Common nations of origin: Gloranith, New Thrasis, Yuth, Ishtan, Tresta

The formal study of alchemy originated in the Merchant Isle of Yuth, where it was discovered that water-aspected crystals could be used to make highly effective healing salves and other restoratives. It is now a common practice, and it’s not surprising to find at least one alchemist in any town that has at least 100 residents. Officially, the only academy that teaches alchemy is the College of Chymistry in Yutcros. However, textbooks of alchemical science are easy to find in other nations. Some arcane academies also teach alchemy as an elective program.

As an alchemist, you are able to infuse alchemical reagents with ley energy. While you might not know how to use crystal synthesis in other fields, you’re an expert with the alchemical applications, which most often use water, lightning, and ice-aspected crystals. Water crystals are typically used for healing, lightning for change (mutagens, elixirs, and bombs), and ice for harm (poisons and some bombs).

Some novel alchemical creations also use fire, earth, and wind crystals, but these are less common due to their inherent instability. Additive feats can make use of these crystals to empower an alchemical item that is already going to be short-lived. For example, your Healing Bombs might use wind crystals to disperse an Elixir of Life as a mist.

It’s said that the first alchemist was an ancient bronze dragon named Radokhirillis, and that she discovered the secrets of a mythical creation called the Philosopher’s Stone. The Stone supposedly granted her eternal life. Eventually, the forces of [DEITY] intervened to strike her down. If the rumors are true, the formula remains in her notes, hidden somewhere in her cavernous lair.

Common nations of origin: Wildlands, Hargrall, Drahl, Turicai

Channeling fury into martial prowess is a relatively common art, though its methods vary by region. In the Hargrall Steppes, animal instinct barbarians are seen as a druidic subset that channels magic through emotion, relying on a specific type of connection to nature. In the Wildlands, Dragon and Giant instinct barbarians draw on the common threats that nations there might face. Spirit instinct barbarians are common in Turicai, where they frequently join the Grave-Tenders in their war against the undead.

Other barbarians can be found all over the world, though they tend to stay away from restrictive nations like Nunral, the Holy Lands, and the Law of Garanu.

As a barbarian, when you manifest magic-like effects like dragon’s breath, you unwittingly tap into the power of the leylines in a manner similar to primal magic: you enforce your will upon the world with sheer fury. While this lacks the control of a spellcaster, its effects are no less devastating for your foes.

Common nations of origin: New Thrasis, Galra, Ishtan, Turicai, Tresta

Performers and tale-tellers are common in any nation, but true bards that can perform magic with their songs are not. Most people are aware that such performers exist, of course, but they may not have seen one if they aren’t in a city or large town. Many bards are self-taught or study under a master bard to learn their trade, but others are trained in Academies. The largest two of these are the Academy of Spellsingers in New Thrasis and the College of the Bards in Tresta. Spellsingers tend to have a Maestro or Polymath muse, while College graduates tend to have an Enigma muse.

Bards with the Warrior muse often hail from Turicai, where mercenaries and military forces have a tradition of a “war-caller” who inspires troops before important battles.

Lastly, the Nunralan House of Song also trains bards. Their graduates act as information-gatherers abroad, and their training helps the House of Song keep up appearances–the House is outwardly a state-run bardic college, even though it trains spies and rogues of all sorts in its secret lower levels. Nunralan bards often have Polymath or Enigma muses.

Bards have a working understanding of occult magic, but might not know the exact method through which their performances translate into magic. Rather than having a strict routine for casting each spell, each bard is encouraged to improvise with their use of leylines and find their own methods.

Common nations of origin: Holy Lands, Garanu, Old Thrasis, New Thrasis, Nunral, Aethersands

Champions hail from many different nations, and are as varied as the causes they fight for. By swearing oaths, they can access divine power even if those oaths aren’t associated with a deity. Of the champions, Paladins, Tyrants, and Liberators are the most common, though Redeemer champions also arise from time to time. Desecrators and Antipaladins are quite rare. Wherever they rise, champions of good often hunt them down soon afterwards if they do not take care to remain hidden.

