Why'd My Wizard Stop Teaching?

[Leo_0210]

Sorry guys, I'm running into a wall, it seems I have painted myself into a corner and need a reason that my wizard would have stoped teaching at the academae. he's 75 now, and spent a good majority of his life teaching at one of the most prestigious academies in Golarion. He has left his post at the Uni and has started traveling with a band of adventurers. His speciality is in ancient runes, which will be a large part of the story to come, however it hasn't presented itself as of yet. I am not opposed to the man to have been cast out of the school, I just am unsure as to what would strip a Wizard of tenure. I don't know if he would have retired, but i could entertain the possibility.

I'm currently of the mind that it was a prophetic dream that alludes to the coming perils.

I'm looking for someone to tell me I'm either brilliant or an idiot and have a better idea. if you think you fit on of those job descriptions please be my guest.

[DeTess]

You could indeed make it something related to the precise adventure, but I could be different stuff as well. Maybe the academy had fallen on hard times, and your wizard's position had to be cut. Maybe your wizard got a late mid-life crisis, convinced himself that nothing he'd did so far mattered and sat out to become a great hero so his legacy would live on. Or maybe he needs a very specific book for his research, and joining the group of adventurers is his best chance at getting it.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Losing tenure in an academic setting can be entirely political. Perhaps he was pushed out after a new batch of leadership came in and made his life miserable...?

[TheYell]

No reason to have him pushed out. He's expected to publish new research regularly as a condition of tenure, and he's on sabbatical from the Academy to do some field work. When he has enough material he'll return to the classroom and write it up in his spare time.

[the_david]

Your grandchild was kidnapped by Gaedren Lamm, and one thing led to another? Assuming you're playing Curse of the Crimson Throne, ofcourse.

If you're not, well you've got about 16 more years on average, assuming you're human and you're using the Pathfinder/D&D maximum age rules. (Yes, humans in Pathfinder have a life expectancy of 101 years if they don't get eaten by a dragon.) That also means that you could die when you turn 76. You should be aware of that. It might be a good idea to start a little younger, say 70.
Retirement might me a good option. I'm guessing you chose to start at the age of 75 because of the aging effects, that's very brave of you. He just doesn't have the funds to retire yet, because he spent all his life savings at Eel's End.

Maybe he wants to go on one last expedition because he never found that artifact. (I couldn't think of anything Korvosa related. Sorry.) He's a wizard and a teacher, maybe he's an archeologist too and wants to dig up some ancient teasures.

Or an angel appeared to him and told him that all that devil summoning will send him straight to hell once he dies. He has to do one more final good deed to go to heaven, or die trying.

Edit: Guys, it's Academae, not academy. It's a prestigious wizard school in Korvosa that's somewhat aligned with Cheliax. To graduate you have to summon a devil.

[Aeson]

- Went on sabbatical to go study some ruins for his/her research.
- A student did something foolish (attempted something beyond their power, went bad, read the necronomicon and went mad, misread warning runes and opened something they shouldn't've, etc) with the training your wizard gave him/her and something bad happened. Your wizard had a crisis of conscience and went off on an adventure as a way of dealing with it.
- Lost a bet.
- Went off on the adventure to win a bet.
- Got placed on administrative leave and needed something to do with his/her now-considerable free time.
- Became fed up with how few students truly love ancient runes like he/she does and went off to go put his/her knowledge to work somewhere that it'll be appreciated.
- His/her academy is funding the expedition, at least in part, and he/she was selected to represent the academy's interests.
- Taking a vacation.

[noob]

Your wizard figured out teaching was way too dangerous for his life and made the calculation adventuring was approximately a hundred time safer.
Half of the students tries to kill him and the other half are so insane and dangerous they could be trying to kill it would make no difference and the "pranks on the teacher" are stuff like wail of banshee traps set to trigger when the teacher is near.
This wizard just did the calculations of dangers and found out that while adventuring was only his second most liked job it was so much safer it was better to adventure then go back to teaching once he reach the level of power of a shoredinger wizard from the fighter vs wizard threads.

[Edenbeast]

Sorry guys, I'm running into a wall, it seems I have painted myself into a corner and need a reason that my wizard would have stoped teaching at the academae. he's 75 now, and spent a good majority of his life teaching at one of the most prestigious academies in Golarion. He has left his post at the Uni and has started traveling with a band of adventurers. His speciality is in ancient runes, which will be a large part of the story to come, however it hasn't presented itself as of yet. I am not opposed to the man to have been cast out of the school, I just am unsure as to what would strip a Wizard of tenure. I don't know if he would have retired, but i could entertain the possibility.

