Wizardry School: Lordly Advisory

[Doyce]

So as not to be a complete flake who doesn't do anything but complain that there aren't enough magical traditions out there, I thought I'd share some of the stuff we've developed in our group recently.  

For the upcoming Well of Souls game, I and a player fleshed out the Lordly Advisory Wizardry school for his character, a petty noble and member of Guilbert's entourage, yin to Etienne's yang, as it were..

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One of the four 'approved' schools of Wizardry in Seshnela, a word which here means 'too large to be restricted only to activities that solely benefit the Church', the School of Lordly Advisory is an Academy that focuses on magical training valuable to those sworn to serve the great lords and ladies of the Kingdom.

Entry Requirements:
Member in good standing of the Rokari Church.  Sponsored by a noble patron.

Virtues:
Loyal, Obedient.

Grimoires:
The Abiding Book[/i] (see Heroquest[/i])

Loyal Advisor Grimoire (Assess Appropriate Payment, Be Understood by Anyone, Calm Stranger, Encourage Trust, Help Him Fight, Preserve Darkness, Read Anything)

Humble Servant Grimoire (Avoid Discovery, Clean Up Master, Darken Window, Deflect Inquiry, Lessen Master's Pain, Sober Up)

Talismans:
Wizards of this school often use multiple, subtle talismans for their spells, but all the sorts of things one might commonly find in the possession of a typical petty noble or his servant (coin purses, lucky coin, snuff box, et cetera).

Secret:
None.

Worshippers:
Members of the School are typically lay worshippers of the Rokari Church.

Other Side:
The nodes of the Grimoires used by the school are on the Adept Plane.

Other Connections:
The School is one of only for that are officially part of the Rokari Church.

Disadvantages:
None significant.

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Comments, suggestions, and critiques, as always, welcome.

[Mike Holmes]

One of the four 'approved' schools of Wizardry in Seshnela, a word which here means 'too large to be restricted only to activities that solely benefit the Church',

Lost me there. What does this mean? Are there other schools or not? And is this based off some canon of which you are aware, or are you just making this fact up (just curious)?

I like the grimoires, generally, but there's something subservient about them that seems at odds with the amount of work that it takes (I imagine) to become an adept. Seems like becoming a doctor just to work for one person doing his laundry as well as tending to his ailments.

Is this school relatively "easy" to get into? Something that adepts who can't make it elsewhere fall into? Or are positions like this somehow sought in Seshnela?

Other Connections:
The School is one of only for that are officially part of the Rokari Church.

Four, not "for" right? Again, what's that all about?

Mike

[Doyce]

One of the four 'approved' schools of Wizardry in Seshnela, a word which here means 'too large to be restricted only to activities that solely benefit the Church',

Lost me there. What does this mean? Are there other schools or not? And is this based off some canon of which you are aware, or are you just making this fact up (just curious)?

This is one of those things you pick up out of the book when you read a couple pages about fifteen times, muttering "there has got to be more wizardry information than this".

IDHMB, but if you go to the Rokari Church section of the Wizardry chapter, and read everything they have on the schools of wizardry in the church (don't worry, it won't take long), you'll see a passage that reads something like this:

"There are four major Schools of Wizardry within the Rokari Church, the Iron Blood, Lordly Advisory, Yadda, and Yadda [don't remember the other two].  There are numerous other, smaller schools of wizardry as well, but they are allowed to be active only at the behest of [or "benefit of", or "within", or something like that] the Church itself."

In other words: The Church funds a number of academies, but only four have the political clout to allow it's graduates to do anything after graduation other than serve the Church in some internal function.

So, there's academies other than the main four, but we'd never see them in play as heroes, because all the graduates of those small Schools are expected to take up positions supporting various functions in the Church.  (Example: [paraphrase] Ecclesiastical Accountant Ratier in Well of Souls.)

I like the grimoires, generally, but there's something subservient about them that seems at odds with the amount of work that it takes (I imagine) to become an adept. Seems like becoming a doctor just to work for one person doing his laundry as well as tending to his ailments.

One word: Mentat :)  (Actually, given that, there may be a couple adjustments I could make.)