Champions of Thrasis are often veterans of many battles with demons and devils, and swear a variety of oaths under the Tenets of Good. Champions in Nunral might uphold the empire’s laws under the Tyrant cause or oppose them from within as a Liberator. In the Holy Lands, Paladins strive to perfect themselves through acts of good. In the Aethersands, a group of Redeemers called the Sunshade Knights rescue those lost in the desert regardless of their crimes, origins, diseases, or anything else.

Mechanical change: As a Champion, you are not obligated to worship a deity. If you don’t, remove any sections in your Tenets that mention your deity. You retain the obligations of your other Tenets, as well as the obligations of your Cause.

By default, you can’t gain class feats that mention your deity (such as Domain Initiate) without a deity. However, you could take those feats by accepting new oaths, at your GM’s discretion. For example, you could gain Domain Initiate for the Strength domain by swearing an oath to never back down from a contest of strength. Add oaths made this way to the bottom of your Tenets list.

Common nations of origin: Any (varies by deity)

Clerics are as varied as their faiths, and hail from all over the known world. Adventurer-clerics are common enough that most people will encounter at least one of them at some point in their lives. Both Warpriests and Cloistered Clerics are equally common, though most deities prefer one or the other.

Divine spellcasting is often taught from master to pupil, rather than being taught in an academy or other institution. In recent years, however, some temples that have the means to do so are building institutions to train their clergy in the workings of divine magic. In the Holy Lands of Perfection and the Law of Garanu, such institutions are already commonplace.

Note: The True Source of Power

While a Cleric is tied to the deity they worship, their magical power ultimately originates from themselves. The deity acts as a patron of sorts, providing magical knowledge and insight to their faithful in return for worship and sacrifice. This “sacrifice” can take many forms, and could be as benign as swearing to assist those in need on the road, or making an offering of gold to any temple to their deity that the cleric visits.

In making their will manifest through the vast power of their soul, a Cleric mimics divinity each time they cast a spell.

A particularly canny Cleric could betray their deity once they’ve learned powerful magical secrets, and could even continue to cast those spells if their conviction is strong enough. Such a cleric is known as a Godless Cleric, and can expect little to no help from any clergy allied with their former deity. They might be cursed by their former deity or hunted down as a heretic.

Common nations of origin: Wildlands, Hargrall, Aethersands, Tresta

The druids of Adratha have had a connection to the leyline network since long before the network was mapped and codified by arcane scholars. They teach their spells through stories, songs, and myths. According to those tales, the first druids learned their magic from the fae of Aleir and used it to oppose the Forgotten Empire. To this day, druidic orders have a deep suspicion of nations and empires that use technology thoughtlessly and cause ruin to the leylines and the land.

Most druidic orders are small, independent cliques of around ten to fifteen members that live together, furthering their understanding of primal magic and acting to protect the leyline network where possible. Some druids are accelerationists that directly oppose nearby settlements, blighting them and their food supplies in an effort to hasten their collapse. Other druids work closely with settlements to try and find a balance between technology, nature, and magic.

Wandering druids might be part of a wider organization like the Leystorm Menders, though just as many travel to see more of the world they wish to protect, or to intervene in places that other orders don’t reach. Some also travel to evangelize to the people they meet and broaden support for a more measured use of technology that avoids damaging leylines whenever possible.

Mechanical change: Druids of Adratha have no qualms with the use of metal arms and armor, but they strongly oppose tampering with leylines. In your Anathema feature, replace “Using metal armor or shields” with “Permanently altering the leyline network, or letting it be altered permanently through your own inaction. This doesn’t require you to prevent all possibility of alterations in the indeterminate future, or to sacrifice yourself to prevent an alteration.”

Common nations of origin: Any (combat styles vary by region)

Where trouble goes, a fighter follows. Those who rely on skill and strength of arms to win coin and glory are common everywhere, from the high streets of Gloranith to the rugged Hargrall Steppes.

