Mage of the Arcane Order and prohibited school spells...

[RUMBLETiGER]

Does the spellpool ability from the MotAO PrC allow for a specialist Wizard to use spells from a prohibited school? The New Spell ability indicates not being able to learn a spell from a prohibited school where the Spellpool ability is silent on this prohibition.

I can't see anything in the PrC that says they can't, however I don't know if there are any clear rules on prohibited schools that would overrule the ambiguous wording of the PrC.

Second question along the same lines. I recall the existence of a feat that allowed a specialist Wizard to learn a single spell from a prohibited school, but can remember/find what that feat is called or where that feat is found.

I want to grant my party-support Transmutation Wizard/War Weaver build Fell Drain Magic Missiles (Thank you @Sekhmet!) even though Evocation is one of his 3 prohibited schools. Still totally worth it if the spell only bestows a single negative level as a level 3 spell. Any other suggestions for how to do this would be appreciated.

 

[Sekhmet]

In the Complete Arcane version of the Mage of the Arcane Order, the New Spell ability allows a character to copy spells from another member of the Order's spell book, not from the Spellpool.
The Spellpool ability in the Complete Arcane says "the spell appears in the caster's mind at the beginning of the next turn, and can be used immediately". To me, that suggests that if you are prohibited from casting the spell due to specialist restrictions, you would remain unable to cast a Spellpool granted spell. If the Spellpool was the one casting, and you just channeled, I'd probably rule the other way.

I don't have the other version of Mage of the Arcane Order from the Tome of Blood on hand to compare it to, though.


The Arcane Transfiguration feat (Lost Empires of Faerun) allows you to reverse a restricted school at no penalty (except it takes three feats to get), which will let you learn and cast from that school normally, as if you were not a specialist.

The Spell Reprieve feat, from the same book, grants you one spell from a prohibited school, and is one of the prerequisites to Arcane Transfiguration.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

The Spellpool ability in the Complete Arcane says "the spell appears in the caster's mind at the beginning of the next turn, and can be used immediately". To me, that suggests that if you are prohibited from casting the spell due to specialist restrictions, you would remain unable to cast a Spellpool granted spell. If the Spellpool was the one casting, and you just channeled, I'd probably rule the other way.

See, I read that line as suggesting that the spell can "be in the caster's mind" and "can be used" suggest the opposite of your conclusion. But since it's not completely clear, this is why I'm asking.

Additionally, the line, "no 0-level spells are available, but the Spellpool can provide any other spell on the wizard/sorcerer spell list in the Player's Handbook..." Seems to lean in favor of prohibited school spells.

I don't have the other version of Mage of the Arcane Order from the Tome of Blood on hand to compare it to, though.

I didn't know there was another version. I dusted off the old Tome of Blood and found that other than cleaning up the wording so it's smoother to read, the class appears the same mechanically. No help there.

The Arcane Transfiguration feat (Lost Empires of Faerun) allows you to reverse a restricted school at no penalty (except it takes three feats to get), which will let you learn and cast from that school normally, as if you were not a specialist.

The Spell Reprieve feat, from the same book, grants you one spell from a prohibited school, and is one of the prerequisites to Arcane Transfiguration.

That's the feat I was thinking of, thanks. Clearly Arcane Transfiguration impractical, but the Spell Reprieve feat which would give me a Magic Missile spell I'm looking for, thanks!