Actually, for Lordly Advisory, I picture the students as being funded by a particular Noble (or a wealthier noble funding the academy in general) and in return, the adept goes to serve their patron after graduating.  Yeah, they learn a lot of subservient stuff, but if you're otherwise not going to get into the Academy due to lack of sponsorship, you take what you can get -- it's still knowledge, knowledge is power, and eventually you'll have paid off your debt :)

Or something.  

Now, as far as 'subservient' goes, take a look at the 'war wizards,' (iron blood?) in the book, who's sole function seems to be to make knights and arbelests kick more ass.  Ugh.  Second only to that is the ... I can't remember the name, but the "Librarian" School... "we study for years to learn spells that let us... study even BETTER."  Lame.  Two fine NPC-filler schools, but lame for PCs, and unfortunately the only examples provided.  The Abiding Book itself is generally far more useful.

For a political campaign, we thought the set for Lordly Advisory would be fun :)   Decent only as a good first draft, probably, but fun. (We focused more on what you'd need when serving a young lord, perhaps too much, and didn't put enough work into the "Advisory" part, mostly because examples of scrying magic are SLIM).  If nothing else it ties him into Guilbert well for this scenario.

Is this school relatively "easy" to get into?

See above -- it would be thing that an otherwise talented-but-not-exceptional student could get into by finding a patron, yes... moreso than some of the other schools, at any rate.

Other Connections:
The School is one of only for that are officially part of the Rokari Church.

Four, not "for" right? Again, what's that all about?[/quote]

Yup.  Mistype.

[Mike Holmes]

So, there's academies other than the main four, but we'd never see them in play as heroes, because all the graduates of those small Schools are expected to take up positions supporting various functions in the Church.  (Example: [paraphrase] Ecclesiastical Accountant Ratier in Well of Souls.)

Heh, I think I invented that character.

I see what you're saying now about the four orders.

Now, as far as 'subservient' goes, take a look at the 'war wizards,' (iron blood?) in the book, who's sole function seems to be to make knights and arbelests kick more ass.  Ugh.  Second only to that is the ... I can't remember the name, but the "Librarian" School... "we study for years to learn spells that let us... study even BETTER."  Lame.  Two fine NPC-filler schools, but lame for PCs, and unfortunately the only examples provided.  The Abiding Book itself is generally far more useful.

Huh. Actually I just came up with a Carmanian wizardry school (I'll post soon) which seems like the librarians. For some reason that's really cool to me.

Way cooler than laundry. :-)

Mike

[Doyce]

Way cooler than laundry. :-)

I would be HAPPY to see it :)  I am the first person to admit that the school needs a bit of tweaking to be just right.

Actually, what I'd really like to do would be:

Loyal Advisor Grimoire (Be Understood by Anyone, Calm Stranger, Encourage Trust, Read Anything)... and a number of other spells that would work well for an advisor to have... but I can't think of anything outside of scrying.

Humble Servant Grimoire (Assess Appropriate Payment (bribes, etc), Avoid Discovery, Clean Up Master/Self, Darken Window, Deflect Inquiry, Help Him Fight, Lessen Master's Pain, Sober Up)

And there are NO laundry spells in there! :) "Clean Chamber" is from the Abiding Book list! It's not my fault... it just fit :)

"Clean up master" was intended to be used (and has already) as a neat kind of thing where you brush your hands over the lapels, straigten your cuffs, tug the overcloak into place, and voila, all the mud, blood, grime and wrinkles are just... gone.  Excellent for those moments when you have to be at your best at a moment's notice.

The guy playing this character wanted to be Guilbert's "Jeeves", with all that implied about Guilbert being "Bertie" -- it made all kinds of sense :)

So far (in only a three hour playtest) he's had reason to use Assess Appropriate Payment (pay off tavern owner), Calm Stranger (in a fight), Encourage Trust, Sober Up, and several Abiding Book spells.

Amusingly, he also has "Lessen Master's Pain", but while he did sober him up, he chose very specifically to leave him with the hangover.  Apparently, he's trying to wean him off all-night benders.

[olleolleolle]

I simply love the Jeeves twist on the servant/advisor character.

Perhaps a Stern Glare spell to be used when interacting with castle minons? "The Master will not receive any food today, toadie!"

