Specialist Mage

Specialist Mage
Class
Class Group	Wizard
Primary Ability Scores	Intelligence and 1 one additional depending on school
Restrictions
Race Restriction	see below
Alignment	LG NG CG LN TN CN LE NE CE
Weapon Restriction	Can use daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaves
Body Armor Restriction	Robes only
Headgear Restriction	Can't use metal helmets, can use ioun stones.
Shield Restriction	Can't use shields
Weapons
Max Proficiency Allowed	1 point/proficiency
Quick Weapon Slots	2
Magic
Able to cast Cleric Spells	No
Able to cast Mage Spells	Special, see article
Quick Spell Slots	3
Level-up Gain
HP with Level	see table
Proficiency with Level	1 point every 5 levels
Lore with Level	+3 lore points/lvl
Other Information
Notable Professionals	Edwin Odesseiron, Dynaheir, Xan, Xzar

This page is for specialist mages, the mage class kits.

Introduction

Specialist Mages are mages specialized in one of eight schools of magic.

By specializing: they receive 1 additional spell slot in every spell level; a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells of their school (all spells, including priest spells cast on them); and give enemies a -2 to save against spells of their school; but cannot learn or cast spells from an opposing school (including from scrolls). The saving throw bonus applies to items such as when an Invoker uses Wand of Fire.

In order for mages to cast a spell, first they need to successfully scribe a mage spell scroll into their spellbook (scroll lost in process regardless of success or failure). A mage may have any number of spells scribed and available to memorize. They must choose which spells they will have available for immediate use by placing them into a limited number of spell slots. The mage must then rest for eight hours to memorize the spells, which prepares them for casting.

Specialist mages have a 15% bonus in writing spells from scrolls of their specialization to their spellbook, but receive a 15% penalty when writing spells outside their chosen school. Effectively a difference of 3 Intelligence for most characters to learn new spells.

Racial constraint: Only elves, half-elves and humans can become specialist mages. Gnomes will automatically become illusionists. Depending on the chosen school, a specialist will have an extra character ability minimum requirement.

If a specialist mage dual-classes into Cleric, they can cast cleric spells of their opposite school; additionally, cleric spells of their chosen school also gain a -2 save penalty for enemies.

Ability scores table

Character Ability Score	Minimum Score^^
Strength	3
Dexterity	3
Constitution	3
Intelligence^	9
Wisdom	3
Charisma	3

During character creation, rolls below the minimum value for the class will be increased to that value. This table uses the values for Humans, other Races have modified ability scores.

^ Prime Requisites for Dual-classing.

^^ Baseline values for all class kits. Each kit also has one increased minimum ability score.

• Enhanced Edition note: Intelligence score determines up to which levels of spells the character can learn, counting in both natural scores and item altering values.

Types of Specialist Mage, race restrictions and min. ability scores

There are eight Specialist Mage class kits, for each of the eight schools of arcane magic. Each school is restricted against learning spells of their opposing school(s). In addition, each school increases one minimum ability score requirement.

There are many inconsistencies between the games, their editions and the related manuals: As in pen-and-paper rules, the original Baldur's Gate has for some specialists two schools of opposition applied, namely Conjuration for Invokers and Necromancy for Transmuters. The former, however, isn't listed in the manual. The game's successor removes these secondary opposing schools but oddly "fixes" the missing entry in the manual, displaying now false information for Invokers. The Enhanced Editions keep the concept of only one school of opposition, but also keep the mistake in the Adventurer's Guide and adding another one by stating, Conjuration would be the opposed school for Enchanters instead of Invocation.

The following table uses the correct information directly from the game files.

