Questions for an Arcane Magic Placement Test

[PaperMustache]

I want to write a short exam for a Mage school that is coming up in a pathfinder campaign I'm running. I know at least one person will be interested, being a ranger who wants to pick up a few levels of wizard in spite of being severely mistrustful of magic up to this point.

So the idea of the exam is that it is given to new students with little magical training to gauge their natural aptitude with spell craft. The questions themselves might be intimidating, but ultimately possible for an intelligent young apprentice wizard to answer intuitively. Questions of magical history, the different specialty schools, material and somatic components etc. What I want to do is have the player the test himself for his character, and then his answers would have an effect on what happens next. So help me think of some questions?

[Craft (Cheese)]

Well, this really depends. Do you want this to be an actual test of the player's knowledge of the rules and setting, or do you want this to be a fun roleplaying exercise?

If I was running your campaign, I'd do the latter. I can't really give you much advice for the former anyway (except to say that it would be really boring, both for you and the player). Here's how I'd do it: Have the test administered orally and individually by a senior wizard. The test format is such that you pass if you get 5 questions right before the senior wizard runs out of questions, the number of chances given left unstated.

For the questions, just make up some complete nonsense gobbledy-**** questions with made-up words, dates, places, and people. Let the player just answer however they want, then make a DC10 intelligence check. If they pass, the wizard says that whatever answer they came up with was the right one, and give an equally silly nonsense answer. If they fail, the wizard comes up with an equally silly explanation of why they are mistaken. This continues until the player has passed 5 checks, however many checks that may take. There's no real chance of failure, though your player won't know that, and you get to have some fun playing the wizard.

One thing though, make sure the other PCs have something to do during the examination. Maybe they're all there watching him take the test, and he can talk with them to try to get ideas as to what the answer might be (though the Ranger, of course, gets the final say in what the answer is). That way everyone gets to contribute.

[Chilingsworth]

"What are the four primary arcane uses for the conjuration school?"

"Which spell is best suited to countering a melee combatant? Why?"

"How is an opposing spellcaster best countered? Explain."

"What are the differences in the function of the calling and summoning subschools?"

[Townopolis]

Since the purpose of a mage school is to teach the knowledge and skills of magic, requiring the prospective student to already have specific knowledge or skills is a little... silly. Now, you could include some such questions and let it be known that they will be asked to "test" the character's ability to perform basic research. Otherwise, the questions should test a prospective apprentice's intelligence and probably common sense (apprentices killing themselves is so bothersome). Both of these things could be boiled down to Int or Wis checks, but formulating actual questions should be fun.

For questions designed to test for raw intelligence, look at trick questions and some of the weirder questions you might be asked in a job interview. I believe "why are manhole covers round?" is a well-known example of the latter; people applying for jobs having nothing to do with manholes are asked this question, and the only purpose is to test their ability to think and come to a semi-reasonable conclusion of thesis. Also, it tests how they handle curveballs, which is good.

-"Riznok needs to get himself and his raven familiar out of a 100' hallway. There are no exits except a button at the hallway's far end that will teleport both of them outside. There is a 20' gap in the middle of the hallway, and the 10' of hallway before the gap is covered in slippery grease. The floor of the gap is 30' down and filled with spikes. The 20' of hallway after the gap is littered with caltrops that have been enchanted with a slowing spell. A "Wall of Dispelling" crosses the hallway in the middle of this caltrop area. Immediately after the caltrops is a 30' section of hallway in which both walls, the floor, and the ceiling are made of razor-sharp blades. Riznok has haste, spider climb, feather fall, invisibility, and levitate memorized. What is the fastest, most efficient way for him to proceed."

-"You need to set a flammable beacon alight. It is at the other end of a 30' path. Which of the following spells is more appropriate for the task, fireball or burning hands?"

-"When preparing to face a demon known for using compulsion spells, which spell would be more useful: protection from law, mind fog, or magic missile?"

(the above two would require some knowledge of spells, meaning the character should be given a chance to research the answer.)

-"What purpose does an ettin's second head serve?"

-"If you have three gold pieces, but give your friend seven silver pieces. How many gold pieces do you have left? (If you don't have any friends, pretend that you do.)"

-"A wizard uses the fly spell to become able to fly as well as a hummingbird. Between the wizard and the hummingbird, which is the superior flier. Why?"

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Which of the following Conjuration designs can double as a Necromantic Focus?

a. A Four-sided Triangle
b. A perpendicular square
c. A Circle with at least 1 right-angle

Answer:Trick Question. The four-sided triangle is an Abjuration design, and the other two are Evocation circles.

:smallsmile:

[Jothki]

If you really want it to be fancy, you could dump them in an illusory dungeon with a bunch of spells at their command.

[AuraTwilight]

Whip out a talking hat and put it on their heads.

...What?

[qwertyu63]

For the practical:

The room is 25 feet square, with a 15 foot high ceiling. The walls are a faint blue-green. There is only one door into the room, and it is in the middle of the east wall. In the middle of the room is a table (5 feet square, 2 feet tall) with 2 chairs on opposite sides (one on the side closer to the door). The test proctor sits in the further chair with a sand timer in front of him, wearing long flowing robes which are bright yellow.

