Echo Bonded

Any wizard might choose a wand for her bonded item, but a rare few this bond further, breathing into it by imparting a portion o their own intellect into the wand.

Though a risky practice, these wizards achieve a familiar more akin to that of a witch than a wizard, leading this specialty to be banned in many wizarding communities.

Prerequisite(s): A wizard must have chosen to bond with an item, and that item must be a wand. The wizard may bond with another wand in this way, but only by following normal rules for replacing a witch’s familiar, or by using echo etching.

Spellcasting

An echo bonded wizard eschews a spell book and, instead, prepares spells by communing with her echo-self in her wand familiar.

This ability modifies and replaces a wizard’s ability to cast and prepare spells.

Echo Bonding (Su)

At 1st level, an echo bonded wizard forms a close bond with a wand, imparting part of her mind into the object, creating a separate but closely bonded entity. This process allows the wizard a level of metacognition unattainable by most, as her own mind becomes her mentor, teaching her spells as a witch’s familiar. Some wizards name this wand, or allow it to choose its own name, while others consider it a part of themselves. The familiar granted by echo bonding functions as a witch’s familiar, except as noted below.

A wand bonded through echo bonding is an intelligent, semi-living object that may move through the air near wizard’s body, typically over a shoulder or near a hand. The wand cannot move more than 5 feet from the wizard. If forcibly removed, the wizard takes Intelligence damage equal to the Intelligence score of her bonded wand. This damage cannot be healed or prevented, though it is recovered instantly when the wand is returned to the wizard’s personal space. The bonded wand need not learn spells from other familiars, but can, instead, learn them from spell books. A wizard may add her two free spells known upon gaining a level to the list of her familiar’s spells.

A bonded wand familiar also retains the magic of its original wand form. Casting spells from this wand functions as normal, though retrieving it is always a swift action as it flies swiftly to the wizard’s hand from the nearby air. Once per day, the wand familiar may cast a spell it contains as a wand without expending a charge. This number of free casts increases to 2 at level three, and every two levels afterwards (at level 3, 5, 7, and so on).

This ability modifies and replaces arcane bond.

Craft Improvised Wand

At 1st level, an echo bonded wizard gains Craft Improvised Wand as a bonus feat.

This modifies and replaces the wizard’s Scribe Scroll bonus feat.

Echo Etching (Su)

At 5th level, an echo bonding wizard gains Craft Wand as a bonus feat. Further, she gains the ability to etch the echo of her wand familiar onto a new wand if it is destroyed or lost, creating a new wand familiar. This process is much faster than the normal creation of a wand and may be performed using either Craft Improvised Wand or Craft Wand. All associated materials and costs must be assembled and paid at the beginning of the etching. The wizard must have a relatively calm and stable environment and 24 hours of uninterrupted concentration to perform echo etching. If the wizard sustained Intelligence damage from being separated from her wand familiar, that damage is healed upon the completion of an echo etching.

This ability modifies and replaces a wizard’s bonus feat at level 5.