Preferred weapons and combat styles differ between nations, as well as sources of training. In Gloranith, a Fighter might wield a rapier and be trained at a duelist’s school. In the Giantish lands, they might be a gladiator who trained under a harsh stone giant lanista and won freedom in the arena. In Thrasis, they might be a knight in heavy plate armor, wielding a greatsword against an army of demons.

Wandering fighters are a cut above the common sell-sword, and often demand a price to match. Businesses and nobility rely on fighters to protect what they deem valuable–and might also hire less scrupulous fighters to attack or steal from their rivals.

Common nations of origin: Gloranith, New Thrasis, Yuth, Ishtan, Nunral

Alchemical blastpowder, sometimes referred to as gunpowder, was once the dream of an artificer-alchemist in the city of Gloranith, then known as the Gloran Spire. He hoped to create a weapon that could strike down the tyrannical blue dragon that ruled the city. Ultimately, his efforts were a success. While the artificer was slain in the battle, the people of Gloranith slew the dragon with help from these new weapons. In modern times, blastpowder is a well-established tool of war.

Interchangeable machined parts are still very difficult to make on Adratha, so guns must be repaired by smiths and crafted by hand. Crystal synthesis has hastened this process, but it still requires work by individuals. Despite the lack of mass production, their use has fundamentally changed how wars are fought, especially when used in conjunction with Arkeograms. Gunslingers are those who have mastered these weapons and wield them with deadly efficiency.

The Nunralan Empire trains all of its citizens in the use and maintenance of firearms as part of its obligatory military training. While its close neighbor Gloranith has no such program, many citizens of the city use firearms for sport or self-defense. Across the sea in the Merchant Isles and the pirate city of Ishtan, cannons and firearms are common on vessels of all sorts.

Wandering gunslingers are about as common as wandering fighters, and their skills are invaluable to those in need of a martial expert.

Common nations of origin: Gloranith, New Thrasis, Tresta, Former Giantish Colonies

Experts in crystal synthesis, Inventors use their knowledge of applied thaumics to create powerful devices and to enhance their weapons or armor. The class originates in Gloranith, where industrial-scale applications of these principles are a key part of the economy. Other nations that value arcane knowledge are also popular places for inventors to live and work.

Formal training for inventors is limited to Gloranith’s Academy of Artifice, which is infamous for its difficult entry exams and equally difficult coursework. An Inventor might be a graduate or dropout of the Academy, or they might be trained by a more experienced inventor who left Gloranith. Alternatively, they could have no formal training and simply have a knack for creating magical items.

Wandering inventors aren’t common outside of Gloranith and its neighbors. In nations like the Hargrall Steppes, where magical research is rare, inventors are an oddity that might be confused for being a sort of wizard or alchemist.

Common nations of origin: Old Thrasis, New Thrasis, Gloranith, Drahl, Yuth

Investigators are becoming more common as cities like Gloranith grow and industrialize, though some of them existed beforehand as well. Several Investigators are kept on retainer by the Council of Artificers in Gloranith to solve any high-profile cases that might require their unique perceptive talents. In New Thrasis, these techniques are put to a different purpose: seeking and destroying devils that wish to control the nation from behind the scenes.

Outside of cities, investigators can be found working as vigilantes or as part of local law enforcement. In Drahl, traveling judges are often also Investigators, and are called upon to assess a crime, find the culprit if possible, and pass a sentence. In Yuth, Investigators are often called on for espionage against rival merchant groups, or to expose a rival’s crimes to gain prestige.

Common nations of origin: New Thrasis, Ishtan, Aethersands, Galra, Eldspires

While the term “Magus” as a descriptor for a fighter with arcane magic and martial skill was popularized by the Academy of the Thaumic Blade in New Thrasis, adventurers have been combining rudimentary knowledge of magic with martial expertise for centuries. In old stories, these figures are referred to as “eldritch knights,” “heroic mages,” or “fighter-mages.”

