Arcane Tradition: Hedge Magic
Wizards who wander the realms devoting their time to discovering better ways to use magic to aid their allies and defeat their foes, hedge mages are a complementary addition to any adventuring party. These wizards often join forces with others to defeat common enemies, choosing a favored enemy during their adventures to hedge their magic power against, both offensive and defensive. They do not join a formal school of magic but refine their skills with magic during their adventures.
Most mage schools look down their noses at hedge magi, considering them to be "unlettered oafs" barely worth a civil conversation. These "wilders" are often not welcome on mage school grounds, unless it is to apply to join the school or admit the School's superiority in some way. The hedge magi are often equally dismissive of their academic-leaning cousins, and see no reason to spend time shuffling around in books and dusty libraries when much more can be learned in the world of "applicative magic".
Hedge magi are quite common among the Hordes, Dradehalia, and Bedia. Ironically, hedge magic has almost reached the level of an academic discipline in Zhi.
Favored Enemy
Beginning at 2nd level, when you choose this arcane tradition, you have gained enough knowledge about certain creatures to gain a heightened chance to affect them with your spells. Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fi ends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can choose two races of humanoid (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies.
You have advantage on your Constitution saving throws to maintain your concentration while a favored enemy that you can see is conscious and within 60 feet of you. In addition, your spell save DC for your wizard spells increases by 1 against your favored enemies.
When you gain this feature, you learn one language spoken by one of your favored enemies.
You can choose one additional favored enemy at 6th and 14th level.
Hedge Spellcasting
Starting at 2nd level, you can expend your spellcasting energy to protect against harmful spells that target you or a nearby ally. Alternatively, you can expend extra spellcasting energy to improve your chances of affecting an enemy with a harmful spell you cast. When doing so, choose one of these options:
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Hedge Defense – when you or an ally that you can see within 30 feet of you must make a saving throw against a harmful spell, you can use your reaction to expend a spell slot equal to half the harmful spell's level to grant you or the ally advantage on the saving throw.
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Hedge Offense – When you cast a harmful spell that requires a saving throw against one or more of your enemies, you can expend an additional spell slot equal to the original spell's level to boost the spell's power and impose disadvantage on the saving throw for a number of creatures equal to your Intelligence modifier minimum 1).
Improved Arcane Recovery
At 6th level, you have learned to recover extra spell energy when you use Arcane Recovery to recover expended spell slots. You recover additional spell slots equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1) at the end of a short rest using Arcane Recovery.
Intuitive Synergy
At 10th level, your sense of caution and experience, combined with your quick wit and ability to communicate effectively with adventuring companions, grants you and your team a heightened ability to function well together. When initiative is rolled, you and allies within 60 feet of you that can see or hear you, and have traveled with you for at least one week, can add your Intelligence modifier to the roll (minimum of 1).
Hedge Reliability
At 14th level, your ability to hedge against spell effects targeting you and your allies, or to boost the effectiveness of your spells against your enemies, is more dependable. When initiative is rolled, you can recover spell slots equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1), however, you can only use the spell slots for your Hedge Spellcasting feature. At the end of the encounter, you lose any remaining spell slots gained from this feature.
Hedge Mage Spells
These spells are in wide circulation among hedge magi.