I'm currently of the mind that it was a prophetic dream that alludes to the coming perils.

I'm looking for someone to tell me I'm either brilliant or an idiot and have a better idea. if you think you fit on of those job descriptions please be my guest.

You're 75! You're past retirement age, assuming it's also 65 in Golarion... Leave the teaching to the young and ambitious, your former apprentices for example. I guess you're playing a human, otherwise you would be a very young elf. You're getting old and this new expedition happens to call for your expertise in ancient runes. This time you're not sending one of your apprentices, but experience first-hand instead! It's your last chance to feel young and adventurous :smallcool: Maybe rescue that damsel in distress whom you've been waiting for all those years.

[ericgrau]

<insert baddy here> attacks <insert thing important to you here>. You must take up arms again and fight back!

Bored or retired sounds good too. Plenty of teachers decide they've done it long enough.

[blackwindbears]

Sorry guys, I'm running into a wall, it seems I have painted myself into a corner and need a reason that my wizard would have stoped teaching at the academae. he's 75 now, and spent a good majority of his life teaching at one of the most prestigious academies in Golarion. He has left his post at the Uni and has started traveling with a band of adventurers. His speciality is in ancient runes, which will be a large part of the story to come, however it hasn't presented itself as of yet. I am not opposed to the man to have been cast out of the school, I just am unsure as to what would strip a Wizard of tenure. I don't know if he would have retired, but i could entertain the possibility.

I'm currently of the mind that it was a prophetic dream that alludes to the coming perils.

I'm looking for someone to tell me I'm either brilliant or an idiot and have a better idea. if you think you fit on of those job descriptions please be my guest.


I kind of imagine being a tenured wizard at one of these academies to be very comparable to becoming a tenured professor at a university.

Many tenured professors do not teach, because they became professors for the purpose of research. Instructors join universities for the purpose of *teaching*. In many universities there is a significant separation of rank between the two.

Teaching undergrads how to do the basics when you consider your *real* work to be unlocking the secrets of the universe means that you often only teach when the university requires you to. This applies basically equally well to tenured wizards and tenured physicists.

[Quertus]

No reason to have him pushed out. He's expected to publish new research regularly as a condition of tenure, and he's on sabbatical from the Academy to do some field work. When he has enough material he'll return to the classroom and write it up in his spare time.

Pretty much this. There are lots of other possible reasons, of course, but this is the simplest answer.

Quertus, my signature academia mage, for whom this account is named, basically goes adventuring because "his friends ask him to", and because "nobody else is (as) qualified" - especially if the stakes are "the* world". (Un?)Fortunately for Quertus, he never has had to worry about running out of material to write about, because people keep asking for his help.

Professors, sadly, don't just sit in an ivory tower, researching stuff - there's a "going out into the field and doing stuff" component, too.

* Well, maybe not so much "the" world, as one of the hundred+ he's saved.

[Erloas]

Maybe as you've gotten older you've started to face the real prospect of death, and one caused by something you can't just disintegrate away. If you're going to search for any form of extended life, it is now or never.

[caddmus]

It might seem cliche, But, Mid (end?) life crisis?

a life time teaching, he no longer feels the scene of satisfaction he once did, or the last few years he's been dwelling on the what ifs of his life? what if, he took that appointment to X baron or court or what ever? what if he had taken an old friend up on that offer of help when he went off to go exploring or adventuring, were would his life be today?

but he didn't do that did he? instead he did what at the time was a calling, a joy, His thing! to mold the minds of those who would see to the building of tomorrow.

but decade after decade, year after year, those what if's keep seeping back into the front of his mind. and now, at this age? well, he could die slipping in the morning and falling down some stairs, so why not try one of those what if's? why not try to be the man he thinks he could of been?

I feel that happens to every one sooner or later in life, and well, he's 75, with magical power? he's not exactly some peasant farmer who must accept his lot in life. so, why the hell not :D

[Nifft]

He got seven students pregnant last term, which is six over the acceptable limit.

They want him to remain off-campus until they can nail down some better student-teacher interaction bylaws.

Also, he's never allowed to teach Enchantments Lab again.

[Elkad]

Maybe as you've gotten older you've started to face the real prospect of death, and one caused by something you can't just disintegrate away. If you're going to search for any form of extended life, it is now or never.

This. Finding immortality through classroom research wasn't getting it done. Time to get your hands dirty.

