Cormyrian War Wizard
Description: The War Wizard is a wizard from Cormyr, in the Forgotten Realms setting, although this kit can easily be modified to suit almost any small medieval kingdom. All wizards residing in Cormyr for longer than six months of fourth or greater level are required to become War Wizards.
War Wizards are not required to adopt the Cormyrian War Wizard kit, and War Wizards are allowed to take other kits if they so chose, or none at all. This kit is primarily intended for young mages and specialists who are trained since the be- ginning of their apprenticeship to serve in the Cormyr's corps of War Wizards. In the rest of this description, the appellation 'War Wizard' refers to mages who have specifically taken the Cormyrian War Wizard kit.
War Wizards are skilled in both military strategy and tactics. They are taught elementary self-defense and methods of employing their spells to most effectively aid small and medium-sized contingents of troops. In addition, most are taught how to ride a horse, and how to study spells under less than ideal conditions.
To adopt the War Wizard kit, a sorcerer must demonstrate both strength and stamina to prepare themselves for the rigors of war and life on the campaign trail. A minimum Strength of 12 and Constitution of 13 are required to adopt the War Wizard kit.
Abandoning this kit is not allowed while the War Wizard continues to reside in Cormyr and it involves withdrawing from the War Wizard organization. Permission must by granted by the King of Cormyr to withdraw from the organization (and hence from this kit), and the wizard is then exiled from Cormyr. Deserters will have a bounty placed upon their head. If a wizard does abandon this kit, all benefits and hindrances are immediately lost, and all former colleagues will do their best to avoid (or capture) the War Wizard depending upon the circumstances of the withdrawal.
A War Wizard's initial spells should be chosen to reflect the military nature of his or her occupation, thus offensive and area of effect defensive spells should be emphasized.
Preferred Schools: The preferred schools of the War Wizard are illusion, alteration, and invocation/evocation. However, the corps of War Wizards includes a few specialists in almost all schools, as each specialist adds to the magical potency of Cormyr's army.
Barred Schools: War Wizards are barred from the school of necromancy, due to the repugnant nature of this discipline to the goodly rulers of Cormyr, and to the debilitating effect having a necromancer in the ranks would do to morale.
Role: The War Wizard is a member of an elite corps of mages and specialists who augment the more conventional forces of the Cormyrian army. In battle their role includes augmenting the conventional military forces, neutralizing enemy wizards, pro-viding reconnaissance information, and neutralizing monsters and magical beasts under the control of the enemy.
War Wizards are expected to stay active in their studies, serve in peacetime garrisons, and mobilize at the first hint of war. In addition, the corps is expected to train itself, and stay current on newly invented or discovered magics.
Secondary Skills: No particular Secondary Skill is recommended or required. A War Wizard receives his Secondary Skill either by choosing or rolling randomly, whatever is normal for the campaign.
Weapon Proficiencies: Required: short sword
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus: (Warrior) Endurance, Riding (land-based), Spellcraft. Recommended: (General) Swimming; (Wizard) Engineering, Ancient (Military) History, Herbalism, Reading / Writing; (Warrior, takes 1 slot only) Running, (Warrior takes 2 slots only) Blindfighting; (Rogue, takes 1 slot only) Tumbling.
Equipment: The War Wizard may buy any equipment he chooses, keeping whatever money he might not use.
Special Benefits: The War Wizard receives a bonus Weapon Proficiency, in addition to his normal starting total, at no cost. This bonus Weapon Proficiency must be used for the short sword. The War Wizard is specially trained for defense, and thus improves his armor class by two places when specifically defending with the short sword, assuming the War Wizard takes no other action that round. If the optional rules from either the DMG or the CFH are used, this bonus is in addition to any parrying bonus, but only applies in hand-to-hand combat. As a consequence of this defensive concentration, when using a short sword, the War Wizard suffers a -2 penalty to his or her attack rolls.
Due to specialized concentration, a war wizard is trained to memorize spells faster, and under adverse conditions. A War Wizard needs only four hours of reasonably restful sleep (here a "reasonably restful sleep" is left up to the DM's discretion) to memorize spells at the normal rate. If a full night of restful sleep is had, the War Wizard needs only five minutes per spell level to memorize spells. If the sleep is only "reasonably restful", as described above, and the wizard attempts to memorize spells at the accelerated rate mentioned above, there is a chance the wizard will mess up, and have to start over at the slower rate of memorization for any particular spell. This chance is equal to 100% - 3(IQ)
In addition, higher level War Wizards often trade spells of equivalent level with their fellow War Wizards, at no extra charge. Higher level War Wizards are expected to tutor at least one other War Wizard of lesser power at least once per year, free of charge. The War Wizard corps act as a loosely knit acad-emy spread throughout Cormyr to which all members contribute and benefit.
Special Hindrances: It is a crime for War Wizards to trade spells with or train any nonmember mage without official permission from Vanderghast (the head of the War Wizards) himself. War Wizards are expected to serve garrison duty two months each year, and to assemble in the nearest Cormyrian city once every three months for a week of training and seminars. Special exemptions can be had from the seminars, but not from the garrison duty except under extreme circumstances. In addition, War Wizards are expected to immediately notify their superiors if they intend any extended leave of absence from the country and they must be reachable at all times while residing in Cormyr.
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