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05-24-2020, 12:36 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Portsmouth, VA, USA
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Social Strata and Magic Ability
So for my "Ten Thousand Jade Petals" campaign one thing that has come up is the fact that magic is pretty common. But I didn't want anyone to be able to cast Enchant or use other severely world-changing magics. My thought was to limit them somehow.
One thing I wanted to do was have magic be found more in the noble bloodlines than elsewhere. Why? I'm thinking many of the noble houses literally breed for it. Kind of an open secret - the best sorcerers can social climb their way up. Also, the more advanced magics will be more commonly found in those of noble blood. Commoner casters are likely to only have spells that can see immediate use. I was also considering having commoner casters lacking Sorcerous Empowerment in favor of one or two known spells as another way to divide the two castes from one another. Thoughts?
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05-24-2020, 01:14 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Mar 2016
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
If the motivation is to limit world-changing magic, why does world-changing magic need to exist? Is it a necessity of the world for magic like that to be around, just not in the hands of PCs?
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05-24-2020, 03:06 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Jacksonville, AR
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
So your current breakdown is looking is -
Sorcerous Empowerment- inherited, restricted to nobility Spell-as-advantage- 1% of non-nobles Chi Powers- learnable by anyone Alchemy- ? Bastard children of nobles need to be addressed if they inherit SE. I would suggest making more advanced sorcery restricted to specific bloodlines and a factor in noble breeding. What about nobles who lose their position through war or politics? How common are chi powers? How are you modeling alchemy? Who can do it?
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Travis Foster |
05-25-2020, 11:02 AM | #4 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Portsmouth, VA, USA
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
Mostly, yeah.
Yup. Yes. Anyone can be taught chi powers and harness their golden cores. They do. The Sorcerous Empowerment is a function of heritage, not society. Quote:
Again, a function of heritage, not society. They'd keep their abilities. Hmm. I had not considered that. Let's say as common as peasant magic - so 1 in 100 have spent the time to learn such abilities. Or perhaps 1 in 500. Yeah, I like that better. Through a taoist alchemy system I created a while back. External alchemy can be taught to anyone, but internal alchemy is more difficult.
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05-25-2020, 11:10 AM | #5 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Jacksonville, AR
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
Quote:
Yes, but now there are non-nobles with SE, I would imagine that there are plenty of groups that would be interested in that for good or bad.
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Travis Foster |
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05-24-2020, 03:13 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
Quote:
There are enchanted objects in my world, but they are almost always unique and fairly powerful. They are normally created by a mage who is willing to give up his life to create some kind of object that is important to him. This is why we might see a dragon-slaying sword, but not a housefly-slaying sword, even though the one that kills houseflies is more useful.
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05-24-2020, 06:26 AM | #7 | |||
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
Quote:
Enchanting is problematic because it effectively allows High Tech - and in some cases superscience - devices in a low tech setting. Compounding this issue is that the usual presumption is that enchanted artifacts are practically indestructible, thus creating a large second hand market. To maintain a Low Tech feel, a quick and dirty way would be to apply high tech level cost multipliers for enchanted items that emulate high tech level equipment. The enchanters know they have a monopoly on these things, and they will force you to pay through the nose to get it. I would definitely dispose of the assumption that enchanted artifacts last forever. Instead, I would make it so that enchanted artifacts accumulate quirks over their existence until finally breaking. In other words, enchanted artifacts can age and die. Flawed works with onerous quirks might be available at a substantial mark down from antique dealers. Quote:
Quote:
I would be reluctant to allow PCs to build sorcerers without Sorcerous Empowerment. Having to pay full cost for their spells would cause these sorcerers to advance slower than the other sorcerers in the party who did pay for SE. And that is prone to lead to player frustration. |
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05-24-2020, 07:08 AM | #8 | ||
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
Quote:
Quote:
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05-24-2020, 07:18 AM | #9 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
Who else but the noble elite has the free time and resources to devote to learning let alone actually utilizing lengthy enchantment magics?
"Normal" people have stuff that needs to be done like farming or otherwise providing for their families.
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05-24-2020, 08:05 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: near Houston
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Re: Social Strata and Magic Ability
Sounds like a good way for nobles to further oppress the peasants. And far from a commoner with magical talents being able to move up in status, I would expect them to be tracked down and executed as a potential threat to the ruling class.
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