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 his lesser school of magic is secretly practiced by many druids in their hidden groves, but they refuse to teach it to anyone tainted by the sins of civilization, even another druid. The following spells are included in this school: Agility, Animal Growth, Barkskin, Changestaff, Charm Animal, Control Weather, Create Food, Create Rose, Create Water, Endurance, Entangle, Goodberry, Heroes Feast, Pass Without Trace, Plant Growth, Poison, Purify, Resist Poison, Serpent Seed, Shillelagh, Spider Climb, Spring, Strength, Sustenance, Ward of Nature, Web, and Wild Hunt.
his lesser school of magic deals with the powers of death, pain, and unlife. It is widely practiced by necromancers everywhere, which makes it quite likely the most well-known school, since despite the fact that no one knows how to become a necromancer, and they're persecuted wherever they go, there always seems to be plenty of them. The following spells are included in this school: Animate Dead, Blackmantle, Cause Critical, Cause Light, Cause Serious, Curse, Darkfire Ball, Darkfire Bolt, Energy Drain, Fear, Feeblemind, Harm, Necroburst, Paralyze, Pword Blind, Pword Kill, Rupture, Scare, Soulfeast, Speak With Dead, and Weakness.
 s many heroes as there are in legend who displayed great strength, a similar number are also revered for their adroitness and acrobatic abilities. Able to perform feats of agility well beyond what the average person is capable of, they are justly admired.
The nimbleness specialty increases your maximum dexterity 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 dexterity are added when you first learn the specialty; however, these cannot take you above your (new) maximum—any excess points are lost.
 lessed—some say cursed—by the gods or some other supernatural force, some mortals are able to laugh in the face of death. Whether that is the case when it is time for them to pay for the privilege, only time will tell.
Specializing in nine lives grants you a supernatural ability to avoid death. When dealt damage that would normally kill you, you are instead restored to your full hit points, or in the case of a death trap, transported to safety. This can happen up to nine times, after which you permanently lose the specialty.
In the case of killing damage, nine lives does not alter reality other than to prevent the damage and heal you, and there is nothing to prevent whatever hurt you—such as hunger, drowning, or an enraged demon chewing on your paralyzed body—from quickly killing you again.
lways quick to find advantage, rogues are crafty fighters who are dextrous enough to land a well-aimed strike at a critical area of a fleeing foe. The cool, calculated slaughter of opponents who are running away often marks out a master assassin.
The opportunism specialty gives you a free backstab whenever the foe you're fighting tries to flee and is not blocked, provided you are standing, are not already delayed by another command, and are wielding a weapon you can backstab (or, if applicable, blackjack or hamstring) with. This is in lieu of the attack granted by parting blow. You cannot gain adepts in opportunism unless already a master of parting blow.
hrough years of practice in acting in concert with others in combat, a rogue specializing in this ability has developed a keen sense of tactics, and is able to discern the optimal moment to disengage and re-engage his opponents.
A character with the outmaneuver specialty is able to recover more quickly than usual after backstabbing a foe who is distracted by attacking someone else. Learning the outmaneuver specialty will also grant you the backstab skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.
 ust as there are people who believe in packing light for any given journey, there are others who wish to be prepared for any contingency, even if it means bringing along the proverbial kitchen sink. These souls can be easily identified by the jangle as they travel and the multitude of items strapped to their persons. One characteristic that they seem to share is the sense of triumph when they find a situation to employ a piece of equipment that had previously been mere dead weight.
The packrat specialty lets you rent an extra rare item. You may learn this specialty up to ten times.
 hether due to reduced feeling through the build-up of scars or just being accustomed to collecting numerous wounds, those gifted with this ability are able to shrug off light wounds without so much as a blink. Eventually even the sensations associated with heavier injuries can be ignored, enabling the warrior to continue fighting unhindered.
