"Tutor?! You want a tutor?! No daughter of mine will be some fancy little lass in long robes at a scholarium! If you want to learn so badly, go ahead and read the books we raided off Clan Calamor. I'll hear no more business about tutors."

Ceann of Clan Duìrnan, Cormac Duìrnan

Self-Taught

The most efficient way to learn something tends to be to have a guide to help you in your learning - a tutor, sage, or mentor who can help you move through some of the brute trial and error that someone without a tutor would have to suffer through. There are some however who for whatever reason, either have not someone at their disposal that can help them, or want not such a person - these folk are self-taught. Someone teaching oneself must have access to learning materials: perhaps a large library of books, or a special way to observe others, or a well stocked study. Most of all, someone who is self-taught must have free time, and a great deal of it. Those who work in fields all day or break their backs lifting cargo are unlikely to ever have the resources to become self-taught.

          Since being self-taught requires access to things that most people do not have, time and money, often those who have been able to read books for the formative years of their life and little else are the source of much envy for those who could never dream of such privilege. Of course, with envy comes desire, and the rarity of such an education may actually draw more to one than it repulses. On the other hand, the self-educated will have their own capability and knowledge judged lacking, whether fairly or not, by those who were educated at a formal institution or tutored by a wizened polymath. Surely someone leading their own education will make mistakes throughout their formative years?

          Perhaps the greatest ability of those who have pursued self-education is their self-driven motivation. Anyone who spends half of every day reading books is going to need to have an internal drive that is almost unfaltering in its persistence. When faced with problems, these folk will not wait to be told what to do next - they will do research, talk to people, and investigate the problem themselves. Furthermore, while most adventurers ask others what needs to be done in a local area, these folk are more likely to make their own judgements on what 'quests' need to be completed, and which are a waste of everyone's time.

If you choose Self-Taught, you gain the following:

~A +1 to one of the following Ability Scores of your choice: Intelligence, Charisma, or Wisdom~

~A Skill Proficiency in Arcana, History, Nature, Religion, or Investigation~

~Any one Language~

Back to Education

Back to Expanded Backgrounds

Back to Adra - 3rd Era World Guide