Spellcrafter

A spellcrafter, sometimes referred to as a “Spellweaver” and more negatively as a “Spell Thief”, are Wizards who focus on a balance of every school of magic, and moreover the transmutation of spells. Spellcrafters rely on divination to identify spells before using their abjuration skills to siphon the essence of spells. This essence grants them the building blocks required to enhance or create entirely new spells. As such, spellcrafters are often sought by other magicians looking to expand their understanding of magic and spellcasting as a whole.

Siphon Spell

Starting at 2nd level, when a spell that you can detect is being casted or is currently active within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to obtain an essence of that spell.

When you perform this reaction, make an Intelligence(Arcana) check against that spell, the DC for which equals 10 + the spell’s level.

Upon success, a part of the spell’s essence is stored as a memory of a verbal or somatic gesture, or inside of a material component that can be used for spellcasting and you may choose to end the spell by spending half the number of spell slots it cost to cast rounded down (to a minimum of 1). On a failure, nothing happens and the spell remains untouched. Regardless of whether you were able to Siphon the spell or not, you have resistance against any of that spell’s effects and damage until the start of your next turn.

When you siphon the essence of a spell, you choose one of the following features from it to take:

● Essence of Control: This determines the function or trigger of the spell, it’s need for concentration, and if it causes any conditional effects based on what was siphoned.

● Essence of Force: This determines any damage rolls or saving throws and those damage types, or any magical benefits of the spell based on what was siphoned.

● Essence of Matter: This determines the slot requirements and material cost of the spell based on what was siphoned.

● Essence of Space: This determines the targets and range of the spell based on what was siphoned.

● Essence of Time: This determines the duration and casting time of the spell based on what was siphoned.

These all represent a fragment of a spell, which remains with you until you consume it or your hit points drop below 0. You can only hold one type of each essence at a time and are able to use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier before requiring a short or long rest to use it again.

Lastly, you can spend a long rest to craft new spells of 1st level or higher and add them to your spell book. You must have at least one of each essence in order to perform this feature, the material cost when adding these types of personalized spells to your spellbook are halved. Any balancing required for the spell beyond this feature is up to the DM’s discretion.

Empowering Essence

Upon reaching 6th level, the essence you siphon from spells grants you protection and allows you to transform your own spells while casting them.

● You gain +1 to your AC, saving throws, and Intelligence(Arcana) ability checks for each different type of siphoned spell essence you currently possess.

● While casting a spell, you can imbue that spell with one of your spell essences to replace its properties with that of the spell you siphoned. If the spell does not have a replaceable feature, the spell instead gains an extra feature based on the essence chosen. Using this feature consumes the siphoned spell’s essence.

Arcane Awareness

At 10th level you learn the Detect Magic spell if you haven’t already, which does not count against the spells you know and is always prepared. You can cast this spell at will without spending a spell slot. When you cast this spell, you can determine the spellcasting level of a spell, and you have advantage on any ability checks or saving throws against those detected spells.

Wonder Weaver

When you reach 14th level, your capacity to wield and manipulate the essence of spells grows tremendously. The number of each type of essence you can carry with you, craft into new spells, siphon from spells, and apply to your own spells is doubled.

Lastly, when you attempt to Siphon a spell, you can spend an equal number of spell slots to the spell’s cost to recast it as an action on your turn. This consumes any essences siphoned from that spell.