A character who has learned this specialty is no longer affected by pain, although he remains aware of it. His resulting tolerance to injury reduces the damage he takes from each wound by up to two hit points after all other modifiers.
 t is common knowledge to any combatant that turning your back to the enemy is to be avoided at all costs, as defending against an attack from the rear is near impossible. On the converse side, one who is prepared to take advantage of a drop in guard can reap the reward of raining blows without the risk of retaliation upon his retreating foe.
The parting blow specialty gives you an extra attack whenever the foe you're fighting tries to flee and is not blocked, provided you are standing.
hether it is an innate extra sense, an acute attention to detail, or the product of highly specialized training, those gifted with this ability are able to notice small inconsistencies that pass others by, instinctively noticing details that most might miss.
The perception specialty gives you a chance to get a special message—"There's more here than meets the eye"—whenever there is non-obvious information within a room that can be discovered with a more specific look command. Learning perception also grants the find hidden doors skill to a character who is normally unable to learn it, or, in the case of a monk, unable to learn it to 100%.
category of weapon often denigrated by the nobility, pole arms were designed to perform specific tasks efficiently. Although viewed by nobles as a peasant's weapon, fit only for unskilled conscripts, those mastering their use are capable of knocking out and peeling their opponents, one piece of expensive plate armor at a time.
Pole arm mastery grants one of three benefits, depending on the damage type of the pole arm you're wielding: pole arms that do slashing damage have a chance to decapitate foes identically to axe mastery; pole arms that do blunt damage have a chance to stun foes identically to mace mastery; and pole arms that do piercing damage give you a chance to fend off foes identically to spear mastery. Pole arms that do more than one damage type behead on hits that do slashing damage, stun on hits that do blunt damage, and fend off attacks at a reduced chance equal to the likelihood that they would do piercing damage on a given hit.
ble to efficiently organize their gear, porters are able to distribute the weight of all their gear evenly, as well as knowing how to pack the maximum number of items into the minimum amount of space.
The porter specialty increases the possible weight and number of items you can carry by up to half.
he prestidigitator is a skillful caster, able to produce stunning results with a mere flick of the wrists and a few words. Of course, many choose to go to the opposite end of the spectrum, making every casting appear to be an epic effort. The ability to concentrate in any condition acquired through constant showmanship allows him to cast any spell even when engaged in combat, though the chance to successfully cast non-combat spells while fighting will be somewhat reduced even for a master.
 ighters trained in making prone attacks are capable of dazzling combat maneuvers, combining complex moves with the act of standing in one fluid motion. Opponents who are not familiar with this ability are often fooled into closing in on what they thought was a defenseless target, only to be struck by a devastating attack.
The prone attack specialty allows you to use various combat skills—namely, bash, crit hit, gift of pain, hitall, kick, or stun—without needing to stand up first. A failure of your prone attack roll will cause you to stand up instead of making the combat move; success both in prone attack and the skill used will leave you standing as well. It costs you 20 movement points to use a combat skill while prone, in addition to any the move itself requires.
he ability to avoid being hit even when caught in a less-than-ideal situation is highly valued by many combatants. Whether through practice or innate dexterity, the fighter manages to twist and turn his way away from blows, raising a defense that is effective whether he is on his feet or not.
The prone defense specialty allows you to parry and dodge even while sitting or resting. Learning the prone defense specialty will also grant you the dodge skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.
his greater school of magic allows advanced knowledge of all fire and heat-based spells, from the humble Burning Hands to the mighty Solar Gate. The following spells are included in this school: Burning Hands, Conjure Elemental, Conjure Greater Elemental, Divine Wind, Fire Wind, Fireball, Fireshield, Firestorm, Flame Tongue, Flameblade, Flamestrike, Hellfire, Inferno, Infravision, Lava Blast, Resist Fire, and Solar Gate.
hether it is due to mental agility or preparing for the worst, some people are able to deal with unforeseen circumstances more effectively than others. Some of these are also able to cope with the magical backlash when spells are failed, enabling them to shape new magic more quickly after the failure.
