Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Good, Evil, Nature, and Druids
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7603971" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Well yes, spellcasters are widely distrusted by the non-magical world, because their powers are strange and dangerous. A wizard could make you believe that you've accepted coin from him when he'd only handed you a bit of tin or brass, or he could turn invisible and go about your home, or eves drop on your private affairs with his magic glass, or charm your daughter to make her believe she is in love with him, or consort with evil spirits do avenge himself on his enemies, or raise the corpse of your mother up to do his biding. In short, even in places where magic is considered a trade, it's often considered a dirty and dishonorable trade greatly to be distrusted.</p><p></p><p>In my campaign, sorcerers in many parts of the world are considered not even human, and are therefore subject to the same "free to slaughter" considerations that would generally apply to vampires, werewolves, or marauding dragons. The fact that they can perform magic without resorting to lore and study, proves that they aren't truly human, but monstrous beings with tainted blood, twisted and accursed souls, and perhaps even evil spirits in human form.</p><p></p><p>Bards have "secret colleges" because they literally have to keep their practice secret. Many people aren't even aware bards, and especially human bards exist. And, if they did, they'd probably murder them. Bards that don't keep their magic secret, have to find some socially acceptable excuse for it - which could depend on the community. ("I'm actually a fairy!", could work in some places, as it's accepted that fairies have strange magic Of course, this presumes fairies are acceptable, which in some places, they aren't.)</p><p></p><p>Wizards are acceptable in about 3/4's of the world, though there are places they are treated as evil. The reason for both are similar. Wizardly magic nearly destroyed the world in the past, but it's believed in the more tolerate regions that after that happened and the culprits slain, that the current practice of wizardly magic is the lore that the gods left alive in the world for the benefit of the free peoples, and all the really nasty stuff ("art magic") was censured and erased leaving only "spell casting" and a bit of alchemy behind. They are reasonably heavily regulated by society, social conventions, by certain cults, and by their own members. They in return also get certain social privileges - such as the right of privacy (a declared wizard may not be randomly searched in either his person or his home), and are entitled to honorifics ("His Potency, the Wizard Galforth"), and are immune to certain taxes and tolls. </p><p></p><p>Anything that increases distrust amongst the general public and especially the ruling authorities is a threat to the whole wizarding community, so it's everyone's problem. They also tend to follow an unwritten rule to not get too heavily involved in politics, because there is general belief that while the gods wouldn't intervene to stop a wizard's private affairs, if a wizard gets too public in his affairs the gods might squash him. Most wizards are also very careful about sharing their secrets for a similar reason - they are afraid the gods will see them as trying to recreate the Age of Wonders when the art mages made powerful magic ubiquitous. While there are places where the streets are lite by continual flames or have a ruling class of wizards, much of the world considers that just an invitation for disaster. </p><p></p><p>I typically start campaigns in reasonably tolerant areas of the world just because I figure players will want to play spellcasters, and players will be unused to how spellcasters are often treated. Still, there has been incidents where the player's got in trouble with the law. There was a death warrant out for a PC sorcerer for a while, which the PC only evaded when the rest of the party proved that the woman who brought the charge of witchcraft on the PC was herself actually a witch. If the authorities had known that the PC was what they were, they would have killed both of them. That PC died, but the current PC sorcerer has an Inquisition from one of the major temples chasing the PC down with a Bull of Anathema, that decrees the PC is not human. The party actually killed one of the cults "paladins" that was in the process of trying to exact said degree with extreme dispatch, and the PC cleric in the same group has been advised by their temple that they think the Bull may have merit, and the PC cleric has agreed to keep an eye on the PC and watch for signs of evil behavior. In character, there are at least two members of the PC party that if they thought the PC sorcerer was in some fashion evil, would probably try to kill him - and they are beginning to have their doubts (for perhaps very good reasons) with the party Shaman, which just sold part of her soul to Urglick the Stinking Beast in order to save the life of the "Paladin" - that would probably kill the Shaman for doing so if he knew that it was done and understood what it meant.