Fantasy Setting Ideas

[AlexanderHowl]

No, Summon Elemental is what I was talking about. Nearby is relative, depending on the metaphysics of the setting, it could be on an Elemental Plane, as each Elemental Plane may connect to manifestations of its element. Now, Create Elemental would result in a 500 CP elemental (which is still respectable), though it would be quite slow.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

No, Summon Elemental is what I was talking about. Nearby is relative, depending on the metaphysics of the setting, it could be on an Elemental Plane, .

If someone tried to Summon a 1000pt Elemental in one of my games they'd get told "None Available". Probably even if you were using Planar Summons. If there was one on an Elemental Plane you'd find that no human could control it.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by DangerousThing

Yes, you might be able to keep this mage captive by taking away his power, but then he isn't out increasing crop yields or enchanting swords.

You give him his power back, and he might escape, or worse.

I suppose you could have the mage work in a normal-mana area, surrounded by a no-mana ring with mundane guards.

[Opellulo]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

An I said to myself, "Self? Does this make sense? These mages have spells that can easily incapacitate a foe to defeat them. In fact the heroine has gone through the entire series without killing anyone even when she was thrown into a battle. Mages are immensely valuable economic assets. Why aren't they fighting to capture rather than kill the other side's mages?".

I don't know the series you are talking about but it seems to draw from the tired trope of considering magic=nobility (thanks again Tolkien) further cementing the metaphor with such a reactionary idea like making magic hereditary.

Yes the "realistic" thing to do in such setting would be to have highly ritualized fights with almost no blood spill unless the things get heated (a la Capulet and Montague)... Or even straighter, simply out-bred the opposition allowing mages to have concubines and such: who cares if you killed my 14th born?

But it's fantasy, it's not meant to be realistic.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Opellulo

Yes the "realistic" thing to do in such setting would be to have highly ritualized fights with almost no blood spill unless the things get heated (a la Capulet and Montague)

Logical, perhaps, but not necessarily realistic. Humans will certainly take less-logical approaches to a variety of situations. Honestly, war itself is arguably illogical, considering the belligerents could accomplish a lot more by working together, but that's generally not the way humans are wired. Although maybe that's why you used quotation marks?

Originally Posted by Opellulo

Or even straighter, simply out-bred the opposition allowing mages to have concubines and such: who cares if you killed my 14th born?

The Powder Mage trilogy did something like this, with their Privileged (the closest equivalents to typical fantasy mages in the setting) tending to be rather promiscuous; the fact their interacting with the fabric of magic apparently leaves them with a higher libido and makes them more attractive doesn't exactly reign this in, either. One of the characters mentions the royal families tend to promote and enable such behavior amongst their court mages (while largely keeping it out of public knowledge), not only to keep them happy but because it means more Privileged to draw from next generation. Privileged there are used primarily to support the royal family and in military capacities, however, rather than improving crop yields and the like (I'd imagine Knacked - people with minor, idiosyncratic "magic," such as a soldier who doesn't need sleep, an investigator with a perfect memory, or a courtier who can smell when people are lying - are more likely to be employed in such support capacities).

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Opellulo

I don't know the series you are talking about but it seems to draw from the tired trope of considering magic=nobility (thanks again Tolkien) further cementing the metaphor with such a reactionary idea like making magic hereditary.

.

There are only a few options for how to handle people with magic powers and "persecuted as witches" is far more tired. Also the people with magic weren't the nobility in Tolkien.

Now it depends on just how magic works. If as in default GURPS Magic, mastering magic is an extremely time consuming endeavour it actually makes sense for magicians to be rarely nobles because powerful magicians are simply too busy pursuing more magical power to spend time administering a realm. In such a case it makes more sense for them to seek out wealthy patrons to support them or to become reclusive hermit researchers providing for their needs with magic and occasional customers.

But if as in Spoken Mage, after about 10 years of education they get about as good as they'll ever be, then becoming the ruling class with their edge in power makes sense. Doubly so in this particular case, since they are also the only people capable of reading and writing.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

You can change whatever you want, it is GURPS. The problem with the idea of summoning golems though is that you are then allowing characters to summon enchanted items, which opens its own can of worms. After all, why pay for enchanted items when you can learn a spell that would allow you to summon any magical item of a type for an hour for 1 FP per 10 CP of power?

That doesn't necessarily follow, however. "There is a type of enchanted item that can be summoned" does not imply "any kind of magical item can be summoned." Perhaps there exists a class of "wild" golems that can be summoned, and you can no more summon a sword-shaped +2 "golem" than you can summon a sword-shaped +2 bear.

Not saying I'd allow it, since a golem is pretty explicitly a creation, but the one doesn't have to lead to the other.

[Aldric]

I don't see anything wrong with a setting where mages duel with summoned creatures, it's not like it has never been done before.

[AlexanderHowl]

I mean, it is the basis of Pokemon...

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I mean, it is the basis of Pokemon...

And certain children's card games, which may be used to settle matters of life and death, depending on setting...