[Wizard] – Arcane Bond / Specializing


Classes: Sorcerer and Wizard


When I woke up this morning I had the following thoughts.

Druids get a Nature bond and chose between a Domain or an Animal Companion.

Paladins get a Divine Bond and chose between an Animal Companion or an Object.

Wizards get an Arcane Bond and choose between an Animal Companion or an Object.

So why not shift things a bit? Switch Arcane Bond to choosing between an Object or a School. That way every Wizard can still have a familiar. Or better yet, having a familiar becomes a Feat that other characters can take as well. The Feat discussion is yet to come so I’ll go back to the main point.

Arcane bond becomes forming a powerful bond with a specific object or a specific school. What would be the benefits?

Object: The wizard can release stored arcane energy to increase his spell casting ability. At 1st level the wizard selects an amulet, ring, staff, wand or weapon to bond with. Once per day, he can call upon the object to increase his equivalent caster level by 1 for 1 minute. All spell DCs, spell penetration checks, and dispel magic checks use the equivalent caster level. Starting at 5th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the wizard can call upon the object 1 additional time and the equivalent caster level increases by 1, to a maximum of 5 uses and 5 levels at 17th level. The wizard does not gain any additional bonuses from the equivalent levels.

If the object is destroyed the feedback from the uncontrolled release of the arcane energy causes the wizard to suffer a penalty of -1 on all DC and Spellcraft checks for 1 week or until he gains a level. After 1 week, the wizard can bond with a new object by conducting an 8-hour ritual that costs 200 gp per wizard level.

School: The wizard can manipulate arcane energy to focus his spell casting ability. At 1st level the wizard selects a school of magic to form bond with and two schools of magic the bond prohibits. He excels when casting spells from his bonded school and suffers when casting spells from his prohibited schools. All spell DCs, spell penetration checks, dispel magic attempts and Spellcraft checks for the wizards bonded school gain a +2 bonus. All spell DCs, spell penetration checks, dispel magic attempts and Spellcraft checks for the wizard’s prohibited schools suffer a -2 penalty. Additionally, the wizard must use a spell slot two levels higher when preparing a spell from his prohibited schools. Finally, he can “lose” a prepared spell in order to cast a spell of the same level or lower from his bonded school. He cannot lose a spell from his prohibited schools.

This is just a first draft. The energy released from the destruction of a bonded item may conflict with a retributive strike. Heck, does Pathfinder even allow those? The ability to spontaneously cast any bonded school spell may be too powerful. Maybe the wizard should be limited to one or two spells per spell level. Does it walk on the toes of the Sorcerer too much?

So for now I’ll just ask for comments.

Cheers

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