Hacking 2e: The Specialist Wizard Kits

His chain-diamond is merely to
distract you from his tufted shoes.

The Illusionist debuted in the same rush of mid-70s fan-made hacks that would eventually constitute the majority of AD&D’s core classes. For more on the paleolithic Illusionist, see Jon Peterson. The Specialist Wizard is a natural evolution of that original class; Illusionists begot the organization of magic into ‘schools’, which in turn suggested practitioners of those schools.

Instead of listing each school’s specialist, 2e provides the rules needed to build your own, along with an example Illusionist. This was the smartest way to handle this, as none of these specialists have any defining features that the others don’t, aside from the chosen school and some requirements. I’d prefer to make each specialist its own kit; as will be seen, I go for a hybrid approach.

 

1. Schools

2e organized all the Wizard spells into nine schools: Abjuration, Conjuration/Summoning, Greater Divination, Lesser Divination, Enchantment/Charm, Illusion, Invocation/Evocation, Necromancy, and Alteration. As shown in the image below, these schools were set at opposition to each other, resulting in some schools that a Specialist Wizard can’t touch.

This image (from the 1995 PHB) appears to be
the first instance of the school symbols, which have
been used haphazardly throughout the later editions.

“Lesser Divination” is a bit of a weird cheat, as it’s just Divination spells of 4th level or less, which are made available to all Wizards. However, the only Specialist Wizard that has Divination as an opposition school is the Conjurer. Why they decided that the Conjurer really needed unrestricted access to Clairvoyance and Know Alignment is beyond me. I can only assume it was to not block access to Detect Magic and Read Magic, though these are level one spells, so that doesn’t explain why they went up to 4th level. Anyway, since I’ve modified these into Cantrips that don’t have schools, we don’t need the cheat. Divination is Divination.

3e made some changes to the naming convention, which has remained the norm. The slashed double-schools lost their partners, leading to just Conjuration, Enchantment, and Evocation. Alteration became Transmutation, which is fitting considering that the 2e title for its specialist is the Transmuter. These cleaner names will be adopted.

 

1.1. Opposition Schools

Cutting off specific schools from the Specialist Wizard is a great way to keep the different specialists from blending into one another, and just ending up as Wizards-who-favor-a-school. However, I do have some quibbles with the 2e implementation.

The Illusionist has three opposition schools, the Diviner has only one (presumably due to the school’s low spell count), and most have two. As a result, they don’t align with the illustration provided in the PHB. But also: why is Conjuration the opposite of Divination, or Illusion the opposite of Necromancy? If the schools across the divide are “opposite”, then why aren’t the schools positioned next to each other considered aligned schools?

To resolve some of these annoyances with the arrangement, I’ve redesigned it, attempting to pair and contrast schools which reflect their domains.

I’ve tried to keep opposites thematically appropriate. Abjuration is the magic of protection, and so is in opposition to the death and decay of Necromancy. Illusion, the school of mirages and phantasms, opposes Evocation, which deals with elemental reality made manifest. Divination, the magic of truth and freedom of knowledge, stands in opposition to Enchantment, the magic of false belief and control. The only one that doesn’t entirely fit is Transmutation and Conjuration, though one makes something from something else, while the other makes something from nothing.

I’ve also sought to keep the schools of a similar bent near their neighbors. Conjuration, which draws from other planes, sits near Evocation, which draws from elemental sources, and Necromancy, which draws from death itself. Illusion, which creates false images, sits near Transmutation, which alters reality, and Enchantment, which creates false thoughts. Since these neighboring schools are tied together, the opposition is also expanded to them. If you’re an Enchanter, you’re losing Divination access, but you also lose Abjuration and Evocation.

Things could probably be moved around if I thought about it any longer than I already have, which is far too long, but I think it’s at least better than what was on offer in the PHB. I’ve thrown some arrows in there, which I’ll get to when discussing Learning Modifiers.

 

2. Additional Memorization Slots

Specializing gets you an extra spell per spell level, as long as that spell is of your school. This means that Specialist Wizards always get to have one of their themed spells locked-and-loaded at 1st level, and at later levels they’re holding a host of additional, on-brand spells.