Some still learn this art through extensive training and practice, or through apprenticeship, often to a retired adventurer. Others study at the Academy of the Thaumic Blade, which has tripled its original size as more adventurers-in-training study the hybrid arts of spell and sword. While tuition for the academy is expensive, a diploma all but guarantees a position as an officer in the Thrasian army should the graduate want it.

The Starlight Span technique doesn’t originate in Thrasis at all, but was instead developed in parallel in the Eldspires. The discovery was soon applied as part of naval training, and a magus is considered a key part of any Eldspire ship’s crew.

Common nations of origin: Holy Lands, Former Giantish Colonies, Eldspires, Aethersands

Masters of martial arts hail from all over the world, but calling these specialists Monks comes from the specific martial arts of the Holy Lands of Perfection. Monasteries in the Holy Lands exist to perfect mind and body, and hand-to-hand combat is a key part of any monk’s training. Elsewhere, unarmed martial arts are put to a variety of uses. Some of these monks tap into leylines to enhance their physical abilities. This is referred to as Ki by Monks of the Holy Lands, but has other terms elsewhere–for example, in the Eldspires, this is referred to as using one’s Aura.

In the Eldspires, ritual exercises often mimic martial arts, and many people in the lower levels learn unarmed combat to get around the strict rules regarding weapons within the towers. Those living in the former giantish colonies use martial arts with simple weapons both to conceal how dangerous they are and to avoid needing to purchase expensive blades and armor. In the Aethersands, the charismatic spies known as the Students of the Sand Dragon sidestep the need for concealing weapons by honing their skill in unarmed combat.

Many others that are called Monks are simply seasoned hand-to-hand fighters. They might still use Ki, but their use is instinctive as the leylines near them bend to their will.

Common nations of origin: Any, but they’re Uncommon

Those that the gods spurn search for answers in the vastness of reality. On Adratha, there is no specific school of oracles or institution that trains them. These enigmatic spellcasters discover magic through their own minds and wills. Some theorize that the magic they wield is most akin to that of the gods, as it relies only on their own soul and their understanding of the unknowable.

Perhaps this is why oracles are cursed: the gods fear them, and attempt to strike them down at any turn. Many see oracles as walking ill omens or living signs of the gods’ disfavor. Some even fear that extensive contact with an Oracle will make their gods unable to save them from True Death.

As a result, most oracles live secluded lives, keeping their mysteries to themselves or wandering from town to town. This lends itself naturally to adventuring. Adventuring parties quickly learn that the powerful magic Oracles wield is well worth the effort of placating a superstitious client or two. Deceptive Oracles might pose as a Cleric or Sorcerer to avoid conflict.

Common nations of origin: New Thrasis, Nunral, Drahl (Uncommon)

Psionic magic is a very recent discovery. After a century of fruitless research into the magical nature of the mind, Archmage Uldren Marach formed his own small academy in 1037 AC. He hoped to confirm his theory that magic could be cast without ritual implements simply by honing the caster’s mind. He dubbed this academy the Institute of the Resonant Mind, and kept tuition incredibly low to attract students. While the outcome was not arcane magic, as he expected, his methods eventually allowed his first students (primarily dropouts from other academies, but some commoners as well) to cast spells with mere thought.

Uldren still oversees the school, taking advantage of his elven lifespan to see the fruits of his labor. However, most of the actual teaching is done by his first graduates. The Institute is not a popular school by any stretch of the imagination, but its unique methods have piqued the interest of occultists and scholars.

Outside of New Thrasis, psychics are very uncommon. A rare handful of people develop psychic talents with no training, but few have students or write about how they cast such magic. In the current year of 1046 AC, the second class of Institute students has just graduated. Unbeknownst to those outside of the Empire, one of the original psychics was an agent of the House of Song who now trains psychic spies for the Nunralans. The first of these agents have finished their training as well.

Psychics are highly varied, and their training is loose by necessity. The many subconscious and conscious minds are equally common in students, each of whom take to the practice of psychic magic differently.

