And now the third subclass release from Broken Knives: The School of Scrolls wizard subclass.
You can access the subclass on dmsguild.com here.
Here on the blog we'll discuss some of the thought and design processes behind the class and why we've made the design decisions we've made.
So what's the basic idea of the subclass? The School of Scrolls is a wizard based on a simple idea of a wizard that has scrolls on him at all times. In fact one point in the design process he was going to use exclusively scrolls instead of a spellbook.
Part of the description we gave the artist was:
“Bundles of scrolls hang from his belt in several places. On his back he carries an open backpack filled to overfull with scrolls. In one hand he holds a scroll that is unfurled and flapping in the wind.”
The 2nd level feature, Scroll Savant, is the cornerstone ability of the class allowing them to make limited versions of spell scrolls tied to their Arcane Recovery ability. It was loosely based on one of the abilities of the 5E Artificer draft.
The other 2nd level feature, Scroll Adept, allows the wizard to sometimes preserve an important spell scroll by casting it from a spell slot instead of consuming it. We wanted this wizard to also get some bonuses to using traditional spell scrolls.
The 6th level feature, Drafting Expert, is a cool ability that essentailly allows the wizard to use his allies actions as a way to cast his spells by giving them one of his draft scrolls. It also gives him one free draft scroll per day.
The 10th level feature, Scroll Master, allows them to use spell scrolls from any class.
The 14th feature, Speed Reader, allows them to use a spell scroll as a bonus action once per long or short rest.
We also want to not only give the players options, but to give the subclass some substance in the world. To that end, we included a brief description of Darian the Studious, a School of Scrolls NPC in Waterdeep. His description also includes an adventure hook that a DM might use. We also detail how the School of Scrolls might fit in the world of Ravenloft.
We look forward to any feedback!