S
Sunseeker
Guest
A thread a little while ago got me thinking: why aren't all poets Bards? Why aren't all architects Wizards? Why aren't all monks (the shaved head types) clerics? If all it takes to learn magic is to be smart, if all it takes to commune with the gods is to be wise, if all it takes to cast spells with your lute is to be charismatic...why aren't they?
Isn't pretty much everything these people want to accomplish done easier with magic? From entertaining the masses to building buildings, isn't all of this done faster, easier and more importantly: better with magic?
This is more aimed at being a philosophical discussion on setting creation, so bear with me.
There are of course, certain in-setting reasons that may prevent this. Magic may be restricted in some manner, ranging from illegal to simply rare. This certainly could encourage smart people to stick to drafting tables instead of summoning circles. It could also encourage "brain drain" if there is a nearby civilization where magic is not suchly restricted (and this could also cause a war). Perhaps all the "good magic" is locked away in the great halls of some university, college or religious order (as is often implied by having Wizard Schools, Bardic Colleges and so on). Perhaps those facilities are limited in size, or funding or simply self-limiting. Even still, there are mechanics for researching your own magic, which while arguably much more time consuming, is not impossible.
But still there are largely in-setting reasons, meaning they are fluff created by a specific DM for a specific game. There is no specific mandate set forth in the rules that any smart person can't just start fiddling with the laws of reality, or that any particularly devoted person cannot become a magically-imbued servant of their god. I mean, if the level 1 nobodies we all bring to play can do it, why can't a skilled author? Or a clever contractor?
Perhaps there is an implied opportunity cost, much in the way that a character has a "background" as a farmer and then becomes a Paladin, they can no longer be a farmer, because becoming a Paladin took so much time and effort, but they may one day retire back to farming. That is to say one cannot be both a Wizard and an Architect because learning to become either is so time consuming that you'd be half-baked in either direction. But a lot of this time consumption depends on distribution of experience. Would it benefit an Architect to leave his designs at home, pick up a spellbook, wander off into the world slaying monsters until he either dies or becomes powerful enough to be a Wizard-itect and then simply go back to his previous job now with the aid of powerful magic?
Of course what this also begs is a question about what experience really represents. Could you become a high-level Wizard simply sitting around, reading books all day, practicing, studying, training with magic? Maybe it would be slower, but that's how we do it IRL, so to say that it couldn't happen in a fantasy setting seems a little implausible.
Or maybe its the idea that, like with super-heroes, when you get powerful enough, instead of running off to chase down bad guys, the bad guys start coming to you, and it becomes impossible to hold down a normal way of life when you have gained sufficient power, noone will hire you to build a building because Gorg the Destroyer will knock it down in order to get at you.
Maybe it's a mix of all of these things. But if our little guys can start off doing it, why don't more people who are clearly superior to our characters?
Thoughts?
Isn't pretty much everything these people want to accomplish done easier with magic? From entertaining the masses to building buildings, isn't all of this done faster, easier and more importantly: better with magic?
This is more aimed at being a philosophical discussion on setting creation, so bear with me.
There are of course, certain in-setting reasons that may prevent this. Magic may be restricted in some manner, ranging from illegal to simply rare. This certainly could encourage smart people to stick to drafting tables instead of summoning circles. It could also encourage "brain drain" if there is a nearby civilization where magic is not suchly restricted (and this could also cause a war). Perhaps all the "good magic" is locked away in the great halls of some university, college or religious order (as is often implied by having Wizard Schools, Bardic Colleges and so on). Perhaps those facilities are limited in size, or funding or simply self-limiting. Even still, there are mechanics for researching your own magic, which while arguably much more time consuming, is not impossible.
But still there are largely in-setting reasons, meaning they are fluff created by a specific DM for a specific game. There is no specific mandate set forth in the rules that any smart person can't just start fiddling with the laws of reality, or that any particularly devoted person cannot become a magically-imbued servant of their god. I mean, if the level 1 nobodies we all bring to play can do it, why can't a skilled author? Or a clever contractor?
Perhaps there is an implied opportunity cost, much in the way that a character has a "background" as a farmer and then becomes a Paladin, they can no longer be a farmer, because becoming a Paladin took so much time and effort, but they may one day retire back to farming. That is to say one cannot be both a Wizard and an Architect because learning to become either is so time consuming that you'd be half-baked in either direction. But a lot of this time consumption depends on distribution of experience. Would it benefit an Architect to leave his designs at home, pick up a spellbook, wander off into the world slaying monsters until he either dies or becomes powerful enough to be a Wizard-itect and then simply go back to his previous job now with the aid of powerful magic?
Of course what this also begs is a question about what experience really represents. Could you become a high-level Wizard simply sitting around, reading books all day, practicing, studying, training with magic? Maybe it would be slower, but that's how we do it IRL, so to say that it couldn't happen in a fantasy setting seems a little implausible.
Or maybe its the idea that, like with super-heroes, when you get powerful enough, instead of running off to chase down bad guys, the bad guys start coming to you, and it becomes impossible to hold down a normal way of life when you have gained sufficient power, noone will hire you to build a building because Gorg the Destroyer will knock it down in order to get at you.
Maybe it's a mix of all of these things. But if our little guys can start off doing it, why don't more people who are clearly superior to our characters?
Thoughts?
