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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 5750672" data-attributes="member: 7006">You don't need a wizard to share secrets... you need competitors who try to get into the market by creating and competing against the wizard.  As competition grows... both the original wizard and the competitors all try and make their stuff better over time.  I mean come on, if you're going to use Microsoft as an example... let's see the evolution of their operating system in just 30 years... from MS-Dos to where Windows stands now.  And a lot of that evolution was in direct response to trying to outdo Commodore, the Mac OS, LINUX coming on the scene, etc.  Microsoft doing what they can to stay ahead of the competition and retain market share.  Magic is exactly the same thing... it would not stay still.  It would evolve.  It would get better.So let's take alchemy.  Perhaps when it first came about, you only had a few magical effects possible, it had to be held in suspension in specially-created magical crystal vials, the dosage you had to drink was upwards of a cup or two, and duration of which they lasted was only for a short period of time.Over time (especially if we're talking hundreds of years of magical research... which D&D makes a point to have always said it was possible to create 'new magic') new magical effects would be created to be put into potion form.  And the potency of the magic would be increased so that you wouldn't need to drink as much (eventually getting down to half-a-cup, then a tablespoon, then a teaspoon).  The duration would continue to get longer and longer.  And eventually the container you stored a potion in could be changed to perhaps non-crystal so that it would be less prone to break.  And then finally... over the centuries alchemists would figure out how to do contact potions (just like some poisons are), or potions in gaseous form that could be inhaled.  Or potions in pill form for easier carrying.You know... pretty much like the evolution of our pharmaceutical companies have done over the years.  Alchemy and pharmaceuticals... pretty much one and the same.  To deny that evolution is to wash your hands of the whole "wizards can make new magic through research" schtick that D&D has always had in the game.</blockquote>

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