Potential Class List:

Arcane Program
Magical Combat: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Rituals
Practical Magic

Martial Program
Martial Combat: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Martial practices

Divine Program
Applied Religion
Battle Prayers: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

General Education
Dungeon Survival
Monster Hunting
Unconventional Combat
Disruption
Carrot and Stick: the arts of diplomacy and Intimidation.
Making use of your bloodline: Your racial abilitys and you

Primal Program
Combat Channeling: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
The world and its spirits

Psychic Program
Mindwar: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Meditation and Trance

Could probably be expanded.

>>9092841
Or streamlined. Jeez o' damn that's alot for a level 1 to learn.

I was in the last thread, but I left before it finished.

Basically, my idea for the 'Applied Religion' classes:
Sacred Fist who worships a God/Goddess of Freedom, Initiate of Vecna (reformed?), and Incarnate of Pelor (demigod?).

'Sarge' from the Elven Ranger Corps should be the head of the 'Unconventional Combat' Department.

>>9092864
Well, you don't have to play through it all.

Psychic warrior best be teachin' one of those Mindwar classes.

>>9093100
Well, fluff him/her out.

>>9092841
Include a class for Mounts, Familiars, Companions etc.

And some Thievery class under a different name would help.

I'm not fond of the idea that "adventurers" are common enough in a setting to be a recognized job. Going on an adventure is something exceptional. It's not a career choice, it's an epic story.

University for wizards? Sure. Thieves' guild training academy? Great. School for player characters? No.

>>9093504
There's only this one in the whole world. Last thread had the background set out as set up hurriedly by a weak king. Over time it evolved into an indepedent institution.

>>9093504
Look at it this way. All the heroes but the teachers are dead and they have to train a new generation to replace them.

>>9093560

Hmm. Well, all right. If I were using it, I'd spin it as training special agents for an empire. Gives the place a reason to be other than churning out people with class levels.

How bout this: The oldest teacher and Necromancy tutor is the Lich Professor Dust. He teaches only a few classes, though he often supplies mindless undead for other courses' practical exams. Very rarely, he takes a student (usually a human or elf, but once a half-orc) as an apprentice.

He is considered by many to be the most knowledgeable, patient, and wise teacher on staff. Many students come to him on advice; as they grow from mere children to adventurers with powers beyond those of mortal men, his calm words about the dangers and duties of power and the pain and satisfaction of protecting a community you aren't truly a part of are essential to forging the Academy's graduates not just into adventurers... but into heroes.

>>9093934
When a promising student truly goes astray, Professor Dust tracks them down and tells them a story. A story of a mage who sought cold immortality, and found it. A story of the kingdom he built of bone and iron. And the woman who showed him what he had lost.

It's all true, but he's not really that reformed. He's just playing the long game. He has time, after all. Oh, and those he accepts as apprentices are all his own descendants, his family tree having ramified in the two thousand years since his "death." He uses the connection to pour his ancient, wicked soul into theirs, consuming them, possessing their minds and bodies, making them linked copies of himself in younger, fairer flesh. He currently has 9 bodies scattered around the world, all with his full abilities.

>>9093934
...and of course, he cannot leave the anti-scrying bubble of the academy because there exists no order of holy knights or avengers who have not sworn to destroy him utterly for his crimes against the very nature of life itself.

Only the Dean knows this.

>>9094038

Brilliant.

>>9094038
>>9094026
Combination of these two seems to work well. He uses the 'bodies' to do work despite the vendettas against him and while the Dean is aware of his crimes he doesn't know they are still going on.

>>9094026
>>9093934
Very, very cool.

>>9094038
Anyone have any idea of who or what the Dean could be like? Would he have any part in the school's founding?

Professor Dust with Professor Lightbrand at the popular yearly seminar "Advanced Bardic Arts: Practical Demonstration"

>>9094026
>>9093934
Despite his calm, cool and collected attitude, Professor Dust cannot fully hide his distaste for the Necromantic Department's 'field operative'. Another demilich, this one was destroyed corporeally by the mages of the facility and bound to serve the college forevermore by an odious and esoteric ritual. His mind has been broken by the ordeal.

Now he wandered the land, fetching things for the dept. on the orders of the Dean or Professor Dust. He talks almost too fast too hear, often slipping into rhyme or slang and striking threatening gestures with his hand, half-cocked as arcane magic bubbles around it. Maybe he says he'll "fly-by a bitch".

His body is entirely covered in gold, which he refers to as his 'bling'. His name is Kangaxx.

>>9094140
I'm not sure. It would be pretty entertaining if the Dean was just a Human Aristocrat or Expert with a truly ungodly Int score.

