A Magical University Town

[NewJeffCT]

Have you considered that a university town, of any kind, will have large numbers of students? And large numbers of students will generally display rowdy behaviour on a regular basis. Note that this is nothing new: even in medieval times, students had a reputation for drunkenness and partying.

Add in the magical element, and I imagine a great deal of chaos would ensue.

Imagine a drunken bar fight between two talented young wizards? Instead of a few broken chairs and bottles, the whole bar could get torched with some low level flaming spell. (George McFly: "Hey you, get your damn hands off her!" followed by Scorching Ray or Scorching Burst instead of a fist)

Or, some whacky wizard asks for some volunteers for some magical experiment? (Bill Murray in Ghostbusters testing the guy and the pretty girl)

Of course, the local bars might expect these flame fights and have some alchemical substance on hand that can smother fires (an item called Smotherblend from the Kenzer book Goods & Gear book comes to mind.)

 

[NewJeffCT]

[/LIST]Any more ideas for such a town?

The town might have some sort of "neutrality" agreement that anybody who wants to study magic can do so in town in peace. So, the occasional non-standard, but magically talented creature may show up: maybe a mind-flayer, a drow wizard or a lich or vampire? Something normally the players would think of as evil, but would have to reminded about.

PC A to Capt of the Watch: "We just killed a mindflayer"
PC B: "And, we drove off another, who escaped. So, we wanted to alert you to the danger of illithid infiltration"
Captain: "You stupid fools, don't you know that by the Decree of Sequan in 1284 that all who wish to study here are allowed by law, no exceptions, as long as they can pay the tuition. You've just created a monster of a diplomatic incident! I'll have to report you to the King..."

 

[Hand of Evil]

As any city:

• Laws - does the University have its own campus PD and handle issues through the school. What does this mean "off-campus", are there townies vs students? Duels - as discussed above,how is this handled? And to what level is it taken?
• What magics are taught? Any not? Grave robbing (of bodies) became big business because of medical schools and there are some real life events that took place that work well in some games (murder and crime lords).

 

[Neonchameleon]

Hmmm... is there any form of early electricity? You could have areas of town that were lit by electric light

Regrettably they use Everburning Torches for street lights.

Or you could have steam power. Small (1-2 person) steam tanks. With flame throwers, or that fire specially shaped flasks of alchemist fire.

Worse. The flamethrowers are experimental. There's a reason only zombies and constructs carry them. And this is new, thanks.

I don't know how clean a magical cities sewers would be, the shear amout of toxic waste would be interesting.

Heh. That sort of thing is why they are down in the sewers. Normally between oozes and rust monsters the mutations don't last long. But the fire magic that's causing the mutations and elementals is strong enough to repel the sewer cleaners.

Have you considered that a university town, of any kind, will have large numbers of students?

Not in enough detail yet, thanks

• Just imagine the fraternaty pranks at that college!
• Hippies - the youth always think they are enlightened since they have not actually lived life yet.

Already had one as a plot point

• Hazing could be .... interesting. ("Your Delta Tau Chi Name is...Xvart." "Why?" "Cuz I said it is!"

It beats Hastur

Imagine a drunken bar fight between two talented young wizards?
...
Of course, the local bars might expect these flame fights and have some alchemical substance on hand that can smother fires

*wince* *Yoink!* And they do indeed - the bars have been doing this for a long time.

The town might have some sort of "neutrality" agreement that anybody who wants to study magic can do so in town in peace. So, the occasional non-standard, but magically talented creature may show up: maybe a mind-flayer, a drow wizard or a lich or vampire? Something normally the players would think of as evil, but would have to reminded about.

The party already has a tiefling and a drow warlock. But a lich would be right at home, as would a vampire.

As any city:

• Laws - does the University have its own campus PD and handle issues through the school. What does this mean "off-campus", are there townies vs students? Duels - as discussed above,how is this handled? And to what level is it taken?

No real campus - a central building and scattered. Duelling banned (which doesn't mean it doesn't happen). And townies vs students is going to, thanks

Oh, and Rocky Hill spam reported.

