Introduction[]
Some terms in Academagia might be unclear to new people. They are mentioned here with an explanation of what they mean.
Many terms tend to be capitalized in the game interface as well as in this Wiki. Capitalized terms generally have a very specific meaning in the mechanics of the game which might not seem immediately intuitive; don't worry, they'll make more sense very soon.
For more in-depth information on a topic, check out our other Guides.
Wiki context[]
Generally, as within the game itself, assume that the Wiki's use of "you", "your", etc. is in reference to the Player Character.
Adventures & Events[]
Every Adventure or Event consists of story text punctuated by Attribute/Skill checks ("Rolls") where you have a limited selection of attempts to resolve the situation you find yourself in. Successful rolls often earn a Skill Step and failed rolls often increase Stress or decrease Vitality, but there are exceptions on both sides and various other outcomes.
Adventures are entered via Choose Action - Adventure from the Calendar drop-down menu, then (in Confirmation Orders, with two more drop-down menus under the 'Adventure' entry) selecting a starting Location (from those of which your student has been Informed) and picking from the list of Adventures available. Picking a Location is not mandatory, as it defaults to your character's room, which confers no bonuses; picking an Adventure, however, is required. However, picking a Location which increases a relevant Skill or Attribute is recommended for the sake of full available advantage. (And picking one purely for roleplaying purposes is recommended for its own sake.)
Some Adventures are introduced automatically as the game progresses, like Request a Meeting with your Mentor. Also, each of your fellow Students has their own personal Adventure, unlocked when your Relationship with them passes a certain threshold. Others may require particular sets of Skills above certain thresholds, belonging to a particular college, or Adventuring on a particular calendar date. A few Adventures are also mutually exclusive.
Every day there is a chance you will encounter a Random Event. This chance can be raised or lowered by certain Spells, Abilities, Locations, and Items. after all three of your activity slots are resolved.
Holiday Events happen automatically on certain days, such as Workshop Days or The Last Feast. These function just like Random Events - the only difference is that the chance of occurring is always 100%. There are also a few Holidays which automatically trigger an Adventure, like The Dance of the Fools. Like Events, however, these Holiday Adventures can only be attempted once.
Events tend to be very short and never use up an Action, whereas some Adventures can take a week or more to finish, even if you return to them every day! (To be clear, the outcome of a Random Event may put you in the Infirmary for the following day, which is generally considered a tragic waste of time, but an Event itself, while it is happening, never "consumes" any time in your schedule).
Both Random and Holiday events are resolved at the end of the day, after whatever changes have occurred during the three activity slots.
At the very beginning of your first year, all of these can be very frustrating, as you have few skills and next to no magic to command (how on earth am I to know about Architecture?!?), so you are likely to get a bad ending and lose some Vitality or incur Stress. Later on, they will be a welcome addition to your day as you can collect some extra Skill Steps, Items or other benefits.
Note: When you are sick, you will miss any Events or Adventures triggered on that day.
Bonus[]
A Bonus is a value added to a Roll of the type specified by the Bonus. For example, level 9 of the Debate subskill provides a passive +1 Bonus to all Social Abilities and Actions; once this Bonus is obtained, all Rolls made as part of using an Ability or Action of the type Social will have a result 1 higher than they otherwise would have.
Calendar Activities[]
When you select the things you want to do on a day in the Calendar, you have 4 options:
- Choose Action
- Cast Spell
- Use Item
- Use Ability
Every possible activity falls into one of these four categories.
There are also specific ways to refer to each for the purposes of reading and writing this wiki. Skills, such as Befriend, are generally referred to without any parentheses. There is also Befriend (Action), referring to the Action of enticing someone to join your Clique - a separate, although related, thing from the Befriend skill. Abilities, Phemes, and Spells are all generally referred to with their category in parentheses after their name on this wiki.
Chance of Discovery[]
This is a percentile chance of being caught by Instructors (and therefore Reprimanded) if you have no Visitation Rights for the Location that you are in. Each Location has a base Chance of Discovery value, and various effects can modify this base value, including Abilities, Spells, and Items. Your Chance of Discovery while using Explore (Action) is not affected by the Location you discover, only the Location you begin exploring from.
