Editing Dualist

The '''Dualist''' is a [[Specialist Wizard]] originating from [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. Appearing in the [[Forgotten Realms]] splatbook "Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves", the Dualist is described as an ancient, elf-crafted precursor to the standard [[wizard]]ly specializations. Rather than focusing on a single school, gaining increased aptitude for that school at the cost of being unable to wield magic from its polar opposite school, the Dualist focuses exclusively ''on'' an opposing pair of magical schools; whilst they forsake the ability to cast any spell not belonging to one of those schools, this sacrifice of versatility imbues them with greater power in their chosen schools.

Philosophically, a Dualist's magical style revolves around examining and exploiting the powerful push-and-pull of diametrically opposed magical energies. Magic, to a dualist, is a dynamic, cyclical force, where each magic has an equal and opposite magic and wizardry is a matter of manipulating one force against its opposite to achieve the reaction desired. Even when they see different types of magic cast, they try to define it by their understanding of magic.

This leads to the existence of four distinct "subschools" of Dualist; the Alurakar (Abjuration/Transmutation), the Dijakkar (Conjuration/Divination), Encikkar (Enchantment/Evocation), and the Nelluonkkar (Illusion/Necromancy).

To paraphrase the basics of dualistic magic, the alurakar see the world in terms of shifts and shields (alteration, protection), and magic is simply the application of motion or form to the Weave or cessation of the same. Dijakkar look upon magic and the Weave as a Great Tunnel connecting Toril to all other planes and worlds; they simply draw either ephemeral thoughts or actual things through the Great Tunnel. The encikkar wield the Weave as a living force or pair of forces, and they either push and pull that force subtly within a being or object (enchantments) or forcibly (evocations). The nelluonkkar see the Weave and their magic as no more than a veil. To them, the veil between life and death is no different than a veil of illusion; both are equal states of matter and space, but the shape and energy within the veil are what cause magic to happen.

The Dualist style's fate is uncertain; the splatbook implies that the style was lost with the fall of Myth Drannor. 3.5 killed the idea schools ''had'' fixed opposition schools in the first place, letting Wizard select any two (or one for diviner) opposition school. ''Races of [[Eberron]]'' presented an option for [[Changeling]] Wizards that let them specialize in Illusion ''and'' Transmutation at the cost of a third banned school. It's not worth it: You still only get one extra spell slot and Transmutation has no shortage of spells for each level.

==Mechanics==
::Racial Availability: [[Elf]], [[Half-Elf]] (18th level maximum), [[Gnome]] (Nelluonkkar only, 18th level maximum)
::Ability Score Requirements:
:::Alurakar: Int/Wis/Dex 15
:::Dijakkar: Int/Wis/Con 15
:::Encikkar: Int/Cha/Con 16
:::Nelluonkkar: Int/Wis/Dex 16
::Magical Prohibition: With the exception of Detect Magic and Read Magic, a Dualist can only learn spells belonging to the schools they have specialized in.
::The dualist gains two additional spells per spell level, but only from the dualist's two available schools.
::Dualists, with their focused knowledge on their own magics, gain a +2 bonus to their saving throws against those types of spells. However, they suffer a -2 saving throw penalty against all other types of magic. Targets incur a -2 saving throw penalty against their spells due to the dualist's enhanced learning.
::Every time a dualist reaches a new spell level, he automatically gains two spells (one of each school) to add to his spell books. The spells can be determined randomly or chosen by the player with the DM's approval.
::The dualist has a 95% chance to understand and learn a spell from either of his two schools.
::When a dualist creates spells for one of his two schools, the spell is considered one level lower when determining difficulty; this spell is accessible for all wizards to learn. The dualist has the option to further streamline the spell creation process (reduce the spell level by two when determining difficulty), but then the spell is usable only to dualists of the creator's type.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons Classes]]