The School of Universal Magic

As described in the
Player’s Handbook , the school of divination is actually composed of lesser divinations and greater divinations. A few specialist mages are barred from greater divination as an opposition school, but every specialist wizard is considered to have access to lesser divination. In this book, the school of lesser divination is replaced by the school of universal magic. This includes a few basic divination and nondivination spells that all wizards should have access to, such as dispel magic and enchant an item. Any wizard may cast spells of this school, regardless of his or her specialty.

The divination spells of both the schools of lesser and greater divination are now considered to be part of one school of divination. Spells such as ESP, clairaudience, and clairvoyance are part of the school of divination and may not be available to wizards who formerly had access to them as lesser divinations. Refer to
Appendix 3 for the revised spell organization.

Important Note: Wizards do not automatically know universal spells. They must study and attempt to learn the spells of this school, just like any other spells. However, when a wizard character is first created, he automatically begins play with any 1st-level universal spells of his choice in his spell book, although these count against the character’s limit of beginning spells.

The school of universal magic consists of the following spells:

cantrip (1st)
wizard lock (2nd)
comprehend languages (1st)
dispel magic (3rd)
detect magic (1st)
remove curse (4th)
hold portal (1st)
teleport (5th)
identify (1st)
enchant an item (6th)
read magic (1st)
teleport without error (7th)
wizard mark (1st)
permanency (8th)
knock (2nd)
astral spell (9th)
protection from cantrips (2nd)

Most of the low-level spells on this list enable the wizard to undertake his basic studies in books of arcane lore and safeguard his laboratory and spell book against intruders. Teleport, teleport without error, and astral spell are included since the ability to travel vast distances in the blink of an eye is a common power among wizards in fantasy literature. Last but not least, enchant an item and permanency are universal magic because every wizard should have the ability to create magical items when he or she reaches the appropriate level.

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