Chapter 3:Other Spellcasters

Naturally, wizards and priests aren’t the only spellcasters in the AD&D game. Rangers, paladins, and bards are all capable of casting spells. In addition, a variety of monsters cast spells as well, or make use of spell-like powers. While magic is a secondary skill for most of these characters, it is a very potent tool—or weapon—and can provide significant advantages even at low levels. For example, a bard with spider climb, comprehend languages, and clairaudience will never have to worry about missing a crucial climb walls, detect noise, or read languages roll.

In this chapter, we’ll take a look at some of these other spellcasters and their magical abilities. A character who combines the basic skills of another class with some degree of magical ability is extremely flexible and effective. And of course, villains with a similar range of powers are among the most dangerous enemies a PC party can face.

For our purposes, other spellcasters fall into four general categories: bards and custom-designed characters; paladins, rangers, and minor spellcasters; multi-classed characters; and monsters with magical powers. Bards, paladins, and rangers may all make use of the optional spell point rules presented in Chapter 6 .

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