Istari

Introducing Middle Earth's Maia as an NPC race

The Istari are not a race like humans, dwarves, elves, or halflings. They are quasi-deities, dispatched to Middle Earth in human form, given flesh and blood, and charged with some worldly mission to fulfill. While "earth bound," an Istar must select a human class that becomes their "vehicle" while carrying out their mission, and level advancement is based on the experience progression of the class chosen. In addition to normal class abilities, an Istar possesses the following capabilities and limitations:

• Istari require three times as much XP to advance in level in any class, and Istari can never wear armor.
• Ability scores rolled for an Istar PC are modified as follows: +1 to CON, +2 to WIS, +3 to CHA, and +4 to INT. The minimum for all scores is 12 and the maximum is 18.
• Though Istari start at 1st-level, they gain an additional 6d8 hit dice beyond the normal, initial HD for their class. They may be of any alignment , though class limitations still apply. An Istar's saving throws are based on the class selected.
• Istari know double the number of languages indicated by their Intelligence score.
• Istari can turn undead, as if a cleric of a level equal to the Maia’s level. If the Istar is a cleric, he turns undead as if two levels higher.

Istari can use magic, but do not cast spells in the traditional D&D method. Rather, Istari of any class possess spell-like abilities they can use at limited frequency, as follows:

• 1/day: charm person, detect magic, hold portal, light, protection from evil, read languages, read magic, ventriloquism
• 1/3 days: detect evil, knock, pyrotechnics (c.f., 2nd-level AD&D spell of the same name), speak with animals
• 1/2 weeks: charm monster

An Istar’s power is tied to his staff. The staff is a simple wooden pole between four and eight feet long and may be decorated to the Istar’s tastes, but it serves as a conduit that links his human form to his unearthly power. If the staff is ever broken, the Istar loses his extra HD, loses his undead turning, and it takes seven times as long to regain his spell-like abilities after using them.

Istari are practically immortal, living at least 2,000 years. They are not born and are never young, almost always manifesting on Middle-Earth as old men. If slain, an Istar may be raised from the dead by the power(s) that sent him, provided that the Istar’s mission on Middle-Earth is not yet complete and that he has acted appropriately for his alignment (DM’s discretion).

Istari do not have names before appearing on Middle-Earth, so the names they adopt tend to be descriptive of the forms they take upon arriving. Istari may also have many aliases, known by different names by different cultures they have encountered.