MAGEWRAITH
Salorras Paragon: Magewraith · Base Path: Apostle (Cleric) · OSE build: custom Cleric-variant class A custom OSE class for the oracular death-priests of the Arcanawrath — shadow-clerics of Kaith’otl, Keeper of Myths, who wield the entropic necromancy of the Pale Thread and walk the Plane of Shadow. Played from 1st level; the character’s initiation into Forbidden Knowledge is part of their background.
The magewraiths are a small circle of elite clerics of the deity Kaith’otl within the Arcanawrath sect — the religious face of that fog-shrouded order, their convictions as murky as the doctrine of the Keeper of Myths. Their acts often make no sense to common minds, and the long labour of these occult priests remains unknown beyond the fact that they serve fervently in the safekeeping of the forbidden knowledge of the Forbidden Archives in the city-state of Naerys. The first magewraith in history is said to have been the mystic-entropist Ymenos Talak’Er.
Magewraiths keep a direct relationship with negative energy and with the Plane of Shadow. They are among the very few in the world with access to priestly spells of necromancy — the entropic strand of the Pale Thread — and so can influence the vital energy of living creatures, controlling the threads between life and death. They are usually attended by undead servants, and their shadowy gifts unsettle even the most experienced ordinary mages of Salorras. The price they pay is not negligible: over the years their skin turns pallid white and their pupils pitch-black or deep blue, their aura confuses the beasts of nature, and an intense photosensitivity keeps them from the light of the sun.
While magewraiths seem to act at random, in truth everything rests on the insight they draw from the veil of ancient knowledge — they know that all things hide a deeper reason for being, and that the fate of every creature contributes to the unfolding of history. To be initiated one must travel to the inner sanctums of Salorras, otherworldly places apart from reality, and be tested by their distant god; only if proven worthy does the path of Forbidden Knowledge open. Thereafter they cease to wander, remaining in Naerys as guardians of ancient secrets — until an omen sends them out to “haunt” the sect’s enemies, following the guilty wherever they flee. From this they took their name.
Class Overview
Requirements: Neutral alignment; devotion to Kaith’otl; minimum INT 9 Prime requisite: WIS Hit Dice: 1d6 Maximum level: 14 Armour: Any, including shields Weapons: Any Languages: Alignment, Colloquial
Magewraiths are shadow-priests of the Keeper of Myths — necromancer-clerics who bend the vital thread of the living, step through shadow, and hunt the sect’s foes without mercy. A prime requisite of WIS 13–15 grants +5% to experience earned; WIS 16–18 grants +10%. As deathly priests untouched by the life-gods’ edge-taboo, they wield any weapon and wear any armour. A magewraith who loses Kaith’otl’s favour is cut off from their gifts (see below).
The Magewraith
| Level | XP | Hit Dice (1d6) | THAC0 | D | W | P | B | S | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1d6 | 19 [0] | 11 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | 2,250 | 2d6 | 19 [0] | 11 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | 4,500 | 3d6 | 19 [0] | 11 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | 9,000 | 4d6 | 19 [0] | 11 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — |
| 5 | 18,000 | 5d6 | 17 [+2] | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 6 | 37,500 | 6d6 | 17 [+2] | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — |
| 7 | 75,000 | 7d6 | 17 [+2] | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 150,000 | 8d6 | 17 [+2] | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | 300,000 | 9d6 | 14 [+5] | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | 450,000 | 9d6+1* | 14 [+5] | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 11 | 600,000 | 9d6+2* | 14 [+5] | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 12 | 750,000 | 9d6+3* | 14 [+5] | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 13 | 900,000 | 9d6+4* | 12 [+7] | 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 14 | 1,050,000 | 9d6+5* | 12 [+7] | 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
* Modifiers from CON no longer apply. — Saving throws: D Death/Poison · W Wands · P Paralysis/Petrify · B Breath Attacks · S Spells/Rods/Staves. The columns 1–5 are divine spells per day by spell level. The magewraith casts as a cleric of their level; the XP column is the Arcanawrath’s elite track (half again above the plain cleric’s).
