So, I'm running a campaign where the players are students in a school of wizardy studying to become Red Wizards of Thay. Towards the end of their training, they will (and every other student from their year) undergo a trial, gauntlet, wizard's test, where their knowledge of the Art will be tested.
While I have come up with some puzzles and tests, (for instance, how to deal with illusions that can kill you...) I'm in a sore need of more material to use in these tests. The tests are done alone, no party involved. The PCs will be around lvl 5-6 by the time of their graduation, so the difficulty should scale to that (Though higher level spells used to complete some is possible, since scrolls do exist). Also, the tests are designed as a standalone tests, meaning that test #1 will have no impact on test #2, whetever or not the subject succeeds.
What I need is, some ideas / situations where the PCs will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of Art. Each and every school of magic.
The situations can be as simple as using one or two spells to do something, or word puzzle on the nature of some school of magic or anything in between.
The emphasis is on roleplay, more than mechanics, though.
Thanks.
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Illusion: Students are brought before a wizard, in an otherwise empty room. The wizard will gesture them to start, but refuses to say what the student is supposed to be doing. The test is not to craft any illusions, but to realise the wizard is one.
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Necromancy: Through careful application of positive and negative energy effects, equalize the positive and negative energy of a crystal. They get points for doing it with fewer spells, more quickly, and more accurately.
Abjuration: Walk through a gauntlet without getting hit. Lose points each time you're struck.
Evocation: Protect themselves from a number of humans or dogs or whatever- without killing them.
Transmutation: An elaborate obstacle course. Think 30' jump over a crevasse, navigating a room full of spikes in the dark, a wall that they have to go over, under, or through... stuff like that.
Enchantment: Convince an examiner who's determined to fail them to let them pass, as subtly as possible.
Divination: Make their way through a maze to find an item as quickly as possible.
Conjuration: Fight past a guardian without actually attacking it themselves. Use the definition of "attack" Invisibility uses.
Illusion: Identify the illusion in the room- which turns out to be an Illusory Wall of the floor, and the floor is actually a Wall of Force.
You could have them answer questions about how the schools work straight from the CRB. You could have them create an arcane thesis of some sort and roleplay the presentation or aquisition. Be sure to reward them if its excellent or beyond what was expected, that is to say, unexpected!
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Require them to create a new level 1 spell (which you verify out of character) and have them role play demonstrating it to a committee which will judge their craftsmanship. Any who successfully create a new spell are passed, but maybe there are bonuses for particularly innovative spells. Afterward their character gains this spell and may teach it to others in the group.
EDIT: You could also add some spellcraft and/or knowledge(arcana) checks if you want more roll play in your test.
@ Sesharan, interesting ideas, especially the enchantment one.
Tell them to walk in with X number of spell slots blank. Then, when they get to an encounter, have a book ready with a list of spells that might work to overcome it. Their job is to know the proper spell to choose, and not choose a couple of the other reasonable-sounding applications that won't work for one reason or another.
Example: An enchantment encounter where the objective is to negotiate your way past a person. One of the spells would be charm person, but a knowledge (planes) roll would tell the student that the person is actually an outsider. Sleep would be an option, until the person makes a spellcraft check to notice that the amulet the subject is wearing protects from it somehow. The true spell they would have to use would be Hideous Laughter, and simply walk past the person while they are incapacitated. A very Thay-like attitude to 'negotiation.' ;)
Tell the wizards to "prepare their spells as a wizard should" and suggest it will be a standard test of knowledge (or maybe suggest it will be a test for evocation or something). Then have the test go horribly awry and puts each wizard in an apparently deadly and hopeless situation. They may also lose their spellbook in the process or perhaps be allowed to have only one or two scrolls.
It is a test of several things:
1) Tests the resolve of the young wizard, who will likely venture into the world and encounter many dangerous situations
2) Tests the wizard's foresight and prepareness. A good wizard will ensure they have a few spells on hand in case things don't turn out as they expect. A wizard that prepares all enchantment spells only to go up against a horde of zombies, however, is a dead wizard.
3) Tests the wizard's ability to improvise with the spells they have.
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Have them pick a school at random. That is their target school.
Have them pick a second (different) school at random. That is their asset school.
Have them explain how they can defeat a spell of their target with a spell of their asset.
Repeat once or twice to lessen the "luck of the draw" effect.
Alternately, have them choose their asset school (with the defeat target goal in mind, either target known or target unknown, your choice) and ask them why they chose this school.
This should allow the students to demonstrate their understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the various schools.
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One thing that you could look up is upon the world of Krynn there were a group of Wizards that required all Arcane casters to pass a test to join their conclaves those that refused were considered renegades.
I do not know if its still under copyright, but if it is not you could find a couple books about the Wizards of High Sorcery and their Tests.
