High Sorcery

D&D 3e (3.0/3.5) Rules

by Cam Banks

You have passed the Test and been initiated into one of the three Orders of Magic as a Wizard of High Sorcery.

Prerequisites: Ability to prepare 2nd-level arcane spells. Must have passed (and survived) the Test of High Sorcery.

Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Knowledge (arcane) and Spellcraft checks. You may also decide to specialize in one of the schools of magic accepted by your Order, as below:

• White Robes: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation.
• Red Robes: Conjuration, Divination, Evocation, Illusion, Transmutation.
• Black Robes: Conjuration, Enchantment, Evocation, Necromancy, Transmutation.

This choice must be made when you acquire this feat. If you do specialize, you must take two of the three schools of magic that are not listed in your Order's group of accepted schools as your opposed schools. A Black Robe Wizard who chooses Enchantment as his specialty might therefore have Illusion and Abjuration as his opposed schools, and would no longer be able to prepare or cast spells from those schools.

Normal: No wizard may begin as a specialist wizard at 1st level on Krynn. All wizards are generalists until they acquire this feat, and make the choice to take a specialty. This represents the fact that dabblers and practitioners of low-level magic are not as focused or bound by strictures as the Wizards of High Sorcery. Renegades and other non-traditional wizards may claim to be specialists, but have probably simply chosen spells from certain schools and invested in the Spell Focus feat.

Special: Wizards who acquire this feat and later change Orders (and corresponding alignment) lose all benefits of specialization in their chosen school of magic. They may not acquire a new specialization, although they will no longer be prohibited from preparing and cast spells from schools that are now accepted by their new Order. For example, a Black Robe Wizard enchantment specialist who changes Orders and becomes a Red Robe Wizard would gain access to the Illusion and Divination schools, but not Abjuration. Wizards with this feat who did not decide to specialize in an accepted School suffer no other penalties from changing Orders. A character who leaves the Orders and becomes a renegade not only loses all benefits of specialization, but will become a pariah among the arcane community and hunted down by the Conclave to face trial. The skill bonuses provided by this feat are not lost in any event.

Notes: This feat can be acquired at 3rd level by any wizard and takes up their 3rd level feat slot. The feat may also be taken as the wizard's 5th level bonus feat. In either case, the DM should stage the character's Test to occur shortly before or as part of their level advancement. It may be appropriate for wizards who have achieved their 3rd or 5th level to seek out the Tower of Sorcery with the aid of their mentor or companions in order to complete their advancement (and thus gain the other benefits of that level, such as bonus spells and skill points).

This feat is not required for a character to be a Wizard of High Sorcery. Passing the Test and being accepted by one of the Orders is a roleplayed event and should not be limited by lack of feat access. However, no specialization will be possible, and the character will not have the benefits of the feat's skill bonuses. As this feat is also a pre-requisite for the Greater Moon Magic feat (which allows special bonues for High Sanction and Night of the Eye lunar events) the benefits of that feat will not be available to regular wizards, and neither will the Wizard of High Sorcery prestige class.

This item has been published here with permission from the author(s) and may not be reproduced without permission. This is a fan submission and its contents are completely unofficial. Some characters, places, likenesses and other names may be copyright Wizards of the Coast.