The Arcanist is the name for all
who specialize in a certain type of arcane style. There are ten arcane
styles. Seven of them are a type of magic, but Life-Shaping, Psionics and
Science aren't. I'll give a brief description of each type:
THE GOOD STYLES
-Winddancing
Winddancers
can perform magical rituals by dancing. These rituals bestow the recipients
with special power. The power of Winddancing is supplied by the God of
Air (In my world, that's Archios).
-Preserving
Preservers gather
their power by draining the surroundings a little bit. The environment
will not be damaged in any way. They cast a spell by shaping this power.
The power of Preserving is supplied by the goddess of nature (Paline).
-Life-Shaping
Every creature
has a life force. Life-Shapers have learnt to tap energy from their life
force to create new life. Combined with organic materials they can create
new specimen. The power of Life-Shaping is supplied by the god of water
(Zurlin or Ceptar)
-Psionics
With the return
of Ceptar, a new style became available. Psionics. How it works is explained
in The Psionicist Handbook, Skills & Powers and the Dark Sun Campaign
Setting, so I think there's no need to put it here...
THE NEUTRAL STYLES
-Science
Science is the
magic of the mechanism. Scientist know a lot about mechanical devices and
they can create complex things themselves. Without the magic from the maintainer
of laws (Volion), the Scientist would be unable to create anything.
-Channeling
Channelers are
able to cast spells by draining power from the Sun and shaping this power
into something useful. This power is harder to shape, but more powerful
than the power coming from the environment. Channeling is supplied by the
goddess of the Sun (Ellea)
-Wild
Magic
Wild Mages gather
their power from anything. Plants, Rock, Animals, Air, Water, Fire all
these things contain some magical power. No magic is so intense (and unreliable)as
Wild Magic. This combined power is too strong for a mortal to shape, but
those who dare can exect the unexpected. Wild Magic is made possible by
the God of Chaos (Zarbald or Tzeribald)
THE EVIL STYLES
-Necromancy
Necromancers
gather their powers from another dimension called "The Black". They use
this this power for various things, including draining the living and animating
the dead. This power is supplied by the god of earth (Krundar).
-Defiling
This is similar
to preserving, but the surroundings are drained entirely, leaving nothing
but gray ashes. This power is supplied by (Karinal).
-Burn-Rite
A truly evil
style where the Ritualist gathers his power by burning living creatures.
This style is extremely powerful, as the living soul contains a lot of
energy that can easily be manipulated.
All Arcanists
advance as Wizards, have 1d4 hit points, save as Wizards and have a Wizard
Thac0 improvement unless stated otherwise.
