Wizard - Mage Sage Kit Description: Sages represent those learned scholars who devote deep and passionate study to one or more special fields. They conduct all manner of magical and mundane research into that area and even carry on professional correspondence with scholars in their field around the world or even on other planes. Their degree of expertise within their field is matchless among mortal minds, and they love nothing more than to pore over musty books or examine interesting specimens within their field. Sages are generally far more interested in research and experimenta-tion than adventuring, and so will usually be encountered as NPCs (sometimes even available for hire for player characters with the resources to provide facilities and research materials that meet a Sage's satisfaction). They tend to be quite sedentary and to stick mostly to urban environments, but can occasionally be found living alone in the wilderness. Requirements: As a standard Mage, but at least 16 Intelligence is required and there is no minimum Charisma. In addition, they use three-sided hit dice (see Special Hindrances). Weapons & Armor: Staff. Special Benefits: Sages are extremely knowledgeable about all things magical, and in addition they choose intensive study in a variety of esoteric and sometimes even bizarre fields. Their specialized knowledge grants them the following special abilities: Arcane Lore: As a standard Mage, but with double the normal bonuses. In addition, Sage may select knowledge of languages, both ancient and modern, at half the usual cost in proficiency slots. In addition to their mundane skill in Arcane Lore, a Sage can use detect magic or read magic at will. These abilities do not require spellcasting or components of any kind but rather merely concentration by the Sage, and they last as he or she continues to concentrate on them. Legend Lore: Sages are extremely knowledgeable in ancient and secret lore, particularly in the areas of history and magic. Using this ability requires the Sage to scrutinize a given item, work of art, inscription, text, sacred site, building, or other object in question. The Sage need not actually touch the item, but he or she must be within 5 feet and be able to see the item, and must be relatively undisturbed during the examination. The base chance of success with this ability is 5% per level for magical items, symbols, powers, and places of wizardly power (including all magical items restricted to use by the Wizard class). Legend Lore can also be used with respect to any area of Sage Knowledge (see below). Success on this percentile check allows the Sage to roll 3d6 and consult the following table: 3d6 roll Information Gained 3 How many charges/uses left 4 Whether item is intelligent 5 Whether item is cursed/evil 6 Value on the open market 7 Name 8 Famous past owners 9 Age of item 10 What race created it 11 Where it was made 12 Who crafted it 13 Alignment of owners 14 Who can use it 15 General types of effects 16 How to activate it 17 Outline list of powers 18 Let player read DM description A Sage can adjust the 3d6 by ±1 for every three levels of experience (rounding up) if desired. Thus, a 5th level Sage who rolled 7 on 3d6 could modify the roll to any number from 5 to 9. A Sage may make one such roll for each level of experience if he or she is in a library or other place with access to similar records; if forced to rely only his or her memory alone, he or she may make a maximum of one roll per there levels (rounding up), though the remainder of his or her normal allotment of rolls can be made for that item if he or she later studies it with access to outside information. Each roll on this table requires 1d10 rounds of study. Research: All Sages begin play with the Research proficiency, and they gain a +1 bonus to their proficiency score for every three levels of experience (rounding up). In addition, because of they are constantly studying Sages gain a new non-weapon proficiency slot every time they gain a level. Because they prefer to learn a smaller number of skills in great depth and detail, however, a Sage must spend at least half of all non-weapon proficiency slots (including initial slots and bonus slots based on Intelligence) to improve proficiencies he or she knows, rather than learning new proficiencies. Sages also know how to study very efficiently and effectively. They can locate research materials in a library or laboratory in half the amount of time it would require a typical character. They can also spend one or more days carefully studying a particular subject in a library and thereby gain a one-time bonus to any non-weapon proficiency. This bonus is equal to 1d4-1 for every day spent studying, up to a maximum of +5. The Sage must choose a specific non-weapon proficiency to study, and the bonus (which can be used only once) must be used within 1 day per level of the Sage. In addition to the mundane applications of their skill in Research, Sages can research spells of all types at their true level and require only the normal amount of time to complete magical research of any kind (including magical item research); without the penalties that normally apply for Mages. Sage Knowledge: Sages learn esoteric details in one or more fields throughout the course of their career, allowing them to perform research as described in the Dungeon Master's Guide on pgs. 106-108. All Sages