The Treasury of Skillful Methods

 The Treasury of Skillful Methods was once a school of war wizards, esteemed across the realm for their masterful blending of swordplay with spellcraft. Disciples of the Skillful Methods were well known for their prudence and scrupulous avoidance of the usual sorts of Mad Sorcery that other the wizard schools would engage in, seeking to avoid their Dooms. If they were lesser in power for this, they were regarded as greater in their wisdom and restraint.

All save for one, whose name has been stricken from the record, now known only by history as the 'Grand Topologist'. This sage taught there existed a Method Yet More Skillful, one which could only be accessed by a master wizard-duelist who used topological techniques to wear an unlimited number of socks at once. The Secret Cabal of the Methods Yet More Skillful sought such means and left great disasters in their wakes. The charter to perform magic was revoked, the school left as an esoteric dueling academy focused on inexplicably needle-based martial arts and the inescapable value of having warm socks on at all times.

You have those warm socks. And you have the secret ciphers used to decode the spells woven into every knit and purl. You are an Outlaw wizard posing as a member of the Third Estate. Whether you quest to restore the good name of your art or to finally unravel the secrets of the Methods Yet More Skillful, you are, for your sins, a Sock Wizard.

Perk: Your spellbook is a pair of knit socks. They keep whatever is in them (chiefly your feet) safe from water, chills, insects and all other forms of earthly peril. Dragon fire will still kill you, of course. But it will leave the smouldering stumps of your feet safe and secure inside their invulnerable socks.

Drawback: You must wear the socks on your feet, with nothing else inside of them except your feet. You invest one MD in a spell per spellbook-sock worn this way. This naturally limits you to only ever casting spells with 2 MD. Unless you were to somehow acquire more feet, but that sort of thinking how the school lost its royal charter and ended up having to go underground in the first place. Don't.

The Treasury of Skillful Methods does not teach cantrips. Instead, you start with proficiency in the use of knitting needles (both as weapons and as tools) and any one technique or stance from the Methods of Skillful Dueling. You may learn additional techniques and/or stances in place of spells, if desired. The dueling school, incidentally, is not banned and makes for a good cover story.

Ψ - The Skillful Methods
An obscure style, focused chiefly on footwork and occult knowledge.
You might have learned it from a witch, or read it in a pair of socks.

1. Technique: Entrelac
After making two attacks, you may throw a net, basket or other woven thing as a free action. It has to be within arm's reach, but need not be already in hand.

2. Technique: Intarsia
Upon striking a skin or fabric, you may mark them with a full colour image of your devising. This is a birthmark on skin or cunning knitting on fabric.

3. Technique: Brkyobrk
You may roll a single attack against two opponents, rolling once for both.

4. Stance: SABLE
Your needle (or blade) trails thread, yarn or ribbon when you swing it. In addition to being very flashy, this lets it be used as a grappling hook.

Spells: The Treasury of Skillful Methods draws from the same pool of spells as Orthodox wizards. Disciples may learn duelist techniques or stances instead.

Mishaps
1. MD only return to your pool on a 1-2 for 24 hours.
2. Take 1d6 damage as the needle slips.
3. Random mutation for [sum] rounds, then make a save. Permanent if you fail.
4. Lose 1 MD for 24 hours.
5. Drop everything you're holding and be unable to pick it up for [sum] rounds.
6. For 24 hours, must save to resist a fiber goods-specific form of kleptomania.

Dooms
The Treasury of Skillful Methods has no natural Dooms, as one cannot naturally learn how to cast its spells with enough puissance to trigger dooms. Should you embrace unnatural methods to enhance how many socks you may wear and thus how many MD you can use in a single spell, your Doom will be decided by the method used. Biomancy? A Biomancer's Doom. Became a centaur? A prophetic Doom. Beware.

It is said that one who learns the most fundamental and hidden Lesson of the Skillful Methods of Dueling will be able to escape the limitations of this art by comprehension alone. To date, no wizard has managed to accomplish this feat. Or, if they have, they've not openly admitted to their achievements.