Thanks for all the comments on yesterday's post on
level titles.
The opinion seems to be that many like them and even use them, but only when they have utility and don't conflict with the character concept; the Necromancer title for Magic-Users the oft cited example.
Most of the level titles seem to work well enough. The thief ones are generic enough, the fighter seems fine (with maybe the Swashbuckler being the odd one out). Te cleric ones follow a general logical progression, maybe move bishop up one to replace "Lama" and make the old Bishop into "Abbot".
Oddly enough it seem Magic-Users are the ones that have the most problems.
Most likely it is due to the fact that many of the level title names don't seem to have ranks implied like the Cleric and Fighters do. It is also due to that the names represent different types of magic-using types in other games and in later versions of D&D itself. A Necromancer is a particular type of Magic-User, as is an Enchanter, Sorcerer and Witch.
This is also something that is easily fixed.
Have a quick look at my
Gnomes for Basic D&D. For this I wanted something different than Gnomes as Illusionists and especially Gnomes as "Tinker Gnomes". I went back to the research on gnomes when they were earth spirits used by alchemists and other arcane types. So for me Gnomes did magic via alchemy. I used a variation of the Degree Titles for
Rosicrucians and the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for them.
Using this as a guide this can give us new level titles for Magic-Users that would work regardless the type of magic they are doing.
| Level | Title |
| 1 | Initiate |
| 2 | Apprentice |
| 3 | Neophyte |
| 4 | Adeptus Minor |
| 5 | Adeptus Major |
| 6 | Adeptus Exemptus |
| 7 | Magician |
| 8 | Magister |
| 9 | Magus |
| 10 | Mage 10th level |
I opted for "Mage" instead of "Wizard" since these are "Magic Users" and the Mage is the highest level of a magic-user. A Wizard would be a specific type of Mage then. To alter this for say AD&D/OSRIC then add "Adeptus Superior" to level 7 and shift the rest up (Wizards were "name" level at 10th, not 9th).
I am releasing this under the OGL and it is 100% Open Content. Please use in your publications as you see fit. For your Section 15 you can identify this as "Level Titles for Magic Using Classes" Copyright 2010 Timothy S. Brannan.
It is based on one of my previous publications, "Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks" Copyright 2003 Timothy S. Brannan and the Netbook of Witches Team.
I am going to put up a full OGL deceleration on my blog later.
ETA: Here it is.
OGL
