View source for Spellsword

'''Notice: The spellsword class is now available for selection again, but armor imbues are currently disabled. Please note this is an experimental path, and changes may be done at any time.'''.

==NWN requirements==

:Base Class:  [[Wizard]].
:General spell school (no specialization)

==General information==
Spellswords, also known as spellblades,  are arcane warriors; students of both might and magic that combine their arts to retain the massive array of abilities of the mage and the prowess of a martial fighter. Whilst their art is unique, they do not excel at neither form of their disciplines, often cutting edges to meet ends, not only having to sacrifice one whole school of magic, but for either code, ritual, choice or dogma, they are forced to forego the use of creation and summoning spells.

==Mechanical information==

The spellsword is a [[wizard]] path. A character can become a spellsword at character creation, turning the wizard levels into spellsword levels, as long as they have no school specialization. There is a way to become a spellsword after creation as well by talking to the correct NPC(s). 

===Spellsword Abilities===
*Wizard Hit Die upgraded to d8
*Wizard AB progression upgraded to 3/4
*They gain Simple and Martial Weapon proficiency
*They gain Light and Medium Armor proficiency
*They gain Uncanny Dodge
*They gain 5% Arcane Spell Failure reduction to Armor
*They gain +15 Discipline at level 28
*If they aren't holding anything in their offhand (shield, bow, two-hander, etc), they gain +1 (Shield) AC per int modifier, capped by wizard level/6+1 to a maximum of 6 at 30
*Gains the ability to Imbue. Upgrade to Greater Imbue at level 21.

=== Spellsword Mage Armor and other spells===
At level 8, Mage Armor (spell) gives the spellsword twice as much AC. At 15, it gives thrice as much. Note that multiclass characters need the majority of their levels in spellsword to receive any bonus. For example, a character with 8 spellsword/4 fighter/4 rogue, would not receive any bonus to mage armor, whereas an 8 spellsword/4 fighter/3 rogue would get the initial double bonus.

The epic spell, Epic Mage Armor behaves differently in the hands of a spellsword. Instead of granting the usual +5 to all four armor types (Armor, Natural, Deflection, and Dodge), it grants only +4, totaling in a +16 to AC - however, it also grants a bonus to +4 AB while it is active. Note that EMA does not stack with the regular Mage Armor in any way.

True Strike also behaves slightly different - for the short duration it is active, the spellsword's imbues will proc as many times as they connect in a round, and not just once per flurry.

===Imbuing===

Spellswords have the unique trait of being able to "charge" spells into their weapons<!-- and armor-->, with different conditions and different effects. 
<!-- This is the currently-disabled defensive imbue-->
<!-- Armors can be imbued using '''defensive''' spells,  "storing" the spell in the armor, which will be activated and triggered the moment the spellsword is struck and will function as the spell normally would. -->

Weapons can be imbued using '''damage''' spells. This will grant the weapon a corresponding energy damage and an additional on-hit effect based on the energy damage of the spell. '''At level 21''', spellswords gain Greater Imbue: They are able to imbue their weapons with two damage properties at once. 

'''Limitations'''
*You cannot imbue spells from your barred schools. 
*You can only imbue from spells casted by yourself; scrolls, wands and other sources may not be used to imbue.  
*The on-hit property of the imbue can only trigger once per hit in a Flurry, or every two seconds. Characters with more than 3 attacks benefit less from Imbue effects. 
*You can only imbue melee weapons. 
*You cannot imbue gloves.
*The imbue can stack with nearly any weapon buff. Restrictive weapon buffs (those that require the weapon to be blank) must be cast BEFORE imbuing, and the same applies to weapon essences.

