Wizard
A scholar of the arcane who traded sunlight for candlelight: brilliant of mind, frail of body.
| Role | Difficulty | Key stats | Hit points | Mana | Spells given |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caster | Hard | Intelligence | 0 | 12 | 8, from level 1 |
Plays like: The most mana and the fewest hit points; kills with spells before anything gets close.
Starts with: a quarterstaff (wielded); a wool cloak (being worn); a robe (being worn); a pair of slippers (being worn); a scroll of light; a scroll of identify; one of a scroll of fireball, a scroll of frost, or a scroll of lightning; 4 wax candles; a loaf of bread; 15 gold coins; 1d3 random spell scrolls (each the scroll of one of the 45 spells of spell level 9 or below, as likely as any other) (see Starting kit).
See also: Magic, Learning spells, and Scrolls.
How to play
You have the most mana and no hit points from your class at all: one or two blows can kill
you. Kill from afar with Ray of frost and, up close,
Burning hands, cast from the
abilities menu (a). Read your
spell scrolls when a fight turns bad: you read them twice as fast as
anyone (Scroll adept). Learn more spells from
grimoires, and rest after every fight.
Levels
A bonus talent at levels 10, 20, 30, 45, 55, from Scholar or Spellcraft.
| Level | Ability | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scroll adept | reading time −50 %; your spells: +1 rung for the spell scrolls you read |
| 1 | Ray of frost | the spell Ray of frost (level 1, a cast, 4 mana): 2d6 cold damage |
| 1 | Burning hands | the spell Burning hands (level 1, a cast, 6 mana): 2d4 fire damage |
| 1 | Arcane training | Decipher script counts +10 |
| 3 | Magic missile | the spell Magic missile (level 3, a cast, 4 mana): 2d4 force damage |
| 4 | Knock | active (aimed in a direction, for 5 mana, the time of a spell): the lock of the locked door or shut chest there springs open; nothing opens and no trap springs. Where nothing locked stands it is refused, with no time or mana spent |
| 6 | Blink | the spell Blink (level 6, a cast, 6 mana): You are elsewhere: a few cells away in a direction you do not choose, free of whatever held you. |
| 9 | Shatter | the spell Shatter (level 8, a cast, 14 mana): 4d6 force damage; it breaks walls |
| 12 | Scribe | active (a spell you know, from the scribe list): on the first blank scroll you carry, a scroll of the spell is written, for 3 times the spell’s mana (what casting it would cost before Frugal caster’s cut; Frugal caster then cuts the whole) and as many turns of writing as a study of the spell takes (Quick study does not shorten it). The mana is spent and the blank used up only at the end; interrupted, nothing is spent. Refused, with no time spent, without a blank scroll or the mana |
| 18 | Arcane bolt | the spell Arcane bolt (level 6, a cast, 11 mana): 4d6 force damage |
| 24 | Chain lightning | the spell Chain lightning (level 20, a cast, 20 mana): 6d6 electricity damage; it jumps 3 times for certain, every jump reaching 2 cells |
| 25 | Mage armour | Deflection +2 while you wear no body armour |
| 32 | Empower | your spells: +1 rung on their damage and healing ladders; your spells’ mana −10 % (at least 1) |
| 36 | Sunfire | the spell Sunfire (level 30, a cast, 90 mana): 10d6 fire damage; it melts the ice it reaches, and whoever stands on it falls in |
| 50 | Arcane mastery | mana regeneration pace +100 % |
| 60 | Archmage | your spells: +2 rungs on their damage and healing ladders; your spells’ mana −50 % (at least 1) |
Abilities
The wizard’s Knock (from level 4, 5 mana) springs the lock of the locked door or chest in a direction. It opens nothing by itself (see Chests).
The wizard’s Scribe (from level 12) writes a scroll of a spell he knows on a blank scroll. It costs three times the spell’s mana and the time its grimoire takes to read (see Scrolls). It is mana banked between fights, to be read in the next.