Help fleshing out a campaign setting!

[Kazudo]

I'm building a campaign setting (which I will likely end up building and posting notes on here in-thread for ideas) in which, among other things, magic should be much more readily available. Magic is essentially treated in-universe the way that computers are treated in ours; everyone is expected to have at least a basic knowledge thereof, there are competing shops and businesses which can either sell you scrolls and potions or cast spells for you, there are community colleges and micro academies which teach this stuff at a charge, etc.

None of the classes are really changing. The Recharge Magic variant rule from UA is in place, and the way I've decided to handle it is to say that Prepared casters still prepare spells per day, but that spell recharges. It keeps individuals from needing to prepare multiple castings of the same spell per day and provides them a bit more utility. Spontaneous casters, however, don't have that issue and get far more versatility. We're also ensuring to use Specific Recharge Rates for certain spells so that that slot stays bought up more often than not. There are a few rudimentary changes that the introduction of this variant will create that I can foresee.


Items which are basically Itemized Spells (Wands, Scrolls, Potions, etc) will see less utility by normal casters, but increased utility by common NPCs who will be better informed on their uses.
Competition and availability of spell slots will cause the supply of spells to approach or overshadow the demand, reducing the cost thereof.
More laws and statutes on the governing of magical use will occur, governing not only commoner usage of magic, but also limiting adventurers.


And there are more, I'm sure.

How would you represent this mechanically, however? Decreasing the overall cost of magic by a percentage? What other ramifications would there be of magic that's this wide open?

As far as the remaining subsystems, they all pretty much exist. The ToB has been pretty much just refluffed to fit the campaign setting, but mechanically it runs the same way. Incarnum has, again, been somewhat refluffed, but otherwise mechanically the same. Psionics are also in play and are unchanged.

[Trasilor]

I'm building a campaign setting (which I will likely end up building and posting notes on here in-thread for ideas) in which, among other things, magic should be much more readily available. Magic is essentially treated in-universe the way that computers are treated in ours; everyone is expected to have at least a basic knowledge thereof, there are competing shops and businesses which can either sell you scrolls and potions or cast spells for you, there are community colleges and micro academies which teach this stuff at a charge, etc.

None of the classes are really changing. The Recharge Magic variant rule from UA is in place, and the way I've decided to handle it is to say that Prepared casters still prepare spells per day, but that spell recharges. It keeps individuals from needing to prepare multiple castings of the same spell per day and provides them a bit more utility. Spontaneous casters, however, don't have that issue and get far more versatility. We're also ensuring to use Specific Recharge Rates for certain spells so that that slot stays bought up more often than not. There are a few rudimentary changes that the introduction of this variant will create that I can foresee.


Items which are basically Itemized Spells (Wands, Scrolls, Potions, etc) will see less utility by normal casters, but increased utility by common NPCs who will be better informed on their uses.
Competition and availability of spell slots will cause the supply of spells to approach or overshadow the demand, reducing the cost thereof.
More laws and statutes on the governing of magical use will occur, governing not only commoner usage of magic, but also limiting adventurers.


And there are more, I'm sure.

How would you represent this mechanically, however? Decreasing the overall cost of magic by a percentage? What other ramifications would there be of magic that's this wide open?

As far as the remaining subsystems, they all pretty much exist. The ToB has been pretty much just refluffed to fit the campaign setting, but mechanically it runs the same way. Incarnum has, again, been somewhat refluffed, but otherwise mechanically the same. Psionics are also in play and are unchanged.

For magical items, volume was never the problem - it was always the fixed materials cost. How are you going to lower that? It doesn't matter if the wizard can produce 10,000 or 10,000,000 1st level scrolls if they each cost the same to produce.

Mechanically speaking, the fixed material costs prevent any real competition.

By the way, magical items are more akin to food then tech markets. If two different wizards produce a 1st level Magic Missile scroll - which one is better? They each cost the same to produce, of equal quality and of perfectly equal utility. These aspects allow price differentiation.

Finally, producers don't make product just to make product. They make a product because there is a demand. Competition is created when one person generates a competitive edge over another. If I can decrease my cost by 10%, I will gain that back (and then some) via market share.

Finally, depending on the government bodies - there probably would be price controls by the manufacturers in the form of Guilds. Guilds, among other things, allowed price fixing.

