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Yep, which was where I was going. A Mage-Lord might even have vassal Petty Mage-Lords (Mage-Lordlets? Mage-Lords serving a Mage-Baron? Stick the word "Mage" before pretty much every title in whatever peerage system you prefer, only Clerics, Druids, and Bards can play this game, too) doing the...

I think this requires a good deal of work, as most of the stuff that keys off alignment has been removed. Probably a dozen or more spells and abilities need tweaking to pre-5e language. Doable, sure, but not as easy as if alignment was still in the system and marked as optional.

A core ruling for the entire system. Otherwise Warlocks would need a 150gp gem with an undead eyeball encased inside for every single casting of Shadow of Moil. This is different language than, say, Rase Dead which quite plainly states the spell consumes the 500gp diamond. Undead labor is...

Components are only consumed when the spell says they are: The Rules of Spellcasting | Dungeons & Dragons Yes. It takes one minute. This is no more difficult than what we assume any NPC necromancer is doing.

You wouldn't, that's what I said. You don't need it, and it wouldn't even be worth selling because the serfs that need to eat it don't have money. In short - any economy resembling what we've had in the real world would collapse with high level magic users in the equation. Reread the spell...

Because they are bound to the necromancer via Create Undead. There is no famine because you only need to feed a handful of people; possibly as few as one. With high level magics available, there is no need for serfs, so practices that sustain them (like allowing them to work land) aren't...

With the watering down of effects that key off alignment, the system is all but useless in 5e.

No, the robots are not smarter than undead - particularly because undead do not need to be unintelligent, but also because an intelligence 7 creature is capable of far more adaptation than some of our most sophisticated automation at this point. There are Int 11 CR2 undead to be had. Worst...

All replaceable with automatons that don't need to eat and don't complain. With the added bonus that they can convert to a fighting force with minimal effort.

But it would have to be when you don't need it to feed your labor force. Otherwise, you wouldn't grow very much of it but for what a handful of elites may wish to eat. Why would these farmers have access to the land in the first place, if they'll only eat the bulk of the harvest? What power...

They aren't all that unintelligent (skeletons have an int of 6; as do flesh golems; ghouls have an int of 7 ), and there a intelligent overseers available, too, like Vampire Spawn (cr5) and Ghasts (cr2). I assume an int of 11 is more than sufficient. Serfs weren't valuable because they were...

The point is that in a world with cheap undead and constructs, manual labor is worth much less, possibly worth nothing, in much the same way skilled kitchen labor is worth little to a McDonald’s franchise. Not just that, but the economic system in a world with standard levels of DND Magic the...

Wrong focus. If undead or constructs are essentially infinite sources of labor, the living people that manage to be serfs are the lucky ones. Most of them are destitute.

Well, that's before we even get into the whole undead-as-labor thing.

If you think too hard about this, you realize that a 14th level wizard can, with some planning and preparation, function as an elite-level instantaneous travel service (at very little cost to themselves) between cities, a service that would be in high demand, somewhat costly, and would probably...

I don’t think rule heavy is inherently bad. Confusing rules are bad, but rules governed interactions with several options would be close to ideal for this sort of thing. We are close to that already; you can persuade, deceive, intimidate, sneak past, or kill an NPC in your path. Some people put...

I think the extra resources from a wand or stave is strong enough to make them useful without also allowing the caster to cast a leveled spell and a bonus action spell like misty step.

That seems pretty likely to me. It be more like a game in that scenario, which might irritate the free form storytelling types, but seems more likely to help sales and approachability rather than hurt them.

Given the entirely-unsupported-by-the rules free form sort of stuff the newer generation likes, I don’t see why they need a DM, either. And the trend has been away from structured rules for that stuff, not towards it.

Board game dungeon crawlers like Gloomhaven have already achieved this.