Skills For High-Level Wizards (HLC)

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The following skills are available to mages and specialist wizards who meet the listed requirements.
==Mental Focus==
Mental Focus: Wizards with this skill can marshal their personal energies to provide a temporary bonus to their Intelligence, Wisdom, or Dexterity scores.
By concentrating for one round and making a successful skill check, the wizard can improve one of the three eligible ability scores to the value listed on the table below. The improvement lasts one round per character level. Because the majority of the character's energy is directed to the improved ability score, the other two ability scores are reduced by two for the same duration. The wizard can end the boost—and restore the values of the other scores—at any time. If the character's ability score is already equal to or higher than the value listed on the table, this skill has no effect. If the optional sub-abilities rule from Skills & Powers is in play, both sub-abilities in the increased ability score are raised to the same value.
Wizard Level	Improved Score
12–16 	18
17–20 	19
21–25 	20
26–29 	21
30+ 	22
The wizard can take no other actions during the round the character is concentrating on raising the selected ability score. Each attempt, successful or not, during a single day lowers the base skill score by two; the skill cannot be used once the base score falls to zero or less.
Bonuses from an increased score are applied immediately when the skill succeeds and are lost immediately when the boost's duration ends. For example, a wizard who chooses to increase Dexterity immediately gains an improved Armor Class bonus, but loses it again when the character's Dexterity score returns to normal. Likewise, the effects from reduced ability scores are applied immediately when the improvement ends.
A character can have only one ability score improvement from this skill operating at any given time.
Requirement: Wizard 12+
Relevant Ability: Wisdom/Willpower
Success: 4
Cost: 1 (3)
==Signature Item==
Signature Item: A wizard with this skill chooses an item from the character's collection of equipment as a personal trademark that is specially protected from twists of fate. Except as noted below, this skill operates exactly like the warrior skill of the same name.
The wizard is free to have as many signature items as he is willing to pay for, but no more than one of any type of item is allowed. For example, the wizard could not have two staffs of the magi as signature items, but he could have a staff of the magi, wand of magic missiles, and a rod of smiting as signature items.
The wizard can choose items from the ring, rod, staff, wand, miscellaneous magic, and weapon categories.
Requirement: Wizard 12+
Relevant Ability: Wisdom/Intuition
Success: 10
Cost: 2 (6)
==Spell Sculpting==
A wizard with this skill knows one spell so well the character can alter its statistics when casting it.
To use this skill, the wizard must prepare an item to help focus and reshape the spell's magical energy. A focus item can be a small object such as a jewel, wand, or amulet. A focus item must be worth at least 500 gp per spell level.
When sculpting, the wizard must meet all the usual requirements to cast the spell; the wizard employs the focus item as an additional material component, which is normally not consumed. A successful skill roll allows the wizard to change the spell in a minor way, as listed below. If the roll fails, the spell is cast normally. If failure roll is a 20, the focus item is destroyed.
When a wizard successfully sculpts a spell, the character can choose one effect from the list below.
Increase Damage: The spell can inflict an extra two dice of damage of the type normally rolled to determine the damage the spell inflicts. For example, Neja, a 20th-level wizard, could sculpt a burning hands spell to inflict 3d3+20 points of damage. If Neja sculpted a fireball spell to increase damage, the spells would inflict 12d6 points of damage.
Spells that have individual damage dice, such as magic missile, are not increased individually. For example, Neja could cast a magic missile that inflicted a total of 7d4+7 points of damage. The additional damage could be added to a single missile or an additional die of damage could be added to two separate missiles.
Spells that do not use dice rolls to determine damage cannot be sculpted in this manner.
Extend Duration: The spell's total duration is doubled. This applies only to the actual time a spell lasts but not to any special durations a spell may have.
For instance, invisibility would last a total of 48 hours or until the creature made an attack. Neja's stoneskin would have a duration of 48 hours or until it had blocked 1d4+10 attacks (refer to the spell commentary for stoneskin). Spells with instantaneous durations cannot be sculpted in this manner.
Extend Range: The spell's range is doubled. If the spell has a range of touch or 0, its range cannot be extended.
Shorten Casting Time: The spell's casting time is cut in half, to a minimum of 1. If local conditions lengthen the spell's casting time (see page 47), apply the multiplier first, then cut the result in half.
It is not possible to sculpt a spell more than once. It is possible, however, to employ a metamagic spell, such as extension or squaring the circle, to a spell that has been sculpted provided that the sculpting effect does not duplicate the metamagic spell effect. For example, a wizard cannot extend a spell's duration and use an extension spell at the same time. A wizard could sculpt a spell to extend its range and use and extension spell to increase its duration.
The highest level spell a wizard can sculpt is limited by the character's level, as shown below:
Wizard’s Level	Maximum Spell Level
12–14 	1st
15–17 	2nd
18–20 	3rd
21–23 	4th
24–26 	5th
27–29 	6th
30+ 	7th
A wizard can learn to sculpt more than one spell but must pay the full cost for this skill for each spell. If the wizard improves the skill's base score, the increase applies to all spells the wizard knows how to sculpt.
Requirement: Wizard 12+
Relevant Ability: Intelligence/Knowledge
Success: 8
Cost: 1 (3)