School of Transmutation Revised

Surrounded by a tavern brawl, an elf raises an army of tankards with a whistle and a gesture. In a dimly-lit workshop, a gnome leans over their workbench as molten gold roils and twists to follow their wand. Overlooking the coast, a half-orc thumps her staff against the stone beneath her feet, furrowing out a brand new harbor.

Matter Made Malleable

The School of Transmutation is, at its core, the study of using magic to change something into something else, whether it be a single property, or an entire object. It can be as simple as making a heavy load lighter, or as complex as turning a living person into an adult Owlbear.

Where others are forced to adapt themselves, their tools, and their thinking to their problems and surroundings, a Wizard of the Transmutation School demands the situation adapt to them.

Playing a Transmutationist

Transmutation is not the school to choose if you're the kind of player that likes to put up Big Damage Numbers. You are probably not going to be the star of the show or the last-second pinch hitter.

What you will be able to do is fill the gaps in your party's kit on a moment's notice - you'll have that edge-case esoteric spell for just the right occasion, *every* occasion. If Bards are the class that can do a little bit of everything, then Transmutationists are their Wizard equivalent.

Consider the School of Transmutation if you want to feel like you can shape reality with your bare hands, or you want to be the person who has a solution for everything.

The Old Transmutationist

The standard Transmutation School features included in the Player's Handbook are widely considered to be one of the worst sub-classes in the entire game, and this is an attempt to jazz it back up both mechanically and in terms of flavour. To that end:

• The Transmuter's Stone has been enhanced to act as the Wizard's magic swiss-army-knife.
• Minor Alchemy has been replaced with a more versatile effect, plus a limited number of spell hot-swaps.
• A few 'panic button' type options have also been added.
• Shapechanger has been removed entirely, as it was a terrible feature, replacing it with a Transmutation-specific familiar instead.
• Made some revisions to the school capstone ability, removing flavor-only effects for more powerful ones that befit a high-level wizard.

Transmutation Savant

Beginning when you select this school at second level, the time and gold you spend adding Transmutation spells to your spellbook is halved, and you have Advantage on Intelligence (Arcana) checks to transcribe Transmutation scrolls. Further, you begin to notice your many arcane formulas have functions that repeat, and that by memorizing the parts that differ, you can quickly convert one spell into another inside your mind.

Also starting at second level, you can swap any Transmutation spell you have prepared for another Transmutation spell you know but haven't prepared, as an Action. The swapped spell functions as though you had prepared it normally, but cannot be swapped again until the next time you study your spellbook to prepare your spells. Otherwise you may use this ability a number of times equal to your Proficiency modifier between long rests.

Intuitive Transmutation

Starting at Level two, you develop the ability to perform minor feats of transmutation through pure force of will. When you touch an object, you may activate one of the following four effects:

• Repair: You know the mending cantrip, and repairs made this way are permanent. While this does not count towards your total number of cantrips known, it cannot be changed with class features such as Cantrip Formulas from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. If you already know mending, you gain the ability to cast it without components, but you still need to touch or otherwise manipulate the object in order to mend it.
• Transform: You can convert up to one cubic foot of crystal (i.e. quartz or leaded glass), wood, stone (but not gemstone), iron, steel, glass, copper or silver into another of these materials, reshaping it in the process if you so desire.
• Transmute: You can convert up to one cubic foot of matter into another material of a similar type (e.g., metals to metals) a rougher state (paper to wood) or a more refined state (sand to glass) again reshaping it in the process, if you like.
• Duplicate:  You can make a copy of any one object up to one cubic foot in volume, so long as you have an equivalent amount of similar matter to transmute. For example, you would need one pound of metal to duplicate a gold statuette of the same weight. The resulting object is non-magical, even if the original is a magic item, and anyone familiar with the object must make an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your Spell Save DC to spot the fake. If you attempt to duplicate the same object twice, or another object at the same time, the previous duplicate immediately reverts to its original matter and shape.

The resulting object, or group of objects, have all the expected properties of their material, is identical in mass, and can be shaped into any form you desire, within certain limits. Regardless of the resulting material, the resulting object(s) cannot exceed one cubic foot in total volume. Further, non-duplicate objects are simply constructed, lacking moving parts or fine details unless you have Proficiency with relevant tools, such as Mason's Tools for shaping stone.

