Spellstall (3.5e Class)

Spellstalls

Spellstalls are arcane spellcasters. But they're not like wizards in that they don't control forces with study from spellbooks. And they're not like sorcerers or bards in the sense that they can't manipulate energies at will to create their magic. The energy that surround the Spellstall is what they utilize to cast their spells, but they must prepare these spells in the morning, much like the Druid or Ranger.

Making a Spellstall

The Spellstall, like any other strong spellcasting class, is terrible with combat. They rely heavily on their melee partners, and support them with healing spells. They use techniques to drive away foes instead of fighting them, and as a result work better at fending off hordes than taking on single monsters of rivaling power.

Abilities: Wisdom is the ability that all Spellstall base their spellcasting off of. In order to cast a spell, a Spellstall much have Wisdom of 10 + the spell's level. Also, all of the Spellstall's Save DCs are Wisdom-based. Dexterity is also important, so that the Spellstall can avoid attacks that would otherwise hurt him, and Constitution means more hit points per level to add to the Spellstall's (very low) regular hit point total.

Races: The House of Three Shields doesn't favor any races over others, and any race is accepted into the ranks of Spellstall. However, Aasimar are especially gifted with their inherent advantage in Wisdom (Races of War 3.5e sourcebook), and Tauren from Mulgore (Warcraft supplement) have both the Wisdom and Dexterity warranted for becoming a Spellstall. Elves also benefit from the study of magic, though the frailness of their bodies can prove disastrous in a battle. Gnomes and Humans commonly come after this class, and Half-elves will occasionally also find themselves intertwined with the work of The House.

Alignment: Any, but The House of Three Shields is lawful, and so most students (at least when they start off) are lawful in some shape or form.

Starting Gold: 3d4×10 gp (75 gp).

Starting Age: Complex, or as wizard.

Table: The Spellstall

Hit Die: d4

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Force Shield +4	4	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3		5	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3		5	2	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Force Shield +5	5	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4		5	4	2	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5		5	5	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Divine Comprehension, Force Shield +6	5	5	4	2	0	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6		5	5	5	3	1	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6		5	5	5	4	2	0	—	—	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Force Shield +7	5	5	5	5	3	1	—	—	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7		5	5	5	5	4	2	0	—	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		5	5	5	5	4	3	1	—	—	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Force Shield +8	5	5	5	5	5	4	2	0	—	—
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Divine Comprehension	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	1	—	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9		5	5	5	5	5	5	4	2	0	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Force Shield +9	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	1	—
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	2	1
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	2
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Force Shield +10	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	3
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12		5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledege (Any), Listen (Wis), Profession (—), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis).

Class Features

Spellstalls are primarily spellcasting classes, much like the sorcerer and wizard. All of the following are class features of the Spellstall.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Spellstall has proficiency with 1 simple weapon and no armor.

Spells: A spellstall casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the spellstall spell list. Heis alignment may restrict him from casting certain spells opposed to his moral or ethical beliefs; see Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells, below. A druid must choose and prepare his spells in advance (see below).

To prepare or cast a spell, the spellstall must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a spellstall's spell is 10 + the spell level + the spellstall's Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a spellstall can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Spellstall. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score. He does not have access to any domain spells or granted powers, as a cleric does.

A spellstall prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though he cannot lose a prepared spell to cast a cure spell in its place. A spellstall may prepare and cast any spell on the spellstall spell list, provided that he can cast spells of that level, but he must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation.

A majority of the Spellstall's spells are used for stalling in combat (as the name would imply), but some spells are used as utilities. The training that a Spellstall undergoes means that some spells can be used at lower levels (like wall of fire), while others are used at higher levels (dispel magic, for example):

0—Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Daze, Flare, Light, Purify Food and Drink, Resistance, Shield, Shield of Faith, Virtue

1st—Aid, Bane, Barkskin, Calm Animals, Color Spray, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Undead, Doom, Endure Elements, Expeditious Retreat, Grease, Hold Portal, Hypnotism, Invisibility to Animals, Invisibility to Undead, Mage Armor, Protection from Chaos, Protection from Evil, Protection from Good, Protection from Law, Random Action, Sanctuary, Shield Other, Sleep.

