Metamage

Metamages, also known as Incantatrixes (female) and Incantatars (male), are an obscure form of specialist wizard from the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons & Dragons. These mages are a kind of dual-school specialist - not in the sense of the Dualist, but in the sense that they focus on mastery over two distinct schools of magic. Despite their name, metamages focus on the School of Incantation, a style of magic that combines abjuration with metamagic, allowing them to excel at countering and dispatching hostile spellcasters as well as extraplanar entities.

The Metamage as a class only appears in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, having snuck in via the Forgotten Realms splatbook on the Cult of the Dragon. Luckily, 1d4chan believes in sharing that kind of old, hard-to-find material.

School of Incantation Fluff

The Forgotten Realms are home to numerous practitioners of magic and many variations of the more common wizard and rogue spellcasting professions, including spellsingers and shadow walkers (detailed in Wizards and Rogues of the Realms). Numerous specialist wizards of different schools of magic practice their Art in the Realms, although all are rarer than the mage or bard. This appendix details a school of magic unique to the Realms whose rare practitioners are near legend in the lore of the Realms: the school of incantation.

Spells of the school of incantation affect the casting of magic. (This school subsumes the category/school of metamagic, briefly discussed in the Tome of Magic). Such spells may enhance or reduce the effectiveness of other spells (as do those of metamagic), disrupt the magic of other spellcasters, banish summoned creatures from other planes, or shield the spellcaster from magical attack. Although the school of incantation has a fairly limited spell selection of low-level spells, such spells are very effective when used in battle with other spellcasters. The school of incantation magic can be subdivided into four categories of spells, and only the spells copy and the Simbul's synostodweomer fall outside of these classifications.

These groups are: Metamagic Spells: This group includes spells that enhance or reduce the effectiveness of other spells such as alacrity; augmentation I & II; dilation I & II; far reaching I, II, & III; extension I, II, & III; greater malison; maladweomer; minor malison; Mordenkainen’s celerity; Rary's mnemonic enhancer; Rarys spell enhancer; Rarys superior spell enhancer; and squaring the circle. Incantatrixes (specialist wizards in the school of incantation) have developed reversed versions of the augmentation, dilation, far reaching, and extension spells that can be used to minimize the effectiveness of an opponent's magic (a successful saving throw vs. spell negates the spell, and the range is 10 feet per level).

Disruptive Spells: This group includes spells that disrupt magical wards and a spellcasting opponent's ability to cast spells such as curse of forgetfulness, dispel magic, dispel possession, disruption, draincone, dweomer vortex, feeblemind, forget, knock, maze, Mordenkainen's involuntary wizardry, Otto's chime of release, power word stun, ruby ray of reversal, steal enchantment, stealspell, and unbinding.

Banishment Spells: This group includes spells that banish summoned creatures back to their own plane of existence such as banishment, dismissal, and power word banishment.

Shielding Spells: This group includes spells that shield an incantatrix from the magic of other spellcasters such as Bigby's interposing hand, Drawmij's marvelous shield, forcecage, globe of invulnerability, minor globe of invulnerability, minor spell turning, mystic shield, mystic sphere, prismatic sphere, prismatic wall, Rary's mind shield, shield, spell turning, wall of force, and weirdshield.

Metamage Fluff

Incantatrixes (or incantatars, the infrequently encountered male form) are specialist wizards in the school of incantation. Incantatrixes have been discovered only in western Faerûn, and rarely more than a handful are well-known in any generation. Currently there are only seven widely known living incantatrixes and two suspected incantatars (male incantatrixes) in the Realms, but probably a few hundred total labor in relative anonymity.

An incantatrix is a mysterious type of wizard who is weaker in many ways than some mages but is adept at countering and negating the magics of other spellcasting creatures and individuals and at dealing with creatures who exist simultaneously on more than one plane (such as certain undead beings). At the same time, incantatrixes are severely limited in their choice of offensive magics and are woefully weak in physical combat of any sort.

Incantatrixes tend to act independently, but because they have similar aims and interests, they sometimes join together in loose coalitions to combat common foes - notably those individuals who use magic in a dangerous, irresponsible manner. An incantatrix seeks to police the unrestrained use of magic about her abode, or challenge (not always openly) such uses that she observes elsewhere, much like a druid protecting his or her forest and other forests in the region. Incantatrixes seem to particularly dislike those who often create gates (or portals) or otherwise compel or allow creatures to enter the Prime Material Plane from other planes, and they thus often oppose specialist conjurers and elementalists.

Because of the large number of opposition schools barred to an incantatrix and the relatively small scope of the school of incantation, particularly at low levels, lowlevel incantatrixes rarely actively adventure, preferring to study, and may thus be more useful as NPCs. Incantatrixes who do adventure typically seek out only specific types of foes against whom their abilities are particularly suited. A few such spellcasters adventure with powerful groups of fighters and priests who can shield the incantatrix from physical combat, allowing the incantatrix to employ her skills against enemy spellcasters and creatures who exist simultaneously on more than one plane.

Metamage Class Crunch

Requirements: Human or Half-Elf Race, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 12

Barred Schools: Conjuration/Summoning, Invocation/Evocation, Illusion/Phantasm, Necromancy, Wild Magic - an Incanatrix/Incantatar can learn non-wild magic spells which are "cross-schooled" in Incantation, Alteration (Transmutation), or Abjuration.

Restrictions: A metamage can only have 2 weapon proficiencies, and cannot learn weapon style specialization proficiencies, weapon group proficiencies, or "combat" nonweapon proficiencies like Blindfight and Tumble.

Specialization Benefits: Enemies suffer a -1 penalty to their saves against the metamage's incantation school spells, the metamage gains a +1 bonus to saves against incantation school spells, can memorize one bonus incantation spell per level, +15% chance to learn incantation spells, automatically learns one incantation spell each time it gains a spell level, bonus to researching incantation school spells as per the specialist wizard.

Specialization Penalties: -15% penalty to all attempts to learn non-incantation spells from any school other than Abjuration or Lesser Divination.

Special Powers by level:

1st Level: Gain Spellcraft as a bonus non-weapon proficiency.

3rd Level: Can See Ethereal creatures within 30 feet.

4th Level: Can physically and magically attack creatures that are "out of phase", which includes ethereal creatures and those under the Blink spell.

6th Level: Immune to Level Draining effects originating from creatrues tied to the Negative Energy Plane.

8th Level: +6 bonus to all Spellcraft checks.

20th Level: Can absorb charges from Charge-using magical items by holding the item in their hands and concentrating for 1 round per charge drained. Each charge drained heals the metamage by 1d8 HP; excess HP is retained as "phantom" HP - damage inflicted is first deducted from this pool of temporary hit points, which fade away 1 turn after being acquired.