In the end, single use activation items are not cost efficient. Self resetting magical traps of utility magic are. By definition, they have fixed cost that allows an infinite number of uses. Combine with instantaneous conjuration (wall of stone, wall of iron, wall of salt, etc) for all of your basic building needs)

[Gildedragon]

Mechanically make UMD a class skill for everyone, and lower the DCs by 5

I would look into implementing Minor Schemas (Eberron) which are 1/day reusable scrolls. You could rent the schema from a guild 1/50 of the cost per day (0th.- 4gp 1st.- 8gp, 2nd.- 48, 3rd.- 120... etc up to 6th level) or even less. Price for a mishap is a fee equivalent to 6 days of non-functioning (probably enacted as a deposit).

Ditto for Eternal Wands (but minor schemas are cheaper)

Magewrights are quite common and virtually every crafter rents out a schema of Magecraft (or practical-metamagic:extended sanctum magecraft, for a 2 day duration at a 4gp cost)

[Kazudo]

One reason that magic is so abundant is the natural magical energy emitted by the planet itself. A method I could see using given some advice given above and around the net, would be making UMD a blanket class skill for everyone (since it's so useful, natch) and potentially granting Eschew Materials as a free feat to all spellcasting classes. Foci would still be a problem, but at least material components with a listed cost of less than 1 GP aren't! At this point, spells with a listed cost would probably retain the same basic price, but the ones that aren't I could see to reducing the cost of magical items which use those spells to 80% of base price to reflect an altered world.

What kinds of laws governing magical use would one expect to see arising from, say, your average commoner having access to one cantrip slot per day?

[Gildedragon]

evocation requires a license to practice.
wands of damage dealing spells are considered weapons and there are means to peacebond them
enchantment is as a general rule an illegal act: Charm, Suggestion, etc are considered aggravated assault. To practice them without a v. regulated license is grounds for execution (too dangerous to let run free)

conj [healing], abjuration and divination (except scrying) are probably the most socially accepted schools, followed by conjuration [creation] and transmutation

Necromancy has a similar status to evocation

Sorcerers and bards are pretty much the only arcane casters that get access to illegal spells, as wizardly research into the area is frowned upon and the texts that detail the stuff are heavily controlled

Upon entering a city spellbooks are confiscated for a couple days to examine them for content. Interim legal spellbooks in v. easy to read code are then loaned out to the wizard.

contraband spellbooks are pursued by antimagic taskforces.

[Telonius]

The world you've described will trend towards the Tippyverse, unless there's some very good reason it shouldn't. Maybe make it something like that episode of Star Trek, where they find that using high warp drive is weakening space-time if you do it over and over in one place.

[John Longarrow]

The price for magic items could be much lower than normal due to greater demand.
Most prices are based on fixed costs + exp. If some casters are willing to make items for less, they will have an easier time selling. If this gets common, the cost of XPs could drop significantly.

I'll second having UMD as a class skill for everyone. I'd also toss Knowledge(Arcana) and SpellCraft on the list.

You can either go with LOTS of magic creatures or assume most of them have been killed off. Both should work well.

Only item that gets kinda skewed is most BBEGs will be less.. special. Much harder to come up with a good villian when just about ANYONE can use magic.

[Gildedragon]

Though tippyverse isn't a necessarily bad thing (nor the only outcome of high magic per D&D rules)

With low level magic being v. common, but spells above 6th being exponentially rarer, Tippyverse doesn't quite manifest.

City Stride guides would approximate it, but the cargo movement and the dependence on experts or items of the spell puts a soft cap on the intensity of the movement.
Also Tverse's food traps while neat do not account for food-as-status-symbol
People will want organically grown food, if only to show they can get it. And a (n artificial) depencence on the countryside for luxury items will produce rural communities that are tied by trade links to bigger metropolises (something the TV doesn't have, there each city is a self sufficient entity)

[Kazudo]

The world you've described will trend towards the Tippyverse, unless there's some very good reason it shouldn't. Maybe make it something like that episode of Star Trek, where they find that using high warp drive is weakening space-time if you do it over and over in one place.

Actually, that's one of the notions. It's edging towards that, where magic is incredibly commonplace, and why wouldn't it be? This is, however, just one nation of the world as a whole. I haven't had the time to flesh out any others. The thing is, the characters won't be starting in this nation, they'll be starting in a much more fantasy-esque setting. However, people traveling from this place to "experience the quaint tranquility of other lands" will be very frequent. That being said, a homebrew race may be in order. Human, but the bonus feat and skill points are perpetually spent on UMD, Knowledge Arcana, and Spellcraft (always being class skills), and Eschew Materials.

