Magic-User

In recent years, an insidious new innovation has transformed Akiviras forever; magic. Following centuries of academic study, sages have managed to unlock the secret to spellcasting that does not rely on divine intervention. By using a secret language of arcane glyphs, scholars managed to trap both positive and negative energy together, forming something wholly unlike any divine spellcasting previously seen. Thus were the first magic-users born, men and women who channel this new power to terrible effect.

Attributes

Magic-Users are weak in the extreme at lower levels, as the nature of their spellcasting leaves them unable to wear armour of any kind. Their weapons are likewise restricted, with only the bare minimum of defences available to them. Their d4 hit dice and poor saving throws likewise means that they must be protected at all times lest they meet a gruesome end. They may be of any alignment, but higher-level magic-users are rarely good-aligned due to the unsustainable environmental and economic impact of their craft.
There are very few conventional bonuses to the magic-user when compared to the paladin or ranger, among others. One of them is their ability to trap magical energy in items, imbuing them with power. The ability to create magic items also exists in clerics and, to a lesser extent, illusionists. However, magic-users are not limited as clerics are by the limitations of the energy they can harness. By combining the twin essences of positive and negative energy, the magic-user can create far more powerful items than would normally be possible. This requires a great deal of time and effort, as well as considerable expenditure in resources.
Magic-Users level up by spending their downtime in isolated study and experimentation of what can be achieved in the magical sciences. For most magic-users, the money spent to level up is sufficient to cover the costs of the components these experiments require. However, even a low level magic-user will cause significant damage to the environment over time as they strip it of all manner of plants and animals both rare and mundane. Low-level magic-users tend to move around a lot for this reason, as their continued presence in an area tends to deplete that area of natural resources as well as make an enemy of any locals. Once a magic-user reaches 11th lvl they have reached a point where their levelling up requires more extraordinary measures. Note that as these measures involve prioritising the magic-user's short-term gain over long-term prosperity for all, they are the antithesis of a 'good' act. Therefore good magic-users must either stop at 11th lvl or continue on as a neutral or evil alignment. First a stronghold must be constructed, typically a fortified tower in a resource-rich but unpopulated area. It is in this stronghold that all the magic-user's experiments will be conducted, and where they will craft all their magic items. Second, a steady stream of resources must be gathered by gradually stripping the surrounding area bare. This will involve teams of labourers to cut down forests, excavate mines, and capture local wildlife. All of these resources are consumed to fuel the magic-user's experiments, meaning additional resources for other projects must come at the cost of additional work.
In order for the magic-user to remain content in the expansion of their power one work crew per level of the magic-user must be employed on a constant basis, continually harvesting the area even when the magic-user is not actively levelling up. These work crews must contain a minimum number of workers equal to half the level of the magic-user (round down) in order to remain effective. Using these numbers, an 11th lvl magic-user would require the permanent employ of at least 55 workers. These minimum numbers allow the magic-user to level up 50% as quickly as other classes, as they are working on the bare minimum of resources. Every additional team over the minimum adds 10% to the efficiency of the magic-user's levelling, up to a maximum of 100% (normal) efficiency. Teams can be composed of more members than the minimum as well, and each additional worker added in this way add 0.1% to efficiency. Monstrous nonhumans including (but not limited to) orcs, gnolls, and ogres are more effective than humans due to their increased strength and tendency towards destruction. Each such worker counts as two normal workers for the purposes of determining efficiency, but each team must still have the minimum number of workers in order to be effective. Slaves of any race can be used as workers, but must be guarded; about one comparable guard to every four workers is the minimum to prevent escape or uprising. Each labour team must also have a supervisor of a level/HD value higher than that of any of the workers in order to direct efforts. Henchmen can serve this purpose initially, but the large number of work crews required at higher levels will eventually require the employment of expert-level hirelings; captains and lieutenants and the like, or higher-level monsters if they are employed.

Spellcasting

It is known that clerics cast spells by channeling either positive and negative energy, and druids exert their influence over the natural forces in the vicinity. However, magic-users are more powerful than both classes due to their unique methods of spell creation and research. Through an extended period of experimentation utilising a great deal of rare natural materials, a magic-user brings a specific amount of positive, negative, and elemental energy together in varying degrees and binds it all together in the form of a written cipher. This magic cipher is incomprehensible to anyone except a magic-user, who can read the carefully-constructed lines to determine the exact effects of the spell in question. When the cipher is read aloud, occasionally accompanied by somatic gestures to target the spell, the energy is released in the desired form. The cipher then loses this energy, but as long as it is not damaged in any way will slowly 'recharge' the energy within as it comes into contact with the energies once stored inside.
Magic-users each have a book of spells, in which is stored all the ciphers they possess. Every three spell levels traditionally requires a separate book, as the ciphers are large and require a lot of page space to keep in their entirety. Therefore a single book could keep spells of 1st-3rd level, while a second book could hold 4th-6th level spells, etc. The magic-user starts with a small amount of ciphers and does not gain any automatically as they level up. All their spells must be collected by finding spell scrolls, books from other magic-users, or other sources of the information, and copying the ciphers into their own books. Thus, magic-users are constantly on the lookout for ways to increase their power by copying down additional spells.
Magic spell preparation is another way in which magic-users differ from clerics. The latter must decide at the beginning of the day which spells they are going to receive from their list, and they only have access to the ones they pray for. But, provided a magic-user has all their books available to them, they can cast any spell they know at any time, and are only limited in terms of how many spells per day they are able to cast. This is because, while their method of spellcasting is undoubtedly superior, it also puts a great deal of strain on their bodies and eventually necessitates that they cease casting lest they drain themselves of their own life force. However, magic-users are limited in their acquisition of spells by one important factor: their intelligence.
On page 10 of the PHB, the table listed as 'Intelligence Table II' gives details on the relevant intelligence level of the magic-user. When that magic-user begins their journey, they must go through the 1st order of spells and roll for their chance to be able to know each spell. This is not them actually gaining the spell in question; it is merely whether or not they are capable of deciphering the incantation should they find it. A success indicates that they are capable of one day learning the spell, while a failure indicates that the particular spell is beyond their abilities and cannot be learned. They do this in whatever order they choose, starting from the spells that interest them the most and gradually working their way through the entire spell level. Once they are finished, they must count the number of spells they are capable of knowing from that level and compare it to the minimum and maximum numbers on the right of the table. The first number is the bare minimum amount of spells the magic-user can be able to know for each level. If the magic-user is capable of knowing less spells than that number, then they can redo the table, again in any order they choose, until they have attained the minimum number of spells required. The maximum is also fairly self-explanatory; if the maximum number of spells is reached, the magic-user can no longer check for any additional spells, and any unchecked spells are deemed unknowable. Once the magic-user reaches a level where they can access higher spell levels, they must repeat this process again for those levels. A change in intelligence score, if it is reasonably permanent, indicates that the magic-user must check again for each of their spell levels, essentially starting from the ground up.
Example: Marvo the Master Wizard begins his journey with an intelligence of 14. He goes through the 1st level spells in order of most desired to least, rolling with a 55% chance of being able to know each listed spell. However, once he reaches the end of the table, he finds that he only knows 4 spells; two less than the minimum of 6. He rerolls his two most wanted spells and gets them both, bringing the number of spells he is able to learn up to 6. Now at the minimum, he stops checking for new spells. His partner, Narvo, has a 16 intelligence and rolls much better, getting 11 spells. Even though he has not checked every spell, he is now at his maximum for that level, and as such stops rolling.