D&D 5E Monster Tactics: Avoiding Fireballs

[dave2008]

And how often do you ever ask that question of yourself or the worlds you play in?

I've usually play in low to very low magic worlds so not very often.

Hey, we've all been playing in these D&D worlds for 40+ years and never questioned it. I know I have. But I also can readily admit that the technological evolution of these worlds that acquired the types of power they see through high-level magic does not make a lick of sense.

If others don't want to agree and want to think that a world like the Forgotten Realms that has probably thousands of people currently that can cast Fabricate and yet no nation there has had an industrial revolution over their last 10,000 years to monetize and iterate on that yet... hey, you do you.

I've never played in a published world (not even when I started in the 80s) so I don't really know how to respond to this comment. I've learned more about published D&D worlds in the last 5-10 yrs of being on D&D forums than I did the prior 25 +/- years. That being said, I'm sure my own preferences taint my views about them.

To be clear, I understand your point. It is easy to ignore and not think about something doesn't make sense in the light of our own experience. My point is:

1. We don't have magic, orcs, dragons, etc. So we can't really know how that would change things.
2. Now that you've made me think about this issue (which I typically ignore) and I find the more interesting question to be a slightly different slant.

 

[Oofta]

And how often do you ever ask that question of yourself or the worlds you play in?

Hey, we've all been playing in these D&D worlds for 40+ years and never questioned it. I know I have. But I also can readily admit that the technological evolution of these worlds that acquired the types of power they see through high-level magic does not make a lick of sense.

If others don't want to agree and want to think that a world like the Forgotten Realms that has probably thousands of people currently that can cast Fabricate and yet no nation there has had an industrial revolution over their last 10,000 years to monetize and iterate on that yet... hey, you do you.

I've thought about it a bit and it's had an impact on how I design my campaign world. I don't assume people go from "hey if we combine these ingredients we get gunpowder" to fully functional cannon and muskets overnight. Gunpowder was created in China in the 9th century, it wasn't until the 13th century that they saw widespread use. When it was first being used, it was as much shock and awe as anything. When a first level PC can cast thunderwave it becomes less impressive.

But beyond that, one footnote in my world's history is that gunpowder is unstable and when it did become popular for a bit low level "spark" spells were designed to preemptively cause it to explode. It became more of a liability than asset.

When it comes to steam power and so on, there is a bit of that in my world. But things that replicate life occasionally will spontaneously come to life. You don't want a vengeful threshing machine deciding it should mow down people, so you have to have magical protections to prevent it from happening. Those protections are not cheap.

As far as the 10,000 year trope from FR ... yeah. That's just stupid. But outside of that my world is more late renaissance than "medieval". I also assume magic is woven into the fabric of society much like it is in Eberron.

But that's just me. You do you.

 

[Helldritch]

Remember that 10,000 of FR were marred by rise and fall of empires. Barbarism can slow down the technological advancement by a lot.

 

[Tonguez]

Well with D&D it depends on what world your talking about. If only 5 people in the world can "fly" then walls as still important. That, however, is less interesting to me than why does magic cause the society to stagnate in a pseudo-medieval state. Instead of say no, it wouldn't; say yes it does, but how and why. That is more interesting to me.

To defend a city against dragons and other flyers requires towers, linking a network of towers requires building paths between them. In order to save time you could uses bridges, but if your going to do bridges why not make them walls so they defend against Orcs too,

Theres your rationale as to why fantasy cities have walls - its inorder to link the defensible towers where they keep the archers and anti-dragon ballistas.


As to stagnation, China gives yet another example in its division between Urban and Rural life. During the Shang dynasty for instance the rural peasants used ’stone age’ technology while the Urban centers were using bronze.
Then you have the Aeolipile of Anciet Greece, a working steam turbine which was used as a Temple Wonder.

In a fantasy realm I presume that Spellcasters are an elite, that rulers keep track of. Magic Academies are focussed not on development but rather on research into the philosphy and wonders of the Arcane arts, for the sake of Magic.
Those rogue mages who go off and actually do things, even those with the misguided beleif they can help others, are abberations, mad wizards doing fell deeds in their forbidden towers, making bargains with dark powers until Adventurers come along to end their descent into abject Evil