"Oh, and guys, you can have an extra 300 starting gold if I can give your character a dark secret you don't know about."

Surprise! You're Professor Dust's Great-great-great-great-great grandson. On the upside, he has to train and groom you for a while before you're a suitable vessel for him.

The final test of the Dungeoneering Survival classes is a strange one. The potential group of graduates are told they'll be taken for a special lecture in the grand hall. On the way there, a dias on the floor collapses and drops them into a crystalline, labyrinthine structure below the buildings of the university. In the labyrinth is an enormous, bloodthirsty minotaur. No-one is sure if the minotaur is en employee of the college or the dungeoneering department (some say he's the head of it) but one thing is certain: no one EVER wants to get caught by him.

It was discussed that the Librarian could be a godly Arcane Scholar. Of course, he doesn't use his metamagic for just any old trifle when he could be tending to his precious books. Only if a student accidentally opens a planar rift or if Dust is acting up again.

>>9094302
The thing is, Dust is such a good potential BBEG that I don't think anyone should know about his plot, just that he used to be real bad.

Let's consider the possible finale if Dust is the BBEG. The players base themselves out of the university and spend their early levels there. They make friends with some students and some teachers, and are rewarded and punished in turn. Eventually they set out into the wider world, discovering an organisation of 9 necromancers who are dangerous beyond belief. They kill one, maybe even two or three. They discover clues, and after more battles come upon the truth. Returning to the academy to confront Dust, they discover they are too late: All their old friends, all their old teachers and mentors - dead, and awakened as hideous creatures in the service of the Iron Lich.

/tg/: Hogwarts

The old dean was a powerful, bearded, classic wizard. He vanished three years ago.

The new dean is the former Mistress of Illusion, a slightly vain half-elf from a rich and somewhat unsavory family. She's been moving to make the school more famous and profitable. She's not greatly liked, but she's been quite effective thus far. She spends a lot of time away from the Academy, as she's involved in the kingdom's politics.

The idea is to get the PCs thinking the Dean offed the old Dean. Professor Dust will help them expose her! He can't be seen to act against her; no one would believe a lich, and the holy orders might attack him, but he'll help however he can! Naturally, he offed the old Dean when his body trick was discovered.

As a more minor villian, I suggest school bullies. Manipulative ones. Drow twins whom are taking full advantage of the popular misconception that Good aligned drow are common thanks to prominent heroes. They hide behind the guise of being a pair whom are generally interested in following the ways of Eilistraee when really they just think chaos is so much damn fun.

On an unrelated note, perhaps the design of the school could have many subterranian levels.

>>9094443
>On an unrelated note, perhaps the design of the school could have many subterranian levels.
>>9094298

>>9094460
What I get for not refreshing often enough.

>>9094400
...I dunno about that. People would have to make critical fails on their Wisdom checks to put complete trust in a lich or even think he was anything more than subdued evil, much less think one would help them.

If this is Generic Adventuring School, they are probably taught the rarity for evil to reform.

>>9094573
I kind of agree. I think that would give it away for my players.

>>9093934
>though he often supplies mindless undead for other courses' practical exams

And for Academy cleaning and maintenance. Gaunt figures in hooded robes, wrapped in bandages... silently pushing little carts full of books through the hallways, scuttling out to rearrange the obstacle course, bowing politely whenever they want a student to move out of the way. Catch one and unwrap it, and find a smoothly polished, well-maintained skeleton. And a note. "Interfering with the Porters is strictly forbidden. You have been paralyzed by a Sepia Snake Sigil. The Porter will now carry you to detention."

>>9094443
If you name one of them Sleet or Drizzle, I'll love you.

>>9094573
>>9094602

You'd have to roleplay it well. And is it really unreasonable to suppose that a couple thousand years of existence might change a being? Seeing the long-term effects of wickedness and greed... and kindness and virtue as well. Seeing empires rise and inevitably fall, seeing each thing pass in its time. I think it would make one inclined to a sort of philosophical neutrality.

Seriously, though, if you're a halfway decent GM you should be able to convince players that the character lecturing them on the importance of using their power wisely is a good guy. It would help to have a few more characters from usually-evil types and races helping out around the Academy. A female goblin Devices instructor, for example. A scrupulously polite drow fencing master. You get the idea. It's an interesting place.

>>9094805
I could do it, but the 'the new Dean killed the old Dean' would be what set off alarm bells. I'd rather avoid that and not trigger suspicion at all.

>>9094805
....Idea. Wouldn't it be a twist to find out most of the seemingly more 'Good' aligned teachers were easily swayed or secretly working to support Dust while the 'evil' aligned race teachers were all that was left, presumably staging resistance from some cloister ala Mage Tower in Dragon Age?

