Our Professor of Potions Anton Nagal is leaving our ranks as a Professor. Anton has proven himself to be a valued member of the community, his work on Potions has benefited Hogwarts as a whole. Please extend your gratitude towards Professor Nagal for all of his hard work.

This also means that we are going to be opening up the position of Professor of Potions. An announcement for this position will be posted shortly. 

Please welcome our newest Professor, Professor Caradoc Browne, the new Head of House for House Hufflepuff. We are very thankful to have such a learned and prodigious mind added to our ranks. The player behind this Professor is also an experienced moderator who has contributed to not only Hogwarts.io but also has years of moderator and administrator experience in other communities. Their skillset involves event planning so I am excited to have another member on the team that might excel in adventures and the development of stories for the player community.

Please give Professor Caradoc Browne a warm welcome.

We have released a 6 Point Stat System. Some of the older users may remember this system because this was the original statistical system we used. There was a test phase where the staff attempted to use a simpler 4-stat system but unfortunately it was not able to satisfy our diverse needs. The Quidditch in public beta as well as the Dueling in private alpha both use the 6 stat system. You can learn more in the encyclopedia area. 

So what does this mean for you?

With the release of races this month to the top point earning House and the top three earners of points if they are from different Houses, you will notice that the starting number of stats is different for players that elect to have a special race versus players that choose to remain a normal human. The total number of stats you have may be different so your stats will need to be updated to reflect this. Secondly, we are moving from the 4 stat system to the 6 stat system. There are different caps for this so please pay attention to those. 

When can we update our stats to the 6 stat system?

Due to the work-load this is going to place on the Index Team we are asking players to update their stats when they choose their special ability (or abilities) or race this way the Index Team is not overloaded with requests and your needs are satisfied in a timely manner.

I never changed from the 6 stat system to the 4 stat system, am I stuck with these stats?

No, this is an open invitation to update your stats with the inclusion of your new race/ability. 

I am very indecisive -- what if I change my mind in a month?

Please pick what you wish to be carefully, at this time there is no means by which you can change up your stats (you can add stats as you gain stats from duels, matches and graduating each year), your race (this would be a core part of your character) or the special abilities that your character is born with or develops. 

I have more questions!

Feel free to owl me, post in the FAQ Thread, ask in the Discord Questions area or contact your HOH if you have any questions.

We are proud to announce the public beta of the Race System. To workout any bugs, ensure that the Index Team can handle the influx of requests and to make any adjustments needed, we are opening the Race System to the house that scored the most points in the month of May. In addition, the top three point earners, if any of them are from a different house will also be invited to participate in this Race System. 

The Race System is more than just specialty races such as part-Veela or Metamorphmagus, but also special abilities as well such as wandless magic and Animagus. 

Heritable Traits

This includes Specialty Races (such as part-Veela) but this also includes traits that are passed down genetically. These traits are considered rare and mutually exclusive so a player cannot be both a Veela and a Seer or a Metamorphmagus and a Parselmouth. Being one of these heritable traits is quite rare in this setting and it comes with the roleplay advantage of being such but there are some downsides as well. Players that utilize a heritable trait will not have as much versatility with their character. Normal human characters can choose an ability every year where a specialty race can only do so a few years, because instead of picking an ability some years the special race player will instead have a pre-determined racial trait that they will have to take instead. Also, these specialty races have lower base stats to start with. Finally, there is an application process. A post must be made that describes how you inherited this trait and what physical features or other traits you have developed because of this heritable condition.

What can be Applied For:

• Dhampir
• Metamorphmagus
• Parselmouth
• Part Giant
• Part Goblin
• Seer
• Part-Veela
• Werewolf

How are they applied for?
You make a post to update your encyclopedia  HERE. 

1.) Explains where you got the genetic trait you are applying for (example: my grandmother was a full-blooded Veela and fell in love with my grandfather, they had three children together and one of those children was my mother who was a half Veela and then she had me, making me one-quarter Veela.
2.) Update your character's physical description to correlate with the standard for that race. Such as the pallor and sickliness of a dhampire or the unusually large size seen in the giant.
3.) Describe any additional characteristics that may apply to your character. Such as a Seer, where there might not be any physical signs that indicate that a Seer is different (please mention that) a Seer might have dreams of flashes of intuition. Describe this.

Your application must be a minimum of 500 words.

