Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="nopantsyet" data-source="post: 1435579" data-attributes="member: 3109">One part of society that would be heavily impacted by magic would be government.  There are numerous directions the prevalence of magic might lead a society. First is the form of government.  The feudal system that grew into monarchy was based on collective protection.  Nobles had armies that could protect commoners, and the medieval manor thrived on a symbiotic relationship.But with magic, that relationship is fundamentally altered.  Power is not in numbers, but in knowledge.  A small number of skilled wizards could protect or opress large numbers of people.  Magic assists in growing crops, reduces mortality rates, eases hard labor.  The society becomes sophisticated very quickly.  Depending on political rule, this yields two very different types of societies.  Possible rivals?First is the authoritarian magocracy.  Led by the most powerful of wizards who constantly scheme to gain more power both politically and magically.  The populace are pressed into servitude in order to serve the desires of the elite.Second is the enlightened republic.  If magic is not king, it must lead to a meritocracy where various skills enable one to succeed politically.  Under these circumstances, magically-assisted agriculture and labor lead to a service-based economy with middle- and leisure classes.  Magic in this society is probably regulated.  Minimalistic regulation would restrict common spell use to practical spells.  No offensive spells, none that are intended for illicit uses, like invisibility.  Allowed summonings provide beasts of burden rather than battle.  And elite group of spellcasters maintains a library of all kinds of magic to be used as necessary, for war, against crime, etc.  The other side is full restriction.  No magic use unless specifically authorized.I'm doing the latter in my current campaign.  Well, in one city within my current campaign.  It is a republic of sorts, based loosely on the Italian republics of the late middle ages and early renaissance.  Magic use is heavily regulated, but it is not too difficult, albeit at a cost, to obtain authorization for "practickal magicks."  The elite organization also has a shadow arm that provides certain questionable services to the government in exchange for continuing monopoly on magical regulation.By way of extension of the spell list, my approach was to categorize spells by regulation level.  Use of certain spells won't even be prosecuted, even though it is technically restricted.  More powerful practical spells, and dual-use spells (practical and illicit) are more strictly enforced.  Strictly illicit spells (invisibility, offensive, etc.) are always prohibited.  (Except by those with the equivalent of a double-0 rating.)You could go other directions.  I consider Menzoberranzan to be a high-magic tribal anarchy.  You could go a communist direction with the authoritarian regime.  But a tremendous amount of how magic affects the society will be an outgrowth of how the power structure has grown up around it.</blockquote>

Verification