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[Let's Read] Dragonlance: Towers of High Sorcery
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 7886745" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Hz3PC14.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter Five: the Test</strong></p><p></p><p>Forgive the lack of relevant pictures, this chapter is short but otherwise all text…</p><p></p><p>...but what a chapter it is! Unlike the previous which are more overall backstory, this one is all about the Test and more importantly how the Dungeon Master can craft one for his own gaming group.</p><p></p><p>The Test was invented around the Age of Dreams to cut the wheat from the chaff; and when Wayreth was being built people were hearing all about this new ‘moon magic.’ In no time at all the Orders were dismayed at well...how many people showing up were quite clearly unsuited for being a wizard:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The kender conspiracy theorists were right!</p><p></p><p>A screening process was necessary, and so the Test was born: not only to measure a prospective mage’s competency, but also to ensure that they were “motivated by dedication to the magic and not purely selfish or sinister reasons.”</p><p></p><p>So umm, what are the Black Robes then?</p><p></p><p>But most importantly, the declaration that any who took the Test and failed would be executed caused many people to rethink whether or not they wanted to take up the path of High Sorcery. This in theory would ensure that only the best people would succeed. In practice this initially caused a dramatic upsurge in renegades when the Test’s requirement were applied to all current Order members including the Conclave and other high-ranking people. But the Gods of Magic lent their support behind the universality of the Test, and attempts at renegades breaking off and forming their own factions turned to failure.</p><p></p><p>The Conclave monitors known minor wizards throughout Ansalon and gives out magical messengers bearing invitations to wizards when they reach 3rd or 4th level in an arcane casting class. The message is a cordial invitation to a Tower (Wayreth post-Cataclysm) explaining the details of the Test as well as the boons for formally joining an order. 3rd-level and above spells are regarded as too dangerous to keep in the hands of renegades, so characters who ignore the Test and keep gaining arcane casting levels (those who choose to remain dabblers are safely ignored) risk being branded a renegade and hunted down.</p><p></p><p>Should the prospective mage choose to accept, they must travel to a Tower of their own volition and skill, which is a pseudo-test of its own to measure their dedication.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Ermm, I wouldn’t want most people, much less a Black Robe guy, knowing my innermost fears and secrets. This whole thing sounds like it has potential for blackmail material. Granted I could see the Orders doing this as a safety precaution against turncoats and traitors, but the book doesn’t really acknowledge these weaknesses. Beyond this the wizard has every opportunity to back out of a Test before it begins, even up to the very last moment. But once it begins they must either succeed or die trying.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Crafting a Test of High Sorcery</strong></p><p></p><p>Enough about the backgrounds for the Tests, how do we build one to run for wizard PCs? First off we get the basic structure: every Test takes place in a Mindscape spell, with real rooms connected within the Tower and the surrounding land known as the Testing Grounds to further enhance the illusion. Each challenge or trial takes place within a “room” which can be as small as a closet or as large as an entire building or city within the Mindscape. The connections between the rooms are typically literal doors which vanish once they’re passed and can defy the mage’s perception of time and space: one room may be a deserted island at night, and a door standing on its own on the beach may lead into a room which is an undersea palace. Wizards cannot use magic to circumvent these rooms, and barring summoning spells they cannot make contact with people not part of the Test without failing due to cheating.</p><p></p><p>The Test has at least 3 challenges that examine a mage’s knowledge and use of magic, tailored to the strengths (and weaknesses) of said mage to ensure a reasonable level of challenge. There must also be at least three tasks during the Tests that cannot be solved through their current spells alone, and one challenge must involve a confrontation of some sort with a known ally. And all Tests involve pitting the mage in solo combat against a dangerous opponent. In addition to skill, several rooms of a Test need to have some sort of moral challenge which can give an insight into the mage’s outlook on life and thus determine which Order they will join upon completion.</p><p></p><p>Wizard PCs who act differently than their alignment during the Test have said alignment changed to match their Order, which is...something, although that does bring up the question of mages who decide to act differently knowing that the Test is ‘not real’ unless the Mindscape is meant to illuminate how you really are on the inside.