The Golarion Gazette

The Maagambya Academy, one of the best-known magical academies in Golarion, released last week a preview of its new course catalog and curriculum guidelines for the upcoming semester. While these releases normally pass without much fanfare, these changes have spurred much controversy, as many staple spells and casting techniques have seen major changes. One of the most visible changes is the renaming of many spells. For instance, Barkskin has been renamed to Oaken Resilience in response to the use of the word “bark-skin” as a racial slur referring to dryads, Dimension Door has been renamed to Translocate after complaints from mathematicians and physical scientists about the inaccurate use of the word “dimension”, and Burning Hands has been renamed to Breathe Fire following trademark infringement claims by the “Burning Hand” chain of adventuring taverns.

The most substantive change, and the one causing the most controversy, is the changes to cantrip casting techniques. Most previous cantrip education teaches the time-tested Adamson-Marteza method, which involves using the caster’s mental stores of magical power as a base to build the spell’s energy prior to evoking it, ensuring a strong guaranteed power output even if the winds of magic don’t blow their way. While the Adamson-Marteza method has been dominant for decades, it has recently come under fire due to complaints that it is discriminatory against students who are not as intelligent, wise, or charismatic and thus have less capacity to store magical power in their minds. These complaints have become more intense in recent years due to an increased focus on the needs of the disadvantaged, and Maagambya Academy management has finally capitulated. According to initial reports, the Adamson-Marteza method will be replaced by a new technique that involves using tetrahedral and cube-shaped trinkets to add additional power to the spells.

Magical education expert Ravindra Fireheart has denounced the new methods. “This new, unproven method will make our casters even less reliable, which is the opposite of what we want in a world of powerful monsters that we need to learn how to defeat,” she said. “We need more early-childhood intervention to ensure that incoming students are prepared to learn our best, proven techniques, rather than dumbing down the curriculum because our children can’t handle it.” Academic advisors at the Academy have also reported “mass confusion” as the removal of the traditional eight-category spell classification system has left students unclear as to what classes they need to sign up for to learn the spells they are interested in. On the other hand, some commentators say that the backlash is premature as full details of the new curriculum have yet to be released. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Adamson-Marteza method might still be taught in some form, likely in advanced classes geared toward specific casting modalities. Either way, the never-ending debate about who gets to learn to be a caster, and the role of those casters in Golarian society, seems no closer to ending.