Draigh

That is strange, because the admins/sysops of the Academagia page are: Draigh, Saradoc, Ragbe I just added Blondetiger too btw I am the only bureaucrat of the wiki Edit: Could have been related to activity. Seems like Saradoc and Ragbe have not been active for a while either.

Good morning guys and girls, I am but one personal message / email away. ;-) Real Life (tm) sometimes has the tendency to interfere and claim you. And I only started the wiki back in the day because there was none and nobody seemed to start one yet. I am glad so many others picked it up and made it a worthy and useful wiki. Back in the day I dropped many hours in researching and filling it up, bit by bit. Even before the modtools became available. :-) So it is true, I have not been very active. If someone else takes over ownership (would like to keep major editing rights, for if ever the mood strikes me again), it would be fine with me.

I think I have seen the topic somewhere, but cannot find it... It could also be somewhere in this topic, buried amongst the load of other interesting tidbits about the setting. Anyway... on to my question: Which language do they speak in which region? I mostly ask due to the Heritage backgrounds that give several bonusses, but no language skills. Which made me wonder if someone who has a certain heritage should not also speak that language. Even if one does not understand all the specifics and history of one's language, one can still speak it.

@ Schwartzbart Concerning your *spoiler*, which adventure would that be?

If I recall correctly, most (but not all) students should have two names defined for their Cliques. Still curious for the answer though

Flapping wings do make sound and move quite a lot of air. Unless you have a lot of space and some updrafts, you are not going to be as silent as you would like. But it would help with exploration, being able to cover bigger distances in shorter times. And flyers also often have sharper eyes.

hehe when will DLC 13 be released?

I mostly ask this because on my search through the mod tools and putting info up in the wiki.. I found that the Historical Record Pheme, which is one of the requirements of the much covetted Puppet Master Spell, seems only to be gained through either one of those backgrounds, or at random. This makes me wonder if there have been any other cuts that should open special skills, spells, etc. that are now no longer available. And why you have chosen to do so. Has it been game balance issues? Time restraints? And could some of those be put back in, if game balance was not the issue?

The Mod Tools show a lot of Spells backgrounds (and the already mentioned Wand backgrounds). Why are they not selectable backgrounds in the game? Any specific reason they are inactivated?

I just noticed something interesting: Both Gates Phemes and Theory of Gates unlock locations at level 11, which unlock a research option that increases the skill maximum in said skills. In both cases one needs to find those locations randomly to be able to research and then train the skills to access the locations. That is supposed to be like that?

well... the prodigy backgrounds do give increases in certain skill max, without it being learning or ingame gained. So one extra should not be gamebreaking, right? As for it being another Luck expansion, if someone really wants a high luck he can get that anyway, if he is willing to pay the price in other areas. Besides, I think a lot of people find other attributes more impotant, like intelligence and insight.

Each skill has an associated 11th level unlock. And check the Prodigy backgrounds for some backgrounds that grant skill max increases. I also think the Bad Luck Magnet +5 Chance of Failure is not cumulative with the +x% Chance of Success. They seem to be different values in the modtools. So technically it's possible to have them both and have the effects of both at the same time. Secondly, this background blocks out quite a lot of other backgrounds, including those that offer some interesting skills/abilities.

Here is the suggestion of the Destiny's Child background. History: My current suggestion: Growing up in a poor family, the possibility of even just dreaming about life at the Academagia was never open to you. You had never heard about the school for growing mages, as you were occupied by chores and scraping to get by- at least, not until the letter came. The letter that promised transport, food, lodging, and five full years of education for absolutely nothing. Your family debated the wisdom and possibilities, but eventually urged to accept in hopes that you could use it to find a better life for yourself in your future. Your family is unable to provide much, especially now that you are far away. They are looking forward to see you again this summer though and hear about all the things you learned and adventures you have had. (No money to start with and your family will not send you anything either. If you want money, you'll need to earn it yourself. Background is mutually exclusive with: Family: Black Sheep; Family: Favored Child; History: Locally Notable; Station: Merchant; Station: Wealthy; Station: Well-to-Do; Any of the Academy, Schooling, Tutoring or Inheritance backgrounds. In short any background that either grants money from your family, or requires the family to have spending money in the first place.) But even though your family is unable to provide for you, destiny seems to just that in it's own special way. You seem to be blessed by destiny. Will the Academagia be the place where the seed of destiny can blossom? (+1 Luck, +10% Random Encounters, +10% Chance of Succes, +1 Skill Max in Two Random Skills; This signifies the pull of destiny that causes the character to get in interesting situations time and time again; and some special talents in overcoming said challenges. No direct obvious starting bonusses though. One needs to work and do things to get the benefits of this background. Luck is not one of the most important stats for the different skills, thus effect is either minimal or indirect.)