 

[Hand of Evil]

A note on Animated objects - a simple elbow joint, spring and wheel can be used to create a number of engines. The wheel becomes gears. It just needs a guide.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

summon beer elemental

After the discovery of the perfume elemental, it was posited that there were a set of alternate elemental planes. Sages speculate those planes are the planes of beer, perfume, diamonds, and fireworks. But this remains speculation and further questioning of the sages was postponed since their wives wanted them home. Now! Here is what could be gleaned from that meeting:

Beer Elemental
Large Water Elemental
Hit Dice: 8d8+32 (69 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 90 ft.
Armor Class: 20 (–1 size, +2 Dex, +9 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+15
Attack: Slam +10 melee
Full Attack: 2 Slams +10 melee
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Water mastery, drench, vortex, wisdom damage, staggered
Special Qualities: Alternate form, charm person, damage reduction 10/-, darkvision 60 ft., elemental traits, miasma.
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 14, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 11
Saves: Fort +10, Ref +4, Will +2
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +6
Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Power Attack
Environment: Pubs or Bars
Organization: It and a few drinking buddies (1-4)
Challenge Rating: 7
Advancement: 9-15 (large, it also gets darker as it grows until it becomes Guinness; smaller forms can be found in Oklahoma)
Level Adjustment: -

Alternate Form: A beer elemental can take the form of a dwarf, halfling, human, or half-orc. They only retain their Charm Person ability in this form, but can change back as a swift action.
Charm Person: A beer elemental can Charm Person at will (Will Save DC 11). Dwarves have a +5 save DC.
Drench (Ex) : The elemental’s touch puts out torches, campfires, exposed lanterns, and other open flames of nonmagical origin if these are of Large size or smaller. The creature can dispel magical fire it touches as dispel magic (caster level equals elemental’s HD). It's nowhere near 150 proof.
Miasma: Anyone within 20 feet of a beer elemental must make a Fort Save DC 18 (this is Constitution effect but only pansies fail this roll) or be sickened for the duration of being in the presence of the beer elemental and 1d4 rounds afterwards.
Skills: A beer elemental has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
Staggered: Anyone hit by a critical from a beer elemental must make a Fort Save DC 18 (again Constitution based and again only pansies fail this one) or be staggered for 1d4 rounds and has a -5 penalty to Diplomacy and Bluff checks when dealing with the City Watch.
Vortex (Su) : See Elemental :: d20srd.org. A dwarf has a +5 DC to wrench himself free of the vortex.
Water Mastery (Ex) : A beer elemental gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls if both it and its opponent are touching American beer (water) or real beer.
Wisdom Damage: The touch of a beer elemental deals 1d6 Wisdom damage to a living foe, unless they make a Fort Save DC 18 (again...constitution...pansies...etc.). A creature reduced to Wisdom 0 falls unconscious and wakes up 12 hours later fatigued (with a huge handover). This is a poison effect.

 

[Thanael]

Two more excellent links:

Wizarding School on TV Tropes
Welcome to Sigil Prep a whacky planescape campaign to steal ideas and NPCs from.

 

[NewJeffCT]

depending on the time of year, the town could be deathly silent (exam week), or a riotous party town (the week after exams), or even nearly deserted (summer or winter break)

Borrowing a few ideas from the Harry Potter series:
a) A class featuring "Care of Magical Creatures" so you can have odd beasties in town where normally you would not. (strictly controlled, of course, cough cough and mostly harmless... mostly. Just don't feed those gremlins after midnight, and make sure you bow to the hippogriff before you approach it)
b) A class for potions/alchemy where one can hear explosions in the middle of the day, or odd colored smoke rising from a building.
c) A class for divination - predict the future. A perfect place to insert some sort of prophecy related to the PCs.
d) A class for magical herbs, or items that relate to various arcane powers (i.e., in old school D&D terms, spell components) or things like antidotes for poisons.

 

[FoxWander]

I imagine a university might have the magical power to pull off a mythal effect over the area to protect it from rowdy students/mishaps. Mainly an effect that applies the non-lethal metamagic to any spell cast by an active student. Maybe all students have to wear a vaguely magical pin (student id) that enforces the effect and they have to submit to a geas to wear the pin as a condition of enrollment. There could be a whole sub-industry around students trying to find ways around the geas. And in times of real emergency (such as the upcoming war) the university can suspend the limitation.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Don't forget the cut-rate Magic Mart, selling cheap knock-off (and occasionally cursed or faulty) magic items, but sometimes you can get a great deal there.

Then there's the cross-town rivalry with the Warrior University ...

An old professor is hiring students for off-hours "experiments" ... as subjects.

One of the professors is rumored to be a lich.

Maybe an actual ghost teaches some of the classes.

Even more fantastic, perhaps a dragon or other sentient magical creature teaches class.

Imagine the equivalent of St Patties Day in a land of brownies and leprechauns.

Wizards dueling might be a favored sport -- conducted as intramurals on campus, and then between the major universities in other towns.