How is the Wizard vs Warrior Balance Problem Handled in Fantasy Literature?

[Triskaideka]

One of the biggest problems I have with fantasy literature (and games, be they digital or P&P) is that they don't take the implications of high-fantasy settings with relatively potent and reliable magic far enough- You have these individuals, who can potentially live hundreds of years, who have vast reserves of personal knowledge, and incredible personal power in the ability to warp reality to their will, including summoning armies and divining secrets, and you mean to tell me that the fat, inbred, has-been descendants of some two-bit chump warlords are running all the kingdoms? In a high-fantasy setting practically all major nations should be either magocracies or theocracies, the power imbalance is simply too great. No other force could remain stable without massive magical reserves, and if you're paying a wizard for that you run the risk of them deciding to run the show themselves!

 

[Nagol]

Well, you're powerful enough to raise this thread after 2 years in the grave!

That said, Glen Cook dealt with this in a few ways in his Dread Empire series:

1) Magic waxes and wanes. When powerful, it really is irresistable. When its weak, all the Wizards get themselves killed or hide.

2) Magic is hard and wizards have better things to do than trying to rule fractious human cultures.

 

[Triskaideka]

Balls of Vecna! Sorry for the unintended Raise Thread spell, misread the dates on the last post. Good points, though I'd argue that those both stray from the typical D&D high-fantasy I had in mind, though such a setting might not exist outside the medium.

 

[Nagol]

Those rationales do fit better with other games systems like Chivalry and Sorcery and Ars Magica than D&D. In many ways, I've used the first in D&D though -- it explains the ruins of the previous age(s) that spawned all the stuff the adventurers find.

A massive civilisation rose up after finally mastering magic to have the whole thing come crashing down because of some unknown weakness in the system. The adventuers are in the edge of the next wave of knowledge as they pick at the bones of the last.

 

[TwoSix]

Balls of Vecna!

And you thought attaching the Hand or Eye was bad.

I remember this thread, this was a fun one.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

And you thought attaching the Hand or Eye was bad.

I remember this thread, this was a fun one.

I remember it too. And, yeah it was fun, for some definitions of "fun" I guess. Just another pointless skirmish in the edition wars.

 

[TwoSix]

I remember it too. And, yeah it was fun, for some definitions of "fun" I guess. Just another pointless skirmish in the edition wars.

Edition warring is pointless if it devolves into "You suck, no, YOU suck" sort of discussions. If people present their different ways of playing and viewing the game, I don't view it as pointless.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

At that point, it's no longer edition warring - it's a reasonable discussion. I recall this thread had a whole lot more of the former than the latter.