>>9094852
Sounds cool enough.

>>9094302
The head Librarian and teacher of a special class in Magic Item Crafting is one Sigbert van Mundegaarde, retired adventurer and favored servant of the God of Knowledge. In addition to the already-massive collection of literature the school has, he also manages a large personal repository of arcane knowledge and magical devices, including a few one-of-a-kind artifacts and tomes of extremely forbidden lore. Surprisingly little is known about what sort of adventuring Sigbert did before coming to manage the Library, but rumors abound. Some of the more prevalent ones are:

-He has visited the Far Realms
-He's part Farspawn
-He once carried on an extended relationship with a werebear
-He's been to hell multiple times
-He has spent decades trying to unravel the secrets of a device which could revolutionize magic if reproduced
-His personal hoard of knowledge is guarded by an awakened hippogriff
-He has modified his body with numerous biomagical enhancements

Why not the Pendragon Institute?

Hogwarts for Adventurers eh?

What about Ethics out on the Field?

>>9095131
I was thinking more Name of the Wind style.

>>9093426
Thievery courses should not be on the docket, but is actually known in the right circles as "Urban Survival"

Your grooming young men and women to be Heroes though.
Survival courses, obstacle courses... really it's just the fundamentals that are taught.
I'm just brainstorming.

>>9095152
This one could be taught by a Sacred Fist/Drunken Master duo. One meticulously explains the principles of ethics and analyses the issue at hand. The other just hits you 'cause you done been evil'. Your choice which is which.

I agree. This University would need to be thinned down, and less complicated.

>>9095228
Bah!

I imagine that there would be a lot of "field trips" to other planes on the higher-level arcane courses. Perhaps there are different classes for Arcane and Divine students.

Carrot and Stick should include Bluff and the other CHA skills as well.

>>9095394
"Now, this is the elemental plane of fire!"

*screams of the dying*

"Oh, shiiiiiit. Right, I forgot I hadn't told you to pick up the rings of Endure Elements this morning..."

>>9095394
I belive the idea of a ultra polite if condecending intimidation teacher and a drill sargent you into correct behavior diplomacy teacher was stated in the last thread.
>>9092864

also keep in mind that a given student does not take every one of those classes, you take whatever your source is, so a fighter takes the martial program, while a druid takes the primal one. Only the general education courses are taken by all.

Bump.

I APPROVE OF THIS THREAD

>>9093100
would be nice to have someone to pick up the slack, I hear the head of the psy program is badly over worked already.

Also, I hear the Advanced Swordmagic instructor is a real loony. Pic related.

>>9096400
laserisnotdifficult.jpg

Professor Dust should have a disgruntled wife whom is also a Lich whom could be found in an old shack off in the woods. Only discovered by following a sidequest of following some ghouls that have been seen. She turns out to be their leader and is quite homely an grandmotherly. In the event of this happening, they discover as she rants about her 'horrid bastard' of a first husband, they discover Professor Dust isn't as moral as he seems. Thus a showdown is to occur.

>>9096464
Domestic violence, Lich style.

>>9096464
>>9096400
SonIamdisappoint.jpg

>>9096464

I was thinking his wife was why he became a lich in the first place. Why would a sensible, wise, philosophical fellow with a talent for the arcane commit thousands of atrocities? Love, of course. When his wife died, he was still a simple scholar, a history tutor for noble children (she taught music.) He spent years studying necromancy, trying to bring her back, but she was long gone. He made himself a lich to buy more time for research and casting, after realizing that the things he had already done had barred him from the afterlife she earned.

After going lich, he lost his shit for a bit. Lichdom tends to drive you a bit nuts. But a woman he'd kidnapped reasoned with him and reminded him why he'd become a necromancer in the first place. He's been pretty on-task in the 1,500 years since then. He doesn't hurry, though.

Calling a spirit back, against it's will, after 2000 years, is quite an undertaking. But the groundwork's almost laid. The ritual probably won't even kill more than half the living beings on the continent.

>>9096811
ok I offically love that logic
> The ritual probably won't even kill more than half the living beings on the continent.

The Intermediate swordsmanship teacher is a warforged, created as a battle-golem for a war 150 years ago. He's probably the equal of the Advanced teacher in a duel, but he's not as good at teaching. The Intermediate course is very practical and hard-knocks, designed to give the students experience and well-drilled instincts before (and if) they're ready to learn advanced techniques.

Professor Vangard, as he's known, is awkwardly courting Miss Garen, the goblin Devices instructor. She finds his mechanisms fascinating.

