What would a magical world look like? Discussion thread

[Ahnehnois]

One thing that I think D&D does capture is that a magical world would place great value on education. Sure, there are multiple paths to magic, but several of them are really dependent on being trained and educated. The idea of quasi-academic wizardry is quite a compelling social structure, as are the very active churches of D&D. Anyone with intelligence or wisdom would be lining up out the door at whatever institution would allow them to maximize their talents.

This is quite distinct from education as it existed historically.

 

[Hussar]

Are umber hulks really that vicious individually? I think a militia could defeat a single one. Stay back and shoot it. Hopefully you're too far to be affected by its eyes. (A poorly-trained militia might run away or close their eyes though.)

That's not what makes umber hulks so devastating though. It's umber hulk sappers digging under your castle walls that hurt so much. Sure, it can't burrow through stone, but, it can dig pretty darn well. And it's so big and strong that, unlike human sappers who might take months or years to dig tunnels under your walls, it's doing it in days.

Proper world design would prevent this kind of thing from happening. I recall a debate on the WotC years ago about a balor literally taking over Eberron (Teleport Without Error at will, Dominate Person or Monster at will) and how there was no "Big Good" to stop it. Good thing that kind of thing happens every century or so there. The balor didn't come to Eberron by itself, it had a cult, who had to collect resources and run plots, all of which the PCs and heroes of the setting could put a stop to. The balor running wild is what happens if the PCs fail.

And that's the spirit. Either the setting has to take these sorts of things into consideration or come up with some reason why they aren't happening. Although, I don't think that's necessarily good world design to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Having this sort of thing happen can be just as good design as not.

Proper world design would have umber hulks being pretty rare, or harpies being rare or insular. Harpies just aren't interested in many of the same things humans are interested in. An "army" of harpies might be more interested in keeping hostile humans out of their lands and less interested in putting their fragile selves into combat.

Not necessarily. There's no reason that umber hulks have to be rare. There's no reason that harpies aren't interested in things. As a 7 HD creature (in 3e), it's not like harpies are fragile. Remember, that's the weakest example of an adult harpy. A powerful harpy would be much bigger. They may not be the sharpest pencils in the box, but, they could make devastating sorcerers. And, to me, integrating these sorts of things into the game world is more interesting than coming up with ways to say no.