A mage is, at heart, a manipulator of existing energies and matter. Magical energies flow through the world affecting change large and small, catalysing interactions between elemental masses, and accruing in wellsprings of energy throughout the world. The mage seeks to influence the world through controlled adjustments of the flow of these energies. With study and understanding the mage increases his understanding of herself, and of the world around her, and in doing increases her ability to affect the flow of energy, and with it her influence over the world. Her deep understanding of the world, and her place in it, forms the basis of the mage's eventual specialisation.

Role: The mage is the magical backbone of any unit she is part of. While not as prolific or versatile with her magic as some of the other casters, the mage excels in situations for which she has prepared.

Spells per Reinscription

Class Features

The following are the class features of the mage.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Mages are proficient with all simple weapons, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor interferes with a mage's movements and posture, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.

Spells

A mage casts arcane spells drawn from the mage's known spells. A mage must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time.

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the wizard must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a wizard's spell is 10 + the spell level + the wizard's Intelligence modifier.

A mage can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per reinscription. Her base spell allotment is given on Table: Spells per Reinscription. In addition, she receives bonus spells per reinscription if she has a high Intelligence score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

A mage may know any number of spells, collective called her spell collection, but known spells must fit her core principle. She must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time when getting reinscribed.

Cantrips

Mages can prepare a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, each reinscription. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.

Core Principle

A mage must choose a core principle, expressed as a short sentence, determining how she understand her magic affecting the world around her. A core principle is more than a theme, it is a principle that informs how the mage reasons about her magic.

A mage casts arcane spells drawn mostly from the mage spell list, though players can propose spells from other lists for inclusion.

A mage begins play with all 0-level mage spells plus three 1st-level spells of her choice in her collection. The mage also selects a number of additional 1st-level spells equal to her Intelligence modifier. At each new mage level, she gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new mage level). At any time, a mage can also explore potential new applications of her core principle and research new spells based on insights gained from experience or from discussions with other mages (see Magic).

Inner Reservoir (Su)

An mage has an innate pool of magical energy that she can draw upon to fuel her augmented pathways and enhance her spells. The mage's inner reservoir can hold a maximum amount of magical energy equal to 3 + the mage's level. Each reinscription, when the mage prepares spells, the mage's inner reservoir fills with raw magical energy, gaining a number of points equal to 3 + 1/2 her mage level. Any points she had from the previous reinscription are lost. The inner reservoir can never hold more points than the maximum amount noted above; points gained in excess of this total are lost.

Points from the inner reservoir are used to fuel many of the mage's powers. In addition, the mage can expend 1 point from her inner reservoir as a free action whenever she casts an mage spell. If she does, she can choose to increase the caster level by 1 or increase the spell's DC by 1. She can expend no more than 1 point from her reservoir on a given spell in this way.

Augmented Pathway

The mage's understanding of her own body, her inscriptions, and the flow of magic allows her to design non-standard augmentations to many of her inscription pathways. Wise mages discuss such augmentations with their inscriber before committing to them, and wise inscribers will only inscribe such augmentations after careful study and consideration.

At 1st level and every 2 levels thereafter, the mage gains a new augmented pathway selected from the following list. An augmented pathway cannot be selected more than once. Selected augmented pathways must fit her core principle. Once an augmented pathway has been selected, it cannot be changed. Most augmented pathways require the mage to expend points from her inner reservoir to function. Unless otherwise noted, the saving throw DC of an augmented pathway is equal to 10 + 1/2 the mage's level + the mage's Charisma modifier.

Acid Jet (Su): The mage can unleash a jet of acid by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir and making a ranged touch attack against any one target within 30 feet. If the attack hits, it deals an amount of acid damage equal to 1d6 + the mage's Charisma modifier, plus an additional 1d6 points of acid damage for every 2 levels beyond 1st (to a maximum of 10d6 at 19th level). The target is also sickened for 1d4 rounds. It can attempt a Fortitude saving throw to negate the sickened condition.

Arcane Barrier (Su): As a swift action, the mage can expend 1 point from her inner reservoir to create a barrier of magic that protects her from harm. This barrier grants the mage a number of temporary hit points equal to her mage level + her Charisma modifier, and lasts for 1 minute per mage level or until all the temporary hit points have been lost. Each additional time per reinscription the mage uses this ability, the number of inner reservoir points she must spend to activate it increases by 1 (so the second time it is used, the mage must expend 2 points from her inner reservoir, 3 points for the third time, and so on). The temporary hit points from this ability do not stack with themselves, but additional uses do cause the total number of temporary hit points and the duration to reset.

Counterspell (Su): By expending 1 point from her inner reservoir, the mage can attempt to counter a spell as it is being cast. She must identify the spell being cast as normal. If she successfully does so, the mage can attempt to counter the spell as an immediate action and by expending an available mage spell slot of a level at least one higher than the level of the spell being cast. To counterspell, the mage must attempt a dispel check as if using dispel magic. If the spell being countered is one that the mage has prepared, she can instead expend an available mage spell slot of the same level, and she receives a +5 bonus on the dispel check. Counterspelling in this way does not trigger any feats or other abilities that normally occur when a spellcaster successfully counters a spell.