Chance of Discovery is often abbreviated as CoD.
Chance of Success[]
Chance of Success is how likely or not likely you are to succeed at Abilities, Actions, specific Actions (such as Pray), Spells, or Everything. Chance of Success is often abbreviated as CoS.
Your Chance of Success is indicated by the colour of the option in your Calendar as well as in an Adventure or Event.
Green: Automatic success
Blue: Good chance at success
Black: Even chance at success
Red: Poor chance of success
Purple: Only achievable through sheer, undeserved luck - i.e. modifiers to your base CoS. In Adventures and Events, there are often choices which do not advance the Adventure to the next stage or complete the Event, but which add to your CoS for other options; these are helpful for overcoming the odds on Purple rolls.
Note that in the menu of available Adventures, a green entry does not mean that your student will automatically succeed at every step - it simply means that it is possible to reach the end of that episode without getting stuck.
There also is a separately rolled Chance of Failure, although this isn't relevant for most activities.
Ways to influence CoS:[]
Detention[]
Whenever you are Reprimanded, one activity slot per week will be scheduled for Detention with the Instructor who reprimanded you. The standard result of each session is that you will gain one Skill Step in a Subskill chosen randomly from the unique list given for the specific Instructor.
{Explanation of how many Detention sessions will satisfy an Instructor}. Your Detention sessions will be scheduled on your calendar ahead of time.
Duration[]
Duration can mean several different things depending on the specific activity you are engaging in. For temporary effects such as Increases, Duration indicates the length of time the effect will last. For permanent effects such as Expansions, Duration indicates the cooldown of the activity - the length of time you must wait before you can use it again.
Duration is given in "action cycles". Each slot on the Calendar consists of 2 action cycles, so Duration 6 means the effect has a span or cooldown of 1 day, Duration 42 is 7 days, and so on.
Expand[]
This indicates a permanent improvement (or loss, if negative) to a Skill, Study Level, Stress, Vitality, Relationship, Parental Approval or Attribute.
An Expand value can be negative; usually this is bad, but Expand Stress -1 is a good thing!
In-game text can be confusing about the "loss" of Skill Steps as well. Usually as a result of a failed Skill check in an Adventure or Event, you may be told that your student loses a Skill Step. However, this cannot affect any Skill Level that has already been completed, so it only actually has an effect when the Subskill in question has already been Expanded one or more Skill Steps toward the next Skill Level.
Hostile/Beneficial/Social[]
Abilities, Actions and Spells can be categorized according to Action Type:
- Hostile, if they harm the Target (damage Vitality, increase Stress, decrease Attributes or Skills)
- Beneficial, if they help you or the Target (decrease Stress, add Bonuses)
- Social, if they change the level of Relationship between you and other persons, or between other persons
Some activities have more than one Action Type. Some Action Types have sub-categories such as Beneficial - Parental Approval. There are also other Action Types; however, the three listed above are the most common by far. Additionally, not all Abilities, Actions, and Spells are categorized correctly by the game, so check the activity's Action Type before assuming that a Bonus will apply to the activity in question; not all "helpful" activities are Beneficial, and not all "harmful" activities are Hostile.
Increase[]
The value of a Skill, Study Level, Relationship, Parental Approval or Attribute can be Increased, meaning that its base value does not change but the value used in all calculations involving that quantity is changed by the specified amount. Most Increases are temporary and should be taken advantage of before they disappear; however, there are many passive Abilities which are effectively permanent Increases, and items often provide Increases while equipped. You do not gain Actions, Abilities, Spells, Phemes, Lore, or any other side benefits of a Skill's level simply by Increasing it - you must Expand its level to gain such benefits. (Keep this in mind if you see any of your Skills rated 11+ 'even though' you haven't unlocked the bonus maximum level.)
Increasing Attributes reduces Skill Step costs for their associated Subskills just as well as Expanding them, except for the temporary part. Remember that a Spell cast for this purpose may expire in the middle of a day, after which any Skill Step expansion will again be determined by pre-Increase value.
Increases are generally used for "buffing" your abilities so that you can succeed at rolls you might otherwise be unable to. You can stack buffs, if necessary. Succeeding in Exams is a common use for activities that Increase your skills, but there are many other possible uses as well.
