Are there scientists in D&D? Should there be.....???

[Tony Vargas]

By that standard, most D&D games don't have priests or paladins either!

Plenty of Thaumaturges, though.

 

[bone_naga]

I mean, as a character class.

I see this like any other profession. It doesn't need a class. Depending on what edition you are playing, a skill may or may not be appropriate.

A scientist is just someone that tries to gain an understanding of our world through the application of the scientific method. Any character class could do that. Just like any character could be a blacksmith. Just like (despite the existence of a Thief class in some editions of the game) any character can steal stuff.

If for some reason you really feel that you need a class, I think the Artificer or the 3e Expert NPC class (to pump points into the various skills that would be applicable to a serious scientist) would be the best fit. Possibly a wizard if the scientist specialized in arcane studies (which would make sense in a magical world), but again it would be handled through fluff and skills, not by class abilities.

 

[slightlyprime]

no reason you can't play your character as a scientist, magic is just science we don't understand yet in many works of fiction.
I'd just be any type of wizard and be a tinker gnome. I see it as more fluff and background than an actual class.
also as the world of dnd is determined by magic and ours is physics, you could say studying magic in dnd is the same as studying science in our world.
so inmy opinion it would just be fluff instead of an actual new class.

 

[diaglo]

No. "Scientists" as we currently understand them, are a modern, post-Renaissance development. They don't really fit into a pseudo-Medieval setting.

I don't think there's call for it in most D&D worlds - scientists are not about adventuring, they are about finding out what makes the world operate. If "how the world operates" is not a plot element for your campaign, a scientist is apt to be very frustrated.

And how many GMs are prepared to create a game-world physics that is solid and self-consistent enough to meet scrutiny? When "it is magic" is an alternative, you never have to worry about that, but with scientists, you do.

if you want Gregor Mendel 19th century (the father of modern genetics) or John Snow 19th century (the father of epidemiology) or Galileo 16-17th century (the "father of modern observational astronomy", and the "father of modern physics", and "the father of modern science")

older editions like OD&D(1974), 1edADnD, and D&D Holmes chose things like witch doctor, sage, alchemist, and so on... without worrying about what "science" in our world is defined by in terms of years.

how do explain an elf in our world living a thousand years and still using bows and swords to hunt. it is best to let each group make their own definition of "science" as acceptable for the campaign.

druids changed many times over the course of the game. going from NPC class only (Chainmail and OD&D with a supplement) to a player class (another OD&D supplement) to a cleric class to yadda yadda yadda.

psionics or alchemy or thermodynamics can all be added too. even using our modern understanding to grasp how it is we want it to work in the campaign. even if it is a small sub group or a huge kingdom yet discovered...


edit: if you want novel examples of this. try rereading Terry Brooks books on Shannara or David Eddings series from the early 80s or Mary Heberts Grunts where modern marines are thrown into a fantasy world.

 

[slightlyprime]

I don't think there's call for it in most D&D worlds - scientists are not about adventuring, they are about finding out what makes the world operate. If "how the world operates" is not a plot element for your campaign, a scientist is apt to be very frustrated.

you could just treat scientist like the sage background looking at stuff, and learning, also the lawsof physics and stuff change through further observations so scientists can be lacking in understanding.
Also many scientists kinda adventure in the real world, Darwin sailing on the beagle, people going to Antarctica to learn, Galileo and the political and religous intrigue campqign of his life, and many more.

personally i feel a scientist has more reason to adventure as they want to see the world and learn more about it, especially in a world wherednd takes place. many great adventures in our history were in the name of science so that works greatfor dnd too.

 

[gamerprinter]

I plan to include something like Engineer in my Old West PF setting, which then might have archetypes of Inventor and Mad Scientist. Is it true science? Of course not, but in a hand-wave sort of way, its how science is used in the setting, as an alternative to magic. Just as a wizard has to memorize his spells, which is generally not played out, simply stated, this is what my wizard is doing, and in the same scientists could be doing scientific study, and then apply their science in combat and problem solving. Although I could see a one-shot called The Theorem where a scientist is using the scientific method to decifer some natural/unnatural phenomena, which other PCs might help in the process, finding specific ingredients, etc. and the result is some horrific and problematic issue that is resolved in combat. That style of adventure would be rare, however.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Magic in games seems always remove some of the supernatural, because it's repeatable. If you can reliably do the same things to cast a spell with similar effects every time, it sounds like somethnig that is not random, and thus could be scientifically analyzed.
It's only "supernatural" in the sense that this wouldn't work in our world, but within the fictional setting it does work, and it can be replicated reliably.

So I think there could be scientists in D&D. They would probably go beyond researchnig spells, but be working on explaining how it works. What kind of properties does virgin blood have that makes it potent for certain types of spells, for example. Why bat guano?
It might be a very, very complicated set of rules, more complicated then our Quantum Mechanics and Relativity Theory, so they might always scratch on the surface, desperate to gather enough information to really advance the sciences of magic.

That said - there is enough other stuff where you still want scientific research. Especially in settings where not everyne can trivially control magic.

 

[howandwhy99]

[MENTION=232]Crothian[/MENTION] gave you the correct answer, post 1.

He's good like that.