I see little reason to alter this core feature. I’d like it if it wasn’t tied to spell level, which results in a new spell at every odd character level until switching to evens at 12th level. Still, it works well enough: you get an extra spell memorization slot every time you gain access to a new spell level.

 

3. Learning Modifiers

2e dictates that, in addition to having verboten schools, you also get a 15% penalty when attempting to learn spells from any school other than your own. As recompense, you get a 15% bonus to learning your own school’s spells.

This is fine, but it’s a bit rough, especially if I’m expanding the number of schools that the Specialist Wizard loses access to. Instead, I’d prefer to give this penalty to the schools that sit between the aligned schools and the opposition schools. In the graphic above, that’d be anything connected with a yellow arrow. For the schools that neighbor the specialization, they can be learned without bonus or penalty, while the focused school gets the bonus.

Via this layout, we get a learning structure that gets less desirable as one moves away from the specialized school. An Enchanter gets a +3 bonus to their Intelligence score when attempting to learn an Enchantment spell (which they also get extra uses of), no bonus or penalty when learning Illusion or Necromancy, a –3 penalty when learning Transmutation or Conjuration, and no ability to learn Abjuration, Divination, or Evocation.

 

4. Automatic Spell Gain and Spell Research Bonus

Specialist Wizards automatically get a new spell of their school whenever they reach a new spell level. This is here to ensure that your specialist doesn’t end up with too few of their signature spells just because the DM didn’t hand them out via play. It’s one way to do it, but it’s an odd gimme when compared to the base Wizard’s requirement to go find their stuff. I think the specialist needs to do the same legwork, regardless of a possible stingy DM.

Their avenue for that is spell research. 2e Specialist Wizards research any spell as though it were one level lower. If I’m going to get rid of the auto-acquirement, let’s make the research bonus meatier and drop it to three levels lower. This will serve to make the research rules into both a desirable and reliable tool.

5. Saving Throws

Each specialist gets a +1 bonus, and their targets get a –1 penalty, when saving against spells of the specialist’s school. This reintroduces Saving Throws with qualifiers, which I sought to eliminate via the hacked Saving Throw system. Fixing this would mean giving each specialization a bonus to a specific Saving Throw. I’d prefer the following:

School	Save Bonus
Abjuration	+1 to Magic
Conjuration	+1 to Danger
Divination	+1 to Magic
Enchantment	+1 to Charm
Illusion	+1 to Charm
Evocation	+1 to Danger
Necromancy	+1 to Death
Transmutation	+1 to Curse

These are thematically appropriate and avoid the edge-case Saving Throw bonuses that litter 2e. It also keeps the DM from having to announce the school of every spell the monsters throw as the Abjurer angles for their bonus. The Saving Throw penalty imposed on targets can remain (as the player will know, and will likely let the DM know, when they’re using their school and inflicting their penalties).

 

6. School-specific Abilities

The above constitutes everything found in the PHB, but the Specialist Wizard continued to evolve as the 90’s went on. Just a year later, The Complete Wizard’s Handbook introduced abilities which triggered at later levels, which were pulled to earlier levels in Player’s Options: Spells and Magic. These additions are a grab-bag of save bonuses, immunities, and 3-per-day spells, most of which trigger at 8th, 11th, and 14th level.

The extras provided by the splatbooks do an okay job in making each specialization feel unique from one another, rather than being stamped from a template with a slight variation of school color. It’s a goal I agree with. Features should make a class feel more like itself: Abjurers should feel like protectors, Diviners should feel like soothsayers, and Necromancers should feel like the Lord of the Dead.

I’d like to adopt the idea. My initial thought is to rope in the new Cantrip features by providing each specialist with a modified or new Cantrip that speaks to its flavor, such as Alarm for the Abjurer and a modified Speak with Dead for the Necromancer. In addition to that, I’d include a bump at 7th level to a relevant Saving Throw or other stat.

I was on the edge of not completing this idea, but I pushed through. I’m not 100% sold on the final implementation, and therefore will offer you two versions of the Specialist Wizard: one combined version as per the PHB, and one which separates out each specialist with the aforementioned special extras.