Energy Shield (Su): The mage can protect herself from energy damage as a standard action by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir. She must pick one energy type and gains resistance 10 against that energy type for 1 minute per mage level. This protection increases by 5 for every 5 levels the mage possesses (up to a maximum of resistance 30 at 20th level).

Flame Arc (Su): The mage can unleash an arc of flame by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir. This creates a 30-foot line of flame that deals a number of points of fire damage equal to 1d6 + the mage's Charisma modifier, plus an additional 1d6 points for every 2 levels beyond 1st (to a maximum of 10d6 at 19th level) to each target in the line. Creatures in the area of effect can attempt a Reflex saving throw to halve the damage.

Force Strike (Su): The mage can unleash a blast of force by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir. This attack automatically strikes one target within 30 feet (as magic missile) and deals a number of points of force damage equal to 1d4 + 1 per mage level. Spells and effects that negate magic missile also negate this effect.

Ice Missile (Su): The mage can unleash a freezing projectile by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir and making a ranged touch attack against any one target within 30 feet. If the attack hits, it deals a number of points of cold damage equal to 1d6 + the mage's Charisma modifier, plus an additional 1d6 points for every 2 levels beyond 1st (to a maximum of 10d6 points at 19th level). In addition, the target is staggered for 1 round. It can attempt a Fortitude saving throw to negate the staggered condition.

Lightning Lance (Su): The mage can unleash a lance of lightning by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir and making a ranged touch attack against any one target within 30 feet. If the attack hits, it deals a number of points of electricity damage equal to 1d6 + the mage's Charisma modifier, plus an additional 1d6 points for every 2 levels beyond 1st (to a maximum of 10d6 at 19th level). The target's vision is also impaired, causing the target to treat all creatures as if they had concealment (20% miss chance) for 1 round. It can attempt a Fortitude saving throw to negate the impaired vision.

Metamagic Knowledge: The mage can select one metamagic feat as a bonus feat. She must meet the prerequisites of this feat.

Metamixing (Su): The mage can expend 1 point from her inner reservoir to add a metamagic feat that she knows to a spell as she casts it without affecting the casting time (though using a higher-level spell slot as normal). She can use this ability to add a metamagic feat to a spell that she prepared using a metamagic feat, although she cannot add the same metamagic feat to a given spell more than once.

Potent Magic (Su): Whenever the mage expends 1 point from her inner reservoir to increase the caster level of a spell, the caster level increases by 2 instead of 1. Whenever she expends 1 point from her inner reservoir to increase a spell's DC, it increases by 2 instead of 1.

See Magic (Su): The mage can see magical auras. If she expends 1 point from her inner reservoir, for 1 minute she instantly recognizes magic item auras and spell effects (as per detect magic). During this time, she is treated as if she had studied each aura for 3 rounds. In addition, if she touches a magic item during this time, she can immediately identify its properties using Spellcraft without needing to spend 3 rounds examining the object. If an enemy possesses the object, the mage must first succeed at a melee touch attack in order to touch the item.

Spell Disruption (Su): The mage can temporarily disrupt a spell by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir and succeeding at a dispel check against the spell, as dispel magic. This ability suppresses a spell effect for a number of rounds equal to the mage's Charisma modifier (minimum 1). If the spell affects multiple creatures, this ability only suppresses the spell for one creature. At the end of this duration, the spell resumes and the suppressed rounds do not count against its total duration. This ability can be used on unwilling targets, but the mage must succeed at a melee touch attack, and the target may attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. This ability has no effect on spells that are instantaneous or have a duration of permanent.

Spell Resistance (Su): The mage can grant herself spell resistance for a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1) as a standard action by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir. This spell resistance is equal to 6 + her mage level and cannot be suppressed, but it can be ended as a free action on her turn.

Spell Tinkerer (Su): The mage can alter an existing spell effect by expending 1 point from her inner reservoir. To use this ability, she must be adjacent to the spell effect (or the effect's target) and be aware of the effect. She can choose to increase or decrease the remaining duration of the spell by 50%. This ability can be used on unwilling targets, but the mage must succeed at a melee touch attack, and the target may attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. This ability cannot be used on a given spell effect more than once. This ability has no effect on spells that are instantaneous or have a duration of permanent.

Energy Channels

Starting at 2nd level, a mage gains 1 additional energy channel. The number of additional energy channels increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd.

Resonant Aura

At 3rd level and higher a mage has a particularly powerful aura. (See the Detect Magic spell for details).

Bonus Feats

At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, a mage gains a bonus feat. At each such opportunity, she can choose a metamagic feat or inscription feat. The mage must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including caster level minimums. These bonus feats are in addition to the feats that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. The mage is not limited to the categories of metamagic feats or inscription feats when choosing those feats.

Transduce Spells (Su)

At 8th level, a mage can expend an available mage spell slot as a move action, making it unavailable just as if she had used it to cast a spell. She can use this ability a number of times per reinscription equal to her Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). Doing this adds a number of points to her inner reservoir equal to half of the level of the spell slot consumed (rounded down). She cannot consume cantrips (0 level spells) or 1st level spells in this way. Points gained in excess of the reservoir's maximum are lost.