OSE House Rules - Illusionist

Changes and extensions to the OSE Illusionist Class (Available in the OSE Advanced Fantasy Rules)
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Basic Information

Requirements: Minimum DEX 9
Alignment: Chaotic
Hit Points at First Level: 4
Hit Dice: d4
Armour: None
Weapons: Dagger, Staff
Starting Languages: Common
Bonus Language Choices: Any
Starting Funds: 3d6 x 10sp
Starting Equipment: A spellbook with a single spell, a pouch of mundane reagents, a dagger or a staff

Spellcasting: Illusionists use the Illusionist spell list. They start with one bonus spell, Read Magic, in addition to the spell chosen at first level
Tongue of the Deceiver: See below for more information
Self-Deception: See below for more information
Magical Research: Illusionists are capable of expanding their spellbooks by scribing found scrolls into their spellbooks, capturing the spellbooks of rival Illusionists or simply probing the properties of Chaos to develop wholly new magical formulae. See the section on Magical Research for more information
Trained with the Staff: Illusionists practice using their staff for basic self-defense. An Illusionist has +1 AC when wielding a staff.

Illusionists are an offshoot of Wizards that have turned their attention to mastering the complex magics associated with illusions - making things seem other than they are. Their specialized studies allow them to master intricate spells of deception unavailable to Wizards, but this focus comes at the cost of foregoing mastery of some Wizard magics. Their mastery of illusion magic makes them excellent liars and deceivers that rely on misdirection, falsehoods and spellcraft to mislead others and obtain their goals. Common folk, and indeed most rulers, do not draw a distinction between Wizards and Illusionists. Commoners fear and misunderstand Illusionists while rulers (should they even know the difference) treat them as they do Wizards - with cautious courtesy and more than a fair degree of mistrust.

Tongue of the Deceiver
Illusionists are masters of deception and this extends to misleading others with falsehoods and half-truths. When an Illusionist tells a plausible lie, that lie will be believed unless there is a strong suspicion to not trust the Illusionist telling the falsehood. Even then, the Illusionist is treated as having a Charisma bonus of +3 (or other suitable bonus depending on the situation) for having the lie accepted by the skeptical listener.

Self-Deception
Illusionists are so skilled at deception that with practiced effort, they can even tell convincing lies to themselves. This ability is a form of solipsism, wherein the Illusionist can choose to believe what they want to believe and, for a time, that belief is, to them, reality.

• To begin this activity, the Illusionist must make a Saving Throw vs Chaos Magic. A Saving Throw failure indicates that this attempt has failed and may not be tried again for the current situation. Furthermore, 3 such failures in any day prevents the Illusionist from using this power until they have a full night's rest.
• On a Saving Throw success, the Illusionist has managed to convince himself that some objective visual or audio truth is actually not true and is actually illusionary. Importantly, this does not change reality - a door is still a door, a blazing fire is still a fire, and an onrushing dragon is still actually present, but the Illusionist can operate as if the visual and audio components of objective reality aren't actually true. This capability allows, for example, the Illusionist to see through a wall or door as if it were a mere illusion. However, the Illusionist could not walk through the door or wall regardless of what he believes because the wall or door remains a physical barrier to progress. A second example might be that the illusionist can selectively block out various foreground sounds so that they may listen to background sounds that would otherwise be inaudible or ignore the terrifying roar of a dragon for a brief time to accomplish some critical task. As a final example, an Illusionist might decide that damage he just took is not really true but was actually from an illusionary source. This would allow the Illusionist to maintain Concentration on a spell (or complete a spell in the midst of being cast) despite the damage from the attack or the effect still taking place; the Illusionist's self-deception is so convincing that despite the actual harm suffered, the Illusionist can continue with spellcasting activities (if possible) after suffering the effects of the interruption.

Advancement
When you have gained enough experience to increase your level, do the following:

• Roll the number of Hit Dice per the table below, apply your PHYS modifier (if any) to each die rolled and compare the total to your current hit points. If your current hit points are less than the total, set your hit points to this new total. If your current hit points are equal to or more than the total you rolled, add 1 to your existing hit points.
• The Referee will also roll one die matching your hit die. You may use this roll in place of one of your rolls if desired.
• Roll to determine if any of your Ability Scores increase
• Add a new spell or spells of a spell level shown on the table below to your spellbook. Note that this may mean you add more than one spell to your spellbook when advancing a level!

Stronghold

• A stronghold may be built or purchased any time sufficient funds are available
• An Illusionists often builds a great tower as a stronghold as they often do not strive to build domains and therefore do not need many of the trappings of a castle. Illusionists tend to value privacy over governing and collecting taxes.
• At 9th level, 1d6 apprentices of levels 1–3 will arrive to study under the Illusionist. The Referee determines the number and level of these apprentices

Experience and Level Table

* Modifiers from PHYS no longer apply
** Illusionists start with 2 spells in their spell book: Read Magic and one other spell