The Wizard and his Familar (3.5/3.PF)

[Deepbluediver]

This is part of my ongoing project to rework the 11 core classes so that they are a little more balanced in terms of both power and versatility. In addition to changing each character class, I've also reworked the functionality of magic and am currently in the process of redoing individual spells. I'm addressing most of the big "nukes" from the magic lists as I come to them, on a one-by-one basis. I have included a brief summary of the changes to magic in the spoilered text here. The full version can be found in my extended sig.

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Magic in 3.5 was too easy to use, in the sense that there was little if any chance for a spell to fail in the way that an attack or skill check might. Added to this was the fact that many full spellcasting classes could rely largely on a single attribute. To fix these, I made Spellcraft a non-skill stat, like Base Attack Bonus. Your BSB is the inverse of your BAB (i.e., poor BAB characters like wizards and sorceres get the best BSB, equal to their level).
Each and every time you want to cast a spell you need to make a Spellcraft check. Spells have a chance to fail or "crit", and the chance varies by what kind of magic the caster is using. Wisdom adds to a players Spellcraft bonus, similar to Strength and BAB.
Intellect determines bonus spells for all casters, and it is easier to get bonus spells at low levels.
The range for spells has been reduced.
Every player and monster will have a basic level or Spell Resistance, like they have a basic level of AC. Your various save bonuses add to your SR against spells from certain schools. The DC to cast a spell increases with a spells level (stronger spells are tougher to cast), but targeted and non-targetting spells scale slightly differently so spells that check against SR stay relatively similar in functionality.

My overall goal is to aim for about tier 3, while also not losing the the flavor and fun and individuality of the seperate classes. Some well-played characters might still feel like low tier 2, and a other poorly built classes might drop to tier 4, but hopefully the difference will be less. I've tried to preserve as much of the wizard as possible, because I know so many people adore the class, and it has huge iconic significance. I've also tried to beef up the familiar class feature a bit, to make it more interesting to use.



Wizard

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Like all casters, the wizard relies on Intellect and Wisdom. Due to his low HP, a decent constitution score is also valuable in case the wizard is caught in melee range.

Alignment
Any, though most are non-chaotic

Hit Points at each level
2+1d2

Class Skills
The wizard’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

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I've also scripted a skill-fix that makes cross-class skills less painful to take, so the wizard will have somewhere to put his skill points now that Spellcraft is off the table.

Skill Points at first level
(2 + Int modifier) ×4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level
2 + Int modifier

Table: The Wizard and Spells Per Day
{table=head]Level|BAB|BSB|Fort|Ref|Will |Special|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|+0|+1|+0|+0|+2|Magic Specialization, Familiar|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

2nd|+1|+2|+0|+0|+3|First Additional School|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

3rd|+1|+3|+1|+1|+3|Spell Mastery|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

4th|+2|+4|+1|+1|+4|Bonus Metamagic Feat|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

5th|+2|+5|+1|+1|+4|Second Additional School|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—

6th|+3|+6|+2|+2|+5||4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—

7th|+3|+7|+2|+2|+5|Spell Mastery|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—

8th|+4|+8|+2|+2|+6||4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—

9th|+4|+9|+3|+3|+6|Bonus Metamagic Feat|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—

10th|+5|+10|+3|+3|+7|Third Additional School|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—

11th|+5|+11|+3|+3|+7|Spell Mastery|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—

12th|+6/+1|+12|+4|+4|+8||5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—

13th|+6/+1|+13|+4|+4|+8||5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—

14th|+7/+2|+14|+4|+4|+9|Bonus Metamagic Feat|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—

15th|+7/+2|+15|+5|+5|+9|Spell Mastery|6|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—

16th|+8/+3|+16|+5|+5|+10||6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—

17th|+8/+3|+17|+5|+5|+10|Fourth Additional School|6|6|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1

18th|+9/+4|+18|+6|+6|+11||6|6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2

19th|+9/+4|+19|+6|+6|+11|Bonus Metamagic Feat, Spell Mastery|6|6|6|5|5|4|4|4|3|2

20th|+10/+5|+20|+6|+6|+12|Metamagic Mastery|7|6|6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3[/table]

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A wizard is not proficient with any weapons or armor.

Spells
A wizard casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. A wizard must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time (see below).

Like other spellcasters, a wizard can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day, given on the above Table. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score.

Unlike a sorcerer, a wizard may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the wizard decides which spells to prepare.

Magic Specialization
At first level, a wizard begins his arcane studies by choosing one school of magic to focus on. A wizard may only prepare spells for their daily spell slots from this school, or spells with the Universal designation.

