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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Michael Tree" data-source="post: 409739" data-attributes="member: 1455">Originally posted by Mistwell More importantly, it would alter the jury trial system.  Spells that detect lies, or force someone to tell the truth, would be used. In the U.S. those spells are clearly unconstitutional, going against the 5th amendment.Besides, neither are entirely reliable.  Zone of Truth allows a saving throw, allowing strong-willed people to foil it, and Detect Lies is dependent upon the honesty and reliability of the person using it.And what would detect evil do to moral relativism? To politics?Hah!  That's a very good question. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Police departments would start using divinations to prevent crimes before they happen.  Scrying would be used to locate wanted criminals and missing persons.  D&D magic wouldn't be all that effective at preventing crimes before they happened, unless you know where to look.  It would make investigation a lot easier, though in the U.S. a lot of divinations would be restricted by the constitution.Political assasinations would happen using scrying, teleportation, and a signle true-strike spell.  No world leader would last more than a couple of months.Doubtful.  Political leaders will have access to 10 times the magical resources of the average assassin.  Can you imagine a dozen secret-service wizards in black robes and pointy hats, with wires in their ears, flying alongside the presiden't car? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />The laws of physics could never be developed, since magic routinely breaks those laws.  This means much of current technology would not exists, if magic had been around for a long time.  In fact, much wouldn't have been invented for lack of a need for a machine to do something that magic could already do. We've been talking about magic suddenly appearing, not appearing thousands of years ago.Besides, it could be that our current physics is still essentially correct, but missing an essential principle that explains how magic work.  As as analogy, Newtonian physics works perfectly adequately on the surface of the earth, but in space it starts to fall apart.  Einstein's theory of relativity can explain all that Newton explains, and much more.Again, I encourage you to make magic very special - something most people do not believe in, very few actually know about, and even fewer can use it.  Do not open Pandora's Box!  You think it is fun now, but it will rapidly degenerate into an abusive, boring world. I think you're seriously underestimating people's creativity and motivations.  There have been several examples of internally-consistent workable worlds where magic appears in the modern world, such as Shadowrun.</blockquote>

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