At any rate, what would you expect people from a setting similar to this one, where magic is as closely monitored and legislated as we handle most modern utilities, to act like when put into a normal fantasy setting, like the D&D core setting?

[Ravens_cry]

Hmm, Eberron would be a good place to look for a world where low level magic use as very common and is part of the infrastructure of society. You don't have to ape it exactly, but it's a good place to steal borrow ideas from. Also, think logically, how would people outside of murder hobos use certain spells? Even a casting cure minor wounds is enough to allow a person to not die from grievous wounds and start on the road to recovery. Getting out of that danger zone means a much better chance of recovery, no matter how long it takes.

[Kazudo]

So possibly we'd be looking at mandates concerning restoration spells, too. Possibly even rules and restrictions on procreation due to overpopulation from the death rate being somewhat lower. I mean, in a world where Cure Minor stabilizes you, any commoners mauled by housecats are less likely to die if they can sequester themselves and strap on a few extra hit points.

[Ferronach]

As the casters are obviously getting a fairly nice deal out of this system, what are you doing for the martial characters?

Are you going to allow them to enhance their weapons with magical attributes (flaming burst etc.) at a lower cost?
Will you let them have access to more augment crystals like those outlined in MIC?

If you like the Augment crystals and want to help the party out, you could pull from Diablo-like games and provide a "socketing" service that will allow the character to use more than one crystal at a time - for a fee of course.

Personally I would also take a look at developing item-sets and/or using pre-established ones that ALL people have somewhat easier access too. Some sets could be derived from the uniforms of the universities where each level of training provides them with another item of the set (belt, gloves, robe, hat, etc.). Each school could have a different set that amps different things, for example a school focused on evocation would have a set that increase the effectivenss of evocation spells. Martial schools could teach their students how to use magic items more effectively and frovide them with item sets that produce helpful effects for example, a set that enhances STR or CON and allows the wearer to cast CLW 3/day or something helpful.

One problem I forsee is that the people with lower will saves and less SR may suffer if the NPCs and, by extension, the "enemies" have more magic than normal. Allowing your tank & heavy hitters to purchase/add enchantments to their armour/shield to help balance this out should keep them happier and reduce the risk of having a party of glass cannons.

Can you tell that I greatly preffer playing mele characters?

[Ravens_cry]

So possibly we'd be looking at mandates concerning restoration spells, too. Possibly even rules and restrictions on procreation due to overpopulation from the death rate being somewhat lower. I mean, in a world where Cure Minor stabilizes you, any commoners mauled by housecats are less likely to die if they can sequester themselves and strap on a few extra hit points.
Well, if you go all Tippy verse, over population is hardly a problem, as food production, for at least the proles, is sufficient to keep soul and body together. It's not great food, but it's edible and nutritious.

[Gildedragon]

So possibly we'd be looking at mandates concerning restoration spells, too. Possibly even rules and restrictions on procreation due to overpopulation from the death rate being somewhat lower. I mean, in a world where Cure Minor stabilizes you, any commoners mauled by housecats are less likely to die if they can sequester themselves and strap on a few extra hit points.

...Probably not, cause... well
We look at the technological revolutions and v. few places overall institute procreation laws.
Now that people aim for fewer children and there are planed parenthood campaigns: No doubt whatsoever.
Spells such as the BoEF's Block the Seed (1st, Bard, Sorc-Wis, Cleric) become commonplace. Schemas of sanctumed versions of the spell become quite available (1 use covers you for a day or 2 if the spell is extended).
In a G aligned place these are probably subsidized to have them cost an SP or so.
(or perhaps by having the spell have a rider Distill Joy effect)

[Kazudo]

I'll preface this piecemealing by saying that the world is still in its infancy. I haven't had time to fully flesh out the campaign setting, and in fact this is really just one (rather large in proportion, granted) nation. It's the China to this world's Asia (in size only, mind).


As the casters are obviously getting a fairly nice deal out of this system, what are you doing for the martial characters?

Are you going to allow them to enhance their weapons with magical attributes (flaming burst etc.) at a lower cost?
Will you let them have access to more augment crystals like those outlined in MIC?

