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<blockquote data-quote="Levistus's_Leviathan" data-source="post: 8780330" data-attributes="member: 7023887">This is fundamentally missing the point of this thought experiment. Assume &quot;mages&quot; (as in anyone that is a member of a spellcasting class) have the same basic human desires and emotions. A mage would be just as likely to pursue power as anyone else in the world, but would be better suited to succeed than a non-mage. And then take into account that we're not just talking about one mage with the goal of conquering the world or getting all of the money. We're talking about how the magic system of D&amp;D and the socioeconomic system of the world would combine to shape the world. Sure, a single mage on their own probably won't be able to take over the world, no matter how powerful they are. But this thought experiment isn't about the actions of a single mage. It's about how mages collectively could use their spells to make more money and put their children through magic school, or a royal family that marries into a magical bloodline in order to make their claims to power more justifiable, or a religion that uses their magical leaders to claim that they're more valid than other religions. Again, I'm not talking about a single mage/group of mages controlling everything. I'm talking about how magic in general would allow those who practice it to more easily gain power. They'd be more likely to be higher in the social hierarchy due to the economic and social effects of their magic powers. Sure, a single mage king might fall to an army of mages, but mages as a whole would be more likely to grab power throughout the decades than nonmages.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Levistus's_Leviathan, post: 8780330, member: 7023887"] This is fundamentally missing the point of this thought experiment. Assume "mages" (as in anyone that is a member of a spellcasting class) have the same basic human desires and emotions. A mage would be just as likely to pursue power as anyone else in the world, but would be better suited to succeed than a non-mage. And then take into account that we're not just talking about one mage with the goal of conquering the world or getting all of the money. We're talking about how the magic system of D&D and the socioeconomic system of the world would combine to shape the world. Sure, a single mage on their own probably won't be able to take over the world, no matter how powerful they are. But this thought experiment isn't about the actions of a single mage. It's about how mages collectively could use their spells to make more money and put their children through magic school, or a royal family that marries into a magical bloodline in order to make their claims to power more justifiable, or a religion that uses their magical leaders to claim that they're more valid than other religions. Again, I'm not talking about a single mage/group of mages controlling everything. I'm talking about how magic in general would allow those who practice it to more easily gain power. They'd be more likely to be higher in the social hierarchy due to the economic and social effects of their magic powers. Sure, a single mage king might fall to an army of mages, but mages as a whole would be more likely to grab power throughout the decades than nonmages. [/QUOTE]

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