Specialization in quick thinking reduces the time delay associated with miscasting a spell by up to one third at mastery.
hile the image of someone being able to wear a piece of armor with haste is not as exciting as that of a skilled quickdraw, it is often a life-saving ability in the heat of combat. Items are often modified a little to allow them to be rapidly swapped out, or are organized in such a fashion that they are easy to find by their user in the heat of battle.
The quickdon specialty allows a character to reduce or negate the time penalty with wearing, holding, or removing items while engaged in combat. Although it does not affect the corresponding penalty when wielding or dual switching weapons, it does give a bonus to your draw and dual switch skill rolls, and grants you the draw skill at a reduced maximum when you learn the specialty if you do not yet have it.
eing able to extricate oneself from combat with haste is a great advantage. For those accustomed to the ebb and flow of battles involving multiple combatants, it is a relatively easy task to pick their moment in which to move out of their opponents' reach without endangering themselves.
The quicksilver specialty reduces the amount of time required to disengage from combat, to a minimum of one half of a combat round at mastery.
 enowned scholar or village bookworm, those blessed with high intellect are widely varied. Their facile minds all share the same thirst for knowledge, for the most part, although their interests can vary from the mystic to the mundane.
Specialization in reason increases your maximum intelligence 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 intelligence are added when you first learn the specialty; however, these cannot take you above your (new) maximum—any excess points are lost.
here are many stories of robust individuals capable of near-miraculous revivals, and of those whose wounds heal with alacrity even after all hope for their survival has been given up. These fortunate souls are blessed with metabolic systems that are capable of quickly replacing damaged tissue, returning them to full health when others with similar wounds remain bedridden for weeks to come.
The recuperation specialty increases your hit point and movement regeneration rate by a factor equal to twice your skill. For example, 30% skill in recuperation will increase your hit point regeneration rate by 60%. You may learn this specialty up to ten times, gaining 10% skill each time.
hile magic can heal the ravages of battle on the flesh, damage to equipment requires a far more labor-intensive approach to rectify. Many adventuring parties find it worthwhile to carry the materials so that a skilled smith—often the one who wears the most iron—can effect repairs in the field, maintaining full efficiency for the next battle.
A character who has specialized in repair can fix damaged items without having to bring them to a blacksmith such as Hephaestus or Gronid. He must still pay the full cost of the damages; the appraise command can be used to determine this cost beforehand. The repair specialty does not work within the avatar challenge.
Characters without this specialty can take their damaged belongings to one of the established NPC smiths to repair. Simply give the item to the smith in order to bring the item back up to its full durability. The cost depends on its value and on how much damage it has taken.
t times thought to be more interested in creating the next new spell than anything else, researchers can still find adventuring useful, in that it gives them the opportunity to experiment with magic in strange and unusual circumstances, increasing their body of knowledge.
A researching specialist is able to learn spells much more quickly than normal; he has both an increased chance of getting an adept in any spell and a decreased amount of time between adepts.
well-known adage states that discretion is the better part of valor. Those who pay heed tend to live long enough to appreciate its wisdom. It is soon discovered by those who practice strategic withdrawals that keeping your head and choosing your own path is much preferable to blind flight.
Specialization in retreat allows you to specify a direction when fleeing. If the flee command is used, then you have the normal chance to flee, with only an increased likelihood of going in the named direction. If the retreat command is used, you will either go in the named direction or fail to flee entirely.
he fervor that religion can inspire knows no limits. Combined with the intolerance of zealots, it can inspire them to perform acts beyond the normal capabilities of a person, especially against heathens and blasphemers.
The righteousness specialty increases the damage an arbiter, inquisitor, or paladin does against foes whose alignment greatly differs from his own. The greater the difference, the more damage dealt, up to a maximum of three per blow. This damage is not subject to the normal damroll cap of 45 points.
 xperts at altering the weave of divine magic to harness the energy in order to cure, some priests have managed to apply their knowledge in the school of healing to enhance the effects. Furthermore, their studies have revealed to them methods of implementing the same techniques on any kind of spell, whether arcane or divine.
