Specialist Wizards in O.G.R.E.S. and Old School Games

 The first example of a "specialist" wizard in old-school gaming comes in the form of the Illusionist in the player's guide for the Advanced edition of the worlds's most famous role playing game. This class, presented as a "sub class" of the Magic User, really just substitutes typical spells with an entire spell list that is designed for this class. It doesn't really focus on any abilities that create a specialized magic user. It was only in later editions (a few ideas presented in various magazine articles, and later as "Kits" in the Second Edition of that game) that the idea really began to take shape, and in 3rd edition we started to really see "School Specialization" as part of the core rules of the game. 

It's true that character classes in older school games (pre-2e) are intended to be very abstracted and wide open to interpretation, and the designers as such shied away from such detail--after all, if you wanted your wizard to specialize in, say, evocation, at the time, you just chose evocation spells for your spellbook. Still, this became a problem in that in older editions you didn't automatically get new spells as you went up in level; you had your starting spellbook and any other spells had to be found in scrolls and other spellbooks. It was theoretically possible (if your GM was a real bastard) to be 15th level and only have a few low-level spells in your book becuase you never found any others. 

It seems unfortunate that spell schools were included in older editions of the game (at least as far back as the Advanced version), but nothing was really done with them. They were merely descriptors. This leads me to wonder, can it be possible to have specialist wizards in (very) old-school games, and what does that look like? Can it be done in a way that keeps things simple and intiutive, but still adds a bit of flavor? I think it can. Indeed, one way to handle "traditions" is discussed by Tim Brannan in his recent blog here. 

Defining the Schools of Magic

The first step in building specialist magi is to define the schools of magic. At some point in time I'm going to develop this in more detail and with a direct gear towards old-school, but for the purposes of this blog, the 3rd edition SRD gives us a baseline to work with (and the spells didn't really change all that much from first through third editions). So let's define our schools of magic as follows:

• Abjuration: Spells that have a distinctly defensive nature
• Conjuration: Spells that heal, create or summon something into existence that wasn't there previously, or instantly move a subject from one place to another.
• Divination: Spells that enhance one or more senses, or provide answers to questions such as scrying, clairvoyance, and the like.
• Enchantment: Spells that affect the minds of other beings. 
• Evocation: Spells that manipulate energy, often to damaging effects. If conjuration creates an object out of nothing, evocation creates an effect out of nothing.
• Illusion: Self-exaplanatory. These spells fool the senses in some way. 
• Necromancy: Spells that deal with the dead, both corporeal and spiritual. 
• Transmutation: Spells that change the fundamental nature of a thing. 

Since there are far too many spells to list here, the SRD also gives us the ability to bring up a complete list of spells, which can be sorted by school. Alas, the link above only assigns schools to sorcerer and wizard spells, and not clerical, druidic, bardic, or other spells. Again, eventually, I'll put more work into this and assign schools to the O.G.R.E.S. spells specifically, but for now, as a baseline, these will suffice. 

What is a Specialist Wizard?

A specialist wizard (or Witch/Warlock, in Night Shift: VSW terms) is a spell caster that is entirely focused on one school of magic above all others. Without drawing too much on 3e concepts, let's think about what that means: 

1. Specialist Wizards are aces at casting spells from their focused school
2. Specialist Wizards are not as good at casting spells from other schools
3. A laser focus on one school must have a cost when dealing with other schools
4. Specialists should probably unlock some sort of "secret" involved with their school, possibly which manifests as an additional Supernatural Power in games Powered by O.G.R.E.S. 

Specialist Wizards and Spellcasting

Let's look at the first two elements from above. This is pretty simple to adjudicate. Specialist wizards (witches/warlocks) gain an additional 10% to their base spellcasting percentage when casting spells of their specialized school. In games that use a Vancian Magic, they cast specialized magic as though one level higher than they are. This means that a 2nd level Magic User could theoretically cast 2nd level spells. 

Likewise, they suffer a 10% penalty to their base spellcasting percentage when casting spells of any other school. This means that specialized wizards in Vancian systems can only cast spells of their chosen school at first level, and at second level may begin learning first-level spells of other schools. 

Costs and Secrets

Such a laser-focused devotion to a single school robs the spellcaster of one other school of magic. Specialist wizards should choose any one other school of magic which they are incapable of learning; their focus on their specialization means they have eschewed education in the basic principles of this school, and cannot learn it as a result. This is a permanent choice made at first level, and can never be changed. 

In exchange, however, specialized magi unlock a secret related to their school. This secret is added to their abilities as a bonus Supernatural Power, usable 1 time per day at first level and 1 additional time per level at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, etc. 

Keeping It Simple

If keeping things simple is the goal, this can simply be an innate spell of their school that they can automatically cast with no casting roll necessary, once per day. As they increase in levels, they can cast this spell additional times, or they can add additional spells. Thus, at 4th level, they could cast their spell twice, or they could have two spells from their school that they could innately cast once each.  At 8th level, they might cast one spell three times, two spells with one twice and one once, or three spells, each cast once. These spells don't count against those they normally prepare and can be any spell they currently know. Once chosen, the spells can't be changed. 

This ability works in Vancian systems as well--they're extra spells the wizard can throw around as they like, a limited number of times per day, that don't have to be prepared.  

Personalizing Schools

Alternately, if you want to make things more personalized, the supernatural power can be specific to the school, but not just another spell. It could be something like the following: 

• Abjuration: The caster can negate one attack or damaging effect against one creature.
• Conjuration: The caster can create a simple non-living object weighing up to 1 pound per 2 levels. The object may have moving parts, but must be manually manipuated to use (i.e. no cars or motorcycles or computers). The object lasts for 1 hour per level, then breaks down.
• Divination: The caster gains +5/+25% on any one roll. This bonus can be added after the die is rolled, even after the caster knows whether they succeeded or failed.
• Enchantment: The caster may cause any being to be charmed (as the charm person or monster spell) by any one other being for up to 1 hour. 
• Evocation: The caster causes one creature to suffer 1d6 points of Force damage per 4 levels of experience (minimum 1d6). There is no save against this effect. 
• Illusion: The caster creates a minor illusion that effects a single sense. This illusion can incorporate movement and is up to human-sized or ranging from a whisper to a normal shout in volume, and lasts as long as the caster concentrates on it, or until the target sees through it (usually through direct interaction, which grants an Intelligence save/Save vs. Spells). 
• Necromancy: The caster can temporarily create an animated body, which erupts from the ground and has the statistics of a skeleton. It lasts for 1 hour or as long as the necromancer maintains concentration, or until destroyed. While in existence the skeleton provides the benefits of a familiar to the caster (though not the drawbacks, if destroyed). 
• Transmutation: The caster can change the elemental nature of one non-living object weighing up to 1 half pound per 2 levels. The change is temporary, lasting up to 1 hour. The effects of the new form are at the discretion of the GM--changing rock to fire while someone holds it, for example, will likely deal 1d6 damage to the holder per pound (minimum 1d6) and cause them to drop it. 

More work needs to be done, obviously, but this is a solid basis, I think, for introducing specialized magic users into old school games, including those Powered by O.G.R.E.S. 

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