Common nations of origin: Wildlands, Galra, Drahl, Hargrall, Aethersands

Trackers, scouts, and survivalists are still a common sight even as industrialization occurs in parts of Adratha. Some rangers rely on firearms, but firearms have yet to become so advanced that they outperform an expert with a longbow. Much like Fighters, while a Ranger’s particular skills and fighting style might differ based on locale, they’re relatively common no matter where you go.

In the Wildlands, a ranger might be part of the Cutters, a group of guides that ensure the safety of the roads. They’d likely have a traditional ranger’s kit: a longbow and perhaps a pair of shortswords. In the Aethersands, teams of rangers aid travelers in finding their way back to safety if they’re lost in the desert. They often use shortbows instead of longbows and keep a hand free in melee combat. In Galra, a ranger might patrol the collective’s mountainous borders with an arquebus and a trusty animal companion.

“City Rangers” are also becoming more common as cities expand and become more complicated. These experts can navigate the city streets quickly and stealthily, and often wield short-range weapons, as the frequent twists and turns of alleyways don’t lend themselves to long-range combat.

Common nations of origin: Any

Wherever an advantage can be gained from stealth, subterfuge, or dirty tricks, there are Rogues there to exploit it. Rogues rarely receive formal training of any sort–most of them either have natural talent, a lot of on-the-job training, or some combination of both. There are exceptions, of course, such as the Nunralan Empire’s House of Song, where spies are trained with a harsh regiment of near-starvation, sleep deprivation, physical challenges, and difficult mental tests. The House of Song recruits from the downtrodden, and failure is answered with death.

Most rogues are content to stay where they are as long as there’s profit to be made and some degree of comfort to be had, but neither profit nor comfort tend to remain for long. Unless they’re in Ishtan, where laws are very lax, rogues often find themselves pursued by the local law enforcement. Particularly infamous rogues might be sought out by an investigator–or worse, scryed upon by spellcasters eager to get a bounty.

Rogues make for natural adventurers. Those with training in subterfuge and trap disarming often find adventuring to be at least equally dangerous to their past work, and it often carries a higher chance of a reward. As an added bonus, most adventuring work isn’t illegal, though rogues that are affiliated with the Chimera or the Nunralan Empire might be called upon to break the law during their adventures to secure an advantage for their boss.

Common nations of origin: Any

Souls in Adratha can pass through many lives before becoming a mortal. They might be linked to a creature of the Underplanes, such as an elemental or a fae, or they might have died and visited the Overplanes for a time before being returned as a new mortal. While the marks of past lives are typically scrubbed clean as the soul changes planes, sometimes the soul retains energy from its past life. Many things can occur as a result, but the most common outcome is that a sorcerer is born.

Sorcerers can see ley lines without any training at all, often at quite a young age. They can learn how to alter and manipulate leylines instinctively, wielding magic without the years of formal training and education that it normally requires. To other mages, a sorcerer’s techniques often seem inelegant and simple, and sorcerers tend to have trouble manipulating ley lines in more subtle or varied ways. This manifests in their limited repertoire of spells.

Common nations of origin: New Thrasis, Eldspires, Turicai

Creatures of the planes are often curious about the workings of the Material Plane, and vice versa. Summoners are those who have contacted another plane, either by accident or on purpose, and formed a pact with a creature when they did. Pacts are as varied as summoners: some are done for the summoner’s benefit, but others simply allow the outsider to see the Material Plane without risking their lives in the process.

The Academy of Planar Scholarship is a school in New Thrasis that focuses on this technique, most often with Construct eidolons fuelled by the magic of the Primordial Sea itself. Less scrupulous summoners in New Thrasis might make a deal with a devil to have the fiend become their Eidolon, usually with a guarantee that the mortal will be consigned to the devil’s Divine Realm upon their death.

In the Eldspires, summoners use the leyline nexus at their tower’s base to call power from the Underplanes, most often in the form of fae or dragon eidolons. Elsewhere, in Turicai, grave-tenders sometimes bind themselves to phantom or undead eidolons, using the power of undeath against their foes.

