Centuries ago, a forgotten mystic founded the Scholomance, a college built to train fledgling witches and sorcerers, lest solitude and caprice drive them to make mischief out of magic. It flourished over the years, attracting the best and most ambitious magi, but its final headmaster, the Wizard Loshe, trafficked with what mortals ought not and invited a spirit of foul knowledge and dark power into his mind. It subjugated his will, seized his body, and began remaking the school in its own wicked image. His former friends and colleagues fled, taking their students with them, and sealed the Scholomance away behind wards and walls and unaging guardians.
But the walls have cracked, the wards have weakened, and the guardians grown slack in their duty. Lady Agatha, descendant of the Deputy Headmistress who led the flight from the Scholomance, has returned with students in hopes of lifting the pall of dark magic from the school and banishing whatever feeble remnants of Headmaster Loshe that might remain.
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| from Knights in the Nightmare |
Years later, she’s still at it. The process of exploring the castle has become an education in itself, and alums of the Headmistress’ “academy” have developed a reputation for eccentric genius, honed in the bizarre and dangerous halls of the Scholomance. You are a student there, and a resident of the shanty town that has developed just inside the castle’s front gate, beneath the eccentric and careless auspices of Deputy Headmistress Agatha. To refine your craft, pay for lessons, and uncover wealth and powerful objects, you must venture into the Scholomance with your fellow students.
Roll 3d6 for Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Record the associated modifier.
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Attribute
|
Modifier
|
| 3 |
-3
|
| 4-5 |
-2
|
| 6-8 |
-1
|
| 9-12 |
+0
|
| 13-15 |
+1
|
| 16-17 |
+2
|
| 18 |
+3
|
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| from Persona Q |
Athlete
d10+Constitution modifier HP
Saving Throws: Strength and Constitution
Every time you level up, you gain a skill point to invest in weapon expertise. You can invest a skill point in expertise for a single type of weapon, and each point gives you a +1 to attack rolls and damage.
Prodigy
d6+Constitution modifier HP
Saving throws: Charisma and Wisdom
Every time you level up, you gain an extra skill point to invest in spells.
Witch Scout
d8+Constitution modifier HP
Saving throws: Dexterity and Wisdom
Every time you level up, you gain a skill point to invest in one of the following:
- Bushcraft
- Climb
- First Aid
- Stealth
Academic
d8+Constitution modifier HP
Saving Throws: Intelligence and Dexterity
Every time you level up, you gain a skill point to invest in one of the following:
- Languages
- Search
- Tinker
- Teratology
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| from Silent Hill |
You have a wand, which you need to cast spells. You can cast a spell as often as you wish, and the range of a spell is about the same as a shortbow. A spell can replicate the effect of any simple tool, weapon, or mechanical object, such as a torch, grappling hook, bow and arrow, or ladder. You must always describe what the spell looks like.
You start with a 1 in 6 chance of successfully casting any given spell. If you fail a spell, you must wait 1 round before you can cast a spell again. You can allocate skill points to a spell in order to permanently increase its odds of success. You start with 4 skill points and gain 2 more every time you gain a level. The list of spells is not set; you can invent them, as long as they fit the parameters for magic stated above.
Duration spells last a number of exploration Round equal to half your level, rounded up. If a spell faces particularly strong resistance (binding a struggling enemy, lifting a heavy rock), you must succeed an Intelligence check with a bonus equal to your level.
Equipment
- Manuals give you a skill point in a particular spell.
- You can carry a number of significant items equal to your Strength score without being encumbered. 100 bottlecaps count as a significant item.
- Currency is in dollars and cents. In the barter economy, bottlecaps are worth a cent, cigarettes are worth a dollar, and souls are worth 10 dollars.
- All characters begin with 1 white button down shirt, 1 pair of black slacks, 1 black robe, 1 wand, and a number of the following, based on your focus.
6-6-6: whoopee cushion
Rules
- To make a saving throw, roll d20+relevant attribute modifier. If the saving throw is your class’ specialty, add half your level, rounded up, to the roll.
- To gain a level, you have to bribe an older student 10 times your level in dollars for a private lesson. Every time you level up, you gain 1 HP and 2 skill points for spells. Your class may grant you an additional skill point as well.
- To regain all of your HP, eat a meal in a place of safety.
A lot of the monsters are unique and invincible (at first, at least), but not unbeatable–they can be chased off, imprisoned, or wounded for a time. At the Scholomance, rumors are a sort of currency. Adventuring students can learn to detect the approach of monsters by picking up nursery rhymes, gossip, and speculation at the encampment in the Great Hall.
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| The Weeping Spiders by Odilon Redon |
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| The Gurning Spiders by Odilon Redon |
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| The Chaplain from Persona 4 |
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| The Nurse from Persona 4 |
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| The Gardener from Soul Sacrifice |
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| Baphomet from Persona |
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| The Cats of Headmaster Loshe by Max Ernst |
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| by Max Ernst |
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| by Max Ernst |
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| The Headmistress performs a conjuration. by Max Ernst |
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| The Perfectible Children of Birds by Max Ernst |
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| by Max Ernst |
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| by Max Ernst |
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| The Lords and Ladies of Easter Sunday by Max Ernst |
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| An Immanent Snake by Max Ernst |
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|
| Arabesque, Mother of the Hungry Geometries by Max Ernst |
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| A Dysphynx and the object of its Fascination. by Max Ernst |
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| The Man With the Long White Hands by Edward Gorey |
Not Pictured: The Man with a Clock for a Face, the Sinful Coterie, the 13 Hours, the Inverse Children, the Scissor Club, the Order of Chess, the Janitors, the Mumblers, the Holy Bats, the Empty Choristers