If the source for one school of magic were to suddenly disappear from the material plane, which would cause the most chaos? What type of magic is commonly used enough in the world that, should it no longer be available, the infrastructure, culture, or otherwise daily way of life of most people would be affected?
I’m in the worldbuilding stage of a new campaign in which magic in the prime material is sourced from the outer planes, each of which is a source of one school of magic, and one of those planes is being drained of its magic which sustains it, so it’s trying to cut itself off from the prime material.
Losing abjuration would take out healing spells, and all the wards, magic circles etc. that keep Bad Things at bay
If you want a less drastic choice, losing divination would take out the knowledge class of spells, plus things like Sending. As an added bonus considering the plot, it also takes out contact other plane
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Active characters:
Edoumiaond Willegume "Eddie" Podslee, Vegetanian scholar (College of Spirits bard) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator (Assassin rogue) Peter "the Pied Piper" Hausler, human con artist/remover of vermin (Circle of the Shepherd druid) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Part of the answer is: how common is magic, and is it a day-to-day thing, or only used for big deal stuff?
If Bob the farmer falls off the house fixing the roof and breaks his leg, do they take him to the village priest and get him fixed up, or does he have to heal naturally?
If the good cooking pot cracks, can you take it to the local hedge wizard for a quick mending, or do you need a new pot?
Is the nearest caster somebody in the village who knows a few useful charms, or do you have to go to the next town, or even the city? Is necessary magic even affordable to the common folk?
Is it used a lot in transportation and commerce?
Relatedly, are there spells that PCs don't bother with, the sort of things that makes the crops grow, keep the chickens healthy, etc., or is it mostly big combat stuff?
Unless magic is common for the common people, society will muddle on. The upper classes will be more put out. Healing magic, mending and manufacturing magic, and transportation magic are likely the types most likely to create major disruption if they go away. Killing things magic is the least likely to.
Losing abjuration would take out healing spells, and all the wards, magic circles etc. that keep Bad Things at bay
If you want a less drastic choice, losing divination would take out the knowledge class of spells, plus things like Sending. As an added bonus considering the plot, it also takes out contact other plane
Both of these are very good options… leaving the world to either have to learn scientific medicine on its own, or invent snail mail and accesible fonts of information.
Part of the answer is: how common is magic, and is it a day-to-day thing, or only used for big deal stuff?
If Bob the farmer falls off the house fixing the roof and breaks his leg, do they take him to the village priest and get him fixed up, or does he have to heal naturally?
If the good cooking pot cracks, can you take it to the local hedge wizard for a quick mending, or do you need a new pot?
Is the nearest caster somebody in the village who knows a few useful charms, or do you have to go to the next town, or even the city? Is necessary magic even affordable to the common folk?
Is it used a lot in transportation and commerce?
Relatedly, are there spells that PCs don't bother with, the sort of things that makes the crops grow, keep the chickens healthy, etc., or is it mostly big combat stuff?
Unless magic is common for the common people, society will muddle on. The upper classes will be more put out. Healing magic, mending and manufacturing magic, and transportation magic are likely the types most likely to create major disruption if they go away. Killing things magic is the least likely to.
My main goal with this campaign is definitely to have it affect the upper classes more, and for them to get pissy about it while most other people in the world can pretty clearly see that the world could get on with the loss of just one specific type of magic just fine (yippee climate change allegory!). You’ve given me a very good line of thinking for how to approach a lot of the more mundane things magic going missing would affect, so thank you!!
My answer would be Conjuration go over all the spells in this classification and hands down the best spells in the game. Punishing your world by depriving them from accessing them.
I agree with the Conjuration idea. It removes Wish from the game as well as summoning from other planes. It would make it harder to access the plane that is being drained of magic, and your party would need to find a nontraditional way to access that plane.
To go in another direction, consider Necromancy or Transmutation.
Transmutation includes basic utility magic like Mending and simple spells used by casters to learn magic (Prestidigitation, Druidcraft). This lack of simple magic would make magic rarer, so be careful, but it could be really interesting! (Think about how it affects other shapeshifting effects like Changelings, Shifters, lycanthropes, and Wild Shaping druids.)
Necromancy is behind vampires, liches, and many other malicious creatures. Perhaps necromancy's lack of existence causes undead to die again, and now all the treasure hoarded by undead menaces (take Strahd von Zarovich or Szass Tam as examples) are up for grabs! Now it's a rush for treasure and the party must face other treasure hunters in a race for the goods.
I still think Conjuration is the best bet given that it's a campaign in which relationships between planes is key.
Necromancy is behind vampires, liches, and many other malicious creatures. Perhaps necromancy's lack of existence causes undead to die again, and now all the treasure hoarded by undead menaces (take Strahd von Zarovich or Szass Tam as examples) are up for grabs! Now it's a rush for treasure and the party must face other treasure hunters in a race for the goods.