Class Abilities
Combat. Magewraiths may wield any weapon and wear any armour, including shields.
Divine Magic. The magewraith carries a holy sign of the Keeper of Myths and casts divine spells from 2nd level, drawn from the standard cleric list and regained through prayer and omen-reading.
Entropic Necromancy. Alone among priests, the magewraith is granted the forbidden necromancy of the Pale Thread — the entropic spells that bind and unmake the vital energy of the living, and that raise and rule the dead. They may prepare these spells (such as animate dead and the death-workings barred to ordinary clerics) in place of other cleric spells of the same level. As a master of the dead they do not repel the undead but command them: they use the standard turning table, but a turn result binds the undead to their will and a destroy result claims them as thralls.
Daylight Flaw. The necromancer’s price is a dread of the sun. While standing in direct sunlight (or light as bright, such as a continual light raised against them), the magewraith suffers a −2 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws and can use none of their shadow or necromantic gifts — no Necrotic Weave, Shadow Jump, Incorporeal Touch, or the like.
Necrotic Weave. In Salorras the necromancy of the Pale Thread is wild and unstable, every casting risking an unpredictable surge (as the entropists know well). A magewraith can partly master this: whenever they cast an entropic necromancy spell and the referee checks for a wild surge, the magewraith may force that check to be rerolled and take whichever result they prefer. One reroll per spell, as often per day as they cast — but never in daylight.
Darkvision. From 2nd level the magewraith sees in perfect darkness, as though under a permanent darkvision.
Necrotic Imbue. Once per day the magewraith can pour negative energy into a weapon they hold. For a number of rounds equal to their WISDOM modifier (minimum 1), the weapon strikes as magical and deals extra negative-energy damage of 1d6 per three magewraith levels (to a maximum of 3d6).
Shadow Jump. From 3rd level the magewraith can step through the Plane of Shadow to reappear elsewhere, as dimension door — save that both start and finish must lie in at least some shadow. They may jump a total of 20 feet per day, divided as they wish; this rises to 40 feet at 5th level, 80 at 7th, 160 at 9th, 320 at 11th, and 640 at 13th.
Incorporeal Touch. From 5th level, once per day, the magewraith can turn one hand into a wraith’s for a few rounds. A living creature struck by the immaterial hand must save versus Death or suffer a withering of its vitality — a drain of 1d8 points of Constitution (returning only by powerful restorative magic) — and for each point drained the magewraith gains 3 temporary hit points.
Lifesense. From 7th level the magewraith feels the living around them: they sense and pinpoint every living creature within 60 feet as though by blindsight, and read the strength of each one’s vital energy at a glance.
Forbidden Sanctum — After Reaching 9th Level. A magewraith of proven standing may raise or claim a sanctum — a shadowed vault bound to the Forbidden Archives — whereupon undead servants and a handful of lesser initiates of the Arcanawrath gather to guard its secrets and serve the keeper of the dead.
Shadow Walk. Also from 9th level, once per day the magewraith can draw themselves and their companions into the Plane of Shadow to cross great distances swiftly, as the shadow walk spell.
Negative Conduit. At 14th level the magewraith becomes a living conduit of negative energy: from this point they are healed by negative energy and harmed by positive, as an undead creature would be, though they gain none of the undead’s other traits. In addition, once per day they can channel a terrible measure of negative energy straight from its source — a touch dealing 1d8 negative-energy damage per magewraith level, so pure that it allows the victim no save. The magewraith may instead turn this channel inward, healing themselves or an undead thrall by the same measure.
Ex-Magewraiths
A magewraith who loses the favour of Kaith’otl — abandoning the keeping of the Forbidden Archives, or turning from the Arcanawrath — ceases to receive the god’s omens and loses their spells and every shadow- and death-gift of this class, though the bodily marks of the necromancer’s price remain. The god of secrets does not readily forgive a keeper who lets a secret slip, and such a fallen wraith is as often hunted by their former circle as forgiven.