Increases can have a negative value, making them actually a malus instead of a bonus - a "debuff" or Decrease.
The in-game descriptions of several Actions and Abilities incorrectly state that they Increase Skill Steps. Skill Steps cannot be temporary - any activity affecting the Steps will Expand them.
Inform[]
The closest synonym for this as an in-game technical word is "unlock". It can apply to almost every aspect of the game: most generally, a result of
- Inform _____
means that the Student becomes aware that "_____" exists, or that _____ becomes more accessible somehow. The more specific meaning depends on the type of subject:
- Item: you now have a working understanding of that Item - whether or not you have ever seen or acquired such a thing. The effect may require a reload, but you should now see the entire entry (description, related activity and statistics) for this Item whenever you click on its name. Most Items cannot be Used (perhaps even equipped) before you have been Informed about them.
- Location: the Student now knows how to find that place. (just don't forget about Chance of Discovery, unless you also have Visitation Rights...)
- Lore: this piece of Lore is now added to your collection (accessed with the Lore button on the 'pocket-watch').
- Pheme/Spell: assuming minimum requirements are met, you can now attach/cast this Pheme/Spell.
- Skill: any Skill that is Informed before being trained, studied, or otherwise Expanded/Increased will appear in the Skills list of your Character window with a Level of 0. The main significance of this is that sometimes you get to select a Skill (e.g. to Expand it), and the drop-down menu available for this choice will only include Skills you already 'know' - even at Level 0.) Note also that a Parent Skill is 'Informed' the instant you raise or unlock any one of its Subskills - but this does not include the other Subskills that you have not 'encountered' yet.
- Student: you are now essentially "tracking" this NPC! You will receive a report about their activity at the end of every day, and details such as their Skill Levels and Clique Ability are revealed under their character entry (accessed from clicking on linked names or through the Clique or Relations button on the 'pocket-watch'.)
Note that there is no such result as "Inform [Instructor]" - you're already aware of everything relevant about all of the Instructors at the beginning of the year. Besides, you already know they're almost all turning up to teach courses most of the time - and shepherd wayward Students through Detention some of the rest of the time...
There is more than one way to discover some things in the game; if you are already 'Informed' of something and you get an Inform result for the exact same thing, it has no additional effect.
Locations[]
Locations are where you can do things in the game, either by selecting an active Ability involving the Location, or by choosing that Location as the place to perform an activity (which applies the Passive Ability for that Location).
You discover Locations automatically, by increasing Skills or Research, as a result of an Adventure or Event, or through Explore (Action).
Locations can be excellent for gaining multiple benefits in the same time slot, or by buffing certain Skills, Actions, Spells, or Abilities, so that you can accomplish things you otherwise couldn't.
Phemes[]
The "building blocks" of Spells. You need to know all Phemes listed in the "Phemes" section of a Spell's description to be able to cast it - often some of these Phemes must be acquired from Skills other than the one which granted you the Spell.
You can add extra Phemes to any spell/enchantment that requires a Roll. Keep in mind:
- All Difficulty values are cumulative - i.e. unless a relevant re-roll Effect is already active, there is only one Roll to cast the entire [Spell + Phemes] 'package'.
- It's impossible to add Phemes to a Spell that doesn't require a Roll.
- If any two of the selected Phemes are of Opposition Types [e.g. Order and Chaos], the spell may fail. Opposition Types can be seen in the Pheme's Magnitude section. It isn't clear how Opposition works, or if it does at all.
Magnitude otherwise has no effect in Year 1 - this mechanic was cut. Similarly, the Affinity that some items have toward particular Phemes has no effect in Year 1.
Relationship[]
A value which normally has a range of -10 to 10 for each Student or Instructor. Relationship Maximums for some Students can be increased; usually, the Maximum is increased to 12, and usually this increase is obtained through the Student's associated adventure. For more details, see the section Students, Instructors, Relationships below.
