reflection. As such, these mages might err on the side caution in all things, or else be reckless in their dealings.

  Escaping and being raised in a material plane orphanage, the fetchling Eliera was once a slave of the kytons. In adulthood, she has discovered an aptitude for shadow magic, bringing a bit of her home plane with her wherever she goes. Her contemporaries, however, worry that she might actually be a sleeper agent for the shadowy torturers.

 Called mad by layperson and fellow mage alike, Terrad the Fool has many eccentricities and obsessions, the latest of which is his theory that all magic is derived from the shadow, hence shadow magic’s ability to mimic all other schools. Regardless of how wrong he is, he is the foremost authority on topography of the Plane of Shadow, having spent time mapping and remapping vast swaths of the terrain despite how it tends to change.

While other forms of illusion project false information into the world or the minds of others, glamer magic is more subtle, altering the perception of things that already exist. With it, bad food can taste good, a pauper can look like a king, and the visible can become invisible. Glamer specialists, which are today’s subject, are known as Mages of the Veil, due to their connection in the Golarion setting with the goddess Sivanah, the goddess of illusion and so-called “Seventh Veil”. Outside of that setting, however, veil mage is simply an appropriate moniker for a class of wizards that distort reality beneath cunning glamers. Veil mages are naturally equipped to become spies and infiltrators, using magic to walk openly or invisible where others would have to sneak and hide. Others may have picked up the art to hide from hunters and oppressors for various reasons. Whether spymaster or shadow, few can find these mystics when they don’t want to be found.

As skilled as they are with both magical and mundane forms of deception, one of their most useful abilities is a catch-all glamer that makes them appear so unexceptional and bland as to be ignored by most everyone, who otherwise view them as belonging there, like a servant in a castle, a customer in a shop, and so on. However, situations where it is blatantly obvious that they don’t belong, such as one person of their race in a group made up exclusively of a very different race, or a noble among commoners or vice versa, tends to break the illusion, though they can supplement this with other spells. To aid their allies in infiltration, these wizards learn to cast complex blanket glamers to ward entire groups with illusionary appearances for a short time, allowing for group infiltration, assuming the disguise makes sense for the situation. Wanting to make an infiltration mage specializing in invisibility, illusions, and magical disguises? This one may be what you’re looking for. In addition to other stealthy glamers and illusions, I recommend a wide variety of spells, especially transmutation and enchantment, to enhance your stealth game and have something to fall back on when stealth fails. Needless to say, this particular subschool works best in urban games due to its focus on stealth and disguise.

Many of these mages have multiple false identities, both under glamer and mundane deceptions. Even if they don’t, they likely keep to themselves mostly, rarely opening up to others, if only for an overdeveloped sense of personal safety. The person who is granted full access to who they truly are under all the disguises is lucky indeed.

The figurehead of the Rebellion, the one only known as Golden Smile, is a mysterious woman named only for her distinctive lipstick, a clue that would surely lead to her capture and execution, if not for the fact that those golden lips and indeed the entire identity of Golden Smile is an illusion. In truth, the leader of the rebellion is none other than the king’s own daughter, tired of her father’s tyranny and the suffering it brings.

The party needs to meet with Unopened Gaze, the leader of the secretive Order of Eyes, to discover the location of the kidnapped Duchess, so they seek them out, each clue leading to someone else who in turn leads them to another. Eventually, they meet the leader, who explains that each person they met was actually the Unopened Gaze in disguise, testing their worthiness to meet with them.

When most people think of the evocation school, they think of the various instantaneous blasts and attacks that define the class. However, those who only think of evocation as a form of spell-based assault forget the utility of their more lingering, less damaging effects. From walls of energy, to damaging auras, to force constructs, to balls of energy that roll around attacking enemies, to the odd enchantment that alters and increases certain properties of physics, the other side of the evocation coin can be quite useful in and out of combat. The generation subschool, and its practitioners, whom I will refer to as generationists, are well suited to a variety of roles in society, from long-term support in combat scenarios and sieges, to utility solutions with various force effects, to magical police work, protecting civilians and capturing criminals in non-lethal ways.

Keeping their longer-lasting evocations going for as long as possible is the bread and butter of this subschool, and generationists train to do exactly that, their spells, both harmful and helpful, last considerably longer than that of their peers. At the pinnacle of learning, this persistence takes on a new meaning, resisting attempts to be dispelled. Rather than evoking simple force projectiles, these spellcasters instead learn to generate and invoke air currents, allowing them to push small objects in any direction they wish, even towards themselves to catch. The strength of the wind is strong enough to carry the object, but not enough to turn it into a projectile. However, flasks of volatile substances and other fragile containers can be shattered by the effect. Want to play a control/support/slow-burn blaster mage? This subschool certainly supports that, making your spells relevant for longer. Furthermore, don’t underestimate the utility of the wind servant power. Being able to reposition small objects like alchemical items can be extremely useful, and will make your alchemy-happy party members very happy. Not to mention being able to secure unattended macguffins. Consider taking the lingering spell metamagic, since it makes your instantaneous spells last one round, which would make them synergize with lingering evocations, though the limitation of only damaging foes once would still remain.

