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<blockquote data-quote="Kurotowa" data-source="post: 7339175" data-attributes="member: 27957"><p>As I see it, the Catch-22 of D&D type fantasy worlds is that magic is both more and less powerful than technology. It's more powerful in that personal flight is only a third of the way up the potential power scale. The allure of bending reality to your will tends to attract almost all of the really clever people. Only it's less powerful in that it's harder to transmit and resists any sort of mass production. Rather than turning out a new professional in five or six years it takes decades to gain true mastery, and aside from some setting hacks like Eberron there's rarely any way to offer magic tools to the masses.</p><p></p><p>Technology pushes towards an egalitarian society because it produces ever improving tools that anyone can use. Magic solidifies power in the hands of an elite few who tend to guard their secrets jealously lest their rivals learn their weaknesses. So it shouldn't be surprising that magic predominated societies plateau at a relatively simple tech level and stay that way for a long time. Especially not when you throw in the semi-regular societal collapses needed to produce all those ruins full of treasure. Turns out demonic invasions and orcish hordes and magical disasters really do have consequences.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kurotowa, post: 7339175, member: 27957"] As I see it, the Catch-22 of D&D type fantasy worlds is that magic is both more and less powerful than technology. It's more powerful in that personal flight is only a third of the way up the potential power scale. The allure of bending reality to your will tends to attract almost all of the really clever people. Only it's less powerful in that it's harder to transmit and resists any sort of mass production. Rather than turning out a new professional in five or six years it takes decades to gain true mastery, and aside from some setting hacks like Eberron there's rarely any way to offer magic tools to the masses. Technology pushes towards an egalitarian society because it produces ever improving tools that anyone can use. Magic solidifies power in the hands of an elite few who tend to guard their secrets jealously lest their rivals learn their weaknesses. So it shouldn't be surprising that magic predominated societies plateau at a relatively simple tech level and stay that way for a long time. Especially not when you throw in the semi-regular societal collapses needed to produce all those ruins full of treasure. Turns out demonic invasions and orcish hordes and magical disasters really do have consequences. [/QUOTE]
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