Anytime a player in my campaigns gains the ability to cast 3rd level magic they will have already passed the required tests. I never make them so a solo test like Rastlin did.
i incorporate the test into the ongoing campaign, that way when they are questioned on their worthiness to use magic of that caliber a simple int check (dc = char level+10) to remember the events that happened in the past will allow them to recall what they did and tell whatever being i use to act as their 'sponsor or examiner.
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Make sure to include k(arcane) and spell craft checks.
Low DCs are fine in combat and a few higher ones when they are allowed to take 10, to weed out the under skilled. You could also throw in some alternate solutions when pcs roll really high on some tests - getting them show off points and potential better opportunities after the test (job security, rank, research grants...).
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I enjoy the idea of adding a more esoteric and roleplayed aspect similar to The Oldest Game from the Sandman comics. Opening of that sequence below.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4ccnh9YsK1qb4ukso2_500.jpg
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I enjoy the idea of adding a more esoteric and roleplayed aspect similar to The Oldest Game from the Sandman comics. Opening of that sequence below.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4ccnh9YsK1qb4ukso2_500.jpg
YES. Hand your prospective wizards a scroll of Shapechange and have them do this. No actual fighting, just shifting into different forms until one of them can't figure out a winning form.
"I am air, flowing, formless, untouchable."
"I am fire, air-consuming, all things burning."
"I am a red dragon, fire-eating, peerless destroyer."
"I am a white dragon, flame-freezing, silent hunter."
And so on.
Set out at 15 second timer on the table? Assume that if they can't come up with something in 15 seconds, their characters can't do it in 6.
We play Dragonlance a lot so the test happens quite a bit. Here are some different ideas:
- have the test start before they realize it. For example on the way to the place the test is supposed to occur several things happen. By the time the magic user fights and riddles his way past the obstacles to the archmage, he tells him he's passed.
- Don't have it all be combat. Incorporate riddles, traps and other challenges.
- Fold in PC's characters, and NPC's from the player character's life into the test. They could attack him, just be a piece of a riddle, communicate information, or signify some weakness or flaw of the player he has to confront.
- Try and make him use all his magic.
- Insert a kernel of a potential epic destiny for the player character in somehow. For example at some point in the test have something happen that maybe the test givers didn't even know about. Maybe something happens once the test is over that hasn't happened in centuries to a candidate. You don't have to have everything fleshed out. Be intentionally vague. It will make them excited to keep playing.
-Give them some kind of reward at the end. A nice magic item.
-Play it up. The more mysterious and interesting it is the more fun it will be.
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I like the idea of a reward at the end. A staff seems appropriate. Maybe just a Staff of Minor Arcana. If they're going to continue in the progression of training, they could get a different staff as they complete different parts of their training. They could get the Staff of Minor Arcana when they enter their apprenticeship, a Staff of Journeys when they become journeymen, a Staff of the Master (designed for their chosen school) once they become qualified practitioners, and then a Staff of (Arcane School) when they become Masters. Eventually, they could receive a Staff of Power after some appropriately incredible task.
While the "oldest game" does sound pretty nice, I do know that it is somewhat challenging to come up with phrases like "I am fire, air-consuming, all things burning." on the spot with a set time of like 15 seconds. I do like the idea, but, not sure how to incorporate it to the test.
Like, on my previous camapaign, there was a sphinx that challenged the players with a word puzzle, and any answer they said, would come into effect, literally. For instance, if someone said "hell", they would be teleported to hell. After that, they all just prefered to remain silent.
So, while its not exactly the same situation, coming with something yourself, as in, instead of the character, it is challenging (considering the wizard character might have intelligence of 20 and thus quite word-ready...)
As these are tests for wizards, I would have a few types of tests.
Some pure academic types; these would be best covered by Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana), possibly with some other knowledges in there. You want to make sure your students are good on theory.
But I would also want to see that my students could perform under pressure, make sensible choices, and adapt their spells to the situation. The first of these would be simple casting under pressure (Concentration checks). So far, we're at boring "roll the d20 I told you to" tests, though.
The suggestion above about providing an encounter description and a chance to prepare spells, I like. That shows you can pick suitable spells (assuming you then pass the encounter).
I also like the suggestion of incorporating the character's personality & background into this; instead of just challenging them to cast while being poked & prodded, or in a windstorm, challenge them to cast through reminders of emotional trauma. Or to conserve their spell slots in the face of anger.
For more of a test of their wizarding, I would have them prepare a specific list of spells, and then face a series of challenges. Some of those challenges would be clearly and obviously addressed by the provided spells, while others would require creative application of the spells. Some spells in the prep would not be needed.
Towers of High Socery from MWP had a great section on developing a Test of High Sorcery.
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So, I'm running a campaign where the players are students in a school of wizardy studying to become Red Wizards of Thay. Towards the end of their training, they will (and every other student from their year) undergo a trial, gauntlet, wizard's test, where their knowledge of the Art will be tested.
For the Red Wizards?
10 Students walk in a maze, 1 walks out the other side. The one that walks out passes.
Necromancer: reinact the thriller video.
Always loved that scene!