GreyLord
Legend
Doesn't seem like a trope at first...but...
Everytime you cast a spell or use magic it drains some of the world's natural energy from it.
Once you have used magic (cast a spell, drank a potion, used any magic item) you will also start draining the natural energy of the world with every breath you take. You take a breath...and it goes in, but it never goes back out (the magical energy it drains to keep you alive...the oxygen goes back out...the energy doesn't).
If you get strong enough, you will draw enough energy from the world to kill it when casting a single 9th level spell.
If you go up levels...the drain on the world gets worse. By 10th level, if you live 10 more years the world dies. By 20th...the world dies in a month.
Anyone in your party that is casting magic...they...they are the villains of this world whether they realize it or not. Anyone that has used magic and is leveling up...they...they are the villains of the world. As you level up and get more powerful...you do it at the expense of the rest of the world if you've ever used magic.
It's not the monsters you slay that are the real villains. Your PC's are the villains of the world. Their natural tendency to want to level up and get more powerful...they are not going to save the world.
They are the ones that will destroy it.
Everytime you cast a spell or use magic it drains some of the world's natural energy from it.
Once you have used magic (cast a spell, drank a potion, used any magic item) you will also start draining the natural energy of the world with every breath you take. You take a breath...and it goes in, but it never goes back out (the magical energy it drains to keep you alive...the oxygen goes back out...the energy doesn't).
If you get strong enough, you will draw enough energy from the world to kill it when casting a single 9th level spell.
If you go up levels...the drain on the world gets worse. By 10th level, if you live 10 more years the world dies. By 20th...the world dies in a month.
Anyone in your party that is casting magic...they...they are the villains of this world whether they realize it or not. Anyone that has used magic and is leveling up...they...they are the villains of the world. As you level up and get more powerful...you do it at the expense of the rest of the world if you've ever used magic.
It's not the monsters you slay that are the real villains. Your PC's are the villains of the world. Their natural tendency to want to level up and get more powerful...they are not going to save the world.
They are the ones that will destroy it.