Wu jen

Table

Description: Wu jen are mystic practitioners of the arcane arts. Attuned to nature more than most, wu jen often wander solitary across the mountainous landscape of Asia. Much of their power comes from studying the relationships between the five Asian elements - Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Wood or Nature.

Adventures: Wu jen are natural wanderers and thus their everyday lives may be seen as adventurous. They have the same motivation to adventure as any other class - desire for fame, fortune, or even just to escape an ordinary life. There are also plenty of wu jen devoted to a cause, whether good or not.

Characteristics: Wu jen are mysterious characters, practicing their arts with an austerity and devotion, often denying themselves the basics of life in order to deepen their understanding of the universe. Owing to their insight into the arcane, wu jen see relationships that the normal eye cannot. Thus, they are superstitious and often have quite a list of things they must do or avoid in order to maintain their magical powers.

Alignment: Wu jen can be of any alignment but lawful. While they are not necessarily hostile to lawfulness and the life it entails, it is inimical to the source of a wu jen's mystical powers, which often rely on nature and its unpredictable ways.

Background: Wu jen have no typical background. Most begin their careers studying under an aged master of the same class and then continue their education on their own during their wanderings. As such, most wu jen come from people who normally associate with nature - not many city dwellers leave all they have behind to follows such an uncomfortable road, although every court of note has its wu jen.

Races: Wu jen can be of any race, though most are human or hengeyokai. Even among these races however, wu jen are seen as mystical beings, set apart from the everyday crowd.

Other classes: Though they often journey alone, wu jen welcome the company of most other classes. They share in common with shukenja and monks an interest in the universe and aesthetic lifestyles. They also see the value in having a member of the warrior class to hold off an enemy and buy the wu jen time to cast one of their spells.

Game rule information

Abilities: The spells of the wu jen derive their potency from how well he understands the natural world. Thus, Wisdom is a very important ability for wu jen, as it determines how powerful his spells are. Because of their wanderings, Constitution is also an important ability.

Alignment: Any non-lawful.

Hit dice: d4

Class skills: Animal empathy (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Intuit direction (Wis), Knowledge (taken individually, Int), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Wilderness lore (Wis).  Climb checks suffer an armor check penalty if the character is wearing armor.

Skill points: (2 + Int modifier) x4 at 1st, 2 + Int modifier per level

Class features

Weapon and armor proficiency: Wu jen gain proficiency with all simple weapons and any one of the following (player's choice): bo stick, boku-toh, blowpipe, hankyu (short bow), chain, gunsen (war fan), jitte, jo stick, kiseru, metsubishi, sai, shaken, shuriken, short sword, tui-fa, and the uchi-ne. Wu jen have no proficiency in armor and usually avoid it, as armor imposes a chance of spell failure.

Spells: Wu jen draw their mystical powers from nature; they therefore must be attuned to natural flows of energy and balance that most rarely even notice. Therefore, to cast any particular spell available to this class, a wu jen must have a Wisdom of 10 plus the spell's level (cantrips count as 0-level spells). A wu jen also gain bonus spells if he has a high enough Wisdom score.

These spells are collected in a bunch of scrolls, similar in function to an occidental wizard's spell books. The wu jen must spend time each day memorizing spells he wishes to be able to cast that day, as detailed in the PHB, p. 154.

A wu jen is also able to take the spell mastery feat, except that he can have available a number of spells equal to his Wisdom modifier each time he takes the feat. All wu jen have the spell mastery feat for the spell read magic at first level.

Wu jen can cast a number of spells each day as if they were wizards (see Table 3-20 The Wizard, PHB p. 52). They automatically learn (pen in their spell scrolls) the same number of spells per level that a wizard would (at first level, all cantrips, 3 first-level spells plus a number of first-level spells equal to his Wisdom bonus, if any).

    Note: The class list and converted wu jen spells can be found here.

Element mastery: At first level the wu jen may choose among any of the Asian elements and master spells associated with that element. He can choose among Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, and Wood/Nature. All spells associated with this element add a +2 to the DC when foes attempt to avoid its effects, as if he had the Spell Focus feat for that "elemental school.". The wu jen also receives a the Elemental Resistance feat for that element, which grants a +4 bonus when attempting a saving throw against mundane or magical effects based on that element.