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7603971, member: 4937"] Well yes, spellcasters are widely distrusted by the non-magical world, because their powers are strange and dangerous. A wizard could make you believe that you've accepted coin from him when he'd only handed you a bit of tin or brass, or he could turn invisible and go about your home, or eves drop on your private affairs with his magic glass, or charm your daughter to make her believe she is in love with him, or consort with evil spirits do avenge himself on his enemies, or raise the corpse of your mother up to do his biding. In short, even in places where magic is considered a trade, it's often considered a dirty and dishonorable trade greatly to be distrusted. In my campaign, sorcerers in many parts of the world are considered not even human, and are therefore subject to the same "free to slaughter" considerations that would generally apply to vampires, werewolves, or marauding dragons. The fact that they can perform magic without resorting to lore and study, proves that they aren't truly human, but monstrous beings with tainted blood, twisted and accursed souls, and perhaps even evil spirits in human form. Bards have "secret colleges" because they literally have to keep their practice secret. Many people aren't even aware bards, and especially human bards exist. And, if they did, they'd probably murder them. Bards that don't keep their magic secret, have to find some socially acceptable excuse for it - which could depend on the community. ("I'm actually a fairy!", could work in some places, as it's accepted that fairies have strange magic Of course, this presumes fairies are acceptable, which in some places, they aren't.) Wizards are acceptable in about 3/4's of the world, though there are places they are treated as evil. The reason for both are similar. Wizardly magic nearly destroyed the world in the past, but it's believed in the more tolerate regions that after that happened and the culprits slain, that the current practice of wizardly magic is the lore that the gods left alive in the world for the benefit of the free peoples, and all the really nasty stuff ("art magic") was censured and erased leaving only "spell casting" and a bit of alchemy behind. They are reasonably heavily regulated by society, social conventions, by certain cults, and by their own members. They in return also get certain social privileges - such as the right of privacy (a declared wizard may not be randomly searched in either his person or his home), and are entitled to honorifics ("His Potency, the Wizard Galforth"), and are immune to certain taxes and tolls. Anything that increases distrust amongst the general public and especially the ruling authorities is a threat to the whole wizarding community, so it's everyone's problem. They also tend to follow an unwritten rule to not get too heavily involved in politics, because there is general belief that while the gods wouldn't intervene to stop a wizard's private affairs, if a wizard gets too public in his affairs the gods might squash him. Most wizards are also very careful about sharing their secrets for a similar reason - they are afraid the gods will see them as trying to recreate the Age of Wonders when the art mages made powerful magic ubiquitous. While there are places where the streets are lite by continual flames or have a ruling class of wizards, much of the world considers that just an invitation for disaster. I typically start campaigns in reasonably tolerant areas of the world just because I figure players will want to play spellcasters, and players will be unused to how spellcasters are often treated. Still, there has been incidents where the player's got in trouble with the law. There was a death warrant out for a PC sorcerer for a while, which the PC only evaded when the rest of the party proved that the woman who brought the charge of witchcraft on the PC was herself actually a witch. If the authorities had known that the PC was what they were, they would have killed both of them. That PC died, but the current PC sorcerer has an Inquisition from one of the major temples chasing the PC down with a Bull of Anathema, that decrees the PC is not human. The party actually killed one of the cults "paladins" that was in the process of trying to exact said degree with extreme dispatch, and the PC cleric in the same group has been advised by their temple that they think the Bull may have merit, and the PC cleric has agreed to keep an eye on the PC and watch for signs of evil behavior. In character, there are at least two members of the PC party that if they thought the PC sorcerer was in some fashion evil, would probably try to kill him - and they are beginning to have their doubts (for perhaps very good reasons) with the party Shaman, which just sold part of her soul to Urglick the Stinking Beast in order to save the life of the "Paladin" - that would probably kill the Shaman for doing so if he knew that it was done and understood what it meant. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Good, Evil, Nature, and Druids
Top