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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cap'n Kobold" data-source="post: 8130577" data-attributes="member: 6802951">OK. Lets be really clear about this:There are no rules about NPCs' ability to learn wizardry.Your wizard might have attended a local school where everyone picked up a few wizard levels, or they might have learned under the only other wizard in the kingdom. They might even be the only wizard in existence in their generation and learned from their own studies or from theoretical arcana that no one else had been able to put into practice.How NPCs become wizards is entirely a world-building decision based on the world that you want to build. There are no rules governing it any more than there are rules governing the amount of rivers in a particular kingdom.The Player Characters use those rules because having control over their own abilities is generally good for player fun. Eberron for example specifically calls out that divine power might be granted to an NPC for just a single task or event. The majority of the spellcasters in the world don't use a PC class.I don't know enough about other settings, but in Eberron these things are set up as part of the worldbuilding for specific game-supporting reasons.Does it break the rules?No. Because there are no rules.The fact that (low-level) magic is very common while Wizards are very, very rare in Eberron is purely a world-building decision under the DM's call. The only point the rules start being relevant is after the DM decides that an NPC is a Wizard, at which point they can start following the rules for wizards.Eberron has maybe 7 "Wizard guilds" specifically called out, but it is assumed there there would be several more (every nation would have at least one, although not all have been detailed.The majority of teachers and pupils at them are not Wizards as per the PC (or equivalent NPC) class rules.Aundair has a 'tradition' of its nobles knowing a bit of magic. It is even called out that several families are bound by arcane pacts.This is more a manner of social prestige rather than temporal power however. Like being proficient in persuasion and history. If you want magic used on your behalf, you pay a professional.The Dragonmarked Houses could be regarded as a nobility of sorts, although their remit is fairly restricted. It is specifically called out that most of the power of the houses comes from the interaction of their marks with items and mundane skills rather than their ability to cast spells.</blockquote>

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