Specialization

study <spellname>

A mage (single or multi-class) can specialize in a mage spell. A specialized spell never fails: you never "lose your concentration" casting it, not even when you are fighting, being attacked, drunk or wearing gear your class cannot use. Its damage, mana cost and the target's saves stay as they were. In your practice list it is marked (special).

What it takes

• the spell is a mage spell of level 49 or lower, and you have the mage level for it
• you know it to 95% or more (spells get better as you use them, up to 95%)
• 100,000 gold, paid when you study
• you have fewer specialized spells than your Intelligence plus one

Where: only the Master Magician teaches it, a strange old man at his desk in the Wizard's Alcove, deep in the Stonelands (in the Dales, reached from the Roads of the Dales). Stand before him and type study <spellname>.

The way there is dangerous and not for the low level:

• the Passage Through the Fissure has a death trap a step to its west (Buried Under the Rocks)
• beyond the Rocky Maze lives the Mad Beholder, who attacks on sight
• the Wizard's Alcove is behind a locked door that cannot be picked; its key, Galwrong's Black Heart, is carried by Galwrong K'Rech, a powerful mage and warrior who guards the Large Cavern outside it

Go with a strong group.

See also: CAST, STUDY, SPELLFAIL, DT, ZONES