 

7. Specialist Wizard Kit (Version 1)

Kit: Specialist Wizard
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, See Table
Alignment: Any

Specialist Wizards are spellcasters who have committed themselves to a single chosen school of magic. From this school, they can cast more spells with stronger results, and are better at learning and researching those spells. They are forbidden from using magic opposed to the chosen school.  

Specialist Wizards have the following restrictions:

Opposition Schools: Cannot learn, memorize, cast, or research spells from opposed schools. This restriction extends to magical items and scrolls from those schools.

Unaligned Schools: Gains a –3 penalty to Intelligence when learning or researching spells that are not from the chosen school or an aligned school.

Specialist Wizards gain the following features:

Studied Defense: Gains a bonus to Saving Throws as shown in the Specialist Wizard table.

Specialist Memorization: Can memorize an additional spell for each spell level. These spells can only be of the chosen school.

Adept Spellcasting: Targets of spells cast by the Specialist Wizard from their chosen school suffer a –1 penalty to their Saving Throw scores against that spell.

Specialized Learning: Gains a +3 bonus to Intelligence when learning or researching spells from the chosen school.

Specialized Research: When researching spells from the chosen school, treat the spell as though it is three levels lower for the purposes of time and cost.

Specialist Wizard Table
Specialist	School	Minimum Ability Score	Opposition Schools	Aligned Schools	Save Bonus
Abjurer	Abjuration	15 Wis	Conjuration, Enchantment, Necromancy	Divination, Transmutation	+1 to Magic
Conjurer	Conjuration	15 Con	Abjuration, Illusion, Transmutation	Evocation, Necromancy	+1 to Danger
Diviner	Divination	16 Wis	Enchantment, Illusion, Necromancy	Abjuration, Evocation	+1 to Magic
Enchanter	Enchantment	16 Cha	Abjuration, Divination, Evocation	Illusion, Necromancy	+1 to Charm
Evoker	Evocation	16 Con	Enchantment, Illusion, Transmutation	Divination, Conjuration	+1 to Danger
Illusionist	Illusion	16 Dex	Conjuration, Divination, Evocation	Enchantment, Transmutation	+1 to Charm
Necromancer	Necromancy	16 Wis	Abjuration, Divination, Transmutation	Conjuration, Enchantment	+1 to Death
Transmuter	Transmutation	15 Dex	Conjuration, Evocation, Necromancy	Abjuration, Illusion	+1 to Curse

 

8. Specialist Wizard Kits (Version 2)

Specialist Wizard Kits

Specialist Wizards are spellcasters who have committed themselves to a single chosen school of magic. From this school, they can cast more spells with stronger results, and are better at learning and researching those spells.

Each school of magic is opposed, aligned, or unaligned in relation to the other schools:

Opposition Schools: The Specialist Wizard is forbidden to learn, memorize, cast, or research spells from these schools. This restriction extends to magical items and scrolls.

Unaligned Schools: Suffers a –3 penalty to Intelligence when learning or researching spells from these schools.

Aligned Schools: Suffers no penalty when learning or researching spells from these schools.

All Specialist Wizards gain the following features:

Specialist Memorization: Can memorize an additional spell for each spell level. These spells can only be of the chosen school.

Adept Spellcasting: Targets of spells cast by the Specialist Wizard from their chosen school suffer a –1 penalty to their Saving Throw scores against that spell.

Specialized Learning: Gains a +3 bonus to Intelligence when learning or researching spells from the chosen school.

Specialized Research: When researching spells from the chosen school, treat the spell as though it is three levels lower for the purposes of time and cost.

 

Kit: Abjurer
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, Wisdom 15
Alignment: Usually Good
Opposition Schools: Conjuration, Enchantment, and Necromancy
Unaligned Schools: Evocation and Illusion
Aligned Schools: Divination and Transmutation

Abjurers practice magic from the school of Abjuration. Their spells are focused on protection, avoidance, and the hindrance of harm.

Abjurers gain the following features:

Magical Defense: Gains a +1 bonus to Magic Saving Throws score.

