Blackstaff's Tome of Wizardry

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Blackstaff's Tome of Wizardry is a splatbook for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition that seeks to expand the Wizard class with a whopping 31 new subclasses to represent different arcane traditions. It also includes new character personalizing tables to reflect your wizard PC's belief in the ultimate source of magic and how they first became a wizard, a plethora of new spells to supplement each subclass, and a 5e conversion of the Guardinal race of Celestials, which has been missing in action since the end of 3rd edition.

School of Alchemical Artillery

This is a unique blend of an alchemist and an evoker, focusing on utilising arcane magic combined with alchemical formula to a maximise their abilities to unleash a strong offense from a long range.

At 2nd level, the Alchemical Artillerist gains the features Alchemical Expert (free proficiency in Arcana and Alchemist's Supplies) and Siege Artillerist (by using alchemical supplies as a material component, the Artillerist can cause a spell to deal double damage to objects and structures) - this latter feature can only be used Intelligence modifier times per day, with all uses recharging on a long rest.

At 6th level, they gain the feature Fog of War. By including alchemical supplies as a material component to any spell that has an area of effect, they can cause a spell to create a short-lived cloud of smoke in the targeted area; it's the same size as the original spell's area and is Heavily Obscured for the first turn and Lightly Obscured for the second turn, dissipating entirely on the third turn. Like the Siege Artillerist feature, an Alchemical Artillerist can only invoke this feature's benefits a number of times per day equal to their Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1), and they recharge it by completing a long rest.

10th level brings with it the Intensify Elements feature; once per short rest, by including alchemical supplies as a material component in any spell that does Acid, Cold, Fire or Lightning damage, the Artillerist can treat all damage die rolls of 1 as 2s instead.

Finally, 14th level gives them the Concentration or Dilution feature. This power can be invoked once per day when casting a damage-dealing area-of-effect spell; the caster can choose to either Concentrate the spell (halve the affected area, but all targets save with Disadvantage) or Dilute the spell (double the affected area, but all targets count as Resisting the damage done).

Arcane Experimenter

One of several subclasses in this splat that technically harken back to the "generalist" wizard of old, the Arcane Experimenter is a "practical" wizard who, as their name suggests, is constantly experimenting with new ways to cast or manipulate magic, and goes into battle to test out their latest formula. The result is a wizard subclass with a set of almost fighter-like focus on a unique set of spellcasting tricks.

At 2nd level, the Arcane Experimenter gains the Experimenter's Kit (free tool proficiency in Alchemist's Supplies) and Arcane Superiority - this is basically access to a unique set of spellcasting tricks using the mechanics for the Maneuvers system possessed by the Battlemaster Fighter. The Experimenter starts with 3 Arcane Maneuvers (see below) and 4 Superiority Dice, which are d6s. They gain a bonus Arcane Maneuver at levels 6, 10 and 14 (which is also when they can trade out one of their old Maneuvers), and a bonus Superiority Die at levels 7 and 15.

6th level gives them the feature Prepared Superiority, which means they regain a superiority die when they roll a natural 20 on an Intelligence save or ability check, or when they use up all of their highest spell slots (this only works once per long rest, though) in addition to regaining superiority dice by taking a rest.

10th level follows up with Improved Superiority, which upgrades the value of the Experimenter's superiority die to D8s - this feature is then gained again at level 10, when it bumps them up to d10s.

Finally, 14th level is when they gain the feature Relentless, which means they automatically regain a superiority die whenever they roll iniative but have none available.

Arcane Maneuvers

Arcane Stability: If you are required to make a Constitution saving throw to maintain your concentration, as a reaction, you can expend one superiority die and add twice the number rolled on the superiority die to your saving throw. You apply this bonus after you roll the die, but before the outcome is determined.

Experimental Formula: When you cast a spell that requires a saving throw, as a reaction, you can expend one superiority die and increase the spell save DC by half the number rolled on the superiority die (rounded down). You apply this bonus before the saving throw is rolled.

Imbued Alacrity: When you roll initiative, as a reaction, you can expend one superiority die and add the result of the superiority die to your initiative score. In addition, you gain bonus movement for the first round of combat equal to 5 feet x the result of the superiority die roll.

Occult Insight: When you make an Intelligence check, as a reaction, you can expend one superiority die and add the number rolled on the superiority die to your check. You apply this bonus after you roll the die, but before the outcome is determined.

