pells of this lesser school of magic focus magical energies to provide protection. This can take a number of forms, including warding off specific damage types or providing more general barriers that lessen the ability to damage the caster. Abjuration concentrates on reducing sources of potential harm, rather than repairing damage. It is mostly practiced by monastic orders which, as the ultimate form of protection, refuse to have any dealings with outsiders. The following spells are included in this school: Alignment Ward, Alkar, Armor, Bladeturn, Divine Aura, Fireshield, Freedom, Gaze Reflection, Ironguard, Martyrdom, Peace, Prismatic Sphere, Resist Cold, Resist Fire, Resist Poison, Retribution, Sanctuary, Shield, Shockshield, Spell Immunity, Spellmirror, Stone Skin, Stormguard, Ward Major, Ward Minor, Ward of Nature, and Watersheen.

rained to maintain high levels of concentration, fighters with this skill do not let up on their attacks, even when their opponent appears to be hopelessly over-matched and should prove to be an easy target. Their efficiency enables them to quickly defeat their foe and move on to another.

No matter how good your aim, no matter how poor your foe's armor class, there's always a 5% chance that you'll miss your attack. The accuracy specialty replaces this guaranteed miss with a percentage chance to hit equal to your skill.

ince the dawn of time, tales have spoken of mighty heroes achieving great feats of arms with the last of their strength. The legends are rife with warriors who, with the very last of their willpower, summoned a surge of strength to slay their final foe before collapsing themselves.

The adrenaline surge specialty grants you a bonus to your damage roll when you are badly injured. The injury threshold and damage bonus increase with increased skill: when first learned, you gain one point of damage when at 10% of your maximum hit points or lower; at mastery, you gain one point of damage when at 50% of your maximum hit points or lower, ranging up to five points when at 10% of your maximum hit points or lower. This damage is not subject to the normal damroll cap of 45 points.

his greater school of magic concerns itself with spells of the air and sky, including power over storms and lightning. As with weather, this school can be both beneficial and destructive, with spells that aid movement and those that utilize the power of the wind and electricity to harm foes. The following spells are included in this school: Agility, Airy Water, Arc, Ball Lightning, Chain Lightning, Conjure Elemental, Conjure Greater Elemental, Control Weather, Divine Wind, Float, Fly, Group Float, Group Fly, Gust of Wind, Hurricane, Lightning Bolt, Magic Missile, Refresh, Remove Silence, Sandstorm, Second Wind, Shield, Shockshield, Shriek, Silence, Sparks, Static Charge, Storm of Vengeance, and Stormguard.

here are those who are sometimes described as having eyes in the back of their heads, able to see an attack from behind and avoid it. More likely they are merely people who are well-attuned with what their senses are telling them about their surroundings, able to detect minute changes which are to them loud messages to react to an unseen threat from the rear.

An alertness specialist is able to maintain his vigilance at all times, giving him a chance of avoiding hostile backstabs. The chance of success is about one in three against a backstabber whose level is the same as the specialist's skill. Learning the alertness specialty will also grant you the spot skill if you do not have it.

n ambidextrous person is equally coordinated with both his left and right hands, either through natural ability or long years of practice. In either case, the end result is the same—someone who is equally strong and equally deadly with a weapon in either hand.

The ambidexterity specialty reduces or, at high skill, eliminates the 20% effective weight penalty to a dual-wielded weapon, allowing a character to dual wield a greater total weight. Additionally, it grants approximately a 50% chance of getting an extra attack each round in addition to the one granted by dual wield. Learning the ambidexterity specialty will also grant you the dual wield skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.

ome individuals, whether by tried practice or natural gift, develop a gentle touch interacting with the natural world. Stories are oft told of men or women who live in such harmony with the land that they can talk to bears, or tame savage beasts by naught more than a whistling flute.

Specialization in animal empathy has two effects. It causes natural animals, especially those of lower level than you, to be less likely to attack you, or to a lesser extent anyone else while you are present. It also allows you to attempt to tame non-aggressive animals.

ften have those of power cursed the fate that let them gird themselves for a sorcerous duel only to find that such wards would not take their possessions into account. Only now are some few learning that some mystical guards may be placed upon their most valuable things, granting them great strength to survive both duel arcane and more natural disasters.

