I am developing a fantasy world not unlike D&D to write stories, and hopefully a novel in. The setting of magic and technology is close enough to D&D that I pose this question. What would Warfare look like in a D&D setting with magic, etc? We all do rather small skirmishes on a regular basis with our characters, but large scale warfare is another thing. I would love any thoughts you all have! If you'd like a bit more detail:
* No dragons or overwhelmingly powerful beasts (giants, beholders, etc.) Think a little more humble of a power level scale and across a stereotypical literal FIELD of battle augmented by normal terrain features;
* I am very familiar with regular world tactical and operational warfare - was my major in college and, well, I was in infantry officer leading troops in Iraq - so there's an affinity for providing would be readers with this perspective mixed with the fantastic.
* In this world, all (normal) magic derives from one of the four elements: fire, water, air, earth.
* Gunpowder is within it's first 100 years of invention along with the increased use wheeled equipment - think European middle ages up to early Napoleonic/American war of Independence .......... and how this would be twisted/altered by about 10% of the population having access to magic!
Well, wizards/other blaster casters would be high value targets because they can hurt a lot of people at once on a battlefield, assuming most soldiers use a similar stat block as a guard then even more so as a single fireball could wipe out a huge amount of them at once. I could argue that tactics would be similar to modern warfare as magic can emulate most technology such as communication/telepathy spells instead of radio. Units with healing spells might keep soldiers alive, resulting in longer battles. Summoned creatures would likely be on the front lines as they will just discorporate back to their home plane when “killed”, thus providing a buffer in troop count.
that is what I got for 2minutes of thought, looking forward to read what others say.
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Anything is edible if you try hard enough!
I am a swimmer. If you see me running, you should run too, because it means something horrible is chasing me.
Well, wizards/other blaster casters would be high value targets because they can hurt a lot of people at once on a battlefield, assuming most soldiers use a similar stat block as a guard then even more so as a single fireball could wipe out a huge amount of them at once. I could argue that tactics would be similar to modern warfare as magic can emulate most technology such as communication/telepathy spells instead of radio. Units with healing spells might keep soldiers alive, resulting in longer battles. Summoned creatures would likely be on the front lines as they will just discorporate back to their home plane when “killed”, thus providing a buffer in troop count.
that is what I got for 2minutes of thought, looking forward to read what others say.
The Telepathy Radio connection is super solid.
I've always considered how the invention of the Railroad and Timestables revolutionized war and turned whoever had it into an unstoppable killing force and the opposition mostly couldn't hold out.
Conjuration magic, especially gate-way style spells would have the most impact. One powerful mage who can release 1,000 fresh troops day 1 is worth more than 10,000 troops tired from marching in six months.
Thanks! You make a great point about conjugation transportation. This discussion kind of shows why the last war in the Eberron setting so devastating. They had a lot of mages, so many people were blasted, teleported to the battlefront, and otherwise dragged into a horrible world war.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Anything is edible if you try hard enough!
I am a swimmer. If you see me running, you should run too, because it means something horrible is chasing me.
Likely rather modern -- open field warfare probably does not exist because area spells just kill everything, so you wind up with a lot of fights in urban terrain, and probably a lot of tunnel warfare as well (given that a standard D&D dungeon is basically tunnel warfare, it's probably more common in the D&D-verse than in the real world. Probably because apparently D&D has really good methods of generating lots of tunnels; the charge of the giant badger riders could easily be a standard battlefield feature...).
