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Player's Handbook

School of Illusion

You focus your studies on magic that dazzles the senses, befuddles the mind, and tricks even the wisest folk. Your magic is subtle, but the illusions crafted by your keen mind make the impossible seem real. Some illusionists — including many gnome wizards — are benign tricksters who use their spells to entertain. Others are more sinister masters of deception, using their illusions to frighten and fool others for their personal gain.
hit dice: 1d6 per level
hit points at 1st level: 6 + your Constitution modifier
hit points at higher levels: 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution modifier per level after 1st
armor proficiencies: None
weapon proficiencies: Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows
tools: None
saving throws: Intelligence, Wisdom
skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion
starting equipment:
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

  • (a) a quarterstaff or (b) a dagger

  • (a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus

  • (a) a scholar’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

  • A spellbook


spellcasting:
As a student of arcane magic, you have a spellbook containing spells that show the first glimmerings of your true power. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the wizard spell list.   Cantrips   At 1st level, you know three cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn additional wizard cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Wizard table.   Spellbook   At 1st level, you have a spellbook containing six 1st-level wizard spells of your choice. Your spellbook is the repository of the wizard spells you know, except your cantrips, which are fixed in your mind.   Preparing and Casting Spells   The Wizard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your wizard spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.   You prepare the list of wizard spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of wizard spells from your spellbook equal to your Intelligence modifier + your wizard level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.   For example, if you’re a 3rd-level wizard, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an Intelligence of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination, chosen from your spellbook. If you prepare the 1st-level spell magic missile, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells.   You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of wizard spells requires time spent studying your spellbook and memorizing the incantations and gestures you must make to cast the spell: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.   Spellcasting Ability   Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your wizard spells, since you learn your spells through dedicated study and memorization. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a wizard spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.   Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier   Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier   Ritual Casting   You can cast a wizard spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell in your spellbook. You don’t need to have the spell prepared.   Spellcasting Focus   You can use an arcane focus (see chapter 5, “Equip­ment”) as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.   Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher   Each time you gain a wizard level, you can add two wizard spells of your choice to your spellbook for free. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table. On your adventures, you might find other spells that you can add to your spellbook (see the “Your Spellbook” sidebar).   YOUR SPELLBOOK   The spells that you add to your spellbook as you gain levels reflect the arcane research you conduct on your own, as well as intellectual breakthroughs you have had about the nature of the multiverse. You might find other spells during your adventures. You could discover a spell recorded on a scroll in an evil wizard’s chest, for example, or in a dusty tome in an ancient library. Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it.   Copying that spell into your spellbook involves reproducing the basic form of the spell, then deciphering the unique system of notation used by the wizard who wrote it. You must practice the spell until you understand the sounds or gestures required, then transcribe it into your spellbook using your own notation.   For each level of the spell, the process takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp. The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to master it, as well as the fine inks you need to record it. Once you have spent this time and money, you can prepare the spell just like your other spells.   Replacing the Book. You can copy a spell from your own spellbook into another book—for example, if you want to make a backup copy of your spellbook. This is just like copying a new spell into your spellbook, but faster and easier, since you understand your own notation and already know how to cast the spell. You need spend only 1 hour and 10 gp for each level of the copied spell.   If you lose your spellbook, you can use the same procedure to transcribe the spells that you have prepared into a new spellbook. Filling out the remainder of your spellbook requires you to find new spells to do so, as normal. For this reason, many wizards keep backup spellbooks in a safe place.   The Book’s Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.
class features:
Arcane Recovery   You have learned to regain some of your magical energy by studying your spellbook. Once per day when you finish a short rest, you can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your wizard level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher.   For example, if you’re a 4th-level wizard, you can recover up to two levels worth of spell slots. You can recover either a 2nd-level spell slot or two 1st-level spell slots.   Illusion Savant   Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy an illusion spell into your spellbook is halved.   Improved Minor Illusion   When you choose this school at 2nd level, you learn the minor illusion cantrip. If you already know this cantrip, you learn a different wizard cantrip of your choice. The cantrip doesn’t count against your number of cantrips known.   When you cast minor illusion, you can create both a sound and an image with a single casting of the spell.   Ability Score Improvement   When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.   Malleable Illusions     Starting at 6th level, when you cast an illusion spell that has a duration of 1 minute or longer, you can use your action to change the nature of that illusion (using the spell’s normal parameters for the illusion), provided that you can see the illusion.   Illusory Self   Beginning at 10th level, you can create an illusory duplicate of yourself as an instant, almost instinctual reaction to danger. When a creature makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to interpose the illusory duplicate between the attacker and yourself. The attack automatically misses you, then the illusion dissipates.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.   Illusory Reality   By 14th level, you have learned the secret of weaving shadow magic into your illusions to give them a semi-reality. When you cast an illusion spell of 1st level or higher, you can choose one inanimate, nonmagical object that is part of the illusion and make that object real. You can do this on your turn as a bonus action while the spell is ongoing. The object remains real for 1 minute. For example, you can create an illusion of a bridge over a chasm and then make it real long enough for your allies to cross.   The object can’t deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone.   Spell Mastery   At 18th level, you have achieved such mastery over certain spells that you can cast them at will. Choose a 1st-level wizard spell and a 2nd-level wizard spell that are in your spellbook. You can cast those spells at their lowest level without expending a spell slot when you have them prepared. If you want to cast either spell at a higher level, you must expend a spell slot as normal.   By spending 8 hours in study, you can exchange one or both of the spells you chose for different spells of the same levels.   Signature Spells   When you reach 20th level, you gain mastery over two powerful spells and can cast them with little effort. Choose two 3rd-level wizard spells in your spellbook as your signature spells. You always have these spells prepared, they don’t count against the number of spells you have prepared, and you can cast each of them once at 3rd level without expending a spell slot. When you do so, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.   If you want to cast either spell at a higher level, you must expend a spell slot as normal.
subclass options:
LevelProficiency BonusFeaturesCantrips Known1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th
1st+2Spellcasting, Arcane Recovery32--------
2nd+2Illusion Savant, Improved Minor Illusion33--------
3rd+2-342-------
4th+2Ability Score Improvement443-------
5th+3-4432------
6th+3Malleable Illusions4433------
7th+3-44331-----
8th+3Ability Score Improvement44332-----
9th+4-443331----
10th+4Illusory Self543332----
11th+4-5433321---
12th+4Ability Score Improvement5433321---
13th+5-54333211--
14th+5Illusory Reality54333211--
15th+5-543332111-
16th+5Ability Score Improvement543332111-
17th+6-5433321111
18th+6Spell Mastery5433331111
19th+6Ability Score Improvement5433332111
20th+6Signature Spells5433332211

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