The artificer specialty allows you to cast certain of your protection spells—namely, Resist Cold, Resist Fire, Stormguard, and Watersheen—on items. When cast on an item, these spells triple the item's resistance to damage from the appropriate element, and have a duration of one hour per three levels. The resistance is not cumulative with any that the item already provides.

thletes are prime physical specimens of their race, their bodies honed by rigorous training in multiple disciplines. This means that they can be not only stronger than their peers, but stronger even than is normally possible for their race.

The athletics specialty increases your maximum strength attribute by five. This is in addition to the increase in maximum granted by avatar levels, but in any event cannot exceed 100. Additionally, ten points of strength are added when you first learn the specialty; however, these cannot take you above your (new) maximum—any excess points are lost.

You may learn this specialty up to ten times, gaining ten strength and five maximum strength each time.

xe masters are the source of the classic image of a warrior whirling his heavy-bladed weapon overhead with devastating force and accuracy. The master is so skilled that he has turned the primary disadvantage of an axe—its weight and unwieldiness—into a deadly advantage, homing in on the weak point of every creature.

Axe mastery gives you a small chance to automatically decapitate your foe with any successful hit, killing him instantly. The chance increases with your strength, level, and the weight of your axe, and decreases with your foe's level, constitution, and current hit points. It is naturally impossible to decapitate creatures like slimes that don't have heads to begin with, and certain other creatures such as golems and the undead don't necessarily die when beheaded.

hile any half-competent combatant can leap between his friends and danger, this typically leaves the rescued party momentarily confused and unable to take full advantage of the situation. It takes special training on the parts of both the would-be hero and his beleaguered ally to seamlessly guard each others' vulnerabilities.

The back to back specialty halves (at mastery) all delays resulting from a rescue: the delay incurred for a specialist to rescue someone; the time required for someone to recover from being rescued by a specialist; and the time required for a specialist to recover from being rescued himself. It also doubles the chance each combat round for a specialist to attempt to rescue someone he is guarding.

If a back to back specialist rescues another back to back specialist, their bonuses are cumulative. For example, if both are masters, the rescued specialist will not be delayed by the rescue at all.

eauty is only skin-deep, at least to most people. For the clergies of such deities as Aphrodite or Sevenal, however, beauty is everything. Priests of these holy orders are mortified at the slightest blemish, and an actual scar can leave them incapacitated. They use their wiles to their best advantage at every opportunity, sometimes with no intent to do so. Those who are not beautiful are nothing to them, and those who are actually ugly are treated with scorn, contempt, and worse.

Specialization as a Beauty Disciple allows your Exorcise, Moon Ray, Sun Ray, and Turn spells to affect scaly creatures as if they were undead. (For game purposes, these are races dinosaur, dragon, gith, hydra, ichthyoid, kobold, lizard-man, reptile, snake, and troglodyte.) Additionally, your Bless spells, when cast on peaceful humanoids of the opposite gender, function as non-aggressive Charm Person spells in addition to their normal effects. However, whenever your maximum hit points are reduced by acid scarring, your maximum mana is also reduced by an amount proportional to your skill in Beauty Disciple.

ommon charlatans can be found nearly everywhere in the realms; however, their skills in a more advanced form are known only to a few. They are able to fool their victims into thinking all is well, even though they may be charmed or suffering from some other detrimental effect, delaying the dupe's resistance until much later.

Specialization in beguiling will increase the duration of your timed malediction, charm, and summoning spells, as well as detrimental timed side effects of your attack spells, to up to double normal. It works only when a spell is actually cast—there is no bonus to spells recited from scrolls, used from staves, quaffed from potions, or charged into weapons.

hough viewed by circles of professional assassins as being nothing more than street thuggery, the use of blunt weapons in waylaying victims has its own loyal following. These pragmatists believe in using whatever effective tools are at hand, even if they are not as precise as the points preferred by most.

