D&D 5E Cost of Attending Wizard School

[Salthorae]

D&D is a high magic setting. Not necessarily are many people educated. Masters are highly respected. These ‘masters of magic’ know how to do a Wall of Force.

The Master tier (levels 9 and up) is a master.

Regarding the Apprentice tier.

Apprentice tier makes the SETTING more vivid, more palpable, and easier to relate to, and serves as a diving platform to the world beyond, once attaining level 5.

Again. To. You.

To. Me. this statement in the PHB

In the first tier (levels 1–4), characters are effectively apprentice adventurers. They are learning the features that define them as members of particular classes, including the major choices that flavor their class features as they advance (such as a wizard’s Arcane Tradition...

Is very different from what this entire thread is talking about.

A 1st level Wizard is not an apprentice Wizard. They are "effectively", not "actually", apprentice adventurers. To me, those are different things.

YMM apparently V

 

[Salthorae]

Really, a fighter's career trajectory should model a pro athlete: quick rise, rapid fall. A wizard's career should model an academic's: in school from age 3 to 33 (average age of PhD grad) with little tangible gain, then a gradual accumulation of power that doesn't stop until you decide to retire (most continue working past 70). In a game with both character types, you have to compromise, but in a wizards only game, you don't.

This is a good reminder of both the 2e XP charts that were different for the different classes, but also the 3.x age charts that were based on how long the training in a class took, etc. So a fighter was younger than a wizard by default in the base games even if that didn't always make the games themselves.

As to the first level taking the longest, the "wizard" threshold is a good way up the learning curve. Two level 1 spell slots is infinitely more magic than a commoner can do. Going from commoner to Level 1 wizard means learning two dozen completely new game features (a drastic oversimplification, but all we can work with). Then, improvement from there is comparatively easy. At level 2, you only add one new game feature and improve on two others that you already knew.

Great point. There is a huge gap between commoner or "someone with a background" and a 1st level wizard.

@Salthorae thanks for the encouragement, but I feel like playing Level 0 wizards is a pretty niche audience. I do have pages and pages of this stuff though, magical theory and calculations that are completely dry and of no interest to anyone. I even wrote a three-page Collection Development Policy for the Academy Archives, complete with a section that has guidelines for dealing with patrons who who challenge material in the collection. I'm pretty sure this is some sort of condition.

Maybe it is a niche audience you're right! Still, I'd love to see what you've got to present for all that stuff

 

[BlivetWidget]

@Salthorae I feel like the pitch would be something like this:

Tired of writing down spells without doing math and referencing charts? Feeling down because there's not enough library science in your game? Suffering from a complex suite of neuroses that demand an internally-consistent description of metaphysics before you can give yourself permission to enjoy any pretend magic?

I understand, and I'm here for you. Welcome to the Academy of the Arcane.

 

[S'mon]

Numbers look a bit high to me. I guess I'd expect an undergrad degree in Wizarding (Wiz-1) to be 3 years, as per UK batchelors. Masters Wiz-2, PhD Wiz-3 or Wiz-4. By the time you're an instructor yourself I'd think Wiz-5+, Gygax suggested MU6+.

 

[snickersnax]

Time: 6 years (with 20 skills/features/saves to learn, the calculation yields 200 weeks or 3.85 years straight through. Multiplying by 3/2 will account for holidays, breaks, field trips, etc).

6 years to level 1, and then level 20 after a month of adventuring...

...should've multiclassed and done the weekend seminar.

 

[dave2008]

Numbers look a bit high to me. I guess I'd expect an undergrad degree in Wizarding (Wiz-1) to be 3 years, as per UK batchelors. Masters Wiz-2, PhD Wiz-3 or Wiz-4. By the time you're an instructor yourself I'd think Wiz-5+, Gygax suggested MU6+.

He actually changed it to 3 years later in the thread.

 

[dave2008]

6 years to level 1, and then level 20 after a month of adventuring...

...should've multiclassed and done the weekend seminar.

I you'er using this system, it probably takes longer to level in your game. For instance, my PC recently got to level 14 after 10 years of adventuring.

 

[Salthorae]

I you'er using this system, it probably takes longer to level in your game. For instance, my PC recently got to level 14 after 10 years of adventuring.

Your game seems like a place where Wizard School IS still 6 years

 

[akr71]

6 years to level 1, and then level 20 after a month of adventuring...

...should've multiclassed and done the weekend seminar.

He actually changed it to 3 years later in the thread.

Three years or six years, school is a helluva a lot less lethal than adventuring life.

 

[snickersnax]

Three years or six years, school is a helluva a lot less lethal than adventuring life.

"OK class, I know none of you have ever cast a reaction spell before, but its time to practice your reactions with the shield spell. Half of you ready your magic missiles"

"Wow, you all did great, now side A practice absorb elements. Side B get ready with your firebolts, this is going to hurt."

Any magical mishap is probably death for a novice wizard (every cantrip and first level damage spell has the potential to kill, and any failed reaction is probably death). 3-6 years is a long time to practice something without messing up even once.