All magical items will be less expensive. This includes weapon modification. The MIC in its entirety is actually available. I have been toying with the notion that everyone from this particular country gets access to a small number of spell slots of low level casting. By rules, as spell-likes however which wouldn't be usable to qualify for PRCs.



If you like the Augment crystals and want to help the party out, you could pull from Diablo-like games and provide a "socketing" service that will allow the character to use more than one crystal at a time - for a fee of course.


I like this notion as something that extends beyond this country. Weapons and armor may be able to be made (For a substantial fee) to handle more than one Materia Augment Crystal.



One problem I forsee is that the people with lower will saves and less SR may suffer if the NPCs and, by extension, the "enemies" have more magic than normal. Allowing your tank & heavy hitters to purchase/add enchantments to their armour/shield to help balance this out should keep them happier and reduce the risk of having a party of glass cannons.

Mhmm. I agree.

[Gildedragon]

A counter to the increase in power and availability of magic can be secrecy of it. Mage guilds are not eager to let strangers copy their spells. The schemas are neither arcane nor divine and thus not really copyable (as they are not arcane writings). Scrolls and access to spellbooks might be tricky, needing a lot of services to a guild to be trusted in it.

certain spells might be very regional, ditto for metamagic feats.

Lower the LA on Karsites, make them easily available for mundanes characters.

antimagic shackles are the standard for police

[Phelix-Mu]

If magic is both more plentiful and the knowledge to use it more available, assume that there will be a great many npcs that will have, for example, Int 11 and exactly one or two wizard levels. This allows them to tap the unlimited resource of daily spells, and will save them mountains of money over a lifetime worth of scrolls and wand reliance. Over time, the concentration of such npcs should only increase, as acquiring caster levels would be treated akin to acquiring basic education in real life. If you want to maintain/improve your social and economic standing, go to school and become a caster.

This may be even more pronounced if spontaneous casting of arcane magics a la sorcerer is still heritable (and more so if that trait is more common in the populace than the default). Between those gifted in learning (high-Int), and those that have direct access to magic via their heritage, that will leave a kind of underclass that will be under lots of pressure to acquire magic or remain forever powerless in a world where everyone else has 5G caster levels.

An interesting way to deal with this, if divine magic is still prevalent and equally available, is to have churches, druids, and other divine casters vie for members of the underclass, since divine magic is naturally lower cost than arcane magic (particularly lower-cost than wizard casting that needs a spellbook), and matters like faith and so forth are probably harder to quantify in-game than intelligence (as a test for Wisdom is naturally more elusive than a test for Intelligence). This might set up an interesting paradigm where the underclass is torn between a world infused with belief in things like animism or some kind of high-impact spirituality (where there is a god for each and every thing), and a world of intellect, divorced from superstition and belief in the trans-human (as a wizard, nothing is trans-human, and everything can be reduced to a series of formulaic magical principles). Could be some rockin' flavor there.

Other implications:

- Magical traps: Yeah, you should decide if you are sticking with the default pricing. In the way that they are often used in optimization, magical traps, specifically self-resetting and beneficial ones, seriously render things like wands and potions practically obsolete. Instead of it being a kind of gadget-based society, it's more of a Star Trek thing; post-materialism, because the replicator can make anything you want whenever you need it.

- Entertainment: In high-tech worlds, there is often a real or perceived divide between the old way of enjoying oneself (going out and doing things) and the new way, a technologically-facilitated way in which the creation of new mediums for communication or the experiencing of artificial realities becomes possible. With magic as a stand-in for tech, this is likely to crop up as well. Does the fighter need to go out and fight goblins, or can he visit the Danger Room enemy simulator and gain just as much benefit. Do people journey to the neighborhood academy, or do they put on their illusion-helmet, which immerses them in a series of illusions/synaptic learning by which they gain all the benefit of an irl experience (and maybe more)? Eventually, this can lead to issues involving robot/AI rights, is it okay to kill shadow illusion goblins, and self-evolving sentience or living spells that may demand rights and privileges of their own.

- Nature: In the real world, technology tends to also be represented as progress, the forward movement of knowledge and our ability to understand and manipulate the universe that we live in. It is an instrument of empowerment, of self-actualization. This isn't inherently problematic, but if taken to an extreme, can possibly lead to hyper-individualism, the fragmentation of society, and the loss of things that connect us to the past (like traditions). By contrast, the natural world is one where nothing exists in isolation, and the web of interconnection is profound and inescapable (down to quantum entanglement).

