Hit Die: d6
Class Skills
The scholar’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (alchemy) (Int), Craft (herbalism) (Int), Craft (any mundane) (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int) and Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Points at 1st Level: 12
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 12
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: A scholar is proficient with all simple weapons.
Scholar: All scholars have a special restriction when spending skill points. They must spend at least 3 skill points on Knowledge skills at 1st level and at least three skill points on Knowledge skills at each subsequent level.
Background: Every scholar must choose a background at 1st level. The background indicates the manner in which he came by his knowledge.
A scholar may only ever begin the game with one background but at the Games Master’s discretion he may gain an additional background or backgrounds during play. For example, an independent may call up a demon and make a pact with it, then some time later be accepted as an acolyte by a sorcerous society. Likewise, a lay priest or acolyte may conduct a little independent research
as though he were an independent himself but in most cases his religion or coven would at best frown upon such impertinence and at worst put him to death if they caught him.
The choice of background should be made in conjunction with the Games Master, who will inform the player of the options available in his campaign.
Acolyte: Acolytes are members of a sorcerous society or are occasionally apprenticed to a lone sorcerer. They are usually in thrall to
their coven leaders, though they can
gain a great deal of power this way. The drawback is that they rarely understand the power without their masters’ direct assistance.
An acolyte must always select a specific group to join or a master to whom he may apprentice himself. An acolyte may only ever learn new sorcery styles or advanced spells (see below) known to his masters. Depending on his superiors and the nature of the society, he may be able to choose which of the various styles and spells he wishes to learn or he may always have his sorcery styles and spells chosen for him. Most sorcerous societies require a student to follow a strict curriculum of specific spells for the first 10 levels but allow him to learn whatever he wills after that, so long as they can teach it to him or he can discover it for himself.
Sorcerers from civilised lands often take on apprentices. This is an accepted method of learning from Stygia to Khitai, even if one cannot find a larger sorcerous society to join.
Some of the more primitive regions such as Kush also have village sorcerers, along with more shamanic or witch-doctor style priests; these sorcerers, also known as Witchmen or Witch-Finders, are employed on a freelance basis to cast spells for clients and often take on apprentices to whom they can pass on their skills.
New Sorcery Style: At 1st level, 2nd level, 4th level and every four levels thereafter, the scholar gains a new sorcery style, along with the basic spell associated with it.
At any time at which he is eligible to gain a new sorcery style, the scholar may instead gain a bonus feat from the following list: Skill Focus (any), Diligent, Iron Will, Investigator, Negotiator, Priest or any Sorcery feat. If the sorcerer knows the calm of the adept spell from the Oriental Magic sorcery style, he may also select from Brawl, Defensive Martial Arts, Improved Critical (staff or unarmed strike), Stunning Attack or Weapon Focus (staff or unarmed strike). In all cases, the scholar must meet the usual prerequisites for the feat.
Note that the scholar may or may not be permitted to choose his new sorcery style himself, depending on his background class feature.
Knowledge Is Power: A scholar may make a special scholarly knowledge check with a bonus equal to his level + his Intelligence modifier to see whether he knows some relevant information about local notable people, legendary items or noteworthy places. This check will not reveal the powers of a magic item but may give a hint as to its general function. The scholar may never take 10 or take 20 on this check; this sort of knowledge is essentially random. The Games Master should determine the Difficulty Class of the check by referring to the table below.
Base Power Points: A 1st level scholar learns to access his own personal magical energy. This is referred to as Base Power Points, or Base PP. A beginning scholar has Base PP equal to 4 + Wisdom Modifier, to a minimum of one point.
Power Points are used when casting spells and creating magical objects. They can be regained by rest or through the use of various lotus concoctions or temporarily increased by various means, most commonly by sacrificing one or more humans. For most characters, their Power Points can rise to a maximum of double their Base Power Points.
+1 Power Point: At 2nd level and every four levels thereafter, the scholar’s Base Power Points increase by +1.
Advanced Spell: At 3rd level and every level thereafter, the scholar improves his knowledge of any one of the sorcery styles he already knows by gaining any one of the advanced spells listed under the style. More information about advanced spells can be found in Chapter 9: Sorcery. Alternatively, at any time at which he is eligible to gain an advanced spell, the scholar can instead gain two skill points. As with the new sorcery style class feature, the scholar may or may not be permitted to choose his advanced spell himself, depending on his Background class feature.
Note that when a sorcerer gains advanced spell and new sorcery style simultaneously upon gaining a new level, he may choose to gain the advanced spell in the new sorcery style.
Bonus Spell: From 3rd level the scholar becomes eligible for a small number of bonus advanced spells, depending on his Intelligence. His maximum possible number of bonus spells is equal to his Intelligence bonus, if any. However, he can gain only one bonus spell at 3rd level and an additional bonus spell every four levels thereafter, whatever his Intelligence. This is summarised on the Scholar Bonus Spells table.
Iron Will: At 5th level, the scholar gains Iron Will as a bonus feat. If he already has Iron Will, he may instead select any Sorcery feat for which he meets
the prerequisites as a bonus feat.
Increased Maximum Power Points: As scholars become more experienced and knowledgeable, they become able to store far more magical power in their bodies, so long as it is available to them by means of sacrifice or some artefact or other. At 6th level, a scholar’s maximum Power Points rise to triple his Base Power Points, rather than double as is usual for most characters. At 13th level it rises again to quadruple his Base Power Points and at 20th level it rises to quintuple his Base Power Points.