Specialization in serenity increases the number of hit points healed by harmony by one half, and in addition allows a multi-classed spell-caster to be healed at half the normal rate when casting non-priestly spells. You cannot gain adepts in serenity unless already a master of harmony.
hile he does fit the stereotype of the implacable defender behind a tower shield capable of shrugging off damage, a shield expert is also able to use his defensive tool as a potent weapon. With a solid swing of his shield, he is able to knock down a foe with much greater ease than those without the skill or the item.
A character who has specialized in shield expertise is able to use shields much more effectively than usual, increasing his parry bonus for using a shield from one fifth to one half and granting up to a 10% bonus to his chance to bash, so long as he is using a shield.
hrough a combination of subtle gestures and mental will, silent casting allows its practitioners to make magic without the need to utter an incantation aloud. First studied by certain mages in Centranon, the advantages conferred by this specialty make it attractive to assassins and others who wish to be unobtrusive. Spell-casters who master it often place silencing wards on their abodes in order to maximize their advantage against other magicians.
This specialty allows you to continue to use magic even if you are magically silenced; however, casting a spell without a spoken incantation is more difficult, and you are more likely to lose your concentration if you cannot make noise.
If you have specialized in both silent and motionless casting, you can cast spells even while paralyzed.
rade can often be boiled down to the interaction between two parties. Whether by personality or by guile, a skilled businessman can extract the maximum profit out of a given situation, while leaving the other party thinking that he got the better end of the deal.
The silver tongue specialty gives you a bonus to your bargaining ability, adjusting the cost of identifying, repairing, buying, and selling items, as well as bribery, buying healing, and buying pets, by up to ten percent in your favor. Learning the silver tongue specialty will also grant you the bribe skill at a reduced maximum if you do not have it.
he ability to premeditate an assault upon a potential victim allows for careful planning of the attack, streamlining the methodical assassin's actions and reducing the time between the initial blow and any followup needed to dispatch the mark.
A character with the snake strike specialty is quick and subtle, able to recover more quickly than usual after backstabbing an unhurt foe. Learning the snake strike specialty will also grant you the backstab skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.
lthough spears are most effective when used in massed ranks, an individual wielding one still has a reach advantage, so long as his opponent can be kept at spear-point. A master of the weapon is able to do this, preventing a foe from closing in and engaging in mêlée combat so long as he is not already preoccupied.
Spear mastery gives you a chance to keep a foe from engaging you in combat if you are not already busy fighting another enemy. The chance is greater if your primary weapon is a spear than if your secondary weapon is, and greater still if both are or if you are single-wielding.
hether by unlocking latent natural talent or by long study, it is possible for spell-casters to improve on the maximum amount of magical energy they can safely utilize. While vast amounts of power can be brought to bear in this way, every body has its physical limit to how much it can channel.
Learning the spirituality specialty increases your maximum mana by 25 points. You may learn this specialty up to ten times.
idiculed as simple and cheap by its detractors, a staff can nevertheless be deadly in the right hands. Its length and supple nature allow the master to whirl it, snapping it across joints and other weak points on a number of opponents at once, felling them all.
Staff mastery gives you an automatic chance, on a successful hit with a staff, of sweeping the legs out from under all the humanoids in the room who are fighting you or someone in your group. The chance increases with your dexterity and level and the number of eligible foes; the chance for each individual enemy decreases with his dexterity and level.
or many experienced campaigners, luck is acknowledged to play a sizeable role in the way risky situations pan out. An exceptionally fortunate character is able to dodge aside at the last moment, block the worst of a dragon's breath with his shield, or blank his mind just before a mental battle begins, significantly improving his chances of survival. Hence, it is not surprising that the goddess of good fortune is among the most widely worshiped.
