Faerûnian Prestige Class : Red Wizard
The Red Wizards are the masters of Thay, the conquerors of that land's native Rashemi, and the would-be magical overlords of Faerûn. They focus on a school of magic more intently than any specialist, achieving incredible mastery of magic within a very narrow focus. Seen as cruel and evil tyrants by people across Toril, a few choose to leave their region, assume secret identities, and practice magic without having to worry about political alliances and possible slave uprisings.
Early in their careers, would-be Red Wizards specialize in a school of magic and acquire the Tattoo Focus feat that prepares them for entry into the full Red Wizard prestige class. All Red Wizards have some skill as a specialist wizard, and most follow that path exclusively, but a few dabble in other sorts of learning (such as combat or divine magic). While it is possible for a sorcerer or bard to become a Red Wizard, such misfits are ridiculed in their homeland and are incredibly rare.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Red Wizard, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Race: Human from Thay
- Alignment: Any non-good.
- Skills: Spellcraft 8 ranks.
- Feats: Tattoo Focus and a total of three metamagic feats or item creation feats.
- Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.
Class Skills
The Red Wizard's class skills are Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Intimidate, Knowledge (all skills taken individually), Profession, and SpellCraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are Class Features of the Red Wizard prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Red Wizards gain no proficiency in any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: A Red Wizard's training.focuses on arcane spells. Thus, when a new Red Wizard level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in whatever arcane spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus metamagic or item creation feats, bard or assassin abilities, and so on). This essentially means that he adds the level of Red Wizard to the level of whatever other arcane spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.
If a character had more than one arcane spellcasting class before he became a Red Wizard, he must decide to which class he adds each level of Red Wizard for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Enhanced Specialization: Upon becoming a Red Wizard, the character increases his devotion to his wizard school of specialization. In exchange for this, the Red Wizard must sacrifice study in one or more schools: The Red Wizard must choose an additional prohibited school or schools using the rules on page 5~4 of the Player's Handbook. He can never again learn spells from those prohibited schools. He cannot choose the same prohibited schools he chose as a 1st-level wizard. He can still use the prohibited spells he knew prior to becoming a Red Wizard, including using items that are activated by spell completion or spell trigger.
For example, Ghorus Toth is specialized in the school of Transmutation. His prohibited schools are Abjuration and Enchantment (option 3). When he becomes a Red Wizard, he must choose one of the other categories of prohibited schools for Transmutation listed in the School Specialization side-bar the Player's Handbook. His options are (1) Conjuration, (2) Evocation, or (4) any three schools. He cannot choose option (3) because there is no way to select that option without selecting schools from which he is already prohibited. If he chooses option (4), he cannot choose Abjuration or Enchantment because those are already prohibited schools for him. He decides to select Conjuration as his additional prohibited school.
Specialist Defense: Add this value to the Red Wizard's saving throws against spells from his specialist school.
Spell Power: For spells involving the Red Wizard's specialist school, add this value to the DC for saving throws and to caster level checks to overcome spell resistance. The value starts at +1 at 1st level and goes up to +2 at 4th level, +3 at 6th level, +4 at 8th level, and +5 at 10th level. This ability stacks with other spell power effects that affect spells from the Red Wizard's specialist school.
Bonus Feat: The Red Wizard can choose an item creation feat, metamagic feat, or Spell Mastery.
Circle Leader: The Red Wizard gains the ability to become a circle leader, who is the focus person for Red Wizard circle magic.
Scribe Tattoo: The Red Wizard gains the ability to place the Thayan wizards' magic tattoos upon willing and qualified novices, giving them the Tattoo Focus feat and inducting them into his circle.
Great Circle Leader: The Red Wizard can he the center of a great circle, which can have up to nine assistants instead of just five.
| Red Wizard | Hit Dice: d4 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Enhanced specialization, specialist defense +1 | +1 level of wizard |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Spell power +1 | +1 level of wizard |
| 3rd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Specialist defense +2 | +1 level of wizard |
| 4th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Spell power +2 | +1 level of wizard |
| 5th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Bonus feat, circle leader | +1 level of wizard |
| 6th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Spell power +3 | +1 level of wizard |
| 7th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Specialist defense +3, scribe tattoo | +1 level of wizard |
| 8th | +5 | +2 | +2 | +6 | Spell power +4 | +1 level of wizard |
| 9th | +5 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Specialist defense +4 | +1 level of wizard |
| 10th | +6 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Great circle leader, spell power +5 | +1 level of wizard |
Epic Red Wizard
It should come as no surprise that the Red Wizards were among the first in Faerûn to explore the realms of epic power. Thankfully for the rest of Faerûn, the Red Wizards' need for secrecy and politicized society prevent them from sharing this power among their number too widely.
For a Red Wizard, it's all about magic. Crank up your save DCs with Epic Spell Focus and Improved Heighten Spell, ready a barrage of spells with Automatic Quicken Spell and Multispell, or emerge from the lab with truly awesome magic items thanks to feats such as Craft Epic Staff or Forge Epic Ring.
Epic Red Wizards should work to boost the ability score that their spells rely on, whether that's Intelligence or Charisma.
Other Options: Every self-respecting Red Wizard needs a mighty bodyguard, and Epic Leadership can fit the bill (particularly for those high-Charisma sorcerer/Red Wizards). If you can't pick up one of those, Epic Reputation might let you talk your way out of a problem, or Epic Toughness might give you the extra hit points you need to make your escape.
Hit Die: d4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Spells: The epic Red Wizard's wizard caster level increases by 1 per level gained above 10th. The epic Red Wizard's number of spells per day does not increase after 10th level. The epic Red Wizard does not learn additional spells unless he selects the Spell Knowledge feat (see the Feats section of the Epic Level Handbook).
Specialist Defense: The bonus to the epic Red Wizard's saves against spells from his specialist school increases by +1 for every 2 levels after 9th.
Spell Power: Add an additional +1 to the DC for saving throws against spells of the epic Red Wizard's specialty school, and to his caster level checks to overcome spell resistance using spells from this school, for every 2 levels after 10th.
Bonus Feats: The epic Red Wizard gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic Red Wizard feats) every 5 levels after 10th.
Epic Red Wizard Bonus Feat List: Augmented Alchemy, Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell, Automatic Still Spell, Craft Epic Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Epic Staff, Craft Epic Wondrous Item, Enhance Spell, Epic Leadership, Epic Spell Focus, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Spellcasting, Familiar Spell, Forge Epic Ring, Ignore Material Components, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Improved Spell Capacity, Intensify Spell, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Scribe Epic Scroll, Spell Opportunity, Spell Stowaway, Spontaneous Spell, Tenacious Magic.
| CL | Special |
|---|---|
| 11th | Specialist defense +5 |
| 12th | Spell power +6 |
| 13th | Specialist defense +6 |
| 14th | Spell power +7 |
| 15th | Specialist defense +7, bonus feat |
| 16th | Spell power +8 |
| 17th | Specialist defense +8 |
| 18th | Spell power +9 |
| 19th | Specialist defense +9 |
| 20th | Spell power +10, bonus feat |
Source: Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting