Page 94 - Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica

life forms are known as biomancers, while those who need. You can roll a d6 or choose from the options in
focus on water, weather, and atmospheric conditions are the Research Options table to determine your area
called terraformers, but you can choose your own path of research.
of research.
RESEARC H OPTIONS
GUARDIAN
d6 Clade/Project
If you are playing a Simic hybrid, you initially became
involved in Simic research as a test subject in the l Hull Clade, focused on protection and durability
Guardian Project. You volunteered to participate, but it's 2 Fin Clade, focused on movement
possible there was some pressure on you, or you viewed 3 Gyre Clade, focused on cyclical patterns and
it as the only way to be accepted in the guild. Your metamagic
biological modifications make you ideally suited to spe- 4 Guardian Project, focused on creating guard
cific tasks, and you might come to operate as a spy, an monsters and super soldiers
infiltrator, or brute muscle. Good class options include 5 Crypsis Project, focused on intelligence and counter-
fighter or rogue (of any archetype), or a monk of the Way intelligence
of the Open Hand.
6 Independent research in a new area
D EEPSAGE
You might instead choose an ascetic, contemplative life FEATURE: RESEARCH ER
as a deepsage (perhaps as a wizard or monk). You would When you attempt to learn or recall a magical or scien-
devote yourself to meditating on the philosophical prin- tific fact, if you don't know that information, you know
ciples of the Holdfast and the Upwelling, a pair of com- where and from whom you can obtain it. Usually, this in-
plementary ideas that describe the Simic approach to formation comes from a Simic laboratory, or sometimes
nature and the city. Deepsages inscribe short philosoph- from an Izzet facility, a library, a university, or an inde-
ical riddles, bordering on paradoxes, into shel1s, exo- pendent scholar or other learned person or creature.
skeletons, and stones, and Simic guild members reflect Knowing where the information can be found doesn't
on these sayings to advance their understanding of the automatically enable you to learn it; you might need to
combine's role in the world. Deepsage wizards typically offer bribes, favors, or other incentives to induce people
specialize in the School of Conjuration, and deepsage to reveal their secrets.
monks follow the Way of the Four Elements (focusing on Your OM might rule that the knowledge you seek
air and water over the other two elements). is secreted away in an inaccessible place, or that it
simply can't be found. Unearthing the deepest secrets
BACKGROUND: SIMIC SCIENTIST of the multiverse can require an adventure or even a
whole campaign.
Imagine a perfect world: one in which nature and civi-
lization exist in harmony, adapted to each other; one in SIMIC G UILD SPELLS
which life is shaped to match its environment and the Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic class feature
environment is shaped to match life. That's the world
you have been trying to grow in the laboratories of the For you, the spells on the Simic Guild Spel1s table are
Simic Combine. Nature is all about adaptation, evolu- added to the spell list of your spellcasting class. (If you
tion, and balance- but for it to keep up with the pace of are a multiclass character with multiple spell lists, these
advancing civilization, nature needs some help from bio- spells are added to all of them.)
mancers and terraformers. If, along the way, you happen
to create super-soldiers and mutant monsters that can S IMIC GUILD SPELLS
bolster the combine's defenses against the schemes and Spell L evel Spells
ambitions of the other guilds, so much the better. Cant rip acid splash, druidcraft
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Medicine lst detect poison ond disease, expeditious retreat,
Languages: Two of your choice jump
Equipment: A Simic insignia, a set of commoner's 2nd alter self. enhance ability, enlarge/reduce
clothes, a book of research notes, an ink pen, a bottle 3rd gaseous form, water breathing, wind wall
of squid ink, a flask of oil (made from blubber), a vial 4th freedom of movement, polymorph
of acid (derived from digestive juices), a vial of fish
scales, a vial of seaweed, a vial of jellyfish stingers, 5th creation
a glass bottle of unidentified slime, and a belt pouch
containing 10 gp (Azorius 1-zino coins) When your magic causes physical alterations in
yourself or others, the result often displays the charac-
GLADES AND PROJECTS teristics of fish, amphibians, or other water-dwelling
As a Simic researcher, you are part of a clade-a diverse creatures. Blue-green eddies of magical energy some-
group of individuals combining disparate talents in pur- times accompany your spellcasting, forming spirals that
suit of a common goal- or a researcher on a specialized, reflect the mathematical perfection of nature.
short-term project focused on addressing an immediate