The limited number of spell slots per day/long rest would impede the usefulness of casters in protracted combat situations quite a bit so regular troops, possibly using non-magical means to create similar effects (artillery-type weapons can keep pumping out fireball-like shots as long as there is ammo and a firing crew), would still be crucial. Combat effective magic that doesn't expend spell slots would be developed more - there'd be an entire military-industrial complex churning out Command Word devices most likely, and mages would look into ritual magic that could be used on the battlefield. Aside from summoning, necromancy would be used to create disposable troops. Logistics would become (even more) complicated - magic can make logistical trains a lot easier to set up but also to disrupt, and the use of magic itself would become a resource to manage logistically. Magical talent would be drafted into the military, by coercion if necessary. Divine magic would most likely be somewhat unreliable - with troops on opposing sides beseeching the same gods and their mortal servants channeling so much of their power, often at odds with others from the same order on the enemy side, who knows what might happen. Divination magic would be incredibly useful both fpr scouting and spying (and thus so would all magic used to block it) as well as for countering illusions.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson illustrates some of this to an extent (it's large part military fiction, and the setting is based on the author's D&D campaign), but the magic is often on an almost incomparable level and the books aren't to everyone's taste (and difficult to get through, as well as long).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Wrote a bit more than I intended to, so check out my musings in the spoiler below.
Fantasy is such a broad and vague subject that it's hard to speculate without some very strong limitations. For the sake of incorporating "realism" into a novel, it may be easier to start with a scene that you want to include, and then work backward to create the magical system that would produce it. Otherwise, you'll be at high risk of creating unresolvable problems.
In D&D specifically, the mere existence of gods and 9th level magic makes large scale war impractical. One powerful "hero" or "villain" who takes the initiative can do way too much damage before anyone would have a chance to react. A MacGuffin is almost always necessary to maintain narrative integrity.
First it would be necessary to figure out what would be worth fighting over.
(1) Magic can Create Food and Water, Cure Wounds, and even offer True Resurrection. Druids can even terraform otherwise uninhabitable areas. The most likely problem is going to be overpopulation because there is no reason to die of natural causes. (Though such a world would probably create magical diseases.)
(2) Once overpopulation becomes a problem, Plane Shift and Gate can allow for mass exodus. However, the primary world will continue to be overrun.
(3) The most powerful and influential people will probably be the first to leave the planet and planar travel allows for essentially infinite homesteading, so most conflict would probably be between more privative species fighting for land.
(3b) Alternatively, in the "Eternal Cycle" cosmology, the world would be built upon the ruins of countless civilizations, so the knowledge of the past would be the most valuable resource in existence. This would probably lead to a few exceptional individuals attempting to wipe out the entire planet's population, so that they can control ancient magic on their own terms. (When you can gain the powers of a god, there is nothing that can't be rationalized.)
Given that, and scaling back to something more familiar, we would probably see a traditional arms race resulting in obscenely powerful Divination, Abjuration, and Enchantment magic.
Nothing else really matters if the most powerful weapons in a civilization are vulnerable to spells like Dominate Monster. In fact, we would probably end up seeing the creation of massive Dead Magic zones specifically to prevent these kinds of things from happening. Magic is too much of a wild card so either someone would drop a nuke, or the wild card would need to be removed from the table. There only needs to be one powerful mage to dominate the planet. (And if there are two, one will take out the other.)
Taking one step further back, let's assume that magic is fairly uncommon, and no one really surpasses 5th level, so spells like Fireball are the magical equivalent of heavy artillery.
One option would be to indiscriminately use spells like Animate Dead to turn contested battlefields into No-Man's Land. Walking minefields.
Interrogations would be very different... Just kill an enemy and use Speak with Dead to interrogate its corpse every week. The magical CIA HQ would be full of severed heads.
CQB would be pointless, the "average" melee soldier wouldn't be able to withstand spells like Spirit Guardians.
Long range with arrows would similarly be difficult because of spells like Wind Wall
D&D 5e spells aren't really written with large scale combat in mind.
However, if we take things a bit off-script, we're going to see a lot of volatility... There is a general rule that "A strong offense is the best defense" and an aggressor will always have an advantage.
If 10% of the population has access to any level of serious magic, war would be an entirely different beast. 98% of engagements would be focused on taking out hostile magic users, at all costs. Whoever controls magic, controls the world. So, I think we would see a lot of KGB-style sleeper agents, who would live their entire lives infiltrating foreign governments, just to take out that nation's stockpile of magic users. And, in turn, those magic users would almost never be on the front lines of combat. They would be kept under lock and key, possibly subjected to breeding programs, and forced to use their magic to create weapons and tools for everyone else, if that is how magic works in your world.