A character who has specialized in blackjack can backstab not only with piercing weapons, but with most blunt ones as well; however, the resulting blow only has two thirds of the backstabber's normal damage multiplier. Blackjack works with all maces, staves, hammers, and flails, as well as with any weapon that does pound, smash, crush, smite, or hit damage.

his lesser school of magic was discovered by a band of rampaging paladins who cleansed a small, secluded outpost of its inhabitants. The former occupants were believed to be necromancers, despite their repeated agonized screams to the contrary. After the fact, it was discovered that they were actually blackmages, which no one had ever heard of. Life went on as normal. The following spells are included in this school: Black Lightning, Blindness, Bolt of Darkness, Dark Ray, Darkness, Ever Darkness, Mass Blindness, Shadow Stream, Shadow Swarm, Shadowfire, Wave of Darkness, and Word of Blindness.

ll have heard legend of the berserker, the fearsome beast who fights man after man, so consumed by battle that he barely discerns one foe from the next. Such is the warrior who feels the blood lust within him.

Whenever someone who has specialized in blood lust kills an opponent in mêlée combat, he gets a free attack against another foe in the same room. The target of this attack will be a creature who is attacking the specialist, who is being attacked by one of the specialist's groupmates, or who is aggressive. The specialist will also use any attacks he has remaining for the round, such as those from extra attack skills, frenzy, or rampage, against this foe.

he darkest stories frequently hold a grain of truth. Vampires, ghouls, and other creatures that gain power from fresh blood have inspired harrowing legends around the world. They have also inspired spell-casters of foul intent to research the powers of blood. As in the stories, the power of blood seems to work best with the undead and a willing sacrifice of blood empowers many a dark spell beyond its caster's normal potential.

Specialization in blood magic allows you to spend as many hit points when casting a spell as you do mana. In exchange, if the spell is from the School of Necromancy, you gain similar benefits as if you knew the Necromancy specialty—lower mana cost, shorter casting time, less chance of losing concentration, and higher casting level. Use of blood magic with a spell not of the Necromancy school provides no benefits, but still costs hit points. You remain able to cast spells normally if you wish.

hough all practitioners of weapon kata are able to incorporate weapons into their fighting style to one degree or another, some schools emphasize training in specific weapons more than others. Bōjutsu places a special emphasis on fighting with the staff. Masters of this discipline are able to dazzle their foes with lightning-quick attacks.

Specialization in bōjutsu grants you approximately a 50% chance of getting an extra attack each round while you kata with a staff, and increases the chance for any given attack with a staff kata to be made with your weapon, rather than with your barehanded attack. The chance, which is 25% for a non-specialist, rises to a maximum of 50% at mastery.

owdy, ale-guzzling ruffians are always ready for a round of fisticuffs. These common toughs with their five-knuckled diplomacy are most at home in an all-out brawl at their local tavern, but their hard knuckles and thick skulls have been known to humiliate even the most seasoned fighters. Throwing elbows and fists at random, they often manage to hold back several opponents at once!

Whenever you are being attacked by a foe whom you are not attacking yourself, the brawling specialty grants you an extra attack against him. Brawling will not allow you to attack more than one extra foe per round.

his lesser school of magic deals with pure energy, light, and illusions based on them. It was fairly popular at one time, but its masters tended to be quite impatient teachers, and so it died out. The following spells are included in this school: Color Beam, Color Spray, Continual Light, Create Light, Doppelganger, Ever Light, Faerie Fire, Faerie Fog, Gaze Reflection, Group Invisibility, Improved Invisibility, Invisibility, Light Beam, Light Burst, Magic Missile, Moon Ray, Prismatic Beam, Prismatic Sphere, Prismatic Spray, Prisms Edge, and Sun Ray.

pell-casters with a particularly scholastic bent congregate in the great libraries of the world. Here, the most promising of apprentices may learn the art of scribing scrolls from a very early age. Often, the power of their scrolls transcends that of those scribed by lesser students.

Specialization in calligraphy increases the effective level of your scrolls, which are normally ten levels below yours. At 100 skill in calligraphy, your scrolls are scribed at your level. Learning the calligraphy specialty also grants you the scrollcraft skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.

he basic spells that a spell-caster learns during his apprenticeship have usually served their purpose of familiarizing him with the weaving of mystical energies by the time he has gained the title of archmage. It is this familiarity that allows him to cast these cantrips with little thought or energy expended.

