Spellsword

Classes

Character Creation
Characters on Arelith:
Race - Alignment
Deity - Class
Gifts - Backgrounds
Mark of Destiny
Epic Sacrifice
Customization
Head List

Introduction

Arelith Spellswords enjoy many changes that benefit their martial abilities. This path has its own page for its unique mechanics applied on top of Wizard (not specialists). Mechanical changes are included in the #Class Mechanics on this page and explained in the #Arelith Changes section. Base mechanics can be found on NWNWiki. The #Roleplay Tips section provides suggestions for character development.

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.

Class Mechanics

Requirements

Alignment restrictions: none

Class Features

Hit die: d8*

Proficiencies: armor (light, medium), weapons (martial, simple)

Skill points: 3 + int modifier ((3 + int modifier) * 4 at 1st level)

Class Skills: concentration, craft mastery, discipline, heal, leadership, listen, lore, parry, ride, sail, spellcraft, spot

Unavailable feats: weapon specialization, Whirlwind Attack, Improved Whirlwind Attack

Bonus feats: Arcane Defense, Bladesong Style, Brew Potion, Combat Casting, Craft Wand, Greater Spell Focus, Greater Spell Penetration, Metamagic, Spell Focus, and Spell Penetration

Primary saving throw(s): Fortitude', Will

Base attack bonus: +3/4 level

Spellcasting: Arcane (spell failure from armor is a factor), intelligence-based (a base intelligence score of 10 + the spell's level is required to cast a spell, bonus spells are based on modified intelligence, and the intelligence modifier affects spell DCs), and requires preparation.

Level Progression

Hit points rolls on Arelith are always maximum.

											Imbue DC				Base spells per day
Level	BAB	Fort	Reflex	Will	Feats	HP	Mage Armor	Bonus AB	Weave AC (shield)		Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3		0th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	summon familiar, scribe scroll, Imbue Weapon, Weave Affinity	4*	—	—	1		11	—	—		3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3		12	—	—	1		12	—	—		4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3		20	—	+1	1		13	—	—		4	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4		28	—	+1	1		14	—	—		4	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4		36	—	+1	1		15	—	—		4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5	Arcane Bonus Feat, Elemental Strike	44	—	+1	2		16	—	—		4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5		52	—	+2	2		17	19	—		4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+6/+1	+6	+2	+6		60	x2	+2	2		18	20	—		4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+6/+1	+6	+3	+6		68	x2	+2	2		19	21	—		4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—
10th	+7/+2	+7	+3	+7	Uncanny Dodge I	76	x2	+2	2		20	22	—		4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
11th	+8/+3	+7	+3	+7	Imbue Armor	84	x2	+3	2		21	23	—		4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—
12th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Arcane Bonus Feat	92	x2	+3	3		22	24	—		4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—
13th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8		100	x2	+3	3		23	25	27		4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—
14th	+10/+5	+9	+4	+9		108	x2	+3	3		24	26	28		4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+5	+9		116	x3	+4	3		25	27	29		4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Greater Elemental Strike	124	x3	+4	3		26	28	30		4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10		132	x3	+4	3		27	29	31		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Arcane Bonus Feat	140	x3	+4	4		28	30	32		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11		148	x3	+5	4		29	31	33		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12		156	x3	+5	4		30	32	34		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Spells