A lot of this depends on the mechanics of your world.
If the magic users have access to the equivalent of "spells", where they can produce increasingly complex results through training, or innate ability, then someone would eventually create the equivalent of a bio-weapon, nuke, or Strong AI that would end all wars.
If the magic users are more restricted, a la Avatar: The Last Air Bender, where they can loosely "control" their element/domain, but can't exert high levels of control, then we'd see something more relaxed. There would be a strong class divide, with Magic Users being treated as a very high value labor force, proportional to their level of control.
Really though, if you're writing a book and are concerned with "realism", you'll probably want to incorporate a very strong disincentive to perform magic. For example, make "spell slots" cost lifespan, so that those who can do magic might choose to hide and suppress their ability to avoid the consequences of being discovered. (If you have watched The Witcher, you may have seen the scene where the Sorceresses sacrificed themselves to create magical explosives.) This has the advantage of stabilizing the pace of change, since the faster a nation consumes their magic users, the less they will have to work with. In this scenario, even if a nation has the capacity to cast Meteor Swarm or Time Stop, they would probably only get one shot, as it would completely destroy whoever channeled the magic.
Subject to this balance, a priority would be placed on creating magical technology and artifacts that could outlast the magic users who create them.
For example, we could assign magic items an equivalent exchange currency:
Common Magic Items would represent those that a Caster would be very likely to make. Something that would raise their quality of life enough to justify the loss of lifespan. Let's say, Common = 5 years of life.
Uncommon Magic Items would represent something that requires either desperation, or a fool, to create. Plenty of both to go around, but most would only try once. Let's say, Uncommon = 25 years of life.
Rare Magic Items would then represent something that is almost taboo or tragic. Maybe an unethical company is forcing people to sacrifice their entire life for one magical item. Let's say, Rare = 125 years of life. (i.e. Guaranteed death for a perfectly healthy human)
Very Rare Magic Items would then represent either cult fanaticism, community martyrdom, or mass murder. At least 5 healthy, relatively young people would need to be sacrificed.
etc...
This system would have all kinds of predictable consequences.
D&D has NEVER done large scale warfare well. The rules are built around small groups. When casters start doing the equivalent of heavy short range mortar fire with area effect spells, you have to do quick calculations on how many are affected, and what percentage are dead, what percent half-dead, or whatever. Don't even begin to try to calculate individual NPC's. I have always wanted to do an incursion of Hobgoblins (highly ordered militaristic society), that has existing leader stat blocks designed for large scale warfare. But even in a theatre of the mind game, let along one on a grid with mini's, it is a huge accounting headache.
I am developing a fantasy world not unlike D&D to write stories, and hopefully a novel in. The setting of magic and technology is close enough to D&D that I pose this question. What would Warfare look like in a D&D setting with magic, etc?
Just how "D&D" is the world? Do people and combat behave the way "classes," "levels," and "hit points" (etc) tend to dictate? A few examples:
Does a soldier die, stop fighting, etc. if they get shot in the face with a crossbow? Or get caught in a fireball?
What about when a general is in the same situation? Do they lead from the front because they are level 15?
Are elite forces elite because of their training, funding, mission, and stealth? Or because they are superheroes who wade through combat?
How common are very high level casters? That’s what will really impact the battles. A wizard with a fireball may be strong. A wizard with a wand of fireballs is even stronger. A Druid with storm of vengeance can possibly win the war from miles away.
Oh! I just remembered something useful. Go watch Johnathan Strange & Mr Norell.
It is specifically set in the Napoleonic Wars and shows an application of both "Wizards" and "Sorcerers" in that kind of world. Though, in that setting, magic is more "mythical" than uncommon.
Unless you’re in a world like Eberron where there are huge numbers of high level spell casters, it would still be dependent on large numbers of infantry the same way modern warfare is today.
Look at what happened when the US invaded Iraq. Even with all of our technology, especially long range attacks like artillery, drones, bombers, and naval bombardment, we still sent in infantry supported by tanks. Or was that tanks supported by infantry?