</p><p></p><p>The Encounter Levels, or total measurement of a challenge juxtaposed against the Average Party Level, differs depending on whether the mage is taking the Test on their own or chooses to bring along allies to help them: solo mages face challenges typically 2 below their level, while standard party sizes of 3-4 people follow the typical 3rd Edition Encounter Building rules. 1/3rd of the Test’s Challenges are 1 higher than the average, while the solo duels place the mage against an enemy 1 Challenge Rating higher than their level; in rare cases where the Test-takers permit allies to help, they can be 2-4 CR higher than the Average Party Level.</p><p></p><p>Finally, the Test-taker(s) has the option before every room to alter the Risk Level: each room gives out 2 Risks Points upon completion by default, but can be altered to as low as 1 or as high as 4. Each Risk Point below or above 2 alters the relevant d20 rolls of the challenges and opponents by 1: enemies get bonuses or penalties on attacks, saves, skill checks, etc, while the DC for obstacles the PC(s) rolls against shifts by the reverse factor.</p><p></p><p>I’d like to mention that unlike other Editions, +1 and +2 modifiers individually are nothing special. A big portion of the D20 system is combining individual modifiers together to get powerful buffs, and the swinginess of a twenty-sided die along with some spells which can really shift things around. For example, Jump gives +30 on Jump checks and is a 1st level spell, while Displacement causes attacks against you to miss 50% of the time regardless of modifiers. This means that going whole-hog at 4 Risk Points may be more a moderate inconvenience rather than a dire upsurge in challenge for players who know what they’re doing.</p><p></p><p>At the conclusion of a Test, the Risk Points are added up and divided by the total number of areas* to create an average. All mages receive a permanent magical item as a reward ranging from 750 to 16,000 gold/steel pieces ideally themed around their casting style. An average of 2 Risk Points also gives a mage the opportunity to permanently increase their Intelligence score by 1 on a DC 20 Intelligence check. 3 Risk Points also gives the wizard a free bonus feat which must be replated to magic (item creation, metamagic, Spell Focus, etc). And for those brave souls who averaged 4 Risk Points, they have their soul changed in a process known as the Soulforge which bestows upon them an irreversible physical change. This is what gave Raistlin his hourglass eyes which cause him to see all things decay.</p><p></p><p>*it doesn’t say if by total they mean all conceivable rooms (22) or the number of rooms the mage passed through to complete the Test. I presume the latter given that depending on their route the mage can go through as few as 3 rooms or as many as 9.</p><p></p><p>So what does a Soulforge give, mechanics-wise, given it is the hardest reward to achieve?</p><p></p><p>Nothing. Barring DM Fiat it is entirely cosmetic or a minor handicap, related to the Test in some way or a perceived personality flaw of the wizard’s: eyes that change colors to match their mood for a wizard who loses control of their emotions too easily, a forked tongue for a wizard who is a pathological liar, a magical tattoo which changes based on the surrounding environment for an absent-minded wizard, etc.</p><p></p><p>That’s a real kick in the pants. You’d only ever put Risk Points that high from a mechanics perspective to get the most potentially expensive magic item reward you can.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/sQIDiJA.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><em>Rest Areas</em> are places of comfort and safety, intentionally created so that a mage may sleep, tend to their wounds, and refresh their spell selection. They usually take the forms of bedrooms, inns, scenic areas of nature, and friendly villages with helpful inhabitants.</p><p></p><p><em>Battle Areas</em> are straightforward opponents who wish to do the mage harm, or potential harm depending on the mage’s actions. Unlike the duel areas they are not one-on-one and can include multiple (usually weaker) opponents. They rarely take place on a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcjxvK7tcEY" target="_blank">“Final Destination”</a> featureless plane and oftentimes have bystanders, potential allies, and environments which can be helpful or harmful.</p><p></p><p><em>Hazard Areas</em> are places which can be harmful to a mage but are not an enemy to overcome with violence; such enemies that may exist are tangential to the main challenge. The room’s obstacles can range from typical dungeon traps to deadly weather and earthquakes.</p><p></p><p><em>Task Areas</em> are not usually lethal but present a puzzle or conundrum which requires wit and skill to overcome. The samples given include an easily-offended spirit running a crooked shell game which must be won to pass, a medusa asking the PC to fetch her a cup of water from a well with no rope or bucket, and the like.