What Should Magitech Be, if not Real Tech...?

[Tequila Sunrise]

Eberron did some interesting things, including bringing magitech into mainstream D&D in a way that hadn't been done before. A lot of people love it; and a lot of people lament how Eberron magitech is basically industrial tech with the serial numbers filed off. Except of course for the warforged.

So my question is...what should magitech be, if not 'lightning' rails, air elemental-powered zeppelins, and 'fire sticks.' Because I like the idea of magitech being something entirely distinct from real world industrial tech.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think of magitech as technology that operates with the assistance of magic. The assistance may be incidental, a shortcut- like a magical light source- or essential- like a ranged weapon whose projectiles are fragments of souls of the recently living...

 

[ComradeGnull]

I think the position, often, is to take technology and add magic; train + magic = lightning rail, zepplin + magic = airship, etc. You could also start from the opposite direction of taking existing magic items, and then scaling them out to industrial levels of production- flying carpet highways, caravans of floating disks, libraries full of scrying mirrors that are programmed to look at the location of any book in the world so it can be read remotely.

You might also think about what the economy would look like in a pre-industrial society- factories and centralized production would be rare. Instead, you would have lots and lots of essentially cottage industry- small scale production taking place within a single family. In a society where magic is common, every grain mill might have a golem to do loading and unloading and drive the mill.

Also worth considering that the annoyances that you would want to fix with technology are quite different in a pre-industrial world. A magically bred horse that is significantly stronger and more enduring than a regular horse would be more useful than a magic-powered model T, given that you are going to need to cross a lot of terrain that probably either has no roads or poor quality ones that flood in the spring and turn into dust bowls in the summer.

 

[delericho]

So my question is...what should magitech be, if not 'lightning' rails, air elemental-powered zeppelins, and 'fire sticks.' Because I like the idea of magitech being something entirely distinct from real world industrial tech.

Why not alternate tech?

There are some things that are trivially easy with our technology (communications, for one), and some things that remain frustratingly hard (curing the common cold). So, with magitech, why not mess about with those parameters - magic makes curing a virus trivial, but doesn't allow for easy long-distance communications. Or something like that.

That way, you get a world that clearly has magical technology, and yet remains distnctly 'other'.

 

[Umbran]

Think back to the science fiction of the 1940s and 1950s. At that time, the authors had flying cars, personal jetpacks, and all that - they figured that what we'd eventually see is a breakthrough in the availability and ability to manipulate energy.

What we got, instead, was a breakthrough in the availability and ability to manipulate information.

So, all those things that the 1950s sci-fi had science doing? That's what magitech should do, because that's what magic typically does - gives you energy resources you'd not otherwise have.

 

[Kaodi]

I think there is a certain sense in which magical spells are the "magitech" . There is not the same sort of divide between theoretical and applied magic that we have with scientific knowledge, as far as I can tell.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I think the position, often, is to take technology and add magic; train + magic = lightning rail, zepplin + magic = airship, etc. You could also start from the opposite direction of taking existing magic items, and then scaling them out to industrial levels of production- flying carpet highways, caravans of floating disks, libraries full of scrying mirrors that are programmed to look at the location of any book in the world so it can be read remotely.

I like this idea! Though I'll have to decide how much, exactly, is within the means of different social classes.

There are some things that are trivially easy with our technology (communications, for one), and some things that remain frustratingly hard (curing the common cold). So, with magitech, why not mess about with those parameters - magic makes curing a virus trivial, but doesn't allow for easy long-distance communications. Or something like that.

I like this too. One thing that magitech does which even modern tech has difficulty with is all-terrain travel. Golems have legs rather than wheels, so they don't need heavy infrastructure to go pretty much anywhere.

So, all those things that the 1950s sci-fi had science doing? That's what magitech should do, because that's what magic typically does - gives you energy resources you'd not otherwise have.

I'm not in love with the idea of fast travel in D&D, but I like your general strategy. What would be great to have that real tech hasn't provided? I know, genetic engineering! Teeth that regrow like a shark's means nobody needs the blacksmith to pull out rotten teeth!

PS: Thanks for the Weird Al trivia from the other thread.

 

[Umbran]

I'm not in love with the idea of fast travel in D&D

*shrug*. D&D already has teleport. Don't get much faster than that.

but I like your general strategy. What would be great to have that real tech hasn't provided? I know, genetic engineering! Teeth that regrow like a shark's means nobody needs the blacksmith to pull out rotten teeth!

Well, to my way of thinking, tech is getting pretty close to giving us genetic engineering - that's basically data manipulation, which real tech is good at.

That's why I propose the split - magitech good at, in essence, violating conservation of energy. Fine control, dependable and repeatable results, and data manipulation is a normal-tech thing.

 

[ComradeGnull]

I like this idea! Though I'll have to decide how much, exactly, is within the means of different social classes.

Actually, that makes me think of something that could be another interesting use of a high magic/technology setting- namely, treating magic like technology in a 3rd world country.

Elites- nobility, whatever the upper classes are- have lots and lots of magical gear to make their lives easier. Create Food/Water cabinets to serve as magical Start Trek-style replicators, magically enhanced formal wear, magical healing for health care, etc. The poor live much more like real peasants in the medieval world would live- malnourished, wearing home-spun clothes, and dying of minor ailments. Of course a few tech goo-gaws from the upper classes would make their way to the streets- lower quality, maybe stolen, and rented out by local entrepreneurs, just as people on the streets in 3rd world countries sell internet and mobile phone access in otherwise isolated villages and kids in Nepal get the 'Superbowl Champions' t-shirts from the loosing team.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

*shrug*. D&D already has teleport. Don't get much faster than that.

True, and I'm considering banning teleportation.

That's why I propose the split - magitech good at, in essence, violating conservation of energy. Fine control, dependable and repeatable results, and data manipulation is a normal-tech thing.

I'm okay with magic violating the conservation of energy law; I guess I just want to restrict how it can do so. Golems? Heck yeah! Personal magitech flight devices? Not so much.