Now, this is the normal paradigm; technology and nature exist in something less than harmony, and sometimes directly at loggerheads. But, perhaps in this world, magic and nature are synonymous. The individual may be empowered to evolve at relativistic speeds by the power of magic, but maybe the natural world works on the same principle. Hyperevolution, synergistic viruses and nanobots, and gene-blending can all be represented by magic, and if the real world exists on this scale, then that really does make a world where even magic profusion may not solve all of the problems. Societies may still need to cooperate, because the woods is just a ten-day from coughing up a virus-enhanced, sentient, self-spawning, Lovecraftian monstrosity that could walk the streets of the Tippyverse and still make heads turn. Round-by-round flexible energy resistance, force resistance, reflexively-determined ablative spell resistance, evolving flesh that increases in DR and alter DR-type by the threat encountered, beings that spawn IA-like self-replicas that have accrued immunities from past experiences...need I go on?

If you want a nightmare, hand Mother Nature the toolbox of the wizard. That will be one hell of an arms race.

[Kazudo]

I like that notion.

RE: The country (That I'm calling Zaria for no real reason in particular) is specific in its citizenship. Everyone within it must have some Zarian heritage of some form or other, whether you be pureblood, halfblood, etc. The nation's big, but not really unnaturally so, so any of the other races unless you have Half-Zarian on it (Homebrewed Template, not going too far into it since this isn't the Homebrew page) you can't get citizenship. To enter the country, you have to have something akin to a temporary visa. Probably a Word of Recall trap installed on your person that goes off at a specific point after installation. Six months, maybe ten, whatever the length of the thing. Then they get snapped back to a preordained location in their home country. If, for example, you have Zarian heritage and you want to become a Zarian Citizen, they do all sorts of tests which basically amount to DNA and genealogy to find out if you're one of them, then you get into the country on a more permanent basis. It wouldn't be unheard of for Zarians to want to venture into the "Less advanced" countries of the world just to get a feel for other places. Going on safari or vacation or holiday, if you will.

[Gildedragon]

The word of recall method seems... a lot of effort; and bad for trade, diplomacy and cultural flow (and if they don't care for trade/diplomacy, why not just shut themselves in. Also the homogenic bloodline seems... impractical for an area the size of china).

Mythals around the main cities, or a massive Mythal wall (a'la great wall of china) that acts as a divider between heartlands and periphery.
The heartlands have a higher Zarian concentration than the periphery. Zarian bloodlines are higher rank, with better access to the mythal's spells.

As to the preponderance of wizard levels: maybe but there are less study intensive and more practical options (adepts, arcane-shifted adepts, and magewrights, as well as artificers)

Also: Zarian seems a bit... on the nose for a race and nationality that is extremely xenophobic and territorial and considers itself "superior" to others and considers nationality on racial grounds exclusively

Edit: note there are spells that discern bloodlines. Level 1 spell even

[Kazudo]

Well, and that's the general feel. They're a bunch of racist elitists which SHOULDN'T work as a country, but do for some reason. They've become so advanced in the ways they have that they pretty much treat the rest of the world like a zoo and their pets. And, unfortunately due to their superiority, there's not an absolutely huge amount of things that the rest of the world can do about it. I'm sort of flavoring this country as "bad guys". It's really a matter of mixed morality, but in essence yeah, I want them to be pretty much the jerks of the world.

A concept that was given to me was the notion that should spontaneous casters occur, ones that don't need training in a magical art to further their education therein, they'd be paired with a sort of "handler". I liked the idea of them belonging to a Rogue Agency who puts their knowledge of otherwise "forbidden" or "heavily legislated" magic to use for potentially underhanded things like terminating defecters, etc.

[Gildedragon]

There prolly ought be strong social discrimination against karsites, drow, and other SR races (esp karsites with their inability for arcane magic and whatnot) Also I'd drop the LA of any SR race by 1

[Ferronach]

There prolly ought be strong social discrimination against karsites, drow, and other SR races (esp karsites with their inability for arcane magic and whatnot) Also I'd drop the LA of any SR race by 1

The SR races could be part of an underground movement.
Some of the "schools" would most likely have a few "specimens" of races with SR for studying purposes.
Karsites and their ilk could be used as slaves or labourers as "what hope do they have against the magical might of the mighty Zarians?"

