Let's talk about Lacrymas' homebrew fantasy setting where paladins are eunuchs

[InD_ImaginE]

In a setting where Divine Magic can do the above, and the fact that they are governed by mortal no gods

They don't know this, though. At least 99% of the clergy actually believe that their powers are governed by their objects of worship. And like I said, I'm not sure whether I should bind their powers to something else or leave it as is, I have to write some stories in this setting to know for sure.

Do you think suicide bombers and low-level clergy know that their terrorist leader is making off illegal oil money in the ME and are living well off while they live in shit-hole, ready to die by putting explosives on their body or being bombed by American? The fact that 99% of the religious group are schmuck that would believe anything the clergy said and the fact that said clergy has reality-altering power of Divine Magic, the only magic that exists in your setting makes it even much much easier for the 1% of that religious group to grab on power.

If anything this is even worse because the common masses and the low-level clergy are conditioned to believe in Divine Mandate and the fact that there is actual magic backing it up. And unlike normal example of internal rebellion I spoke above it is even worse because that 1% can just remove the part of the 99% who want to interally reform/rebel.

See if you have just made that Divine magic is the magic that exists and is being ruled by Gods then I would've just moved on because eh whatever. But by introducing that Divine Magic in your setting is controlled by the 1% head of religious institutions instead of Divine Being/Gods, have them the main source of magical healing, have them both politically and socially powerful due to indoctrination you have just essentially make a setting worse in the problem than your "mage-dictatorship".

They could be stopped, hypothetically speaking, but they aren't. Part of the wizard domination has to do with nerd culture, that's why the Witcher example is so apt. People can't help themselves but play arcane spellcasters or at least insert them everywhere.

Now you move the goalpost into meta "I don't want arcane caster because nerds are always going to go for it because they are so powerful"

As pointed above in setting where Arcane and Divine magic exists, the fact that gods and extra-planar being exists, you have some sort of balance in the way that "everything is so broken they kinda check and balance each other way.

I mean you could just make the reason this to begin with "nerds love playing mages too much, I don't like it for RP reason, want to make setting without arcane magic" and people wouldn't bat an eye.

 

[Lacrymas]

I said it's part of the reason for it, I'm not moving any goalposts. People really love using that expression quite liberally when it's not appropriate.

 

[Storyfag]

I said it's part of the reason for it, I'm not moving any goalposts. People really love using that expression quite liberally when it's not appropriate.

No. You just love doing that liberally, even though it is not appropriate.

 

[Lacrymas]

But by introducing that Divine Magic in your setting is controlled by the 1% head of religious institutions

It's not controlled by people at all, even if I decide to connect their magic with something from without. These 1% would just know/suspect it doesn't come from the widely-accepted source. It also wouldn't be the top priests, but adventurers.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Lacrymas what is the name of your setting? Be it the world itself or merely the land where it is focused.

 

[Cryomancer]

I completely forgot that lacrymas thinks wizards are fascists, lol

The Red Wizards of Thay are lawful evil mostly.

The chad wizard who destroyed the egalitarians on thay > https://youtu.be/SWHjWGfBp8M?t=563

People fetishize arcane spellcasters and that's why I always get this reaction when I mention I don't have arcane magic in my setting.

Is fine.

Game of Thrones is a very low magical setting and people love it. Some people prefer no magical, some low magical and some high magical settngs

What vagueness? Nobody uses the rule about custom spells, and houseruling it out of the question is a matter of snapping your fingers anyway.

What put the power of played created spells in check is the DM.

Arcane magic is also individualist and only requires force of will by the user, there is no outside force regulating it.

And ... That is why arcane magic is so amazing.

Almost as bad as 2E shills who think everything over 4th level is 'high level play' and hyperventilate when they see a 3rd level spell.

Come on, 2E is extremely amazing and most modules for 2e are mid to high level. There are far more low level control freaks on 5e due balance cultism.

And that's exactly why mages should be castrated.

All of this desire to cast magicians is because a evil warlock raped you with black tentacles spell??? Made you literally a girl and his girl?

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Now I an planing to make my setting.

