Wizard

Portrait

The Wizard is the most powerful character in Cerberus and the reason this optional layer exists. Its charts are therefore deliberately poor wherever magic is absent: at most four attacks per round, a single dedicated dodge throughout its career, the lowest HP base in the game, and standard Fortitude.

Everything lost in the body returns through Magic: caster level, slots, metamagic, and area spells remain untouched by the class.

Action Reserves

Level	1	3	5	7	9
Attacks	2	2	3	3	4
Spells	2	2	3	3	4
General Actions	3	3	4	4	5
Dedicated Dodges	1	1	1	1	1

Spells and attacks advance in exact parallel: Wizard is the only archetype whose spells track attacks across the entire chart. Its reserves are short; the class lacks width, not flexibility. General actions open a second slot per tick at Level 5, and the board goes no farther: two slots per tick, six per round, for the rest of the career.

Before Level 5, one slot per tick means a Standard casting consumes two of three ticks, leaving an attack only on the third. Two slots enable the class's signature combination: one attack and one spell step in the same tick.

A Standard spell requires two spell actions, one to cast and one to release, and each needs a board slot. A capacity of 2 spells per round therefore promises only one released spell. At Level 9, four spell actions release two in the same round: cast the first on Tick 1; release the first and cast the second on Tick 2; release the second on Tick 3. Ticks 1 and 3 each retain a free slot for two attacks. This is the chart's summit (see 8).

Hit Points

Base 6 per point of Strength—the lowest in the game.

Level	1	3	5	7	9	10
HP per Strength Point	6	12	24	48	96	192

This base matters twice because it also sets the interruption threshold: an attack dealing more than 25% of maximum HP during casting causes the spell to fail (see Magic). A fragile Wizard is one prevented from casting.

Saves, Speed, and caster level

• Good Saves: Reflex and Will. A trained mind sees through illusion.
• Standard Save: Fortitude. 1d20 + CON + ½ level—poison, disease, and transformation always find their mark. This is the class's gap and the opening for any opponent unable to win head-on.
• Speed: Measured—30 ft per tick through Level 3, then 35, 40, 45, and 90 at Level 10, the slowest grade in the game. Moving under one's own power halves it during casting without Mobile Caster. Being carried by a mount does not limit spells (see 9).
• Caster level: ½ CHA, the human racial rate. Wizard does not improve it, and that is no oversight: its power comes from study, not blood. An innate caster archetype—a blood sorcerer or bard—is where this ratio increases (Using Classes).

Martial Experience

A character of this class becomes substantially more effective in martial combat through experience. They should develop a fighting style appropriate to their weapons, body, and history through organic progression. Basic Fighting Style provides a reliable benchmark when designing that style; it is not granted automatically.

Predilection Feats

Raw power: Overcast · Spell Focus · Evocation Damage · Mana Strength · Additional Target

Metamagic: Quicken Spell · Long Spell · Delay Spell · Suspend Spell

Caster survival: Energy Barrier · Multiple Barrier · Total Barrier · Mobile Caster

The workshop: Efficient Enchantment · Personal Enchantment · Twofold Elixir · Cooperative Caster · Magus Casting

Playing a Wizard

• One dodge per round, forever. Your defense is not in your reserve, but in total cover, Barriers, and action order won through Reflex duels.
• Intelligence sets your DCs, Charisma your reserve, and Dexterity your tempo. None can replace another.
• caster level is your true progression. The GM can raise it without raising your level: spells hit harder, reach farther, and last longer without changing this chart.

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