Power Surge: When you hit a creature with an attack, or it fails a saving throw against a spell you cast, as a reaction, you can expend one superiority die and deal force damage equal to the result of the superiority die. If the spell affects more than one creature, you choose which creature takes the additional damage. At 11th level this additional damage becomes 2x the amount shown on the superiority die.

Spell Dispersal: If you are required to make a saving throw against a spell or magical effect, as a reaction, you can expend one superiority die and add the number rolled on the superiority die to your saving throw. You apply this bonus after you roll the die, but before the outcome is determined.

Weave Ward: If you are hit by an attack whilst not wearing armor, as a reaction, you can expend one superiority die and add the number rolled to your AC until the end of this turn. If the attack still hits, you take half damage instead. You can apply this bonus after the die is rolled, but before the outcome is determined.

School of Astromancy

This is a practitioner of magic drawing from the powers of the stars and planets... in Warhammer Fantasy terms, this is a wizard who practices the Lore of the Heavens.

Their level 2 features are Star Sight (gain Darkvision 30 feet that ignores magical darkness; if they already had Darkvision, it increases by +30 feet) and Reactive Levitation (after casting a spell, the astromancer can hover a foot off of the ground until the end of their next turn as a bonus action).

Level 6 grants Power of the Stars, which is Resistance to Radiant damage and the ability to change a spell's damage type from Fire or Lightning to Radiance 2/day.

Level 10 grants Radiant Cuirass, which lets the astromancer expend a spell slot as a bonus action to manifest a magical forcefield that lasts for 1 minute, grants an AC bonus equal to half the spell slot's level, and when the astromancer is hit by a weapon attack from a visible creature within 60 feet inflicts 1d6 Radiant damage on the assailant.

Level 14 grants Master of Gravity, which adds the spell Reverse Gravity to the astromancer's spellbook for free, lets them cast it without needing to spend a spell slot 1/day, and grants them a Fly speed equal to their movement speed whilst they are under the effects of the Reverse Gravity spell.

School of Battlemagi

You might be thinking that this is a revamped warmage, right? Nope! Instead, it's a revival of the swordmage, attempting to be more faithful to its unique 4e depiction as opposed to the older, Forgotten Realms-centric Bladesinger.

A battlemage starts at level 2, gaining a bonus proficiency (Martial Weapons) and the feature Imbue Mageblade. By spending an hour with a chosen martial melee weapon, the battlemage can forge a mystical link with it, creating an imbued mageblade (it doesn't have to be a slashing weapon, though). An imbued mageblade uses the battlemage's Intelligence modifier for attack and damage rolls, can be summoned to hand as a bonus action, functions as an Arcane Focus for spellcasting, and counts as a Magic Weapon for dealing with damage resistance/immunity. A battlemage can only have one mageblade at a time, but can freely trade out whenever they like by just performing the ritual with their new weapon of choice.

The Kinetic Shield feature lets a battlemage use their Reaction when struck by a weapon attack to reduce the damage they take by an amount equal to their Proficiency bonus; once invoked, the shield lasts until the end of the battlemage's next turn, and it blunts any attacks that hit the battlemage so long as it's active. This feature can be invoked a number of times per day equal to the battlemage's Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) and recharges on a long rest. The problem is that the splatbook screws up informing when you get this ability; the table of features-by-level says it's not gained until level 6, but the feature's writeup says you get it at level 2!

A definite level 6 feature is Spell and Blade, which lets a battlemage make a melee weapon attack as a bonus action after casting a cantrip.

Level 10 sees the battlemage gain the feature Kinetic Augmentation, which lets them spend a bonus action to make a Dash that doesn't provoke opportunity attacks the turn after their Kinetic Shield was activated.

Finally, at level 14, they gain the feature Kinetic Assault, which can be used once per day. Like Kinetic Augmentation, this feature can be used the turn after Kinetic Shield was activated (nothing explicitly prevents you from using them both!) - it lets the battlemage take a second action which can only be used to make an attack or cast a spell, and this explicitly can be used to cast two 1-action spells in a single round! This doesn't overlap with Action Surge (for battlemage/fighter multiclassed characters) or with any other ability that allows the battlemage to cast multiple spells in a single round.

School of Binding

As you can probably tell from the name of this one, it's an attempt to bring back the spirit of the binder. These specialist conjurers have unique subclass abilities that focus on their ability to summon forth a planar entity - an angel, guardinal, demon or devil - and physically bind it into their flesh in the form an enchanted tattoo.