Races	Kit Name	Chosen School	Restricted School	Minimum ability score	Minimum Value
Human	Abjurer	Abjuration	Alteration	Wisdom	15
Human, Half-Elf	Conjurer	Conjuration	Divination	Constitution	15
Human, Half-Elf, Elf	Diviner	Divination	Conjuration	Wisdom	16
Human, Half-Elf, Elf	Enchanter	Enchantment	Invocation	Charisma	16
Human, Gnome	Illusionist	Illusion	Necromancy	Dexterity	16
Human	Invoker	Invocation	Enchantment Conjuration (only in classic Baldur's Gate 1) Baldur's Gate (1998) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign. Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign.	Constitution	16
Human	Necromancer	Necromancy	Illusion	Wisdom	16
Human, Half-Elf	Transmuter	Alteration	Abjuration Necromancy (only in classic Baldur's Gate 1) Baldur's Gate (1998) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign. Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign.	Dexterity	15

Schools of magic

• Alteration – this school has its focus on spells that alter physical properties of some creature, thing, or condition in many different ways.
• Abjuration – this school focuses on many spells that may protect or offer resistance from all kinds of magical or physical abilities, create physical or magical barriers, enable the banishment of creatures to another plane of existence and spells that alter some status effects.
• Conjuration / Summoning – this school focuses on the conjuration of items, creatures not related to the undead, or calling forth energies to serve the caster. It also enables a caster to send creatures to other places, either over long distances or even to a whole different plane.
• Divination – this school focuses on identifying items of magical nature, finding hidden things, predicting the future, foiling deceptive spells or learning long forgotten secrets.
• Enchantment / Charm – this school is focused on the manipulation of the mind of any creature.
• Invocation / Evocation – this school has its focus around spells that manipulate energy or tap into unseen sources of power in order to produce a desired end.
• Illusion – this school focuses on spells that alter appearance or deceive the senses or minds of others.
• Necromancy – this school focuses on manipulating the power of life and death. Spells of this school can heal their target, drain life from the victim to the caster and allow for the summoning of undead minions.
• None / Generalist: Not a real school, but wizard spells of level 10 all have no school in Enhanced Edition, meaning no Specialist Mage can benefit from the saving throw advantages described below. Not selectable as spell school.

Specialist Mage Spellbook

Specialist mages use spells from the wizard spellbook, excluding those of the respective opposing school.

Following are listed for each specialist the arcane spells (ordered first by level) that benefit from incoming saving throws as well as from the penalty to those of their enemies; keep in mind that divine spells also carry these advantages.

• Abjurer: No spell of the school of Abjuration has a saving throw.
• Conjurer: Grease, Glitterdust, Flame Arrow, Prismatic Spray and the Symbols Death, Fear and Stun.
• Diviner: Know Alignment
• Enchanter: Charm Person, Sleep, Ray of Enfeeblement, Dire Charm, Hold Person, Confusion, Emotion: Hopelessness, Chaos, Domination, Feeblemind and Hold Monster.
• Illusionist: Blindness, Spook and Deafness.
• Invoker: Chromatic Orb, Stinking Cloud, Web, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Sunfire, Chain Lightning, Delayed Blast Fireball, Bigby's Clenched Fist, Incendiary Cloud, Black Blade of Disaster and Bigby's Crushing Hand.
• Necromancer: Chill Touch, Ghoul Touch, Horror, Hold Undead, Skull Trap, Contagion, Control Undead, Finger of Death, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting and the Wail of the Banshee.
• Transmuter: Burning Hands, Color Spray, Slow, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Polymorph Other, Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone and Sphere of Chaos.

Saving throw bonuses also apply to items.

• Invoker: Wand of Fire

Note that the Necromancy spell Spirit Armor requires the recipient to make a saving throw when the duration ends, or they will take damage; this makes Necromancers worse suited for casting this spell.

A quick rundown of some notable spells each specialist gives up. Specialists with a long list of excluded spells clearly have substantial limitations that should be considered when choosing this kit. Spells within < > are similar improved versions, or direct counters of each other:

