Magic for the Masses, An Age of Industrial Enlightenment

What rarity of spellcasters in 3e KM?

According to the DMG guidelines, virtually every community has at least one, if not several, spellcasters of 1st - 3rd level. Even all the way down to a Thorp.

It doesn't really matter how much gets destroyed, so long as more gets made than destroyed. Because magic items never run out of juice on their own, even one magic item surviving per year means that you have thousands of magic items floating around in the lifespan of most D&D campaign worlds.

Of course, this is assuming that only humans make magic items too. Never mind everyone else.

The thing is, the magic and magic item mechanics are not meant as world building tools. They are meant for adventurers. When you apply them to world building, they don't make much sense.

Take something as simple as Purify Food and Drink. Zero level spell that does 1 cubic foot of food. That's a lot of food. Only requires a 10 wisdom and a 1st level cleric. Who will be able to purify 3 cubic feet of food per day. That's a lot of food. 1 cubic foot of water is 80 pounds, so, if it's meat and veggies, we'll say about 50 pounds of food. Certainly one cleric can purify the food of a small community every day.

And it's not like there aren't real world analogs here. Both Halal and Kosher follow a fairly similar bent. Your kosher butcher isn't that far from a priest. Imagine a world where you can literally demonstrate the food being blessed and see how quickly people jump on.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

What rarity of spellcasters in 3e KM?A ccording to the DMG guidelines, virtually every community has at least one, if not several, spellcasters of 1st - 3rd level. Even all the way down to a Thorp.

It doesn't really matter how much gets destroyed, so long as more gets made than destroyed. Because magic items never run out of juice on their own, even one magic item surviving per year means that you have thousands of magic items floating around in the lifespan of most D&D campaign worlds.

Of course, this is assuming that only humans make magic items too. Never mind everyone else.

The thing is, the magic and magic item mechanics are not meant as world building tools. They are meant for adventurers. When you apply them to world building, they don't make much sense.

Take something as simple as Purify Food and Drink. Zero level spell that does 1 cubic foot of food. That's a lot of food. Only requires a 10 wisdom and a 1st level cleric. Who will be able to purify 3 cubic feet of food per day. That's a lot of food. 1 cubic foot of water is 80 pounds, so, if it's meat and veggies, we'll say about 50 pounds of food. Certainly one cleric can purify the food of a small community every day.

And it's not like there aren't real world analogs here. Both Halal and Kosher follow a fairly similar bent. Your kosher butcher isn't that far from a priest. Imagine a world where you can literally demonstrate the food being blessed and see how quickly people jump on.

Well Said. Spellcasters are fairly common compared to what you'd expect, and cantrips are the most versatile spells after Polymorphs, giving tremenous advantage both in dayly life and battle. You can fix broken tools with Mending, heat water with... Umm, Heat Water, find food with Foraging Charm, hinder a group of bandits just with Prestidigitation, keep contact between groups with Message or Phantasmal Whisperer, the list goes on. You could say a settlement cannot survive without at least someone with points in Knowledge(Arcana), to give then an idea about how to counter mages from raiding parties and gangs, even if they manage to keep things going with mundane tools.
 
Last edited:

And it's not like there aren't real world analogs here. Both Halal and Kosher follow a fairly similar bent. Your kosher butcher isn't that far from a priest. Imagine a world where you can literally demonstrate the food being blessed and see how quickly people jump on.

Technically, a kosher butcher is actually a part of the priesthood. All animals slaughter according to kashrut are a sacrifice to G-d and considered blessed. Just imagine what a high level cleric who worked as a butcher could do for his community...
 

Technically, a kosher butcher is actually a part of the priesthood. All animals slaughter according to kashrut are a sacrifice to G-d and considered blessed. Just imagine what a high level cleric who worked as a butcher could do for his community...

I thought that was true, but, was too lazy to actually fact check. :D But, the point does remain. A lot of the very low level magic - 0 and 1st level - can have a pretty large impact on the look of a game world. Most of us, I think, turn a blind eye to this because we want our worlds to look the way we want them to look. And most people tend to go along with it. It's all part of buying into the genre.