>>9096811

At the climax, to a PC he tutored:

"It's not that I don't regret it happened this way. It's not that it wasn't a pleasure teaching you... I've always enjoyed teaching, and you were as fine a student as I could ask for. I'm quite fond of you, really. But I've only ever loved one person, and I've been working to bring her back to me since before your very language was born."

>>9097068
The fluff for the chief 'armed combat' instructor was just some dude who has the most ridiculous number of weapons ever. It's like... a weapon master? That's someone who devotes dozens of years to perfectly mastering one chosen weapon, making it an extension of his will. The chief instructor is like with everything - a chairleg is like a vorpal blade in his hands.

>>9097219

So, mister "everything is a weapon" is head of the program, above Professor Vangard. He may or may not be a better fighter (he's certainly more versatile, and it's debatable whether Vangard's being a tough-as-shit armored golem is a fair advantage) but he's certainly better at communicating the philosophy necessary to true mastery.

>>9097310
Yeah, the master is someone who has mastered literally every weapon, by mastering the philosophy behind it. He can kill you with anything, and he can match practised bladesmen with a broken stick and a glass bottle.

>>9097132
>and I've been working to bring her back to me since before your very language was born.

"...and I've been working since before your very language was born to speak to her once more."

The Drama program teaches disguise, perform, and bluff, among other things. It consists of three teachers: a harried, middle-aged human woman, a half-elf with a stirring baritone and a penchant for dressing in tight black, and the Lady of Veils. Students may only graduate to the advanced class after successfully impersonating one of the teachers in front of one of the other teachers.

Incidentally, the three teachers are all one changeling rogue. The job started as a community-service deal with the old dean (got a few epic con jobs to work off,) but Fix has found she enjoys the job to much to leave.

>>9097390
wait.. I just realized, that Litch is Gendo Ikari.

>>9097430
thats a GOD TEIR idea. Seriusly, I am sold on that one.

>>9097359
na he dosent use improvised weapons, but he knows more disarm tricks then elven bards know kennings, and once he has a weapon... you can not defeat him.

>>9097430

"You will be paid for one teaching position. You will work three. This is not a negotiation."

Alright, ye pansies, pointy-ears, and assorted longshanks, shut yer yaps and seat yer arses, it's time for SHOP.

>>9097842
I can't decide if the the tuckshop should be run by dwarves or not...

I think maybe... Illithids?

>>9097904
Illithids...which reminds me. We still haven't touched upon Mindwar: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

>>9097904

One illithid, teaching Advanced psionics, treating his position as a chance to study surface races? Maaaayyyybe. You'd have to beat the "this guy is totally alien" drum, though. Only speaks in thought-images that hit your mind like a brick through a window, for example.

Illithid running the cafeteria? Too silly.

>>9097932
I'd put an Ardent in the Beginner class, an Illithid scholar (see above) in the Intermediate and a Gith Psychic Warrior at the top.

>>9097983
na cafeteria was covered in the first thread. Totally magical, takes care of the entire mess there.

>>9098101
Leave the Advanced slot open, forcing the head of the provisional department to teach it. fits her backround fluff. Might make for a nice plot line though.

>>9098101
Actually, the Illithid makes more sense at the top. First day of class has a Pass/Fail. If you can last 5 minutes near him without passing/stroking out, you come back tomorrow for the real lessons.

There always seem to be a lot more Porters around after the first day of Professor [Blind-Fish-Drowning]'s first class.

>>9097983

No one's quite sure what Professor Water-running-down-your-face-in-Darkness is getting out of teaching surface-folk mental combat. It's said the old Dean knew. It's theorized that Professor Water lost a power-struggle for control of an Illithid sept that intends to eventually assault the surface, and he's teaching the food to defend itself out of spite. Others whisper that he's building an army, subtly imprinting his will on the minds of his students... but surely the old Dean wouldn't have allowed that. Professor Dust has been heard to opine that perhaps the creature seeks to perfect its own mind and will and attain a kind of enlightenment by honing itself against an endless procession of unbroken alien minds. But then, Professor Dust is known to give even the strangest folk the benefit of the doubt.

>>9098246
>>9098261

Heh, looks like we came up with different translations of the same name.

"I ask the professor his name."

"Everything goes black. It's cold, and silent. You feel water. You can't breath. Slowly, the classroom reforms around you."

My friends aren't clued in, so I can probably get away with making Fran the head of Healing Arts.

>>9098673
oh dear...
>>9098246
like the professor, so long as 1 slot is empty and needs to be filled in by the head of the psyonic studys program.

Could we perhaps have the janitor not be who he actually seems...?

>>9097068
Advanced Swordsmanship should then be taught by a kensai perhaps?

