SCHOLASTIC GUILDS

A scholastic guild can be anything from a small circle of researchers dedicated to studying a particular topic to a full-scale university providing knowledge to all who wish it. In any case, the guild works to further the knowledge and education of its members, if not its entire community. It provides libraries, places of study and academic discourse, an atmosphere conducive to the acquisition of knowledge, and possibly instructors willing to educate students in one or more subjects.

Some scholastic guilds overlap with arcane or psionic guilds if the culture considers magic or psionics to be just another field of study.

Examples: Sages guild, secret society, university.

Associated Classes: Aristocrat, bard, expert, wizard.

Associated Skills: Decipher Script, Gather Information, Knowledge (any four), Speak Language.

Duties: Members must contribute constantly to the guild’s knowledge and lore. They must spend at least 10 hours a week in study, writing, research, and discourse with other members. A successful DC 25 Diplomacy check allows a PC to count time spent adventuring toward this requirement, if the purpose of the adventure is to recover some ancient lore or unearth some great secret.

Favored Benefits: To its favored members, a scholastic guild offers complete access to its many libraries and troves of research. A favored member who is in the guildhouse and is making use of both the library and other guild members for research purposes can take 20 on any single Knowledge skill in which he has at least 1 rank. Such painstaking research is time-consuming, however, requiring 2d4 days (8 hours per day) to complete.

Sample Contact: Professor Tibor Wadsworth (gnome expert 7). He will help research a specific topic (+2 bonus on the PC’s Knowledge check). Once per month.