Greetings Hive!
A thought occurred to me last night while playing in a friend's ongoing game.
"Well, now that everyone else is done and quiet..." he began, his lips twisting into a snarl. My paladin was already tensing in his seat, and the rest of the party exchanged glances as mourners shuffled and mumbled in their seats, and fingers crept toward blade handles.
"It's MY TURN to have your attention." The wizard sneered and raised a glowing palm, the scent of ozone bursting in our nostrils as we rose to charge from our seats.
Our GM called for saving throws. All of us failed.
A clap of thunder burst in the centre of the seats, flinging us off our feet and scattering the mourners in a cacophony of pained cries and splintering wood. Our heads swam with the whine of tinnitis as we crawled forward, spitting curses and oaths of violence.
The wizard smiled and stood over Marie, the wife of one of the dead, who lay sprawled and struggling on her back. Again the wizard raised his outstretched palm, aiming down at the stunned widow.
"I see now that you'll never be mine, Marie." He said, as blue light gathered in his palm.
"If I can't have you, no one can." He snarled. The crackle of energy burst from his palm in a scattering of blue bolts that hammered down, blasting Marie's face into a red pulp.
Cries went up as we pushed to our feet - my fingers closed on my sword, the rogue brandished her sentient blade, and the cleric was pushing between the wrecked pews to meet the object of his wrath.
But the wizard had already grasped Marie's daughter, Yukiko, clasping the girl close to him.
"If I can't have your mother, then I shall have you instead, girl!" And casting a final, snarling smile across the carnage, the wizard pursed his fingers together, snapped his fingers, and was gone in a flash of light, and Yukiko with him.
TLDR; The local wizard ambushed a funeral and made off with the daughter of the deceased.
Now, this situation brought up several questions for me. How did no one in the town see this coming? Did no one know of the wizard's obsession ahead of time? Had there been no warning?
Then I started to consider some more far reaching implications of the situation:
Did the town even have any kind of response in case the wizard went awol? Or if another rogue caster arrived in town? What laws exist to respond to these situations?
In essence: How does a society regulate the use of magic?
Some thoughts have occurred to me already: The need for a registry, identification or "license" to practice magic.
But this also opens up a morally dubious area of questioning: "Learned" casters such as wizards and clerics would be voluntarily submitting themselves to this necessary invasion of their privacy. To make an analogy with gun regulation - anyone carrying a gun makes the choice to submit themselves to scrutiny. It is a choice they make in order to legally carry a weapon.
But what about sorcerers? Oracles? Bards? And other casters who are born with and have no choice? To continue the previous analogy, it would be akin to being born with a biological equivalent of a handgun gorwing from your arm instead of a hand.
How might different social and legal structures enforce magical regulation? How would they treat individuals who have no say over their connection to magic?
Regards,
A DM who wants to tell some interesting stories.
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How did no one in the town see this coming? Did no one know of the wizard's obsession ahead of time? Had there been no warning?
There may or may not have been. Not all stalkers are obvious, and those with magic at their disposal can be especially sneaky. Anything from invisibility to scrying can be used.
That said, I'd have to say that in your story there's an extra interesting layer going on that any magic-savvy adventurers who get tasked with recovering Yukiko will ponder. See... this was a set-up. The girl was in league with the wizard all along. How do we know this? Extra-dimensional travel such as dimension door or teleport require a subject to be willing. <<Cue ominous music.>>
Did the town even have any kind of response in case the wizard went awol? Or if another rogue caster arrived in town? What laws exist to respond to these situations?
In essence: How does a society regulate the use of magic?
In a practical sense, it's no different from any hostile. If a CR4 or higher monster walks/crawls into town, the militia isn't going to be able to deal with it. Some local mages may be of assistance, but there's always a challenge bigger than them. Which is where adventurers come in. There's a whole world-spanning class of people who literally move from place to place solving problems. In Golarion, the trick is to simply have enough gold to spark interest.
The need for a registry, identification or "license" to practice magic.
