The Dragon Wizard

[hcobb]

Human Wizard ST 11 DX 11 IQ 10
Draconian, Humanish
9 spells

Hop on down to the Wizard's Guild and pay $27 to get Shapeshifted into a 1-hex dragon (with the same stats). Then grow (over the centuries) into a spell casting 14-hex dragon.

What house rules do you have in place to prevent this?

[RobW]

Originally Posted by hcobb

What house rules do you have in place to prevent this?

None, as it is encouraged in my world, where most of the population has transformed into more powerful forms. Those who cannot initially afford the $27 fee can receive a discount for accepting a Glamor spell concomitant with the transformation that includes permanent advertising.

[Buzzardo]

I have no problem with it. Of course, people should know that the Dragon Hunter's guild is across the street from the Wizard's Guild. ;)

[larsdangly]

Go for it. Any game that allows for 30 die hammer touch spells or petards that go off in your chamber pot is not going to be hurt by the occasional weirdo who wants to grow up to be a dragon.

[Skarg]

I think that sounds like a fun/interesting campaign to play, so I wouldn't want a house rule against it, but I would want a bunch of house rules to support it, fleshing out dragons more. :-)

I don't know if it's a house rule, but a GM might read that Dragons can't cast spells and decide that applies to wizards shapeshifted into Dragons.

There's also playing out hundreds of years starting as a 1-hex dragon that isn't actually a dragon, and seeing what the survival rate is.

Or perhaps the longer you stay a dragon, the more your personality becomes that of a dragon, and/or maybe at some point some GMs decide you've become an NPC monster.

And the wizards who, after they turn you into a 1-hex dragon, note your change in legal status, cast Sleep on you and put you in their dungeon of dragons they are growing for research and spell component purposes.

And then there are the house rules that might allow some normal dragons to cast spells, too, so really it's just asking to play a 1-hex dragon.

And/or maybe that's actually where most/all dragons in the area come from...

[larsdangly]

I love it! There are no dragons and never have been; there are just wizards who turn into what they think are dragons but actually used to be wizards, all the way back to the beginning of time.

[Terquem]

Well, this might be a long explanation, but, if I were, say, running a campaign…

First, I would use the natural limitation imposed by the dichotomy of Player Knowledge and Character Knowledge – sure you as a player know this is possible, and know that there should be Wizard’s Guilds, and “Pete’s One Stop Spell Transmutation Emporiums” or other such things, but do the characters know about these things? I’ll start by having the setting itself impose some initial barriers. Then, if the characters learn this sort of thing is possible, through their adventures, I’ll simply use the setting again to make it difficult, but not impossible, to get something like this done.

[Terquem]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I love it! There are no dragons and never have been; there are just wizards who turn into what they think are dragons but actually used to be wizards, all the way back to the beginning of time.

Have you read G.K. Chesterton's "The Man Who was Thursday"?

[hcobb]

Which of these three applies in your setting?

Either....

A: Dragons have been hunted into extinction due to human addiction to Youth potions.

or

B: Wizards are able to provide all alchemist ingredients through Shapeshifting and there's not many orphans left on the streets.

or

C: Humans are extinct.

Choose one.

[RobW]

hcobb, these and other thought experiments of yours are really interesting.

I think my general answer to all of them is, yes you are right. RAW contain multiple economic loopholes, mainly arising because: magic is very cheap yet very powerful.

For example, by RAW I agree we would definitely expect
1. Dragons to have been hunted to extinction except domestic variants reared for slaughter and their ingredient value
2. The lands to be dominated by IQ20+ halflings/goblins and an enslaved class used for Aid and Drain ST
3. Highly affordable IQ18 magic (eg a lesser wish costing about a week's wages) to produce drastic, fundamental, and impossible to imagine social consequences.

What isn't clear to me is the best approach as GM. When is it worth trying to plug the loopholes in advance, and when is it better just to make ad-hoc "GM says No" rulings?