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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7837679" data-attributes="member: 58172">I like the concept of advancement by means of study (mainly NPCs), versus advancement by means of adventures (mainly PCs). The D&D tradition that player characters are exceptional individuals − extraordinary prodigies − feels useful here to explain the dichotomy. They can excel to obtain the next higher degree faster than most normally do. There are reallife 17 year olds with a Doctorate, for example.The possible degrees are (with regard to a formal education or its informal equivalent):• Elementary School• Middle School• High School• Associates• Bachelors• Masters• Doctorate• Post-Doc Professorship/Research• Tenured Professorship• Awards and Recognitions from Peers (good call!)Comparing to the D&D fantasy world, I doubt Sagan can be described as level 20. Certainly he is recognized by and influential to many millions of persons (in his case Humans). And his distinctive pronunciation of "billions and billions" is somewhat part of the English language. He epitomized his philosophical worldview as: "Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking, a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility." Altho he himself believed in the statistical likelihood of alien life elsewhere in the universe, he, to his credit, came to the conclusion that no alien life had visited Earth yet, after participating in US air force research with the available evidence pertaining to the question.According National Geographic, his tv show Cosmos that popularized cosmological science "reached half a billion viewers in 60 nations, his fame reached another level. The book of the series spent more than 70 weeks on the bestseller list."So, assuming his influence extends to include people who havent watched his show directly, perhaps his 500 million viewers translates to influence among, say arbitrarily, 1 to 3 billion persons.1 billion = 10 ^ 93 billion ≈ 10 ^ 9.5So, Sagan is roughly level 18 or 19. (Namely: level ≈ magnitude of influence x2.) Not too shabby! Sagan counts as belonging to the ‘Legendary’ leveling tier of the ‘Sage class’. Heh, but can he cast a Wish spell?So, we have a decent methodology to understand the uppermost tier of a Wizard education system.The lowermost tier is levels 1 to 4, the ‘apprentice’ levels. These are ‘students’, ‘novices’, ‘courtly pages’, ‘jacks’ (whence ‘jack of all trades’).In the Harry Potter-verse, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley are in the equivalent of High School students with levels in the apprenticeship leveling tier. In other words they havent yet obtained their High School diploma.So, the question is, are all of the characters that are levels 1 to 4 still in High School, or its equivalent? Or are these extraordinary prodigies who are performing at levels higher than peers?Because the D&D apprentice tier is so brief − each level is gained after 4 to 7 encounters. I am inclined to view all levels 1 to 4 as equivalent to a high school education.A compromise might be possible. At level 3, several D&D classes choose their archetypes. This can represent the achievement (a degree or its equivalent). So, level 3 might beApprenticeship Tier• Levels 1-2: in High School• Levels 3-4: has a High School diploma (or its equivalent), now a laborer or in collegeProfessional Tier• Levels 5-6: has an Associates degree (or equivalent), now skilled labor or still in college• Levels 7-8: has a Bachelors degree (or equivalent), ‘educated’ professional or in grad schoolThe ‘masters’ degree is intended to identify a ‘master’ in the ‘master and apprentice’ education system. Thus Level 9 represents well any kind of ‘master’, including a guild ‘master’, a police ‘chief’, and so on. Someone who heads a local institution. Someone at level 9 impacts and influences about 30 thousand persons, directly and indirectly. There is significant contribution to a large community.Master Tier• Levels 9-10: has a Masters, management level, master gaining apprentices, etc• Levels 11-12: has a Doctorate, prominent management, guildmaster, headmaster, police chiefAfter attaining a Doctorate, and after establishing oneself as a leader within the chosen field, the hero now pushes the studies to new heights, by inventing new applications or discovering new advancement in theoretical research. At level 13, a person impacts roughly 3 million persons. In a medievalesque context, this is the size of three nations or three mighty cities. There is now multinational influence, as people in other nations are aware of the hero. At this point, the hero might even be a leader of one of these nations or might cities, not only influencing but deciding the future of this nation or city − with regard to the heros areas of expertise. A Level 13 Wizard might be the advisor of a national leader and in charge of Wizards in the realm, or the Wizard oneself might be the national leader.Levels 13 to 16 are the levels intended for focusing on founding new institutions, building new Wizard academies, heading prominent Wizard academies, ‘gaining henchmen’, ‘building fortresses’ and so on. This tier is when the game of power politics comes into its own, as player characters begin to decide the fates of entire nations.Leadership Tier• Levels 13-14: national advisor, tenured professorship at notable college, founder of new school• Levels 15-16: leader of a medievalesque nation with regard to chosen endeavorAt level 17, the hero now influences roughly 300 million persons. This is the size of a modern superpower, such as the entire United States today. The person enters legendary status. At level 20, literally every single human on planet Earth today knows about this hero. In D&D terms, other worlds are becoming aware of this individual.Legend Tier• Levels 17-18, 19-20: player characters are now affecting the fates of an entire worldLater at Epic Tier, 20+, player characters are now CONTROLLING an entire world with regard to the chosen area of expertise, and becoming influential to many other worlds as well.An NPC tends to be on ‘the track’ of advancing levels by years of study. By contrast, PC prodigies can advance precociously by means of reallife experiences while adventuring.In other words, when Wizard PCs enter a new Wizard academy, that academy can test them and then accredit them with having already obtained the equivalence of the relevant educational degrees upto the appropriate Wizard level. Some PCs who arent even a member of an academy might receive an ‘honorary degree’ as a formal recognition of achievements.</blockquote>

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