But, if we pull back the curtain and actually look at the repercussions of exploitable resources in D&D, it gets very strange, very quickly. One of my personal favourite ideas was using Brown Mold (absorbs heat) to make refrigeration. Refrigeration is considered one of the biggest technological advances of the millennium. Refrigeration allows for much, much larger cities and higher population densities. Which would have strong impacts on a game world.
 

One of my personal favourite ideas was using Brown Mold (absorbs heat) to make refrigeration. Refrigeration is considered one of the biggest technological advances of the millennium. Refrigeration allows for much, much larger cities and higher population densities. Which would have strong impacts on a game world.
Nice one... Too optimistic to let it hang in the air though!:devil: Let's look at the darker side!
I for one had one of my characters(okay, the character based on me) use Phantasmal Illusions and Enchantments recreationally on himself; self-hypnosis, morale boosts, tricks with the Pleasure domain, etcetera(he was also chewing Mertoran Leaf more often than not; I find it amusing the substance supposedly countering my pathological hedonism can be used to boost the pleasure meter^^). I think there was someone on the Playground who said ... Yeah, there it is:
Ravens Cry said:
If magic were real, I am sure one of the first spells invented would be a way to get right blitzed.
And I'll be damned, they are in the PHB right there. Between spells, items and magical drugs, it's a wonder mages in various worlds are not tripping balls all the time.
 
Last edited:

But, if we pull back the curtain and actually look at the repercussions of exploitable resources in D&D, it gets very strange, very quickly. One of my personal favourite ideas was using Brown Mold (absorbs heat) to make refrigeration. Refrigeration is considered one of the biggest technological advances of the millennium. Refrigeration allows for much, much larger cities and higher population densities. Which would have strong impacts on a game world.

That IS interesting. The race for pepper and other spices would have been less intense with quasi-magical refrigeration. There'd be an entire industry of cold-resistant experts who maintain peoples "cold boxes". One wonders how much they'd cost.
 

Well, see this is why, when these threads come up, I always bring up the biological end of things. Sure, magic is going to have an impact, but, it's the flora and fauna that are really going to change things up.

I mean, Brown Mold, for example, is just mold. All you have to do is feed it some heat to make it grow. Keep it in a cold cellar and seal it in, and it will keep stuff cold for a long time. You would need some sort of industry to make the "refrigerators" and install and upkeep for them. But, without the need for electricity, we're talking a pretty minimal sort of investment.

And, it's certainly no more dangerous than an open fire in your house - something we've had for a couple of thousand years. Sure, there will be accidents and people will freeze to death. Yup. But, then again, houses burn down every day, yet we still live in them. We still have fireplaces and candles. I don't think this would be too much different.

One joke idea I remember was Troll in a Can. After all, trolls just continue to regenerate right? Endless food supply. Troll begins regenerating, cut off a slice, cook it and you have an endless meat source. Ok, so that's a bit ridiculous, but, it does illustrate the point.

If there is a way you could exploit a resource, you can be pretty much guaranteed that someone, somewhere will start doing so.
 


I created the term "troll steak" as an addition to Planar Cant, a term that means a meal too big to finish or a task to big to complete. When you bite off more than you can chew and the task seems to expand, you're "munching troll steak". As a DM I would rule a troll needs to be fed to stay alive like any other creature, but could be sustained on things you would not like as much, like bugs and food trimmings. This would make a very unhappy troll, but you could chop off a leg every morning and have food for the day.

Brown mold sealed in a sub-compartment of a metal chest would keep the interior of the chest cold. Brown molds require a little air, water, and nutrient matter once in a while to be healthy, but largely survive on draining heat from other creatures, so feed it a little broth now and then to keep it moist and healthy. Be careful when you open the duct in back of the chiller to pour in its feed, it may try to eat you.
 

Pets & Sidekicks

Remove ads

Top