WarlockLord said:
Also, two things about industrialized magic:
1. Who pays all the xp? I mean, when a wizard crafts a magic item, he pays XP. This is described as paying soul energy. Who wants to do all that?
I consider that all characters - PCs and NPCs - earn XP by doing well at their chosen trade. For PCs, that trade is adventure, so they earn XP by killing monsters and completing quests. For an NPC whose trade is magic items, it would be making a particularly successful trade, or gaining a lucrative new client. They'd only earn XP at a very slow rate from such activities, but it'd be sufficient to keep their item-creation work ticking over.
2. It cheapens magic. Magic should be something cool, unique. This setting just kind of makes magic...blah.
But the fact is that magic in any standard D&D setting
isn't cool or unique. Characters are fully expected to be snowed under with acquired or purchased magic items by the mid-levels, and by the DMG demographics tables the average hamlet contains around 4-5 wizards, plus assorted other spellcasting classes.
At least with Eberron, unlike other settings, you don't have to pretend that these things are hard to find even as the PCs start purchasing bags of holding just so they can carry them all, and the setting even tones things down a bit - low-level magic is widespread, but because NPC levels in the general population are generally low, and almost all NPCs take at least some NPC class levels in addition to - or instead of - PC classes, there's very little high-level magic available - it's as rare and mysterious as you could want.
Plus, since clerics of most major deities do not trade their wares or spellcasting services, and most priests are Experts or Adepts rather than clerics anyway, divine magic is, if anything, rarer than in other settings.