The level 2 features for this subclass are Planar Contact (gain 2 languages of your choice from a list of Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal, Sylvan, and also gain Proficiency with Artisan's Tools: Tattooing Needles) and Align Contact. The latter is the central feature for the subclass, and allows the binder to meld a spiritual partner - either an Angel, a Demon, a Devil or a Guardinal - with their spirit by using the gylphs tattooed on their flesh as a focus, which they can do as part of completing a long rest (yes, this means the binder can swap between planar allies by taking a long rest). In addition to being a requisite for the higher leveled features, the planar contact gives the binder Advantage on any Intelligence checks relating to the contact's "meta-species", its home plane, and any other topic that the DM judges is reasonable for it to be relatively well-informed on.

At 6th level, the binder can invoke the Be My Guide feature once per day as a bonus action. Once invoked, this power lasts for a number of rounds equal to half the binder's Wizard level (minimum of 1), and grants a bonus based on which kind of planar being is bound to them:

• Angel: The binder sprouts glowing wings of light, gaining a Fly speed that is double their normal Movement speed and shedding light in a 40ft radius (20ft bright, then 20ft dim).
• Demon: The binder can use a bonus action after dealing damage with a spell to make a claw attack; this is a melee weapon attack that the binder has Proficiency in, which keys off of Intelligence, and does 2d6 damage. This attack can be used as part of the bonus action to invoke Be My Guide.
• Devil: When the binder casts a spell that has a duration on a creature, that creature becomes the target of ethereal imps, causing all attacks against the target to gain Advantage. With a multi-target spell, only one creature is affected, but the binder can change which creature is plagued by the imps at the start of each of the binder's turns.
• Guardinal: The binder gains Resistance to Lightning Damage, Immunity to Magical Sleep, and gains temporary HP equal to its Wizard level whenever it reduces a creature to 0 hit points whilst Be My Guide is invoked.

At 10th level, the binder can invoke the Guard My Back feature once per day as an action. Once invoked, this power lasts for a number of rounds equal to half the binder's Wizard level (minimum of 1), and grants a bonus based on which kind of planar being is bound to them, as well as granting the binder half cover due to the appearance of a ghostly fascimile of the binder's planar contact in an unoccupied space adjacent to the binder for the duration of this feature:

• Angel: The binder gains Advantage on saves against spells.
• Demon: The binder gains +1 AC and inflicts magical slashing damage equal to half its Wizard level on creatures that attack it.
• Devil: The binder is Resistant to damage caused by spells.
• Guardinal: Animals will not initiate combat with the binder (unless the binder attacks them first), the binder can Speak With Animals at will for the duration of this ability, and the binder regains 5 hp at the start of any turn in which the binder has less than half its hit point total remaining.

Finally, at 14th level, the binder can invoke the feature By My Side! once per day as an action. This most drastic power releases the binder's planar ally from its binding tattoo, summoning the creature to an unoccupied space within 30 feet designated by the binder. Obviously, using this feature means that the binder can't use Be My Guide or Guard My Back, if they haven't used those powers already! The precise creature summoned depends on the kind of planar ally that the binder had invoked; it acts on its own initiative and makes its own decisions (but considers the binder an ally), and it lasts for 10 minutes, or until the summoned creature reaches 0 hit points, or the binder uses an action to dismiss their ally. Once this power has been invoked, the planar ally is freed; the binder can't gain any of their subclass features until they complete a long rest and recreate their binding tattoo.

• Angel: Couatl
• Demon: Barlgura
• Devil: Barbed Devil
• Guardinal: Musteval

School of Dimensionalism

This the long-forgotten Dimensionalist brought back into 5th edition! These are specialist conjurers who focus on manipulation dimensional barriers and portals, rather than summoning monsters.

Elemental Traditions

Obviously, these are the elementalism subclasses; you couldn't expect a splatbook like this to lack something as obvious yet untapped as that! This book handles each form of elementalism as its own distinct subclass.

School of Aeromancy

This is the Air Elementalist, obviously.

School of Floralmancy

Naturally often confused with druids, floramancy wizards hearken to Chinese Elementalism, being the Wood Elementalist subclass.

School of Geomancy

As you can probably tell, this is the Earth Elementalist.

School of Hydromancy

No prizes for guessing that this is the Water Elementalist, unfortunately.

School of Pyromancy

Yes, this is the Fire Elementalist. Pat yourself on the back.

School of Emomancy

No, this is not connected to bad 90s bardic traditions. Emomantics, as they call themselves, are a variant form of enchanter who specialize in using their magic to manipulate and control emotions in themselves and others. This one comes with an "authorial sidebar" noting that, despite having a better reputation than necromancers, enchanters are actually pretty damn creepy if not evil when you think about it.

