Faerûnian Prestige Class : Guild Wizard of Waterdeep
The Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors is one of the most powerful guilds in Waterdeep, but most Waterdhavians are barely aware of its existence. The Lady Master of the Order, Mhair Szeltune, chooses to take a strictly neutral stance in the political and economic affairs of the city. She encourages the wizards of the order to pursue the art of magic and leave politics to others. The wizards of the order study and exchange information, create magic items to help support the guild's financial independence, and offer their services to others in the city as watch-wizards or fire guards (wizards armed with spells and magic items to combat fires). The order's strict political neutrality and assistance to others in the city has paid dividends, for although the populace may not know much about the order's members, neither do they have cause to fear them.
The majority of the order's members are wizards, but other arcane spellcasters are welcome as well. Sorcerers are drawn to the order and bards are occasionally associate members, gaining access to much the same information as do the wizards, but deriving less immediate benefit from it, since they acquire their spells differently from wizards.
Guild wizards of Waterdeep are most likely permanent residents of or long-term visitors to the city of that name, though they can be found wandering across the lands. As many different personalities among the Order exist as there are wizards.
This prestige class can serve as a model for the DM to develop similar prestige classes for other possible guilds in the Forgotten Realms. A member of the Arcane Brotherhood in Luskan may share some of the abilities of a member of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors in Waterdeep (most likely, access to a spellpool), but in other ways will be very different.
Requirements
To qualify to become a guild wizard, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
To qualify to become a Guild Wizard of Waterdeep, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Craft (alchemy) 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks.
- Feats: Scribe Scroll, any one metamagic feat, and either Spell Penetration or Spell Focus (choice of school).
- Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.
- Special: Prospective members must pay an initiation fee of 1,000 gp.
Class Skills
The guild wizard's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Knowledge (any), Profession, and Spellcraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the guild wizard prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Guild wizards gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: A guild wizard's training focuses on magic. Thus, when a character gains a new level of guild wizard, she gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (metamagic or item creation feats, for example).
If a character had more than one spellcasting class before she became a guild wizard, she must decide to which class she adds each level of guild wizard for purposes of determining spells per day when she adds the new level.
Membership: The character becomes a full member of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors. She is entitled to vote on issues before the entire membership, use the order's library and workrooms (though access to these facilities is based upon seniority), and replenish her store of material components (common components are usually free or carry a nominal fee, while components that carry a gold piece value are available "at cost").
Membership in the order incurs the following duties and responsibilities:
- Monthly membership dues of 25 gp (payable up to 1 year in advance);
- Obedience to the rulings of the masters;
- Aid to other members in time of need (this normally means aiding other order members who are in danger, but can mean aiding them in their other endeavors as well);
- Defense of the city of Waterdeep when called upon by the Masters or legitimate authorities of the Waterdhavian government; and
- Devotion of personal time and energy to the order (10% XP penalty).
This last is usually considered the most onerous requirement of membership in the order. Each season, a member must spend ten days directly aiding the order. This can mean anything the Masters deem it to mean: working with the city guard, serving as an arcane guardian for a private concern, taking a turn as city fire watch, creating magic items, performing administrative duties, and so on. The form this aid takes need not be detailed unless the DM and player wish to do so. Regardless of its form, it results in an XP penalty of 10%, cumulative with any other penalty the character has incurred (such as from multiclassing). This represents the cost of creating magic items solely for the order, XP costs for spellcasting, and other personal energies contributed to the order. (The character still pays full gp and XP costs for any items created solely for her own use.)
Improved Spell Acquisition: At each level of advancement in the guild wizard prestige class, a character gains three spells of her choice of any level she can cast to add to her spellbook.
Spellpool (Sp): Beginning at 2nd level, members of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors can call 1st-through 3rd-level spells from a common source known as a spellpool. At 6th level, they may call up to 6th-level spells from the spellpool, and at 10th level they may call spells of up to 9th level from the spellpool.
Bonus Item Creation Feat: At 3rd level, a member of the order may select a bonus Item Creation feat (she must still meet the prerequisites for gaining the feat).
Bonus Language: Members of the order study the Art across cultural boundaries. As such, they pick up other languages so that they may enhance their studies. The character may add one additional language to the list of those she already knows. She may include ancient languages (see the section on Language).
Improved Counterspell Feat: At 5th level, the character gains the Improved Counterspell feat. City officials call upon the order to assist in preventing widespread destruction when rogue spellcasters threaten the city. As a result, the order has perfected its ability to use counterspell techniques to eliminate the threat of such reckless magic use. The Masters feel that this is preferable to harming the irresponsible magic user, leaving the punishment of such a person to the city authorities.