I imagine that magic would be used and would have an impact, using Teleport to teleport a suicide squad directly into the command “tent” of a military commander would be tried for example but spells would be used to prevent scrying or create illusions of the commander as a trap for the suicide squad. And instead of elephants like Hannibal used there would be summoned elementals. Earth Elementals make unstoppable siege engines for example. They can burrow to castle walls and then start destroying them from underneath.
Kenclary, good questions. I've figured I'll need to bring the power level of magic down a notch or two, and after reading all these marvelous responses so far, I'm convinced I'll REALLY need to bring it down. More to your point, I envision this somewhat like the Dragon Lance or Forgotten Realms books. They relate the game world well enough, and even the mechanics to a point, but the good writers are not leaning on game mechanics to explain the strength of a character, although they do justify why a character can wade through a fireball with worn talismans or cast enchantments, etc... providing enough plausibility to allow for the suspension of disbelief.
I will add that I'm going to try and keep the magical access to elemental source: fire, water, earth, air. And a period where magic's use/access has waned in comparison to other eras. Technology (not necessarily antithetical to magic) is rising in something a bit steam punk.
All humanoid, races are derived from the four primary elements as well with two 'classes' of each, those that are close to their element and display obvious physical appearance and at least minor associated abilities... and a lower (more common in this era) class that can trace their heritage to the higher primary class, but which do little more than retain a cultural heritage and the occasional very minor extra ordinary ability. Breeding between the two more often results in miscarriage or deformities. The higher races also have a harder time breeding more than one or two children within their race. This has been increasing in severity over several hundred years.
Tim, super good point on the need for ground troops. You're talking my language. Yes, if a population center is to be HELD then ground infantry is required.
On Iraq, Tanks were valuable along with air bombing in the opening hours of the conventional war. After that, tanks were mostly a liability. A range of infantry (mech, light, Stryker) supported by SF and precision MLRS and close air support are what we spent time with for the entire rest of the unconventional war we were fighting. I was Stryker Infantry, which was designed for urban warfare.
I think the successful summoning of primary elementals will be considered a very large scale/significant spell that brings a cost to all but the strongest user. Such summons will escalate as the story does.
Memnosyne, Wow! thanks for all the well spun thoughts!
I think you're on point. The Last Air Bender reference to power level is probably close.
If you know of the older PC game: Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magic Obscura, then you got the idea behind the setting, at least technology and magic, although they don't cancel each other out like in that video game.
I should also reference Warhammer Fantasy to some degree.
I am trying to keep the source and nature of magic rather strictly to the four primary elements: fire, earth, water, air. I think this eliminates a great deal of the more wild problems that could exist with teleportation and divination. Also, it is the flavor of this world and it's story.
I appreciate the idea of balancing magic with a steep price. Thanks!
You also need ground troops if you want to avoid killing too many civilians. Not to mention that underground fortresses require ground troops to go in and face the defenders because aerial bombardment won’t always work against them.
Memnosyne, Wow! thanks for all the well spun thoughts!
I think you're on point. The Last Air Bender reference to power level is probably close.
...
I am trying to keep the source and nature of magic rather strictly to the four primary elements: fire, earth, water, air. I think this eliminates a great deal of the more wild problems that could exist with teleportation and divination. Also, it is the flavor of this world and it's story.
...
My pleasure!
As an engineer, I usually have to bite my tongue to avoid breaking down Sci-fi and Fantasy stories. The characters always end up doing something that changes the rules and creates an entire world of unexplored possibilities that should have been obvious.
For example, even with strict elemental magic, I always have to consider synergy, whether through clever teamwork, or direct magical interactions.
What happens if a Fire and an Earth user worked together to create lava? Could a water/air user create a lens in the atmosphere that would focus the sun into a small point? It wouldn't take much to create a devastating "death ray". How about a giant lensed water mirror to scan the horizon? Can an Air user suffocate someone? Could a water user "blood bend"? etc...
