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View Full Version : Would this work in D&D?



Cade Shadow
2008-02-09, 10:43 AM
I was reading 141 when I thought of this but...

Would it be possible to play a D&D campaign where the players are in school? Where they are still learning how to be whatever class they are? Like a University type thing?

ElHugo
2008-02-09, 11:07 AM
Well, I don't know what 141 is, but...
Yes
http://www.sigilprep.com/index.htm is a good place to look

Lolzords
2008-02-09, 11:08 AM
Well, I don't know what 141 is, but...
Yes
http://www.sigilprep.com/index.htm is a good place to look

He probably means http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0141.html, but forgive me if I'm wrong.

Dan_Hemmens
2008-02-09, 11:11 AM
Since a first level D&D character isn't remotely competent in their chosen field, you could argue that it would actually work *better* than an ordinary low-level game.

kjones
2008-02-09, 12:07 PM
Well, that depends what you mean by "competent." They're certainly more effective than an everyday human (Wizard >> Adept, etc...) but still pretty squishy in the grand scheme of things.

There are a few ways that you could implement this idea. If, as students, they're first level, that means that they'd probably be level 2 or 3 by the time they graduate. This is fine, but it means that there would probably be a lot of relatively high-level people in your world (Though I guess it depends on what percentage of people go to college).

If you just wanted to use the university as a jumping-off point for a larger campaign, though, I might recommend starting people off with NPC classes - that way, they are just ordinary people. Then, when they graduate, replace their NPC class levels with PC class levels. Almost any PC class can be represented by an NPC class + a little creativity; a Wizard could just be an Expert who took ranks in UMD, while a Ranger could be a Warrior with skills focused on the wilderness (and maybe a pet dawg). Druids and Clerics could be adepts, and... well, I guess you wouldn't really want to use the Commoner class. This approach might take a bit of house-ruling, but it lets you pit your players up against genuinely low-level challenges.

Dan_Hemmens
2008-02-09, 12:09 PM
Well, that depends what you mean by "competent." They're certainly more effective than an everyday human (Wizard >> Adept, etc...) but still pretty squishy in the grand scheme of things.

"The grand scheme of things" including such menaces as domestic cats and wildfowl.

A first level Fighter has quite a good chance of failing to land a blow on a blind ninety year old man with no armour.

Worira
2008-02-09, 12:28 PM
Considering a blind ninety year old man has an AC of 5, assuming he started with 10 or eleven dex, a first level fighter with 14 strength and no feats increasing attack rolls would only miss on a 1.

Spiryt
2008-02-09, 12:35 PM
Well, I can't imagine "standard" tribal barbarian learning how to be himself.

126 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0126.html). Second to last panel :smallwink: .

Storm Bringer
2008-02-09, 01:03 PM
A 'school' setting for DND? sure, would work fine. just be sure to plan it out a bit before implimenting it.

Idea seeds:
the school is run by a major nation to trian agents for it.

the school is run by a major adventurers/mercs guild to train new members for it.

the school is a co-operative venture between several class specific schools (eg a Wizards guild, a Chruch, a Fighters union. etc)

the school is a secret venture by an insanely powerful ex-adventure, who is training an army of followers to re-shape the world to something more to his liking (wether this is good or bad is your choice. or maybe the players:smallbiggrin:)

Just stay away form things like school uniform, regular classes, and other high-school trappings. we're talking more of a college than a school here.

oh, and do not make references to harry potter. It blows the idea right out of the water.:smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin:

Roderick_BR
2008-02-09, 01:08 PM
I've seen scenarios with magic schools that works as real life's (or mid century) colleges. Could be used for others classes. Would be hard to put all together, though.

Hmm.. wizards would do well in classic magic schools. Make it an arcane order, and high level wizards could get that PrC with the "spell pool" thing.
Sorcerers would be considered "special students", advancing his powers with training, rather than just study.
Bards would be specialist classes, training their songs to enhance their magic.
Archivists would be a different case, applying in a different kind of class for different spellcasting.
Warlocks would be treated with hostility, though, since they would be seen as "cheaters", for making pacts to gain their powers.

... of course, it all makes me think of Harry Potter now...

Storm Bringer
2008-02-09, 01:16 PM
... of course, it all makes me think of Harry Potter now...

Kind on unavoidable if you limit it to a purely magical school. if you throw in non-magic using classes (eg the rest of a balenced party), it never seems to come up....

rickvoid
2008-02-09, 01:21 PM
Amusingly enough, Harry Potter wasn't the first thing to come to mind for me. It was FFVIII. :smallbiggrin:

Starting with PC levels never really made sense to me, but gaining NPC levels and then at some point *poof* magically having those levels translate into PC levels never made sense to me either.

Unless you homebrew some NPC levels that act as, say, 5 levels that give you the benefits of first level in your chosen class. Ooh. Me likey that idea. Mages get their level 0 spells doled out to them one at a time, then once they hit their fifth level they're considered an ECL 1 Wizard. These levels would have to have lower XP benchmarks, and your character would be ECL one-fifth at the start. Try making an encounter for that. :smallamused: Not sure how you'd work skill points, and defense bonus's if you're using that variant (and lets be honest, you really should).

Devils_Advocate
2008-02-09, 04:46 PM
Well, I don't know what 141 is, but...
Yes
http://www.sigilprep.com/index.htm is a good place to look
I wish to note that Sigil Prep is not only an "adventurer school" setting, but is made of highly concentrated awesome as well.

CASTLEMIKE
2008-02-09, 07:16 PM
Sounds like the the old Wizard's "College of Wizardry" for apprenctice wizards.