Starfox
Hero
While I respect every GMs right to organize their own world, I am very much opposed to the entire trend of this thread.
One of the big steps from 2E to 3E was that the world went from the dark ages paradigm to renaissance. Suddenly there was an economic system that included magic. Suddenly the implication was that magic guilds and schools actually had libraries of spells accessible to members. There was a market for spellcasting, with established price norms. No longer did you have to cajole and bribe another caster to let you copy a spell. And I really, really like this development. I have made it a large part of my setting; things used to be retarded and non-functional, and in many places it still is, but all the leading places of the world are moving away from the dark ages of ignorance and superstition.
The dark ages were never half as dark as they were portrayed in DnD, but it is true that the monetary economy of antiquity broke down; money was replaces by a system of allowances and land rents. In such a system, a wizard would work for a lord in return fro protection, housing, and keep. But this really is a lousy way to do things. When the monetary economy reawakened with the renaissance, the benefits were immense. A monetary economy is much more flexible and productive than a feudal system. As was said higher up in the thread; any monetary, magic-allowing society is going to win over a feudal, superstitious society.
Then on to some practical considerations:
What puts messengers out of business is not teleporting magicians, it is planar binding. A lowly lantern archon can teleport 25 lbs of cargo anywhere in the world. What limits such a system is not really the availability of spells, it is the degree of organization in society. A place like Cheilax would most definitely have an infernal post office; it is just too useful not to be, once society is robust enough for such institutions to be stable.
The way I play sorcerers, being a sorcerer is often a sign of nobility. It is the elite of society who confront the supernatural, and it is their progeny who manifest natural magic. While wizards are locked up in their ivory towers doing work for hire, sorcerers engage with the world at large. The majority of fighting arcane spellcasters are likely to be sorcerers. They are also handier for rulers; as they don't naturally form guilds, they are less organized, less likely to have conflicting loyalties.
One of the big steps from 2E to 3E was that the world went from the dark ages paradigm to renaissance. Suddenly there was an economic system that included magic. Suddenly the implication was that magic guilds and schools actually had libraries of spells accessible to members. There was a market for spellcasting, with established price norms. No longer did you have to cajole and bribe another caster to let you copy a spell. And I really, really like this development. I have made it a large part of my setting; things used to be retarded and non-functional, and in many places it still is, but all the leading places of the world are moving away from the dark ages of ignorance and superstition.
The dark ages were never half as dark as they were portrayed in DnD, but it is true that the monetary economy of antiquity broke down; money was replaces by a system of allowances and land rents. In such a system, a wizard would work for a lord in return fro protection, housing, and keep. But this really is a lousy way to do things. When the monetary economy reawakened with the renaissance, the benefits were immense. A monetary economy is much more flexible and productive than a feudal system. As was said higher up in the thread; any monetary, magic-allowing society is going to win over a feudal, superstitious society.
Then on to some practical considerations:
What puts messengers out of business is not teleporting magicians, it is planar binding. A lowly lantern archon can teleport 25 lbs of cargo anywhere in the world. What limits such a system is not really the availability of spells, it is the degree of organization in society. A place like Cheilax would most definitely have an infernal post office; it is just too useful not to be, once society is robust enough for such institutions to be stable.
The way I play sorcerers, being a sorcerer is often a sign of nobility. It is the elite of society who confront the supernatural, and it is their progeny who manifest natural magic. While wizards are locked up in their ivory towers doing work for hire, sorcerers engage with the world at large. The majority of fighting arcane spellcasters are likely to be sorcerers. They are also handier for rulers; as they don't naturally form guilds, they are less organized, less likely to have conflicting loyalties.