Abjuration Cantrip: Gains the Alarm spell as a Cantrip, in addition to other known Cantrips. The spell operates as described in Spells, but does not require material components, is permanently memorized, and cannot be cast until the prior instance of the spell has been dismissed.

Protection from Harm: At 7th level, gains a –1 bonus to AC.

 

Kit: Conjurer
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, Constitution 15
Alignment: Commonly Good
Opposition Schools: Abjuration, Illusion, and Transmutation
Unaligned Schools: Divination and Enchantment
Aligned Schools: Evocation and Necromancy

Conjurers practice magic from the school of Conjuration. Their spells pull forces and creatures from other planes.

Conjurers gain the following features:

Conjurer’s Reflexes: Gains a +1 bonus to Danger Saving Throws score.

Conjuration Cantrip: Gains the Unseen Servant spell as a Cantrip, in addition to other known Cantrips. The spell operates as described in Spells, but does not require material components, is permanently memorized, and cannot be cast until the prior instance of the spell has been dismissed or destroyed.

Improved Summoning: At 7th level, creatures summoned by the Conjurer gain +2 HP per level of the spell used to summon them.

 

Kit: Diviner
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, Wisdom 16
Alignment: Any
Opposition Schools: Enchantment, Illusion, Necromancy
Unaligned Schools: Conjuration and Transmutation
Aligned Schools: Abjuration and Evocation

Diviners practice magic from the school of Divination. Their spells seek to uncover secrets and to reveal the past, present, and future.

Diviners gain the following features:

Magical Foresight: Gains a +1 bonus to Magic Saving Throws score.

Divination Cantrip: Gains the Cleric’s Augury prayer as a Cantrip, in addition to other known Cantrips. The prayer operates as described in Prayers, but is considered a Wizard spell and is permanently memorized.

As Was Foretold: At 7th level, gains a +2 bonus to Surprise score.

 

Kit: Enchanter
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, Charisma 16
Alignment: Any, Usually Not Neutral
Opposition Schools: Abjuration, Divination, and Evocation
Unaligned Schools: Conjuration and Transmutation
Aligned Schools: Illusion and Necromancy

Enchanters practice magic from the school of Enchantment. Their spells are used to charm the minds of others or to infuse creatures and objects with special abilities.

Enchanters gain the following features:

Practiced Mind: Gains a +1 bonus to Charm Saving Throws score.

Enchantment Cantrip: Gains the Friends spell as a Cantrip, in addition to other known Cantrips. The spell operates as described in Spells, but does not require material components, is permanently memorized, and cannot be cast until the prior instance of the spell has been ended.

Improved Enchantment: At 7th level, targets of Enchantment spells cast by the Enchanter suffer an additional –1 penalty to their Saving Throw scores against that spell (for a combined total of –2).

 

Kit: Evoker
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, Constitution 16
Alignment: Commonly Chaotic and Usually Not Neutral
Opposition Schools: Enchantment, Illusion, and Transmutation
Unaligned Schools: Abjuration and Necromancy
Aligned Schools: Conjuration and Divination

Evokers practice magic from the school of Evocation. Their spells channel raw elemental forces to create destruction and change.

Evokers gain the following features:

Dangerous Profession: Gains a +1 bonus to Danger Saving Throws score.

Evocation Cantrip: Gains the Fire Bolt Cantrip, in addition to other known Cantrips. This Cantrip is only available to the Evoker. It operates as follows:

Fire Bolt
Cantrip

Range: 60 feet
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None

Creates a bolt of fire in the caster’s hand. The Evoker is considered to be proficient with this bolt as a ranged weapon. The bolt can be thrown in the same round in which it is cast by making a ranged attack roll. If the attack is successful, it deals 1d3 damage.

Destructive Power: At 7th level, Evocation spells cast by the Evoker gain +1 to damage rolls per level of the spell.

 

Kit: Illusionist
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, Dexterity 16
Alignment: Usually Good or Neutral
Opposition Schools: Divination, Conjuration, and Evocation
Unaligned Schools: Abjuration and Necromancy
Aligned Schools: Enchantment and Transmutation

Illusionists practice magic from the school of Illusion. Their spells create mirages and false images to beguile others.