Extremely difficult with rules-as-written. Certainly in a custom campaign world things can be adjusted, and some ultra-powerful organization could be invented, but in a practical sense, what would registration actually do? It wouldn't prevent crimes of passion (like the one you describe) and it wouldn't really interfere with two-thirds of casters who aren't Lawful.
This sort of plot device is interesting, but most usefully applied as an overbearing regime to be overthrown.
To make an analogy with gun regulation - anyone carrying a gun makes the choice to submit themselves to scrutiny. It is a choice they make in order to legally carry a weapon.
Gun registration has its purpose, but it alone doesn't function. For registration to serve a purpose, availability has to be strictly controlled. Here in Canada, gun-availability is strictly controlled. While yes, a determined criminal could likely get their hands on a weapon, overall availability is so low that it's not easy, and therefore by default one can assume - for instance - that if someone is robbing your house, they don't have a gun. Now, guns are permitted - with a permit. Marksmen can obtain handguns for purposes of attending a shooting range. But most people don't practice that hobby, so there are very few guns available to steal and peddle and the registration mostly ensures those with guns are responsible people. But the lack-of-availability is key.
That unfortunately doesn't work in Golarion where magic is as simple to come by as finding a lost spellbook or scroll, aside from the non-learned casters you mention. The game system deliberately makes the wizard class available.
How might different social and legal structures enforce magical regulation? How would they treat individuals who have no say over their connection to magic?
In theory, a divination of some sort could be performed over every childbirth, asking some sick deity if the child will become a caster. But in a low-tech society like that on Golarion, you know it's a big world full of people making babies and delivering them in forests, caravans, on boats, at home, and in caves. Not convenient hospitals.
And even if it were done that way, such a strict program of eugenics wouldn't be popular with Mr. and Mrs. Average. They wouldn't be keen on having their baby euthanized because of some regulation. People would be delivering babies in secret all the time.
So again, such a despotic regime would be more appropriate as an evil plot device than as a practical solution to some possible danger.
Cue echo of the Mutant Registration Act . . . .
And dystopias like the inner parts of Cheliax, the inner parts of Razmiran, Rahadoum, Bachuan, Nidal, Mediogalt, and Hermea would be the most likely to be able to pull this off with some degree of success. Several more, like Galt, Geb, Irrisen, the outer parts of Cheliax, the outer parts of Razmiran, and the worse parts of Mendev (the considerable parts that are Lawful Good in name only) would try, but with a considerable failure rate. Other large dystopias would also aspire to do so, but probably fail hard for the most part. Although small dystopias (like those of clan/small tribe/very small town scale) might have quite a bit of success, since everybody knows everybody in those, thus making it harder to hide).
And as we have seen on Earth, when fear comes up against civil rights, civil rights lose.
In a practical sense, it's no different from any hostile. If a CR4 or higher monster walks/crawls into town, the militia isn't going to be able to deal with it. Some local mages may be of assistance, but there's always a challenge bigger than them. Which is where adventurers come in. There's a whole world-spanning class of people who literally move from place to place solving problems. In Golarion, the trick is to simply have enough gold to spark interest.Did the town even have any kind of response in case the wizard went awol? Or if another rogue caster arrived in town? What laws exist to respond to these situations?
In essence: How does a society regulate the use of magic?
I generally favor this one for my games. An evil wizard is as big of a threat as an evil warlord. In your story you can replace the local wizard with the local blacksmith (who is a capable fighter) and it would end the same.
I've been thinking for a while how characters (player and non) would enforce neutral zones. Leaving the weapons with the doorman doesn't work in a world of monks and wizards. Most solutions are costly. Permanent spells of calm emotions is about as close as it comes. Of course, as the GM we can just write a spell that fits the purpose.
^Not only that, but an awful lot of modern societies attempt to prevent or corrupt the development of any concept of civil rights, and they have harsh penalties too.
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I have moved this thread from the Paizo General Discussion forum to the Homebrew section. Please let me know if you are playing in an AP as opposed to your friend's homebrew campaign.
Have fun, this is a really interesting topic!
In the mindset of medieval people there are no rights, only privileges. You may not practice magic, unless you register/buy a license/join a guild/swear fealty.
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^It's not just medieval people, either . . . .