</p><p></p><p>There is only one <em>Duel Area</em> in an entire Test, and its opponent is always another spellcaster whose skills are tailored to exploit the PCs’ weaknesses. Samples given are a wizard with a sense type the PC doesn’t have (such as darkvision) who exploits the environment to blind them, a clone of opposite alignment, and a rogue/wizard who knows all of the hidden traps in an area and will bait the PC into triggering them.</p><p></p><p><em>Magic Areas</em> are a bit of a catch-all category in that they are specifically designed to be solved by the mage’s spell selection. Rest areas often give clues on what spells may be ideal for future Magic Areas based on this. Examples provided include the proper use of divination spells in a maze to pick the safe rooms rather than the monster or trap-filled ones, using illusion spells to throw off enemies hunting the mage, or being trapped in a burning building where water or movement/teleportation-based spells can help the mage escape.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Failure Means Death</strong></p><p></p><p>In spite of all the talk about the weighty responsibility of taking the Test, the writers felt that killing off a PC for failure may be <em>too mean</em> and come up with ways for a PC to succeed in spite of failure. Rather than being a penalty for a bad die roll and poor luck, those in charge of the Test may feel that a wizard has proven their worth and let them pass but give them a physical mark or debilitation as a reminder.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I cannot help but feel that this takes out a lot of the dramatic tension in a Test. PCs are competent in their field of choice by default and #1 and #2 won’t really happen unless the player role-plays their character as such. #3 would be the kind of thing that would be detected during a pre-Test screening as I’m sure it’d count as a “deepest secret.” But I can see the Thorn Knights and skilled mages finding ways around this, although in the latter case they’d likely be a lot higher than 4th level.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> Although it has some warts, this a pretty good outline for Dungeon Masters to build Tests. For games which start at higher level (like the 3rd Edition Dragonlance Chronicles update) I can see some wizard PCs preemptively stating that they took their Test at 4 Risk Points to get the most boons, but a free feat, magic item, and potential +1 Intelligence aren’t exactly what I’d call gamebreaking. I will admit that I had a lot of fun with this chapter in high school, and used it to create my own Tests for my Dragonlance campaigns. If I were to do it now I’d suggest altering the DCs for larger factors for well-built PCs and dispense with the Encounter Level in favor of eyeballing enemy stats. This is because Wizards of the Coast’s own designers admitted that the 3e Challenge Rating system was broke and they just winged it in their own games.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we look at new monsters and magical minions in Chapter Six: Creatures!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 7886745, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Hz3PC14.png[/img] [b]Chapter Five: the Test[/b][/center] Forgive the lack of relevant pictures, this chapter is short but otherwise all text… ...but what a chapter it is! Unlike the previous which are more overall backstory, this one is all about the Test and more importantly how the Dungeon Master can craft one for his own gaming group. The Test was invented around the Age of Dreams to cut the wheat from the chaff; and when Wayreth was being built people were hearing all about this new ‘moon magic.’ In no time at all the Orders were dismayed at well...how many people showing up were quite clearly unsuited for being a wizard: The kender conspiracy theorists were right! A screening process was necessary, and so the Test was born: not only to measure a prospective mage’s competency, but also to ensure that they were “motivated by dedication to the magic and not purely selfish or sinister reasons.” So umm, what are the Black Robes then? But most importantly, the declaration that any who took the Test and failed would be executed caused many people to rethink whether or not they wanted to take up the path of High Sorcery. This in theory would ensure that only the best people would succeed. In practice this initially caused a dramatic upsurge in renegades when the Test’s requirement were applied to all current Order members including the Conclave and other high-ranking people. But the Gods of Magic lent their support behind the universality of the Test, and attempts at renegades breaking off and forming their own factions turned to failure. The Conclave monitors known minor wizards throughout Ansalon and gives out magical messengers bearing invitations to wizards when they reach 3rd or 4th level in an arcane casting class. The message is a cordial invitation to a Tower (Wayreth post-Cataclysm) explaining the details of the Test as well as the boons for formally joining an order. 