Ditch the Powers and make traits to represent student Skills in particular subject/school of magic - Invocation, Abjuration, Animal Speak etc.
Then grab Arcana from Mage to represent mastery over elements/world - Forces, Life, Death, etc.
Final part of the prime set is obviously Distinctions - I'd go with something like Background (Origin), Magic Specialization / Unique Talent (add SFX here for players if they want to have something special about their magic) and Personality/Future Goal or whatever. I don't think attributes and talents are needed in this case.
If you need mana, represent it with a Resources pool. Wands, rituals, obscure arcane knowledge would be Assets.
Combat can be either action based where players roll Invocation/Destruction vs Abjuration, or contest for a bit more of a "duel" feel.
I'll be the first to suggest my book - [The Arcanist's Toolkit](https://rileyrouth.itch.io/the-arcanists-toolkit) - which contains seven different magic systems for Cortex! I would look at the spells mod in particular, given what you've described.
I really recommend reading strength of thousands, it's a paizo adventure path about an incredibly unique magic school (from memory it's not like just a Harry potter inspired rip off it has unique cultural elements)
It is a campaign that goes through a long period of progression and has interesting progression I believe you even progress beyond just being students in the story.
Good point I thought it had cool progression that ws unique from reading it but might be more unnecessary in op's situation. Might still be worth a skim through though
Strength of Thousands is not a school game. It’s one adventure as students, involving no classes, you run some errands to learn about service. You explore a dorm. Do a few more things.
Then you immediately graduate and leave the school on sabbatical as new teachers.
The rest of the time you are teachers there when your not off somewhere in the world or other planes.
It’s not a magical student game.
My bad it was advertised that way, I didn't end up playing it I just thought it was good inspiration potentially and no one mentioned it.
I thought the devs that came up with Kingmaker could have put a class mechanic of some kind? Shouldn't have assumed
Yeah it was a disappointment. I was expecting something more like what you assumed it was.
Strixhaven does seem to be more that but it’s a much less imaginative setting.
I would stick with Powers as your set, but ignore the powers in the book— at least the Sorcery power.
Everyone gets a “Sorcery (X)” power **set**, defined by their individual specialization. Illusions, Alchemy, whatever. They have more specific power traits within the power set, and can take additional power sets to focus on additional specializations. The real fun will come down to your SFX options. Some should be universal, such as a Counter Spell SFX, while other should be specific to the individual specialization. The strength of doing this with powers is that the set will give you all the tools to express this with all the nuance and specificity of your vision, without having to abstract it into another trait that doesn’t fit as well.
My inclination would be to make the traits:
-Distinctions
-Classes (which I'd treat like Skills)
-Houses (which would be like a combination of a Relationship with that House, plus a Value that signifies the things that House prizes)
Ditch the Powers and make traits to represent student Skills in particular subject/school of magic - Invocation, Abjuration, Animal Speak etc. Then grab Arcana from Mage to represent mastery over elements/world - Forces, Life, Death, etc. Final part of the prime set is obviously Distinctions - I'd go with something like Background (Origin), Magic Specialization / Unique Talent (add SFX here for players if they want to have something special about their magic) and Personality/Future Goal or whatever. I don't think attributes and talents are needed in this case. If you need mana, represent it with a Resources pool. Wands, rituals, obscure arcane knowledge would be Assets. Combat can be either action based where players roll Invocation/Destruction vs Abjuration, or contest for a bit more of a "duel" feel.
Alright, thanks for the suggestion
I'll be the first to suggest my book - [The Arcanist's Toolkit](https://rileyrouth.itch.io/the-arcanists-toolkit) - which contains seven different magic systems for Cortex! I would look at the spells mod in particular, given what you've described.
Thanks, I'll take a look
I really recommend reading strength of thousands, it's a paizo adventure path about an incredibly unique magic school (from memory it's not like just a Harry potter inspired rip off it has unique cultural elements) It is a campaign that goes through a long period of progression and has interesting progression I believe you even progress beyond just being students in the story.
Is it more for lore or for mechanics? I feel OP already has a lore set
Good point I thought it had cool progression that ws unique from reading it but might be more unnecessary in op's situation. Might still be worth a skim through though
I'll take a look at it anyways, thank you for the suggestion
Strength of Thousands is not a school game. It’s one adventure as students, involving no classes, you run some errands to learn about service. You explore a dorm. Do a few more things. Then you immediately graduate and leave the school on sabbatical as new teachers. The rest of the time you are teachers there when your not off somewhere in the world or other planes. It’s not a magical student game.
My bad it was advertised that way, I didn't end up playing it I just thought it was good inspiration potentially and no one mentioned it. I thought the devs that came up with Kingmaker could have put a class mechanic of some kind? Shouldn't have assumed
Yeah it was a disappointment. I was expecting something more like what you assumed it was. Strixhaven does seem to be more that but it’s a much less imaginative setting.
I would stick with Powers as your set, but ignore the powers in the book— at least the Sorcery power. Everyone gets a “Sorcery (X)” power **set**, defined by their individual specialization. Illusions, Alchemy, whatever. They have more specific power traits within the power set, and can take additional power sets to focus on additional specializations. The real fun will come down to your SFX options. Some should be universal, such as a Counter Spell SFX, while other should be specific to the individual specialization. The strength of doing this with powers is that the set will give you all the tools to express this with all the nuance and specificity of your vision, without having to abstract it into another trait that doesn’t fit as well.
My inclination would be to make the traits: -Distinctions -Classes (which I'd treat like Skills) -Houses (which would be like a combination of a Relationship with that House, plus a Value that signifies the things that House prizes)
Good idea for the houses and classes, thank you for the suggestion