The proctor says "For this test, I have just one question. Once I ask it, I will flip this sand timer. You will have until the sand timer runs out to answer the question. You may only give one answer, so be sure you are right before you give me your answer. To help you answer the question, you will have this..." The proctor pulls a wooden box out of his robes and sits it on the table. "Within is everything you should need to answer the question. You may not touch the box until I ask the question..." He reaches into his robes once more, and pulls out an amulet. The amulet is a simple golden disk on a silver chain, however the disk has runes etched on its side and filled with copper. He hands it to the student. "My question is this: What is this amulet?" After saying that, he flips the timer.

The box is a simple wooden box (4 inches by 10 inches by 2 inches), opened by sliding the lid out of its slot. To make things just a touch harder, the box was upside down when put on the table, and will have to be flipped to get at the lid. Within the box is a scroll, a magnifying glass and a vial of a red liquid.

The scroll is a scroll of Detect Magic at Caster Level 1. They are not told it is Detect Magic, and will have to figure that out on their own.

The magnifying glass is a use activated item of Read Magic. Any magical text viewed through it is subject to its effect. They can use this to understand the scroll (so they can use it) and the read the runes on the amulet (to give them a clue). If viewed with Detect Magic, the magnifying glass reads as magical, with an aura of Faint Divination.

If they cast Detect Magic on the amulet (either on their own or with the scroll), it reads as magical, with an aura of Dim Abjuration. The runes on the amulet, if viewed with Read Magic (either due to spell casting or with the magnifying glass), say "tonsiebotsmeeshcihwtahtsemitemos".

The vial is a simple vial, with a stopper. The red liquid within flows like water and doesn't react to the amulet. If viewed with Detect Magic, the liquid reads as magical, with an aura of Moderate Evocation.

To pass, the student must correctly determine the amulet's properties before the time runs out, which it will do 5 minutes after it is started. If the student gives an incorrect answer or lets time run out, they have failed.

In reality, the amulet is non-magical. The aura was placed by the spell Magic Aura. The clues are as follows:

No magic item can put off a Dim aura of any kind. Even the weakest magic items have a Faint aura.

The text of the runes, if you read it backward, gives you "sometimesthatwhichseemstobeisnot", or to format properly "Sometimes that which seems to be is not."

Both of these are meant to point towards something being wrong, while also testing magical knowledge and intellect which are the two most important things to a wizard.

The vial of liquid is a red herring, and is non-magical water with red food coloring. The aura is also from Magic Aura.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

On a serious note, whatever test you use shouldn't actually test the spellcaster's ability to cast spells. You should test the mage's character.

Put the mage in a situation where there is both a mundane and magical way to solve it. The mundane way should appear easy. Almost too easy. The magic way would seem like a normal test of a particular mystical skillset.

Example: The mage must move a glass of water from pedestal A to pedestal B. There are plenty of ways to levitate the glass by magic, or teleport it, or summon a monster to carry it. But the 'correct' way is to merely pick it up and carry it yourself. The point of the test is to determine common sense, a hugely important skill that every person with the power to give space-time a wedgie should possess.

Sometimes, knowing when not to use magic is as important as knowing when to use it.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I agree with Ninjadeadbeard that the practical test should actually test how reasonable and responsible the subject is with magic rather than how many zany uses for magic he can devise. A few other ideas:

"Here is a book with a lock on it. Tell me the fifth word on page 203." If you pick up the book, you'll notice that the key is laying under it. You could also ask the proctor for the key; he has a spare. Alternately, the book clearly isn't thick enough to have 203 pages and the student passes if he says so.

"It's rainy today. Meet me in the second floor of the building at this address, across town. If you arrive in wet robes, you fail." Wait until the rain stops, ask to borrow someone's umbrella, pack a change of clothes, etc. If you teleport, change the weather, or rig a force field into an umbrella, you fail.

"Here is a door being guarded by a big grumpy looking man with a sword who has been instructed no to let you touch the door. I'll be waiting on the other side." If you ask politely, the grumpy man will open the door for you. You could also put on a glove or bunch your hand up in your sleeve and open the door. Attacking or trying to charm/enchant the grumpy is an automatic failure.

I might have to try this on my party's wizard. There's a chance that her apprenticeship is over soon and this might make a good graduation test (or at least part of one).

[Sudain]

I agree with the 'test' commonsense approach. I'd also test intent. You don't want to raise the next arch-evil.

So test for:
Common sense
Intent
Resourcefulness
Dedication
Ability


For a short exam, I'd check for these. Be creative on how you want to test for them.

For example if I were testing for clever or attention to detail I'd ask:

The smallest lark can carry it, but a strong man might not. Of what do I speak?

A tune.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

The smallest lark can carry it, but a strong man might not. Of what do I speak?

A tune.

Ah, yes! Test for 'puns'. Then they'll know who to purge.