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Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!
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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 8928730" data-attributes="member: 87792"><p>To me what this says is that they've actually done a little world building using the D&D rules and haven't decided that wizard hats should all have the letter D painted on them.</p><p></p><p>If we look at the spells <a href="https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Arcane%20Lock#content" target="_blank">Arcane Lock</a> and <a href="https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Continual%20Flame#content" target="_blank">Continual Flame</a> we find the duration "Until Dispelled" on both of them. In literally <em>any</em> controlled environment in D&D 5e where money isn't an issue these two spells should be staples. A cheap lock costs 10GP and is DC15 to pick for anyone proficient in thieves' tools, while adding Arcane Lock is 25GP in reagents and raises that to DC 25 while increasing the break DC by 10. <em>Not</em> going for arcane locks for anything significant (or even interesting) is simply penny pinching. The lack of a canon cheap permanent method of heating (either for heating buildings or cooking) feels more like an oversight than anything else. [spoiler]And Anti-magic fields are a D&D staple - and holding prisoners is absurdly hard in D&D without.[/spoiler] Yes it's a magi-tech system. It's D&D magic.</p><p></p><p>As for "a small staff of wizards using scrying and a crystal ball for surveillance"? The prison itself is based on Bentham's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon" target="_blank">Panopticon</a> so it doesn't need it. Having wizards continually casting and dispelling their arcane locks at 25GP a throw when they are explicitly able to be opened under set conditions would be silly and unjustifiable. Scrying offers saving throws - and things that shut down magic as you might want to do to prisoners also shut it down. </p><p></p><p>As for D&D moving into science fiction without lasers people have mentioned <em>Barrier Peaks</em> and I'd add to that the sheer reproducible and consistent nature of D&D magic with no backlash is a science fiction thing. But that line was crossed with a vengeance with 3.0 in 2000 definitively putting the enchantment of reliable magic items under the control of the players. 3.0 wasn't just trying to be science fiction but <em>hard</em> science fiction, ensuring that almost everything was a feat or a spell-like ability. 4e and following it 5e walked that back. This isn't trying to shut the barn door after the horse has bolted. The horses have not only bolted, but bolted long ago some of them have grandchildren.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 8928730, member: 87792"] To me what this says is that they've actually done a little world building using the D&D rules and haven't decided that wizard hats should all have the letter D painted on them. If we look at the spells [URL='https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Arcane%20Lock#content']Arcane Lock[/URL] and [URL='https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Continual%20Flame#content']Continual Flame[/URL] we find the duration "Until Dispelled" on both of them. In literally [I]any[/I] controlled environment in D&D 5e where money isn't an issue these two spells should be staples. A cheap lock costs 10GP and is DC15 to pick for anyone proficient in thieves' tools, while adding Arcane Lock is 25GP in reagents and raises that to DC 25 while increasing the break DC by 10. [I]Not[/I] going for arcane locks for anything significant (or even interesting) is simply penny pinching. The lack of a canon cheap permanent method of heating (either for heating buildings or cooking) feels more like an oversight than anything else. [spoiler]And Anti-magic fields are a D&D staple - and holding prisoners is absurdly hard in D&D without.[/spoiler] Yes it's a magi-tech system. It's D&D magic. As for "a small staff of wizards using scrying and a crystal ball for surveillance"? The prison itself is based on Bentham's [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon']Panopticon[/URL] so it doesn't need it. Having wizards continually casting and dispelling their arcane locks at 25GP a throw when they are explicitly able to be opened under set conditions would be silly and unjustifiable. Scrying offers saving throws - and things that shut down magic as you might want to do to prisoners also shut it down. As for D&D moving into science fiction without lasers people have mentioned [I]Barrier Peaks[/I] and I'd add to that the sheer reproducible and consistent nature of D&D magic with no backlash is a science fiction thing. But that line was crossed with a vengeance with 3.0 in 2000 definitively putting the enchantment of reliable magic items under the control of the players. 3.0 wasn't just trying to be science fiction but [I]hard[/I] science fiction, ensuring that almost everything was a feat or a spell-like ability. 4e and following it 5e walked that back. This isn't trying to shut the barn door after the horse has bolted. The horses have not only bolted, but bolted long ago some of them have grandchildren. [/QUOTE]
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