3rd-level and above spells are regarded as too dangerous to keep in the hands of renegades, so characters who ignore the Test and keep gaining arcane casting levels (those who choose to remain dabblers are safely ignored) risk being branded a renegade and hunted down. Should the prospective mage choose to accept, they must travel to a Tower of their own volition and skill, which is a pseudo-test of its own to measure their dedication. Ermm, I wouldn’t want most people, much less a Black Robe guy, knowing my innermost fears and secrets. This whole thing sounds like it has potential for blackmail material. Granted I could see the Orders doing this as a safety precaution against turncoats and traitors, but the book doesn’t really acknowledge these weaknesses. Beyond this the wizard has every opportunity to back out of a Test before it begins, even up to the very last moment. But once it begins they must either succeed or die trying. [center][b]Crafting a Test of High Sorcery[/b][/center] Enough about the backgrounds for the Tests, how do we build one to run for wizard PCs? First off we get the basic structure: every Test takes place in a Mindscape spell, with real rooms connected within the Tower and the surrounding land known as the Testing Grounds to further enhance the illusion. Each challenge or trial takes place within a “room” which can be as small as a closet or as large as an entire building or city within the Mindscape. The connections between the rooms are typically literal doors which vanish once they’re passed and can defy the mage’s perception of time and space: one room may be a deserted island at night, and a door standing on its own on the beach may lead into a room which is an undersea palace. Wizards cannot use magic to circumvent these rooms, and barring summoning spells they cannot make contact with people not part of the Test without failing due to cheating. The Test has at least 3 challenges that examine a mage’s knowledge and use of magic, tailored to the strengths (and weaknesses) of said mage to ensure a reasonable level of challenge. There must also be at least three tasks during the Tests that cannot be solved through their current spells alone, and one challenge must involve a confrontation of some sort with a known ally. And all Tests involve pitting the mage in solo combat against a dangerous opponent. In addition to skill, several rooms of a Test need to have some sort of moral challenge which can give an insight into the mage’s outlook on life and thus determine which Order they will join upon completion. Wizard PCs who act differently than their alignment during the Test have said alignment changed to match their Order, which is...something, although that does bring up the question of mages who decide to act differently knowing that the Test is ‘not real’ unless the Mindscape is meant to illuminate how you really are on the inside. The Encounter Levels, or total measurement of a challenge juxtaposed against the Average Party Level, differs depending on whether the mage is taking the Test on their own or chooses to bring along allies to help them: solo mages face challenges typically 2 below their level, while standard party sizes of 3-4 people follow the typical 3rd Edition Encounter Building rules. 1/3rd of the Test’s Challenges are 1 higher than the average, while the solo duels place the mage against an enemy 1 Challenge Rating higher than their level; in rare cases where the Test-takers permit allies to help, they can be 2-4 CR higher than the Average Party Level. Finally, the Test-taker(s) has the option before every room to alter the Risk Level: each room gives out 2 Risks Points upon completion by default, but can be altered to as low as 1 or as high as 4. Each Risk Point below or above 2 alters the relevant d20 rolls of the challenges and opponents by 1: enemies get bonuses or penalties on attacks, saves, skill checks, etc, while the DC for obstacles the PC(s) rolls against shifts by the reverse factor. I’d like to mention that unlike other Editions, +1 and +2 modifiers individually are nothing special. A big portion of the D20 system is combining individual modifiers together to get powerful buffs, and the swinginess of a twenty-sided die along with some spells which can really shift things around. For example, Jump gives +30 on Jump checks and is a 1st level spell, while Displacement causes attacks against you to miss 50% of the time regardless of modifiers. This means that going whole-hog at 4 Risk Points may be more a moderate inconvenience rather than a dire upsurge in challenge for players who know what they’re doing. At the conclusion of a Test, the Risk Points are added up and divided by the total number of areas* to create an average. All mages receive a permanent magical item as a reward ranging from 750 to 16,000 gold/steel pieces ideally themed around their casting style. An average of 2 Risk Points also gives a mage the opportunity to permanently increase their Intelligence score by 1 on a DC 20 Intelligence check. 