"...gotta be an elf, man. Half-elf at least. You've seen the way she moves, right, like dancing. That's elven fucking grace."
"You're full of it. Lady of Veils is human, I bet you ten gold. No way an elf has an ass like that."
"So who's your favorite proff?"
"Dust."
"Old bone-bag? What the hell, man?"
"No, listen. I was in the hall by the oratorium and that one cave elf was hassling me."
"It's not cool to call them cave elves, man. That's, like, offensive."
"He's offensive. The.. ok, the drow had my scrollcase and was all 'you can have it back if your brutish animal tongue can pronounce my name correctly.' And then Dust walks by behind him, came outta nowhere, slaps him on the back and says 'Good to see you mingling with the other students, Dorizzalian...' or whatever. He got it right, anyway. And then he walks off. And the drow is paralyzed. Lich touch, right? Frikkin awesome. So... you know how the drow always hassle the humans about how clumsy and sloppy we are whenever we drop something or spill ink or whatever? I took my pen and inked his shirt cuffs, just like he'd accidentally dragged them through something he was writing."
"Man. Dust is a bro."

>>9098983
A disheveled old man whom is actually the avatar of a God?

You guys have some really awesome characters here. Prof Dust is especially well thought out -- I love this guy. I want to draw him -- is there anything specific about him, aside from him being a lich obviously?

>>9098983

Retired epic paladin. Likes the steady, humble work, and being surrounded by young people learning.

>>9099405

Eh, scratch that. "Almighty janitor" is cliche. Page on tvtropes and everything.

>>9099353
yeah, like that.

or just have him be a neutral god in his own right.

sneaking off campus when you shouldn't be?
trying to prank the teacher?
greasing a random stair in a random hallway?

he will bee there when you turn around.
ALWAYS

>>9099353
A god of the hearth? Hearth-goddesses?

I rather prefer the idea of the Janitorial staff being some heroes that have either settled down, have debillitating curses, or too many serious injuries for regular hero-ing.

Like, Jenkins there? He's a good man, puts in an honest days work. Used to be a blackguard, yeah. Now he can't even swear without an angel backhanding him. Of course, the heavenly hosts allow him to defend himself.

And they've got a pretty broad definition of 'self defense'.

>>9099366

I imagine him humble and fastidious. Not for him the ostentatious, rotting finery of his lichy peers. A hooded brown robe with a runic border, a straight black iron staff. The skull, polished and with an arcane circle upon the forehead, somehow more kindly than leering. A stick of chalk. A wedding ring.

>>9099425
hmm well I'm thinking someone who takes less obvious actions -- like he'll drop some wisdom here or there to help students out. but he's primarily there to watch ... perhaps another deity's avatar on campus?

>>9099366
As a very elder lich I imagine his bones worn and for his name sake, maybe a shroud of dust following him as he goes about. Perhaps some nails and leather straps keeping him still together.

Promise to draw a few more teachers and you're in.

>>9099478
awesome. we're still sticking with the he's actually got an evil agenda and such?

>>9099507
give me those descriptions!

>>9099518
Evil in his own sense.

>>9099518

Well, except for the killing-millions-to-drag-his-dead-wife-out-of-heaven thing, he's a really nice guy.

"A final lesson, my students. Love conquers all. Love fells armies, stays the tide, and brings the mountains tumbling down. And in a few moments, love is going to kill every living thing within nine hundred miles. Isn't it miraculous?"

I had a thought about Dust. Yes, he want's to sacrifice everything for his loved one. But, he is constantly surrounded by the future: Bright, smiling faces, eager to learn, and to change the world for the better. I think, Lich or not, you'd be hesitant to sacrifice all of that. The world as it stands now doesn't deserve extermination, anyway.

He can still play the long game, but maybe make his evil be a bit more esoteric. Every lifetime, he has one of his minions bring about an aspect of one doomsday prophecy or another. He's had three that were either thwarted or just outright didn't work, but he is patient. Soon, the goodness shall fade from this world.

And then, we'll bring it back, hand in hand.

>>9099611
And the school is incidentally 902 miles away from the current location.

>>9099554
Oh joy! A drawfag!

Let's see...the professors from the first topic.

I remember the Combat teachers had the beginner teacher be a kindly ol' Ogre named Snaggletooth. Names lessons like "How ter hit stuff what won't stay still" Probably has a big club and looks like a gentle giant.

The intermediate one was an arrogant elf duelist. Teaches fencing and takes himself quite serious. Has facial scars given to him with his duels with the advanced teacher.

The advanced one is just a plain walking arsenal. Never see his face, never takes off his armor, and sleeps with at least five weapons. Has yet to win at chess against the Beginning teacher.