You cannot be multiple races or have multiple heritable traits, even if you are deriving no statistical benefit from being this. They are rare, don't be greedy. So once again: no, you cannot be a Veela and a metamorphmagus for instance.

You would then be notified of your approval and asked to update your profile accordingly. Your race status would be found in your trunk.

What is this about Abilities?
Instead of having a specialty race you can remain fully human. Humans have higher base (and end game) stats. In addition, humans are able to pick their abilities each year. Players who are a specialty race have limited access to abilities. We have 50 presently available abilities but we anticipate this will expand as our systems are released so anticipate patches.

You can apply for abilities if you meet the prerequisites. Some abilities have no prerequisites, some are available to non-pureblood characters, some abilities cannot be taken if you are a specialty race and still others have a year restriction on them (so you cannot be a first year animagus for instance).

To apply for an ability you simply post in this thread you application. Make certain you meet the prerequisites. You will need to write out a 400 word description of how and why this applies to your character.

You can learn more about our abilities and special races in this thread.

Welcome to our two newest Professors: Professor Elliot Price our Professor of Potions & Professor Olphie Bercegeay our Professor of Flight. We are very excited to be working with both of these new Professors, the people behind these Professors have contributed to the recent release of the Race and Abilities. Their insight was considered useful and they have proven themselves to be engaging, effective members of the player community so we are excited to see them transition their roles to staff.

Both of these Professors have their work cut out with them. Our Quidditch System is moving along and Professor Bercegeay will be getting herself acclimated to that as well as brooms over the next few weeks. Our new Potions Professor will be acclimating himself to our varied potions and hopefully be assisting us with deepening this system as well. So both of these Professors will find themselves very busy over this summer. Please make them feel welcome!

Sorrel Wright, Head of House Gryffindor submitted her resignation earlier today. She is stepping down due to health reasons, so while it is possible that we might see Sorrel or her student account on the site it is unlikely for some time. Please extend your best wishes to her via owl or make a mention of her on Discord. I will be collecting what is being said over the next 24 hours regarding her and sending her a copy of it via owl so that if she happens to look in on the community or when she returns she can be met with well-wishes, support and love from our community.

A little bit about Sorrel -- she was one of the longest tenured Professors on Staff and she contributed to many of the systems we presently have implemented on the site. She was a hard worker and considered friendly by the student players and her staff peers. She will be missed in her position but we do wish her the best of luck and hope she gets better soon.

As for Gryffindor: This does mean that you are without a Head of House for the moment because her departure was sudden. If you have any needs, do not hesitate to contact me via owl or on Discord, I will do my best to help. 

As for the Position of Head of House (HOH): I am opening applications for the position of Head of House. This process usually takes a few weeks so please be patient. 

Encyclopedia Pages
Please do NOT make a new encyclopedia page if you already have one. Each character should only have ONE profile page. This is linked to in your profile automatically. Creating a new page can ruin this link. It is also linked to in the Official Index.

Please EDIT your original thread, rather than making a new one. 

If you have multiple pages, they will be deleted. It may also delay/prevent your year change or validation.

Newspaper Announcement
The school newspaper is running a vote on the student of the year! If you have not voted already, please do so as soon as possible. Voting will end soon!

Vote for the:
1st Year Student of the Year: LINK
2nd Year Student of the Year: LINK
Professor of the Year: LINK

Voting ends very soon so vote now if you want a say.

Our Professor of Herbology has just resigned this morning. She was a dedicated member of the community. This was unfortunately a sudden resignation, but she leaves the team on good terms and we hope that in the future she returns to us in some staff capacity. We are thankful for the time and the efforts she has made to make this community a better place, her contributions to the site were numerous.

I will be opening up the position of Professor of Herbology to applications momentarily. Please forward myself as well as another HOH your application if you are interested. Please send our Byrony your affections and kind words.

Welcome our newest Head of House for House Gryffindor, Elaine Pendrast. Elaine has been a member of our staff for some time, she has served well as our Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. She has been an exemplary, dedicated member of our community and has contributed the system development, been a voice of reason and advocacy for the community and has a keen instinct I have rarely seen in another human being. We are excited to see what she brings to Gryffindor in her new role. Please welcome her warmly to her new role.

As such I will be opening up the position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts to applications momentarily. Please forward myself as well as another HOH your application if you are interested.