[CCW]

Perhaps a Stern Glare spell to be used when interacting with castle minons?

If he is truely going for the Jeeves image, I rather think the stern glare should be directed at the master himself.  That and the always devastating sixteenth-of-an-inch eyebrow twitch to show really extreme displeasure at the master's deplorably casual choice of attire.

[Doyce]

I have forwarded these ideas along to the player so he has goals set for his magical development. :)

[Mike Holmes]

Again, it's just the education level involved, just to become a glorified servant. Perhaps if he were more like a Major Domo, I could reconcile it more. I mean, I like the "jeeves" character concept - he's competent, sharp, etc. The character type just doesn't strike me as having been educated to take on the position.

Now if you model him off Higgens from Magnum PI, then I think you have something.

I think that, perhaps, the way around this for me is to think of a graduate from an academy like this as a simple undergraduate. Given their ability levels, actually, this must be the case. Hmm. In fact, now I'm forcing myself to see adepts like graduates from Hogworts. Which is working much better. I could see Neville going on to become a servant like this.

Also important to keep the very magical nature of the universe in mind, I guess.

Still, it's just not quite right. I see the "Lord Advisor" school as producing advisors, not servants. There's a very important class distinction in there. The advisor is higher even than the "upstairs" servant. I mean what class did the character in question come from?

Probably just my own biases here, and nothing to really worry about - I'm just kvetching.

Interestingly, the Carmanians have a whole class called the Vizeri which is evocative of the "Vizier," as in advisor to the Sultan (and interestingly where the term Wizard comes from, and, I dunno, maybe even advisor). Yeah, like Jaffar from Alladin. They are very distinctly above the working class, and below the noble class, being intended as advisors and beauracracy for the noble class. This concept is strongly informing my idea of what a Lordly Advisor might be like.

Mike

[Doyce]

Interestingly, the Carmanians have a whole class called the Vizeri which is evocative of the "Vizier," as in advisor to the Sultan (and interestingly where the term Wizard comes from, and, I dunno, maybe even advisor). Yeah, like Jaffar from Alladin. They are very distinctly above the working class, and below the noble class, being intended as advisors and beauracracy for the noble class. This concept is strongly informing my idea of what a Lordly Advisor might be like.

Certainly seem to jive with what I was thinking... problem is, again that I only have ideas for the 'lesser' of the schools two grimoires -- the one that makes you a good aide-de-camp, and the "advisor" grimoire is very shakey... already admitted.

To answer your other question, the character is a Petty Noble... really one of Guilbert's nearly-peers.

[Mike Holmes]

Just to clarify, his class is that which people with the Petty Noble occupation have, but his occupation is servant? Or am I confused? If this is the case, this is precisely the problem that I'm talking about. Actually, I can see a single PC getting into such a situation - I don't have a problem with that, given that PCs are exceptions often. What smacks my suspension of disbelief around is that there's a whole Academy where nobles go to study hard to become servants of other nobles. If you can just rectify my misunderstanding, or put this in a different light, it might help me a lot to see your vision.

BTW, did you see the Advisor keyword on the Shadow World part of the wiki?

Mike

[Doyce]

Just to clarify, his class is that which people with the Petty Noble occupation have, but his occupation is servant?

No.  He's a legitimate petty noble.  Third son, not going to inherit jack, but part of the nobility, yes.

Now, I realize the names of the spells are misleading, but to me it seems that you're really fixated on this being a 'servants' school.  This is probably my fault, because I've fleshed out the 'fun' grimoire more than I have the 'advisor' grimoire.

So... what is this guy?  His part of the entourage.  Simply speaking, he's the responsible one, who benefits from Guilbert's good will and in exchange has taken it on himself to keep him out of trouble.  It's not even an official thing -- they're just friends, although Guilbert's definitely the higher-ranked guy.

That's the PC.  Obviously there are more common variations on this.  The most common I see are those who want to get the magical training but simply can't swing it without funding and sponsorship from someone.  They get a noble to say "sure, I'll pay your way in, but only to the Lordly Advisory Academy, and afterward I'll expect you to work for me for a time not less than double that which you spent at Academy. Agreed?"

