Academy of the Chromatic Order--Higher Level Advanced Studies

Right, and of all four, Mordrue was the closest to what she was looking for in teaching and I like what you just said about the Lore to help guide the present. Also she's big on knowledge skills, eventually she won't need to do any knowledge untrain, because she'll have points in all the basics.

:\ I'd better check to see if they added any Know skills to LEW..


Also just popped in to show my support of these feat. At first glance Acadamy Master threw me for the loop, but I had forgotten Full Round action vs. an entire round and the 10 minute prepare what ever spell thing. I might have to look into doing that more often when I know more spells.

LogicsFate said:

Right, and of all four, Mordrue was the closest to what she was looking for in teaching and I like what you just said about the Lore to help guide the present. Also she's big on knowledge skills, eventually she won't need to do any knowledge untrain, because she'll have points in all the basics.

:\ I'd better check to see if they added any Know skills to LEW..


Also just popped in to show my support of these feat. At first glance Acadamy Master threw me for the loop, but I had forgotten Full Round action vs. an entire round and the 10 minute prepare what ever spell thing. I might have to look into doing that more often when I know more spells.

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If she likes Knowledge skills, she may want to take a look at the Mordrue's Lore feat (which has already been passed and approved). It does fun things.

As to full-round action VS full round, yeah, that's a terminology that is really hard to remember because of the naming similarity. That's why in the feat text I reminded the reader by saying 'like Summon Monster'.

As to the 10-minute prepare thing, yeah, it's actually a really cool thing to do when you're level 9 or something and you can afford to leave a level 2 or 3 slot open in case you need a little-used utility spell out of combat. Many people don't realise you can do it already.

Not a bad feat, though if these get Voted in, I won't have a free feat till level 12. Assuming I can afford them when I get to level 6/9

I'm kind of wondering whether it is possible for an unaligned wizard to join the Academy and seek out these distinctions later in their career, especially when they are specialized contrary to the houses (such as Ashnar, Evoker with Illusion barred, or Opale who is, I believe, in the mirrored position). I don't think I would go this path with Ashnar if it is possible, but maybe it should be clarified.

LogicsFate said:

Not a bad feat, though if these get Voted in, I won't have a free feat till level 12. Assuming I can afford them when I get to level 6/9

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Yup, that's the other balancing factor for these feats--they eat up all of your feat slots. A Wizard who ignores the Academy and takes a variety of Metamagic feats is going to have a lot more options.

Knight Otu said:

I'm kind of wondering whether it is possible for an unaligned wizard to join the Academy and seek out these distinctions later in their career, especially when they are specialized contrary to the houses (such as Ashnar, Evoker with Illusion barred, or Opale who is, I believe, in the mirrored position). I don't think I would go this path with Ashnar if it is possible, but maybe it should be clarified.

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It is certainly possible, but for the Wizard's degree, the Academy in general has a policy to avoid taking in Wizards who started somewhere else and have 'learned wrong' because 'unteaching the inefficient shortcuts the other instructors took' would take too much of their time. However, a Wizard of sufficient standing (nearly powerful enough to qualify for Magus--i.e. level 5+) is notable enough that the Academy is often willing to consider such a Wizard for the graduate program. You still need to take the Academy Graduate feat (which represents getting any degree, not necessarily the Wizard's), but yes, you could just go to the Academy for the Master's and Magus. You'd definitely have to RP trying to get accepted, though. Also, the cross-house specialisation would be a turn-off. It's not unheard of, though, and of course it means you can't take Daryne's Imagination. You might think that it makes Magus useless for Opale, but it still works on Shadow Evocations.

So in summary, the answer is--maybe. The key is fitting everything into the game setting RP-wise. The Academy leads itself to certain pairs that aren't necessarily optimal (Illusionists who use lots of Shadow Evocations are probably smart to ignore Evocation, for instance), and it gives bonuses assuming you follow that, so that's part of the mechanical trade-off if you are doing it just for the mechanics (and we'd hope not). If doing it for the RP, it shouldn't matter much--you get a more-optimal set of barred schools and less benefit from certain Academy feats. Also, keep in mind that Psychic Reformation can help you reassign things.

LogicsFate said:

Though it looks like you won't have to worry about it, they have allowed retcons in the past fairly easily. My wizard was allowed to retcon her first feat when Acadamy Grad was approved.

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Some have been allowed, some not. It depends on how big the change is (and to what extent the character has already used abilities her player wishes her retroactively not to have). For example, we've had no problem converting Skill Focus (Spellcraft) to Academy Graduate, but have balked at converting a Cleric to Cloistered Cleric.

Rystil Arden said:

It is certainly possible, but for the Wizard's degree, the Academy in general has a policy to avoid taking in Wizards who started somewhere else and have 'learned wrong' because 'unteaching the inefficient shortcuts the other instructors took' would take too much of their time. However, a Wizard of sufficient standing (nearly powerful enough to qualify for Magus--i.e. level 5+) is notable enough that the Academy is often willing to consider such a Wizard for the graduate program. You still need to take the Academy Graduate feat (which represents getting any degree, not necessarily the Wizard's), but yes, you could just go to the Academy for the Master's and Magus.

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What other first degrees does the Academy offer besides the Wizards'?

orsal said:

Some have been allowed, some not. It depends on how big the change is (and to what extent the character has already used abilities her player wishes her retroactively not to have). For example, we've had no problem converting Skill Focus (Spellcraft) to Academy Graduate, but have balked at converting a Cleric to Cloistered Cleric.

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I think we allowed a 1st-level Cleric who had never gotten into a fight to go Cloistered, but we disallowed it on a higher level Cleric/Wizard whose player admitted that the character would have died at least three times with the lower hit dice of the Cloistered Cleric (Ah poor Almayce, always on the edge of death). But you're absolutely right, we don't always allow arbitrary edits.

orsal said:

What other first degrees does the Academy offer besides the Wizards'?

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Good question! Journeyman's is for those who can't or won't complete the Wizard's (adventuring 1st-level PCs always have only the Journeyman's).

What I meant by that paragraph is that for those who came in only for the Master's and Magus, they take the Academy Graduate feat mechanically, but they don't get an undergraduate Wizard's Degree.

I can grab the summary of the degrees from the SitS thread. I probably should. This is a lot about RP and in-game dynamics among characters. The mechanics of the feats are purely secondary (but still important).