Additionally, you can only maintain one of these effects at a time: you cannot transmute wood into a silver ingot, and then use that same ingot to duplicate a candlestick, for example. Any effects produced this way (other than Repair) last for up to one hour, but you may choose to end it at any time. When an effect wears off, is dispelled, or you attempt another minor transmutation, the previous transmuted object(s) immediately return to their original shape and state.

Transmuter's Stone

Starting at sixth level, you can spend 8 hours channelling your magic into a lump of stored Transmutation energy called a Transmuter’s Stone; you can do this while studying your spellbook during a Long Rest without ill effect, provided you do nothing else. When you create a stone, choose one passive effect and one active effect. The passive effect benefits whichever party-member possesses the stone, and the active effect is triggered by swallowing and destroying it. Swallowing a Transmuter's Stone is a standard action, same as drinking a potion.

 Passive Effects:

• Light: You gain darkvision out to 60 feet.
• Mass: You gain 10 feet of movement speed while unencumbered.
• Nerve: You have +1 to Initiative checks
• Health: You have proficiency in Constitution Saving Throws
• Breath: You can breathe clean water as easily as air.

Active Effects:

• Mind: You recover one additional spell slot level during Arcane Recovery.
• Hide: You gain a +2 natural armour bonus to your AC for an hour.
• Flesh: Immediately recover 2d4+2 hit points, and any excess hit points become Temporary hit points.
• Blood: One non-magical disease or poison affecting the user immediately ends.
• Sight: Enemies have Disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.

Additionally, whenever you cast a levelled spell from the Transmutation school with the stone in your possession, you may change one effect – passive or active – to another effect from the same list. If the stone is lost or destroyed (either by you or a foe) you lose its effects and must create new one during your long rest. If you create a second Transmuter’s Stone, the first one becomes inert and any effects with duration longer than Instant immediately end.

Arcane Assistant

At tenth level, you may conduct a ritual during your Long Rest to fuse your Transmuter's Stone with any non-magical Tiny object or smaller, destroying the stone in the process. The object then becomes a tiny servant, as per the spell, but remains indefinitely and behaves like a Familiar: it follows your orders, communicates with you telepathically within 100 feet, including sharing its senses, and can deliver your touch spells as though it had cast them. It also has the benefits of being a construct, such as natural armour, damage resistance, and condition immunities. This creature serves you indefinitely until you perform the ritual again to imbue a new object. If an Arcane Familiar is reduced to 0 Hit points, it dies and immediately reverts back to its original form; any remaining damage 'carries over' to the mundane object, potentially destroying it.

You may create a new Transmuter's Stone on your next Long Rest without losing your Arcane Assistant, as well as carry and use it as normal. However, your Arcane Assistant cannot and does not 'eat', and therefore cannot benefit from any active effects from your Transmuter's Stone. Attempting to create a second Arcane Assistant will cause the previous one to revert back to a mundane object at the conclusion of the ritual.

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Opus Magnum

At fourteenth level, your Transmuter Stone can restitch the very fabric of reality, such is your mastery over matter. You can crush your Transmuter’s Stone, draining the power from it in an instant, to trigger your choice of any one of the following effects:

• Tabula Rasa: All negative effects on target creature immediately end. Conditions end, poisons are neutralized, diseases are cured, and any Ability Score damage is immediately restored.
• Lazarus Vector: You restore a creature to life as though you cast the revivify spell without components, expending a spell slot, or having the spell in your spellbook.
• Major Transmutation: You can transform five cubic feet of matter into any other nonmagical object(s) of equivalent mass and equal or lesser value. You must manipulate or otherwise interact with the material(s) for ten minutes to achieve the effect. This effect is permanent.
• Sudden Inspiration: You can immediately cast any one Transmutation spell at fifth level, including any effects for up-casting a lower level spell, without expending a spell slot or having the spell prepared. If the spell requires consumable components, they're still required and are destroyed as normal.
• Diamondize: Target creature has resistance against all slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage for one minute.