Whenever a character with the stroke of luck specialty fails a saving throw, he has a chance of getting a second attempt.
or as long as there has been warfare, it has been common knowledge to combatants that initiating the first attack on your terms and being able to put your opponent off-guard has major advantages. On an individual scale, catching your victim flat-footed means that you are able to assail your foe without any retaliation until he recovers from his surprise.
The surprise attack specialty grants you extra hits as you begin combat with an attack from your weapon—e.g., from "hit orc", "assist Fend", or "dodge goblin" (if not already fighting). It won't give you attacks if you start combat with any other method, such as by bashing, stunning, or casting a hostile spell. It also doesn't combine with backstab or hitall.
With a successful skill roll, at least one extra attack is granted. There is about a one in three chance for each Extra Attack skill you have learned, or for each extra attack you gain from a fighting style, to activate as well.
 ne of the most popular groups of weapons, swords are admired for their form and function, with masters of their use becoming celebrities in their own right. Those at the pinnacle of swordsmanship are able to perform amazing feats with their chosen weapons, switching from a defensive posture to offense in the blink of an eye, flowing from one stroke to another.
Sword mastery grants you a chance of riposting and getting a free attack when you make a successful parry unassisted by a shield. This is checked separately for both your primary and secondary weapons if they are both swords.
he ability to engage opponents at a distance has distinct advantages, which are compounded if you have a greater range and rate of fire than your foes. Forcing the enemy to close in through a hail of fire in order to merely gain an equal footing often creates a situation where they have been softened up enough for a charge to mop up.
Specialization in throwing expertise has three effects: it increases the maximum range of your thrown weapons to three or, at 90% and higher skill, four rooms instead of the normal two; it allows you to throw weapons while you are engaged in combat, so long as neither you nor your target are fighting the other; and it increases your throwing speed to up to double normal. The speed increase is cumulative with thieves' skill at throwing daggers.
lthough the healing magics may miraculously regenerate flesh and muscle, the strain these spells place on the body often exhausts the recipient. Similarly, the instantaneous refreshment provided by magic merely serves to burn up energy used by the body in that moment of time rather than over a period of hours or days. For those who have built up a magic-tolerant physique, these side effects are largely mitigated.
A character with the tolerate healing specialty becomes less tired when he is magically healed and less hungry when he is magically refreshed than is normal.
s long as there has been competition between individuals, the desire to be bigger and tougher than the opposition has existed. One way to achieve this is by rigorous physical conditioning, spending time and effort in order to increase the amount of punishment that can be withstood.
Learning the toughness specialty increases your maximum hit points by 25. You may learn this specialty up to ten times.
here are certain fighting styles that raise the use of kicks in mêlée combat to new heights. Practitioners of these styles are capable of many feats of accuracy and power with their legs, able to knock their opponents down with swift, well-placed strikes, or to land follow-up attacks without fear of retaliation.
The trample specialty gives you a chance to automatically deal damage when you successfully bash your foe, as if you had kicked him, and to automatically knock your foe to the ground on a successful kick, as if you had bashed him.
If you also have the flying kick specialty, a flying kick will activate trample normally; however, a bash will only do normal kick damage.
his greater school of magic covers spells of magical movement such as Astral Walk and Blink, and also the prerequisite magics of divination and knowledge, such as True Sight and Scry. The following spells are included in this school: Astral Walk, Blink, Clairvoyance, Conjure Greater Elemental, Deeppockets, Detect Evil, Detect Good, Detect Invisibility, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Disintegrate, Float, Fly, Gate, Group Float, Group Fly, Haste, Identify, Implode, Imprisonment, Infravision, Knock, Know Alignment, Know Monster, Locate Object, Major Track, Minor Track, Scry, Sense Life, Succor, Summon, Teleport, True Sight, Waterwalking, Wizard Eye, and Word of Recall.
 nocking down opponents grants many advantages in mêlée combat, usually making it more difficult for them to defend themselves. Many techniques have been evolved to achieve this, most of which involve using leverage in order to bend legs at their joints. These trips or leg sweeps involve using more technique than brute force, although they take greater time and effort to disguise from the foe than the direct approach.
