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Message: <blockquote data-quote="doctorbadwolf" data-source="post: 8557240" data-attributes="member: 6704184">Respectfully, I genuinely don't think it is even remotely possible that a society would not develop those skills at all. Many modern Americans know how to manually start a fire and purify water, even though they've never had to use that knowledge in order to have warmth and clean water. So, unless we are going full Dark Sword here, where literally 99% of the population can do useful magic, there will be people who have mundane skills. If magic use is a minority, most people, even many of those who can use magic, will have these skills. Even if society decides that the magic way is better, the less optimal ways will survive, just as they do in real world societies. Right now, today, and at every point in history and in every society, people still make their own clothes, wash dishes by hand, and use manual methods of lighting fireplaces, stovetops, candles, etc. Manual feedback is satisfying. Watching something come into being by your hands is satisfying. People are not optimal, or even especially rational.And the spell would tell you that. The person identifying disease knows what the disease is. Knowing the name of it isn't at all useful, nor does it make sense when you consider the origin of the spell. It has to have had a starting point, and that starting point really can't be names of illnesses. Nor does the spell say anything about language, or common nomenclature. Also note that you learn what poisonous creature the poison is from, if any. I just don't really see any way for the spell to function without giving the caster useful information about the type of disease. Also, just being able to detect disease in a radius around you would reduce the spread of disease, as you could much more accurately quarantine the sick than we can today. And since it says you learn the kind of disease, you'd know if it's contagious or not, at the very least.</blockquote>

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