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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mac Callum" data-source="post: 1680813" data-attributes="member: 17035">Careful, Quasqueton – this rabbit hole is far deeper than you imagine.Just a very few spells (and the ability to make magical items) change the fundamental aspects of how society works so completely that it doesn’t take too many high-level spellcasters to make a world completely unrecognizable to most fantasy readers.In no particular order …Teleport/ Teleport Without Error/ Teleportation Circle – Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, Lewis & Clark: all gone.  There is no frontier because people can travel anywhere.  There would be non-contiguous empires linked by a web of Teleport Circles – Empires that might exist on multiple worlds and planes of existence.  Sailing would be a lost science.  Long distance roads would be more expensive (and more dangerous) than building a Teleport Circle.  This is the single biggest change to 'standard' worlds.  In Forgotten Realms a single Teleport Cicle spell from Zzass Tam (and he can probably cast 5/ day) could put thousands of troops in any point of any kingdom in the Prime Material Plane - up to & including downtown Waterdeep or Suzail.  Fortresses guarding a mountain pass would be useless, and frankly never even built in the first place.  Whole swaths of land would have to be blankets with Dimensional anchors or Private Sanctums to prevent this.  Navies would be useless because who cares about the ocean?  You don't need it for trade or moving troops.  Cities could be miles from any river or seaport but thrive because of this.Zone of Truth/ Detect Thoughts/ Dominate Person – no lying under oath.  Almost perfect justice.  Investigator’s and PI’s mostly out of work.  A Permanent ZoT would be standard is most Courts of Justice.  Spies would be pretty useless since its so easy to just ask them “Spying for anyone?”.  Also, private organizations with resources (Wizards’s guild, mafia) will make use of these spells to ensure loyalty.Collar of Feeblemind – good way to keep a Wizards/ Sorcerer locked up.  Create Undead – even if its evil, many people will still use it as a free source of labor.  Simple commands can include things like “dig here” or “row this boat.”  Of course, with permanent Teleports – why row a boat?  What’s the point of sailing except to get places?  Glasses/ Earmuffs of Comprehend Languages/ Tongues – the wisdom of the ancients will never be lost to lost languages, no matter how old.  Same goes for demonic writings from the Abyss.Polymorph – how many workers transformed into Stone Giants does it take to rebuild the pyramids in a couple weeks?  How about the King’s loyal warriors transformed into gryphons or dire wolverines or an ankheg (city wall sapper?) does it take to completely change the calculus of war?Contact Other Plane/ Commune – what’s the point of building Universities and learning the discipline of science when you can just ask God?  Once the Cleric of Oghma knows something he will spread the knowledge far & wide.  Any problem is just a Commune spell away from an answer.  Q: Why don’t people know stuff?A: Books are too expensive.Q: How do I make them cheaper?A: Invent a printing press.Q: How’s that work?A: Movable type, rolled in ink, makes many copies at once.Q: Cool, thanks.OrQ:  Why are people getting sick?A:  The water is dirty?Q:  How do I make it clean?A:  Cast a permanent Purify Food & Drink on the aqueduct. *Boom* No more water-bourne plagues.OrQ:  How can we make more grain per acre?A:  Use a row of steel plows instead of one brass one.Q:  Anything else?A:  Enchant a horse’s collar with Bull’s Strength and Bear’s Endurance.  Put on Enlarged Dire Horse.A:  Anything else? Etc, etc…See what I mean?  In the Earth’s middle ages the Church was seen as the font of all knowledge, and this largely retarded the economic growth of Europe.  In D&D-world the Church really will be the font of all knowledge – and it will be right!  Information in books cannot be trusted to be correct.  Information directly from God is directly from God.  No non-Church university can possibly compete with that source of information. Control Weather – everywhere is San Diego.  72, sunny and nary a cloud in the sky.  You don’t think that tax dollars won’t be sunk into the perfect growing season?  And that’s before Plant Growth.  Really, the farming efficiencies that just a couple spells make create a hugely excess supply of labor, throwing off the D&D population charts.  There should be a lot more Experts of various kinds, as well as the Magewrights from Eberron.Gate – It doesn’t take many Demons/ Solars walking the streets to really mess with your normal fantasy world.  What chance does a hobbit have?  Remember, Gate doesn’t have to be cast often – Demons are immortal and be around to trouble you for a very, very long time.  They’ll also use all the magic at their disposal to kill any upstart adventurers long before they’re powerful enough to challenge her.It goes on & on.  I’m not saying don’t do it – but your world’s going to be funky.Oh, and those D&D costs to have a spell cast - those are market prices.  For a Wizard, Sorceror or Cleric, it's really 'free' to cast any spell and every spell in their repetoire, every day.  Just costs their time.  A Sorcerer with Wall of Stone who donates just a week of their spellcasting time to charity could completly rebuild the fortifications of the city, or resurface the King's palace with the most fashionable shade of pink marble.</blockquote>

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