[Magic] Development of Spell-based Magic through TL0

munin · 07-25-2021, 08:00 AM

Another way to look at it is the cost of inventing spells. RAW, inventing a spell with no prereqs would require a workshop worth $12,000 (Magic, p. 15; energy cost at TL0 is $33*625/700 = about $30), where $1,200 is consumables per spell invention. At TL0, $12,000 is the starting wealth of 96 struggling-wealth people or 240 poor people. So it would require a tribe of people to basically give everything they have (not just luxuries but tools, tents, etc.) to the shaman to let them create a spell invention "workshop" (a TL0 workshop might be as mobile as the tribe, or it might be fixed location the shaman returns to).

Maybe more realistically, a comfortable-wealth shaman could save up for 20 years ($1,250 monthly pay - $1,200 cost of living = $50/month for saving) to establish their workshop, but could then produce zero-prereq spells every 2 years or so (and then pass on the workshop to their apprentice).

But then the cost of inventing a spell with a single prereq doubles that cost, etc. By the time you're up to 4-prereq spells or so, establishing a workshop would require over a century of savings. That's probably going to need to wait until TL1 city-states for concentration of wealth and patronage.

07-25-2021, 08:00 AM	#5
munin Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Vermont, USA	Re: [Magic] Development of Spell-based Magic through TL0 Another way to look at it is the cost of inventing spells. RAW, inventing a spell with no prereqs would require a workshop worth $12,000 (Magic, p. 15; energy cost at TL0 is $33*625/700 = about $30), where $1,200 is consumables per spell invention. At TL0, $12,000 is the starting wealth of 96 struggling-wealth people or 240 poor people. So it would require a tribe of people to basically give everything they have (not just luxuries but tools, tents, etc.) to the shaman to let them create a spell invention "workshop" (a TL0 workshop might be as mobile as the tribe, or it might be fixed location the shaman returns to). Maybe more realistically, a comfortable-wealth shaman could save up for 20 years ($1,250 monthly pay - $1,200 cost of living = $50/month for saving) to establish their workshop, but could then produce zero-prereq spells every 2 years or so (and then pass on the workshop to their apprentice). But then the cost of inventing a spell with a single prereq doubles that cost, etc. By the time you're up to 4-prereq spells or so, establishing a workshop would require over a century of savings. That's probably going to need to wait until TL1 city-states for concentration of wealth and patronage.