Common nations of origin: Ishtan, Yuth, Turicai, Gloranith, Tresta

Ishtan was home to the first swashbucklers: braggadocious fencers who sought out duels and chances to hone their skills. Their fighting style spread as masters wrote and disseminated the Duelists’ Manuscripts, a series of books on the practice of fighting. This more formal style of swashbuckling shifted based on where the art spread to.

In Gloranith, where duels are purely for show and often done with blunted weapons, the Wit and Fencer styles are most popular. In Ishtan, the old style is seen as outdated and foppish, and the Braggart and Gymnast styles have taken more precedence. In Tresta, the College of Dancers has added the Battledancer style to their training, teaching the Dance of Sabers to their students as a self-defense method.

Swashbucklers don’t often stay in the same place for long. Many are independent sorts who prefer traveling or adventuring to finding the sort of regular work that a Fighter might take.

Common nations of origin: Yuth, Aethersands, Turicai, Tresta

Monster-slayers of all stripes draw from the well of thaumaturgy: the practice of using implements and ritual to draw out the weaknesses of their foes. This most often takes the form of having a vial of silversheen or a cold iron weapon kept for use against certain foes. For Thaumaturges, however, this knowledge is almost magical in use. Using concentration and esoterica, Thaumaturges can bind leylines between them and their quarry, a rough pseudo-spell that forges a connection between the two.

Thaumaturges have scraps of knowledge from all sorts of other classes. They train in a Way of Seeing even if they don’t cast spells. Many also study rituals or other arcane practices. Some Thaumaturges are unaware of the magical theory behind their techniques, focusing instead on the outcomes they can create with a strange gesture and a whispered word. Others closely study their influence on the leylines, perfecting complex rituals to draw out magic.

There’s no established institution that teaches thaumaturges. Instead, the class arises in nations where research is easily accessible and study is encouraged, or in places where monsters often tread. Thaumaturges are a bit too enigmatic to be trusted with regular work like a Fighter, but often take the place of a Ranger when a monster slayer is needed.

Gameplay Change: Thaumaturges receive the Ley Sight skill feat as a bonus feat at level 1. Their Way of Seeing might use their implement as a magical focus–for example, a Thaumaturge might see the ley lines in the reflection of their Mirror implement, or see the lines ripple when they ring their Bell implement. Alternatively, they might use esoterica like dowsing rods or a compass with a crystalline needle.

Common nations of origin: New Thrasis, Wildlands, Tresta, Drahl, Aethersands

While clerics commit themselves to the powers of the Divine Realms, witches are committed to the Underplanes. Their patrons might be from Aleir, from the elemental planes, from the dreaded Shadow Plane, or even from the depths of the immeasurable Primordial Sea.

These ancient beings invest power into the witch with a tiny part of their soul. An elemental lord might give a witch an ember of their fire, a stone of their body, or a shard of perfectly cut ice. A fey might give them a token of hospitality. A Leviathan of the Primordial Sea might give the witch a fragment of one of their scales. After a while, the fragment becomes the witch’s familiar, either on its own or spurred by the witch’s magic.

These pacts are not always mutual. The beings of other planes work in mysterious ways. A normal person might find their shadow acting strangely and learn that they’ve received a mysterious (and perhaps unwelcome) gift from the Shadow Plane, or they might find the familiar rummaging through their belongings as if it was always there. If ignored, these gifts might disappear after a while. If embraced, the recipient becomes a Witch.

Witches are viewed in a similar light to Oracles. Their power is a mystery to academics and an ill omen to devout folk. New Thrasis has some witches in residence at its academies, though they’re mostly left to their own devices. Many witches thrive at the fringes of towns and cities, providing magic to those in need of it and gaining new experiences as they do. Others, called “city witches” by common folk, live in the crowded sprawls of Adratha and give aid to those in dire need.

Note: Patrons, Power, and Obligation

Much like a Cleric, a Witch’s true magic comes from themselves. Their patron’s guidance allows them to learn new ways to cast spells and draw out power.

