[deerington] Taako's Amazing School Of Magic!

[pocketspa]

Alt Titled: So, Your Character Wants To Be A Wizard

So this post is for if your character is interested in learning magic, or is currently taking magic lessons from Taako in deerington. We'll go into character progression, what they can learn, how to get materials, and getting started!

Step 1: Getting Your Paperwork Done

There are three ways your character might have signed up to get magic lessons, which are:

• You responded to Taako's interest post on the network.
  
• You dropped a line in Taako's IC Inbox.
  
• You sign up right here and we handwave it!

Either way, I'd love to keep track on this post what students he has and when they started, so no matter how you sign up, please fill out this form:

<b>Name:</b> <b>Journal:</b> <b>When did they start learning?:</b> Month and year, please! <b>What kind of magic do they want to learn?:</b> Examples here can be straight D&D specialties (evocation, transmutation, ect) or more nebulous goals (i.e. "I want to learn how to fly"). <b>Any other notes?:</b> Do they have a specific propensity for magic that they're unaware of? Do they know a different magical system and are looking to compare notes? Just anything else that might be necessary to know.

Once you're all enrolled, we can move on to...

Step 2: Understanding D&D Magic

Dungeons and Dragons has a LOT of magical types, with a lot of different ways people cast magic. What we'll be working with here is wizard magic, which is magic that comes from spells. Your character needs NO natural aptitude to be able to learn and cast it, other than the ability to either read or hear. While this system can be a bit complicated, I'm including a version of what's necessary to know for RP purposes. This also includes details of how Deerington changes things, as there will be some balances and differences due to the game setting.

First, here's an example of what a D&D spell description looks like:



I'll describe what each of these are in numbered form below!

1. The spell's name.
2. The spell's level and type. Characters won't be picking specialties until higher levels, so the type doesn't matter unless they'll be studying for a long time. Level determines what level character can cast the spell; we'll get into that a bit later.
3. This determines how long it takes you to cast the spell. If it says "one action" or "one bonus action", it takes about three seconds. Otherwise it should show the amount of minutes.
4. Where you can hit something with the spell. The range could be just yourself, in melee (within 5 feet), or a long range away.
5. Required components. In order to make these spells work, each can have up to three things required of it:

Verbal: Your character has to be able to speak to cast this spell; it requires a word or noise of some kind. In the case of mute characters, sign language can also be acceptable.
Somatic: Your character must be able to move to cast this spell; it requires a specific motion. An example may be that a disintegrate spell forces you to point at the thing you'd like to target, or a spinning motion to start a Chromatic Orb.
Material: Your character has to have a material through which to channel this magic. The only exception to this is if your character has a spell focus, such as a wand or staff. The ONLY EXCEPTION here is if a spell CONSUMES a material component- it will be marked if it does. In that case, the material MUST be present. Materials and spell focuses can be bought with AC points, which I'll detail more on later.

Each spell will be marked with a V, S, or M- often multiple- to denote what it needs.

6. How long the spell lasts. If it's instantaneous, it happens and then it's over. Otherwise, it'll happen and then take the duration listed before it ends.
7. What classes can learn and cast this spell. Taako can only teach WIZARD magic, so this must mention the Wizard class to be learned from him.
8. The spell's description! What it does, it's damage, ect.
9. Certain spells get more powerful when your character is more powerful, such as generating additional beams or doing more damage. Some you can choose to cast more powerfully when you're stronger, or keep in it's lowered state- all that information will be here.

In addition, you may see spells that say "ritual" on them- this means the spell can also be prepared as a ritual, which will take one hour of time but produce the same desired effect. You do not need to have ritual spells prepared.

Moving on from all that, you'll also need to understand spell slots. Spell slots are shorthand for how much magic your character can cast in a day. Spells come in two forms- cantrips and slots. Cantrips can be cast as many times as you want, all the time, while slots require a spell slot to be burned to use them. This is what you see listed in #2 above- what level of spell slot is necessary to cast the spell. Your character will gain different spell slots at different levels, and be allowed to know a certain number of cantrips.

As for casting, wizards are prepared spellcasters- this means that every day, your character can load up a certain number of spells, and then cast however many they have remaining slots for. You know your cantrips all the time and never need to load them, though you can swap which cantrips you know when you gain a level. Wizards have this information recorded in a spellbook, so be sure your character has somewhere to write this all down!

Here's how many spell slots wizards have per level:



So if your character is a level 2 wizard, they could know 3 cantrips and cast 3 level 1 spells per day. In Deerington, this is a little wobbly because magic is a little wobbly- cantrips continue to be free use, but spell slots instead refill every two weeks. Using the above example, that would be 3 level 1 spells per 2 week period. DnD spellcasters subvert these rules.

Step 3: Progression

So in an actual game of D&D, how many spells you have and when you level up is controlled by a DM. That sounds like a lot of work and I don't have that kind of time to monitor all your characters individually. Instead, we'll work on a general scale based on how long your character has been a student, as noted in your paperwork. From there, you can count down this list, pick your spells and otherwise, and track your character's progression. Feel free to hit me up for anything you'd like to thread and I'm ALWAYS happy to write it out, but this can help you reference it anytime.

A list and description of all available wizard spells can be found here.

Otherwise, here's our timetable:

Month One: Your character learns the basics of magical theory and what it means to cast a spell.

• GAIN: One cantrip of your choice from the Wizard spell list.

Month Two: Your character refines their magic casting, and begins work on another spell.

• GAIN: A second cantrip of your choice from the Wizard spell list.

Month Three: Your character can start working on more advanced spellcasting, and learning how to cast spells that require more energy.

• GAIN: One level 1 spell, that they can cast once every two weeks.

