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Old 10-03-2022, 09:52 AM   #6
Bill_in_IN
 
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: Indiana
Default Re: Talent/Spell of the Week: Scholar

Quote:
Originally Posted by phiwum View Post
The concept of a scholarly wizard is attractive. After all, there's a kind of parallel between modern scholars and some of the representations of wizards. (Unseen University is an obvious example.)

However, I always figgered the wizard tax had to do with the fact that wizards spend their time focused on other-worldly things. If you look at the benefits of the Scholar talent, it is rooted in languages, history and customs, which are not quite the interest of the typical Wizard.

If I had a player interested in a Wizard Scholar (or if I wanted an NPC with that combination), I'd write a variant of the current Scholar talent. Advantages would be in the identification and history of magical items, knowledge of the magical races, the cultures of magic throughout the world. I'd probably give the same linguistic advantages for at least the magic-using races. I'd give the same +1 reaction roll because I have a certain interest in believing that well-educated people are respected, and to hell with all the contrary evidence.

So, a wizard wanting the stock Scholar talent would pay the wizard tax, while one wanting a somewhat differently focused Scholar talent would not.
Interesting point about the wizardly focus in terms of what it means to them to be scholarly. Such a talent should definitely be a plus for researching existing magic/spells as well as researching new spells and magic items. Some of that is built in based upon IQ level. However, would such a talent trim off IQ differences that govern spell casting requirements (gestures, no gestures, etc.) or levels of new spells researched and/or created.

What would this talent be called and how much IQ would it require? The same IQ as for Scholar Talent would be a fair start.

Potential Names:
Wizardly Scholar
Magic Scholar
Scholastic Wizardry
Magical Knowledge
...

I guess that any further discussion should go into house rules.
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