Wizards of the Moonsea Region (Character Kit)

Class Information 	Class Information
Racial Requirements 	Human, half-elf, elf
Ability Requirements 	Intelligence 9
Prime Requisite 	Intelligence
Hit Die Type 	d4
Attack as 	Wizard
Save as 	Wizard
Advance as 	Wizard
Spell Ability? 	Wizard
Exceptional Strength? 	No
Exceptional Constitution?	No
Starting Cash (x10 gp) 	3d6
Proficiencies 	Proficiencies
Weapon Slots 	2
Additional Slot 	4
Nonproficiency Penalty 	-3
Nonweapon Slots 	4
Additional Slot 	4
Available Categories 	General, Wizard, Rogue
Bonus Proficiencies 	Move silently or hidein shadows or hear noise
Recommended Proficiencies	Spellcraft
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==Overview==
The wizards of the Moonsea region reflect the intrigue and mystery for which that land is renowned. They are often sinister men and women who have mastered the mystical arts in an attempt to amass great personal power and force others to do their bidding.
==Description==
Wizards of the Moonsea stand out among their peers not in dress but in provisioning. While they often wear the comfortable clothes of an adventuring mage or the rippling robes of a court wizard, they almost always prominently display a weapon of some sort. In the case of wizards from Mulmaster, this is often a sword, mace, or other weapon not commonly used by magicians.
==Role-playing==
Like most of the Moonsea's folk, the wizards here are noted for their quiet nature and their tendency to keep their own secrets while rooting out the secrets of others. To these enigmatic folk, secrets are power, for they allow you to bargain from a position of strength. Outsiders might consider this a form of blackmail, but pointing this out to one of the Moonsea's wizards is likely to get you turned into a toad... or worse.
The stereotypical evil wizard who broods over dark secrets and contemplates foul mysteries that no man was ever meant to master may well be rooted in the stories of the Moonsea's enchanters. Even the wizards of this land who are good and just can easily be taken for sinister and malevolent by those who do not know them well.
All wizards of Mulmaster are "invited" to join the Brotherhood of the Cloak (or the Cloaks for short). Pressure to do so is constant, and those of 4th level or higher who refuse are run out of town at best and murdered at worst. Hence, a wizard character from Mulmaster will either be a member of the Cloak, a former member, or an exile.
==Special Abilities==
The residents of the Moonsea region live in a land of despotic rulers, unending suspicion, and oppressive fear. The history of this land can be summed up in one simple phrase: only the strong—or the sneaky—survive. Since they generally lack the strength to survive (at least until they advance a few levels), wizards must be sneaky. Exactly how wizards from the various cities of the Moonsea region accomplish this varies.
===Zhentil Keep===
Over the years, the fortified Zhentil Keep has come to be identified with the Zhentarim or Black Network. If there is a more evil affiliation anywhere in the Realms, it would be difficult to find. Not every person who lives in the keep is a puppet, willing or unwilling, of the Zhentarim, but this is the case more often than not. To reflect that, the wizards described here are members of the Black Network.
Wizards of the Zhentil Keep tend to come in two varieties. There are those who act as spies or assassins and others who provide magical support in military campaigns. When a Zhentarim wizard is designed, the player or DM must decide whether his character's focus is subterfuge or battle.
Spies and assassins are experts in the use of magic from the school of Lesser/Greater Divination, casting all such spells as if their experience level were two higher than it actually is. For example, a 3rd-level mage casts these spells as if he were 5th level.
Those who provide magical support are masters of combat-oriented spells and can bring down even the mightiest enemies with their devastating magic. They cast all direct attack spells as if they were two experience levels higher than they actually are. A 5th-level wizard casts a fireball spell as if he has attained 7th level, for example. Direct attack spells cause damage immediately upon being cast, like a magic missile, fireball, or lightning bolt. In most cases, it's easy to tell if a spell falls into this category, but DMs may sometimes have to rule in the case of unusual magic.
In both cases, the experience level bonus applies to spells cast by the character, never to spell effects from magical items.
===Hillsfar===
Wizards of Hillsfar can select one of three thief skills: move silently, hide in shadows, or hear noise. These function in the same manner as the thief abilities of the same name but are employed as proficiencies. Move silently and hide in shadows are checked as Dexterity skills and hear noises is checked as a Wisdom skill. There is a -4 modifier to the base roll and additional slots cannot be allocated to improve the character's chances of success with the skill. Also, the character cannot allocate additional slots to acquire more than one of these thief skills.
===Mulmaster===
Another example of the paranoid nature of wizards in Mulmaster is the ability of their wizards to train with weapons generally unavailable to others of their class. When a player creates a character with this kit, he may select any one medium weapon and allocate both of his starting weapon proficiency slots to become skilled in its use. Most Moonsea wizards opt for skill with the broad sword or long sword, but it is not uncommon for a character to choose the morning star or footman's mace.
If the player doesn't take advantage of this option when his character is created, he may not do so later. This special ability reflects informal training received as the character grew up in Moonsea, not instruction at the hands of a skilled warrior, so it cannot be duplicated later on in life.
==Special Disadvantages==
The deceptive and competitive nature of Moonsea society has its negative influence on wizards as well. Just as they learn to use weapons not normally available to wizards and employ skills generally associated with thieves, they are also unable to trust others or to find someone who will take them into their confidence.
===Zhentil Keep===
The powerful wizards of the Zhentil Keep are known far and wide for their skill and the ruthless devotion they show to their dark order. This is not to say that they are without weaknesses of their own. Most importantly, although this is seldom considered a weakness by the members of the Zhentarim, all characters designed with this kit must be of evil alignment. Therefore, a Zhentarim wizard should always be an NPC kit.
Those characters who choose to act as spies and assassins are limited in their ability to engage in magical combat. This is reflected by the fact they cast all directattack spells as if they were two levels lower in experience than they actually are. So a 5th-level wizard casts a magic missile or fireball spell as if he were only of 3rd level, for example. The level of the caster cannot fall below 1st, however.
Wizards who devote themselves to battle magic suffer a similar reduction in magical ability. When casting divination spells, all such spellcasters must lower their levels by two for the casting. However, their level can never fall below 1st because of this penalty.
In both cases, this reduction applies to spells cast personally or invoked with magical items.
===Hillsfar===
In Hillsfar, the primary effect of a wizard's lack of trust and general paranoia is evident in the reactions that others have to him. This distrust results in a -4 penalty to any rolls involving the character's maximum number of henchmen, loyalty base, and reaction adjustment modifiers (as determined by his Charisma score). This indicates the general air of suspicion that hangs around the wizard and his closely guarded secrets. Others, whether they know the adventurer well or not, tend to assume that any man with so many secrets cannot be trusted himself.
===Mulmaster===
This air of suspicion and paranoia that surrounds the wizards of Mulmaster has a major effect on the training of characters wishing to acquire new proficiencies or advance in level. The rules for such training are presented in the "Experience" chapter of the DUNGEON MASTER® Guide. Instead of the usual average fee of 100 gp per level per week of training, wizards from the Mulmaster region must pay twice that amount.
In addition, their natural suspicion of others makes it difficult for them to put their trust in an instructor. This results in longer training times and a higher chance of failure. Normally, the minimum length of a training course is determined by subtracting the teacher's Wisdom score from 19. When teaching a wizard from the Moonsea region, the Wisdom score is subtracted from 23. If the character fails his first check to master the subject before him, he must wait 10 days before making another check instead of the usual seven days.