The trip specialty allows a thief access to an inferior form of the bash skill. A successful trip will, like bash, knock an opponent from his feet and prevent him from entering any commands for a round of combat. Unlike bash, you will be unable to enter commands yourself for three rounds of combat whether successful or not, and the skill doesn't work at all against foes that don't have legs. On the other hand, a failed trip won't cause you to fall to the ground, and you can attempt to trip even while sitting.
 earning how to fall properly is a great advantage in combat. No matter how deftly you evade attacks, sooner or later one will send you sprawling. For those with agility and training, however, it becomes second nature to dip a shoulder and roll with the blow, using the momentum to regain their feet rather than awkwardly clambering upright.
The tumbling specialty allows you to automatically try to counter any attempts to knock you from your feet, rolling from the blow and instantly regaining your footing.
hile most fighters consider being unarmed a distinct disadvantage, many practitioners of hand-to-hand combat have developed their styles and techniques to such an extent that their whole body can be considered a deadly weapon. Graceful movements bely the great power and precision that these masters are capable of.
Unarmed mastery provides a bonus of +1 to hit at 15% skill and every 30% thereafter, and a bonus of +1 to damage at 30% skill and every 30% thereafter, when fighting unarmed or with a fist weapon.
he ability to sleep anywhere or at any time is a great advantage, as any seasoned campaigner will attest. For others, their lifestyles have led to the habit of keeping daggers under their pillows, lest their slumber be made permanent. For them, the ability to sleep extremely lightly and remain alert at a subconscious level is an enormous boon.
A character who has specialized in vigilant rest lives the adage "sleep with one eye open," and remains aware of the world around him as he sleeps, seeing and hearing as if he were awake. He remains unable to speak or act, however.
In addition, if attacked while resting or sleeping, a specialist in Vigilant Rest doesn't take the usual extra damage for being unprepared for combat, and will automatically scramble to his feet instead of being left sitting if he makes a successful skill roll.
hether due to having lived extremely healthy lives or through hauling buckets of water up the thousand steps at a remote monastery, there are people whose endurance and stamina are well beyond the norm for their race. They are often able to get up and keep fighting, even after receiving grievous injuries.
The vigor specialty increases your maximum constitution 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 constitution are added when you first learn the specialty; however, these cannot take you above your (new) maximum—any excess points are lost.
lthough viewed by many die-hards as not being a "true" weapon, in the hands of a master, the whip can become a highly flexible tool with multiple uses. Varying the flick of his wrist at the end of his swing, a highly-skilled wielder can make his whip dance, entangling different parts of his opponent.
Whip mastery gives you an automatic chance, on a successful hit with a whip, to entangle your foe, preventing him from attacking you for one round of combat; to disarm him; or, if he is humanoid, to yank him from his feet. The chances of all of these increase with your dexterity and level, and decrease with your foe's dexterity and level.
fighter proficient in this technique appears to those outside the mêlée as devastating flurry of frenzied action moving from one foe to another, landing strikes before selecting his next victim. One capable of performing this maneuver are able to turn his enemies' numerical superiority to his own advantage, planning and timing moves such that his foes get in one another's way, opening opportunities for quick attacks.
The whirlwind specialty allows you to use the hitall skill even if you're already engaged in combat. A whirlwind attack takes a full combat round. Learning the whirlwind specialty will also grant you the hitall skill at a reduced maximum if you do not yet have it.
lthough making vows a poverty as part of their ethos, many monks find that adventuring with merely a robe, a pair of sandals, and a strap of fabric to serve as a carry-all to be rather difficult. In their minds, their vows can suddenly become a little more flexible, allowing them to use vital pieces of equipment.
Specialization in worldly goods allows a monk or warriormonk to equip a seventh rare item without violating his vow of poverty.
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