Cantrips	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Acid Splash	Burning hands	Bear's Endurance	Charm monster	Bestow curse	Ball lightning	Acid fog	Abi-Dalzim's Horrid wilting	Avascular Mass
Daze	Charm person	Blindness/deafness	Clarity	Confusion	Cone of cold	Chain lightning	Blackstaff	Banishment
Electric jolt	Chromatic Orb	Bull's strength	Death armor	Contagion	Dispel magic	Circle of death	Burst of Glacial Wrath	Greater spell mantle
Flare	Color spray	Cat's grace	Displacement	Crushing Despair	Energy buffer	Darkbolt	Cloudkill	Incendiary cloud
Light	Detect Poison	Cloud of bewilderment	Find traps	Dismissal	Evil Blight	Disintegrate	Delayed blast fireball	Mass blindness/deafness
Ray of frost	Endure elements	Combust	Fireball	Flame shield	Firebrand	Ethereal visage	Greater dispelling	Mass charm
Resistance	Entropic shield	Continual flame	Flame arrow	Fear	Globe of invulnerability	Eyebite	Greater sanctuary	Mass Hold Monster
	Expeditious retreat	Darkness	Greater magic weapon	Finger of Agony	Greater stoneskin	Flesh to stone	Great thunderclap	Maze
	Faerie fire	Eagle's splendor	Halt Undead	Frost Shield	Isaac's lesser missile storm	Freeze	Isaac's greater missile storm	Meteor swarm
	Grease	Elemental weapon	Haste	Good hope	Lightning Shield	Greater spell breach	Mass haste	Mind blank
	Horizikaul's boom	Fox's cunning	Hold monster	Ice storm	Mind fog	Lesser mind blank	Premonition	Mordenkainen's disjunction
	Ice dagger	Gedlee's electric loop	Invisibility sphere	Improved invisibility	Nightmare	Lesser spell mantle	Prismatic spray	Shadow Plague
	Ironguts	Ghostly visage	Keen edge	Lesser spell breach	Vampiric touch	Mestil's acid sheath	Protection from spells	Sunburst
	Mage armor	Ghoul touch	Lesser dispel	Minor globe of invulnerability	Wall of fire	Stone to flesh	Shadow shield	Tenser's transformation
	Magic missile	Gust of wind	Lightning bolt	Remove blindness/deafness	Wall of Ice	True seeing	Spell mantle	Time stop
	Magic weapon	Hold person	Magic circle against alignment	Remove curse	War cry
	Negative energy ray	Invisibility	Mestil's acid breath
	Protection from alignment	Knock	Negative energy burst
	Ray of enfeeblement	Melf's acid arrow	Protection from elements
	Scare	Owl's wisdom	Scintillating sphere
	Shield	Resist elements	Slow
	Sleep	Scorching Ray	Stoneskin
	True strike	See invisibility	Sound Lance
	Ultravision	Web	Water Breathing

Epic Spellsword

Bonus feats: The epic Spellsword gains a bonus feat every four levels after 20th. In other words, at levels 24, 28.

Epic bonus feats: All Arcane Bonus Feats, as well as Armor Skin, Epic Prowess, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Toughness, Epic Weapon Focus, Great Intelligence, Improved Combat Casting, and Overwhelming Critical.

Unavailable epic feats: epic weapon specialization, outsider shape, construct shape, dragon shape, undead shape, epic spell: dragon knight, epic spell: greater ruin, epic spell: hellball, epic spell: mummy dust

(Note: you can choose epic spells other than EMA, BUT THEY WILL NOT WORK!!!)

						Imbue DC
Level	Feats	HP	Bonus AB	Weave AC (shield)		Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3
21st		164	+5	4		31	33	35
22nd		172	+5	4		32	34	36
23rd		180	+6	4		33	35	37
24th	Epic Bonus Feat	188	+6	5		34	36	38
25th		196	+6	5		35	37	39
26th	, Greater Armor Imbue, Elemental Maelstrom	204	+6	5		36	38	40
27th		212	+7	5		37	39	41
28th	Epic Bonus Feat, Bonus Attack	220	+7	5		38	40	42
29th		228	+7	5		39	41	43
30th		236	+7	6		40	42	44