When casting spells from this school, the wizard gains a +2 bonus to their Spellcraft roll. The bonus increases to +3 at wizard level 8th and +4 at wizard level 15th.

Spellbooks
A wizard must study his spellbook each day to prepare his spells. He cannot prepare any spell not recorded in his spellbook.

A wizard begins play with a spellbook containing up to 30 0-level spells of the wizards choice, up to five 1st-level spells. At each new wizard level, he gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that he can cast (based on his new wizard level) for his spellbook. At any time, a wizard can also add spells found in other wizards’ spellbooks to his own, or research additional new spells.

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Researching spells usually takes so much time and energy it precludes adventuring or other tasks. Feel free to make up your own specific rules.

In my magic fix, the standard spellbook has more pages and spells take up less space, and have some extra fluff explaing why Power Word: Stun requires multiple pages.

Familiar
All wizards have a familiar, which is a composed of etheric energy given physical form and endowed with a sliver of it's creator's soul. A familiar is not a servant or companion, it is literally part of the wizard and an extension of the wizard's will.

The wizard chooses the form his familiar takes at the time it is created (or recreated, if it was destroyed). As the wizard advances in level, his familiar also increases in power.

If a familiar's physical form is destroyed, the shock deals the wizard 1d4 points per wizard level of untyped, unavoidable but otherwise non-lethal damage. The familiar will reform it's physical body over the next 48 hours, during which the wizard cannot prepare any spells of the highest level to which he has access.
See next post for more details on a familiar's exact stats.

Additional Schools of Magic
At second level, the wizard expands his arcane studies to include more diverse forms of magic. The wizard selects another school for which he may prepare spells for his daily spell slots. Any spells prepared from this school occupy a spell slot one level higher than otherwise indicated. This is not a metamagic effect.
(for example, if at second level the wizard chooses the school of Conjuration, he must use 1st-level spell slots to prepare any 0-level Conjuration spells)

At 5th, 10th, and 17th level, a wizard selects one additional school of magic to study; any spells prepared from this school occupy a spell slot one level higher than normal.

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So basically, rather than having access to 6, 7, or 8 schools of spells, a high level wizard only gets 5, which admittedly makes them still pretty versatile. A more important difference, I think, is that they will only have access to 9th level spells from one school.

Spell Mastery
At 3rd level, a wizard gains Spell Mastery as a bonus feat. The wizard gains an additional Spell Mastery bonus feat every 4 levels after that (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th).

Bonus Metamagic Feat
At 4th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, the wizard gains a bonus metamagic feat. The wizard must still meet all the prerequisites for any feats gained in this manner.

Metamagic Mastery
By the time he reaches 20th level, a wizard is an expert at empowering spells and manipulating metamagic effects. When using metamagic to modify any spells for which he has taken the Spell Mastery feat, he may reduce the spell slot adjustment for that spell by one. This effect can only be applied to one metamagic feat per spell prepared.

In addition, if the wizard has prepared a spell with a metamagic effect, when casting the spell he may, as a free action, switch that metamagic effect with any other metamagic he had learned, provided that the new metamagic effect has an equal or lesser spell slot adjustment. The spell still uses up it's original spell slot.


Variant Wizards
Archivist: An Archivist is a wizard who spends his time in both academic study and spiritual comtemplation to unravel the myseries of the divine. This variant is like a normal wizard in all respects, except that he draws his spells from the Cleric Spell list instead of the Sor/Wiz list.

Wu-Jen: The Wu-Jen are wizards who have a special connection to the natural world and the ebb and flow of the elements. This variant is like a normal wizard in all respects, except that he draws his spells from the Druid Spell list instead of the Sor/Wiz list.

Hedge-Mage: These self-taught wizards are sometimes looked down upon by their more academic or studious colleagues, though they are plenty capable of holding their own in a contest of magic. Hedge-mages trade more versatile casting for a slower spell progression of fewer spells per day.
They use the spell-progression chart listed here for half-casters. All of features of the wizard, including spells known, remain the same, with one exception.
At first level, a hedge-mage may learn and prepare spells from two different schools instead of just one. They gain access to new schools at levels 2, 4, 7, 11, 15, and finally 19, which allows a high-level hedge mage to prepare and cast spells from any school.


Summary
The wizard doesn't have as many changes as some of my other fixes, because it's not as disfunctional as some of the melee classes. It usually tends to be unbalanced in the other direction, and a large portion of that is being addressed in my magic fix.