Take a look at this video of a simple set-up that uses barely more than a transparent sheet and rain water to create a spot of heat that should reach around 700 degrees. (Great survival trick, by the way) With the ability to control water more elegantly, much more is possible. A Fresnel lens allows a normally large lens to be effectively flat.
Fresnel on the left:
There is also the issue of conservation of mass and energy.
If a magic user can lift a large boulder into the air, then they could set it on a generator to produce large amounts of electrical energy. Without some form of regulated "equivalent exchange", these nations would basically have unlimited power at their disposal. Even very inefficient old world technology could become devastating by pumping irrational amounts of electricity into it.
Edit: One option could be to have magicians channel electricity/gasoline/sugar/etc directly. Literally converting one form of energy into their magical equivalent. Plug them into an outlet and they can do everything that an equivalent machine could do. (A sugar battery would have about 10 times the energy density of an equivalent lithium-ion battery, so maybe your magicians pound raw sugar like scarface with cocaine.)
I am developing a fantasy world not unlike D&D to write stories, and hopefully a novel in. The setting of magic and technology is close enough to D&D that I pose this question. What would Warfare look like in a D&D setting with magic, etc? We all do rather small skirmishes on a regular basis with our characters, but large scale warfare is another thing. I would love any thoughts you all have! If you'd like a bit more detail:
* No dragons or overwhelmingly powerful beasts (giants, beholders, etc.) Think a little more humble of a power level scale and across a stereotypical literal FIELD of battle augmented by normal terrain features;
* I am very familiar with regular world tactical and operational warfare - was my major in college and, well, I was in infantry officer leading troops in Iraq - so there's an affinity for providing would be readers with this perspective mixed with the fantastic.
* In this world, all (normal) magic derives from one of the four elements: fire, water, air, earth.
* Gunpowder is within it's first 100 years of invention along with the increased use wheeled equipment - think European middle ages up to early Napoleonic/American war of Independence .......... and how this would be twisted/altered by about 10% of the population having access to magic!
Thank you for any and all thoughts!
Well, wizards/other blaster casters would be high value targets because they can hurt a lot of people at once on a battlefield, assuming most soldiers use a similar stat block as a guard then even more so as a single fireball could wipe out a huge amount of them at once. I could argue that tactics would be similar to modern warfare as magic can emulate most technology such as communication/telepathy spells instead of radio. Units with healing spells might keep soldiers alive, resulting in longer battles. Summoned creatures would likely be on the front lines as they will just discorporate back to their home plane when “killed”, thus providing a buffer in troop count.
that is what I got for 2minutes of thought, looking forward to read what others say.
Anything is edible if you try hard enough!
I am a swimmer. If you see me running, you should run too, because it means something horrible is chasing me.
The Telepathy Radio connection is super solid.
I've always considered how the invention of the Railroad and Timestables revolutionized war and turned whoever had it into an unstoppable killing force and the opposition mostly couldn't hold out.
Conjuration magic, especially gate-way style spells would have the most impact. One powerful mage who can release 1,000 fresh troops day 1 is worth more than 10,000 troops tired from marching in six months.
Thanks! You make a great point about conjugation transportation. This discussion kind of shows why the last war in the Eberron setting so devastating. They had a lot of mages, so many people were blasted, teleported to the battlefront, and otherwise dragged into a horrible world war.
Anything is edible if you try hard enough!
I am a swimmer. If you see me running, you should run too, because it means something horrible is chasing me.
Likely rather modern -- open field warfare probably does not exist because area spells just kill everything, so you wind up with a lot of fights in urban terrain, and probably a lot of tunnel warfare as well (given that a standard D&D dungeon is basically tunnel warfare, it's probably more common in the D&D-verse than in the real world. Probably because apparently D&D has really good methods of generating lots of tunnels; the charge of the giant badger riders could easily be a standard battlefield feature...).
