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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8780603" data-attributes="member: 6801228">I color-coded your responses, to make them easier to categorize. Red: Wouldn't these... consolidate access to magic into the hands of the ruling class? Therefore making the ruling class even more likely to be the only places magic appears? I mean, if I've restricted access to all magical knowledge, and have a rapport with multiple warlock patrons, then no one who I don't approve of can become a bard, wizard, artificer or warlock, therefore I can grant those life-changing powers only to the nobles. Purple: Mages could also pay people and treat them with respect. Again, for me at least, this is a more fundamental question of why non-magic users are even in charge at all. These sort of answers only prevent the overthrow of a non-magical government, but it doesn't explain that governments existence in the first place. Gold: And these are just using spellcasters to protect you from spellcasters, while enforcing that only spellcasters you approve of are allowed to operate. Which, why can't all spellcasters be branch families of the main nobles, who instead of providing soldiers for the King's wars, provide magical services? And thus, magic is an intrinsic part of the ruling class.Right, but the power to protect your loved ones can lead to political power. That's why kings started existing, they were protecting their people. The power to earn money gets you money, and money leads to being part of the ruling class, because that is the entire point of wealth. It is the ability to direct people to act in the manner you want, by taking their man-hours of labor and utilizing it. Unless you are dragon sitting on wealth that exists for the purpose of you sitting on it, then wealth makes you part of the ruling class by default.But that is, in part, the question. What resistances would the body develop that do not lead to the magical power simply ending up far more likely in the hands of the already rich and powerful.Why would they have to be a Tyrant? Good Kings exist. Why is it that having magic and ruling automatically makes them a tyrant? Also, gods tend to get persnickety if their wishes are ignored. Doing things like sending blights upon crops, monsters to ravage the countryside, or just old-fashioned earthquakes, meteors and tsunamis. If a god tells their cleric to tell a king to do something, that god is expecting it to get done. Why would they be upset if they could cut out a step and just tell their cleric, who is a king, to do the thing? That seems like a full on win for the god in question.So are we saying that it is impossible to have a kingdom that respects nature and doesn't cause issues with a druid's spiritual oaths? And really, most of these "spiritual commitments" are not stated, so while they can be theoretically why druids do not rule nations, they can also be written such a way as to not prevent the rulership of druids. It becomes a pure world-building choice.But what those obligations are are completely up to the deal struck. A warlock could easily make a deal for the power to save their people, become a king, and in exchange they simply protect the ancient forest, send a few of the people to the forest to train to become druids in service to the fey, and have a festival every year. Also, Warlocks get quite a few things that would be incredibly useful. Eyes of the Rune Keeper -> You can read all writing. This includes all languages, and while you can certainly hire someone to translate for you, you need to be able to trust that person. You can also read all codes, which seems incredibly usefulArmor of Shadows -> Always be armored? Quite useful considering how often rulers get assassinatedBeguiling Influence -> Persuasion and Deception are the cornerstones of politicsBeast Speech -> Being able to speak with animals is massively useful in terms of gathering information and directing unusual forces. This has been a common trope for rulers who could speak with birds or other beasts. Gaze of Two Minds -> Send an ally somewhere, see everything yourselfWhispers of the Grave -> Bit high level, but talking to the dead is a very powerful ability. Especially if you have a family catacomb with people who may have answers. Consulting with the spirits of your ancestors is a common trope for rulers. This lets you do it. Far Scribe -> Instant, constant communication at any distance with your chosen envoys. That's useful. Aspect of the Moon -> No longer need to sleep. Do I even need to explain how that is useful not only for running a kingdom, but for not being assassinated?And all of these are able to be done, at-will, as much as you want. Without even getting into cantrips or spells. The pure amount of safety you can have by always being armed and armored is useful by itself, while many of these others give you options for diplomacy or communication that cannot be matched without magic.</blockquote>

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