Doctor of Magical Studies... what level?

[Kilmore]

I figure that in a rough and sloppy way, the 1st level mage can be considered to have about four years of specialized magical education, which would be akin to a modern Bachelor's degree if taken as an educational vocation, or becoming a Journeyman if taken as a technical vocation. Both approaches can be valid, particularly considering the wizard as a Bachelor and the sorcerer as a Journeyman.

If there is actually some certifying agency in the setting, this may lead to some degree of professional standing.

Generally speaking, at what level would the mages be considered to have achieved Mastery, and beyond that, the equivelant of a Doctorate or Grand Mastery in their magical field?

 

[Mark]

Hmmm... Might be something worth building a PrC around. Maybe find a way to make the entry into it eaier for specialists. Perhaps have the PrC a bit varied in progression based on the specialty someone had when entering the PrC. Just some thoughts...

 

[DerianCypher]

Actually.. it might be better to consider a 1st level mage the equivelant of a highschool grad... perhaps a 5-6th lvl mage the equivelant of someone with a BS/BA and maybe a 10-14th lvl mage someone with a masters.

DC

 

[CRGreathouse]

Actually.. it might be better to consider a 1st level mage the equivelant of a highschool grad... perhaps a 5-6th lvl mage the equivelant of someone with a BS/BA and maybe a 10-14th lvl mage someone with a masters.

That's an excellent description of the commonality of magic I try to avoid.

 

[Kilmore]

Actually.. it might be better to consider a 1st level mage the equivelant of a highschool grad... perhaps a 5-6th lvl mage the equivelant of someone with a BS/BA and maybe a 10-14th lvl mage someone with a masters.

DC

I actually considered that for a bit too. Actually, the Journeyman or Bachelor would be about the same age as the modern High School graduate. But I also figured that the young mage's specialized education in the ways of magic would start at a far younger age, thus giving him a degree of certification in his field about equal to a four year course. Any final development of his general education (the "high school degree") would take place at the same time, keeping the poor child pretty busy.

 

[tarchon]

"Doctor" literally means "teacher" in Latin, the idea being that that's the level at which you're qualified to instruct other professionals and (nowadays) add new knowledge to the field.
Probably it's a prestige class, rather than a level of adventuring wizard. Really, adventurers would mostly tend to be journeymen I suppose. In the AD&D worldview, name level is probably a "master" and archmages are the "doctors."

 

[DerianCypher]

I actually considered that for a bit too. Actually, the Journeyman or Bachelor would be about the same age as the modern High School graduate. But I also figured that the young mage's specialized education in the ways of magic would start at a far younger age, thus giving him a degree of certification in his field about equal to a four year course. Any final development of his general education (the "high school degree") would take place at the same time, keeping the poor child pretty busy.

Far younger than say 3 or 4? You must understand, while the normal person starts highschool at around 14 years old, that's not when your education starts. It takes K-8th grade in order to be able to get into highschool. So while a wizard's education might be more rigorous, I don't think that it would be that much more..

 

[Olive]

i would say that you need to have made a significant contribution to the field of magical scholarship in order to be considered a doctor of magical studies... so a group of similarly themed original spells, published in a library somewhere for other people to use.

 

[Tonguez]

The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels are used by UNESCO to compare education on an international scale and they might be of use

ISCED level Definition U.S. equivalent

0 Preprimary Kindergarten

1 Primary 1st-6th grades

2 Lower secondary 7th-9th grades

3/4 Upper secondary 10-12

5 Higher education Non-University Diploma

6 Higher education University Bachelors

7 Higher education University Masters

8 Higher education University Doctorate

 

[nsruf]

This question is tied to the typical range of NPC levels in your campaign world. If you take the DMG tables, the highest level wizard has level 1d4 + community modifier. Assuming that any settlement of "small town" and larger size may have a doctor of thaumatology would indicate level 3 or 4.

Or you can go by "measurable progress", i.e. ability to cast a new level of spells. Cantrips are apprentice stuff, 1st level spells are "bachelor" equivalent, 2nd level spells are "master" and 3rd level spells "doctorate". So it is class level 5 under this system.

But you may want magic to be rarer or more special, or that its study is inherently more adventurous, yielding more experience than e.g. a career in blacksmithing. In this case, a prestige class like Mark suggested might be the way to go.