Ordinary evokers may be pragmatic and swift to find solutions, admixers may be cunning and clever, but generationists are masters of the long plan, going for the slow burn with the big payoff over the quick solution. This gives them more in common with conjurers, enchanters, and transmuters, arranging all their ploys where they are needed and letting victory unfold. This likely carries over into their daily lives as well.

The holy city of Allfaith is in an uproar, for the legendary staff of the magi gifted only to champions of the god of magic has been stolen. Divination and arcane detection confirm it was a form of wind magic that plucked the staff from the altar. However, while accusations and inquiries are being levied at every temple in the city whose god rules over the air in some fashion, none think to look within, where the true culprit, an apprentice mage with a talent for sustained wind magic, has taken the staff for his own.

Even the most well-laid plans can go awry, as was the case for Naldon Firecloud. His specialization was invoking various slow-burning effect and guided spheres of elemental power, overwhelming foes from behind magical barriers. However, when he faced down the arcanist Reyla the Lighting-speaker, he was shocked that the “schoolless lesser mage” was able to take control of his various burning spheres and ball lightning, turning them against him. Now he lingers on as a ghost, furious at a defeat that he still cannot, will not understand or accept.

Some days you just can’t get rid of a baddy, especially in higher levels where the resistances and immunities begin to pile up. You’re up against a foe that’s immune to fire but weak to cold, and you haven’t prepared any that day. We’ve all been there. (Especially in that last example, because fire gets all the love, there are fewer spells overall of the cold or water subtypes, though I hear that may change.)

Elemental metamagic helps out a lot, but you have to pick what element the feat converts energy into whenever you take it, so at best you have a regular mainstay of a certain type of damage as far as some of your spells go.

Enter the admixture subschool. These evokers, often called admixers by their compatriots, have researched into that very problem, and seek to circumvent it, using their talents to bend the normally rigid structures of the spells they cast, and of the elements they evoke.

Admixers fulfill many of the same roles as ordinary evokers, though they remain more versatile. Additionally, their understanding of the interaction and manipulation of energy types lends itself to a more cerebral sort of wizard, one that truly examines and questions the metaphysics of magic.

  Through their studies and training, they develop a reserve of energy that they can use to unlock the possibilities of a spell as it is cast, allowing them to change the element that the spell primarily uses. Of course, even this has limitations. If the spell has an extra effect in addition to the injuries it causes, that effect only carries over to the modified spell if it can be made to make sense using the new element.

Additionally, these mages are adept at changing much more than their own spells, and can create an aura of arcane energy that converts one type of energy into another, causing spells that originate within to deal the appropriate damage and the overlapped area of area affects to deal that damage while the rest acts normally. This aura can be used offensively and defensively, granting the mage and allies altered spells without spending energy of the primary altering ability, placing the energy over themselves to convert the spells and supernatural effects of an opponent of one element into another that you and your allies already resist, or even to divide the areas of spells to target mixed groups of foes, dealing damage to both differently.

Choosing this archetype means always having a damaging spell for the situation, but its secondary ability makes it useful for manipulating other blasters in the party and those on the opposing side, as well as enemies that with resistances and immunities, or worse, react oddly when exposed to certain energy types. I recommend a decent array of blasting spells chosen for their shape more than the type of damage, as well as battlefield control spells to keep foes in certain areas. Consider also picking up various metamagic rods of element-based metamagics, like burning spell or rime spell, so that you can add nasty effects to normal and altered spells.

  Compared to other evokers, this archetype makes me think more of a cunning intellectual than you average blaster. These mages might be more prone to keeping the schools of enchantment and transmutation, due to their association with manipulation.

    The Pit of Norox is notorious for the elementals and oozes created by the arcane pollution its arcanitite deposits generate, and protecting oneself means being able to react to increasingly odd and erratic threats. As such, arcanists and admixers are often hired by the miners to deal with the monstrous threats that other mercenaries can’t.

  Infiltrating the golemworks of Garashal will be no easy task, as not only are the foundries protected by mighty golems, but also by hordes of lesser constructs that swarm foes. This is a deliberate choice, forcing intruders to choose being torn apart by the swarms, or being crushed by the golems that their area effect spells inadvertedly bolster. Getting through will need some way to alter the elements of spells on the fly.