Reprimand[]
This is a negative result of being discovered in an off-limits Location, skipping Classes or Detentions, or failing a specific Roll during an Adventure or Event. When you see that you have been reprimanded, it always means the Instructor who delivered that reprimand will be responsible for your weekly Detention until he/she is satisfied you have been sufficiently disciplined, although most Instructors are satisfied with a single Detention. Accumulating too many Reprimands in a short period of time can be dangerous and lead to an expulsion hearing, so be careful!
Roll[]
A Roll is a test of your abilities which you may encounter in the form of Skill tests in Adventures and Events, Spell Rolls when casting Spells, Action Rolls when performing an Action, or Ability Rolls when using an Ability. Every Roll has an attached difficulty, which may be very easy, very hard, or anywhere in-between.
To succeed on a Roll, the rolled value (Skill + (random value from 0 to 2) * Attribute)) must exceed the Difficulty. Some Rolls do not have fixed Difficulties, but are instead contested Rolls - you must roll higher than your Target's roll. Your Target may sometimes roll using a different Attribute-Skill pair than you are using - the description of the activity you are engaging in will specify which Attribute-Skill pair they are using, if so.
See Rolls (Guide) for information about Rerolls, Contested Rolls, etc.
If you're wondering what the colours mean regarding your choices (and their rolls), see Chance of Success.
With some spells or activities, some extra gains are achieved with higher Roll results (e.g. see Gentle Doctor or Grapple for the Crowds in the starting Use Ability menu).
Skills[]
Each of the 54 Parent Skills consists of at least 3 Subskills. The base value of a Parent Skill Level is the lowest of its three highest Subskill Levels. For example, if you are at level 2 in History of Magic, level 3 in The Early Empire, and level 4 in The Middle Empire - with no levels in other History skills - your History Parent Skill will be level 2. Expand your History of Magic Subskill to level 3, and History will be expanded to level 3 along with it; but to achieve History level 4, you must then Expand both History of Magic and The Early Empire.
A Skill can level from 0 ("Informed" but still untrained) to a standard maximum of 10. A Skill's Maximum may be Expanded in various ways, and Skills can always be Increased above their Maximum.
A Subskill must be known ("Informed") to show up in your student's list of Skills; a single Informed Subskill will Inform its Parent Skill. You are always Informed of a Subskill if it is Expanded or Increased in any way.
Some Skills are known automatically, such as School Survival and the skills related to the Courses you are enrolled in. Others are made known to you by raising some other Skill, getting a Skill Step in a new Subskill through an activity, as part of an Adventure or Event, or using/equipping certain Items.
- In particular, attempting to use an 'unknown' Skill that shows up as an option in an Adventure/Event will Inform you of it even if you fail the Roll. Deliberately choosing Rolls that use unknown Skills can actually be helpful if you weren't previously Informed of the Skill, since it can be followed up with any Action/Activity that allows a choice of Expand Subskill.
Some activities (like Joie de Vivre or Study at the Library of Longshade) give you random Skill Steps. This could be anything, known or unknown, even Mastery or Gates. Some other activities give you Skill Steps only in random Skills you are already Informed of, so read carefully.
Some Skill Expansions are described using the Parent Skill rather than a specific Subskill; these Expansions do not directly Expand the Parent Skill, they Expand a randomly chosen Subskill of that Parent Skill. A Subskill can be Expanded in this way even if you are not Informed of it, resulting in both an Expansion and becoming Informed of the Subskill.
Skill Steps[]
Skills need a certain amount of Skill Steps (SS) to advance to the next level, determined by (a) the dominant Attribute, (b) the Level you've already reached, and (c) the complexity of the Subskill.
- Most Subskills require 1 SS initially, but high complexity skills can require more - Revision Spells, Numerology, Decipher Handwriting, Harpsichord, Concentration, and various others require at least two SS even to get from Level 0 to 1, unless your dominant Attribute is exceptionally high.
- Note that when gaining 2 or more Skill Steps for a Subskill at one time, any in excess of the total for reaching the next Skill Level are wasted. There is an exception when receiving multiple, individual Expansions on one occasion, such as "Expand three random Incantation Subskills by one SS", if the same Subskill is randomly determined more than once.
Spells[]
Spells are magic you cast either at yourself or on a Target (or by context in Adventures and Events, but these have nothing to do with the mechanics of the "Cast a Spell" activity). Some spells can only be directed at targets during a Duel.
