The Wordcaster

The wordcasters of Madius are some of the most versatile and powerful spellcasters in Madius, capable of learning vast wealths of knowledge, and accessing them at their leisure. The road to that power is perilous however, as the sources of this knowledge are either held by other, more powerful mages, or in ancient, long forgotten, deadly ruins. The wordcasters of Sarona City, the Words of Intrigue, were once the most powerful organization of wordcasters, pitting them against eachother to weed out the weak, leaving only the strongest able to cast the most powerful of wordspells, but were recently dismantled from the inside by free-minded wordcasters, wishing to lift the tyranny of such an elitist system.
Hit Die: d4.
This class can only be taken for adventures initially taking place on the continent of Concordia.

The wordcaster's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (All) (Int) (Each taken individually), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis) and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points per level: 2 + Int modifier per level, x4 at level 1.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Wordcasters are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a wordcaster's arcane gestures, which can cause his words with somatic components to fail.

Summon Familiar: A Wordcaster can summon a familiar as a sorcerer does (see players handbook, p51).

Wordcasting: A wordcaster begins play with all target and meta words, all 0th effect words and 3+int effect words of 1st level from any arcane word list*. These words only apply to wordcasters of 1st level, those entering wordcaster after 1st level must seek out words of power to add to their repertoire, just as any wordcaster who wishes to add to their words known. Wordcasters do not scribe their words known into a spellbook like a wizard, they simply know them, much as a sorcerer knows spells, and they likewise have the ability to spontaneously cast any word they know, however, much like a wizard, they have no limit to their words known. A wordcaster must have at least 10+total word level intelligence to be able to cast a word of power. A wordcaster also gains bonus words per day for a high intelligence score (see table 1-1 in the players handbook, p8). The save DC for any words of power cast by a wordcaster is 10+total word level+the wordcaster's Cha modifier.

Learning more Words: A wordcaster who wishes to learn more words of power must seek out ancient repositories of knowledge or other wordcasters willing to share their knowledge from which to learn. There is no limit on the number of words a wordcaster may learn, and he may learn words above a level of which he is capable of casting. If a wordcaster learns a word he is incapable of casting, he must wait until he is capable of casting it before being able to utilise the word. A wordcaster is limited to arcane words*, and lacks the ability to learn words exclusively available to divine classes. The process of learning a new word of power takes 24 hours, costs 100gp per level of the word and leaves the learner fatigued.

Learning spells: Wordcasting is an ancient form of magic, upon which the foundation of modern magic is built. Learning this style of casting gives wordcasters a very unique ability to learn and cast arcane spells on top of their normal repertoire of wordspells. Even though this section refers to sorcerer and wizard casting, the spells available may be any arcane spell the wordcaster gains access to, the restrictions are merely to the method of casting, not the lists available. Spells cast in either manner require an intelligence score of 10+spell level to cast, and use the wordcaster's Cha modifier to determine the save DC.

Upon finding sources of arcane magic (either a sorcerer willing to teach, or a wizard's spellbook, with or without the wizard's help) the wordcaster may learn to cast a small portion of arcane spells spontaneously. The number per spell level is equal to half that which a sorcerer would know at any given level (minimum 1 if a sorcerer would be able to cast spells of that level). For example, a 16th level wordcaster would be able to learn 4 cantrips, 2 spells of levels 1st through 5th each, and a single spell of levels 6th through 8th each.
Additionally, worcasters who gain access to a spellbook may prepare spells in the same manner that a wizard does (including the required spellcraft checks for using a spellbook that is not your own). Spell slots with prepared spells in them cannot be used to spontaneously cast spells or wordspells, however spell slots can be left open to be prepared later, or used for spontaneous casting. The wordcaster can scribe spells into an existing spellbook (using the same method a wizard does) only if she has access to an existing spellbook with spells of that level. For example, a wordcaster with a spellbook containing cantrips through to 3rd level spells could scribe spells found from scrolls of up to 3rd level into the spellbook she currently has, but if she were to find a scroll of a 4th level or higher spell, she would be unable to add it to her spellbook. Due to this, a wordcaster cannot create her own spellbook, and must either seek the co-operation of a wizard, or otherwise gain access to an existing spellbook.

Author's note: The nature of a wordcaster makes it an incredibly powerful class when paired with a spellbook caster (and to a lesser degree, a spontaneous caster) in the same party. As such, it is recommended to not allow the wordcaster class in addition to any other arcane casting class in the same party. If a wordcaster wishes to learn spells in that manner, it should be left up to the player to seek out that information through adventures, diplomacy, or underhandedness, not for free from another player.