Arelith Changes

Change	Level	Description
Hit Die	-	Wizard Hit Die upgraded to d8* (but d4 at level 1 due to scripting limitations).
Bonus AB	-	Wizard AB progression upgraded from 1/2 to 3/4 via AB bonuses and scripting for attacks per round. The change to the BAB progression works as a soft bonus and is subject to the +20 soft bonus limit. The bonus is +1 at level 3 and +1 more every 4 levels (+1 3/7/11/15/19/23/27). This means that Spellswords cannot take feats or class requirements that require a minimum BAB until their wizard BAB (1/2) is high enough. It also means that the character sheet will not show the correct attacks per round. For example, a full spellsword cannot take Improved Critical (requires 8 BAB) until level 18.
Proficiencies	-	Gain Simple and Martial Weapon proficiency and Light and Medium Armor proficiency, and Shields.
Arcane Spell Failure reduction	-	Arcane Spell Failure is reduced by 20% for pureclassed Spellswords and multiclassed characters with 6+ Spellswords levels. This ASF reduction is automatically applied to equipped armors and shields.. This is convenient for entirely removing the arcane spell failure chance for Greensteel Chain and Greensteel Breastplate.
Weave Affinity	-	If not holding anything in offhand (shield, bow, two-hander, using the -twohand etc), a Spellsword can manipulate the weave to gain +1 AB and dodge AC per 7 class levels, limited to her base intelligence modifier. Weave Affinity is disabled for all characters with Monk levels.
Imbue Weapon	-	Gains the ability to Imbue Weapon. See Spellsword#Imbue Weapon for more details.
Mage Armor	-	At level 8, Mage Armor (spell) gives the spellsword x2 as much AC. At 15, it gives x3 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. Does not stack with Epic Mage Armor. Casting one will remove the other.
Epic Mage Armor	-	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: Epic Mage Armor does not stack with the Mage Armor in any way. Casting one will remove the other. Note: Epic Mage Armor requires 20 or more levels in Spellsword to select.
True Strike	-	With a majority of levels in Spellsword, for the short duration True Strike is active, the Spellsword's attacks per round goes up by 1 and imbues will activate as many times as they connect in a round; not just once per flurry. This benefit cannot be from potions, wands or scrolls; only cast from the Spellsword's spellbook.
Bonus Language	-	Draconic same as Wizard.
Spell changes	-	For specifics on all spells, see Spell changes.
Spellbook	-	Can save and load Spellbooks through the Crafting Skills menu. Special Abilities > Crafting Skills > Choose "Spellbooks" from the menu.
Spell components	-	Requires spell components (made with Alchemy or Art Crafting) to cast spells greater than level 6. Level 7 spells cost 1. Level 8 spells cost 2. Level 9 spells cost 3.
New spells	-	Same as Wizard#Spells.
Familiar	-	Familiar changes and notes.
Uncanny dodge	10	Gain Uncanny Dodge I.
Elemental Strike	6	Gains the ability to Elemental Strike. See Spellsword#Elemental Strike for more details.
Armor Imbue	11	Gains the ability to Imbue your Armor. See Spellsword#Imbue Armor for more details.
Armor Imbue	12	Upgrade to Imbue Armor. See Spellsword#Imbue Armor for more details.
Greater Elemental Strike	16	Upgrade to Elemental Strike. See Spellsword#Elemental Strike for more details.
Elemental Maelstrom	26	This ability allows the spellsword to perform an instant whirlwind attack. See Spellsword#Elemental Maelstrom for more details.

Imbue Weapon

This ability allows the Spellsword to empower her weapon with elemental properties, increasing its attack bonus to +1 per 6 class levels and adding elemental bonus damage, scaling as follows:

• Class level 1-5 & base INT 13+: 1d4 + 1 damage
• Class level 6-10 & base INT 14+: 1d6 + 1 damage
• Class level 11-15 & base INT 15+: 1d8 + 1 damage
• Class level 16-20 & base INT 16+: 2d4 + 2 damage
• Class level 21-25 & base INT 17+: 2d6 + 2 damage
• Class level 26-30 & base INT 18+: 2d8 + 2 damage

The fixed damage (i.e. +1 or +2) is applied as a damage increase effect, allowing it to pierce damage resistance and immunity. Weapons can only be imbued once per rest, and active imbues cannot be replaced.

The imbue lasts for 24 real life hours. Server switches, server resets, resting, and other shenanigans are known to interfere with imbue. Check with -weapon (or -wp) if in doubt.

