Spellsinger

Spellsingers are a wizard Variant Class native to the Forgotten Realms in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Debuting in the splatbook "Wizards and Rogues of the Realms", Spellsingers are essentially a magely variant of the Bard class, with a dash of gypsy overtones; they are spellcasters who, as the name suggests, invoke their magic intuitively through the use of song and dance, which replaces the normal weird chanting, hand signals and material components of the standard AD&D wizard. On Faerun, spellsingers are most predominant amongst the ranks of the Valantra, a nomadic culture native to the Heartlands.

Much like the Metamage, spellsingers are predominantly female, with women outnumbering men by about 10 to 1.

Spellsingers, like Metamages, made it into Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition as a Prestige Class, with the Spellsinger appearing in Races of Faerun.

Mechanics

Save for the notes presented below, and the entirely unique Spellcasting System, spellsingers function as per wizards.

Ability Prerequisites: Dexterity 15, Intelligence 15, Wisdom 15

Race Restriction: Human, Half-Elf - there are stories that there were once Elf Spellsingers too, but there are no known elfish spellsingers in the era when the splatbook was set.

Focused Class: A spellslinger cannot multiclass or dual-class.

Spellsingers use a d6 hit dice, instead of the wizard's traditional d4; they get more exercise and so are heartier.

If Nonweapon Proficiencies are used, Spellsingers MUST take Singing and Dancing at character creation.

Spellsingers cannot wear any form or armor, nor wear shields.

Spellsingers can only use Daggers, Knives, Staves, Slings and Darts as weapons.

Spellsingers can employ all magical items usable by wizards, but cannot create magic items.

A spellsinger with access to a 20ft diameter area in which to dance in can perform a Dance of Evasion, which reduces her AC by 1 point per level. She can maintain this dance for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 her Constitution score, rounded down, and must rest for an equal number of rounds to recover from the strain. See Dancing below.

At 6th level, a spellsinger can perform a Dance of Enthralling. All onlookers must pass a Save vs. Spell or be unable to do anything but watch the spellsinger for the duration of her performance, remaining in a stupefied trance for a number of rounds equal to half the spellsinger's level, rounded down, following the dance. After performing a Dance of Enthralling, the spellsinger must rest for an equal number of rounds. See Dancing below. The save to avoid enthrallment has the following modifiers: +4 if the onlooker knows & dislikes the spellsinger or is aware of her intent, +2 if of the same gender as her, -2 if of the opposite gender, -4 if the onlooker and the spellsinger speak the same language.

At 10th level, a spellsinger can perform a Dance of Slumber. All onlookers whose hit dice are less than the spellsinger's level who can clearly hear the song and see the spellsinger dancing must pass a Save vs. Spell, or fall asleep for a number of 10-minute turns equal to the spellsinger's level. Each round the dance is maintained, those susceptible targets of the same HD are affected - 1HD creatures on the first round, 3HD creatures on the third round, etc. The "attack" continues until either all creatures present have made their save (pass or failure), or the spellsinger stops dancing. Onlookers who feel endangered or discomforted gain a +4 bonus to their save; those who speak the spellsinger's language suffer a -2 penalty. The effect is non-magical, so sleeping creatures can be awoken normally. After performing a Dance of SLumber, the spellsinger must rest for an equal number of rounds. See Dancing below.

Dancing

Spellsingers cast their spells through the act of dancing, which is a fatiguing act. A spellsinger can only attempt to perform one dance at a time, be it an attempt to cast a spell or the usage of one of her special dances above. After a spellsinger finishes any dance, she must rest; for an amount of time determined by the innate dance, as outlined above, or for a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell she cast (whether it was successful or not). During this time period, she cannot perform another dance, and suffers a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and saving throws if she is forced into combat.

Spellcasting

Spellsingers, as stated, use the act of dancing to achieve a euphoric state in which they can tap into the powers of magic and draw them forth. Spellsingers have no specific spell list; they can attempt to cast any spell, whether it is wizard, cleric, druid or other, with the only restriction being that they cannot cast spells from the Schools of Necromancy or Evocation. They can cast as many times as they like per day, beyond the need to deal with fatigue, and can even attempt to cast spells beyond their level - although this is dangerous and very likely to backfire!

A spellsinger can maintain a "Dance of Spellcasting" for a number of rounds equal to her Constitution score - this means you need a minimum of Constitution 9 to be able to cast a 9th level spell, since all spells require a number of rounds spent dancing equal to their spell level.

During a Dance of Spellcasting, a spellsinger's combination of constant motion and mental state combine to give her enhanced defenses. A spellsinger's AC is dropped by -1 for every 2 spellsinger levels whilst in the throes of a Dance of Spellcasting, and she also benefits from the effects of Tower of Iron Will if attacked by psionics whilst performing her dance.

To cast a spell, a spellsinger must dance for a number of rounds equal to the spell's level, and then make a Dancing proficiency check. If her spellsinger level is not equal to the level of the spell she is seeking to cast, she suffers a -4 penalty per level of difference. If the Dance of Spellcasting is interrupted by successfully striking the spellsinger or otherwise halting her in mid-dance, she still makes the proficiency check, but with a -4 penalty -- plus another -4 penalty per minimum round missed, if any (so, if she was attempting to cast a 5th level spell but only danced for 3 rounds before being interrupted, she suffers a whopping -12 penalty). On the other hand, if she dances longer than she needs to, she gains a +1 bonus to the check per two extra rounds danced.

If the proficiency check succeeds, the spell goes off. If it fails, it doesn't. But if the result of the roll is a 0 or less, the spellsinger gets a Critical Failure, which means the spell goes off - but goes terribly wrong. An attack spell affects the spellsinger or an ally, a defense spell is applied to an enemy or inverts itself, basically whatever the DM feels is an appropriate twist.

Spellsingers also have the ability to pool their efforts, whereupon a group of three to eight spellsingers can attempt to cast the same spell as a collective unit - which, of course, requires they all know of the important details (the spell to cast, its target, etc) and agree to do it. When doing this, the group uses the lowest level/proficiency rating of its members, so if you have two 12th level spellsingers and a 4th level one, the pool collectively counts as a single 4th level spellsinger. For obvious reasons, spellsinger pools tend to be made up of spellsingers with little-to-no level gap. Before the pool can cast, they must spend one 10-minute turn per level of the desired spell preparing themselves for what they are about to do. Once they start dancing, all of the normal rules for spellsinger casting apply - what's unique is that the final proficiency check gains a +1 bonus for every additional spellsinger in the group beyond the leader. So a maximum band of eight spellsingers grants a +7 bonus to the spellcasting check.