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Napoleon's Army with Magic and Air Support and More
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<blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 7359515" data-attributes="member: 30022"><p>XP for mentioning these factors, because they're vastly more important than the battlefield implications. </p><p></p><p>Unless wizards and dragons are being fielded in vast numbers, they're not significant on the battlefield. I know that footage from Game of Thrones looks awesome, but a dragon simply isn't going to do much against an army of 40,000 guys with rifles. It kills a few hundred people with a pass, and is then gunned out of the air. A 10th level wizard has, what, eight <em>fireballs</em> memorized? Insignificant against a dozen batteries of howitzers.</p><p></p><p>You could say: "But think of the morale implications!"... and then the opposing general uses the fact that the enemy has a dragon as living proof that they are in league with the Devil. For many religiously-motivated countries in that era, the presence of a dragon might actually make the enemy fight harder (or recruit more troops) - because they are utterly convinced you are evil.</p><p></p><p>But intelligence... wow. A single wizard with a crystal ball would be a game-breaker in virtually any war. So many battles hinged on secret intel (or lack of intel), even in more modern conflicts with radar and radio and telegraph. </p><p></p><p>Better yet, the espionage opportunities. Infiltrate the enemy lines with a simple <em>disguise self</em>, and either charm or masquerade as the enemy leader. Heck, why even fight a war? Simply <em>dominate</em> or replace other national leaders, and they become your puppet states.</p><p></p><p>Unless magic is purely restricted to raw energy/matter manipulation (flashy special effects), it all occurs behind the scenes. When you really consider it, modern nations have nuclear weapons and stealth fighters and all kinds of "magical" nonsense. But the real power is in intel, finance, propaganda and leverage. That's going to be equally true if magic is real. Nobody wants the collateral damage of slugging it out with dragons, when they can avoid it all by using divination magic to locate where all the super-rare resources can be found... magically transmute dirt into oil... control the minds of opposing views... sway the voting populace with illusions and enchantment.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lancelot, post: 7359515, member: 30022"] XP for mentioning these factors, because they're vastly more important than the battlefield implications. Unless wizards and dragons are being fielded in vast numbers, they're not significant on the battlefield. I know that footage from Game of Thrones looks awesome, but a dragon simply isn't going to do much against an army of 40,000 guys with rifles. It kills a few hundred people with a pass, and is then gunned out of the air. A 10th level wizard has, what, eight [I]fireballs[/I] memorized? Insignificant against a dozen batteries of howitzers. You could say: "But think of the morale implications!"... and then the opposing general uses the fact that the enemy has a dragon as living proof that they are in league with the Devil. For many religiously-motivated countries in that era, the presence of a dragon might actually make the enemy fight harder (or recruit more troops) - because they are utterly convinced you are evil. But intelligence... wow. A single wizard with a crystal ball would be a game-breaker in virtually any war. So many battles hinged on secret intel (or lack of intel), even in more modern conflicts with radar and radio and telegraph. Better yet, the espionage opportunities. Infiltrate the enemy lines with a simple [I]disguise self[/I], and either charm or masquerade as the enemy leader. Heck, why even fight a war? Simply [I]dominate[/I] or replace other national leaders, and they become your puppet states. Unless magic is purely restricted to raw energy/matter manipulation (flashy special effects), it all occurs behind the scenes. When you really consider it, modern nations have nuclear weapons and stealth fighters and all kinds of "magical" nonsense. But the real power is in intel, finance, propaganda and leverage. That's going to be equally true if magic is real. Nobody wants the collateral damage of slugging it out with dragons, when they can avoid it all by using divination magic to locate where all the super-rare resources can be found... magically transmute dirt into oil... control the minds of opposing views... sway the voting populace with illusions and enchantment. [/QUOTE]
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