Irda Ranger
First Post
It occurred to me the other day that Aging bonuses to Int, Wis and Chr stack quite nicely with stat bonuses due to level, if you happen to be a spell-casting character. Now, of course, this by itself should not be news to anyone, but consider this ...
In Thay, all humans are tested for magical ability, and anyone who might have it is trained to be a Red Wizard. Now, according to the rules, all you need to be a Spellcaster is a primary stat (Int, in this case) of 10+ Well, that's 62.3% of the human population of Thay (pop. 2.65 Million). They probably don't train all 1.65 Million folks (people with an Int of 10 make lousy Wizards), but let's say they take everyone with an Int of 12+. That's about 37.5% of the population (using straight 3d6). So, we've got a cool million folks in Thay (at any given time) who have qualified for magical training as youths.
Its a pretty fair assumption that these folks are spread out over the age-curve fairly regularly. That puts about 100,000 Wizards in each decade of life (0-9,10-19 ... 90-99).
With access to a wide variety of life-sustaining magic (Cure Disease, etc) and a good food supply, I think that political infighting and warfare are the only major population controls on Red Wizards. Hence, most of them live to Old Age. Remember folks, they only get craftier and meaner as they get older.
So, how fast do they level up? Not everyone can be an adventurer I suppose, but being a Red Wizard can't be all boring. You need 13.33 encounters with a CR equal to your level to level up. Just 4~5 encounters / year will level you up every 3 years. Over a lifetime, that puts you at level 20 by the age of 80. A slightly more adventurous life (going on adventure just once a year) will speed that up considerably.
So where is that Intelligence 12 caster by level 20, age 70? She's got in Intelligence of 20! That's where. Just leveling and aging grant you a total of +8 to Intelligence, and what 20th level caster worth her salt wouldn't have a lil' something to boost that Intelligence by at least +4?
Where does this leave us? With a nation that has 300,000+ Epic Level Wizards, that's where. That's right. 1 in every 9 people you meet (300,000/ 2.65M) is an Epic Level Wizard. Even if only one third of that number make it to that level (and killing off two thirds of your pop with just politics and war is a whole bunch) that still leaves you with 1 in every 25 Thayvians is an Epic Level Wizard.
Who wants to do the numbers for Halrua?
Irda Ranger
In Thay, all humans are tested for magical ability, and anyone who might have it is trained to be a Red Wizard. Now, according to the rules, all you need to be a Spellcaster is a primary stat (Int, in this case) of 10+ Well, that's 62.3% of the human population of Thay (pop. 2.65 Million). They probably don't train all 1.65 Million folks (people with an Int of 10 make lousy Wizards), but let's say they take everyone with an Int of 12+. That's about 37.5% of the population (using straight 3d6). So, we've got a cool million folks in Thay (at any given time) who have qualified for magical training as youths.
Its a pretty fair assumption that these folks are spread out over the age-curve fairly regularly. That puts about 100,000 Wizards in each decade of life (0-9,10-19 ... 90-99).
With access to a wide variety of life-sustaining magic (Cure Disease, etc) and a good food supply, I think that political infighting and warfare are the only major population controls on Red Wizards. Hence, most of them live to Old Age. Remember folks, they only get craftier and meaner as they get older.
So, how fast do they level up? Not everyone can be an adventurer I suppose, but being a Red Wizard can't be all boring. You need 13.33 encounters with a CR equal to your level to level up. Just 4~5 encounters / year will level you up every 3 years. Over a lifetime, that puts you at level 20 by the age of 80. A slightly more adventurous life (going on adventure just once a year) will speed that up considerably.
So where is that Intelligence 12 caster by level 20, age 70? She's got in Intelligence of 20! That's where. Just leveling and aging grant you a total of +8 to Intelligence, and what 20th level caster worth her salt wouldn't have a lil' something to boost that Intelligence by at least +4?
Where does this leave us? With a nation that has 300,000+ Epic Level Wizards, that's where. That's right. 1 in every 9 people you meet (300,000/ 2.65M) is an Epic Level Wizard. Even if only one third of that number make it to that level (and killing off two thirds of your pop with just politics and war is a whole bunch) that still leaves you with 1 in every 25 Thayvians is an Epic Level Wizard.
Who wants to do the numbers for Halrua?
Irda Ranger
*always wanted to use that spell...*
