Battlemancer
View/Download MU-06: The Battlemancer
- Arcane Half-Caster specializing in magic that enhances their role as melee spellcasters.
- Wield your Arcane Focus as a melee reach weapon dealing force damage.
- Cast spells quickly to allow for more melee attacks.
- Channel offensive spells into your weapon and unleash them when you strike.
- Cast spells using Magic Points, a simple spell point variant where each spell costs MP equal to its level.
- Choose a Battlemancer Cohort (Archetype): Duskblade, Havoc Mage, Indemnomancer, Sigil Knight, or Spellsword.
Scions of Night and Day
Battlemancers straddle the worlds of magic and warfare with equal focus, attacking with arcane words as well as weapons of steel. Some wizards spend time training as warriors, and some fighters pick up a few spells for use on the battlefield, but battlemancers wed the two fields of study into a cohesive whole. This means that their spellcasting has a martial flair – verbal components are often chanted or shouted like commands, while somatic components are made with sweeping, swift gestures with their hands or focus. When battlemancers fight, they seem to be weaving spells with their weapons, and arcane energies may often be seen arcing across their armor or weapons like small bursts of lightning.
A battlemancer’s arcano-military training makes them quite at home in a war room tactical briefing as well as a wizard’s laboratory. They can step easily from one milieu into the other, but their particular blend of magic and martial expertise can create some difficulty in operating wholly in either setting. This does, however, make battlemancers fine lieutenants and leaders among mixed groups of casters and warriors.
Militant Magic
The first battlemancers were elves conscripted into the defense of the high elven kingdoms. The high elves trained many of their soldiers, called duskblades (vaan’kerym) and steel dancers (selu h’ei’yal drathinmaleé), to weave their natural facility for magic into their martial art, and over centuries this style of arcane warfare has been adopted by other realms.
When battlemancers join adventuring parties, they usually do so where their mix of fighting and spellcasting fills in a gap that exists within the group’s composition. When a group of adventurers lack enough spellcasting, or require more strength in arms, they often seek out a battlemancer. That is not to say that battlemancers have no place in a balanced group of adventurers: to the contrary, their ability to switch fluidly between spellcasting and frontline fighting allows them to more easily adapt to the needs of their party.