Limitations

• The on hit effects of the Spellsword path have been replaced by Elemental Strike. Double Imbue has been disabled.
• 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. Character with a majority of levels in Spellsword, under the effects of True Strike, would allow all hits in a flurry to activate the Imbue.
• 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.
• Permanent weapon essences to not interfere with Imbue, but any shared damage types will only choose the highest damage and disregard the lowest; they do not stack.
  • Temporary essences do not work with Imbues.
  • The Flame Weapon spell can be used with Imbue as well as the -stream ability for different elements besides fire.
  • Arelith's Custom Poisons needs further testing. Default poisons can stack.
  • Assassin's assassinate ability does stack.
  • Barbarian passive and rage damage do stack.
  • Swashbuckler's Insightful Strike does stack, but may require that you re-equip for the IS bonus damage.
  • Hexblade curse weapon does not work with imbue.
  • Blackguard's inflict wounds negative weapon damage does not work with imbue.

Elemental Strike:

This ability allows the character to perform an instant melee attack, adding their base intelligence modifier to the attack roll and empowering the attack with elemental properties. Elemental Strike can only be activated once per round.

Damage increases with class levels and intelligence:

• • Level 6-10 & base INT 14+: +2d2 elemental damage
  • Level 11-15 & base INT 15+: +2d4 elemental damage
  • Level 16-20 & base INT 16+: +2d6 elemental damage
  • Level 21-25 & base INT 17+: +2d8 elemental damage
  • Level 26-30 & base INT 18+: +2d10 elemental damage

• The above damage is empowered (+50%) when combined with a Weapon Imbue that matches the Strike's element.

• At Spellsword level 16, Elemental Strike inflicts additional element-specific penalties to the target. Once again the effects are empowered when using a matching Weapon Imbue:

• • Acid: 20% Acid Vulnerability and -2 AC for 1 round (2 rounds with Acid Imbue). These penalties are halved by a successful reflex saving throw.
  • Cold: -1 attack per round and -20% movement speed for 1 round (-2 attacks per round and -40% movement speed with Cold Imbue). These penalties are halved by a successful fortitude saving throw.
  • Electrical: Lightning arcs at up to 3 nearby targets, inflicting twice the above bonus damage (up to 6 targets and empowered damage with Electrical Imbue). This damage is halved by a successful reflex saving throw.
  • Fire: The target catches fire for 1 round, taking twice the above bonus damage twice per round (double duration and empowered damage with Fire Imbue). This damage is halved by a successful initial reflex saving throw.

• • Negative: Vampiric Regeneration equal to the above bonus damage. The effect is halved by a successful fortitude saving throw. (No saving throw when using Negative Imbue.)
• The DC for saving throws is 10 + class level / 2 + INT modifier.
• If the Weapon Imbue matches the Elemental Strike's element, the DC increases by 5.
• The ability can also be activated with the chat command "-elestrike [acid/cold/fire/elec/negative]". If no element is specified, it will default to the last used one.

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.

Level	Magic	Fire	Cold	Acid	Electric	Negative	Sonic
0	-	Flare	Ray of Frost	Acid Splash	Electric Jolt	-	-
1	Magic Missile	Burning Hands	Ice Dagger	-	-	Negative Energy Ray	Horizikaul's Boom
2	Death Armor, Lesser Dispel	Combust, Scorching Ray	-	Melf's Acid Arrow	Gedlee's Electric Loop	-	-
3	Dispel magic	Fireball Fireball (Shades) Flame Arrow	-	Mestil's Acid Breath	Lightning Bolt Scintillating Sphere	Negative Energy Burst Vampiric Touch	Silence Sound Lance
4	Isaac's Lesser Missile Storm Phantasmal Killer Magic Missile (SC)	Wall of Fire Wall of Fire (Shades)	Ice Storm, Wall of Ice	-	-	Enervation	-
5	-	Firebrand	Cone of Cold Cone of Cold (Shades)	Acid Arrow (GSC)	Ball Lightning	-	-
6	Isaac's Greater Missile Storm, Disintegrate, Greater Dispelling	Fireball (Shades), Wall of Fire (Shades)	Freeze, Cone of Cold (Shades)	Acid Fog	Chain Lightning	-	Wounding Whispers
7	-	Delayed Blast Fireball	-	-	-	Finger of Death	Great Thunderclap Power Word: Stun
8	-	Incendiary Cloud	-	-	-	Create Undead Create Greater Undead Horrid Wilting Avascular Mass	-
9	Weird, Mordenkainen's Disjunction	Meteor Swarm	Burst of Glacial Wrath, Iceberg	-	-	Energy Drain Power Word: Kill	Wail of the Banshee

