Arcanist

Attribute	Value
Weapon Prof.	Simple Weapons, Wand, Staff, Orb
Armor Prof.	None
Saving Throws	Int, Wis
Bonus Skills	Arcana

Level	Special Ability
1	Forma (1st), Spell Focus
2
3	Forma (2nd)
4
5	Forma (3rd)
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Spell Focus

Casting is hard. But it's easier with a focus!

Wands: targeted spells
Staves: concentration spells
Orb: area spells

Casting Styles

There are two distinct styles of arcane casting: Erudite and Innate.

Wizardry

You use Intelligence as your casting stat.

You have the ability to master spells. For any given usage of a Forma, keep track of the number of successes and failures. When you've had at least 3 successes and 1 failure, or if you roll a natural 20 on spell, you master it, and no longer need to hit its DC to avoid miscasting. (Does not apply to Ritual Casting).

If you have access to the spellbook of another Wizard, you can attempt to learn their spells. For each day of downtime, roll an Intelligence check against one of the Forma's spell DCs (your choice). If you succeed 3 of these checks before failing 3, you learn the spell. If you fail 3, you cannot learn any more spells from that book.

Sorcery

You use Charisma as your casting stat.

You are a specialist at ritual casting, in particular the use of quick, ad-hoc rituals in the heat of battle. You can substitute Charisma for any one Intelligence or Wisdom check during the ritual. You also suffer no penalty for contamination when you don't perform ritual cleansing. Your Latent Energy for ritual casting increases by your Charisma modifier.

Forma

You are able to cast spells by evoking the power of ancient symbols, power words, and arcane formulae. While helpful, these are but aids to master the mental control needed to to envison formae, which form the basis of spells.

Formae (the plural) each describe a fundamental magical effect, such as opening a portal, or creating light, or transforming an object's shape. To do more complex things, it is possible (through even greater mental effort) to combine multiple formae at the same time. A spell comprised of a single forma is described as one of the "First Order", whereas one comprised of multiple is "Second Order". "Third Order" does not describe three formae, but instead describes a combination of multiple forma, at least one of which is Second-Order. One can imagine Fifth Order spells as quite complex indeed.

You do not use an Energy mechanic to cast spells. Rather, you roll skill checks, the DC of which is based on the difficulty of the formae and adjectivae involved; failure on these checks can cause negative consequences.
By default, when casting spells, you use mnemonics, which are mental aids in the form of geometric symbols, arcane words, gestures, etc. These are not themselves the components of magic, but rather devices that aid in the construction of formae in your mind. It is nearly impossible to learn formae without them, although it is possible to cast a well-known spell without them, if necessary. When deprived of your mnemonics, you suffer a penalty to the spellcasting check: -5 if deprived of your voice and -5 if deprived of your ability to gesture.

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Lux (Light)

Let there be light!

Skill Use	DC	Description
Fiat Lux	10	Creates an orb of light while you concentrate. Occupies a hand or focus slot.
Light Orb	14	Orb of light can fly as you direct, within line of sight.
Flashbang	17	Creates a sudden burst of light that blinds creatures (Con ends). Disadvantage if lighting was dim before you cast it.
Searing Light	20	Focused light beam causes fire damage.

Vis (Force)

Ordo (order): mend what is broken; organize what is chaotic
Parma (shield): protect yourself
Porta (portal): you know, portals?
Clavis (key): opens doors, containers, etc
Purgatio (purification): removes impurities/dirt/etc
Ignis (fire): burns
Vox (voice): produce a sound your voice is capable of
Visus (sight): see that which you cannot see

2nd-Order Uses

2nd Skill	Spell	DC	Description
Visus (Sight)	Hidden Light	20	Create light invisible to the eye (infrared), which you then see with the aid of divination. Effectively nightvision.
Vis (Force)	Lux Vis	17	Creates an orb of focused light, then hurls it at a foe, causing fire damage.

Adjectivae

These are modifiers you can apply to any spell. They generally add to the DC. Each of them requires a Feat in order to use.

Adjectiva	Translation	Description	DC
Inversa	Reverse	Reverses the effect of a forma; for instance, instead of creating light, it creates darkness; instead of pushing, it pulls; instead of fire, it creates cold, etc. Usable only when the effect is obvious. Doesn't necessary transmute energy (see Admixture and)	+4
Persevero	Persevere	A concentration spell becomes sustained instead	Various based on duration
Roboro	Intensify	Intensify a spell's effect,

Inversa (reverse): light to darkness, push to pull, fire to cold, etc
Persevero: extend a spell's duration beyond concentration
Roboro: intensify a spell's effect

Ideas

Two uses for each base power:

Sustained (Fluere): what you can do continuously (concentration). Example: force shield, lux, flames!
Burst (Impleo): what you can do when you charge up a round's worth of mana and let it go all at once. Example: magic missile, flashbang, fireball?

More ideas:

Enchant into item (imbuo)
Contingent cast
Soul bind

Paths

Wizard

Sorcerer

Golemwright

Chronomancer

Battlemage

AKA Warden

They get enchantment points to basically create their own magic items. Like Harry Dresden, obv.