TalonOfAnathrax
2019-01-13, 01:07 PM
So!
What kind of lv 1-5 builds would a mage school aim for?
I am currently playing in this cool homemade setting. It's a postapocalyptic ex-Tippyverse setting, where people know about HD (they can measure "soul growth" with things like Magic Jar or some minor artefacts). They have realized that people have inborn HD caps: most people can never get over 5HD. Then most others block at 10HD. Then most others block at 15HD, or even 20HD. People who can go further are so incredibly rare that my current (lv 19) PC has never seen one despite having been around a lot of the setting. Oh, and Gods seem to be absent from the Prime Material, so forget about them. Concept Clerics are fine, Clerics have terrible PR and are super rare.
Therefore most people are around level 3, and mage schools often try to plan out the build of their students (even Sorcerers who come here for lengthy and difficult spell retraining) and attempt to replicate certain paths to power used by their founders. Trouble is, most people who join don't want an useless build if they have to stop at level 5 after years of study.
Therefore most schools do something like: "we make you a Wizard 5, but with the required feats to join Mage of the Arcane Order" if you can level.
Some of the more Evil (or desperate) schools instead level drain people who get to level 7-8 and are willing to swear loyalty and spend years retraining to get into rare PrCs like Rainbow Servant.
And then there are ****tier local schools who don't have a secret PrC or training methods (to retrain a specific feat) but instead focus on spreading an ACF or two.
But I think that there are better things that can be done! And when I steal this idea for my next game as GM, I'll want weirder magic schools that really try to focus the students towards something specific!
What kind of lv 1-5 builds can be made to be decent at low levels, useful to the guild as a whole (so Cooperative Metamagic makes a lot of sense for example) and with potential at level 10 or more? Preferably without requiring direct attention for a high-level spellcaster to make it work, so no "energy drain those 4 levels away once you have enough Sandshaper levels to auto-qualify" (those guys are busy, and also pretty rare for now).
And yes, being capped at 5 really sucks for Sorcerers. I'm a privileged PC who can reach lv20, so not my problem!
What I could come up with:
In a strange city to the east, the treaties between Earth spirits and the spirits of the land are once again being brokered by mortal intermediaries who receive ancient wisdom in return. Sha'ir 3/Durthan 1 can be trained, and vow to defend the country against invaders. Many later become Dweomerkeepers, their bond to the land deepening into a bond with some of its magic.
Aenar was the only elven lord to return from the war against the devils. But on his way home, something spoke to him in the darkness between the planes... And today he teaches his followers the ways of the Wizard 1/Anima Mage 4.
Although the secrets of their many ACFs have been stolen and spread across the land, the ruins of Walled Thronestand are the only city in which the ways of the Master Specialist can be taught reliably. Well, for Enchanters and Abjurers at least. And for those who are loyal enough and prove mighty, the current Lord of the city is an Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil...
The united cities claim that together they can face their mightier neighbors despite their lack of Golden Age ruins to plunder for lore. And thus they train all their mages to cast Cooperative Spells, to better aid or join the Mages of their Arcane Order. [S]
The gnome tribes are known for their heroes who wield illusion to kill as easily as they can beguile. Under the tutelage of the Underdark families, even the weakest of Sorcerers can hope to set foot upon the path of the Shadowcraft Mage (typically Beguiler 4/Shadowcraft Mage 1 with Earth Spell, Heighten Spell and Versatile Spellcaster). May not work?
Wizard 1/Archivist 1/Mystic Theurge 3 (with Practised Spellcaster and Alternate Spell Source) are becoming increasingly common among the top students of the schools around the Gnawing Sea.
And of course the ruins of the City of Joy, plagued by Golden Age remnant illusions and trickster Fey alike, hosts the School of Insight. It trains investigators (Rogue 3/Master Inquisitive 2) and Fey-guards (Cleric 2/Church Inquisitor 3 with Magical Training, Practiced Spellcaster (Zone of Truth) and often Divine Defiance when at level 5).
The Changeling Tribes teach all their mightier barbarians to twist their form in some way (Barbarian 4/Warshaper 1)
EDIT: To be clear, not every student coming out of a magical school has the exact same build. But each organized school tries to have a coherent curriculum and objective (and to keep its exact training methods secret).
And so far in-setting there are no artificer schools or Distilled Joy/Liquid Pain factories. The DM has said that they are possible - it's just that the knowledge of their existence has been lost to mortals in the world war that ended the Golden Age, and never rediscovered (and immortals took a stomping when faced with the Golden Age Tippyverse, so they aren't in a hurry to tell anyone about how it was done!).