Will have to look up the others, but I was pretty sure the one ranger in charge of the beasties was a grizzled old bastard. Probably dwarf. Peg leg too. He claims he lost it in the ultimate hunt: Tarrasque.

>>9099636

Eh, his primary body's been living in the school for decades at least. I thought the plan was for the party to have adventures at the Academy, go out into the world and fight evil, and eventually track back to the Academy for the final battle, with old, familiar NPCs either tragically dead or taking sides.

>>9099682
Yea, but I'd think if he's going to kill everything within a certain radius I'd be rather romantic if the school wasn't hurt in the least.
But I'd rather not go very deep into this since hte point is to make a school with a plot, not a plot with a school.

That said do we have an intrigue teacher yet? Or is that an advanced course of Carrot and Stick? Siege warfare, larger armies, how to run a kingdom if needed (VERY VERY selective in determining what students may apply) and so on and so fourth

>>9099554

Ohh, don't forget Professor Vangard and Miss Garen.
>>9097068

Vangard's an old, old golem. Used to be a real terror on the battlefield. He can't really help that he was built to look like a sterotypical black knight for intimidation factor. 150 years of scars and repairs haven't made him any cuddlier.

Miss Garen is conscious of her species' reputation, and goes out of her way to appear civilized. Long dresses, always, even when working. A smudge or two of oil is hard to avoid, however.

>>9099777

We have a Drama program, good for certain kinds of intrigue.
>>9097430

>>9099777
An ancient intelligent sword with several lifetimes worth of experience in the topic, and since the students are so few the course is basically sitting in a room with the sword over the knees.. The sword's name is Wunderstroke. When it's talking to the holder one can always smell the blood of cheap ale, piss, sweat and rotten meat. It's voice is always making tree puns and has a halfling dialect.
Loves students and constantly tries to convince the student to take him run off and take over whatever country has the highest population of halflings.
Refuses to say why.

>>9099554

You might be interested in Fix.
>>9097430

A picture of the Lady of Veils could be good, gorgeous harem dancer thing going on. Silk veil half-obscuring face. Through the mesh of the silk, full lips, long lashes, dark skin. Uncovered half: blank changeling white, slit mouth, wide, eerie dark eye.

>>9099896

I like this. As the weapon of a dozen different kings and lords, it has serious experience!

Surrounded by verdant green trees and scented with the thickest pollen, the glen in the middle of the school gardens is home to the advanced divine primal teacher. This area is so deeply seeded with life and vibrancy that it is said to bring joy to even the most depressed and downtrodden students, and is a favourite retreat for young couples looking for a place where the grass is soft and the sky is clear.

The creator and master of this place is not entirely what you'd expect. On the stump of what would have been a truly gargantuan tree there sits a azure flower, so delicate and fragile that it appears translucent and crystalline. Light that passes through it refacts about the glen, creating ripples of sapphire that clash with the emerald of the grass. This flower is actually what remains of an ancient ent, one who became so enraptured with his forest surroundings that he decided to stay put, becoming rooted to the ground and turning into a giant oak tree. When human wizards moved into the area and began developing, Johdass (His real name has many more syllables) he awoke to find most of his wood had gone into the rafters of the school's lofts, but his stump had proven too mighty to uproot. Content to remain in his position and not call upon the giants of nature down on the ignorant humans, in his wisdom Johdass decided that his knowledge would better serve the pupils of this school, teaching them the principles and value in caring for the environment. Johdass is a druid of such high level that his life essence is essentially unquashable, he traverses the school as an awakened flower, but prefers to stay in his glen.

>>9099951
>advanced divine primal teacher

Think you mean Advanced Primal Teacher. I reallly like it though. Thats the kind of NPC you remember.

>>9100066
Pretty much all of these characters are characters you remember. There's concentrated badassness in this school.

>>9100066
Sorry couldn't remember if druidic magic was divine or not.

Primal it is!
For the beginner and intermediate I thought about an elf and a badger~ or something.

There would also probably be considerable animosity between Johdass and Dust, as they'd attract different kinds of students.

I get the feeling Johdass would only get a few students, and most would be really mellow hippies, probably bullied all the time but still the happiest and healthiest students in the school

>>9099554
Let's not forget the students stated >>9094443 I'd just absolutely adore a picture of them since I plan to be running a campaign like this. I'd say they'd look close enough alike and carry typical elf androgyny, especially at their age. One is male, one is female. You can only tell one apart from the other with how one is a bitch and the other just takes it. Probably to keep up the guise wear traditional flowy songsage robes with crescent moons upon it.

>>9100149

Orc teacher.

