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What Magic Would Be Most Realistically Most Impactful?
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<blockquote data-quote="doctorbadwolf" data-source="post: 7643909" data-attributes="member: 6704184"><p>There are actually two questions there. </p><p></p><p>1) How rare does the setting "want" those things to be?</p><p></p><p>2) Can any of the types of magic be taught to anyone? Sorcery is inherent, but can wizardry simply be trained? What about pact magic? Could a warlock who gains political or mercantile power train others to make the same pact and create a nation with FeyLock knights patrolling the land to protect the populace? Could a wizard create a public school of wizardry? Can a Bard college teach you how to channel the power of language and song to create wonders even if you have no inherent knack for it? </p><p></p><p>Some DMs and writers will begin from question 1 and use it to answer question 2, while some will go the other way around. </p><p></p><p>I prefer to determine the magic of a setting by answering question 2, and then make a world that makes sense to me from that premise. </p><p></p><p>If wizardry, bardic magic, pact magic, and even divine/druidic magic can be taught to literally anyone with a will to learn it, then we can reasonably assume much greater proliferation of magic, magic items, enchanted infrastructure, etc. </p><p></p><p>But what that looks like changes dramatically if only wizardry can, or if pacts are easily made and there are entities that are friendly seelie fey or hexblades can be forged by mortals, or if druidry or divine magic can be learnt by anyone of faith with fellows to invest them, or if learning Bardic magic is as easy as learning to be a bard in real world history (so, years of study, but no magical spark required).</p><p></p><p>If wizardly ritual casting is something that simply takes a decade of learning, that's gonna be as common as blacksmiths. Just those level 1 rituals are very powerful.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="doctorbadwolf, post: 7643909, member: 6704184"] There are actually two questions there. 1) How rare does the setting "want" those things to be? 2) Can any of the types of magic be taught to anyone? Sorcery is inherent, but can wizardry simply be trained? What about pact magic? Could a warlock who gains political or mercantile power train others to make the same pact and create a nation with FeyLock knights patrolling the land to protect the populace? Could a wizard create a public school of wizardry? Can a Bard college teach you how to channel the power of language and song to create wonders even if you have no inherent knack for it? Some DMs and writers will begin from question 1 and use it to answer question 2, while some will go the other way around. I prefer to determine the magic of a setting by answering question 2, and then make a world that makes sense to me from that premise. If wizardry, bardic magic, pact magic, and even divine/druidic magic can be taught to literally anyone with a will to learn it, then we can reasonably assume much greater proliferation of magic, magic items, enchanted infrastructure, etc. But what that looks like changes dramatically if only wizardry can, or if pacts are easily made and there are entities that are friendly seelie fey or hexblades can be forged by mortals, or if druidry or divine magic can be learnt by anyone of faith with fellows to invest them, or if learning Bardic magic is as easy as learning to be a bard in real world history (so, years of study, but no magical spark required). If wizardly ritual casting is something that simply takes a decade of learning, that's gonna be as common as blacksmiths. Just those level 1 rituals are very powerful. [/QUOTE]
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