To be able to cast a Spell, you have to know all of its Phemes. This is not automatic, so (e.g.) just training your Negation Spells Subskill will do you little good if the necessary Phemes are only unlocked by other Negation Subskills; some Phemes for a certain 'school' of Spell are unlocked under entirely different Parent/Study Skills or even unlocked by a particular Adventure.
When you Cast a Spell, it either requires no Roll (i.e. it works automatically) or requires a Roll specified in the Spell's description.
Spells that require a Roll may have extra Phemes added on; each will raise the difficulty of the Spell Roll by the Pheme's difficulty, which can range from +2 to +8. Spells requiring no rolls cannot have Phemes added to them in this way. An added Pheme shares the Duration of the Spell it was attached to, so using a Spell with a long duration to carry the effects of your added Phemes can be very helpful.
Casting Spells in a Duel is slightly different - you have to add each Pheme to your Palette as required by the Spell. You can add extra Phemes to it as well, if you wish, with the same adjustments to Difficulty.
Stress and Vitality[]
Your Maximum Stress Level is determined by your Fitness Attribute x2, with some possible modifications (several Character Creation options, Clique Abilities, and the effects of various Spells and activities). If you go over that level you will spend the next day - all three activity slots! - on bed rest, with no opportunity to hone your skills and plot towards world dominance. Stress is one of three values in the game where "high" means "bad". Expand Stress +1 is bad, Expand Stress (-1) is good (in general - there are certain Emotions which benefit from accumulated Stress and are lost if it falls below their threshold).
Vitality is also determined by your Fitness Attribute x2, barring some other factors. Your Vitality begins equal to your Vitality Maximum, which is a positive number, and may be decreased by bungled Adventures, Events or activities, or by Hostile Actions, Abilities, or Spells. Early in the game, Philippe Marchant "slipping the leash" on his Familiar and using other damaging effects on you can be very dangerous, if you attract his attention through having a negative relationship with him. Your Vitality being reduced to 0 will also make you lose a full day to recover.
Rest (action). the default action for any time slot where you aren't Attending Class or in Detention, resets Stress to your personal minimum and Vitality to maximum - it can be a wise use of a single activity slot when you have a dangerous amount of Stress or dangerously low Vitality, as it is the most efficient way to deal with both problems. However, some effects, both good and bad, persist only until you Rest. If you have several such effects active that are beneficial to you (such as Sparkling Fields), it may be more efficient to deal with your Stress or restore your Vitality using other Actions, Abilities, or Spells.
Students, Instructors, Relationships[]
These are your fellow pupils in the seven Colleges, and the adults who are (supposedly) in charge of the Academagia. ("Instructors" includes Professors who aren't teaching any first-year courses: Legate Orso Orsi and two of the College Regents.) You have a Relationship with each of them, with a value between -10 and 10 (although Relationship Maximum can be increased for some Students).
All Relationships begin at 0, except that a few positive points will be scattered randomly among the students of your chosen College - and quite a few Character Creation options will add other early adjustments (especially Friendship backgrounds).
Activities that affect Relationship levels are mostly for either Students (e.g. Goof off With Collegemates) or Instructors (e.g. Curry Favor) - only some Actions/Abilities affect both (most rarely, a random Individual from either group). The effect can be for one or more individuals, and either chosen or randomly determined.
Some activities affect only Relationships with Students who are neutral (0), friendly (e.g. >3), hostile (e.g. <-4), or of the Opposite Gender of your Character.
Study Level[]
How knowledgeable you are about the subject in a classroom setting, on a scale of 0 to 10.
Study levels unlock new Lore, Abilities, Actions, Items, etc. and also help to determine your Exam score. At Study Level 10 your Exam score will be ten times your Parent Skill Level; this includes any Increases.
You can Study only the six Courses you are currently Enrolled in; any benefits exclusive to the Study Levels of other Courses are unavailable for your character.
The maximum value for Study Level is 10; this limit is not expandable, though there are ways to temporarily Increase your Study Level (useful if timed to be in effect during an Exam). Even with these Increases, Study Level cannot exceed 10; they are only useful if you have not fully studied for the Exam.
See Exams: A Guide for more.