Month Four: Hey, you're pretty competent now, but don't get too goddamn cocky, alright. Go back to cantrips because Taako doesn't want anyone outclassing him.

• GAIN: A third cantrip! See, you get something out of this.

Month Five: You're doing like, really well now. Back to working on level one spells and learning more technique.

• GAIN: A second level one spell. At this stage, characters can cast ONE of their known level one spells ONCE per period (2 weeks), to be prepared at the day's start. You must prepare the spell you want to use in that day; this can be largely handwaved.

Month Six: You're very close to being an actual leveled wizard! He thinks you're actually in this to win this, so the training ramps up.

• GAIN: Two additional level one spells, to bring you to a total of FOUR level one spells, with the ability to prepare TWO per day, but can still only cast ONE level 1 spell per two weeks.

Month Seven: It's time to gain your actual wizard hat, what is up there.

• GAIN: Two more level one spells, bringing you to a total of SIX and reaching the status of level one wizard. Your character can now cast TWO level one spells per two weeks, and prepare up to THREE for use in those slots.

Month Eight: Start getting creative! This is where you know magic and are pretty good at it by this point, so it's easier to gain levels and try new things. This is where you'll want to determine what your character wants their specialty to be, though you can always learn spells from across the disciplines.

• GAIN: Learn another level one spell, though slots and preparation remain unchanged.

Month Nine: Magical ability is hard but you're doing like, real well with it. He might actually encourage you by now? It's hard to say.

• GAIN: Another level 1 spell slot! Your character is now considered a level two wizard and can prepare up to FOUR spells at once.

Month Ten: It's time to pick a specialty! This will grant you a special ability native to that specialty. You can read about these in the Dungeons and Dragons Handbook, page 108 onward. If you're having trouble with this, please contact me! Happy to help pick what's going to fit best.

• GAIN: An official specialty, along with the specialty power.

Month Eleven: Look at this. Look at you go. You're killing it, my dude. It's more of the same through here, though lessons will be more focused on learning new spells and less on theory.

• GAIN: Learn another level one spell, though slots and preparation remain unchanged.

Month Twelve: You started a whole ass year ago. That's incomprehensible. He's proud of you and your dumb little efforts.

• GAIN: A level two spell, and one level two spell slot. You can now prepare up to FIVE spells at once.

You don't need to update me on your progress; I'll assume what they know based on their period of enrollment. If we have people actually hitting this at a year, I'll expand the categories.

Step 4: Cost and Purchasing

As discussed earlier, each spell requires either (or multiple) of visual, somatic, and material costs. While Taako can teach the visual and somatic cues and provide components for practice, any spell you want to cast that needs a component... well, needs a component. You can buy these using AC points, just like any other purchase! Please be sure to go to the item request post to buy these- commenting here won't get them!

A few notes on this before the list:

• Spells that do not have components listed as being consumed can have a bought component used three times before the magic runs out. From there, it'll need to be repurchased.
  
• If a spell has a component that is specifically stated as being consumed by the spell, it's a one-time use only.
  
• If characters purchase a stabilizing gem, this can be their spell focus and subvert the need for material components, as long as they are not consumed. If the gem is broken or lost, they will need to get another one- they cannot use it for these spells when they do not have the gem on their person.

All of that said: the components list! All items are priced per component.

Category	Description	Cost
Simple Items	Any small amount of supply that is nonmagical and common; i.e. “a bit of fleece”, “a pinch of dirt”, “a piece of string”.	5 points
Uncommon Items	Any small amount of supply that is nonmagical but hard to come by; i.e. “a drop of mercury”, “powdered silver”, “small amounts of ground gemstone”, ect.	20 points
Rare Items	Any amount of supply that is NOT specifically priced but is otherwise valuable or involves crafting; think full gemstones, crystals, glass eyes, magnifying glass, hand mirror, ect. Also covers larger amounts of supply from the simple items category, if necessary at mod discretion.	40 points
Specifically Priced Items: Tier 1	Items with a specific GP value; tier 1 covers 1 - 50 GP; i.e. components for the “find familiar” spell. Any specialty items (like the brasier) would be extra.	50 points
Specifically Priced Items: Tier 2	Items with a specific GP value; tier 2 covers 51-100 GP. i.e. components for “Identify” spell.	100 points
Specifically Priced Items: Tier 3	Items with a specific GP value between 101-300, i.e. “250 gold of incense” for scrying spells. For anything above 300 gp, see the "Other:Uncommon" category.	300 points
Animal Parts	Items that are just weird animal organs, for some reason. I.e. “an adders stomach” for acid arrow, or “bat fur” for darkness. Again, shouldn’t be bigger than what would fit in a hand.	15 points
Holy/Blessed Items	Items that need to be blessed, or otherwise prepared in a specific way; i.e. “holy water” or “quill plucked from a sleeping bird”, or “twig from a tree that’s been struck by lightning”.	75 points
Other: Simple	Sometimes this game says things like “an artistic interpretation of the caster”, or “tiny tarts”, or “clay model of a ziggurat”. This category is for that. Should be items that would otherwise fit under the “Simple” category above if it wasn’t so specific and therefore more difficult to acquire.	50 points
Other: Uncommon	Magical items or items otherwise imbued specifically that are bigger than previous category. I.e. a magic jar for the Magic Jar spell. This also covers anything with a specifically noted GP value over 300.	350 points

Again, I won't specifically be policing this, but the mods will.

And that's it! Thanks for reading all this, enjoy your new abilities, and thanks for enrolling in Taako's Amazing School Of Magic! If you have any questions, feel free to DM me on this account or hit me up at cancerously or on discord at cancerously#6043!