A cantrip specialist reduces the casting time and chance of failure of all his spells with a base cost of 10 mana or less by one third.

here are natural leaders in the world, those who are blessed with a personality and presence that others will follow without question. These charismatic characters are able to easily convince their followers to do their bidding, as they do not feel the need to question their leader's instructions.

A character who has specialized in charisma is able to give orders effectively, greatly reducing the time this takes. The increase in speed is a percentage equal to the specialist's skill—for example, if you have learned charisma to 80, there is an 80% reduction in the time taken.

n days gone by, the peasantry cowered in their hovels and crawled under their cots when thunderstorms claimed the sky. As aeromancers grew in power and gained the ability to command the lightning, some of them decided that the lightning was not enough and sought to harness the roar of the thunder as well. Although only able to do so through the medium of electrical spells, the Children of Thunder have succeeded in their goal.

Whenever a specialist in Child of Thunder casts an electricity-based, damage-dealing spell, a secondary thunder effect is added. At mastery, the thunder does one third the damage of the original spell. Thunder damage is always area-effect even if the original spell is not, does no damage to items, and is not affected by resistance or immunity to electricity or effects like Backlash or Magic Resistance that are triggered by spells; however, it has no effect on silenced targets.

ost adventurers are capable of at least the basics of bandaging up a simple wound. Some of the more prudent study the art of battlefield medicine to a more advanced level, achieving healing skills as high as may be learned without magical assistance.

Specialization in chirurgery greatly increases the amount of hit points healed by the bandage skill, initially by half to a factor of ten at mastery.

icking alone is less effective compared to other combat tactics such as stunning and bashing. Thus, most monks are content with learning the basics of the kick and immediately moving on to more advanced skills. Others, who relish in the pleasure of the flamboyant style and crushing sound, continue to develop this ability. They learn to maximize the impact of the kick through an increased range of motion, better balance, and a burst of power. Round kicks and crescent kicks become wide sweeping motions, ultimately allowing the monk to spin on an axis in an acrobatic manner and connect with multiple targets. This is not only a very effective combat technique, but also visibly stunning.

The circle kick specialty causes your kicks to hit not just the victim you target, but also anyone else that's currently attacking you. Circle kicks are more tiring than normal ones, and cost five movement points to perform.

avants throughout the realms are revered for their ability to make clear-headed and sensible decisions in difficult matters. This clarity of thought is usually gained through long life experience. For some, however, insight finds them far, far earlier.

The clarity specialty increases your maximum wisdom attribute by five. This is in addition to the increase in maximum granted by avatar levels, but in any event cannot exceed 100. Additionally, ten points of wisdom are added when you first learn the specialty; however, these cannot take you above your (new) maximum—any excess points are lost.

You may learn this specialty up to ten times, gaining ten wisdom and five maximum wisdom each time.

any a budding hero has learned to his dismay that certain combat moves are ineffective in a large mêlée. There are those who refused to accept this limitation and have perfected a means to work around it.

Certain offensive maneuvers, such as disarm, kick, eye gouge, crit hit, bash, trip, and stun, cannot be attempted if you are being attacked by too many foes; a few, like bash, trip, backstab, and stun, cannot be attempted if your target is. Specialization in close quarters gives you a chance to negate these limitations, though it will still not allow you to engage a target who is already being attacked by six foes other than yourself. Failure will prevent further attempts at success for approximately two combat rounds.

ith the ability to weave magic being the lifeblood of a spell-caster, many feel the need to subject themselves to conditions replicating the chaos of a mêlée in order to prepare themselves. Developing a trance-like state, they are able to ignore distractions and even to numb themselves to injury in order to successfully complete their spells, significantly reducing the penalty normally experienced when casting spells while attacking or being attacked.

