The ultimate mage masters both the unpredictable element of the arcane, innate in sorcerers, and the scientific element studied by wizards. Absolute arcanists are paragons of this ideal, blending the two magic styles efficaciously. While they do not benefit from a wizard's specialization nor a sorcerer's bloodline powers, absolute arcanists do learn to cast spells in two very different ways, enhancing their versatility beyond that of an ordinary individual spellcaster. As they grow in power, absolute arcanists learn new methods of utilizing metamagic. At his pinnacle, an absolute arcanist can route the energies of one spellcasting method into the other, fusing his styles to produce magic more powerful than most. This multiclass archetype received heavy input from Raiderrpg.
Primary Class: Wizard.
Secondary Class: Sorcerer.
Hit Dice: d6.
Saves: good Will, poor Fortitude and Reflex.
Bonus Skills and Ranks: An absolute arcanist selects three sorcerer skills to add to his class skills in addition to the normal wizard class skills. The absolute arcanist gains a number of ranks at each level equal to 2 + Int.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Absolute arcanists are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor interferes with an absolute arcanist's movements, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.
Split Casting: Absolute arcanists both know spells as sorcerers and prepare them from spellbooks as wizards. At 1st-level, the absolute arcanist selects four schools of magic to be his "sorcerer schools." Once chosen, these cannot be changed. The absolute arcanist scribes "wizard spells" in his spellbook, which may be selected from any arcane school, and casts "sorcerer spells" spontaneously, which must be selected from his four sorcerer schools. The absolute arcanist retains the wizard's spells per day progression. He may use empty spell slots to cast sorcerer spells spontaneously, so long as they are of an appropriate level. Absolute arcanists may not cast their wizard spells spontaneously, nor may they prepare their sorcerer spells. An absolute arcanist receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score, and uses his Intelligence modifier to calculate the DCs of all sorcerer and wizard spells he casts.
The absolute arcanist's decreased academic focus on his four sorcerer schools causes him to treat them as opposition schools for the purposes of prepared casting. An absolute arcanist who prepares spells from his sorcerer schools must use two spell slots of that level instead of one. In addition, the absolute arcanist takes a –4 penalty on any skill checks made when crafting a magic item that has a spell from one of his sorcerer schools (unless he casts it spontaneously as part of the crafting process).
Cantrips: The absolute arcanist receives the cantrips abilities of both wizards and sorcerers. He may prepare a number of wizard cantrips as a wizard of his level, and may additionally cast any sorcerer cantrips he knows an unlimited number of times per day.
Innate Magic: At 1st level, the absolute arcanist gains two 0-level sorcerer spells known and one 1st-level sorcerer spell known, selected from his sorcerer schools. At each level thereafter, the absolute arcanist gains one additional spell known from his sorcerer schools. The spell may be of any level a sorcerer of his level could cast. At 4th level, and every two levels thereafter, an absolute arcanist can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the absolute arcanist loses the old spell in exchange for the new one. The spells being swapped must be of the same level. The absolute arcanist may swap only a single spell at any given level.
Additionally, the absolute arcanist gains Eschew Materials at 1st level as a bonus feat, but he benefits from it only when casting spontaneously. The absolute arcanist may gain bonus spells known from the Expanded Arcana feat. This ability replaces arcane bond.
Metamagic Arcana (Su): As he levels up, the absolute arcanist gains a reflexive control over metamagic. At 1st level, the absolute arcanist gains a bonus metamagic feat. Absolute arcanists may use each metamagic feat they possess spontaneously once per day to augment any sorcerer or wizard spell as they cast it. When they do this, the spell so cast does not use a higher-level slot, nor does it require longer casting times. Because of this, Heighten Spell cannot be used with metamagic arcana.
At 1st level, absolute arcanists can only use this ability to spontaneously apply metamagic with a level adjustment of +1 or less. At 6th level, and every five levels thereafter, this limit is increased by 1, to a maximum of +4 at 16th level. Though this ability does not increase the level of the spell slot used, the effective level of the adjusted spell cannot be higher than the maximum spell level the absolute arcanist can cast. Example: a 3rd-level absolute arcanist (maximum spell level 2) with the Silent Spell feat could, once per day, spontaneously silence any cantrip or 1st-level spell he casts. This ability, along with arcane bolt and abundant casting, replaces arcane school.
Arcane Bolt (Sp): Starting at 1st level, an absolute arcanist can unleash a ray of magic force as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1d4 points of damage + 1 for every two absolute arcanist levels. This damage is treated as a spell of a level equal to half the absolute arcanist's level, and is a force effect. An absolute arcanist can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Intelligence modifier.
Studied Magic: Because an absolute arcanist gains some portion of his magic through unorthodox methods, and researches only a part of it as a wizard does, his proficiency with arcane magical writings is less than that of a normal wizard. The absolute arcanist gains Scribe Scroll at 1st level as a bonus feat, but he may not create scrolls of spells known unless he has those spells in his spellbook. This ability replaces Scribe Scroll.
Bonus Feats: At 5th and 15th levels, the absolute arcanist receives a bonus metamagic feat. Alternatively, he may learn an arcane discovery. As a normal wizard, he may select an arcane discovery anytime he could otherwise gain a feat, using his absolute arcanist level as his wizard level for the purposes of qualifying for arcane discoveries and determining their effects. This ability otherwise functions as, and replaces, the normal wizard's bonus feats ability.
Abundant Casting (Su): Arcane energy courses through the absolute arcanist's body and mind and he overflows with magic. At 8th level, the absolute arcanist receives an additional spell slot at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd levels. At 14th level, the absolute arcanist receives an additional spell slot at 4th, 5th, and 6th levels. At 20th level, the absolute arcanist receives an additional spell slot at 7th, 8th, and 9th levels. These slots may be used to prepare wizard spells or cast sorcerer spells spontaneously, as the absolute arcanist desires. Treat these slots as though they were gained from arcane school specialization.
Fused Arcana (Su): At 10th level, the absolute arcanist gains the full benefits of Eschew Materials and Scribe Scroll. He ignores inexpensive material components when casting his wizard spells and may scribe scrolls of his sorcerer spells. In addition, by mastering two styles the absolute arcanist has improved his proficiency with the arcane. As a swift action, an absolute arcanist may sacrifice an empty spell slot to increase the caster level of the next wizard spell he casts this round, or a prepared spell to increase the caster level of the next sorcerer spell he casts this round. The level of the sacrificed spell must be equal to or greater than the level of the cast spell (minimum 1). The caster level increase is +1 at 10th level, and +2 at 20th level. This ability replaces the wizard's 10th-level bonus feat.
Arcane Conversion (Su): At 20th level, the absolute arcanist can convert his prepared magic into a flurry of spontaneous casting. Three times per day, an absolute arcanist can sacrifice a prepared spell to cast two sorcerer spells as one standard action. The two spells cast must have casting times of one standard action or less, and their summed levels can be no higher than the level of the sacrificed spell. The absolute arcanist may cast no other spells this round; however, if he uses his fused arcana ability to sacrifice a second prepared spell of the same level as the first, both sorcerer spells cast gain the caster level improvement. This ability replaces the wizard’s 20th-level bonus feat.