Cardologist

Description: The cardologist are magically gifted wayward geeky (or just plain clueless)
teenagers, 20-30 something’s, or middle-aged people that are more predisposed to
collectable card games than they are to studying magic. They have amassed a huge
assortment of various collectables and, in countless hours of studying and dreaming, have
lost touch with reality and begun to think the games real…Combining this disillusion
with the innate magical abilities they possess they have inadvertently spawned a new
style of magic known as Cardology. A Cardologist can imbue normal cards with magic
spells much in the way a Sorcerer can conjure magic from inner glam. With proper time,
imagination, and a good teacher, a Cardologist can make a card of just about any spell
ever conceived.

Role: Cardologists have spent most of their teenage years engaged in “Role-Playing
Games”, chess, and various other gaming pursuits. Through reenacting legendary
conquests of former adventurers and legendary heroes, they have gained much insight to
the adventuring world far outside their mother’s basements.
The Cardologist isn’t a man of social graces and definitely isn’t a bold warrior of
morals or ideals. He usually can’t hold his own in a conversation, let alone a fight! Most
heroes will actually find the Cardologist to be obnoxious. All heroines (except a kindly
few) will find him to be completely unbearable. However his distinguished knowledge of
monsters and baddies will make him invaluable to an adventuring party.

Preferred and Barred Schools: A Cardologist can study freely any school of magic
besides Metamagic. His abilities to manipulate spell properties occur naturally as his
levels increase.

Secondary Skills: Required: Scribe, Preferred: Acting….

Weapon Proficiencies: None. I suppose the Cardologist might try to stab someone with
a pen but other than that they are completely inept with weapons and combat. They
receive no weapon proficiencies ever! and fight at a -5 to all non-magical attacks. Spells
that require a touch attack are made at the Cardologist’s normal wizard THACO.

Non-Weapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Artistic Ability (Drawing, Painting, or Calligraphy),

Beastiology, Draconology, Read/Write (Any language). Recommended: Languages
(Monstrous), Ancient History, Languages (Ancient), Spell Craft, and Heraldry.

Equipment: The Cardoligist travels lightly, carrying only clothes, cards, and artist
supplies. He will inevitably forget important needed items on real adventures.
He does not have any armor restriction save for what his strength allows. The powers
used in card creation are not altered by cold steel and somatic gestures are not hindered
by lack of movement in this style. However his lack of combat knowledge makes him
non-proficient with heavy armor types and he looses ½ of the AC bonus when attempting
to wear them.
Special Benefits:

Card Magic:
*Cardologists do not use verbal or somatic components during the casting of their spells.
All of their spells require the material component of the cards which are destroyed during
the casting of the spells.
*Cardologists can alter the basic properties of the spells they imbue onto their cards. As
they grow in talent and power, the alterations to the spells can become more profound.
The known talents the cardologist have mastered are listed here.

1st Level: Imbue Card Magic: The cardologist can imbue cards with magic in 30 minutes
per spell level (see hindrances).
2nd Level: Alter Spell: The Cardologist can alter the parameters of spells. He can do this
at anytime on any spell according to the chart below (see chart below).
3rd Level: Erase Cards: The cardologist can remove a magical effect from one of his
cards or the card of another cardologist of equal or lower level making it re-writable.
(Cannot be done in combat and requires a full round of concentration and then more time
to re-draw the card (see hindrances, ass!).)
4th Level: Waterproof: The Cardologist has perfected his ability to make cards that are
resistant to water and will not become useless if moistened by say, MAN URINE?!
6th Level: Fireproof: The Cards are now immune to normal fire and gain a +2 bonus to
save against magical fire.
10th Level: Card Empathy: The artist is profoundly attached to his cards and he can find
any card from his deck anywhere as long as he concentrates on it for one round. In this
way he can find stolen or lost cards as well as plant tracers on people if he is slick enough
(fat chance!).
12th Level: Wild Card: The Cardologist can shuffle his deck in combat and draw a card at
random. This has an inititative modifier of 4. The card he draws has its effects doubled.
(Roll a die to select a spell from the list of the cardologist current cards.)
14th Level: Indestructible: Cards are immune to magical fire and acid.
18th Level: 52 Card Pickup: The Cardologist’s entire deck can be sacrificed to create
mass destruction if he chooses to do so. There must be at least 5 spell levels per character
level in his deck to use this power.
All within a radius equal to the character’s level times 20 feet will be effected by a
magical explosion that causes 1d100 points of damage per 3 levels of the Cardologist.
The Cardologist himself has a 50% chance to be effected by the blast, a 25% chance to be
sent to a random plane of existence, a 15% chance of being teleported to his favorite
place in existence, a 7% chance of being blown out of the blast area and landing softly on
his ass (1d4 damage), a 2% chance of being shot straight up a number of feet equal to the
damage, or a 1% chance of staying put and nothing happening to him at all.

