dragon-magic-oef

CHAPTER 3
DRACONIC
MAGIC
Illus. by R. Horsley
NEW SPELLS
The following new spells are suitable for use in any campaign
where the influence of dragons and draconic creatures is felt
across the world.
Characters gain an extra benefit by learning some of these
spells, as noted in the “Special” entry after a spell’s description.
This benefit applies to any character who has a list of
spells known, such as a bard, sorcerer, warmage (see Complete
Arcane) or favored soul (see Complete Divine), but not to characters
who prepare spells from a class list or a spellbook, such
as a cleric or wizard. It applies as long as the spell remains
on the character’s list of known spells. If she later removes
the spell (for example, if a sorcerer swaps it for another spell
of the same level), she loses the benefit, too.
If a spell allows you to cast a different spell as part of its
effect (such as lord of the sky, page 69), treat the extra spell as
a normal version of that spell (including spell level, save Difficulty
Class, and all other effects) except as described. For
example, even though lord of the sky is a 5th-level spell, the
lightning bolt that you can cast as part of its effect is treated
as a 3rd-level spell, as normal for lightning bolt.
Some spells allow you to sacrifice an additional sorcerer spell
slot to augment the effect of the spell. In the class spell lists,
these augmentable spells are denoted by a superscript A at the
end of the spell’s name. Spontaneous casters other than sorcerers
who learn one of these spells can sacrifice nonsorcerer
spell slots, as long as the slot sacrificed is of the same kind as
the spell being cast. For example, a cleric or favored soul who
learns mark of the enlightened soul (page 70) can sacrifice favored
soul or cleric spell slots to augment that spell.
Finally, some of the new spells are intended for
sorcerers only, or for sorcerers and members of other
classes but not wizards. However, these are few in
number; most of the spells available to sorcerers are
also available to wizards.
a specialist wizard cannot learn a dual-school spell if either
of the spell’s schools is one of his prohibited schools. Benefits
that apply to a school of magic do not stack with each other
even if the spellcaster can apply them to both schools of magic.
For example, if a spellcaster has the Spell Focus feat for either
school, it applies to the dual-school spell normally. However,
if he takes the Spell Focus feat for both of a dual-school spell’s
associated schools, he still adds only 1 to the Difficulty Class
of saves made against the dual-school spell.
THE POLYMORPH SUBSCHOOL
Player’s Handbook II also introduced the polymorph subschool.
A spell of this subschool (also referred to as a polymorph
spell) changes the target’s form from one shape to another.
Unless stated otherwise in the spell’s description, the target of
a polymorph spell takes on all the characteristics and special
abilities of an average member of the new form in place of its
own, except as follows:
• The target retains its own alignment (and personality,
within the limits of the new form’s ability scores).
• The target retains its own hit points.
• The target is treated as having its normal Hit Dice for the
purpose of adjudicating effects based on Hit Dice, such as
the sleep spell, though it uses the new form’s base attack
bonus, base save bonuses, and all other statistics derived
from Hit Dice.
• The target retains the ability to understand any languages
it understands in its normal form. If the new form is normally
capable of speech, the target retains the ability to
speak these languages as well. If the new form is capable
The funeral of a
dragon attracts
mourners
of all races
60
DUAL-SCHOOL
SPELLS
Dual-school spells, which appeared
for the first time in
Player’s Handbook II, have effects
that encompass two distinct
schools of magic. In
all cases, treat
these spells
as if they belonged
to
both schools
simultaneously.
Effects
that prevent a
spellcaster from accessing
one school of
a dual-school spell prevent
all access to that spell. For example,