• Ruleset - D&D 2e - The best edition.
• Player alignment = Or everyone is chaotic or everyone is lawful on the party.
• Starting lv = 8. The average NPC is lv 3, the average combating NPC like an soldier is lv 7 and the strongest NPC's are around lv 16~25. There are currently 12 lv 20+ NPC's in the world.
• WORLD POLITICS - The world is dominated by a single monotheistic theocracy. Those who don't follow the law of the theocracy are considered heretics and must be burned to the stake. Mages are viewed as someone who worships and gain power from demons, not from themselves and the church is extremely corrupt and tyrannical. The church dictates everything with a iron first, the price of goods, outlaws prostituition, outlawys slavery but they maintain a lot of people under "servitude" because for then, the individual needs to be scarified by the collective. There are no indivudual rights and the church impose a lot of "guilty by association". If you had an ancestor who practicied sorcery, your entire bloodline is cursed by association. This at the same time that the church preaches that everyone is equal. The church also takes a lot of money from taxes because being wealthy is a sin at the same time that the top clergy lives in luxury.
• WORLD GEOGRAPHY + TECHNOLOGY - A mid tech steampunk world, A big continent with a archipelago of islands nearby. Steam ships and trains are the most used means of long distance transportation. There are firearms, but most of then are single shot. Only the holy paladins can own lever action firearms. All black powder based and expesnive to make. Sidearms like revolvers are also church monopoly. No electricity devices. Mages in the past used a lot of electricity based spells and electricity has a taboo of being "devil's work". No sane scientist would study it.
• WORLD FACTIONS - The mage liberation front - Similar to Dark sun's Veiled Alliance. They have records of the old times and apparently, the world was a magocracy who crumbled after a monotheistic religion got a lot of power. They live underground and search a lot what is left from the ancient knowledge. The church obviously. The paladins, which serves the church as their military.
• "GOALS" - Lawful parties would try to fight the corruption of the church and seek uncharted areas to colonize and spread their "true faith". Chaotic parties, to undermine the church influence in a region and seek uncharted islands to establishes a magocracy there and bring more mages there. Keeping it hiden while strengths themselves from generations.
• MAGIC - Most of the magic is lost. However, is very powerful. A single freezing sphere(tier 6) can destroy a medium sized steam ship. Magic scrolls are rare and worth 10x more than the 2e counterparts. The player can also learn magic from a outsider patron if they chose to be a Witch/Warlock, see complete wizard's handbook. But remember, they learn from their master, they don't draw power from their masters. Is very common for a wizard to be specialized and have few spells on his spellbook.

Instead of "good VS evil", is "law VS chaos".

 

[Lacrymas]

Lacrymas what is the name of your setting? Be it the world itself or merely the land where it is focused.

I don't have a fixed name for it yet, but I was thinking something along the lines of Demes. The accent is on the second syllable. E as in Everest. The world itself is Demes maybe.

 

[Efe]

Next most popular would be one of elf classes.

 

[Storyfag]

Arcane magic is also individualist and only requires force of will by the user, there is no outside force regulating it.

And ... That is why arcane magic is so amazing.

I bet that is precisely why his collectivist mind cannot stand it.

 

[Robber Baron]

 

[Sharpedge]

This most interesting part of this thread is that hypothetical mage tyranny setting. It has a lot of potential.

 

[Robber Baron]

hypothetical mage tyranny setting.

Tevinter?

 

[Savecummer]

Lacrymas got gangbanged by dudes, not a single supporter.
Was this his plan all along?!

 

[Desiderius]

This most interesting part of this thread is that hypothetical mage tyranny setting. It has a lot of potential.

Hypothetical? We’re living it.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

hypothetical mage tyranny setting.

Tevinter?

Black Company

Thay.

 

[Savecummer]

This most interesting part of this thread is that hypothetical mage tyranny setting. It has a lot of potential.

Hypothetical? We’re living it.

Not quite though. Mages are individuals. Their power comes not from organized structures but only themselves.
If you kill a dictator/corp ceo, the structures remain, the faces change.
If you kill a mage (who carries the power), the structure has to changes, if it exists.

We're living in a mage tyranny setting only if you consider us all to be lowly mages...

 

[Desiderius]

We’re not in charge lol.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

All metaphors and allegories on the codex are about jews.

 

[Storyfag]

hypothetical mage tyranny setting.

Tevinter?

Black Company

Thay.

Home

 

[Desiderius]

Jews have been aping us for centuries and are out of their freaking minds now that we’ve finally fucked up so bad they are left to think for themselves.

 

[Cryomancer]

Their power comes not from organized structures but only themselves.
If you kill a dictator/corp ceo, the structures remain, the faces change.

Thay is ruled by a powerful lich and even if you could somehow kill him, there are one archwizard for each magical school that can replace him...

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Their power comes not from organized structures but only themselves.
If you kill a dictator/corp ceo, the structures remain, the faces change.

Thay is ruled by a powerful lich and even if you could somehow kill him, there are one archwizard for each magical school that can replace him...

You gotta destroy the phylactery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

They create food and water nobody else can, so this "metaphysically" concentrates power to them, even if they can't alter reality like in D&D.

Like I said, because arcane spellcasters create food and water. That inevitably concentrates power and nobody else can take that away from them. Which inevitably leads to a static setting and a tyranny which can't be toppled.

Clerics, who receive spells inspired by Biblical events, have been able to cast create water/food spells since original Dungeons & Dragons in 1974.

This most interesting part of this thread is that hypothetical mage tyranny setting. It has a lot of potential.

The Known World setting of (non-Advanced) Dungeons & Dragons had two countries controlled by magic-users: The Principalities of Glantri and the Empire of Alphatia, the latter being a superpower vying for supremacy with the Empire of Thyatis. See also the Red Wizards of Thay in the worst AD&D campaign setting. Gazetteer 3 detailing Glantri appeared in 1987, FR6 Dreams of the Red Wizards appeared in 1988, and the Dawn of the Emperors box set appeared in 1989 (though Glantri and Alphatia were mentioned in earlier modules and rulebooks, as far back as 1981):

 

[Bara]

The Principalities of Glantri

Praise be Rad.

 

[Latro]

Why would mages become trannies if they can just magic a sex-change?