Imbue Armor

• Once per rest, this ability allows the Spellsword to empower her armor with elemental properties, increasing its AC bonus to +1 per 6 class levels and granting additional elemental protection as follows:

• • Class level 11-15 & base INT 15+: 10% immunity and 5/- resistance against the chosen element
  • Class level 16-20 & base INT 16+: 20% immunity and 10/- resistance against the chosen element
  • Class level 21-25 & base INT 17+: 30% immunity and 15/- resistance against the chosen element
  • Class level 26-30 & base INT 18+: 40% immunity and 20/- resistance against the chosen element

Imbue Armor improves at class level 26, causing attackers to take 1 elemental damage per base intelligence modifier. Additionally, the Spellsword gains element-specific bonuses:

• • Acid: The above retaliation damage increases by 1d8.
  • Cold: Her armor class increases by 1.
  • Electrical: Her movement speed increases by 20%.
  • Fire: Her attack bonus increases by 1.
  • Negative: She gains regeneration equal to her base intelligence modifier, up to a maximum of +5.

Elemental Maelstrom:

• This ability allows the spellsword to perform an instant whirlwind attack, adding their base intelligence modifier to the attack roll and empowering the attack with elemental properties corresponding to their active Weapon Imbue. Elemental Maelstrom can only be activated once per minute instead of a regular Elemental Strike.
• In addition to the weapon damage, nearby enemies take damage scaling with the Spellsword's intelligence:

• • Base INT 14: 3d2 elemental damage
  • Base INT 15: 3d4 elemental damage
  • Base INT 16: 3d6 elemental damage
  • Base INT 17: 3d8 elemental damage
  • Base INT 18+: 3d10 elemental damage

• Elemental Maelstrom inflicts additional element-specific penalties to affected targets:

• • Acid: 20% Acid Vulnerability and -2 AC for 2 rounds, halved by a successful reflex saving throw.
  • Cold: -2 attacks per round and -40% movement speed for 1 round, halved by a successful fortitude saving throw.
  • Electrical: Lightning arcs between up to 6 nearby targets, inflicting twice the above bonus damage per target, halved by a successful reflex saving throw.
  • Fire: Affected creatures catch fire for 2 rounds, taking twice the above bonus damage twice per round. This damage is halved by a successful initial reflex saving throw.
  • Negative: Vampiric Regeneration equal to the above table. No saving throw.
  • Magic: One breached spell effect.
• The DC for saving throws is 15 + class level / 2 + INT modifier.

Spellcasting:

• INT-based, requires preparation. Spellswords can learn new spells from scrolls like Wizards.
• Spell levels 1 to 8 only, Spellswords are thus unable to select Epic Spell Foci or Epic Spells.
• The summon restriction has been lifted: New Spellswords can summon freely from items, their class spellbook simply does not have any summon spells.

Spellsword Path Feats:

• Bladesong Style
  • Prerequisites: Elf or Half-Elf, Spellsword 12+, Dodge
  • Specifics: Bladesingers are elves who have blended art, swordplay, and arcane magic into a harmonious whole. In battle, a bladesinger's lithe movements and subtle tactics are beautiful, belying their deadly martial efficiency.
  • Passive Bonuses: A lightly armored Bladesinger wielding a longsword or rapier with an empty offhand gains a 10% bonus to movement speed and Shield AC equal to 2 + base intelligence modifier (up to +1 per 7 class levels). The maximum bonus is +6. For balance reasons, this AC bonus is also disabled for characters with Monk levels.
  • Bonus feats:
    • Spellsword Level 14: Automatic Quicken Spell 1
    • Spellsword Level 21: Automatic Quicken Spell 2
    • Spellsword Level 28: Ki Critical, Weapon of Choice: Longsword & Rapier
  • Limitations: The Spellsword's Arcane Spell Failure reduction is disabled while wearing medium or heavy armor or not wielding a rapier or longsword with an empty offhand.

Roleplay Tips

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.

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

Neverwinter Nights wikia wizard article.