{| class="wikitable"
! Energy Type
! On-hit Effect (Save)
! rowspan="8" | 
! Spell Level
! Bonus Damage
|-
| Magic
| Single Breached Spell and -2/-4/-6 SR for 10 Rounds (Will)<br>Will stack during duration
| rowspan="2" | Tier 1<br>Levels 0 to 3
| rowspan="2" | 1d4 (1 for Magic)
|-
| Acid
| -2/-3/-4 AB for 10 Rounds (Reflex)
|-
| Cold
| -1 APR for 2/4/6 Rounds (Fort)<br>50% Movement speed reduction
| rowspan="2" | Tier 2<br>Levels 4 to 6
| rowspan="2" | 1d8 (1d4 for Magic)
|-
| Electric
| Up to 2/3/4 nearby Targets are struck by lightning (Reflex)<br>Damage is ''Xd4''<br>On failed Reflex save, all saves reduced by 1 for 10 Rounds (Will)<br>Stacks during overlapping duration
|-
| Fire
| -2/-3/-4 AC for 10 Rounds (Reflex)
| rowspan="3" | Tier 3<br>Levels 7 to 9
| rowspan="3" | 1d12 (1d8 for Magic)
|-
| Negative
| Deals additional Damage equal to ''Xd4/2'' (Will)<br>Spellsword heals equal to negative damage dealt
|-
| Sonic
| Silences for 1 Round (Will)
|}

''Xd4'' is Wizard level/5 + 1*Imbue Tier. A level 20 Spellsword using a ''stilled'' Acid Fog (Spell level 7, tier 3), would gain an imbue of 1d12 Acid and an Acid Burn of 7d4, at DC 34 Fort. 

The save DC is 10+Spellsword level+0/2/4 (Tier 1 imbue increases in 0, Tier 2 increases +2, Tier 3 increases +4)

===Compatible Damage Spells===
Note that '''''metamagic''''' can be used to fill the gap and push spells into higher categories for an imbue of greater power. 
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: center;" | Level
! style="text-align: center;" | Magic
! style="text-align: center;" | Fire
! style="text-align: center;" | Cold
! style="text-align: center;" | Acid
! style="text-align: center;" | Electric
! style="text-align: center;" | Negative
! style="text-align: center;" | Sonic
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 0
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Flare
| style="text-align: center;" | Ray of Frost
| style="text-align: center;" | Acid Splash
| style="text-align: center;" | Electric Jolt
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 1
| style="text-align: center;" | Magic Missile
| style="text-align: center;" | Burning Hands
| style="text-align: center;" | Ice Dagger
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Negative Energy Ray
| style="text-align: center;" | Horizikaul's Boom
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 2
| style="text-align: center;" | Death Armor
| style="text-align: center;" | Combust
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Melf's Acid Arrow
| style="text-align: center;" | Gedlee's Electric Loop
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 3
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Fireball<br>Fireball (Shades)<br>Flame Arrow
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Mestil's Acid Breath
| style="text-align: center;" | Lightning Bolt<br>Scintillating Sphere
| style="text-align: center;" | Negative Energy Burst<br>Vampiric Touch
| style="text-align: center;" | Silence
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 4
| style="text-align: center;" | Isaac's Lesser Missile Storm<br>Phantasmal Killer<br>Magic Missile (SC)
| style="text-align: center;" | Wall of Fire<br>Wall of Fire (Shades)
| style="text-align: center;" | Ice Storm
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Enervation
| style="text-align: center;" | -
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 5
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Firebrand
| style="text-align: center;" | Cone of Cold<br>Cone of Cold (Shades)
| style="text-align: center;" | Acid Arrow (GSC)
| style="text-align: center;" | Ball Lightning
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 6
| style="text-align: center;" | Isaac's Greater Missile Storm
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Acid Fog
| style="text-align: center;" | Chain Lightning
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Wounding Whispers
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 7
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Delayed Blast Fireball
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Finger of Death
| style="text-align: center;" | Great Thunderclap
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 8
| style="text-align: center;" | Horrid Wilting
| style="text-align: center;" | Incendiary Cloud
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Create Undead<br>Create Greater Undead
| style="text-align: center;" | -
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 9
| style="text-align: center;" | Weird
| style="text-align: center;" | Meteor Swarm
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| style="text-align: center;" | Energy Drain<br>Wail of the Banshee
| style="text-align: center;" | -
|}

