Squad Mage
During one of the nameless wars between the various city-states of the Six, the army of Port Trask began embedding mages trained specifically for front-line warfare in their squads. There was an initial hurdle as the rank-and-file had to overcome their distrust of magic and its practitioners, but the benefits soon became obvious. The practice was soon adopted all throughout the armies of the Six and now most squads include a single combat magic specialist. Because they come up through military schools instead of the colleges and academies, squad mages are looked down upon by other arcane professionals, but not within earshot of the soldiers they serve beside.
The system has yet to be adopted back in Areast, where centuries of military traditions and bureaucracy prevent can’t be overcome even with the clear advantage this new way of thinking provides.
Class Benefits
Aspect Bonus: +1 [IP]
Combat Value Bonus: +1 <SA>
Starting Skills: Discipline, Knowledge: Arcane, Knowledge: Military, Notice [IP], Any one other skill
Starting Proficiencies: Light Armor, Simple Melee, Any one other proficiency
Starting Money: $100.00
Sample Starting Equipment: Light armor, sturdy clothing, knife, walking stick, traveling pack, $51.15 left
Talents
Rank 1: Basic Spellcasting (Squad Mage)
- Choose two elements. All spells and mana sources (now and at higher levels) must be chosen from either these elements or neutral.
- You choose six spells.
- You start with a mana pool consisting of 4 elemental mana, no more than 2 of which can come from the same element.
Rank 2: Increased Power 1 (Squad Mage)
- You gain 2 mana.
- You learn one spell of any type you could theoretically cast.
Rank 3: Increased Power 2 (Squad Mage)
- You may subtract one phase from the time it takes to perform the Cast a Spell action for any spell that has a Defense property (ie. attack spells with a defense associated with it).
- You gain 1 Mana.
- You learn one spell of any type you could theoretically cast.
Rank 4: Increased Power 3 (Squad Mage)
- You gain 2 mana.
- You learn two spells of any type you could theoretically cast.
Rank 5: Battlefield Control
- Any attack spell you cast with a Range property has it’s range doubled.
- Any attack spell you cast with an area of effect increases that area of effect by 1.