Tengu and oni relations: While most of the world views tengu and oni as suspicious races, wu jen actively cultivate relations with these folk on account of the mystic knowledge they possess. As a result, wu jen characters can add take tengu and/or oni as one of the bonus languages he is allowed at first level if his Intelligence score permits it. Furthermore, all Bluff, Gather Information, and Diplomacy skill checks receive a +2 bonus when the wu jen uses them with either of these races.

Scribe scroll: Wu jen earn the Scribe Scroll feat for free at first level. Unlike occidental wizards, wu jen do not automatically earn metamagic or item creation feats every five levels.

Taboos: The knowledge of the wu jen is esoteric and not common to most. As such, they see relationships in nature where others don't. To maintain their powers, wu jen must follow strict self-imposed taboos or risk losing their spellcasting abilities. At first level the wu jen must choose a taboo and abide by it. As the wu jen gains experience, he also gains power that must be warded with an increasing number of taboos. A player who breaks a taboo must make a Fortitude save with a DC equal to 15 plus his level. If he succeeds, he suffers no ill effects. If he fails, he cannot cast arcane spells from his wu jen spell list for the next 24 hours. Only a wish or miracle can reverse this effect, as the very forces of nature are what force the character to have these taboos.

    The player or DM is free to choose among the following list of taboos or make one of their own, although it should not impose a substantial penalty to play but nevertheless be something the character has to mind.
         Cannot eat meat.
         Cannot have more treasure than the character can carry.
         Must make a daily offering of flowers, food, incense, etc. to a spiritual power.
         Cannot bathe.
         Cannot enter water voluntarily.
         Cannot cut one's hair.
         Cannot touch a dead body.
         Cannot imbibe alcohol.
         Cannot wear a certain color of cloth.
         Cannot light a mundane fire (though magically induced fires are acceptable)
         Cannot sit facing one of the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west)

Ki acceleration: Wu jen learn to channel their ki into an explosive burst motion. Upon completing his turning combat, the wu jen may elect to focus his ki as a free action and increase his initiative by +6, starting the following round. He must be conscious the round prior to the round in which his initiative is increased. The new initiative lasts for the remainder of the combat. This is a supernatural ability that can be performed once per day at second level, twice per day at sixth, and one more time per day every four levels after that.

Wilderness lore: Due to their extensive wanderings, wu jen are attuned with nature. At third level they obtain 2 free ranks in the Wilderness Lore skill.

Ki casting: At fourth level the character learns to enhance his spellcasting by imbuing a spell with his ki. The effect is to cast the spell as if it were under the influence of the Maximize Spell and Enlarge Spell metamagic feats. The first of these maximizes all damage done by the spell, and the second doubles the spell's range (if desired). The spell must be three or more levels lower than the wu jen is (e.g., a fourth-level wu jen can use ki casting with a first level spell), and can be performed no more than once per day, twice at eighth level, thrice at twelfth, four times at sixteenth, and five times per day at twentieth level.

The spell used with this ability does not have to be prepared at a higher level than normal and the caster does not have to designate which spell will be used with this ability when he memorizes spells for the day. The spell can be affected by other metamagic feats, but the spell must then be prepared at its normally augmented level, and the total level of the spell must still be three less than the caster. The effects of ki casting and the normal Maximize Spell and Enlarge Spell feats do not stack. Since adding these effects to the spell is spontaneous, the spell takes at a full round to cast if it normally takes but one action, and longer if the casting time is greater than one action.

Specialist wu jen: Wu jen can become specialists like their wizard counterparts in the occident, but the kind of magic they choose to specialize in are not delineated by school but by element. A wu jen could thus choose to be a specialist in the Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, or Wood/Nature schools. He must then choose any other element as a barred school to which he has not access to spells. All the benefits and penalties associated with being a specialist then apply, as stated on p. 54 of the PHB. Wu jen must choose their specialist element as their element of mastery (see above).

Note on balance: Wu jen cannot summon familiars. Also, owing to their element mastery, ki acceleration, ki casting, and slightly expanded weapon proficiency, they may seem unbalanced with a occidental wizard. However, they do not automatically gain metamagic or item creation feat every five levels (besides Scribe Scroll at first level), and a closer inspection of their spell list and descriptions will indicate spells that are overall less offensively oriented that those of occidental wizards and sorcerers.

The Wu Jen

The Wu Jen