What kind of lv 1-5 builds would a mage school aim for?
I am currently playing in this cool homemade setting. It's a postapocalyptic ex-Tippyverse setting, where people know about HD (they can measure "soul growth" with things like Magic Jar or some minor artefacts). They have realized that people have inborn HD caps: most people can never get over 5HD. Then most others block at 10HD. Then most others block at 15HD, or even 20HD. People who can go further are so incredibly rare that my current (lv 19) PC has never seen one despite having been around a lot of the setting. Oh, and Gods seem to be absent from the Prime Material, so forget about them. Concept Clerics are fine, Clerics have terrible PR and are super rare.
Therefore most people are around level 3, and mage schools often try to plan out the build of their students (even Sorcerers who come here for lengthy and difficult spell retraining) and attempt to replicate certain paths to power used by their founders. Trouble is, most people who join don't want an useless build if they have to stop at level 5 after years of study.
Therefore most schools do something like: "we make you a Wizard 5, but with the required feats to join Mage of the Arcane Order" if you can level.
Some of the more Evil (or desperate) schools instead level drain people who get to level 7-8 and are willing to swear loyalty and spend years retraining to get into rare PrCs like Rainbow Servant.
And then there are ****tier local schools who don't have a secret PrC or training methods (to retrain a specific feat) but instead focus on spreading an ACF or two.
But I think that there are better things that can be done! And when I steal this idea for my next game as GM, I'll want weirder magic schools that really try to focus the students towards something specific!
What kind of lv 1-5 builds can be made to be decent at low levels, useful to the guild as a whole (so Cooperative Metamagic makes a lot of sense for example) and with potential at level 10 or more? Preferably without requiring direct attention for a high-level spellcaster to make it work, so no "energy drain those 4 levels away once you have enough Sandshaper levels to auto-qualify" (those guys are busy, and also pretty rare for now).
And yes, being capped at 5 really sucks for Sorcerers. I'm a privileged PC who can reach lv20, so not my problem!
What I could come up with:
In a strange city to the east, the treaties between Earth spirits and the spirits of the land are once again being brokered by mortal intermediaries who receive ancient wisdom in return. Sha'ir 3/Durthan 1 can be trained, and vow to defend the country against invaders. Many later become Dweomerkeepers, their bond to the land deepening into a bond with some of its magic.
Aenar was the only elven lord to return from the war against the devils. But on his way home, something spoke to him in the darkness between the planes... And today he teaches his followers the ways of the Wizard 1/Anima Mage 4.
Although the secrets of their many ACFs have been stolen and spread across the land, the ruins of Walled Thronestand are the only city in which the ways of the Master Specialist can be taught reliably. Well, for Enchanters and Abjurers at least. And for those who are loyal enough and prove mighty, the current Lord of the city is an Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil...
The united cities claim that together they can face their mightier neighbors despite their lack of Golden Age ruins to plunder for lore. And thus they train all their mages to cast Cooperative Spells, to better aid or join the Mages of their Arcane Order. [S]
The gnome tribes are known for their heroes who wield illusion to kill as easily as they can beguile. Under the tutelage of the Underdark families, even the weakest of Sorcerers can hope to set foot upon the path of the Shadowcraft Mage (typically Beguiler 4/Shadowcraft Mage 1 with Earth Spell, Heighten Spell and Versatile Spellcaster). May not work?
Wizard 1/Archivist 1/Mystic Theurge 3 (with Practised Spellcaster and Alternate Spell Source) are becoming increasingly common among the top students of the schools around the Gnawing Sea.
And of course the ruins of the City of Joy, plagued by Golden Age remnant illusions and trickster Fey alike, hosts the School of Insight. It trains investigators (Rogue 3/Master Inquisitive 2) and Fey-guards (Cleric 2/Church Inquisitor 3 with Magical Training, Practiced Spellcaster (Zone of Truth) and often Divine Defiance when at level 5).
The Changeling Tribes teach all their mightier barbarians to twist their form in some way (Barbarian 4/Warshaper 1)
EDIT: To be clear, not every student coming out of a magical school has the exact same build. But each organized school tries to have a coherent curriculum and objective (and to keep its exact training methods secret).
And so far in-setting there are no artificer schools or Distilled Joy/Liquid Pain factories. The DM has said that they are possible - it's just that the knowledge of their existence has been lost to mortals in the world war that ended the Golden Age, and never rediscovered (and immortals took a stomping when faced with the Golden Age Tippyverse, so they aren't in a hurry to tell anyone about how it was done!).