Society, Beauty and the Magic World

[kolvar]

When I prepared some festivities in my campaign, I thought about the great possibilities in a d20 campaign to improve the beauty of a person. Not only does disguise help, but lots of minor and major magic can grant beauty for a short or loner time. Which started me to think about the implication of for on the nobility and the rich in any campaign with at least a medium amount of magic.
When I look at the amount of surgery done to improve the looks, and the energy people spend to improve their body, wouldn't it be natural for the upper class in the normal D&D environment, to spend quite a bit of money on their beauty-mage? Wrinkles? with some low level de-wrinkle-spell no problem. small breasts? ugly nose? wrong ear-shape? If you do not go for the big gun (shapechange), some specialised magic (improve nose) should suffice. Thanks to magic and your fitness-cleric, you stay youthful and fit till you drop dead from old age (when everyone wonders, why such a young person dies, till they hear the true age).
Therefore, there will not be an ugly member of the upper-class, why should there be? This leads to an even greater gap between the upper (the beautiful) and the lower (the ugly) classes.
Somehow the more I think about implications of magic on society, I come to the conclusion, that the rather high level of magic in some campaigns is never thought through.

Just my empty pockets (no cents here).

 

[Mardoc Redcloak]

And what about powerful wizards and sorcerers themselves? Wouldn't they all make themselves look young and handsome?

Hmm, perhaps we should put a few stereotypes to rest....

 

[RangerWickett]

Honestly, though it's somewhat sexist, in a setting with magic, I fully expect the majority of female adventurers to be super-hot. The men would be too, though.

Of course, I also expect most teenagers to completely screwed up, using charm spells to get people to like them, and transmutations to deal with body image issues, and cutting themselves and then using cure magic to hide the injuries, and getting stoned off of 'touch of idiocy.'

And let's not even delve into the twisted stuff that would happen when you give horny teenagers access to magic. Scary.

 

[Mardoc Redcloak]

Honestly, though it's somewhat sexist, in a setting with magic, I fully expect the majority of female adventurers to be super-hot. The men would be too, though.

Well, some wouldn't bother to expend the resources, or might refuse out of pride, or might be more comfortable with their natural bodies than with an artificial version.

Of course, I also expect most teenagers to completely screwed up, using charm spells to get people to like them, and transmutations to deal with body image issues, and cutting themselves and then using cure magic to hide the injuries, and getting stoned off of 'touch of idiocy.'

And let's not even delve into the twisted stuff that would happen when you give horny teenagers access to magic. Scary.

Assuming D&D levels of magical rarity and expense, I don't think many teenagers--except maybe the children of the super-rich--would have access to much magic at all.

Which is probably good for the world.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

And what about powerful wizards and sorcerers themselves? Wouldn't they all make themselves look young and handsome?

Hmm, perhaps we should put a few stereotypes to rest....

There are cantrips along these lines in the Complete Book of Eldritch Might. And yeah, it seems like an obvious application of basic illusion/transmutation magic.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Have you read the series of books by David Farland, Runelords, I think it's called? In that series, the nobility of the setting take endowments from their subjects. Some of the more common endowments mentioned by the author in the series are: beauty, strength, metabolism (grants speed), sight, hearing, and --forgive me here, it's been a long time since I last read one of the books in this series and I forget.

In the novels, giving an endowment could only be done voluntarily. Of course, the more unscrupulous lords within the setting manipulated their subjects into granting endowments. In any case, giving an endowment left the giver seriously crippled. A person who gave beauty became a crone, withered on both the outside and the inside, devoid of self-esteem in addition to looks. Giving metabolism left one a total vegetable. Sight left one blind, etc, etc.. Some of the characters in the series took endowments of smell from dogs but doing so was alluded to being rather barbaric. A righteous nobleman was responsible for the continued lifelong caretaking of those from whom he or she'd received endowments. The supplicants might live together on the nobleman's castle grounds, specially protected by the best guards (because killing a king's supplicant would divest him of the endowment) and be "pampered" with whatever luxury the nobleman might afford. The family of the endowment giver, often poor peasants, would be richly rewarded for the service of their family member and given "gifts" of gold by the nobleman.

It's an interesting read. There is a whole series of social, ethical, and political implications to the endowment system that the author explores to one degree or another in the books.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

This is a side issue with magic. I could see a D&D society where the rich spend money on magical masks to constantly change their appearance.

 

[jmucchiello]

This is a side issue with magic. I could see a D&D society where the rich spend money on magical masks to constantly change their appearance.

Hat of disguise costs what? Don't trust anyone with something in their hair.