begin with one free Sage Knowledge proficiency, which represents their initial field of training and study, and a Sage gains a +1 bonus to his or her proficiency score in this area for every three levels of experience (rounding up). A Sage may also gain additional areas of study by purchasing additional Sage Knowledge proficiencies. Unlike other characters, a Sage suffers no ability score penalty to his or her Sage Knowledge proficiency score. Scholarly Connections: Sages often maintain extensive correspondence with scholars throughout the world. The Sage's scholarly bearing and reputation is impressive to others who are authors, journalists, teachers, scholars, researchers, or simply intellectuals, gaining a +3 reaction bonus with people of this type. They are also able to use their connections to receive discounted prices on magical research or study-related costs, including consultations with other Sages, spell components, materials and references needed for spell or magical item research, and the like. With a successful Charisma check, with a -1 bonus per two levels of the Sage (rounding up). These contacts also enable Sages to gain a 10% discount when paying for the services of another Sage or similar magical research on his or her behalf. Special Hindrances: Sages can be dry, pedantic, and flat-out boring to anyone who is not an intellectual or scholar or someone else with a vested interest in the Sage's chosen field. As a result, any individual who is not described as having a reaction bonus with respect to a Sage (see Special Benefits: Scholarly Connections) will generally find a Sage pompous, verbose, and rather irritating, resulting in a -1 reaction penalty for any such creature who has to listen to the Sage speak for more than one round. In addition, if the Sage converses with an NPC Sage, Scholar, Loremaster, or similar character, there is a 10% chance that the Sage will inadvertently impugn some pet opinion of the NPC, resulting in a new reaction roll with a -4 penalty. Sages have little interest in the cheap theatrics of Stage Magic, the pointless maunderings of Fortune Telling, or the free-form off-the-cuff Improvisational Magic of other Mages, and they simply do not bother learning such intellectually irrelevant skills. They also eschew physical skills or training of any sort, and as a result tend to be in poor physical condition. They use only three-sided hit dice, and their Constitution hit point bonus can never exceed +1. In addition, they suffer a -1 penalty to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution- based ability check, including all non-weapon proficiencies based on these ability scores. Sages gain only a single weapon proficiency at 1st level, which must always be in the quarterstaff, and they never gain additional weapon proficiencies thereafter. In fact, they suffer a -1 penalty to hit whenever they attack in physical combat (including the use of touch spells). Finally, spellcasting itself is something of a sideline for Sages, whose true stock in trade lies more in the area of study and research than in spellcasting. As a result, a Sage can learn only half the normal number of spells of each level allowed by his or her Intelligence, and he or she can also cast one fewer spell of each level than normal, to a minimum of no spells of that level. Thus, a 3rd level Sage would have one 1st and no 2nd level spells available, rather than the normal two 1st and one 2nd level spells), though he or she still gains the normal bonus spells allowed for high Intelligence. Bonus Proficiencies: Research, Sage Knowledge (choose one) Required Proficiencies: Reading/Writing, Spellcraft Preferred Proficiencies: Alchemy, Ancient History, Artistic Ability, Astronomy, Bookbinding, Bureaucracy, Cartography, Celestology, Demonology, Ecology, Etiquette, Fungus Identification, Heraldry, Herbalism, Language (Ancient), Language (Modern), Law, Local History, Medicine, Monster Lore, Musical Instrument, Necrology, Papermaking, Planology, Poetry, Religion, Research, Rune Lore, Sage Knowledge, Scribe, Supernumerate, Teaching, Thaumaturgy ***DISCLAIMER*** As with all postings by me of classes or races, it should be noted that portions of the information contained herein were inspired by or derived from information in published works of TSR, Inc., and may contain references to those works, quotations or passages of text (especially in the area of 'Character Description', where applicable sections from TSR works were often carried over more or less intact into my campaign world), or particular powers or abilities invented by TSR staff writers. No relationship with TSR, Inc., is to be implied by this use, nor is any attempt being made to solicit profit or remuneration of any kind. I have read the TSR Online Policy document, and have tried to accommodate the stipulations contained therein. In instances where I have lifted an essentially complete class or race without significant alteration, I have not included these in my postings but instead have inserted a reference to the appropriate D&D sourcebook for those curious in including it in their campaign. Only variations that include a significant component of original work, alteration, or reformulation (including the compositing elements from various TSR sources into new combinations) of have been included in this set of postings. Jason Eric Nelson < tjaden@u.washington.edu >