his greater school of magic encompasses spells that affect the minds and bodies of others, ranging from debilitating spells such as Blindness and Weakness, to summoning spells such as Demongate, to illusionary spells like Invisibility and Faerie Fire. It also assists somewhat in the control of certain magical fields and energies. The following spells are included in this school: Backlash, Blindness, Calm, Charm Animal, Charm Monster, Charm Person, Confusion, Conjure Elemental, Conjure Greater Elemental, Contingency, Continual Light, Create Light, Curse, Darkness, Demongate, Disjunction, Dispel Invisibility, Dispel Magic, Dream, Enchant Armor, Enchant Fang, Enchant Weapon, Ever Darkness, Ever Light, Faerie Fire, Faerie Fog, Fear, Feeblemind, Gaze Reflection, Greater Dream, Group Invisibility, Improved Invisibility, Inspiration, Invisibility, Mass Blindness, Mass Terror, Monsum One, Monsum Two, Monsum Three, Monsum Four, Monsum Five, Monsum Six, Monsum Seven, Pacifism, Paralyze, Purify, Scare, Serpent Seed, Sleep, Summon Animal One, Summon Animal Two, Summon Animal Three, Summon Animal Four, Summon Animal Five, Summon Animal Six, Summon Animal Seven, Terror, Ward Major, Ward Minor, Weakness, Wild Hunt, Witchsting, Word of Binding, Word of Blindness, and Word of Death.

ome casters attempt to best their opponents by silencing them. Others concentrate more on the spells that their enemies actually cast in order to eliminate their effects completely.

Specialization in countermagic gives you the ability to automatically nullify spells cast in your presence. A successful counterspell will delay you for one combat round, and it costs the same amount of mana to counter a spell as it costs the class that's worst at it to cast it. (For example, it always costs the same 35 mana to counter a shriek spell as it costs a ranger to cast it, even though it only costs druids 30 and mages 25.)

You cannot counter in anti-magic rooms; if you are silenced (unless you are a silent casting specialist), resting or sitting (unless you are a motionless casting specialist), or paralyzed (unless you are both); if you're a fallen paladin, evil ranger or druid, or non-evil antipaladin; or if you're already delayed by some other command.

You can counter only actually-cast spells, spells recited from scrolls, or spells turned back on their caster. All instances of a forked or strobed spell are countered simultaneously. Each spell on a multiply-scribed scroll must be countered individually.

You won't try to counter spells cast by other players unless you're in the arena or either you or he is a recent player killer; even then, you won't try to counter if you are grouped with or trust him. In any case, you can configure countermagic off if you do not wish to attempt to counter spells.

A counterspell's chance for success is based on its caster's level and on the lowest level that any class can learn the spell; thus, a blindness spell cast by a low-level caster is easy to counter, a blindness spell cast by a high-level caster is more difficult, and a mass blindness spell cast by the same high-level caster is more difficult yet. If you know the specific spell being cast, you get a second attempt to counter it using your skill in the spell instead of your skill in countermagic.

tabbing a foe in the back is a foul yet deeply distracting deed. This is especially true when a victim is quickly dispatched as a direct result of a backstab. A stoic assassin is able to ignore the blood and gore and move on to more important matters at hand: more bloodshed!

The coup de grâce specialty reduces a character's delay after a fatal backstab by up to one second.

o many, bloodshed is to be avoided at all costs, particularly if it is their own blood being spilled. The more callous might prefer to have "expendable" help do the bleeding, even if that might include using their "friends".

A specialist in cowardice who is being attacked is able to duck behind one of his allies, diverting some or all of his foes' attacks to his friend, just as if he had been rescued. Cowardice may be activated even if you are delayed from some other command or from being bashed. This is an evil specialty.

aliant heroes have been plunging into the mêlée, taking on whoever dares to face them, for centuries. One opponent or many, it matters not: even when faced with overwhelming odds, they can hold their own, fighting all their foes at once.

Whenever you are being attacked by a foe whom you are not attacking yourself, the crowd fighting specialty grants you an extra attack against him. There is no limit to the number of additional foes crowd fighting will let you engage. These attacks are cumulative with the one granted by brawling.

nlightened practitioners of the art of countermagic may use their oneness with the source of mana to shrug off spells from the element of earth, returning such magics to the dust whence they came.

Specialization in crumble gives you a second or third attempt to counterspell a spell of the Geomancy school, in addition to the attempt made with countermagic and possibly with the specific spell.

any warriors and rogues, whether noble or nefarious, seek any edge that will give them an advantage against their enemies, be it more capacity to absorb the damage inflicted by their foes, greater might behind their blows, or swifter or surer strikes. For some particularly heinous villains, the route to success involves a singular focus on lightning-fast and razor-sharp strikes that open a foe's throat from ear to ear, leaving the unfortunate victim to swiftly expire in a messy heap.