The Cardologist has a limit to what components of a spell he may alter. The table below
gives a list of alterations and times per day he make those alterations to spells as he
progresses in ability.
Lvl. Reduce Range AoE Duration Saving
(Spell Casting Throw
Level) time
1(1st )
2 1
3 (2nd) X1.5
4 2 x1.5
5 (3rd) X1.5
6 3 -1
7 (4th)
8 4 X2
9 (5th) X2
10 X2
11 -2
(6th)
12 5
13 X2.5
14 X2.5
(7th)
15 X2.5
16 6 -- -3
(8th)
17 --
18 X3
(9th)
19 -- X3
20 7 X3 -4

 Reduce Casting Time:

This alters the caster initiative in combat. It works to counteract the Card Reliance
modifier to casting spells. If it puts the casters initiative into the negative range, then he is
free to move, use a magical item, or nerd out as he sees fit for the rest of the round.

 Range:
Altering the range of a spell increases the effective distance the wizard can cast it against
a target. The wizard must still be in sight of the target unless otherwise specified by the
spells description.

 AoE:
Increase the AoE of a spell by the multiplier given on the chart.

 Duration:
This ability extends the duration of a spell by the multiplier on the chart.
 Saving Throw:
This is a potentially deadly ability. The cardologist level increases the power and
effectiveness of a spell to make it more difficult to resist by most normal people.

Special Hindrances:

Card Reliance
 The Cardologist takes great care in detailing his cards so that each one is artistically
and magically perfect. They are treasured items and can be quite expensive to create.
Each card must be made with at least 5 GP worth of material for a first level spell
with that amount tripling for each additional level (15 GP for a second level card, 45
GP for a third, 135 for a forth, and so on…).
 Also, since the card is destroyed in casting, the Cardologist really doesn’t want to put
holes in his deck just to save a party member or himself from death! Oh, wait…this
is real death were talking about, maybe he will. Regardless, he will hesitate for a
number of initiative points proportionate to the card level before casting:
Card Spell Level # Added to Initiative
1-2 1d2
3-4 1d3
5-6 1d4
7-8 1d6
9 1d10

 Another hindrance is that the cards take triple the normal time to make as opposed to
a normal wizard’s study time. They are not permanent magical items either. Cards
will lose their magic in a number of weeks equal to the Cardologist’s level. This
means they must be used or they will only be pretty pictures instead of magic items
after the allotted time is up.
 The size of the Cardologist’s deck depends on his level too. He can only hold 10
spell levels of cards per level at any one time. Anymore and the Cardologist has a
10% chance per overextended spell level that any card out of his deck will fail when
cast. (Ex: Kevin is a fifth level Cardologist. He can enchant up to 50 spell levels into
his deck and each card will work without fail under normal conditions. But if he
chooses to, he can enchant three more third level cards and still have them work 10%
of the time on the next use. So if the next card he tries to use is third level, failure or
success, the next after that will have a 40% chance of working and so on until he is
back into his normal capacity.
Geeky/ Nerdy/ Dorky/ Spastic Traits:
 It is up to the player to decide exactly what the PC’s traits are, but in any case, they
give the character a -3 in any social encounter check or related charisma checks.
Also, any attempts at being smooth or sly instantly fail in a social situation.