3 Risk Points also gives the wizard a free bonus feat which must be replated to magic (item creation, metamagic, Spell Focus, etc). And for those brave souls who averaged 4 Risk Points, they have their soul changed in a process known as the Soulforge which bestows upon them an irreversible physical change. This is what gave Raistlin his hourglass eyes which cause him to see all things decay. *it doesn’t say if by total they mean all conceivable rooms (22) or the number of rooms the mage passed through to complete the Test. I presume the latter given that depending on their route the mage can go through as few as 3 rooms or as many as 9. So what does a Soulforge give, mechanics-wise, given it is the hardest reward to achieve? Nothing. Barring DM Fiat it is entirely cosmetic or a minor handicap, related to the Test in some way or a perceived personality flaw of the wizard’s: eyes that change colors to match their mood for a wizard who loses control of their emotions too easily, a forked tongue for a wizard who is a pathological liar, a magical tattoo which changes based on the surrounding environment for an absent-minded wizard, etc. That’s a real kick in the pants. You’d only ever put Risk Points that high from a mechanics perspective to get the most potentially expensive magic item reward you can. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/sQIDiJA.png[/img][/center] [i]Rest Areas[/i] are places of comfort and safety, intentionally created so that a mage may sleep, tend to their wounds, and refresh their spell selection. They usually take the forms of bedrooms, inns, scenic areas of nature, and friendly villages with helpful inhabitants. [i]Battle Areas[/i] are straightforward opponents who wish to do the mage harm, or potential harm depending on the mage’s actions. Unlike the duel areas they are not one-on-one and can include multiple (usually weaker) opponents. They rarely take place on a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcjxvK7tcEY]“Final Destination”[/url] featureless plane and oftentimes have bystanders, potential allies, and environments which can be helpful or harmful. [i]Hazard Areas[/i] are places which can be harmful to a mage but are not an enemy to overcome with violence; such enemies that may exist are tangential to the main challenge. The room’s obstacles can range from typical dungeon traps to deadly weather and earthquakes. [i]Task Areas[/i] are not usually lethal but present a puzzle or conundrum which requires wit and skill to overcome. The samples given include an easily-offended spirit running a crooked shell game which must be won to pass, a medusa asking the PC to fetch her a cup of water from a well with no rope or bucket, and the like. There is only one [i]Duel Area[/i] in an entire Test, and its opponent is always another spellcaster whose skills are tailored to exploit the PCs’ weaknesses. Samples given are a wizard with a sense type the PC doesn’t have (such as darkvision) who exploits the environment to blind them, a clone of opposite alignment, and a rogue/wizard who knows all of the hidden traps in an area and will bait the PC into triggering them. [i]Magic Areas[/i] are a bit of a catch-all category in that they are specifically designed to be solved by the mage’s spell selection. Rest areas often give clues on what spells may be ideal for future Magic Areas based on this. Examples provided include the proper use of divination spells in a maze to pick the safe rooms rather than the monster or trap-filled ones, using illusion spells to throw off enemies hunting the mage, or being trapped in a burning building where water or movement/teleportation-based spells can help the mage escape. [center][b]Failure Means Death[/b][/center] In spite of all the talk about the weighty responsibility of taking the Test, the writers felt that killing off a PC for failure may be [i]too mean[/i] and come up with ways for a PC to succeed in spite of failure. Rather than being a penalty for a bad die roll and poor luck, those in charge of the Test may feel that a wizard has proven their worth and let them pass but give them a physical mark or debilitation as a reminder. I cannot help but feel that this takes out a lot of the dramatic tension in a Test. PCs are competent in their field of choice by default and #1 and #2 won’t really happen unless the player role-plays their character as such. #3 would be the kind of thing that would be detected during a pre-Test screening as I’m sure it’d count as a “deepest secret.” But I can see the Thorn Knights and skilled mages finding ways around this, although in the latter case they’d likely be a lot higher than 4th level. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] Although it has some warts, this a pretty good outline for Dungeon Masters to build Tests. For games which start at higher level (like the 3rd Edition Dragonlance Chronicles update) I can see some wizard PCs preemptively stating that they took their Test at 4 Risk Points to get the most boons, but a free feat, magic item, and potential +1 Intelligence aren’t exactly what I’d call gamebreaking. I will admit that I had a lot of fun with this chapter in high school, and used it to create my own Tests for my Dragonlance campaigns. If I were to do it now I’d suggest altering the DCs for larger factors for well-built PCs and dispense with the Encounter Level in favor of eyeballing enemy stats. This is because Wizards of the Coast’s own designers admitted that the 3e Challenge Rating system was broke and they just winged it in their own games. [b]Join us next time as we look at new monsters and magical minions in Chapter Six: Creatures![/b] [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] Dragonlance: Towers of High Sorcery
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