School of Dark Arcana by Lucifer | Art by James Zhang
Wizard:
School of Dark Arcana
Not all wizards learn their magic from books and scrolls, but some steal this magic from other creatures of power. Wizards of the dark arcana obtain their power and magic from the essence of other spellcasters, using vile rituals.
Dark Arcana Features
| Wizard Level | Features |
|---|---|
| 2nd | Dark wisdom |
| 6th | Enhanced Arcana |
| 10th | Essence Drain |
| 14th | Greater dark wisdom |
Dark wisdom
Beginning at 2nd level, You can no longer copy spells into your spellbook. Instead, you perfect the art of extracting arcane power from a slain creature's essence.
As an action, you can target a corpse that has not been dead for more than a minute, and extract a part of its essence. You add one spell, randomly chosen from the spells the creature was capable of casting, into your spellbook. This spell counts as a wizard spell for all purposes.
The spell must be one that does not restore hit points. In addition, at the DM's discretion, the spell gained can be one of the DM's choice, rather than a random one. You can use Dark wisdom only once per creature.
Enhanced Arcana
Starting at 6rd level, your experience with different kinds of magic has expanded the range of spells you can cast. You can prepare an additional number of spells equal to your proficiency modifier when you prepare wizard spells.
Essence Drain
Beginning at 10th level, you learn how to extract not only the spells, but also others experiences from slain creatures.
When you use Dark wisdom, you can also gain proficiency in one of the creature's proficiencies, chosen at random from the proficiencies it had it life (only from skill, tool, language, weapon, and armor proficiencies).
You can only have a maximum number of extracted proficiencies equal to your proficiency bonus, but you can replace any one of the extracted proficiencies when you gain a new one with this feature.
Greater Dark Wisdom
At 14th level, you gain the ability to better filter a creature's essence, and extract the finest of its abilities.
When you use Dark wisdom, you learn three spells chosen at random, instead of just one.
When you use Essence drain, you can learn three proficiencies chosen at random, instead of just one, but you are still limited by the maximum number of extracted proficiencies you can have as specified in Essence drain.
