College level education? [Archive] - Wizards Community

College level education? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
TarlSS
06-06-06, 11:28 AM Since magic items are ubiquitous in every kind of skilled profession (Transportation, industry, construction, information processing, etc.) would it be reasonable to assume a good liberal arts undergraduate education strives to teach Use Magic Device? I imagine learning magic in Eberron would be akin to learning computer science nowadays, with magic backending everything. Your business would definitely want some MT guys in case the mana matrix on your wand of messaging broke down.

I doubt magicusers would be as prevalent as IT guys today, of course. I imagine them being as common as mechanics in the 1930's, and fixtures in the corporate world and fields of skileld work. And of course, college level education would be something -really- special as it was then.

Basically you'd have your roving geeksquads of artificiers and magewrights running around messing things up in the business world. Might make for some interesting water cooler talk.

What do you think?
DragonWatcher
06-06-06, 03:09 PM If you're asking if UMD should be a class skill for everyone in Eberron, I would resoundingly say, "No".

That said...

To me, a college-level education would best be represented in general by taking levels in the Expert NPC class. If you look at the Class Skills for this class, it says that you can select any 10 skills to be class skills. So it would be fairly common for any NPC in Eberron to potentially have UMD as a class skill if they are an expert who uses some kind of magic in their profession. If they're just a commoner, then it would stand to reason that they would not be able to use any device that requires UMD (please remember that Misc. Magic Items do not need this skill to use them).

For PCs with normal class levels, their class determines the skills that they are proficient with, and I don't believe that UMD should be made a class skill for every class across the board. I'm satisfied with the fact that it's no longer a restricted skill reserved for only rogues and casters.
TarlSS
06-06-06, 05:00 PM I agree, making it a class skill is probably a horrible idea.

I was just saying that maybe a majority of professional NPCs should have cross-class or full ranks in it, because frankly most NPCs don't. A doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, an architecht, and your mechanics/techie types would all probably have UMD in some form, seeing how they probably have access to these magical tools that would make their jobs much easier.

I see Eberron NPCs spicing up up what they do with magic quite a bit, the average person packing a scroll or two pertaining to what he does. After all, there are alot more middle class folk like merchants and construction workers around; the dirt poor peasant is no longer all -that- prevalent in a non feudal society.
MysticTheurge
06-08-06, 10:28 AM UMD lets you use items that you couldn't normally use.

Magic items designed to be used by someone in particular, are going to be designed with use requirements they meet.

Therefore, there shouldn't be any need for your average working man to have UMD as they can already use the items that they ought to be using for their professions.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TarlSS 06-06-06, 11:28 AM	Since magic items are ubiquitous in every kind of skilled profession (Transportation, industry, construction, information processing, etc.) would it be reasonable to assume a good liberal arts undergraduate education strives to teach Use Magic Device? I imagine learning magic in Eberron would be akin to learning computer science nowadays, with magic backending everything. Your business would definitely want some MT guys in case the mana matrix on your wand of messaging broke down. I doubt magicusers would be as prevalent as IT guys today, of course. I imagine them being as common as mechanics in the 1930's, and fixtures in the corporate world and fields of skileld work. And of course, college level education would be something -really- special as it was then. Basically you'd have your roving geeksquads of artificiers and magewrights running around messing things up in the business world. Might make for some interesting water cooler talk. What do you think?
DragonWatcher 06-06-06, 03:09 PM	If you're asking if UMD should be a class skill for everyone in Eberron, I would resoundingly say, "No". That said... To me, a college-level education would best be represented in general by taking levels in the Expert NPC class. If you look at the Class Skills for this class, it says that you can select any 10 skills to be class skills. So it would be fairly common for any NPC in Eberron to potentially have UMD as a class skill if they are an expert who uses some kind of magic in their profession. If they're just a commoner, then it would stand to reason that they would not be able to use any device that requires UMD (please remember that Misc. Magic Items do not need this skill to use them). For PCs with normal class levels, their class determines the skills that they are proficient with, and I don't believe that UMD should be made a class skill for every class across the board. I'm satisfied with the fact that it's no longer a restricted skill reserved for only rogues and casters.
TarlSS 06-06-06, 05:00 PM	I agree, making it a class skill is probably a horrible idea. I was just saying that maybe a majority of professional NPCs should have cross-class or full ranks in it, because frankly most NPCs don't. A doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, an architecht, and your mechanics/techie types would all probably have UMD in some form, seeing how they probably have access to these magical tools that would make their jobs much easier. I see Eberron NPCs spicing up up what they do with magic quite a bit, the average person packing a scroll or two pertaining to what he does. After all, there are alot more middle class folk like merchants and construction workers around; the dirt poor peasant is no longer all -that- prevalent in a non feudal society.
MysticTheurge 06-08-06, 10:28 AM	UMD lets you use items that you couldn't normally use. Magic items designed to be used by someone in particular, are going to be designed with use requirements they meet. Therefore, there shouldn't be any need for your average working man to have UMD as they can already use the items that they ought to be using for their professions.