You don't want to be late for Herbology with Mrs. Bloodspear.

Prof. Dust.

I apologize if I didn't do the character justice.

>>9100458
she has to look and act like a [giant and green] nice old lady; and keep a small wobbly sort of lapdog with her.

she's normally a sweet old lady;

but the gods refuse to help you if you are late; and not even dust will stop her from killing you if you even accidentally hurt her dog.

>>9100520
I think you do him plenty of justice. Or as much justice as he deserves.

>>9100520
he's cute. Perfect for the "What he's evil?!"feeling

>>9100520
only thing I'd add would be a few bits of chalk orbiting his head like ioun stones.

while he walks around talking to the class and gesticulated with his hands the chalks scrawl some of the absolutely best cliff-notes encountered anywhere in the school in multiple languages on multiple blackboards.

there is one very big one in the middle used for diagrams, and another one set into the floor under a large carefully warded cage.

he IS a litch why not use a little extra power?

The academy should be a rather small, plain, and unassuming building in the middle of nowhere. Beginning students will often be told of the perils they will encounter in more advanced classes, and that sometimes upper level students are killed while training. This is used as a warning against laziness, meant to motivate the beginners so that they focus on their studies. But the beginner students will never see any upper level students, or witness any advanced training classes. The teacher, when asked directly to answer for this, refuses to say anything.

Then, when the year is done, the students are told their final exam will be real, field testing. The teacher opens up a secret door in the back of the schoolhouse, revealing a dark, moldy tunnel into the ground, and tell the students to enter. They have to get through the tunnel, or they fail. One by one the students are released into the dungeon, and they scramble through the passages, carefully navigating the obstacles in their way. Finally, after a harrowing journey, they reach the end chamber in the dungeon. It's a strangely well lit and furnished room, deep underground. Standing there to greet them all is a person they have never seen before, but he offers no explanation. It is only when the last trailing student enters that the man speaks.

"Welcome to grade two."

>>9100708
Seems almost stereotypical but I can't remember an instance of this ever happening.

>>9100923
same thoughts here.

>>9099676
Prof. Snaggletooth

>>9100623
Ah, orbiting chalk. Good idea.

Sooo this is a Heroes training school?

>>9100983
...
I LOVE IT

>>9101004
seems like it. I might be wrong, but it seems like a hogwarts for dnd adventurers

>>9101004
yep

>>9100983
I always imagine the awesome teachers having orbiting chalk, even IRL.

Adding some extra fluff to the character I suggested in the other thread.

Kursk, who teaches the elective course, "Disruption: The Art of Hampering Spellcasters," is not an accredited teacher at the Academy, but merely a very experienced volunteer who desires to pass on his knowledge. Formerly a competent sorcerer and adventurer, Kursk has seen firsthand the devastating power of magic. Somewhere along the line, he grew to abhor all magic, even his own. He now passionately devotes himself to teaching everyone he can how to best counter magic users, as he himself casts spells with no small amount of self-loathing.

He is a harsh teacher, punishing students who fail to grasp the finer points of his lessons with cruel, and sometimes mean spirited, tasks and chores. He is stern and exacting, and due in no small part to his almost unrealistic standards, few ever pass his class. Fewer still will ever forgive the man for the indignities they suffered in his class.

Despite being openly despised by the student body, those who do pass Kursk's course will often look back on that time and praise the lessons they learned from that bitter old man. Those you pass the course gain a bonus feat that, dependent on class, improves their ability to combat magic users of all stripes.

>>9101015
It got to that point by now yes.
However it's more selective, and the feeling that the students could get killed and the fact everyone are elitist rich bastards kinda went away at some point. In the end version one should collect all ideas and filtrate away that which doesn't quite feel right.

>>9099951
For example. While not thrown out, shouldn't be a teacher. Some sort of consultant or assistant for people who wants a way out. Basically company. He's a bit too nice and people who are carefree would not get into this school form what I've figured out.

Now, now, children. I know the new swordfighting teacher is rough with you during practice and we've already had seven fatalities, but that was because they weren't skilled enough to stay in the class.

>>9100623
now with chalk

>>9101100
He looks like the dad I always wanted...

>>9101123
I know what you mean

Live damn you topic, LIVE

>>9099799
>>9097068
Prof. Vangard

alright that's it for me tonight. i hope another of these threads pops up so I can do the other profs. If not, be sure to request them to me if you see me!

