I was originally planning something else for my third game, but I decided that I should probably go with something a bit easier until I've settled into DMing both my Epic and Mutant games. SO, I present to you Jemal's school:
Located on an interdimensional nexus of power, The School is a demiplane unto itself, a completely self-encased and magically supplied structure of immense proportions. The School's founders are lost in legend and shrouded in mystery, and it's true purpose is unknown. What IS known is that it's THE place for aspiring adventurers to train, learning and honing their skills.
You lucky people have been selected to join our new freshman's class for the upcoming year, as you all show great potential.
The primary means of 'education' in the school is the Training Room, where students are faced off against quasi-real monsters, traps, and other challenges adventurers would be expected to face.
Aside from that, there are innumerable activities one could partake of in this wonderful Institute.
In addition to learning and having fun, Students will receive 'incentives' for doing well in various Activities in the form of rewards from the teachers. (IE: Loot), and occasionally a group will be selected to perform missions for the school, to showcase what they've learned in the 'real world'.
Within the school, student violence is closely watched and security maintains peace, preventing the upper-classmen from picking too much on the 'newbies', who cannot yet defend themselves. The security does NOT, however, interfere with In-class disputes (Disputes between students of similar level).
Facilities:
The School has innumerable facilities... aside from the Training Room, various Classrooms, common halls, dorms, etc, there are also several Shops where items both magical and mundane can be purchased, medical facilities where students can receive first-rate (And usualy free) treatment, Dojo's for more basic sparring and weapons training, shooting ranges, an arboretum which contains every non-sentient plant in the multiverse, and a library so large that the only being who knows how to find anything in it is the librarian.
Training Room:
The central part of the game. Any person (or group of people, usually) is allowed to use the training room once per week. To use it, you simply select a starting scenario from those listed as available, and you are immersed in an illusion(well, people THINK it's an illusion, but it's so realistic nobody's ever been able to prove it) of that scenario, where you will be expected to fight, survive, etc. Once you have finished, you will be granted a 2 minute rest period before the next scenario(this one not of your choosing) begins. At any point between scenarios you may choose to exit the training room. If you do not, you will keep going until you are unable to continue (IE until everybody in the room is unconscious).
Once you have exited the training room, you will gain credit for whatever you did. If you successfully complete multiple scenarios, you will gain a 10%(cumulative) bonus for each beyond the first. If you are KO'd during a scenario, your companions(if you have any) will have until the start of the next scenario to ressusitate you. If they do not, you will be 'kicked out' at the start of the next scenario, and automatically ressusitated. Those 'kicked out' will receive credit for each scenario they successfully completed, but will not gain any bonus, due to 'not knowing when to quit'.
EX: Party of four ventures in. Defeats a CR 1 encounter, then a CR 2 encounter. During third(CR 3) encounter, Bob dies. They are unable to revive him. At beginning of fourth encounter, bob is kicked out. Sally and Fred die during Encounter 4(CR3). Tim decides to quit after (barely) completing the fourth encounter.
Total credit:
Bob gains credit/xp for CR 1 and 2 encounters. Sally and Fred gain credit for CR 1, 2, and 3 encounters. Tim Gains credit for CR 1, 2, 3, AND the last CR 3 encounter, PLUS an additional 30% for walking out under his own power.
Character rules:
Characters will be created with 1000 xp (Lvl 2) and 1000 gp worth of equipment. NO magical or alchemical items will be allowed at start of school year, and any unspent gold will be largely useless, as the interdimensional nature of the school uses its own seperate currency system.
Upon arriving at the school, each student will be given their own personal account, and will receive credits to accompany their learning (You gain 1 'credit', or 1GP, for each XP you gain. If you gain 500 XP one day, your account also gets credited 500 GP.)
This is in addition to the 'incentives' teachers will occasionally hand out. Nearly anything you can think of is available for purchase somewhere in the school.. if you know where to find it.
All students are gifted with a Ring to signify their position in the school. The Freshman Ring (Which all PC's will be starting with) is a simple silver band with the name of the student it's linked to carved into it via an arcane mark. These rings are what provide access to your 'account', and give you the bonus for doing well in the training room, and it is said that as you advance, your ring gains new abilities.
You must be relatively young for your race (Just starting into adulthood), but Alignment will not be an issue. The school accepts applicants without caring about their morals, ethics, or beliefs.
Stat System:
34 point buy, but you MUST buy one 18 and one 8. (Before any modifiers)
In other words, you have one 18 stat, one 8 stat, and 18 points to spend on the other four stats.
ALSO: You must have a (modified) Intelligence of at least 10 to qualify for entry into the school.
Allowed Sources: PHB,
DMG, PHB2, Complete Adventurer/Arcane/Divine/Warrior. I may also allow Setting-Specific sources if you're character is from that setting (IE Faerun/Eberron, etc), provided you ask for it beforehand.
Due to the 'open' nature of where characters could be from, you will also each be allowed to pick one source outside of this list (At my discretion, I may say no it I don't have access to the book), to account for different abilities of where you're from. These could include other completes(Mage to account for a magically advanced society?), a 'races of' book(Draconic world?), Or even the Monster's Manual (If you wish to play a non-humanoid character).
**EDIT: Special note on 'monstrous' characters. I will only be allowing one or two of these at most, and I have a method of gaining templates/level adjustment as you level up for any who want to ask about a specific one.**
ALL skills could be useful in the campaign(Dependant on how you play), particularily knowledges. As it is a 'school' based campaign, each player may choose one knowledge skill that is ALWAYS a class skill for their character (Though if you do, you must always put max ranks in it). If you allready have all knowledges as class skills(Wizard, Cleric with knowledge domain, etc), you may instead choose to gain +2 to any knowledge check that you have max ranks in.
A detailed background is not required. HOWEVER, each student must write an essay (at least a couple paragraphs) about what they hope to achieve by going to the school - WHY they want to become better/stronger/more powerful, what the hope to learn, something like that. Only the Dean will ever read these, and he can detect the truth in anything he hears, sees, or reads, so there's no point in lieing.
(This 'essay' is my way of knowing what the REAL reason you/your character is here, regardless of what you may tell others).
). A gallant Knight from PHB2, with long blonde hair, blue eyes and a chivalrous manner. What say you? 
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