D&D General Science in D&D

The answer to pretty much all of those is "the people who live in the world don't understand how it works".

Which is pretty much like the real world (a scientist simply being someone who has a better idea of how little they know than the general population does).

I run Eberron, so... yes?

When I run, the more powerful the magic, the more mysterious and less scientific it is. Hiring a wizard to cast arcane lock in a reliable, repeatable fashion = science-like. Cleric succeeds on Divine Intervention and some weird random happens = not very scientific. This is sort of like Sanderson's First Law applied to gaming.

Aebir-Toril said:

How much science do you like in your D&D?

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Enough for things to make internal sense and consistency. I prefer to have enough semblance of real-world physics for me to relate with my character (i.e. gravity pull things downward), but with enough flexibility for fantasy to remain, well fantastic (i.e. magic can make gravity pull things upward instead).

However, I must say I have a strong preference for birds, reptiles, and mammals to be four-limbs creatures. Some might have been obviously "genetically" manipulated (like griffons), but I otherwise prefer four-limbs dragons among other things.

Aebir-Toril said:

1. Do your monsters have *sigh* Lighting Blood, and are your snakes poisonous, rather than venomous?

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Don't know about lightning blood. I use the term poisonous snake, because it deals poison damage, regardless whether it is injected or ingested.

Aebir-Toril said:

2. Is magic a kind of science? Is magic more than just the manipulation of particles through the generation of electric potential within the brain that couples with a force known as the Weave to produce effects on 3d-dimensional structures?

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Magic is not a science, but one can have a scientific approach to magic. That's how I see wizards, and how they differentiate themselves from other casters.

I also like when magic has its own laws and principles, even when casters are not aware of them. I try to go easy on the "because magic!" or "because dragons!", but a certain dose is necessary IMO for the game to remain healthy.

Aebir-Toril said:

3. Are your worlds planets? Do they exist in solar systems with correct mass to radius, logical core composition, rational positioning, and mathematically accurate orbits?

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Maybe... Probably... This is more of a "no peanut-butter in my Nutella" thing; I prefer to keep notions of planets and interstellar travel to sci-fi and Princess of Mars planet-fantasy type games.

Aebir-Toril said:

4. How do the planes exist? Are they separate from normal reality? How is this so?

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Planes are metaphysical concepts. They exist as a place you can visit. They don't make sense. I'm cool with that.

Aebir-Toril said:

5. Is your table of elements expanded to include metallic elements like adamantium and mithral? If so, how? If not, have you made metals like beryllium adamantium? Do you not worry about it at all?

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I don't really worry about it, but now that I think of it, I prefer to see them as alternate state of already-existing metals/elements, some specific alloys, or just fantasy names for modern metals such as Aluminium or Titanium (which ironically is perhaps the most fantasy-sounding element, along with cobalt)

TL;DR I like to have a world and magic that have their rules and limits, and consistent applications of these rules and limits.

Aebir-Toril said:

How much science do you like in your D&D?

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I'm kinda bi-polar about it.

I like throwing in details that you might recognize from a modern/scientific standpoint. Like I described the geography of one city in a way that made it very clear to anyone with a passing familiarity of geology that it was likely built in a (hopefully extinct) volcanic caldera - or, at least, would be if the world in question was a planet with plate tectonics and such going on.

But, as far as how the world officially works, I like to go full-bore fantasy, or mine the history of science for oddities like phlogiston, spontaneous generation, etc. Oh, and of course the four Elements - or humors - D&D's pretty big on the elements, so why not?

Are your worlds planets? Do they exist in solar systems with correct mass to radius, logical core composition, rational positioning, and mathematically accurate orbits?

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For a long time I set my D&D campaign on a flat world inside an iron sphere.

Is your table of elements expanded to include metallic elements like adamantium and mithral?

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Not in D&D, but in my Champions! campaign Adamantium was a stable island element, the final decay product of "Radium-X."

In terms of my setting background... science and magic are different concepts but have a unified origin. My world is an actual planet that exists in a solar system that exists in a galaxy and so on.

There was a super science Visitor race that colonized the planet in the ancient past. They were wiped out after a scientific catastrophe of their own making, but their technology remains. There are teleportation networks and underground maglev train networks in my campaign world. In addition, the world is filled with the remains of their super technology (energy weapons, spacecraft, nanotech fabrication machines, etc.)

Over the generations, the primitive species of the planet became what is now known as humans, dwarves and elves, etc... unearthed many of these remains. Their original function and the science explaining them have all been lost. These remains have become categorized as places of magic or infested with demonic power or by however means their superstitions allow them to understand. Such places include dungeons, cursed locations, planar rifts and so on.

