Courser (Wizard)
As the invisibility took hold, Maya’s foe looked around in confusion. Without missing a beat, she drew back her bowstring, imbued the arrow with a surge of magic, and sent it straight through the man’s heart.
Maya, a Courser Wizard
A tradition more focused on stalking prey than reading dozens of books, courser mages generally choose more subtle spells that aid in finding or hiding from their enemies. They learn to imbue their arrows with spell energy to deliver more deadly shots.
Building a Courser Wizard
Wizards who choose to adhere to the Courser School of magic are trained to fight using a combination of magic and archery. Keep the following traits and abilities in mind when building your character:
Stalking Savant - You gain proficiency with longbows and shortbows, as well as the stealth skill. Additionally, you can perform the somatic component of spells even when wielding a bow in both hands.
Unseen Assailant - As a bonus action, you can become invisible to one target until the start of your next turn.
Spell Arrow - You can imbue arrows with magic, expending spell slots to deal additional force damage. The higher the spell slot, the higher the damage.
Pinpoint Weakness - When you hit a creature with your spell arrow ability, your next ranged weapon attack against them has advantage.
Multitudinous Arrows - You can attack twice with your bow, and can use one spell slot to imbue both arrows
With their unique set of abilities, Coursers are most comfortable at range, similar to most other wizard subclasses. The primary difference is their ability to become temporarily invisible to certain enemies. While this ability only lasts one round, and can’t be used on a target more than once, those six seconds can be crucial, allowing the Courser to unleash a spell, use their Unseen Assailant ability, and quickly relocate to a safe hiding spot. Having a proficiency in stealth thanks to Stalking Savant means that they can also hide from their enemies with a more mundane approach. When used together, Pinpoint Weakness and Multitudinous Arrows make for extremely high burst damage potential. Consider taking spells that allow you to get out of trouble quickly if an enemy manages to close the gap with you, such as misty step, mirror image, or shield.
There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to picking your race, especially if your gamemaster allows the optional rules variant to customize racial ability modifiers. However, some races may possess certain racial features that grant them an additional edge when it comes to particular classes.
Because Coursers must still rely on their dexterity to use their bow attacks, while relying on intelligence for their spells, high elf is a great choice, especially if your GM doesn’t allow the optional variant for racial ability modifiers. Their Darkvision trait will allow you to find your targets with ease at night, and the bonus cantrip they offer gives you some more variety when selecting your repertoire of spells. Urban Halflings are another great option, especially if you’re playing in a city-based campaign, where their Lost in the Crowd ability will allow you to hide in plain sight.
Roleplaying Tips
When roleplaying as a Courser wizard, ask yourself what led your character to pursue a more martial-oriented school of magic. Did the idea of studying Transmutation or Illusion texts in some dusty library sound stifling? Or did you come from a long line of magical archers, carrying on a family tradition? Whatever factors informed this decision may also affect how you roleplay with others. For example, if it is a family tradition, are your magical abilities meant to be a secret from others, or are you in search of new students? Being a wizard that wields a bow may also result in some surprise among others, who have come to expect your kind to stick to quarterstaffs or daggers. This might allow you to catch others off guard, such as when the party asked to leave their weapons at the door, not realizing that your most powerful weapon is the spellbook you have tucked away in your satchel.
Your roleplaying may also be informed by the background that you choose. Acolyte, Archivist, and Collegian are all great choices for a traditional wizard. However, given your more martial-oriented style of magic, Hunter or Nomad are two other potential options that might lean more heavily towards the idea of you having been an archer prior to becoming a wizard. As always, whatever path you choose to follow, be sure to ask yourself why it is you’ve sought out the company of an adventuring party, and use that to guide your roleplaying in the future.
How to Access this Content
This subclass was created by our partners at Kobold Press, and it is one of the many available to subscribers, along with others like the Way of the Dragon Spirit or the Elementalist, as well as races such as the Shade or Spindrift Dwarf. Learn about these and others by checking out the rest of our Character Choices series.
Build your own Courser wizard and tell us about it in the comments below or on any of our social channels. Join us on Discord, Reddit or Facebook to meet other members of the community and take your game to the next level, or follow us on Twitter @shardtabletop for regular updates.