Focused Dispel: Sometimes members of the order must deal with lingering magical effects. Over the years, its members have developed more effective dispelling skills. Beginning at 7th level, they may add +2 to any caster level checks made to dispel magic.
Break Enchantment Spell: At 9th level, the break enchantment spell is added to the 4th-level spell list of the guild wizard of Waterdeep. He or she must still learn the spell in order to cast it, just as with any other spell.
| Guild Wizard | Hit Die: d4 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per day |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Membership, improved spell acquisition | +1 level of existing class |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Spellpool I | +1 level of existing class |
| 3rd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Bonus item creation feat | +1 level of existing class |
| 4th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Bonus language | +1 level of existing class |
| 5th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Improved Counterspell | +1 level of existing class |
| 6th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Spellpool II | +1 level of existing class |
| 7th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Focused dispel | +1 level of existing class |
| 8th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +6 | Bonus language | +1 level of existing class |
| 9th | +4 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Break enchantment spell | +1 level of existing class |
| 10th | +5 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Spellpool III | +1 level of existing class |
Epic Guild Wizard of Waterdeep
As one of the most prestigious and powerful organizations of wizards in all of Faerûn, the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors count a number of epic-level characters among its membership. Most don't involve themselves in the day-to-day politics of the guild, but their devotion to the cause is second to none.
The epic guild wizard selects feats much like a typical wizard, since she often focuses on metamagic and/or epic magic item crafting feats such as Enhance Spell or Craft Epic Wondrous Item. Epic Spell Focus and Epic Spell Penetration are wise choices, as well. Improved Spell Pool Access, a new feat described below, is a very worthy feat for this prestige class.
As a wizard, Intelligence is your single most important ability score. Constitution is a good choice to boost your hit points and Concentration checks, and you can't argue with the positive effects of a Dexterity increase.
Other Options: Make your spellcasting more versatile with Spell Opportunity or Spell Stowaway. Pick up defensive feats, such as Epic Toughness or Energy Resistance, to bolster your fortitude in combat. Epic Spellcasting is useful, though you can't share the results with the rest of the guild.
Hit Die: d4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Spells: The epic guild wizard's caster level increases by 1 per level gained above 10th. The epic guild wizard's number of spells per day does not increase after 10th level, unless the sum of her class levels contributing to her caster level equals 20 or less.
Membership: The epic guild wizard of Waterdeep must continue to carry out the duties and responsibilities of membership, including dues, obedience to rulings, aid to other members, defense of the city, and devotion of personal time and energy.
Improved Spell Acquisition: At each level of advancement in the guild wizard prestige class, a character gains three spells of her choice of any level she can cast to add to her spellbook.
Bonus Language: At 12th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the guild wizard can add one additional language to the list of those she already knows. She can include ancient languages (see Language).
Spellpool: Beginning at 12th level, an epic guild wizard of Waterdeep can call spells of up to 10th level from the spellpool. For every two additional levels of guild wizard gained, the upper limit of the spell level called from the spellpool increases by +1 (11th-level spells at 14th level, 12th-level spells at 16th level, and so on). The spellpool can't provide epic spells (those created from the epic spellseeds described in Chapter 2 of the Epic Level Handbook).
The percentage chance that a desired spell is available in any 24-hour period is equal to 65% minus 5% per level of the spell, to a minimum of 5% for spells of 12th level or higher. The spellpool otherwise functions just as described in Chapter 1: Magic Variants in Magic of Faerûn.
Bonus Feats: The epic guild wizard of Waterdeep gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic guild wizard feats) every 4 levels after 9th.
Epic Guild Wizard Bonus Feat List: Augmented Alchemy, Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell, Automatic Still Spell, Craft Epic Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Epic Rod, Craft Epic Staff, Craft Epic Wondrous Item, Efficient Item Creation, Energy Resistance, Enhance Spell, Epic Counterspell (new feat; see below), Epic Spell Focus, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Spellcasting, Epic Toughness, Familiar Spell, Forge Epic Ring, Ignore Material Components, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Improved Spell Capacity, Improved Spellpool Access (new feat; see below), Intensify Spell, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Polyglot, Scribe Epic Scroll, Spell Knowledge, Spell Stowaway, Spell Opportunity, Spontaneous Spell, Tenacious Magic.
| Epic Guild Wizard of Waterdeep | |
|---|---|
| CL | Special |
| 11th | |
| 12th | Bonus language, spellpool (10th) |
| 13th | Bonus feat |
| 14th | Spellpool (11th) |
| 15th | |
| 16th | Bonus language, spellpool (12th) |
| 17th | Bonus feat |
| 18th | Spellpool (13th) |
| 19th | |
| 20th | Bonus language, spellpool (14th) |
Source: Magic of Faerûn
Older Prestige class adapted to 3.5