Denizens of the Underplanes aren’t typically concerned with mortal affairs, and are unlikely to influence events through a pact with a witch. Most give no reason for granting such a pact. Others express curiosity in mortal life, and want to create an amicable exchange by granting their “viewpoint” some magical knowledge.

This isn’t to say an antagonistic patron-witch relationship is impossible. Most often, this involves a pact with the Eternal King or one of his servants from the Shadow Plane, but it might also be from a malevolent fae, an avaricious elemental lord, or even from the inscrutable desires of a Leviathan.

Common nations of origin: Any (except for Garanu and Holy Lands)

The wizarding education of the modern day is far different from that of even a couple decades past. Popular printings of guides like “Lethwyn’s Handheld Guide to Practical Magicks” and “The Hedge-Wizard’s Almanac” have provided access to basic magical training to the masses, though the weeks of practice and dedication required to consistently cast a cantrip as simple as Light deter many from the arcane arts.

Once one learns the fundamentals, however, future magical knowledge is easier to understand, albeit more expensive to acquire. Most of these guides only provide training on basic cantrips and perhaps two or three spells of the first circle. Books that provide further training, like “Eorlund’s Arcane Fundamentals,” are often double or triple the price of a more casual guide, and might still only have five or six spells per volume. (See “The Wizard’s Printing Press” in the Mechanical Changes section.)

Hedge-Wizards, those that can cast cantrips and perhaps one or two spells of the first circle, are fairly common, with at least one or two in any given town. They might be called upon for simple tasks that would be laborious or impossible for a layperson: casting Ant Haul to help workers move heavy objects, using Mending to repair fine jewelry, using Bullhorn and Approximate to assist the town’s leadership, and so on. Few hedge-wizards learn combat magic, though some in less settled areas might have Burning Hands or Magic Missile prepared to dissuade any predatory beasts or bandits.

Some of these hedge-wizards dream of going to an Academy and becoming a proper Wizard, and others might train under a master wizard or retired adventurer to learn more advanced magic. A level 1 Wizard has an undergraduate diploma from a wizarding academy (or equivalent training, perhaps from studying under or assisting a hedge-wizard). At this point, many wizards go out and find work. Others continue their education and become taskmages (level 5 or higher). Taskmages have a graduate diploma and are considered trained enough to be an educator at an academy.

While wizards appear most often in Thrasis, Tresta, and Gloranith, they are common everywhere save for two nations: Garanu and the Holy Lands. In the Holy Lands, arcane magic is seen as a false path to power that should be shunned. The 12th Law of Garanu states that arcane trickery is an insult to the Mortal God’s power, and it is thus outlawed in that nation as well.

Note: Academies, Debt, and Adventurers

Academy tuition tends to cost about 50 gp for one student’s full education, which is roughly equivalent to 7 years’ wages for a skilled worker. Prestigious academies might charge as much as 100 or even 150 gp. When you make a character, you might want to represent this debt as something your character has to deal with over time. If you do, don’t change anything about your character creation process–you still start with 15 gp, though you may want to focus on buying equipment and have your starting amount of actual money be quite low.

Talk with your GM about how this might be represented during play. Since using treasure to get more powerful magic items is a key part of Pathfinder’s progression system, consider adding additional treasure to balance things out, or having clearing the debt be tied to a side quest that doesn’t interfere with the party’s access to treasure. (This is less of a concern if you’ve decided to use the Automatic Bonus Progression variant rule.)

For example, if your character was in New Thrasis, perhaps they made a deal with a devil for the money, and the devil has come to ask a favor in return. If they were in Gloranith, perhaps they got a loan from the Chimera, and must now fetch something of greater value. Use the debt as an opportunity to expand the world and develop the character, not as an arbitrary handicap.

You might not want to deal with debt in-game at all–after all, most of us have to deal with it in real life. In that case, assume that your academy education was paid for one way or another and that you don’t have to worry about it anymore.