Magic - the smallest difference in the world. . . .

Now, I asked because I want to know how . . . we'll say five different societies might go in different directions if a person arose with a magical power that let him become the leader (or close advisor to the leader). He would likely teach a few people that power, and because that power is one of the community's greatest resources, much of the rest of society would change to take advantage of it.

What five spells do you think would be most interesting here? They'd have to be spells that a person could use to become leader or advisor of the leader of a tribe. Basically I want a thought experiment to create some cultures by gauging their reaction to magic.

My recommendations are:

Charm Person - Morally questionable, the powers this spell grants have so much potential, I'd love to see what ways people could base a society on this.

Speak with Animals - With a persuasive spellcaster, this could greatly increase the power of a tribe by effectively making wild animals into tribe members. It might be possible to domesticate animals otherwise impossible to control.

Disguise Self - Again, like Charm Person, this one has lots of potential for abuse, and it's interesting to see how a culture might make a virtue out of this spell.

Cure Light Wounds - If primitive humanity had access to modern medicine, how would things have gone differently?

Magic Missile - Because we need a combat spell, and this is the best.



Do you have any different suggestions? How do you think a society might develop around one of these spells? Pick one or two spells, and try to come up with ways the magic might affect a culture's dress, lifestyle, interaction with strangers, interaction with the environment, warfare, religion, and so on. Once we get some distinctive cultures started, we can level up our leaders, and get some new magic to play with.

I'd like to see the first question again, but make him evil |:[=]

I think that it will be the other way around. the primal magic-user won't develop and spell and it will change society. Instead, the first magic-user will develop spells according to his society. the warrior society will devlop offensive spells. More peaceful societies will develop more peaceful spells. Whatever spells come about, come about usually due to need. Magic is like clay that can be formed into whatever tool you want. A tribe develops pottery because they need to carry water. they don't randomly make a bowl out of clay and think "Hey, I could carry water in this new thing I created."

And yes, it would begin with 0 level spells instead of 1st level.

Unseen Servant would have a tremendous impact. Think of all the labor-intensive back-breaking work that a primitive society must do, then introduce something that is basically a personal robot for most people. It can do most of the mundane things like shelling peas, scraping hide, planting seeds, gathering mushrooms and nuts, picking fruit, wrapping things, cutting hide into thong, starting fires, chipping stone, weaving, sewing, mixing, fetching water, grinding corn, pounding roots, picking cotton, picking cherries, getting the seeds out of cotton, combing cotton, beating and cutting flax, stomping grapes, digging up 'taters, milking cows, slopping pigs, feeding chickens, mending fences, scrubbing laundry at the river (and you can be at least 25 feet away; no more getting eaten by crocodiles!), getting eggs from angry birds, plucking chickens, cleaning fish, sweeping, mopping, daubing mud and thatch on the roof, stirring the campfire, tucking in the kids, feeding you grapes, mopping your brow, fanning the hut, turning the spit, and a host of other things.

Also, it vastly cuts down on the personal danger people have to put themselves in. Drape some skins over it, it's the perfect decoy for the lion you're hunting. It can rip down that wasp nest. It can gather berries or plants from hazardous locations, like beside that nest of cottonmouths. It can drop a pottery bowl over that rattler. It can drag your 100-pound kid off that ledge. it can fetch things across thin ice or pluck that sacred flower from the other side of the quicksand.

It's amazing actually how even the smallest magics would completely change the world. Create water, at 2 gallons per level, will revolutionize arid societies and enable people to travel through deserts with ease. Teach it to all the farmers, and suddenly agriculture is fundamentally different. No more droughts, especially if there are a few mid level farmers to cast this, and if they can cast it a few times a day.

Prestidigitation, among other things, makes spices essentially useless. No more spice trade. In our world, this would have slowed the need to explore eastward, and may have delayed the discovery of the Americas.

Assumption: More than 1 person will be able to cast the spell once per day, yes?

Charm Person -> A society centered on trade, diplomacy, "culture", lacking a strong military tradition, as they don't need it. They'll get rich by charming other cultures to pay a little more for wares/selling at slightly lower prices. Perhaps using charmed mercenaries from other cultures for defense - > a society of artisans and diplomats, intellectuals instead of warriors.

But as someone said, probably the culture would develop the spell, not the spell developing the culture...

But interesting though experiment none-the-less

I did a similar thought experiment when I was designing my homebrew... (I looked at spells up to third level for ones that would be very influential if a small percentage of the population could cast them)

Create Water could be vastly important. In my campaign world (where a subsection of the standard races live in a canyon-laden barrens) - people who can create water are nearly-necessary for some cross-country journies (they're known as "bladders" by non-magey-types).

Not having to haul water means that travel no longer needs to follow rivers and streams and people can more confidently strike out into the wasteland and expect to survive (massive monsters out of your nightmares notwithstanding).

Magic Missile -> A society without archery skills, as the ability to automatically hit something leads to a deterioration of hand-eye coordination, perhaps with other farther reaching effects...worse distance perception might lead to no or few developments in geometry.

is this what you're looking for?

Possibly instead of magic missile, consider fisherman's lure (a new spell below)...

You are a member of a hunter-gatherer tribe that spends its time in the lush alpine forests and the fertile lowland valleys. Your life revolves around several mountain rivers. When you cast fisherman's lure you can't believe your eyes! Enough fish to feed your entire family for a week! You quickly bring over two friends to help you catch and carry all the fish. Your family wants to guard the knowledge for themselves, but you insist on sharing with your entire tribe. The chief, normally elected for his skill at hunting deer, insists that you teach him the secret so that he too can catch more fish. And you do. After several months, your tribe has settled nearby the lowland rivers and stops venturing to higher altitudes to hunt deer. About 15% of the tribe has learned the fisherman's lure, and not a single one of your people suffers from starvation. In fact, your tribe appears quite handsome and well-fed. At first, your people are thankful to the gods for the bounty and other tribes consider marriage into your tribe a blessing. However, after a couple years, the fish population starts to decrease as the knowledge spreads and your tribe grows. People stop thanking the gods, and consider this abundance of fish their birthright (though the old folks know better). You are concerned that the knowledge you shared has destroyed your tribe's faith in the gods and set off on a vision quest to learn your second spell, to fix things of course....

Fisherman’s Lure
Conjuration (summoning)
Level: Drd 1, Rgr 1, Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 10 ft/level
Area/Target: 10 ft /level radius circle
Duration:1 min/level
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: No
Fisherman’s lure was originally designed to conjure a school of fish to the area. Enterprising spellcasters adapted the spell to provide concealment to creatures swimming in the area of effect. Attacks from creatures on land have a 20% chance to miss creatures in the school of fish.
Material Component: A live dragonfly or other insect must be blown across the water’s surface.

painandgreed, I believe RangerWickett's talking about what if a primitive hunter-gatherer suddenly acquired the power to cast a spell, or discovered it by chance, and then figured out how to teach it to others.