Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ace" data-source="post: 74270" data-attributes="member: 944">Why should DND societys have a caste type system though? If you are a Sorcerer or Psion   (no books required!)who can kill an army with a few words, summon a dozen demons and fly high above the ground are you really going to go for "divine right of kings"Power corrupts.Even Non spell users aren't likely to be all that impressed with divine right or social order after a while. HMM I could be King if it weren't formy lowly birth, I slew the Worm of Gebraks or whatever and yet they treat me like dirt....An idea forms and our fighter and his buddies are the new rulers. Disobey them and be Geased....Or less extreme Okay I am a 15th levl fighter and have killed 300 men, I am supposed to bow and scrape to you?My armor made for me by the Demon lords makes me immune to your archers and I can kill your army in a triceI suspect the kind would basically have to fight his own battles if he wasn't willing to reward his people. Even Fuedal armies had to be paid in loot or hard cash.  . Even in the high chivalric period people were contentious status seeking and motivated mostly by personal gain. The thing is in a DND enviroment A king needs heros. Lets say he sends his army of Knights (a bunch of 5-10th level fighters) against a dragon. You can assume 50%+ casulties and remember it takes years to Ttrain new knights. I suppose he could pay a willing priest to raise them if he had the money but that presumes he wins or another monster doesn't come by or a host of other disasters don't hppen.As faras social change Don't forget the Black Death and the associated social changes it made. Or for that matter the Peasnts Uprising  of 1381. While the revolution wasn't a success (The leader Watt Tyler was killed) they were able to force the King himself to parley. Now what if what had a mage handy.... DND character especially spell casters possess all the subtle powers of the modern age. Don't like the social order-- No problem Cause Disease ( Wowwee it's the black death)Need troops Summon Monster or Create Undead or...Worried about being injured? Protection from arrows (oops there goes the archer units) and so onFuedalism and like social structures exist in a world without DND style magic or lots of monsters.  No one can take on a dozen people be wounded then be healed in a day...A group of knights (mid level) can be obliterated by a few fireballs from a relativly low level mage.Also the Castles and Forts that are the basis for control in a mideivil society don't work too well in a magic rich enviroment.It isa lot harder to hide from a peasant uprising when the water is blighted magically, monsters appear from no where and so on.I see no reason the ridiculously powerfull people would necessarily be impressed by the social order.  Yest there might be Court Wizards and the like but not everyone supports a caste system real world examples The Cathars of  the Albigensian Hearsey or The Knights Templar who basically got to set thier own rules.Fuedalism was basically rule by strength (it started in the Dark Ages) keep in place with superstitious mumbo jumboIn a world with mighty magic in the hands of the peasantry, monsters capable of killing whole cities and heros capable of defeating small armies I see little reason a caste system could survive for long.</blockquote>

Verification