The limited number of spell slots per day/long rest would impede the usefulness of casters in protracted combat situations quite a bit so regular troops, possibly using non-magical means to create similar effects (artillery-type weapons can keep pumping out fireball-like shots as long as there is ammo and a firing crew), would still be crucial. Combat effective magic that doesn't expend spell slots would be developed more - there'd be an entire military-industrial complex churning out Command Word devices most likely, and mages would look into ritual magic that could be used on the battlefield. Aside from summoning, necromancy would be used to create disposable troops. Logistics would become (even more) complicated - magic can make logistical trains a lot easier to set up but also to disrupt, and the use of magic itself would become a resource to manage logistically. Magical talent would be drafted into the military, by coercion if necessary. Divine magic would most likely be somewhat unreliable - with troops on opposing sides beseeching the same gods and their mortal servants channeling so much of their power, often at odds with others from the same order on the enemy side, who knows what might happen. Divination magic would be incredibly useful both fpr scouting and spying (and thus so would all magic used to block it) as well as for countering illusions.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson illustrates some of this to an extent (it's large part military fiction, and the setting is based on the author's D&D campaign), but the magic is often on an almost incomparable level and the books aren't to everyone's taste (and difficult to get through, as well as long).
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Wrote a bit more than I intended to, so check out my musings in the spoiler below.
Fantasy is such a broad and vague subject that it's hard to speculate without some very strong limitations. For the sake of incorporating "realism" into a novel, it may be easier to start with a scene that you want to include, and then work backward to create the magical system that would produce it. Otherwise, you'll be at high risk of creating unresolvable problems.
In D&D specifically, the mere existence of gods and 9th level magic makes large scale war impractical. One powerful "hero" or "villain" who takes the initiative can do way too much damage before anyone would have a chance to react. A MacGuffin is almost always necessary to maintain narrative integrity.
First it would be necessary to figure out what would be worth fighting over.
(1) Magic can Create Food and Water, Cure Wounds, and even offer True Resurrection. Druids can even terraform otherwise uninhabitable areas. The most likely problem is going to be overpopulation because there is no reason to die of natural causes. (Though such a world would probably create magical diseases.)
(2) Once overpopulation becomes a problem, Plane Shift and Gate can allow for mass exodus. However, the primary world will continue to be overrun.
(3) The most powerful and influential people will probably be the first to leave the planet and planar travel allows for essentially infinite homesteading, so most conflict would probably be between more privative species fighting for land.
(3b) Alternatively, in the "Eternal Cycle" cosmology, the world would be built upon the ruins of countless civilizations, so the knowledge of the past would be the most valuable resource in existence. This would probably lead to a few exceptional individuals attempting to wipe out the entire planet's population, so that they can control ancient magic on their own terms. (When you can gain the powers of a god, there is nothing that can't be rationalized.)
Given that, and scaling back to something more familiar, we would probably see a traditional arms race resulting in obscenely powerful Divination, Abjuration, and Enchantment magic.
Nothing else really matters if the most powerful weapons in a civilization are vulnerable to spells like Dominate Monster. In fact, we would probably end up seeing the creation of massive Dead Magic zones specifically to prevent these kinds of things from happening. Magic is too much of a wild card so either someone would drop a nuke, or the wild card would need to be removed from the table. There only needs to be one powerful mage to dominate the planet. (And if there are two, one will take out the other.)
Taking one step further back, let's assume that magic is fairly uncommon, and no one really surpasses 5th level, so spells like Fireball are the magical equivalent of heavy artillery.
D&D 5e spells aren't really written with large scale combat in mind.
However, if we take things a bit off-script, we're going to see a lot of volatility... There is a general rule that "A strong offense is the best defense" and an aggressor will always have an advantage.
If 10% of the population has access to any level of serious magic, war would be an entirely different beast. 98% of engagements would be focused on taking out hostile magic users, at all costs. Whoever controls magic, controls the world. So, I think we would see a lot of KGB-style sleeper agents, who would live their entire lives infiltrating foreign governments, just to take out that nation's stockpile of magic users. And, in turn, those magic users would almost never be on the front lines of combat. They would be kept under lock and key, possibly subjected to breeding programs, and forced to use their magic to create weapons and tools for everyone else, if that is how magic works in your world.
A lot of this depends on the mechanics of your world.
