Curriculum and Exams
- Enrolled in 6 classes a season.
- Spellcasting ability modifier = how many classes you can pass above average without checks or strain. Decide these classes at start of season and midterms.
- For classes not allocated in this way must participate in checks at midterms and finals to determine the result of these courses
- Each check will consist of two checks. The first is with your primary spellcasting ability. The second is with a skill of your choosing that must relate to the course being tested. Should you choose Arcana by default, the DC shall be increased by minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 depending on the difficulty of the class in general.
- DC for these checks will be hidden for midterms, but public at time of midterms for finals. This may allow students to adjust which classes they put investment in at the halfway point of the season.
- Any Extracurricular bonus can be applied to the exam skill checks if applicable.
- Positive favor with instructing faculty gives a flat +2 bonus to the roll. Negative favor with instructing faculty gives a flat -2 bonus to the roll. This is not any lying of grades on their behalf, but rather the resources given to assist you during your studies that may make things easier.
- Should a singular class be passed both midterms and finals with above average grade, the student shall gain positive favor with the instructor of the course, earn advantage on any skill check with relation to that courses teaching.
- Should a singular class be passed at only one of the exam points, the student remains neutral in all regards.
- Should a singular class be failed at both midterms and finals, the student shall gain negative favor with the instructor of the course, and gain a demerit.
- Should an entire year’s worth of class track with the same instructor be passed above average in all exams the student shall gain a permanent buff/reward depending on the courses and their difficulties in addition to the previous rewards.
- Should an entire years worth of class track with the same instructor be failed in all exams the student shall need to appeal to remain in the academy at all and repeat the given courses. Failing even one more exam with that instructor is likely to lead to expulsion.
Extracurriculars and Part-Time Jobs
- Students must be involved in at least 1 extracurricular at all times. Students can change this extracurricular at any point, but only receive bonuses after remaining in them for at least half of a season.
- First year students can be involved in no more than 2 extracurriculars for their first year. Participating in a second gives the student 1 over-exerted. (Covered later)
- Students who have attended for at least one season may apply for a part time job to earn gold while attending. Taking on a part time job gives the student 1 over-exerted.
- Extracurriculars give a 1d4 bonus to checks relevant to the extracurricular activity after having been in them for at least half a season.
Downtime Activities
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Students may engage in personal endeavors during their downtime that are not directly tied to coursework or extracurriculars. Some of this may be their own interests and research of the arcane or perhaps other passions and talents they wish to cultivate. These things are not as strict as the above options, but general fall into the following categories: Social, Academic, Investigative, and Personal Growth. Further examples of the categories will be further below.
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Students determine which category and what goal they have in mind with their downtime activity at the start of the season and midterms. While students may reach the tangible goal before midterms or finals, the effort taken will likely mean the rest of the time is playing catch up on your studies and energy.
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The difficulty and time investment of the goal will be determined by the DM at the time of decision. Certain efforts might work alongside your studies or extracurriculars, which can make them easier. Others may be completely separate which will make them harder.
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In addition each student will decide if this effort is Public or Secret. A Public endeavor can be known to all and is not done in a way that both students and faculty could be unaware of the activity. Secret means that whatever is being pursued is being attempted to not be made aware to faculty and students, though does not mean it is guaranteed to be remained secret. A secret downtime activity results in two penalties. The first is an automatic +2 - +5 DC increase depending on the difficulty of keeping your efforts secret. The second is unless the student has a relevant skill proficiency that can cover the tracks or hide the efforts they will gain disadvantage on the roll for downtime.
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Students may elect to gain advantage on their downtime activity by gaining 1 over-exertion.
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All activities will result in at least one scene during the period of time that plays into the result. Players are not limited to just one scene about the topic per period, and the activities may also bleed into other scenes. If you wish to call more time to an activity, say so.
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Some activities may require a Breakthrough moment. These are moments where the efforts you have put in are coming to a head and final effort is needed to see results. Particularly long goals and efforts tend to need these. In this situation other skill checks or challenges may occur to not prolong further time investment into achieving the goal.
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Category examples and general difficulties:
- Social: This can be increasing your standing with small groups, entire classes, teachers. It can be trying to develop a relationship with specific NPCs. It can be garnering attention in your direction. It can be quelling or starting rumors related to yourself or others. The amount of people you are attempting to influence and the proximity you have with them already in your schedule determines the difficulty of this check.
- Academic: This generally covers any research relating to your own courses, arcane interests, or efforts in the arcane that are sanctioned by the academy. Hiding these efforts from faculty so long as they are allowed practices can lead to grand reveals and lasting impressions. Students may develop spells, learn other skills, or delve into self study. The difficulty of these efforts is determined by how far above your ability the end result may be and how long you are willing to work on it.
- Investigative: Sometimes activities, interests, or other events on campus may call for students to want to investigate people, places, or other topics. In these cases that do not relate directly to your own arcane course work, or perhaps not arcane at all a student may wish to investigate in some capacity. This can also be used to prove rumors about certain things true or false. The difficulty of these checks is determined about the time and what kind of information you are seeking. Some investigation may require looking around the campus itself, and hiding that can be difficult.
- Personal Growth: Some students may wish to further themselves outside of the arcane arts and general campus ideas. Spending time working on yourself is important. This can be both tangible or introspective. Succeeding in these efforts can help your work in other on campus activities, dispel or overcome rumors, or gain proficiencies in other skills and spaces. Doing so in secret can allow you to one up rivals or enemies, impress friends and faculty, or simply allow you to keep a guilty pleasure to yourself. The difficulty is determined by the length of time and effort committed, though working through one’s issues tends to be harder alone than something like learning how to sew.
Over-Exertion
- For each point of over-exertion a student has they must choose one of the follow drawbacks per point:
- All exam checks gain a +2 difficulty class.
- A singular exam check of your choice is made with disadvantage.
- A guaranteed class that you would pass above average with now requires an exam roll.
Rumors
- Every player will give their student 2 rumors at creation. One of these rumors should be at least partially true. These rumors may not be known by all other students.
- Rumors about NPCs can be learned passively once per downtime period (start to midterms, midterms to finals) without any rolls or effort, further ones should be gathered socially or investigative actions.
- Rumors can be proven or dispelled also through the downtime activities.
- Students will develop new rumors, pitched by the DM with approval by the player, at the end of every season.
- A student AND npc may only ever have 3 rumors in circulation about them. If a rumor is publicly confirmed or dispelled they are then removed.
- Certain social checks may be more difficult based on the rumors NPCs know about your character