[Helluin]

He got seven students pregnant last term, which is six over the acceptable limit.

They want him to remain off-campus until they can nail down some better student-teacher interaction bylaws.

Also, he's never allowed to teach Enchantments Lab again.

I’m not sure if OP would like to play a serial rapist.

[Nifft]

I’m not sure if OP would like to play a serial rapist.

Parallel works fine too.

But seriously, it can be good to RP through being a bad person who knows what he did wrong and wants to change.

It can also be good to RP being someone whom you would never emulate in real life. (Citation: the Common Murderhobo.)

[Dr_Dinosaur]

After the third trusted and precocious student tried to steal his research and/or trap him in an amulet for his power, he got disillusioned and went on a sabbatical

[Elkad]

I’m not sure if OP would like to play a serial rapist.

Rape? Could be no more than breach of trust as a staff member. Or not even that, just consensual relationships and contraception failure.

[Doctor Awkward]

Sorry guys, I'm running into a wall, it seems I have painted myself into a corner and need a reason that my wizard would have stoped teaching at the academae. he's 75 now, and spent a good majority of his life teaching at one of the most prestigious academies in Golarion. He has left his post at the Uni and has started traveling with a band of adventurers. His speciality is in ancient runes, which will be a large part of the story to come, however it hasn't presented itself as of yet. I am not opposed to the man to have been cast out of the school, I just am unsure as to what would strip a Wizard of tenure. I don't know if he would have retired, but i could entertain the possibility.

I'm currently of the mind that it was a prophetic dream that alludes to the coming perils.

I'm looking for someone to tell me I'm either brilliant or an idiot and have a better idea. if you think you fit on of those job descriptions please be my guest.


After decades of teaching he has become a beloved fixture at the university, and has had the great fortune to have personally instructed three different generations of the same family.

Spending time with his many former pupils and listening to their stories of adventure kindles in him a desire for a different kind of knowledge. His teachings, they say, while invaluable, didn't always exactly prepare them for the field of adventure. He has dedicated his whole life thus far to the academic, and never once experienced the practical application of the art he has taught for so long.

To improve upon his own teaching methods, and to finally explore the world rather than just hear about it second-hand, he strikes out with a band of adventurers, eager to hurl himself into whatever the world outside the academy has to offer.

[Sebastian]

Your wizard figured out teaching was way too dangerous for his life and made the calculation adventuring was approximately a hundred time safer.
Half of the students tries to kill him and the other half are so insane and dangerous they could be trying to kill it would make no difference and the "pranks on the teacher" are stuff like wail of banshee traps set to trigger when the teacher is near.
This wizard just did the calculations of dangers and found out that while adventuring was only his second most liked job it was so much safer it was better to adventure then go back to teaching once he reach the level of power of a shoredinger wizard from the fighter vs wizard threads.

You have a point, consider how many times an adventurer get the quest "your old mentor was kidnapped/killed/is threatened by someone", well, this wizard found out that it is very probable that he is this old mentor (or maybe already happened, more than once) , so it would be better if he became an adventurer himself, so that
a) he'll level up and find powerful weapons and magic item to better defend himself
b) he'll be surrounded by competent adventurers to protect him.
c) he'll be guaranteed that all the challenges he'll meet would be level appropriate

Plus he will be always near to a source of healing and resurrections, really, if you think about it adventuring is one of the safest jobs around.

There are other advantages, as all the scantly clad young adventuresses (and villainettes ) he is going to meet :wink:and if someone have a shot at finding a source of longevity and/or immortality those are adventurers.

[Helluin]

Rape? Could be no more than breach of trust as a staff member. Or not even that, just consensual relationships and contraception failure.

“Also, he's never allowed to teach Enchantments Lab again.”

Not to get too uptight because I’m almost certain that the other post means no malice... I think the cannotation was quite clear.

[Mordaedil]

You guys attend some weird ass schools where that is apparently acceptable behavior.

There's a lot of reasons for retirement from teaching. Maybe you took on a protégé and have taught him everything you can and now he has started teaching his own, leaving you to want to get off his back and let him run the circus for a bit.

Maybe a student discovered ancient undiscovered runes for an alphabet yet researched, and just going there on a field trip was not an option, so you decide to head out there to discover the lost language yourself, in the ruins where these were first discovered.

Or maybe you had an upstart student at the academy who showcased true talent and whose pace made you wary of the future generations and how they might easily overcome you at this rate, so you decided to leave on a journey to expand your arcane knowledge.

Maybe all of the above.