Illusionists gain the following features:

Perceptive Eye: Gains a +1 bonus to Charm Saving Throws score.

Illusion Cantrip: Gains the Minor Illusion Cantrip, in addition to other known Cantrips. This Cantrip is only available to the Illusionist. It operates as follows:

Minor Illusion
Cantrip

Range: 120 feet
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 10 sq. ft
Duration: Special
Saving Throw: Special

Creates either an illusory sound or the image of any object or creature, chosen at the time of casting. It cannot simulate temperature or smell. The illusion lasts until interacted with physically or when the caster dispels it. Those hearing or viewing the illusion may roll a Charm Saving Throw to disbelieve the illusion. This spell cannot be cast again until the prior instance of the spell has been ended.

Improved Perceptive Eye: At 7th level, gains an additional +1 bonus to Charm Saving Throws score (for a combined total of +2).

 

Kit: Necromancer
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, Wisdom 16
Alignment: Commonly Evil
Opposition Schools: Abjuration, Divination, and Transmutation
Unaligned Schools: Evocation and Illusion
Aligned Schools: Conjuration and Enchantment

Necromancers practice magic from the school of Necromancy. Their spells manipulate death and the dead.

Necromancers gain the following features:

Friend of Death: Gains a +1 bonus to Death Saving Throws score.

Necromancy Cantrip: Gains the Question the Dead Cantrip, in addition to other known Cantrips. This Cantrip is only available to the Necromancer. It operates as follows:

Question the Dead
Cantrip

Range: Touch
Casting Time: 1 rd.
Area of Effect: 1 dead or undead creature
Duration: Special
Saving Throw: Special

Allows the Necromancer to wake any intact corpse or skeleton, which will answer one question. The dead creature can only provide information which they knew in life, and will often give vague or cryptic responses. If the dead creature was of an opposed alignment or a higher level than the Necromancer, they may roll a Magic Saving Throw to refuse to answer. This spell cannot be used on any dead creature more than once. It may be used on undead creatures.

Death Aura: At 7th level, hostile undead of equal or lower level do not attack the Necromancer.

 

Kit: Transmuter
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 9, Dexterity 15
Alignment: Commonly Neutral
Opposition Schools: Conjuration, Evocation, and Necromancy
Unaligned Schools: Divination and Enchantment
Aligned Schools: Abjuration and Illusion

Transmuters practice magic from the school of Transmutation. Their spells alter reality, changing the form or abilities of creatures and objects.

Transmuters gain the following features:

Immutable Form: Gains a +1 bonus to Curse Saving Throws score.

Transmutation Cantrips: Gains the following Cantrips: Light, Mending, Message, and Wizard Mark, in addition to other known Cantrips.

Improved Immutable Form: At 7th level, gains an additional +1 bonus to Curse Saving Throws score (for a combined total of +2).

 

9. Conclusion

I think I like the second version the best. There’s a great deal which I’ve constructed out of whole cloth, which moves us ever further from the source material, but in exchange we get a collection of specialists who beg you to play them. Their special cantrips make them feel unique and ensure that they’re always acting like their class.

Adding a damage-dealing cantrip for the Evoker is a departure from my decision to not allow cantrips which provide offense capability, but considering that it’s the equivalent of a dart and only applies to one kit, I don’t think it’ll break anything. It’s also thematically appropriate.

The only kit that I’m not entirely satisfied with is the Transmuter, who gets all the cantrips at 1st level. It’s appropriate for the subclass, seeing as these were all Alteration spells prior to making them universal cantrips, but it feels a bit weak compared to the others.

In any case, I think this all works. At least for me.

Even if we don’t go full hog, the Specialist Wizard looks alright in both versions. It has more restrictions on schools, and has lost its automatic spell gain every other-ish level. In return, they now have aligned schools for which there are no penalties, and a stronger ability to research their own spells. The Saving Throw bonus has been recontextualized to directly improve specific throws, rather than just spell sources, making the class a bit stronger on yet another front.

That’s two classes wrapped up. Next up is the Cleric.