2nd—Animal Trance, Blur, Cat's Grace, Cause Fear, Cure Moderate Wounds, Darkness, Delay Poison, Displacement, Endurance, Fog Cloud, Gentle Repose, Glitterdust, Hold Animal, Hypnotic Pattern, Invisibility, Lesser Restoration, Magic Vestment, Mirror Image, Obscuring Mist, Protection from Arrows, Pyrotechnics. Scare, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Tree Shape, Web

3rd—Bestow Curse. Blindness/Deafness, Blink, Confusion, Cure Serious Wounds, Deeper Darkness, Enthrall, Fear, Fire Shield, Gaseous Form, Halt Undead, Haste, Hold Person, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Prayer, Protection from Elements, Remove Disease, Slow, Stinking Cloud, Wall of Ice, Water Breathing, Water Walk, Wind Wall

4th—Antiplant Shell, Cure Critical Wounds, Greater Invisibility, Hallucinatory Terrain, Hold Monster, Invisibility Sphere, Leomund's Secure Shelter, Meld into Stone, Neutralize Poison, Resilient Sphere, Quench Rainbow Pattern, Repel Vermin, Restoration, Sleet Storm, Solid Fog, Spell Immunity, Status, Stoneskin, Tree Stride, Wall of Fire, Wall of Iron, Wall of Thorns

5th—Bigby's Interposing Hand, Blade Barrier, Break Enchantment, Death Ward, Dispel Chaos, Dispel Evil, Dispel Good, Dispel Law, Dispel Magic, Fordiddance, Insect Plague, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Mind Fog, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Mislead, Raise Dead, Repel Wood, Spell Resistance, Teleport, Transmute Rock to Mud, Wall of Force, Wall of Stone

6th—Antilife Shell, Antimagic Field, Break Enchantment, Globe of Invulnerability, Greater Dispel Magic, Guards and Wards, Heal, Heroes' Feast, Liveoak, Mass Haste, Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, Repulsion, Spell Resistance, Statue, Wind Walk, Word of Recall

7th—Animate Objects, Banishment, Blasphemy, Dictum, Ethereal Jaunt, Forcecage, Greater Restoration, Holy Word, Irresistible Dance, Mass Heal, Mass Invisibility, Regeneration, Resurrection, Teleport without Error, Word of Chaos

8th—Cloak of Chaos, Holy Aura, Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere, Power Word, Stun, Prismatic Wall, Protection from Spells, Reverse Gravity, Shield of Law, Temporal Stasis, Unholy Aura

9th—Earthquake, Force Blast, Imprisonment, Limited Wish, Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Power Word, Blind, Prismatic Sphere, Time Stop, True Resurrection, Absorbtion (CoA)

Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells: A spellstall can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.

Force Shield (Su): At first level, a Spellstall gains shield of force that improves his armor class. He gains an invisible but tangible field of force (much like mage armor) which provides +4 to his AC. This bonus increases by +1 at 4th level, and every 3 levels thereafter.

Divine Comprehension: Through extensive training and research throughout her life, the Spellstall is able to gather information about the divine side of magic. At 7th and 14th level, a Spellstall can add 1 spell from the Cleric, Druid, Favored Soul, Paladin, Ranger, Shugenja, or Spirit Shaman spell list to their own. The spell's level must be at least 1 level lower than the highest spell level that a Spellstall can cast, and its spell level does not change when added to the Spellstall's spell list (so a Cleric's plane shift cannot be treated as though it were 1st level spell in the Spellstall's list. It must be put into the 5th-level spell list).

Ex-Spellstalls

When a Spellstall blatantly or grotesquely goes against the policies of The House of Three Shields (such as not fulfilling given quests, no longer following the religion, or hurting other members of The House), he finds himself unable to level. He does not lose his spells or abilities (for these are gained through study), but further attempts to gain arcane power from his class fail for whatever reason.

Epic Spellstall

Table: The Epic Spellstall

Hit Die: d4

Level	Special
21st	Divine Comprehension, Force Shield +6
22nd
23rd	Bonus Feat
24th
25th	Force Shield +7
26th	Bonus Feat
27th
28th	Divine Comprehension
29th	Force Shield +8
30th	Bonus Feat
2 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Force Shield: Increases to the Spellstall's AC continue to advance every 4th level.

Divine Comprehension: The Spellstall can now select 1 Divine Spell from any spell level (but still only from Cleric, Druid, Favored Soul, Paladin, Ranger, Shugenja, or Spirit Shaman spell lists) to add to his repertoire.

Bonus Feats: The epic Spellstall gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic Spellstall bonus feats) at 23rd, 26th, and 30th level.

Epic Spellstall Bonus Feat List: Augmented Alchemy, Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell, Automatic Still Spell, Combat Casting, Craft Epic Magic Arms and Armor. Craft Epic Rod, Craft Epic Staff, Craft Epic Wondrous Item, Efficient Item Creation, Enhance Spell, Epic Spell Focus, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Spellcasting, Familiar Spell, Forge Epic Ring, Ignore Material Components, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Improved Spell Capacity, Intensify Spell, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Scribe Epic Scroll, Spell Focus, Spell Knowledge. Spell Mastery, Spell Penetration, Spell Stowaway, Spell Opportunity, Spontaneous Spell, and Tenacious Magic.

Elven Spellstall Starting Package

Armor: None, speed 30 ft.

