The magical power that flows in the veins of sorcerers manifests in a wide array of effects. Some sorcerers effortless conjure darts of energy, while others call across the planes to summon forth creatures to serve their bidding. As sorcerers master their in-born talents, some experience a strong affinity for a particular form of magic. When they work spells from that school, their minds and bodies sing with power. Spells from the school come naturally to the sorcerer, while others have a forced feel, as if the sorcerer must push himself to channel such energies. Much like specialist wizards, these sorcerers are adept at wielding spells from a single school of magic. They gain more spells from their chosen school and cast them more effectively than normal sorcerers of the same level, but they gain little ability with spells beyond their area of mastery.

The arcane specialist prestige class allows sorcerers and bards to focus on a single school of magic. They gain great mastery over one particular brand of spells at the cost of their already limited flexibility.

Note that unlike standard prestige classes, characters can gain levels in this one before fifth level. This class was designed to allow bards and sorcerers a chance to specialize in a particular form of magic. Why should wizards have all the fun? These rules were written for a home game that never came to pass. They are a bit bare and a little dull, but a good way to present school-specialist sorcerers.

Hmmm, school-specialist sorcerers. Sounds like a tongue twister waiting to happen.

Hit Die: d4

To become an arcane specialist, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Arcane Spellcaster: Capable of casting 1st-level arcane spells of the specialist school without preparation from a spellbook.

Special: Choose a school of magic that you wish to master. Whenever the text refers to a specialist school, it refers to that school of magic.

Feat: Spell Focus (specialist school)

The arcane specialist class skills (and the key ability for each) are Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

All of the following are class features of the arcane specialist prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Arcane specialists gain no additional proficiencies with weapons, armor, or shields.

School Specialization: At first level, the arcane specialist learns to modify his natural magical abilities to enhance his use of a single school of magic. When using metamagic feats with spells from his specialist school, the spell’s casting time remains unchanged.

In return, the specialist loses access to several schools of magic. An arcane specialist must choose schools of magic he no longer has access to as per a specialist wizard.

Bonus Spells: The arcane specialist may cast one additional spell from his specialist school per spell level he has access to each day.

Arcane Power: The arcane specialist learns to tap into his innate talents, allowing him to cast three more spells per day from his specialist school. These spells may be of any level up to one level higher than the current maximum spell level he may cast, though no more than two of these spells may be allocated to any one level.

Arcane Knowledge: As he learns to better focus his abilities, the arcane specialist learns new ways to manifest his magical powers. He gains knowledge of four additional spells from his specialist school. These spells may be from any level the arcane specialist can cast spells from.

Arcane Insight: At fourth level, the arcane specialist improves his ability to modify his spells with metamagic feats. When casting a spell from his specialist school with a metamagic feat, subtract one from the spell’s total level after applying the feat’s modifier. At eighth level, the arcane specialists subtracts two from a specialist school’s spells when applying metamagic feats to them. This ability never modifies a spell to below its normal, pre-feat level.