>>9097983
>>9095102
Having an illithid on-staff does lead to problems, though... As has been mentioned, other staff-members are retired adventurers, some of whom have gone up against the varying plots of the illithids before and simply do not trust professor Drowning-In-Darkness as a result. This seems to be the case with Head Librarian Sigbert van Mundegaarde. While he doesn't overtly act against the professor of Advanced Psionics, he keeps a close watch over anyone who's taken so much as a single class the professor has taught. When asked why he has such a hate for the professor, Sigbert admits that he's deal with "Mind Fuckers" before, but refuses to go into specifics.

>>9101574
I don't think he'd exhibit anything overly hostile like that, for some reason. Being a librarian and all. But yeah, having his eyes on him is definitely believable.

>>9101574
Generally I dislike the refuse to tell you view of anything.
I'd say he's very reluctant to go into specifics but over a bottle of wine or brandy he'll open up and tell about how his party was captured by an elder brain and how he had to carve a lock-pick from his friends ribs before managing to break out. He claims that a nasty scar on Wet-and-Suffocating's right arm is identical to one a friend of his had and he thinks that it's his friend's body.

>>9101567
Look around afternoon tomorrow. If no one else starts one up, I will make for glorious part 3.

>>9101667

And if no one's done it yet, Archive this shit.

Much better than the Quest stuff it usually saves.

>>9101593
Well, yeah. He's not the sort to beat people up with his fists... plus, you don't want to get into an Illithid's tentacle-range.

>>9101633
You can try that, and he might say that. Or he might say that the Professor's mind-voice is identical to that of the leader of a Far Realm Cult that Sigbert's old adventuring party thwarted but never managed to kill. Or something completely different. One thing that just about everyone knows about Sigbert is that he LOVES to feed the campus' rumor mills.

>>9101721
That's even better!

I love that you guys put so much thought into these characters. I would prefer to drawfag for these kinds of threads instead of those typical drawfag threads that pop up these days. I salute you, gentlemen.

>>9099676

>>9101053
I would say that there should be three versions of the acadamy.
1. A place rather like hoggwarts (with rather more praticle skills instead) more on the whimsy side and less serius, where Professor Dust once really did have a terrible plan, but gave up on it because it would involve screwing the school.
2. A brutally honist place for the training of people able to take on/out the most terrible enemys, where attrition rates are an accepted part of the program. A much more militarised Acadamy whos instructors are focused on the end goal: Create deadly agents for the powerful to enforce good and the rule of law no matter the cost. A Dust who belives that for good to triumph, it must be ruthlessly well prepared.
3. A perhaps more terrifying middle ground, A place whos attitude starts very much like the former, but with more political overtones, a place to turn otherwise useless (4-8th in line for the throne, bastard child ect.) nobility into tools for their homelands and familys. An acadmy whos offical face is bright and cheery, slightly romantiscised heroics. Whos true face is a viper pit of intigue, where good and evil are both served, and racial tensions are not erased (most of the time) but hidden behind a plesant mask of cooperation. A storage area for the most dangerous artifacts that no one group can be trusted to have, a repository for experience and power built for war to have a use in peace. A political powder keg prepared by a single Litch. Dust's ritual to retreeave his wife requires death and distruction on a massive scale, but Dust need not create it. Like Ishbaal, he will ignite a war that will sunder the world, and then build a stairway to heaven from the bodys of the slain.

>>9097842
What's the site where you can add animated bling to pics?

>>9101915
to expand on three (as an example) Dusts final speech:
"Congratulations, you now know what few others have known in the past 12 centurys, and like them, you will die with the secret. You might as well know the rest of the lie. Behold, the great source of the nine. Ye who were born of Dust, shall return to Dust."
"But it would take thousands of agents hundreds of years to set this war up!"
"I not only have thousands of agents, they have been slowly taking over for the last twelve centurys. Students graduate from the acadamy and some enter into my service, the presence of the nine keeps the acadamy needed, collecting the royal lines and ritch bloodlines of the world to my service. When the remainder of the nine attack, I will secretly contact each and every kingdom and inform them their rivals were behind it. They will listen to their old teacher and dear friend Dust as their great grandfathers did. Once the spark is ignited, there will be no going back.My students, history is much like an endless waltz; the three beats of growth, overgrowth and die off continue on forever. The longer one lingers in overgrowth, the more intense the fire that clenzes it. I will use that fire that i have so carefully prepared to light a beacon to the heavens and none will deny me my love."

>>9102093

I'm sorry, but that final speech is just aweful

Just call it Hoggwarts you Potterfags.

>>9098246
The point of having an Illithid and a Gith is that they would fucking hate each other.

>>9103123

The potter stories are neither the first nor the best stories of a magical school. You're like the guy who thinks every story with an illusory world is directly ripping off the Matrix. The fact that you're only familiar with certain ideas from their most popular, mass-market iterations doesn't mean other stories, other variations.