If the magic users have access to the equivalent of "spells", where they can produce increasingly complex results through training, or innate ability, then someone would eventually create the equivalent of a bio-weapon, nuke, or Strong AI that would end all wars.
If the magic users are more restricted, a la Avatar: The Last Air Bender, where they can loosely "control" their element/domain, but can't exert high levels of control, then we'd see something more relaxed. There would be a strong class divide, with Magic Users being treated as a very high value labor force, proportional to their level of control.
Really though, if you're writing a book and are concerned with "realism", you'll probably want to incorporate a very strong disincentive to perform magic. For example, make "spell slots" cost lifespan, so that those who can do magic might choose to hide and suppress their ability to avoid the consequences of being discovered. (If you have watched The Witcher, you may have seen the scene where the Sorceresses sacrificed themselves to create magical explosives.) This has the advantage of stabilizing the pace of change, since the faster a nation consumes their magic users, the less they will have to work with. In this scenario, even if a nation has the capacity to cast Meteor Swarm or Time Stop, they would probably only get one shot, as it would completely destroy whoever channeled the magic.
Subject to this balance, a priority would be placed on creating magical technology and artifacts that could outlast the magic users who create them.
For example, we could assign magic items an equivalent exchange currency:
Common Magic Items would represent those that a Caster would be very likely to make. Something that would raise their quality of life enough to justify the loss of lifespan. Let's say, Common = 5 years of life.
Uncommon Magic Items would represent something that requires either desperation, or a fool, to create. Plenty of both to go around, but most would only try once. Let's say, Uncommon = 25 years of life.
Rare Magic Items would then represent something that is almost taboo or tragic. Maybe an unethical company is forcing people to sacrifice their entire life for one magical item. Let's say, Rare = 125 years of life. (i.e. Guaranteed death for a perfectly healthy human)
Very Rare Magic Items would then represent either cult fanaticism, community martyrdom, or mass murder. At least 5 healthy, relatively young people would need to be sacrificed.
etc...
This system would have all kinds of predictable consequences.
D&D has NEVER done large scale warfare well. The rules are built around small groups. When casters start doing the equivalent of heavy short range mortar fire with area effect spells, you have to do quick calculations on how many are affected, and what percentage are dead, what percent half-dead, or whatever. Don't even begin to try to calculate individual NPC's. I have always wanted to do an incursion of Hobgoblins (highly ordered militaristic society), that has existing leader stat blocks designed for large scale warfare. But even in a theatre of the mind game, let along one on a grid with mini's, it is a huge accounting headache.
Just how "D&D" is the world? Do people and combat behave the way "classes," "levels," and "hit points" (etc) tend to dictate? A few examples:
How common are very high level casters? That’s what will really impact the battles. A wizard with a fireball may be strong. A wizard with a wand of fireballs is even stronger. A Druid with storm of vengeance can possibly win the war from miles away.
Oh! I just remembered something useful. Go watch Johnathan Strange & Mr Norell.
It is specifically set in the Napoleonic Wars and shows an application of both "Wizards" and "Sorcerers" in that kind of world. Though, in that setting, magic is more "mythical" than uncommon.
Unless you’re in a world like Eberron where there are huge numbers of high level spell casters, it would still be dependent on large numbers of infantry the same way modern warfare is today.
Look at what happened when the US invaded Iraq. Even with all of our technology, especially long range attacks like artillery, drones, bombers, and naval bombardment, we still sent in infantry supported by tanks. Or was that tanks supported by infantry?
I imagine that magic would be used and would have an impact, using Teleport to teleport a suicide squad directly into the command “tent” of a military commander would be tried for example but spells would be used to prevent scrying or create illusions of the commander as a trap for the suicide squad. And instead of elephants like Hannibal used there would be summoned elementals. Earth Elementals make unstoppable siege engines for example. They can burrow to castle walls and then start destroying them from underneath.
Professional computer geek
I did not know there was a tv series. Read the book 15 years ago or so.
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I never read the book, but my wife did and loves it. We both thought the show did a very respectable job.
