Neophyte Program

[MurOllavan]

As the discussion has died down in my original thread and as far as I can tell the other rules are in slow motion. If for some reason the advanced tier gets exposed at some later date, we can edit this to provide the bonus of a modifier or whatever is introduced. But for now its spells. I have decided to sum up the DoM version of the teaching program in this draft.

Any character at or above the rank of mage can take on a neophyte that is of less than wizard rank initially. You may not have a neophyte that is played by yourself. Once the neophyte makes mage rank, this entitles the teacher to take on two neophytes thereafter.

The neophyte will receive the bonus of one additional advanced spell which needs to be declared prior to the duel, while the teacher is observing the match and not dueling themselves. They may switch spells from duel to duel so it is not static.

In this fashion the neophyte being watched is like a holder of the Ring of Klytus. This bonus would double with the ring of Klytus, with the exception of a mentored magician w/RoK which would of course already be maxed at four advanced spells.

Neophytes will be listed on the standings with a parenthetical teacher next to their name. The relationship can be terminated at any time by teacher or neophyte.

If you have any questions please ask. Also you can post pairings here if you like or email Neo the standings keeper.

[Neo Eternity]

It's taken a long time to get this thing off the ground. We've lagged behind the other two sports for long enough, and we already have an achievement in place for this program, though in the end it's different than what the existing achievement implies.

To be honest, I'm okay with launching this program right now if everyone else is okay with the implementation details. And I'm fine with this as it is now.

I'll figure out a nice, intuitive way to indicate the pairings in the standings.

[DUEL Lem]

We have reviewed the neophyte rules and have revised the rules page with the following:

"The Neophyte sub-title is functionally identical to the Ring of Klytus, with the following exception: their mentor must be present in order to gain the benefit."

The previous rule stated that the mentor could not be engaged in calling a duel. The new wording implies that the only restriction is that the mentor must be present (IC) in order for the neophyte to gain the focus. The mentor can be calling, dueling, dueling their own neophyte, and the neophyte will be allowed to use the focus.

Additionally, we have added the following mentor/neophyte clarification: "The relationship is not official until it is posted on the standings."

Just like with a keeper's elemental fury or a regular rank advancement, the extra foci is not officially available for use until it's on the standings.

The rules page and the standings are the official governing documents for DoM. I believe it is best practice for those documents to clarify as many situations as possible so that there are few instances that require a coordinator's recollection of long-standing unwritten rules or other ruling at the coordinator's discretion.

ETA: Clarified that the mentor foci cannot be used until the standings have been updated.

[DUEL Lem]

Another revision to the neophyte program. The rules page now reads:

"The Neophyte sub-title is functionally identical to the Ring of Klytus, with the following exceptions: their mentor must be present in order to gain the benefit, and the neophyte may not use their mentor focus during a challenge match."

This rule was never included in the written rules or neophyte guidelines, but I do believe it was intended to be in the rules as I recall the question came up in the past and the answer was that the neophyte must stand on their own during a challenge and therefore would not be able to draw on their mentor's energy during the challenge. This rule is effective as of today, 15 October 2013.