The cutthroat specialty increases the damage a player deals in combat against living humanoids. His effective damroll is increased by +1 for every full 50 skill in cutthroat. Any excess skill contributes to a random chance for another point; for example, a character with 72 skill in cutthroat would always deal one point of damage, and have a 22 out of 50 chance of dealing a second. This damage is not subject to the normal damroll cap of 45 points.

ften viewed as weapons of stealth or of last resort, daggers nevertheless have a dedicated following. From vicious, close-in knife-fighters to sneaky assassins, those who master the use of these weapons benefit from their practical nature and low weight, treating them as extensions of their hands, allowing for lightning-fast attacks.

Dagger mastery grants you an extra attack if your primary weapon is a dagger, and an extra attack half of the time if your secondary weapon is. These attacks are cumulative.

n enlightened user of countering magics may learn to draw the mana out of aquatic spells in much the same way as one might draw the fluid from a plump berry, leaving but an empty husk. Thus may watery magics be rendered harmless.

Specialization in desiccate gives you a second or third attempt to counterspell a spell of the Hydromancy school, in addition to the attempt made with countermagic and possibly with the specific spell.

ccasionally mystics or rare hunters attuned to the natural world delve deeply into the alchemical art, discovering recipes and techniques that substantially improve the potency of their potions. When gathered in communities of like-minded souls, they might even teach this improved alchemy to younger acolytes.

The distillation specialty increases the effective level of your potions, which are normally ten levels below yours. At 100 skill in distillation, your potions are brewed at your level. Learning the distillation specialty also grants you the alchemy skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.

his lesser school of magic covers detection and comprehension of just about anything. It is mostly practiced by hedge wizards and small-town witches who cannot master the translocation school, which also includes most of these spells. The following spells are included in this school: Clairvoyance, Darksight, Detect Evil, Detect Good, Detect Invisibility, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Discern Key, Identify, Know Alignment, Know Monster, Locate Object, Major Track, Minor Track, Scry, Sense Life, Telepathy, True Sight, and Wizard Eye.

orshipers who are especially true to their deities often find that they are favored in numerous ways. One of these is the greater manifestation of their patrons when their powers are called forth, aiding the virtuous caster.

Specializing in divine blessing increases both the effect and duration of your bless spells. The hitroll bonus will be increased by one for every fifty points of skill in divine blessing; the willpower saving throw bonus will be increased by one for every twenty points of skill in divine blessing; and the duration will also increase with skill, initially by half to a factor of five at mastery.

his lesser school of magic covers the holy and unholy magics of the highest beings. They generally refuse to teach it to mortals, especially since the majority of mortals have no chance of actually understanding it. The following spells are included in this school: Alignment Ward, Alkar, Bless, Dispel Evil, Dispel Good, Divine Aura, Exorcise, Favored Fortune, Fist of Valor, Holy Word, Judgement Day, Martyrdom, Peace, Remove Curse, Restoration, Retribution, Smite, Spiritual Hammer, Turn, and Unholy Word.

ailing the use of skill or intellect, brute force has long been a tried and tested—some even say satisfying—means of solving problems. There is nothing subtle here, only the willingness and willpower to suffer a little bruising in exchange for access.

This specialty allows you to hurl yourself against a locked door or container, trying to break it down by main force. If successful, it will leave the door or container broken and uncloseable for some time.

ome masters of combat possess a keener than usual sense of self-preservation. Coupled with well-trained reflexes, this can enable such fighters to ward off more of their enemies' blows than is normally possible.

The double parry specialization allows you to parry twice per combat round.

any fighting styles incorporate some kind of weapon into their stances, but those that use two are much rarer. Practitioners of these styles often value speed over brute power, wielding smaller weapons such as sai and nunchaka and unleashing a flurry of blows.

Specialization in dual kata allows a martial artist to kata two weapons at once. As with weapon kata, this will result in a reduced number of attacks at low skill levels, but a master of dual kata and the weapon's proficiency will gain an attack every other round on average. Additionally, dual kata allows a multi-classed martial artist to fully benefit from the ambidexterity and dagger mastery specialties if he knows them, or from multiple jutsu specialties.