For example, the ancient Druids uncovered the teleportation nexuses. They didn't understand the technology, but figured out if they built these henges and collected the correct fetishes they can sort of operate them. Now there are several of such nexuses discovered and marked by henges. The ancient Druids also found areas that had a focus of high energy waves and found if they built their menhirs on these sites, they can have audio and visual communication between them.

The catastrophe wiped out most of the Visitors (some remain in stasis deep in the earth) but has continued to affect the world. The radiation given forth by the event probably is what allows magic to happen, is the reason undead exist, and has likely mutated multitudes of creatures into what they are now.

The understanding of these effects as magic has led to an alternate revolution of thought. The concept of science in trying to understand the world never became a thing, in a way magic is the method in which the denizens of the world qualify and quantify the world around them. The sages and academics of the world explain it in terms of magic not science.

In my opinion, fantasy is at its best when it doesn’t matter whether it’s magic or science. Are the stars portals to the Far Realm? Are they pinpricks in the plane’s crystal sphere bored by nautaloid spelljammers? Or are they balls of nuclear energy light years away? These are interesting questions for scholars of the arcane to ponder in their ivory towers, but at the end of the day what matters is that they’re lights in the sky, and Aberrant creatures came from them to our world. Are dwarven-made weapons better because of the ritual significance they put on smithing? The specific ritual processes they perform while they do their craft? The runes they carve in the weapons? Or simply advanced metallurgical techniques they employ? Who cares, Dwarven weapons are better, the reason they’re better doesn’t really matter.

Because of this, one of my world building design goals is to leave these things ambiguous. Leave the possibility of scientific explanation, without weighing in on whether or not it’s The Truth.

Aebir-Toril said:

So, having been inspire by a thread mentioning the relationship of monsters with nature as a philosophical concept, as well as @Celebrim 's complaint, I've decided to stick something that I've been pondering for a while here, on EN World.

How much science do you like in your D&D? For example:

1. Do your monsters have *sigh* Lighting Blood, and are your snakes poisonous, rather than venomous?

2. Is magic a kind of science? Is magic more than just the manipulation of particles through the generation of electric potential within the brain that couples with a force known as the Weave to produce effects on 3d-dimensional structures?

3. Are your worlds planets? Do they exist in solar systems with correct mass to radius, logical core composition, rational positioning, and mathematically accurate orbits?

4. How do the planes exist? Are they separate from normal reality? How is this so?

5. Is your table of elements expanded to include metallic elements like adamantium and mithral? If so, how? If not, have you made metals like beryllium adamantium? Do you not worry about it at all?

I'm just sending this into the ether in hope of receiving insightful responses.

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1. Dragons are essentially a genetic blend of snake and lion − often recombined with eagle and goat − designed to prey on human instinctive phobias − sometimes the snake-lion can blend other animals (eel, angler, gazelle, deer, wolf, bat, etcetera). The ‘firebreathing’ is either projectile snake venom, actually fiery methane, or electrical field.

2. Mysticism is to modern science, as folk medicine is to modern medicine. The traditions evolve within cultures because they work to some degree but remain less well understood scientifically. Science will eventually understand precisely how it works. Mysticism relates to existential ‘being’, the ‘quantum observer effect’, space-time relativity, and related weirdness. There is a nexus between consciousness and quantum states, and human mental archetypes appear to be an organizing principle.

3. Normal planets.

4. Beyond the material plane are nonmaterial ways of interacting − subtle mental influences, energy states, and so on. Ether = patterns of space and light. Also virtual reality via internet. Essentially, planes are ‘modes’ that are subtle aspects of this universe. ‘True telepathy’ is an overlay of entangling minds. ‘Virtual telepathy’ is essentially a wireless computer implanted as wetware in a brain.

5. Adamantium is Hellenistic Classical ‘adamans’, a kind of gem. It relates to a modified clear corundum (ruby and sapphire) and resembles diamond. Once this gem crystallizes it cannot be reshaped. The transparent plates are sometimes gold-leafed underneath for visual decoration.

BoxCrayonTales said:

There's an article pointing out how magic in D&D worlds operates according to weird pseudo-scientific rules that aren't consistent with how pre-modern societies imagined magic.

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This article is amazing and everyone should go read it right now.

If we're discussing fantasy science anyway, then something I'd like to note is level progression. It is commonly treated as an abstraction, but what if it wasn't a simple abstraction? What if, for example, monsters evolved into higher HD/CR monsters to mirror the way that PCs advanced in level? This concept appears in some GameLit like Overlord and Tensei Slime: skeleton mages progress into elder liches, ogres progress into ogre mages, etc.