WIZARD - SORCERER Porter Kit Description: To a Porter, the transient and commutative nature of reality is the central facet of all magic. Their particular field of study lends itself to a vision of the entire universe as a single great community, not a jumbled array of far-flung and disparate regions, planes, and dimensions. Porters are students of magic that relies on the manipulation of space and dimension, including all forms of interplanar gates and teleportation. He or she is familiar with all kinds of extradimensional pockets, planes, and sources of power. While other wizards make use of these dimensions, a Porter has a much clearer idea of what he or she is doing and why things work the way they do when using spells of this school. A Porter can be confounding to his or her enemies, calling on rarely seen powers to trap, banish, or misdirect enemies. They have relatively few attack spells and prefer to use their unique abilities to avoid confrontation, and they are excellent at circumventing obstacles and avoiding trouble. Porters place great store in freedom of movement and being able to escape when the need arises, and they often are loners, distant from others and focused on 'doing their own thing'. Others simply do not see the universe the way they do, and they are content to live in quiet (and often smug) isolation. Requirements: Porters can be of any alignment (though they often tend toward chaotic) but must be humans, half-elves, aasimar, or tieflings. A Porter must have at least a 15 Intelligence to understand the bizarre esoterica of dimensional magic, and he or she must also have scores of at least 12 in both Dexterity and Constitution, though no minimum Charisma is needed. Weapons & Armor: As a standard Sorcerer, but Porters enjoy using strange and exotic weapons and can become proficient in any one-handed melee weapon with a speed factor of 4 or lower; however, at least half of his or her weapon proficiency slots must be spent to learn standard Sorcerer weapons. Special Benefits: Porters are highly valued by comrades for their unique skills, which make them valuable additions to any party. They gain the following class and kit abilities. Dimensional Studies: All Porters gain the Planology proficiency free, and their extensive knowledge of other planes allows them to gain a +1 bonus to their proficiency score for every three levels of experience (rounding up). In addition to such mundane Dimensional Studies, Porters can learn and cast any spell of Dimensionalism, regardless of which Realm of Magic it belongs to. Disappearing: At 10th level, a Porter gains the power to 'disappear' once per day, shifting into a tiny pocket dimension for up to one hour. While in this pocket dimension, he or she can only be detected by magic that reveals extradimensional spaces or planar portals and is immune to any form of attack, but he or she also has no idea what is transpiring back in the real world until he or she leaves the pocket dimension, at which time he or she will return to the exact spot from which he or she left. A Porter can take any action desired while in the pocket dimension, including casting spells or using magical items, but cannot exit the pocket dimension by any means other than stepping back to his or her point of origin. For every level above 10th, a Porter can bring one other creature or up to 200 pounds of nonliving material into the pocket dimension with him or her, though physical contact is required and only a willing creature can be brought along. Magical Defense: As a standard Sorcerer. Portal Sense: At 5th level, a successful Intelligence check with a +1 bonus for every three levels of the Porter (rounding up) enables a Porter to gain a sense of the destination of a teleportational gate, device, or planar portal. This requires one round of careful observation and concentration, but physical contact with the gate or portal is not required. The detail of information provided by this ability is not great. If the check fails, the Porter gets no information. If a natural 20 is rolled, a Porter will gain misleading information, unless a natural 20 would normally succeed for a Portal Sense check, in which case the ability simply fails. At 10th level, a Porter's Portal Sense improves to the point where if he or she succeeds in the check by 10 or more he or she is actually able to see through any sort of dimensional door, planar portal, or similar gate as if looking through an ordinary door or window. Progressive Mastery: As a standard Sorcerer, save that a Porter deals in matters of hard reality and existence and eschews ephemeral matters of mind, soul, life, and other metaphysical concepts. As a result, they can never learn Illusion or Necromancy as Fields of Study. Spell Specialization: As a standard Sorcerer, save that a Porter can specialize only in Dimensional spells, including those from outside the Realm of Sorcery, though Spell Specialization in non-Sorcery Dimensional spells has only half the normal chance of success. Special Hindrances: Porters specialize in evasion and manipulation rather than open conflict and battle magic. As a result, they do not gain the Magical Attack benefits of other Sorcerers. They also are much more limited in terms of the types of magic that they can learn (see Progressive Mastery above). Porters also suffer from a unique disadvantage as a result of the constant stress on their bodies as a result of their habitual teleportation and dimensional travel. On any day when a Porter teleports or traverses a portal, gate, vortex, or dimensional door more than once suffers a temporary loss of 1d4 points of Strength and Constitution for each time after the first (roll separately for each). This loss is reduced by 1 for every five levels of the Porter (rounding down), so a Porter of 20th level or above can ignore this hindrance because they are so inured to teleportation and planar travel. Any points lost in this way can be restored by spending a full day at rest. If either score reaches 0, the Porter is able to complete the passage successfully but then collapses with exhaustion and remains unconscious for a full day. He or she then awakens with his or her Strength and Constitution at half their normal level, and they can be restored to normal by a full day of rest. A Porter never suffers lasting harm as a result of this weakening condition. Bonus Proficiency: Planology Required Proficiencies: Reading/Writing, Spellcraft Preferred Proficiencies: Ancient History, Cartography, Celestology, Ceremony/Ritual, Demonology, Direction Sense, Language (any), Local History, Navigation, Rune Lore, Time Sense ***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 >