World Details...Part 2 - Magic

Ok here is the big one. We have gone over a lot so basically I am going to make this a thread to discuss things specific to magic

The best way I can describe magic is like a gun in our world. It is something that certain people are allowed to use given the proper people say you can use it. In this case the Church judges who is worthy and is also the source for 99% of the training of it. Here are my notes on it


1. Having a concealed weapons permit does not give you a license to kill. Similarly having a license to practice magic does not give you a pass to do anything with it. If you had a gun and license and used it as a threat what would happen? If you had a gun and a license and shot someone what would happen?
The same principles apply to magic in Erathian society. Minor tricks and the like might provoke fear and curiosity but not the aggression of the Church provided you can show license when asked. Attacking someone with magic or using it as a threat is however a violation regardless of what license you have.

2. Unlicensed practice, teaching, or use of magic in anyway is punishable by a maximum sentence of death and minimum sentence of long years of imprisonment in the Citidel to Anou (we will get to that.)

3. Divine magics are legal but in this world can only be granted by Erathis. The word of Erathis tells us that all other gods are banished from this world and thusly have no way to grant clerics domains or access to divine powers. In the 300+ year history of this world the few cases reported of a heretical cleric that claimed to wield the power of a foreign god have turned out to be no more than alchemists using powers the common man does not understand or at worst a wizard that went rouge or was unlicensed. To the common person a wizard using magic missle could very just as well be a cleric of an evil god casting flamestrike....they have no idea what either is they just know its something bad.

4. Magic weapons are not available to a common man, only the Church can issue weapons and armor blessed by Erathis. Unlicensed possession and/or manufacture of such items would be punished in the same way as magic. In all the Church records there have never been reported cases of anyone being able to "craft" a magic item. Asking a weapon shop owner for a magic sword would be tantamount to walking into Wal-Mart and asking to buy a tank.

5. Magic is exotic and the stuff of legends from a past world. The Church does not deny the existence of magic are try and snuff it out, instead they seek to control it and reign it in for the good of all the mortal races. As one Grand Cleric put it some years ago: "The world that Erathis provided is fragile, our ancestors failed in control of their gifts and destroys the world they were given. We will NOT repeat these mistakes."

6. There is only one group that is allowed the free use of magic for any use they deem necessary; "The Sight". See my section on the Church.


If I have forgotten things from other posts that fit here please post them so we can have a one stop reference for all things magic.

You've done a great b clarifying the place of magic, particularly with your gun and tank analogies. Admittedly, however, this is all so far removed from any other D&D campaign that I've ever played that it is definitely going to take some time to get the hang of. Despite this though, I've always thought being in a "low-magic" setting would be cool to try.

Quote :

6. There is only one group that is allowed the free use of magic for any use they deem necessary; "The Will". See my section on the Church.

Where is this information? I only recall reading about "The Voice".

Not up yet. I have to write it up which I might do after the raid if its not to late

... "after the raid"? Is that WoW-speak for, "I have more important things to do"?

Yeah it kinda was. its 10 now and this section will take another hour or so im sure so I will have to do it at work.

The Sarge wrote:

4. Magic weapons are not available to a common man, only the Church can issue weapons and armor blessed by Erathis. Unlicensed possession and/or manufacture of such items would be punished in the same way as magic. In all the Church records there have never been reported cases of anyone being able to "craft" a magic item. Asking a weapon shop owner for a magic sword would be tantamount to walking into Wal-Mart and asking to buy a tank.

This makes excellent sense, and is fully consistent with everything that we know about the Erathian world so far. Is this something that you are intending to follow through with in practice? That is, should we not expect to have magic items?

If so, that's fine--like Troy I've always wanted to try out a gritty sort of low-magic thingee. I am concerned, though, that the ruleset is simply going to assume that pcs have magic items appropriate to their levels when calculating how high monster ACs should be and so on. So in practice this may require a significant amount of tweaking on your part.

Also, are you disparaging the everyday low prices of Wal-Mart? Because I'm pretty sure the one by me is having a sale on used Shermans.

the thing about magic items is that they can still be sanctioned by the church, so an easy to way solve this problem is that magic is rare, but the pc's are also rare kind of people the kind that would use magic weapons that most people don't need. So the part of the church that studies the uses of magic and licenses wizards could also be one of the few known people who can craft magic items and brew potions and stuff. It could be once we prove ourselves this section of the church could open up to us and we could procure magic items from them since we have Proven ourselves

Patrick nailed it pretty much. Also as a little hint, the Dark is a pretty mysterious place

Matt: I am almost sure Walmart doesn't sell tanks...well not full size ones anyways because I would already have like 2-3 and be trying to succeed my condo from the US.