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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 518112" data-attributes="member: 1210">While I doubt society would evolve into the one-alignment, rigid system proposed by Alcamtar, I do think that divination magic would have a key effect on developement.  Crimes would not go unsolved as they do today; a combination of divination, augury, contact other plane, discern lies, and detect thoughts would lead to the rapid capture of most dangerous criminals.  They could also easily lead to a police state.  How can you be subversive when your thoughts might be scanned by every passing police officer?But there's a caveat: the big cities are where things tend to be more controlled.  When you're in New York (or Waterdeep or Greyhawk or...) the authorities are always watching; but when you go to Hicksville, Nebraska, pop. 1000, there isn't the infrastructure to keep a close watch on everyone.Which is why the resistance is based in rural areas, of course.  Much as many anti-government groups in our world tend to center themselves in thinly populated areas where they're harder to observe, so too would the inhabitants of a world with dnd magic and rules.Another important difference: with the ability to detect it making for clear, objective notions of good and evil, law and chaos, moral philosophy will be vastly changed from what we know.  On this world there would never be any debates about alignments and what they mean; you'd know good from evil, and if you didn't agree you could get someone to find out by casting a spell.The possibility of returning from death would also change our philosophical outlook tremendously.  People might be more willing to die for what they believed in, both because they might just make it back and also because they know what waits for them after they do die.  If you know for a fact that you're going to go to Heaven and live in eternal bliss, you don't really lose much by dying.  In fact, the abilty to know would really affect our religions and sciences dramatically.  Think of the scientist who wants to know for sure whether the research he's following is a waste of time and give him the ability to cast a high-level divination spell; he can find out.  In fact, with something like a commune or contact other plane spell, he might be able to jump years ahead of his peers with his investigations- except that they'll all be doing it too.Also, murder is not as serious as we think of it as; you can be raised (maybe at your killer's expense, once he's caught).  Things like rape and torture suddenly become more serious though, since the psychological harm can't be undone as simply as death.Hm, good thread!  I'll ramble on some more once I cogitate...</blockquote>

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