Encyclopaedia

That said, it is also true that few mages would choose abjuration as a specialty. As one of the smallest school in terms of spells and effects, there are not many who consider the loss of other schools outweighs the dubious benefit of additional defenses. For those few who walk the path of an abjurer, what is gained is well worth the cost.

As noted above, the primary flaw of the abjuration school is a lack of choices. There are not many spells to choose from for an abjurer and aside from direct protection, the school has very little flexibility. In this book, you will find special feats, character options, spells, and suggestions for expanding an abjurer’s repertoire. Devotees of abjuration need not be limited any longer.

Your foot is on the road of chaos. As you explore this strange school of Wild Sorcery, the power of static magic will fall away, revealing the primal, chaotic forces corkscrewing through the world around you. A strong will and a quick mind is required to harness the essence of chaos, but even the wiliest may not survive their brush with the raw element of creation. Though chaos magic does not deal with malevolent, intelligent forces or the denizens of the grave, its power is wild and untamed and wholly unnatural within the material world. It is in constant flux, coiling and writhing just beyond everyday life, and whatever it touches . . . changes.

What is it all for? Why this abundance of impedimenta, the curious, the dried-up, the priceless and the revolting? Why does arcane magic – and some portion of the divine – so often depend upon the use of odd bits of this and that? When hags cackled over their eye of newt and toe of dog, did they for one moment stop to consider why it was that eye of newt should be necessary? These questions will all be answered within these pages.

Conjuration, the art of calling something forth from nothing, is a magic of infinite potential simply from its very nature. To conjure is to reach past the empty spaces of this world and summon whatever the heart desires from beyond.

Golems wait silently in dungeon corridors, ready to annihilate unwary adventurers who dare defile their former master's sanctum. Shield guardians follow their owners faithfully, and ready to interpose themselves between the holder of their amulet and anything that would bring him harm. Homunculi fly forth, powered by their creator's lifeblood into a grotesque mockery of life. All of these are constructs, artificial life forms brought into the world by rituals long secreted away in the corners of occult libraries, in the ruins of mighty magical empires and the personal notes of spellcasters with the curiosity to explore this field of arcane lore.

Arcane magic has its very roots vested in the power of dragons and their kin. By studying the ancient lore of Dragon Magic, a mage can unlock the secrets only known to these powerful reptiles, allowing him to stand as an equal among wyrms and as lord over other men. From the few True Words and draconic songs to the harvesting of dragon body parts and the procedure of becoming a Dragon Friend, this addition to the Encyclopaedia Arcane is perhaps one of the most powerful - but its discipline and traditions are not easily discovered, nor mastered by the weak of will, for few dragons will tolerate their secrets learnt by the younger races.

You wish to study enchantment with me? Are you certain you understand what it is you ask? The school of enchantment specialises in a very powerful but very personal form of magic, making people, places and things affect the minds of others in ways that can be very intimate indeed. With this magic you can make someone fall in love, pledge devotion to a task, or defend a place with his very life.

Enchantment, by its nature, is an elitist art. One cannot be set apart from others by magic, like an enchanter is over those ensnared through charms and compulsions, without becoming a little distant. Good enchanters try to use this magic responsibly. Evil enchanters revel in their ability to enslave others and force their will upon the world.

Within Encyclopaedia Arcane: Familiars, shall be addressed an abundance of issues dealing with familiars and in order to give the work a coherent structure the first section shall be dedicated to an overview of the salient topics related to familiars. In this section we shall discuss in short many of the fundamentals that shall be dealt with in more detail later in this work. Also to be found in this section shall be a brief discussion of the various types of familiars from aberrations to magical beasts to undead.

Continuing the Encyclopaedia Arcane series, Illusionism presents one of the core schools of arcane magic and develops it in detail for players and Games Masters alike. Alongside advice for the Games Master on how to use Illusionism in his campaign, this book we present the mechanics of dementia magic - the magic of madness - as well as spells, feats, prestige classes and more.

Sovereign Magic – Mastery of the Land is another volume in the Encyclopaedia Arcane series, focusing on the powers of those legendary wizards and sorcerers who overshadow whole tracts of land. Designed for easy integration with any fantasy-based D20 games system, the Encyclopaedia Arcane series does far more than merely introduce new spells or items to extend existing magic-using character classes. Instead, each book covers wholly new forms of magic or details aspects of magic-using characters’ lives in extensive detail, adding fresh dimensions to campaigns. Such information is not intended solely for the Games Master to use in association with non-player characters, however. Each book of the Encyclopaedia Arcane gives full details for players themselves to try the new systems presented, along with plenty of information to aid the Games Master in the introduction of each book into his campaign.

It all started when the first mortal looked up at the night sky. There he saw the infinite dance of the stars. The short trip from wonder to questioning took but an instant. From those first questions the magi sprang. The magic held in the stars represents the powers that the gods used to make the world. The stars stand as the anchor points in the universal design. Channelling their power allows the magician to create effects in the world without fundamentally altering the shape or nature of the universe.

When the people of the ancient world first discovered writing, they intuitively connected it with magic. The making of a sign that both was and was not the thing it represented; that was a new thing, a thing of power, a thing for rulers and the counsellors of rulers. The earliest magic wand may have been a stylus, a simple tool for engraving words on a wax tablet.

It is said that when the gods created the world, they gently blew life into it, awakening the conscience in every piece of their work. Trees, rocks, rivers, fire, wind, mountains... all of them received the holy breath, and all of them worshipped the gods before the first race set foot on the face of the world. They were the animae, the souls of all things: the spirits.

Welcome to World Shapers the first in the Encyclopaedia Psionica series. The Encyclopaedia Psionica line presents new rules, new approaches, and new powers for D20 players and Games Masters interested in adding psionic powers to a campaign. The design of each book allows for easy integration of the rules and powers into fantasy, horror, or science fiction D20 systems. Like other Encyclopaedia lines the Encyclopaedia Psionica presents a complete, integrated package that a player or Games Master can insert whole cloth or piecemeal into a game.

This volume of the Encyclopaedia Psionica addresses the three 'world shaping' psionic disciplines: metacreativity, psychokinesis, and psychoportation. It expands upon the existing base of psionic powers, adds feats for non-psionic and psionic characters, and explores the relationship between psionic powers and various character classes.

This book, the Encyclopaedia Arcana Magic Items is dedicated to the expansion and exploration of all the possibilities of magic items in fantasy role playing. Within these pages, you will find many new options to take the magic items of your characters and your campaigns to the next level. There are new powers, new feats and even a few new prestige classes, all focused on the use and creation of magic items. There are rules for expanding the role of intelligent magic items and for placing unique qualities and drawbacks in your magic items. Most importantly, there is a new system, the Mythic System, which supplements the basic rules for creating magical items and allows you to forge items of power in a way which is more in line with the stories and legends of old. With the Mythic System, when you want to create a flaming sword, it matters less that you know how to cast burning hands then it does that you know where to go to pluck a tail feather from the phoenix. With the Mythic System, your swordsmen and rogues will be able to take a more direct hand in constructing what will be their most prized possessions, giving them a greater sense of ownership and accomplishment.