Why would they agree?  Because it's *magic*, and knowledge, and game mechanics aside and looking only at the world for a second, it's not like getting into the academies is -easy-.  You get in, you pay your dues after, and then you can research into... whatever you like.

(Frankly, I see a few students of Lordly Advisory *actually* studying the Black Path 'secret school' that I made up -- it's not as though their patron will notice the difference... they're just as effective either way :)

I just don't see it as a Servant's school.  That it's coming across this way indicates that I'm not doing a good job with the grimoires' spell selection.

[Snowden]

I seem to remember reading that actual English butlers were highly trained and sought-after, and accordingly well-compensated.  Would it be possible for, say, "Clean Up Master" 5W2 to give the master a subsequent bonus in their interaction with the Queen?  If so, that might mechanically explain why nobles would pay large sums to have powerful "wizards" carry out such apparently mundane tasks...

I'm not sure how this could be implemented mechanically, though.  As a blessing, or an augment perhaps?

[Doyce]

Okay, I did a bit of work this school, and here's what I came up with:

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
One of the four 'approved' schools of Wizardry in Seshnela, a word which here means 'too large to be restricted only to activities that solely benefit the Church', the School of Lordly Advisory is an Academy that focuses on magical training valuable to those sworn to serve the great lords and ladies of the Kingdom, even the King.

Entry Requirements:Member in good standing of the Rokari Church.  Sponsored by a noble patron.

Virtues:Loyal, Obedient, Competent.

Grimoires:
The Abiding Book[/i] (see Heroquest[/i])    

Loyal Advisor Grimoire
(Be Understood by Anyone, Calm Stranger, Encourage Trust, Glean Information, Listen at a Distance, Read Anything, Understand Foreign Tongue)    

Humble Servant Grimoire
(Assess Appropriate Bribe, Avoid Discovery, Clean Up Attire, Darken Window, Deflect Inquiry, Lessen Pain, Sober Up)

Talismans:Wizards of this school often use multiple, subtle talismans for their spells, but all the sorts of things one might commonly find in the possession of a typical petty noble or member of court.

Secret:None.

Worshippers:Members of the School are typically lay worshippers of the Rokari Church.

Other Side:The nodes of the Grimoires used by the school are on the Adept Plane.

Other Connections:The School is one of only for that are officially part of the Rokari Church.

Disadvantages:None significant.


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I hope one of the chief things this does is speak to the question of why anyone would want to attend this Academy -- speaking frankly, the school is damn useful even if you have no intention of every working for someone else -- combined with the Abiding Book spells, it's a useful set for anyone who's engaged in any sort of intrigue and information gathering.  Honestly, the Lordly Advisory school would be an excellent place from which the King might recruit spies.

And still, the sort of thing that a Noble would find useful as an adjutant.

Thoughts?  Did I turn around and make things too broad?

[Mike Holmes]

No.  He's a legitimate petty noble.  Third son, not going to inherit jack, but part of the nobility, yes.

Oops, I thought that I'd read that he had the Servant occupation somewhere. That's where a lot of the problem is right there. Probably from spending too much time on the Wiki.

So... what is this guy?  His part of the entourage.  Simply speaking, he's the responsible one, who benefits from Guilbert's good will and in exchange has taken it on himself to keep him out of trouble.  It's not even an official thing -- they're just friends, although Guilbert's definitely the higher-ranked guy.

OK, this makes a lot more sense.

That's the PC.  Obviously there are more common variations on this.  The most common I see are those who want to get the magical training but simply can't swing it without funding and sponsorship from someone.  They get a noble to say "sure, I'll pay your way in, but only to the Lordly Advisory Academy, and afterward I'll expect you to work for me for a time not less than double that which you spent at Academy. Agreed?"

So it's sort of an indentured period. How long might these last? Not unlike a squire in this way, actually.

(Frankly, I see a few students of Lordly Advisory *actually* studying the Black Path 'secret school' that I made up -- it's not as though their patron will notice the difference... they're just as effective either way :)

Well, and there are tons of other grimoires. A wizard character can really accumulate spells fast if you're willing to pay the points. So I don't have a problem with it at all from the powers POV. Again, my only objection was social.

Mike