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<blockquote data-quote="genshou" data-source="post: 3041060" data-attributes="member: 13164"><p>PCs taking the adventure off track is certainly not as easy to deal with in d20 System games, especially D&D and especially at high levels.</p><p></p><p>Here, though, is where I begin to disagree. What is a "commonplace" level of magic to you? If you take a careful look at the highest-level NPC according to the demographics methods in the Dungeon Master's Guide, you'll notice that only large cities and above have access to spell levels worth mentioning, and the population:mage ratio is horrid. I can't even begin to describe the lack of supply to meet the demand, and all of this according to the RAW's implied setting! That's not what I think of as commonplace magic. In my homebrew setting, I deliberately upped the implied level of magic to actually make it commonplace.</p><p></p><p>In smaller communities, the magic has a little more personal access, but with such a limited amount of spells, one 1st-level Wizard in a village of 500 can't really do much. Add to that the fact that, in a society lacking modern agricultural technology and/or common enough magic to replicate it; refrigeration; and rapid, worldwide food travel, having demographics far removed from those of the real world in medieval times wouldn't be realistic. The minor effect magic might have is easily countered by the presence of the occasional beastie.</p><p></p><p>All in all, I'd say given the D&D mechanics applied rationally to a setting, less than 1% of communities are small city and above, and over 90% of the population lives in thorps, hamlets, and villages.</p><p></p><p>The most important thing to remember when thinking of the Implied Setting is that the PCs exist outside the framework of almost the entire rest of the world. When all you see in play is what's happening to the PCs, sometimes you can't see the forest for the <em>moss growing on the trees</em>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="genshou, post: 3041060, member: 13164"] PCs taking the adventure off track is certainly not as easy to deal with in d20 System games, especially D&D and especially at high levels. Here, though, is where I begin to disagree. What is a "commonplace" level of magic to you? If you take a careful look at the highest-level NPC according to the demographics methods in the Dungeon Master's Guide, you'll notice that only large cities and above have access to spell levels worth mentioning, and the population:mage ratio is horrid. I can't even begin to describe the lack of supply to meet the demand, and all of this according to the RAW's implied setting! That's not what I think of as commonplace magic. In my homebrew setting, I deliberately upped the implied level of magic to actually make it commonplace. In smaller communities, the magic has a little more personal access, but with such a limited amount of spells, one 1st-level Wizard in a village of 500 can't really do much. Add to that the fact that, in a society lacking modern agricultural technology and/or common enough magic to replicate it; refrigeration; and rapid, worldwide food travel, having demographics far removed from those of the real world in medieval times wouldn't be realistic. The minor effect magic might have is easily countered by the presence of the occasional beastie. All in all, I'd say given the D&D mechanics applied rationally to a setting, less than 1% of communities are small city and above, and over 90% of the population lives in thorps, hamlets, and villages. The most important thing to remember when thinking of the Implied Setting is that the PCs exist outside the framework of almost the entire rest of the world. When all you see in play is what's happening to the PCs, sometimes you can't see the forest for the [I]moss growing on the trees[/I]. [/QUOTE]
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