• Abjurer gives up arcane Alteration spells such as Knock, Vocalize, <Slow, Haste, Improved Haste>, Stoneskin, Tenser's Transformation, <Polymorph Self, Shapechange>, <Ruby Ray of Reversal, Spellstrike>, Time Stop
• Conjurer gives up arcane Divination spells such as Identify, True Sight
• Diviner gives up arcane Conjuration spells such as Find Familiar, Glitterdust, Power Word, Blind, Power Word, Silence, Symbol, Stun, Limited Wish, Summon Nishruu
• Enchanter gives up arcane Evocation spells such as Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Agannazar's Scorcher, Fireball, Incendiary Cloud, Melf's Minute Meteors, Black Blade of Disaster, Bigby's Clenched Fist, <Minor Sequencer, Spell Sequencer, Spell Trigger>, <Contingency, Chain Contingency>, Limited Wish, Web, Mordenkainen's Sword, Death Fog
• Illusionist gives up arcane Necromancy spells such as Animate Dead, Death Spell, <Skull Trap, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting>, Energy Drain
• Invoker gives up arcane Enchantment spells such as Friends, Luck, Charm Person, Sleep, Emotion: Hopelessness, Domination, Feeblemind, Greater Malison
• Necromancer gives up arcane Illusion spells such as <Invisibility, Invisibility, 10' Radius, Shadow Door, Improved Invisibility, Mass Invisibility>, Spook, Blur, Mirror Image, Mislead, Project Image, Simulacrum
• Transmuter gives up arcane Abjuration spells such as Remove Curse (wizard), Protection From Petrification, Resist Fear, <Imprisonment, Freedom>, <Protection From Magical Weapons, Breach>, <Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Spell Immunity>, <Protection From Energy, Protection From Magic Energy>, <Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, Spell Trap>, <Lower Resistance, Spell Thrust, Pierce Magic, Pierce Shield, Spellstrike>, Spell Shield, <Dispel Magic, Remove Magic>

High-level class abilities

Mages can access to level 10 spells, which are added to the level 9 wizard spellbook after they have been chosen. All those spells can be chosen by every Specialist Mage. The spells are:

• Comet
• Dragon's Breath
• Energy Blades
• Improved Alacrity
• Summon Planetar (Good and Neutral Alignments, mutually exclusive with Summon Dark Planetar)
• Summon Dark Planetar (Evil and Neutral alignments, mutually exclusive with Summon Planetar)

• The option to spend three high-level class ability points to gain a level 6, 7 and level 8 spellslots.

Spell slots progression

Wizard level		Spell level with required Intelligence									Total slots
		1 [≥9]	2 [≥9]	3 [≥9]	4 [≥9]	5 [≥10]	6 [≥12]	7 [≥14]	8 [≥16]	9 [≥18]
1		2									2
2		3									3
3		3	2								5
4		4	3								7
5		5	3	2							10
6		5	3	3							11
7	Baldur's Gate (1998) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign.	5	4	3	2						14
8		5	4	4	3						16
9	Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign.|Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (2012) This icon indicates content from the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition campaign.	5	4	4	3	2					18
10	The Black Pits (2012) This icon indicates content from the Black Pits campaign in the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.	5	5	4	3	3					20
11	Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (2016) This icon indicates content from the Siege of Dragonspear campaign of the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.	5	5	5	4	4					23
12		5	5	5	5	5	2				27
13		6	6	6	5	5	3				31
14		6	6	6	5	5	3	2			33
15		6	6	6	6	6	3	2			35
16		6	6	6	6	6	4	3	2		39
17	Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn campaign.	6	6	6	6	6	4	4	3		41
18		6	6	6	6	6	4	4	3	2	43
19		6	6	6	6	6	4	4	4	2	44
20		6	6	6	6	6	5	4	4	3	46
21		6	6	6	6	6	5	4	4	3	46
22		6	6	6	6	6	6	4	4	4	48
23		6	6	6	6	6	6	4	4	4	48
24		6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	4	49
25		6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	50
26		6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	50
27		6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	51
28		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	52
29		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	53
30		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	53
31	Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal campaign.|Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition – Shadows of Amn (2013) This icon indicates content from the Shadows of Amn campaign of the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition.	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	53

