First time posting, I hope I'm doing this right.
A friend and I are highly academic sorts, and we do a lot of theorizing and trying to apply real world logic to RPG settings. Usually this is just idle talk over lunch or whatever, but recently I've started writing an entire world and its history based off this question: if it is possible to gain magical casting via study (like wizards do), why aren't there more wizards? In the real world we are expected to go through 13+ years of mandatory education before entering adulthood. I would like to post my early writings here for feedback, if that's OK.
Something something the Medieval period is eternal
I thought th implication was that being a spellcaster requires inborn inborn talent (before even getting to things like Sorcerer Bloodlines), even for trained/prepared spellcasters -- it's just that player characters are assumed to have this until proven other wise.
Why aren't PC-class characters of all types more common, and more commonly at high levels, even though player characters advance rapidly in the course of an Adventure Path? People are rapidly promoted to their level of incompetence . . . And there they stay.
I thought th implication was that being a spellcaster requires inborn inborn talent (before even getting to things like Sorcerer Bloodlines), even for trained/prepared spellcasters -- it's just that player characters are assumed to have this until proven other wise.
Not according to the flavor text for wizards, at least. It just says that there is magic beyond the ken of mere mortals, and those with the intellect can grasp it if they study. The requirement to cast spells is 10 + Spell level Int, and using a distribution curve of both IQ and random dice rolls means about 30% of the population should be able to cast Fireball.
Either way, is this place where I would share the world I'm constructing? Or am I on the wrong forum?
Think of the flavor text for Wizards as being incomplete . . . Designed to give the common folk the illusion that they should throw their lot in with the magic-wielding elites because they might themselves become part of the elites. It's true for just enough of them to keep their loyalty.
With respect to which forum to use, I am not an expert on forum subdivision, but I would lean towards Pathfinder General Discussion or maybe Homebrew, depending upon how in-depth you plan to make your world-building.
Not wrong really. This is the 3.5 forums so check out the Eberron setting from WoTC. The idea that magic isn't prevalent in say Pathfinder is because no setting has utilized it like Keith Baker did. But he also built the Eberron setting around the system as opposed to the system conforming to the setting.
I've actually only played Pathfinder and I'm most familiar with that setting, but the aforementioned friend has told me about Eberron. I was crafting this for Pathfinder rules and lore, but I didn't see a Pathfinder forum on the gaming page. Am I just blind?
There are a few baseline societal assumptions in place in most fantasy settings:
1) Pseudo-Medievalism: Basically, this means that people are trained in a trade through apprenticeship, usually starting in adolescence; also, gaining an apprenticeship often requires "connections" (usually based on family relationships). Many arcane casters don't want the "hassle" of training an apprentice; even those that do seldom take more than one.
2) Lack of widespread education systems: Formal schooling (beyond basic literacy, mathematics, and civics/religion) is the exception, not the rule. Institutions that teach arcane magic (academies, universities, etc.) are few and far between (and often have restrictions on entry).
3) Arcane casters are secretive: Most arcane casters are depicted as being reluctant to share information; even requiring a fee for someone to copy spells from their spellbook. More arcane casters means more competition; also, they may not want any "rivals" (or legitimate enemies) to gain knowledge (second-hand) of their capabilities (spells available) or even access to the same resources (i.e., by sending a "ringer" to copy spells). In more extreme cases, they are shown as sponsoring theft and/or assassination.
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It's not easy learning. The top school has something around a 10% mortality rate for students. Take a look at the starting ages- only people rich enough to make it most of the way to middle age without doing useful work become wizards.
As for rolls, most people don't get 3d6. They get a standard set of stats equivalent to a ten-point buy.
A possible reason could be that just like going to college IRL, unless you are very self-driven, and know someone who can get you access to the books, you're not going to be able to learn some things even if you have the IQ potential.
{. . .}
And this brings up the unsettling question of what format student loan debt takes in a quasi-Medieval fantasy world . . . .
First time posting, I hope I'm doing this right.
A friend and I are highly academic sorts, and we do a lot of theorizing and trying to apply real world logic to RPG settings. Usually this is just idle talk over lunch or whatever, but recently I've started writing an entire world and its history based off this question: if it is possible to gain magical casting via study (like wizards do), why aren't there more wizards? In the real world we are expected to go through 13+ years of mandatory education before entering adulthood. I would like to post my early writings here for feedback, if that's OK.
Because D&D settings traditionally don't pay attention to the rules and the logical consequences thereof. The stories written around them tend to be cringeworthy or just pay lip service to the game rules.
Partly it is a marketing thing, of course. If the setting doesn't appeal, then binding rules and setting tightly together just closes off part of the market (see Earthdawn)
For D&D and Pathfinder specifically, it's also part of the pretense that spellcasters aren't inherently superior to everything else. So there's handwavium to the effect that magic is somehow hard or rare, despite X% of the population being wizards (or whatever) and this somehow not having knock on effects.
By the by, yes you did miss the specific Pathfinder board. Link.
This discussion probably goes in the General Discussion subforum, unless getting ideas for your setting is the primary goal, in which case it's probably better clarified and reposted in Suggestions/Houserules/Homebrew.
By the by, yes you did miss the specific Pathfinder board. Link.
This discussion probably goes in the General Discussion subforum, unless getting ideas for your setting is the primary goal, in which case it's probably better clarified and reposted in Suggestions/Houserules/Homebrew.
Thank you sir. I'll move over to the appropriate boards.