The combined weight of weapons must be 24 or less, and, as with normal weapon kata, a martial artist must know at least the basics of the associated weapon proficiency to dual kata with it. As with dual wield, the secondary kata weapon has a 20% increase in its effective weight.

Learning the dual kata specialty will also grant you the dual switch skill if you do not have it.

he world can be cruel for the adventuring thief. Perils such as a dragon's acid breath or a mage-summoned Meteor Swarm have the potential to strike down a curious cutpurse at a moment's notice. While some professions choose to bear the elements with enhanced resistance, thieves would rather simply not be around to deal with them. Many thieves take fate to heart, relying on mere instincts and chance for survival. Others have been able to leverage their training in tumbling and have developed extensive body control and anticipation which can be used to dodge the elements completely.

Evasion gives you a chance of entirely avoiding—even to the extent of preventing damage to your equipment—any hostile spell or spell-like ability that has a reflex saving throw for half damage. The chance of success is based both on your skill in evasion and on your current dexterity, reaches a maximum of about 50%, and is checked in addition to your normal saving throw. You cannot evade if you are stunned (unless you know the stunned maneuvers skill), sitting or resting (unless you are a prone defense specialist), or unconscious.

he ability to efficiently glean more power from the same amount of mystic energy marks those trained in this field out from their counterparts. These spell-casters are able to create tighter weaves for their magic spells, increasing their duration prior to dissipation.

Specialization in extension will increase the duration of your timed enchantment, healing, information, light, and protection spells to up to double normal. It works only when a spell is actually cast—there is no bonus to spells recited from scrolls, used from staves, quaffed from potions, or charged into weapons.

ome choose to employ tactics most would consider to be a gray area at best. Eye gouging has been long used to blind one's opponent, gaining the upper hand and exploiting a vital weakness: the ability to see.

Eye gouging does piercing damage equal to two thirds of your level, and blinds your foe if he fails a fortitude saving throw. It prevents you from taking any other action for two combat rounds, and only works on living creatures with eyes.

he exploitation of a weapon in conjunction with an unarmed style of fighting is often contrived such that it becomes an extension of the body. Viewed in this manner, the actual properties of the object itself are more important to the martial artist than the manner in which the weapon was designed to be used.

The flexible kata specialty eliminates the requirement that a monk or karateka be proficient in a weapon before wielding it in a weapon kata. Learning the flexible kata specialty also grants you the weapon kata skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.

t takes no great ability or investment of time to competently swing your leg and kick someone. However, as with any skill, those individuals specializing in this type of attack are able to quickly assess their opponents, pick their targets, and land devastating flying kicks as they engage in combat.

The flying kick specialty greatly increases the damage of your kicks—at mastery and level 100, by fifteen-fold. It only works if neither you nor your target are currently fighting, and no more than once per hour for a given victim. Flying kicks are much more tiring than normal ones, and cost ten movement points to perform.

If you also have the trample specialty, a flying kick will activate it normally; however, a bash will only do normal kick damage.

are sages who follow the arts of countermagic may decide to focus on fighting off the effects of spells of charming, manipulation, movement, and banishment. To this end, they learn to hone their willpower to the point where they can simply shrug off such magics as unworthy of their attention.

Specialization in force of will gives you a second or third attempt to counterspell a spell of the Compulsion or Translocation school, in addition to the attempt made with countermagic and possibly with the specific spell.

ertain sorcerers and priests hone their understanding of enchantments that affect multiple targets to an unparalleled level. The most talented among these reach a height of understanding whereby even those of their spells that normally can be cast on but a single target are split in twain.

The fork specialty allows you to cast a spell that normally works on exactly one target on two. The spell is exactly duplicated for the second target, which must be different from the first. Both targets must be legal for the spell; for example, fork does not allow you to cast self-only spells on anyone but yourself. Multi-classed characters can only fork spells learned from their cleric, druid, mage, or shadowmage class.

Forked spells initially cost three times as much mana and take twice as long as casting them normally. By 100 skill in fork, these are reduced to one and a half times the normal mana and no additional casting time. You remain able to cast spells normally if you wish.

hile any mage worth his salt is able to unleash minor cantrips of cold, truly dedicated cryomancers are able to freeze their foes so throughly as to leave them helpless and brittle.