Weapons: Quarterstaff (1d6, crit x2, 4 lb., Large, Bludgeoning) Shortbow (1d6, crit x3, 60 ft., 2 lb., Medium-size, Piercing)

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 2 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
Spellcraft	4	Int	—
Concentration	4	Con	—
Listen	4	Wis	—
Spot	4	Wis	—
Knowledge (Arcana)	4	Wis	—
Knowledge (Nature)	4	Wis	—

Feat: Toughness.

Gear: Backpack with waterskin, one day's trail rations, bedroll, sack, and flint and steel. Hooded lantern, 5 pints of oil. Spell component pouch. Quiver with 20 arrows.

Gold: 3d4 gp.

Campaign Information

Playing a Spellstall

Religion: The House of Three Shields is strongly based around Tectum, the God of Shields, so most of its students follow the same religion. But some enter The House with different religious opinions, and leave The House with those same ideals. Just about any religion can be followed, but The House of Three Shields strongly advocates against religions with patrons who don't care for intelligence or openly oppose education.

Other Classes: Spellstalls work well with just about any class, and are respected for their talents. The class that a Spellstall finds hardest to deal with is the Barbarian, a strong advocate against education. However, there are intelligent barbarians, and Spellstall will make exceptions for those who prove themselves worthy in the ways of intellect. Overall, though, the Spellstall chooses his companions based on their intelligence and wisdom.

Combat: No spellstall will ever run into battle head-on. The structure of a spellstall teaches the complete opposite tactics. Spellstalls do their best to delay opponents while their allies make attacks or sneak around (giving assassins and rogues the opportunity to prepare for extra dice of damage). When a spellstall is attacked in melee, he relies on his force shield to protect him, and then escapes in order to let his allies take over the fight.

Advancement: Spellstalls, due to being arcane spellcasters, are disadvantaged when it comes to multiclassing into melee classes, because the armor that melee characters wear interferes with the gestures that spellstalls need to make for their magic to work. Some spellstalls multiclass into monk in order to get the good saves, while others may take arcane prestige classes to further their arcane power in other ways. Spellstalls also multiclass into other classes that The House of Three Shields offers.

Spellstalls in the World

“	They may not feel me now, but when the earth begins to scream and rip and swallow them up, they will know of my existence.	”
—Contego Escudo, Ex-Spellstall during the Dwarven Wars

Spellstalls are not usually warriors who serve The House of three Shields. They are scholars, preachers, and teachers. The most religious of classes of The House, Spellstalls make sure to follow the lore of their god by not seeking combat. Those who do are looked down upon by other Spellstalls, though they're not necessarily exiled (they have not broken the rules of the house; they've just ignored the suggestions). A wandering Spellstall is likely to be someone who has been exiled from The House or is looking to learn more of the world outside of The House.

Daily Life: A Spellstall takes time out of every day in his life to study and pay tribute to his god. Other than that, a Spellstall is more or less free to do as he pleases, so long as his actions are free from bigotry and ignorance.

Notables: Contego Escudo, male human Ex-Spellstall: Left The House of Three Shields to join with a variety of other malevolent spellcasters and powerful outsiders in an attempt to wipe out the Dwarves of Oerth. This leader of the Dwarven Genocide was later killed in the Dwarven Wars and his soul was taken into the Abyss.

Sinnan Vitricar, male jungle elf Spellstall/Rogue: Recovered The Moaning Diamond from the Pit Fiend Juul'gasand

Alis Tolmir, female aasimar Spellstall: Head of The House of Three Shields, and the first to develop the spell Force Blast

Organizations: Spellstalls have no large organizations other than The House. Small groups of spellstalls may meet to discuss new studies and potential spells, but the most common place a spellstall will meet others of his kind is under the roof of one of the Three Shields.

NPC Reactions: Spellstalls are reacted to well in civilized lands. Common folk see spellstalls in much the same way as scholars, except that spellstalls can also use magic and aren't bound to towers or libraries. Uncivilized lands view spellstalls as just other would-be soldiers who are afraid of real battle.

Spellstall Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Arcana, Nature, Religion) can research Spellstalls to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (Arcana, Nature, Religion)

DC	Result
5	Spellstalls are spellcasting-intensive scholars under The House of Three Shields.
10	Spellstalls don't use offensive spells at all. They commonly hold off enemies while their allies deal heavy damage.
15	Spellstalls' intensive studying results in the ability to use spells such as wall of fire and temporal stasis much earlier than wizards or sorcerers of their level.
20	Give the names of notable Spellstalls and their achievements, and also tell the roundabout location of the nearest House.

Spellstalls in the Game

Spellstalls always have a past of study and diligence. They can be healers or scholars, and all that is in between.

Adaptation: If adding The House of Three Shields is too much, Spellstalls can be religious variants of the Cleric, who use arcane powers instead of divine, and don't have domains, but still pray to their deity daily.

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