Kenclary, good questions. I've figured I'll need to bring the power level of magic down a notch or two, and after reading all these marvelous responses so far, I'm convinced I'll REALLY need to bring it down. More to your point, I envision this somewhat like the Dragon Lance or Forgotten Realms books. They relate the game world well enough, and even the mechanics to a point, but the good writers are not leaning on game mechanics to explain the strength of a character, although they do justify why a character can wade through a fireball with worn talismans or cast enchantments, etc... providing enough plausibility to allow for the suspension of disbelief.
I will add that I'm going to try and keep the magical access to elemental source: fire, water, earth, air. And a period where magic's use/access has waned in comparison to other eras. Technology (not necessarily antithetical to magic) is rising in something a bit steam punk.
All humanoid, races are derived from the four primary elements as well with two 'classes' of each, those that are close to their element and display obvious physical appearance and at least minor associated abilities... and a lower (more common in this era) class that can trace their heritage to the higher primary class, but which do little more than retain a cultural heritage and the occasional very minor extra ordinary ability. Breeding between the two more often results in miscarriage or deformities. The higher races also have a harder time breeding more than one or two children within their race. This has been increasing in severity over several hundred years.
Tim, super good point on the need for ground troops. You're talking my language. Yes, if a population center is to be HELD then ground infantry is required.
On Iraq, Tanks were valuable along with air bombing in the opening hours of the conventional war. After that, tanks were mostly a liability. A range of infantry (mech, light, Stryker) supported by SF and precision MLRS and close air support are what we spent time with for the entire rest of the unconventional war we were fighting. I was Stryker Infantry, which was designed for urban warfare.
I think the successful summoning of primary elementals will be considered a very large scale/significant spell that brings a cost to all but the strongest user. Such summons will escalate as the story does.
Memnosyne, Wow! thanks for all the well spun thoughts!
I think you're on point. The Last Air Bender reference to power level is probably close.
If you know of the older PC game: Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magic Obscura, then you got the idea behind the setting, at least technology and magic, although they don't cancel each other out like in that video game.
I should also reference Warhammer Fantasy to some degree.
I am trying to keep the source and nature of magic rather strictly to the four primary elements: fire, earth, water, air. I think this eliminates a great deal of the more wild problems that could exist with teleportation and divination. Also, it is the flavor of this world and it's story.
I appreciate the idea of balancing magic with a steep price. Thanks!
You also need ground troops if you want to avoid killing too many civilians. Not to mention that underground fortresses require ground troops to go in and face the defenders because aerial bombardment won’t always work against them.
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As an engineer, I usually have to bite my tongue to avoid breaking down Sci-fi and Fantasy stories. The characters always end up doing something that changes the rules and creates an entire world of unexplored possibilities that should have been obvious.
For example, even with strict elemental magic, I always have to consider synergy, whether through clever teamwork, or direct magical interactions.
What happens if a Fire and an Earth user worked together to create lava?
Could a water/air user create a lens in the atmosphere that would focus the sun into a small point? It wouldn't take much to create a devastating "death ray".
How about a giant lensed water mirror to scan the horizon?
Can an Air user suffocate someone? Could a water user "blood bend"?
etc...
Take a look at this video of a simple set-up that uses barely more than a transparent sheet and rain water to create a spot of heat that should reach around 700 degrees. (Great survival trick, by the way)
With the ability to control water more elegantly, much more is possible. A Fresnel lens allows a normally large lens to be effectively flat.
Fresnel on the left:

There is also the issue of conservation of mass and energy.
If a magic user can lift a large boulder into the air, then they could set it on a generator to produce large amounts of electrical energy. Without some form of regulated "equivalent exchange", these nations would basically have unlimited power at their disposal. Even very inefficient old world technology could become devastating by pumping irrational amounts of electricity into it.
Edit: One option could be to have magicians channel electricity/gasoline/sugar/etc directly. Literally converting one form of energy into their magical equivalent. Plug them into an outlet and they can do everything that an equivalent machine could do. (A sugar battery would have about 10 times the energy density of an equivalent lithium-ion battery, so maybe your magicians pound raw sugar like scarface with cocaine.)