<!-- Currently unused defensive table. May be salvaged in the future.
===Compatible Defensive Spells===
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: center;" | Level
! style="text-align: center;" | Spell (School)
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 1
| style="text-align: center;" | Shield (Abjuration)<br>Mage Armor (Conjuration)
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 2
| style="text-align: center;" | Ghostly Visage (Illusion)<br>Death Armor (Necromancy)
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 3
| style="text-align: center;" | -
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 4
| style="text-align: center;" | Elemental Shield (Evocation)<br>Stoneskin (Abjuration)<br>Minor Globe of Invulnerability (Abjuration
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 5
| style="text-align: center;" | Mestil's Acid Sheath (Conjuration)<br>Ethereal Visage (Illusion)<br>Lesser Spell Mantle (Abjuration)
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 6
| style="text-align: center;" | Greater Stoneskin (Transmutation)<br>Globe of Invulnerability (Abjuration)
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 7
| style="text-align: center;" | Shadow Shield (Illusion)<br>Spell Mantle (Abjuration)
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 8
| style="text-align: center;" | Premonition (Divination)
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | 9
| style="text-align: center;" | Greater Spell Mantle (Abjuration)
|}
-->

===Restrictions===
Spellswords lose access to: 
* One spell school of their choice 
* All summoning spells and abilities (the only exception being the wizard familiar)
* All epic spells, including command spells like [[Console_command#-scry|-scry]], except Epic Mage Armour. Other side effects and non-epic commands work as normal.

===Notes===
*The change to the BAB progression works as a bonus. This means that they cannot take feats that require a minimum BAB until their wizard BAB (1/2) is high enough. 
**For example, a full spellsword cannot take Improved Critical (requires 8 BAB) until level 18. 
*The bonuses (AC, AB, disc) are soft, counting toward their respective caps and not counting for feat/class requirements. 
*Their summoning restriction is absolute. All spells and abilities means '''all''' of them, even abilities that are not strictly summoning, like the druid's animal companion, the shadowdancer's shadow, or Mordenkainen's Sword spell. They are prevented from using these spells even from scrolls and other sources. Domination and charm abilities, however, work normally.
*They cannot choose Conjuration as their forbidden school.
*Using the [[Console_command#-twohand|-twohand]] command counts as having the offhand occupied for the purposes of the bonus AC.
*Imbuing equipment will tend to show the feedback of "invalid target for this spell", but check the item. If it applied an on-hit property, it should be working.
*Spellswords can only imbue their own equipment. if an imbued weapon leaves the spellsword's inventory, it will lose all its buffs.
*Shades[http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Shades] is a lvl 6 spell, however the innate level of each variant is the innate level of the corresponding "normal" spell.
*When cast by a Spellsword, Truestrike increases Attacks Per Round by 1 and temporarily removes the limit on the number of imbue procs that can occur per round.

===Roleplaying Tips===
''The following is a view on spellswords that may help you put the class in perspective. It is '''not''' the only way to play them or explain their abilities, at all''.

Wizardry is often regarded as a highly intellectual study that takes many, many years to even become an initiate in. It is truly a feat and an achievement to become a proper wizard, and advance through the many echelons of magic. Spellswords, under this light, are a rare breed of mage, for not only they manage to keep up and pay the incredible mental toll that is the study of magic, but at the same time they prove capable fighters, apt in the use of either blade or staff as it personally suits them. 

This doesn't mean that they favor one side more to the other. No, the true power of the spellsword is not merely setting things on fire and then stabbing them - from their two arts, their true power is born - the power known as imbuing. This unique characteristic allows them to reduce spells to their basic semantics and charge their equipment with different effects.

Their duality and versatility of trade, however, comes at a cost. They often find themselves taking shortcuts and cutting corners to meet ends and keep up with their studies. It is common for them to disregard a whole school of magic, and even more - all of them are completely cut off from summoning and creation magic, either by their choice to remain independent and mark the distinction from the cowardly wizard that hides behind their towering elementals, or simply as another price to pay for their uncanny versatility. 

The greatest and most powerful spellswords realize, once the mysteries of the higher magic unfold to them, that they may have cut too many corners on their journey to manage a true grasp on nearly all epic magic. The best they can hope to achieve is dominion of Epic Mage Armor, as it is one of the few spells that they learn to wear like a second skin. But where their grasp in magic is lacking, there is still the potential to become a true force to be reckoned, bearing enchanted blades and enough spells to worry both the dedicated mage and the martial master. After all, they know exactly what both worlds can offer - the spellsword carries them in each hand.

===External Links===
[http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Wizard Neverwinter Nights wikia wizard article].
[[Category:Classes]]