Necromancy is an interesting option, not for the reasons you mentioned, but because it cuts off any type of resurrection and reincarnation. Give the group a scroll or two of Revivify and they'll feel like they'll need it soon. Have news spread that clerics have lost the ability to resurrect, and they may be motivated to investigate. You could even have them discover the issue by killing one of the players and having the resurrection be a partial success. (Perhaps they come back as a Dhampir or Reborn from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.)
This also works well for OP's desired impact. Healing (conjuration) is going to be more generally accessible than resurrection magic. Without resurrection, perhaps there is increased strife as assassination attempts are on the rise since killing off someone can't be undone with a few hundred or thousand GP. It more directly affects the upper class more than the lower class.
Edit: I didn't realize this was a slight necro. I hope it's still a relevant topic.
If the source for one school of magic were to suddenly disappear from the material plane, which would cause the most chaos?
What type of magic is commonly used enough in the world that, should it no longer be available, the infrastructure, culture, or otherwise daily way of life of most people would be affected?
I’m in the worldbuilding stage of a new campaign in which magic in the prime material is sourced from the outer planes, each of which is a source of one school of magic, and one of those planes is being drained of its magic which sustains it, so it’s trying to cut itself off from the prime material.
:)
Losing abjuration would take out healing spells, and all the wards, magic circles etc. that keep Bad Things at bay
If you want a less drastic choice, losing divination would take out the knowledge class of spells, plus things like Sending. As an added bonus considering the plot, it also takes out contact other plane
Active characters:
Edoumiaond Willegume "Eddie" Podslee, Vegetanian scholar (College of Spirits bard)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator (Assassin rogue)
Peter "the Pied Piper" Hausler, human con artist/remover of vermin (Circle of the Shepherd druid)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Part of the answer is: how common is magic, and is it a day-to-day thing, or only used for big deal stuff?
If Bob the farmer falls off the house fixing the roof and breaks his leg, do they take him to the village priest and get him fixed up, or does he have to heal naturally?
If the good cooking pot cracks, can you take it to the local hedge wizard for a quick mending, or do you need a new pot?
Is the nearest caster somebody in the village who knows a few useful charms, or do you have to go to the next town, or even the city? Is necessary magic even affordable to the common folk?
Is it used a lot in transportation and commerce?
Relatedly, are there spells that PCs don't bother with, the sort of things that makes the crops grow, keep the chickens healthy, etc., or is it mostly big combat stuff?
Unless magic is common for the common people, society will muddle on. The upper classes will be more put out. Healing magic, mending and manufacturing magic, and transportation magic are likely the types most likely to create major disruption if they go away. Killing things magic is the least likely to.
Both of these are very good options… leaving the world to either have to learn scientific medicine on its own, or invent snail mail and accesible fonts of information.
:)
My main goal with this campaign is definitely to have it affect the upper classes more, and for them to get pissy about it while most other people in the world can pretty clearly see that the world could get on with the loss of just one specific type of magic just fine (yippee climate change allegory!). You’ve given me a very good line of thinking for how to approach a lot of the more mundane things magic going missing would affect, so thank you!!
:)
My answer would be Conjuration go over all the spells in this classification and hands down the best spells in the game. Punishing your world by depriving them from accessing them.
I agree with the Conjuration idea. It removes Wish from the game as well as summoning from other planes. It would make it harder to access the plane that is being drained of magic, and your party would need to find a nontraditional way to access that plane.
To go in another direction, consider Necromancy or Transmutation.
Transmutation includes basic utility magic like Mending and simple spells used by casters to learn magic (Prestidigitation, Druidcraft). This lack of simple magic would make magic rarer, so be careful, but it could be really interesting! (Think about how it affects other shapeshifting effects like Changelings, Shifters, lycanthropes, and Wild Shaping druids.)
Necromancy is behind vampires, liches, and many other malicious creatures. Perhaps necromancy's lack of existence causes undead to die again, and now all the treasure hoarded by undead menaces (take Strahd von Zarovich or Szass Tam as examples) are up for grabs! Now it's a rush for treasure and the party must face other treasure hunters in a race for the goods.
I still think Conjuration is the best bet given that it's a campaign in which relationships between planes is key.
Necromancy is an interesting option, not for the reasons you mentioned, but because it cuts off any type of resurrection and reincarnation. Give the group a scroll or two of Revivify and they'll feel like they'll need it soon. Have news spread that clerics have lost the ability to resurrect, and they may be motivated to investigate. You could even have them discover the issue by killing one of the players and having the resurrection be a partial success. (Perhaps they come back as a Dhampir or Reborn from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.)
This also works well for OP's desired impact. Healing (conjuration) is going to be more generally accessible than resurrection magic. Without resurrection, perhaps there is increased strife as assassination attempts are on the rise since killing off someone can't be undone with a few hundred or thousand GP. It more directly affects the upper class more than the lower class.
Edit: I didn't realize this was a slight necro. I hope it's still a relevant topic.
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