What would people with these Intelligence scores act like?

[Kian]

Well, earlier when I brought it up, I did say "assuming you had the materials you needed." But I know what you mean.

I think the ultimate weapon in fantasy could be just mixing high tech with powerful magic.

I thought of that "Hollow Golem" bit a while back too lmao my DM entertained the idea once, letting my Wizard pilot an Iron Golem for a special session, it was pretty fun. On the chest we made a wall of force so he could peer out, and he had a "Bracelet of Airbreathing" we just made up.

The reason I said Gundam earlier is because I thought that was pretty far along hahaha. Even making a lightsaber would be pretty gnarly since its a laser that comes out and stops. (But we already got Mindblades for that hahaha)

Well, if you have all the materials already, you don't need to be particularly intelligent. Just assemble it all.

Mixing magic and tech is kind of silly, though. Tech arises from the need to deal with complicated situations. I want to lift something heavy, I create a crane to leverage the strength I have.

Magic solves the problem directly. I want to raise something, I cast levitation. In order to develop a crane, magic would have to be less available than the intelligence required to work out the principles of physics a crane operates on and developing the crane. If magic is freely available, technology doesn't develop because it is unnecessary. All the smart people would be using the available solution, magic, to solve the problems. Not studying the natural world for mechanical solutions.

Magic would then stunt technological advancement. Why study anything but the most basic first aid if healing magic deals with stuff that medicine can't even come close to? You'd need to make magic very scarce or limited to encourage smart people becoming scientists and engineers instead of wizards.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Magic only stunts technology insofar as it is common.

Think: it is all well & good that you can use spells to do X task, but then you raise the question of who will do the casting.

The guy who can cast a half-dozen levitations per day may not be all that interested in doing so. Not exactly glamorous & exciting, being a human forklift or crane.

And how many guys like that are there? Even in high-magic D&D- across editions- not every being with the intelligence, wisdom or charisma to use magic learns to do so. It can't all be about personal choice ("I don't want to learn magic because..."), there has to be something else going on.

Factors would include:

1) personal choice (see above)

2) attrition (the protruding nail gets hammered)

3) the practice of magic requires something more than a willingness to learn ("The Spark")

4) the actual costs of using spells is, in the long run, more expenive than mundane tech for the same job (component costs, duration, "wildness"/anti-magic prevalance, spell durations, etc.)

 

[Kian]

I did clarify that technological development was inversely proportional to the availability of magic. Specifically, I said that "In order to develop a crane, magic would have to be less available than the intelligence required to work out the principles of physics a crane operates on and developing the crane. If magic is freely available, technology doesn't develop because it is unnecessary."

While requiring that someone personally cast levitation would make magic very scarce, thus encouraging technology, you could have an item enchanted to do so that would lead to stunted development.

The cost of the item would have to be weighed against the cost of maintaining an equivalent workforce over time, and the research and development costs of the crane. It would make economic sense, particularly as a society became richer and more advanced, to replace menial labor with magical doodads. Much like we have replaced it with technological doodads. Get an enchanted item that can enchant other items, and you'd have a full on 'magic revolution' to match the industrial revolution.

But even if magic is rare, if the smartest people have the means to either choose to devote their lives to the study of a field that will allow them to materialize their desires versus one where they can toil endlessly without a guarantee of a result, only to see others benefit from their effort, I expect many might choose to go with the former. Both magic and technology require brilliant minds to advance them, and magic is very attractive to the individual, even if technology benefits the society more.

How far behind would we be today if the greatest scientists of the past fifty years had taken up magic instead of their fields?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But even if magic is rare, if the smartest people have the means to either choose to devote their lives to the study of a field that will allow them to materialize their desires versus one where they can toil endlessly without a guarantee of a result, only to see others benefit from their effort, I expect many might choose to go with the former. Both magic and technology require brilliant minds to advance them, and magic is very attractive to the individual, even if technology benefits the society more.

Which is why many authors talk about the practice of magic- or to mix Arthur Clark's famous aphorism with Stargate, sufficiently advanced technology- requiring some kind of heredity. "The Spark."

IOW, in many settings, even those who have the necessary intellect and drive to study magic may not be able to do so successfully because the practice of magic requires a genetic component they simply don't have. That alone could cut into the ubiquity of magic.

As for item usage, again, many (non-game) settings limit who can use what kinds of magic. Often, weapons and armor are universally usable- if you wield it, you can use it fully. However, more powerful arms and armor are often linked to particular bloodlines (you're a Shannara) or having a certain status (you're the rightful King of England), and so forth.

Or some magics can only be used by their creators, or must be ritually attuned to one and only one user. Wands and staves are often like this.

And so forth.

 

[James the Newbie]

Was just reading dragon magazines (Just read dragon 359) And in it was an epic creature 'time dragon' with the oldest having an intelligence of 74

It seemed to not care about anything at all, and rarely even concerned itself with a god. (It was also kinda cool, it was always under the effect of hast, and any non instantaneous spell didn't effect them, also they rolled two d20's and picked the one they preferred, plus a lot more; but hey they are epic dragons)