Wu Jen

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Wu Jen are similar to wizards but gain spell secrets instead for a variety of taboos that they cannot be broken les they be severely hindered. This class has a lot of interesting restrictions that may be fun to play provided you make the taboos interesting bits of character work.

Role: Spell

Characteristics: Arcane casters with taboos they cannnot break

Source: Oriental Adventures

Game Rule Information

The Wu Jen has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Intelligence for casting and skills, Dexterity and Constitution for survivability

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d4

Starting Gold: 3d4x10

Class Skills

The Wu Jen's class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Wu Jen.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Wu Jen is proficient with all simple weapons, no armor

Spells: A wu jen casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the wu jen spell list. She is limited to a certain number of spells of each spell level per day, according to her class level. A wu jen must choose and prepare spells ahead of time like a wizard.


To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, a wu jen must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the spell's level. A wu jen's bonus spells are based on Intelligence. The Difficulty Class for saving throws against wu jen spells is 10 + caster level.


A wu jen's base daily spell allotment is given on Table 1-1: Wu jen progression. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score.

Bonus Language: A wu jen can substitute Draconic or Giant for one of the bonus languages available to the character because of her race, since many ancient tomes of magic are written in these languages and apprentice wu jen often learn them as part of their studies.

Watchful Spirit: Once per day, a wu jen can reroll an initiative roll she has just made before she knows her place in the initiative order. She takes the better of the two rolls.

Bonus Feat: A wu jen begins play with a bonus metamagic feat.

Spell Secret: At 3rd level, and every three levels thereafter, a wu jen can choose one spell known to her that then becomes permanently modified as though affected by one of the following metamagic feats: Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Still Spell, or Silent Spell. The spell's level does not change, and once the choice of spell and modification are chosen, they cannot be changed. As the wu jen goes up in level, she can choose the same spell to be modified in different ways with multiple spell secrets. She does not need to know the feat she applies to the spell.

Elemental Mastery: Many of the wu jen's spells are divided into five elemental groups: earth, fire, metal, water, and wood. At 6th level, instead of receiving a spell secret, a wu jen becomes a master of one of these five elements (her choice). Thereafter, whenever a wu jen casts a spell of that element, her effective caster level (for purposes of determining level-dependent spell variables and for caster level checks) is increased by two. In addition, the wu jen herself gets a +2 competence bonus on saving throws against spells of that element. Certain spells on the wu jen spell list are designated "All"; this means they belong to all elemental groups, and a wu jen who is a master of any element gains the mastery bonuses with respect to those spells.

Spellbooks: A wu jen must study her spellbooks each day to prepare her spells, much like a wizard. She cannot prepare any spell not recorded in her spellbook (except for read magic, which all wu jen can prepare from memory).

A wu jen begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level wu jen spells plus three 1st-level spells of your choice. For each point of Intelligence bonus the wu jen has, the spellbook holds one additional 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new wu jen level, she gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new wu jen level).

For example, when Hideyori achieves 5th level, she can cast 3rd-level spells. At this point, she can add two 3rd-level spells to her spellbook, or one 2nd-level spell and one 3rd-level spell, or any combination of two spells between 1st and 3rd level.

At any time, a wu jen can also add spells found in other wu jen's spellbooks to her own, much like a wizard.

Taboos: To maintain their supernatural power, wu jen must abide by certain taboos that might seem inconsequential to other characters but are vitally important to the wu jen. If a wu jen violates one of her taboos, she cannot cast any more spells that day. A wu jen must choose one taboo at 1st level, and one additional taboo every time she learns a spell secret. Possible taboos include:

Cannot eat meat. Cannot own more than she can carry. Must make a daily offering (such as food, flowers, or incense) to one or many spirit powers. Cannot bathe. Cannot cut her hair. Cannot touch a dead body. Cannot drink alcohol. Cannot wear a certain color. Cannot light a fire. Cannot sit facing in a certain direction.

Table 1-1: Wu jen Progression
Level Base

Attack Bonus

Fort

Save

Ref

Save

Will

Save

Special Spells per Day
0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Watchful spirit, bonus feat 3 1
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 4 2
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Spell secret 5 2 1
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 5 3 2
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 6 3 2 1
6th +3 +2 +2 +5 Elemental mastery 6 3 3 2
7th +3 +2 +2 +5 7 4 3 2 1
8th +4 +2 +2 +6 7 4 3 3 2
9th +4 +3 +3 +6 Spell secret 8 5 4 3 2 1
10th +5 +3 +3 +7 8 5 4 3 3 2
11th +5 +3 +3 +7 9 6 5 4 3 2 1
12th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 Spell secret 9 6 5 4 3 3 2
13th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 10 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14th +7/+2 +4 +4 +9 10 7 6 5 4 3 3 2
15th +7/+2 +5 +5 +9 Spell secret 11 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
16th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 11 8 7 6 5 4 3 3 2
17th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 12 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
18th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 Spell secret 12 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 3 2
19th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 12 9 8 7 6 5 4 4 3 3
20th +10/+5 +6 +6 +12 12 9 8 7 6 5 4 4 4 4

Bonus Spells

In 3.6e, spellcasters who have a limited number of spells per day are granted additional spell slots based on their casting stat modifier according to the table below. In order to receive the bonus spell slots, they must already be able to cast spells of that level.

Table 1-2: Bonus Spells
Skill Bonus Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7 Level 8 Level 9
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
4 4 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
5 5 5 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
6 6 6 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
7 7 7 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
8 8 8 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
9 9 9 5 3 2 2 2 1 1 1
10 10 10 5 3 3 2 2 1 1 1
11 11 11 6 4 3 2 2 1 1 1