School of Ferromancy

Despite not being placed under the Elemental Traditions section for whatever reason, this is effectively the Metal Elementalist, with magic focusing on manipulating metal and magnetic fields.

School of Fleuremancy

Arguably, this school is best summarized as the Light Elementalist; it's a wizard who focuses on mastering the powers and applications of radiant energy.

School of Golemancy

This is a wizard focused on the arts of crafting golems; it has no direct precedents amongst the "core eight" schools of magic, but is arguably closest in thematic elements to the necromancer.

The Green Star Adept

A blast from the past, the Green Star Adept first appeared in the Complete Arcane as a gish-themed prestige class that slowly transformed the character into a living golem of luminescent green "star-metal". It was widely considered terrible. This subclass is basically a 5eification of that original prestige class, and preserves the original concept: you're a wizard who seeks to fundamentally empower yourself with magical energy by ingesting alchemical formulas based around the viridian-hued star-metal left behind by the Green Star of Alhazarde.

Guild Wizardry

As the name suggests, this is a more "generalist" wizard archetype, specifically focused on representing a wizard who belongs to an established wizard guild that has a sufficiently formal hierarchy to allow for beneficial studies and social connections.

School of Hedge Magi

In comparison to the Guild Wizard, the Hedge Mage is a self-taught practitioner of the arcane arts who, in many ways, exemplifies the adventurer-wizard, with a focus on self-reliance and versatility.

School of Incantation

This is another blast from the past, in the form of the Metamage - or, as it's known in the Forgotten Realms, the Incanter. This is a wizard focused on manipulating the raw magical potential in themselves and others, making them masters in augmenting and suppressing spells and a real nightmare for other wizards to face.

School of Jaunting

Self-admittedly described in the book as a strange blending of the "surface traditions" of the Dimensionalist, Chronomancy and the "Translocation" aspect of Conjuration, Jaunters are wizards specialized in manipulating space and time to unparalleled extents.

School of Kinetics

Overlapping to a degree with the psion, the Kineticist, as you can probably guess from the name, is focused on using magic to manipulate space and to move objects. Basically, this school specializes in telekinesis, teleportation and other forms of advanced movement alteration.

School of Lunar Magi

Arguably a specialized splinter school of the Astromancer, the Lunar Mage is, as the name implies, a wizard who focuses on drawing magical energies directly from the moon.

School of Mentalism

You might think that this is a psion using a wizard's chassis and... well, you're not exactly wrong, but in fact these sub-specialist enchanters are actually a real old-school wizard subclass from back in the days of AD&D. This version openly admits that it straddles the line between the wizard and the psion.

School of Nethermancy

This is the iconic practitioner of Shadow Magic, brought forth into 5th edition at long last.

School of Puppetry

This is a variant Golemancer (see above) who focuses on animating small but more versatile puppets to serve their will, rather than the more traditional big hulking golem.

School of Reanimation

The specialist necromancers are particularly focused on the idea of how necromancy can be used to restore life to the fallen, and thusly specialized in necromantic healing, lifeforce manipulation, and the creation of revenants, homunculi and flesh golems.

School of Runecraft

Rune magic has appeared in D&D more than once - just check out the Runemaster, Runecaster and the Runepriest. The Runecrafter differs from all of those in that it focuses on inscribing enchanted runes into their flesh as magical tattoos, scars or brands, giving them a number of unique innate magical abilities depending on which runes they choose to adorn themselves with.

School of Scrymancy

These are the self-described spies of wizardry, and more or less what you get when you blend a rogue and a diviner.

School of Soulbinding

Arguably a specialist form of necromancer, the Soulbinder uses ritual magic to bind a portion of their own life force into chosen items, creating powerful arcane focuses that can also be used as separate wellsprings of vital energies - just the thing to make the Soulbinder a little bit harder to kill than the average wizard!

Symbarch Teachings

The only tradition in this splatbook that's super-connected to the Forgotten Realms (albeit the Metamage debuted in an FR splatbook), this represents a wizard who practices the unique magical style/tradition passed down by the Simbul, the Witch-Queen of Aglarond and one of the Seven Sisters. The book also contains a page-long summary of the Simbul's history in the Forgotten Realms.

School of Voidmancy

Voidmancers are conjurers who focus on studying the dark void on the edge of reality from whence aberrations hail - essentially, the "safer" margins of the Far Realm - and who learn to gain heightened mental power from doing so without going nuts in the process.