Whenever a specialist in Freeze Solid directly casts a cold-based, damage-dealing spell of the Hydromancy school, there is a 50% chance that his victims are encased in blocks of ice, rendering them susceptible to blunt damage and effectively paralyzed for two hours if they fail a level-adjusted fortitude saving throw. His Paralyze and Word of Binding spells, when cast on targets who are not immune to cold damage, have a similar effect.

lthough a number of fighters can reach a berserk state in battle, few can throw themselves at an opponent with as much ferocity as a frenzied combatant. Turning themselves into an awe-inspiring whirlwind of crazed fury requires extreme effort, however, precluding the warrior from engaging in other activities while trying to provoke a frenzied state.

Specialization in frenzy sometimes, totally at random, causes you to fly into an amok rage, hitting your foe up to ten extra times at the cost of not being able to enter any commands for the next three combat rounds. You won't frenzy if you're already delayed by some other command (such as bashing), and you're more likely to frenzy if you're already berserk; otherwise, you have no control whatsoever over when you frenzy. Learning the frenzy specialty will also grant you the berserk skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.

his greater school of magic is composed of spells of the earth, such as Earthquake, as well as spells involving purely physical things—Armor, Heroes Feast, Minor Creation, and the like. Geomancers also hold some sway over purely necromantic spells, as they are closely connected with the earth. The following spells are included in this school: Animate Dead, Armor, Avalanche, Conjure Elemental, Conjure Greater Elemental, Crush, Divine Wind, Earthquake, Endurance, Energy Drain, Heroes Feast, Implode, Ironguard, Major Creation, Meteor Swarm, Minor Creation, Necroburst, Plant Growth, Preserve, Shards, Shatterspray, Speak With Dead, Stone Skin, and Strength.

his lesser school of magic is practiced by a tight-knit organization known as the Gestalt. Members of the Gestalt keep to themselves, and the purpose of the group is unknown. They have, however, raised the concept of unity to an art, and their actions are amazingly well-coordinated. The following spells are included in this school: Airy Water, Group Cure Critical, Group Cure Light, Group Cure Serious, Group Float, Group Fly, Group Heal Major, Group Heal Minor, Group Invisibility, Heroes Feast, and Second Wind.

he mastery of a single weapon is a time-consuming task, yet many warriors strive to achieve this feat, for the benefits are great. A rare few dedicate their entire lives towards honing their abilities, accomplishing the extraordinary deed of excelling in a second weapon, although at the cost of other facets of their selves.

This specialty allows you to learn a second weapon mastery. You must still spend specialty slots on the weapon mastery in addition to the one for gladiator.

or ages, many lands have been plagued by the walking dead, from grotesque zombies to horrifying banshees to deadly liches. To better combat them, certain churches have trained their acolytes specifically to fight the undead, teaching them the weaknesses common to such foul creatures, that their every blow may smite them with tremendous force.

The gravebane specialty increases the damage a cleric deals in combat against undead creatures. His damroll is increased by +1 for every full 30 skill in gravebane; there is a bonus of 10 to his effective skill against corporeal (non-ghostly) undead and a further bonus of 10 against skeletal undead, so that a cleric with 100 skill has +4 damroll against skeletons. This damage is not subject to the normal damroll cap of 45 points.

any styles of martial arts have the facility to incorporate weapons of various kinds into their set moves. However, these styles are still biased towards unarmed combat and the use of heavy weapons that limit the practitioner's mobility are avoided. Nevertheless, some martial artists have been known to favor these weighty arms, modifying their techniques to suit.

The great kata specialty removes the maximum weight of 24 for a weapon incorporated into a fighting style. A character with this specialty can thus kata a weapon or weapons up to weight 30 if he is strong enough. Learning the great kata specialty also grants you the weapon kata skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.

or some, the bigger the sword, the better. For those proficient enough in these two-handed weapons to master them, their added skill allows them to hit their foes with increased power, using the length and weight of their blade to their advantage.

Greatsword mastery provides a bonus of +1 to damage with greatswords for every full 20 skill you have in it.