Dungeon World: The Specialists [Compendium Classes]

Hey, everyone!
I just wrote up six new compendium classes for wizards (or anyone else who can cast wizard spells). They focus on specialists in the various arcane schools (divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, and summoning) as well as those who focus on general spells (those without any school at all).

Each specialist includes a compendium class with three moves, five new spells in the appropriate school (one of each level), and some additional bonus content.

The Arcanist (For general spells)
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=12XCUvpJwc6MgCI-k2xEfmd5-xU5vUkSrsew2_p3Ulkc

The Diviner
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1pzMM4iJntqsyVXjFBXBh-_bgVxESy7dDG00pZ7p2Kq4

The Enchanter
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Db3uwGJ1ExEoeNTnJ_E5furGwWKuSp9w8nYQVlQWB30

The Evoker
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1SzInFMG9GxKRKElFiUutRNgoYYwWAMK6c1ehQhKxaBI

The Illusionist
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1TiJSOdWxHitQrIJNMlOruZK6jzkjq7_516zhg-mi1-c


The Summoner
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1phejEFckR6JRCWcxSJmcKmKclQdpEX-O5dP_OSDX3AY

In Google Drive/Docs, these are laid out pretty nicely on three separate pages each, but they changed to single page when I published them. I'm probably going to turn them into PDFs at some point, and might make a collected single PDF with some bonus content if there's interest in the project.

I hope these will be of some use to someone! I'm also open to feedback on them, since they're generally untested.

Thanks!
- Alex

Awesome! Thank you for sharing!

Perfect recall has an awesome concept, but it's utterly broken O_O


edit

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for amazingly powerful spells. It's just that, a wizard at lvl 10 can prepare just one lvl 9 spell—and those lvl 9 spells have epicness inside—plus a puny level 1 spell. You allow a wizard to cast not only the other lvl 9 spell he knows, but all the others as well?! That's crazy talk, I tell you! CRAZY! It's so strong it's basically meaningless. And the fact that you can't forget a spell on a 7-9 doesn't count—with all that power, every attention is welcomed!

Maybe having the effect of the spell being that the wizard can instantly prepare spells like he had his quiet hour? Or that he can instantly cast a total of 9 or 10 spell levels with that single roll?

edit 2

ok I just read Guise of the Dragon. Now that's just really crazy. No one messes with 2d6+stat.

Really? I mean, yes, it's good, but even a +3 fails 1/4 of the time. So, they get an average of 4 unprepared spells (maybe less, factoring in 7-9s).

Would it be more reasonable if it ended on anything under 10? Then, even a good (+3) spellcaster loses the effect 1/2 the time. That's two, maybe 3 unprepared spells.

Edit
Yeah, just saw your edit. Hold 9/10 and spend to cast a spell of that level?

Edit 2
For Guise, why do you find non-2d6 so strange? There's some precedent for various modified rolls, although it might just be too good.

I assume no one ever playtested those spells. Ok, let's work on it.

With 2d6+3, as you can se here, you have an 8.34% to get a miss. And yes, as I posted, since you can always draw unwelcomed attention on a 7-9, it becomes an endless loop of monster slaying—draw attention, slay attention with all you're spells, repeat. And considering that you get a 10+ with a 58.34% chance, I don't know if losing the effect even on a 7-9 could be ok, but here we need playtesting.


For the 3d6, where are those precedents? However, yes, it totally unbalances the fine curve of 2d6+stat that all by itself drives stories in DW just by producing the move snowballing. +3 in all stats is awesome. Claws, fangs and breath also. I would even add wings. But having 3d6+stat in exchange of permanent flaws doesn't seem right. Maybe something like: 6- it's not a miss, treat it always like a result of 7-9?

2d6+stat is sort of the sacrosanct element of the *W games.  Changing that means a dramatic change to the possibility curve, meaning a dramatic change to the narrative.  Maybe that's a big deal.  Maybe it's not?  You'd have to playtest it pretty hard, I suspect.

Cool ideas, though.  Schools of magic are the perfect compendium classes!

A 3d6 reverse move could work under specific circumstances (6- is best and least-likely outcome).  For example:

When you volunteer to pull the sword from the stone, roll-Str and roll an additional die.  On a 10+, you are cowed into backing down, so massive are the others waiting to take their shot at regency and so puny are you by comparison.  On a 7-9, you make a fine showing but to no avail, take +2 forward to parley for work now that they've seen your prowess.  On a 6-, your muscles ripple and the stone cracks as you pull the sword from the stone.

Hey, everyone, thanks for all the replies. Most of this is untested, yes, and some of it's definitely overboard. I actually thought about it quite a bit in bed last night.

The genesis of 3d6 for spells for Guise of the Dragon was basically, originally they were going to lose spellcasting ability. Then, I thought, "but aren't dragons actually known as powerful spellcasters?" and threw that in. But I'm doubting it actually needs casting at all, now, and "While you maintain this form, you cannot cast spells." might be just fine.

For dice-modification precedent, I looked again and I think the closest is the add-a-die and take the highest, and I think that's only for weapons.

Regarding Perfect Recall, yeah, it's definitely too good. One thing I was toying with was "While this spell is active, when you roll to cast a spell. on a 10+ the spell is cast without trouble. On anything less than 10, you burn the spell from your mind; you can never learn, prepare, or cast that spell again. Furthermore, on a miss, this spell ends.". That makes it interesting (to me!) and provides a serious risk and element of choice to the wizard in question.

Arcane Storm, for Evokers, is another problem spell, but I'm not sure what to do with it. It's clunky and too-good.

- Alex

Holy barracuda, antisinecurist! You are so into hard bargain spells! Would you love to play a wizard with that spells?!

I suppose it's a bit too much in the other direction. I'm going to work on few of the more problematic spells now and post an update soon!

Edit: I edited Perfect Recall (Arcanist) and Guise of the Dragon (Enchanter) based on feedback. Also edited Arcane Storm (Evoker), since the old one was troublesome.

Thanks for the ongoing feedback, everyone! Hope these are a bit more playable.

- Alex

I have worked on a compendium class for necromantic wizards. It is included with a monster and some related content from my adventure "The Shipwreck", but of specific note is the spellbook "The Tome of Flesh and Bone" and compendium class "The Necromancer".

The necromancer spells are all also cleric spells, mostly death clerics, so be careful including this if you have a cleric (especially a death cleric) as there may be some overlap.

The Flatliner is actually written by Marshall Miller (mease19) and I believe I just reworded a few things on it.

- Alex