Going to Magic School on a football scholarship ?

[CyberThread]

Going to Magic School on a football scholarship do you think , that this...umm... okay roleplay scenario, only opens you up to gish style of things, or broadens out past that?

[Arcanist]

Being a Wizard does not disallow you from being an able physical combatant, it just means that it would be suboptimal to do so unless forced to do so.

Quite honestly, I can imagine a Wizard having very little to do between the 6 seconds it takes for them to scribe a spell in their spellbook and the remaining 86,394 remaining seconds in the day. I can see physical exercise being a very common choice for these entities. V does not have much of an excuse :smalltongue:

I'll never understand why a Wizard or other d4 Spellcaster isn't a gish in one way or another.

[Fouredged Sword]

I would think that craftsmen and other characters with skills in craft would be recruited to teach mundane skills in return for magical training. Physically powerful spellcasters would also be a boon to the mage's guild. I could see some active or passive recruiting happening through waived fees or outright pay.

[ahenobarbi]

Quite honestly, I can imagine a Wizard having very little to do between the 6 seconds it takes for them to scribe a spell in their spellbook and the remaining 86,394 remaining seconds in the day. I can see physical exercise being a very common choice for these entities. V does not have much of an excuse :smalltongue:

Never wondered what kind of expensive inks, incenses, rare plants and animals they use in scribing etc. :smallwink:

[ahenobarbi]

On topic: why not? There are all kinds of crazy spell casters. And if you have some int you might make a decent gish.

[Segev]

...six seconds to scribe spells? What kind of mimeograph wizard are you? o_O

[Psyren]

To answer the OP's question - yes, if you're not a gish, the physical stats (Str in particular) don't do much. But there are many flavors of gish so I don't see why the "football scholarship" would be a bad thing. You've got sword-and-armor arcanists like Abjurant Champion, unarmored and unarmed "magic monk" gishes like Enlightened Fist, ranged gishes like Arcane Archer, "striker" gishes like Spellwarp Sniper/Arcane Trickster, and finally the shapeshifter style. I could see Egoists/Transmuters/Druids having phys. ed. be part of the curriculum, particularly in PF where shapeshifting with crap physical stats will only get your ass kicked, and their underlying philosophy would be that you must master your own body before you can master the forms of others.


One pure caster that would definitely get the football scholarship though would have to be Scarred Witch Doctor. (Or at least track and field, they can run for days!)

[Grayson01]

I don't see why not, some people who are on football Scholarships don't go on to Play NFL so they acctually fall back on their degree. So Just cause you are on the Football Team dose not mean you have to be a big dumb bruser meathead, that's just stereotyping.

[A.A.King]

To me a Football Scholarship suggests two things. One is that you have some great physical capacities (which is probably great strength but an untouchable speed is also possible ofcourse) and the second thing is that you didn't have quiet the brains do get in on a Regular Scholarship. The second doesn't have to be true of course but that's just the idea it gives me.
Point of that is that in stats it would translate as atleast good physical stats (you really can't dump them for this role play idea) and secondly probably not a 18(+ depending on race) on intelligence.

So yeah, it's a good role play scenario but (IMO) requires you have stats which shout out Gish even though you don't have to become one.

[RogueDM]

An interesting anecdote from real-life: Kris Kristofferson (contemporary of Willie Nelson for those who don't know him) could be looked at as a modern bard. Charisma based with some decent Dex to back it up. But that's just where he ended up. Before that he appeared in SI for Rugby in college. Earned a Rhodes Scholarship. And took Blue (first place) in collegiate boxing.

Just because you are smart or strong doesn't mean that those -have- to be the stats that carry you through life. Heck, a wizard who happens to have a high strength or constitution score is going to relish those stats the day he runs out of spells and has to run/climb/swim for his life. Oh, and the extra attack bonus for touch attacks and HP per level are nice too!

[navar100]

Football? No. Quidditch? Now you're talking.

[Craft (Cheese)]

I don't see why not, some people who are on football Scholarships don't go on to Play NFL so they acctually fall back on their degree. So Just cause you are on the Football Team dose not mean you have to be a big dumb bruser meathead, that's just stereotyping.

Hey, according to the demographics (and simple laws of probability) 3 INT wizards do exist...

[ArcturusV]

And of course, you don't need anywhere near an 18 int to be an effective wizard. Hell you could start out at 12 int and do perfectly fine (And I have seen it). So it's not really out of the question. Would be kinda fun to see in a game.

[Gemini476]

And of course, you don't need anywhere near an 18 int to be an effective wizard. Hell you could start out at 12 int and do perfectly fine (And I have seen it). So it's not really out of the question. Would be kinda fun to see in a game.

You just need 10 int for cantrips, or 11 int for first level spells. It could work.
Or you could be a 3 int Warlock, Sorcerer or Cleric who bluffs his way through the curriculum.

[Conkea]

Hey, according to the demographics (and simple laws of probability) 3 INT wizards do exist...

Would someone who can't cast any spells be considered a wizard though?

[Alex12]

Would someone who can't cast any spells be considered a wizard though?

He's actually a Wizzard.

[Fouredged Sword]

Rincewind, is that you?

[Maginomicon]

There's a set of mystic-flavored Fighter ACFs in Dragon Magazine #355 pages 92-93 that give you magical benefits like Bonded Armor, half ASF, Fortification, SLAs, etc. regardless of what armor you wear. You could flavor these in a magic school as a "Protection Major / Magic Minor" degree at a magic school.

The quarterback:

http://gyazo.com/d4cf3f1f6ee550ada97e938867d35e54.png
Can you say Samuel L. Jackson?!
Magic school on a football scholarship indeed. :smallbiggrin:

[lytokk]

I find the idea of a wizards college with a football program an amazing idea for a campaign, and I'm not even a big fan of harry potter.