@ Schwartsbart It is less gamebreaking than +1 to three skill maxes. There are no further unlocks of special abilities. The only added effect is that you can succeed 1 point easier at rolls that require that one specific skill. Having 3 +1 skill maxes means unlocking the 11th ability in 3 different skills and possibly unlocking many more 11th skills simply due to those first three unlocks. Otherwise it grants access to special locations, phemes, spells, abilities or other stuff that has been restricted on purpose. Besides... It is possible (and not even that hard) to get max skill increases for certain skills several times, increasing beyond the limit of 11. Just ask for a few favors and you'll see. @ Mikka Personally I think the charm with the whole fate/destiny thing is it's unpredictability. Not just an increase to the Pure Luck skill. The choice for the Luck attribute increase is more related to Astrology than to be lucky or anything. Also not too many skill increases in different things, just the one talent that might have drawn the attention of the stars and certain Academagian Seers. Something that could also work is an increase of 10% to the chance of a random event. After all... destiny has chosen you with a reason. @ Legate Maybe this slight derail needs to be moved to the suggestions thread?

hmm.. I was thinking about a randomizer and then somehow record the skill and use that for two effects (expand skill, expand max skill) looking in the modtools, it indeed does not seem to be possible. But increasing 3 random skills with +1 skill max would be a rather strong effect, even if not clear which ones are increased. After all, they can unlock quite strong abilities and stuff without needing to go through the hoops (research etc) to unlock the skill max expansion. And it needs to be fair to the player that he/she has some way to find out the blessed skill(s).

hmm... this brings me on an idea for a 0 point background. After all.. There should be a family who got an invitation letter for their little boy/girl while being too poor to actually pay tution at the Academagia. So the student probably has some special talent or destiny ahead of him that requires his training. Bad side: Player starts with no money, nor will get any allowance. Not because their parent's dont WANT to pay, but because they simply cannot pay it. Incompatible with black sheep or any background that increases money. Good Side: Player starts with +1 Luck, +1 Temperance, +2 Skill Max in a random skill, +2 Skill in same random skill. (and yes, that could be a skill like Sewing; destiny can be strange like that)

Interesting addition to the student versus college discussion: Raoul Leconte It's a student with strong bonds to nature, animals and familiars. He has friendly ties to Morvidus college. Yet he is an Aranaz student with the "Survive the College" goal. Prudence Cossins and Phillippe Marchant actually have goals and personality that includes removing merit from their own college.

Legate Would it not be an idea that the NPC students involved in the player random events get skill improvements based on their participation in said random event? You don't need to implement any special NPC random events, they would just develop along with the player. But instead of adding a skill step, they would gain a full skill level instead. After all, the player probably experiences a lot more events than the NPCs. So that would make up for the difference.

I was asking because they could do an end-of-week action that runs past all students and does some mock 'random events' and just gives some random effects to some or all students (included but not limited to skill expansions, changed emotions, stress or items). And expulsion of NPCs being turned off for now does not mean they won't be kicked in later years or otherwise face consequences for low scores.

Another thing.. As I am adding the last of the students to the wiki.. I have noticed a few students that do not have any Study in their preferences or goals. Meaning they will probably have a very low exam result. What do they need to reach to not get kicked out of school? Because if they are in my clique, I would like them to remain there for all the years. /me looks at Sheary Warrington, amongst others.

Just a curious question that just popped up in my mind. We, as players, get random events. Do the NPC students ever get into any random events that could affect their skills/development? Or, as something to the development-team: Should it not be so that the NPC participants in player random events also gain a Skill Step in a related skill? It would help in developing those characters a bit beyond the normal AI actions.

You are welcome Just check for spelling errors. English does not seem to be your native language

I added it to the wiki, although your information seems to be incomplete / messy. You probably understand what you mean with your notes perfectly. But I don't Test Taking

In my case the tools seem to work fine, except when I try to publish a mod. Then I get memory errors. Having enough memory for most things, but not for this one sadly enough...

Final steps are not always the hardest steps And sometimes choosing one path above the other also causes some checks to be significantly lower or higher, and rewards to be different.