 Complete Arcane cover | |
| Author | Richard Baker |
|---|---|
| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast |
Publication date | November 1, 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 192 |
| ISBN | 0786934352 |
Complete Arcane is a supplemental rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It expands upon and replaces an earlier soft-cover rulebook entitled Tome and Blood.
Complete Arcane presents additional rules and advice for the creation and use of character classes which specialize in arcane magic, which represents magic that is learned through research or inherent power as opposed to divine sources.
The Complete Arcane introduces three new base classes to the 3rd edition game.
A Warlock has been given supernatural powers; either he or his ancestors made a deal with a supernatural being. A warlock has an innate magical ability called the eldritch blast, a damaging ray-like ability. The damage for this attack increases as the warlock gains levels. Instead of spells, warlocks gain a limited number of invocations, spell-like abilities with a distinctively sinister flavor. Most of these invocations may be performed at will, or have durations of 24 hours. Some invocations add effects to the warlock's eldritch blast, causing sickness, or blindness, or fright, etc.
Warmages take the concept of "magical artillery" to its extreme. They specialize in direct-damage spells and can wear light armor (and later medium armor) without penalty to their spellcasting. Though they cast spells like a sorcerer, they have a very limited list of spells they can cast.
Wu jen are arcane spellcasters with a distinct Oriental flavor. Wu Jen specialize in the casting of elemental spells. The five elements of Wu Jen magic are wood, fire, water, earth, and metal. [1]
Prestige classes are mainly updates from Tome & Blood.
Complete Arcane also introduces a number of metamagic feats and several others based on magic, including the Mage Slayer feat tree, which makes a character more dangerous to arcane casters.
Magic items include variant forms for potions and scrolls such as ceramic tiles that are broken to cause a spell effect instead of liquids that must be consumed, as well as spellbook materials for the discerning (or paranoid) wizard.
The last chapter of the book details how arcane magic can affect a campaign world, including the uses and abuses of Enchantment spells, flight, teleportation, and invisibility, and how nonmagical people would react to bards, sorcerers, wizards, and warlocks.
Complete Arcane was written by Richard Baker and published in November 2004. Cover art was by Matt Cavotta, with interior art by Steve Belledin, Matt Cavotta, Dennis Crabapple McClain, Emily Fiegenschuh, Doug Kovacs, Ginger Kubic, Jeff Miracola, Monte Moore, William O'Connor, Michael Phillippi, Ron Spencer, and Franz Vohwinkel.
Rich Baker described his creative process on the book: "I don't know if I have any one global process for thinking up new stuff. I can offer a little insight into how I derived some of our new material, though. If you look at the various schools of magic, you'll see that Abjuration really gets short shrift in most of our sourcebooks. So, I was determined to look hard at Abjuration spells and see if I couldn't re-envision the abjurer a little bit to make it cooler. It occurred to me that abjuration was the school of magic manipulating magic (for example, dispel magic) . . . which means that abjurers really ought to be the nastiest spell-duelists out there. If you want to build a wizard who specializes in gunslinging against other wizards, Abjuration should be your specialty. That's a pretty cool take on a school of magic that was formerly a little boring and overlooked, so I ran with it. I created a half-dozen key new Abjuration spells to support that vision, spells that screw with the other wizard's defenses and use your enemy's magic against him." [2]
Viktor Coble listed the entire Complete series - including Complete Adventurer , Complete Divine , Complete Warrior , Complete Arcane, Complete Champion , and Complete Mage - as #9 on CBR 's 2021 "D&D: 10 Best Supplemental Handbooks" list, stating that "These books took a deep dive into specific class types. They expanded on what it meant to be that kind of class, gave informative prestige classes, extra abilities, and even new concepts for playing them." [3]
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, psionics are a form of supernatural power similar to, but distinct from, arcane and divine magic. Psionics are manifested purely by mental discipline. Psionics were introduced in the original supplement Eldritch Wizardry. Psionics have appeared as part of the core rules beginning with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition.
The Player's Handbook is the name given to one of the core rulebooks in every edition of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). It does not contain the complete set of rules for the game, and only includes rules for use by players of the game. Additional rules, for use by Dungeon Masters (DMs), who referee the game, can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Many optional rules, such as those governing extremely high-level players, and some of the more obscure spells, are found in other sources.
The magic in Dungeons & Dragons consists of the spells and magic systems used in the settings of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). D&D defined the genre of fantasy role-playing games, and remains the most popular table-top version. Many of the original concepts have become widely used in the role-playing community across many different fictional worlds, as well as across all manner of popular media including books, board games, video games, and films.
Complete Warrior is a supplemental rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, published by Wizards of the Coast. It replaces and expands upon an earlier rulebook entitled Sword and Fist.
Complete Adventurer is a supplemental hard-cover rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game system published by Wizards of the Coast.
Complete Divine is a supplemental rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game published by Wizards of the Coast. It replaces and expands upon earlier rulebooks entitled Masters of the Wild and Defenders of the Faith, as well as being a catchall for anything that does not fit into Complete Adventurer, Complete Arcane, Complete Warrior, or Complete Psionic.
The bard is a standard playable character class in many editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The bard class is versatile, capable of combat and of magic. Bards use their artistic talents to induce magical effects. The class is loosely based on the special magic that music holds in stories such as the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and in earlier versions was much more akin to being a Celtic Fili or a Norse Skald, although these elements have largely been removed in later editions. Listed inspirations for bards include Taliesin, Homer, Will Scarlet and Alan-a-Dale.
Magic systems in games are the rules, limitations, abilities, and characteristics that define magic in a game.
The fighter is one of the standard playable character classes in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A fighter is a versatile, weapons-oriented warrior who fights using skill, strategy and tactics.
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The wizard is one of the standard character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A wizard uses arcane magic, and is considered less effective in melee combat than other classes.
The warlock is a character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was introduced as a non-core base class who practice arcane magic in the supplemental book Complete Arcane for the 3.5 edition of Dungeons & Dragons. In 4th and 5th edition, the warlock is a core class.
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A magician, also known as an archimage, mage, magus, magic-user, spellcaster, enchanter/enchantress, sorcerer/sorceress, warlock, witch, or wizard, is someone who uses or practices magic derived from supernatural, occult, or arcane sources. Magicians enjoy a rich history in mythology, legends, fiction, and folklore, and are common figures in works of fantasy, such as fantasy literature and role-playing games.
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