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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felix" data-source="post: 3235723" data-attributes="member: 3929">It is going to be the case that each college is going to have a much different flavor from one another. Magic, both arcane and divine, is unappreciated in society and regarded with fear and suspicion; colleges began as repositories of magical knowledge, protecting the accumulated works of centuries against the torches of the mob. As time passed, the wizards and (to a lesser extent) clerics in these enclaves built defenses against the outside world and ensured autonomy and self-sufficiency.Time passes.Just as each wizard faces a choice of specialities, the "faculty" of these enclaves tended to be in agreement as to how things should be run and the college defended. All are hidden by mundane means, but Necromantic schools will have wards crackling with negative energy; Illusion schools are impossible to find or, once found, navigate; a quick death awaits those who trespass an Evocation school.Some schools house only a few wizards and isolationist while others are growth oriented and have become the power behind the throne. But what is generally the case is that an enclave's worst enemy is other colleges. At this point it's something of an Arcane Cold War, with two major colleges squaring off with their loosely associated allies while some happy independents look on. The population at large remains ignorant of their existance.I should note that while the general population (read: commoners) hate and fear magic (for good reason, I should say), governments and well traveled individuals understand that it is not magic but the individual practitioner who should be judged. When I refer to people esteeming Conjurers over Enchanters, it is these folks I'm talking about as well as the magical community in general.They're not available. I never did like racial substitution levels; while I have been happy as a clam (not a "Walrus and the Carpenter" clam, mind you) mining the Complete series for stuff, I have left the "Races of" books virtually untouched.Besides, I tend to associate elven wizards with an almost pathological focus on their art. Elves in the wild living in the NOW are insulated against the enormity of time passing by remaining near-fey creatures of the present; when an elf seeks to expand his understanding vis a vis magical study, he becomes aware of time in a new way which has disturbing side-effects for a creature born to live in the NOW. (One venerable elf wizard has a crippling need to be surrouned by the tick-tock of clocks to remind him that time is indeed passing. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />)In university, do you recall there being some courses you just *didn't* take unless you were utterly masochistic? The coursework was difficult and you were pressed hard. Similarly, there were disciplines you snickered at because classes were filled with the smell of gym socks and the sound of people breathing heavily through their mouths; in my uni the soft option was Communication, and students of that major were, if not openly laughed at, derided for not being able to manage a proper degree.A similar attitude exists in the magical world, only much more pronounced. Have you ever met a PhD candidate of Particle Physics? That's your Transmuter. When you see someone announce themselves as a Diviner, think of an undergraduate sophmore sociology student on a full ride athletic scholarship whose girlfriend takes all his tests for him and never goes to class. The world reacts according to these paradigms; a diviner has to prove himself over, and over, and over again and may never be treated fairly; Evokers have it on easy street with excusing sycopahnts about should they fail, be they ever so undeserving.I do not have, nor have I read UA thoroughly, though the brief glance I gave my friend's copy did not impress me. So I would say that most likely they would not be available. And I can understand how you'd choose Conjuration: it's a good school. Not that you'd have access to any of the Orb spells besides Acid Orb... But Abjuration would reap you the same social benefits and you would have more flexibility in your spells.But game-mechanics wise, I understand the reticence to give up 3 schools to specialize in Evocation when you could cast the more spells and be a Diviner. But then, you'd have to explain to other wizards why Divination deserves to be a majority of your spells and what you spend your life pursuing; I have seen smart and capable Communication students have to deal with the same issue.Oh, don't get me started on the Sorcerer and how hard they have life after discovering their "gift". <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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