Table for experience, hitpoints and weapon proficiency

Level	Experience required	Hit Dice	Weapon Proficiency	THAC0	Saving throws D/W/P/B/S	No. of HLA
1	0	1d4	+1	20	14/11/13/15/12
2	2,500	2d4		20	14/11/13/15/12
3	5,000	3d4		20	14/11/13/15/12
4	10,000	4d4		19	14/11/13/15/12
5	20,000	5d4		19	14/11/13/15/12
6	40,000	6d4	+1	19	13/9/11/13/10
7 Baldur's Gate (1998) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign.	60,000	7d4		18	13/9/11/13/10
8	90,000	8d4		18	13/9/11/13/10
9 Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign. Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (2012) This icon indicates content from the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition campaign.	135,000	9d4		18	13/9/11/13/10
10	250,000	10d4		17	13/9/11/13/10
11 Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (2016) This icon indicates content from the Siege of Dragonspear campaign of the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.	375,000	10d4+1		17	11/7/9/11/8
12	750,000	10d4+2	+1	17	11/7/9/11/8
13	1,125,000	10d4+3		16	11/7/9/11/8
14	1,500,000	10d4+4		16	11/7/9/11/8
15	1,875,000	10d4+5		16	11/7/9/11/8
16	2,250,000	10d4+6		15	10/5/7/9/6
17 Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn campaign.	2,625,000	10d4+7		15	10/5/7/9/6
18	3,000,000	10d4+8	+1	15	10/5/7/9/6	1
19	3,375,000	10d4+9		14	10/5/7/9/6	2
20	3,750,000	10d4+10		14	10/5/7/9/6	3
21	4,125,000	10d4+11		14	8/3/5/7/4	4
22	4,500,000	10d4+12		13	8/3/5/7/4	5
23	4,875,000	10d4+13		13	8/3/5/7/4	6
24	5,250,000	10d4+14	+1	13	8/3/5/7/4	7
25	5,625,000	10d4+15		13	8/3/5/7/4	8
26	6,000,000	10d4+16		13	8/3/5/7/4	9
27	6,375,000	10d4+17		13	8/3/5/7/4	10
28	6,750,000	10d4+18		13	8/3/5/7/4	11
29	7,125,000	10d4+19		13	8/3/5/7/4	12
30	7,500,000	10d4+20	+1	13	8/3/5/7/4	13
31 Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal campaign. Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition – Shadows of Amn (2013) This icon indicates content from the Shadows of Amn campaign of the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition.	7,875,000	10d4+21		13	8/3/5/7/4	14
Total			6			14

Notes on Tiers

Specialist mage classes are not equal in power. In Baldur's Gate, Conjurer is the best overall specialty because its opposing school, Divination, had few useful spells in combat, so there were few drawbacks to being restricted against Divination spells. It required a minimum ability score in Constitution, a useful stat for wizards who gain few HP per level, and it was available to both humans and half-elves. It is no surprise the best wizard in the game, Edwin Odesseiron is a Conjurer.

Illusionist is also an excellent specialty, available to humans and gnomes with many useful Illusion spells and fewer Necromancy spells as an opportunity cost. The most valuable Necromancy spells in BG1, healing spells, were available only to priests.

Diviner is the worst class, granting bonuses to impractical spells while restricting access to the Monster Summoning series, which were virtually staple support spells on any wizard. Wisdom has few practical effects as a stat for a wizard in BG1, and more Tomes of Understanding were available in-game than any other attribute manual.

Invoker and Transmuter were poor choices due to having two opposing schools, while Enchanters were locked out of the main way to inflict damage using Evocation spells. Necromancers and Abjurers were in a middle ground: while their drawbacks were not crippling, their opposing schools had a multitude of useful spells and their minimum ability stat (Wisdom) was not helpful.

Come Shadows of Amn, the specialties saw some needed balance. Transmuter and Invoker became better by losing their secondary school restriction. Necromancer became a stronger class not only due to more powerful and useful Necromancy spells, but access to Divination spells Wizard Eye and True Sight. No specialty benefited more from the invisibility-granting Staff of the Magi than Necromancers, and these buffs helped mitigate loss of access to Illusion's clone spells. However, Enchanter/Diviner remained poor choices, while Conjurer was again the best overall.