With such prevalent magic, it could also be possible that the "other guys" have adapted to become much more resistant to spells but have not let the Zarians know about it.
Some of the more artificer oriented casters may also be working on developing devices that allow reaces like the Karsites to cast spells (a mixture of a magical item and a graft?)

[Kazudo]

So this just about fleshes out two countries. Zaria and the typical fantasy location. I'm not sure what to call it. Maybe Aester or something similar. That one's a pretty simple land, very similar to the "assumed setting" of D&D. The pantheon is a tad bit different, and the cosmology of the land has naturally been altered quite a bit. But other than that, it's not a bad locale.

Another location I've wanted to make for a long time exemplifies the "Here there be fearsome creatures" mindset that games like Monster Hunter instill. There are large monsters, there are entire guilds of people whose sole purpose is to remove them, and most people thrive using commodities and materials generated by them. That in mind, what kind of things could one theoretically gain from typical D&D monsters that could have some mechanical purpose? For example, what rules are there for bone and hide and such?

[Gildedragon]

The SR races could be part of an underground movement.
Some of the "schools" would most likely have a few "specimens" of races with SR for studying purposes.
Karsites and their ilk could be used as slaves or labourers as "what hope do they have against the magical might of the mighty Zarians?"

With such prevalent magic, it could also be possible that the "other guys" have adapted to become much more resistant to spells but have not let the Zarians know about it.
Some of the more artificer oriented casters may also be working on developing devices that allow reaces like the Karsites to cast spells (a mixture of a magical item and a graft?)

Karsites can be artificers (and use artificer scrolls) just fine (as they aren't arcane OR divine spells), as well as Factotums, Warlocks, Meldshaper, Dragonfire Adepts, and Binders.

---

Regarding monster hunting scraps:
Dragons have a myriad uses. Dragon Magic has a few (like weapons that deal elemental damage etc)
And there are optional spell components (BoVD, BoED, SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/metamagicComponents.htm), and probably others) that can do metamagics and the like.
The Here be wild things could be a sort of inverse-mournlands. Wild magic is the norm there, and book-casting might be impeded or particularly erratic.

Settlements might be built on the backs of some extremely large creatures (seismosaurus? colossal centipedes? cloud rays)

[Ferronach]

So this just about fleshes out two countries. Zaria and the typical fantasy location. I'm not sure what to call it. Maybe Aester or something similar. That one's a pretty simple land, very similar to the "assumed setting" of D&D. The pantheon is a tad bit different, and the cosmology of the land has naturally been altered quite a bit. But other than that, it's not a bad locale.

Another location I've wanted to make for a long time exemplifies the "Here there be fearsome creatures" mindset that games like Monster Hunter instill. There are large monsters, there are entire guilds of people whose sole purpose is to remove them, and most people thrive using commodities and materials generated by them. That in mind, what kind of things could one theoretically gain from typical D&D monsters that could have some mechanical purpose? For example, what rules are there for bone and hide and such?

I believe that Races of Stone has some hide armour Mamoth Leather to noame one IIRC

I would start with checking the Races of books and devise a system from there. I think that the MIC hase some rules regarding bone and such, sadly I am at work so cannot check my books :smallfrown:

[Jeff the Green]

Now that people aim for fewer children and there are planed parenthood campaigns: No doubt whatsoever.
Spells such as the BoEF's Block the Seed (1st, Bard, Sorc-Wis, Cleric) become commonplace.

Actually, I've been toying with an idea for this. As a religio-cultural tradition, every child is baptized in a font that's actually a trap of bestow curse to make them infertile. Then only upon reaching majority or marrying do they get bathed in the remove curse font. And adults can use either one whenever they want. Voila, no more teen pregnancy, no unwanted children, no having more than you can handle. Given all the misery unplanned pregnancy can cause, this would be an enormous boon for society.

[Kazudo]

Regarding monster hunting scraps:
Dragons have a myriad uses. Dragon Magic has a few (like weapons that deal elemental damage etc)
And there are optional spell components (BoVD, BoED, SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/metamagicComponents.htm), and probably others) that can do metamagics and the like.
The Here be wild things could be a sort of inverse-mournlands. Wild magic is the norm there, and book-casting might be impeded or particularly erratic.

Settlements might be built on the backs of some extremely large creatures (seismosaurus? colossal centipedes? cloud rays)

I like that stuff. Variant Metamagic Components may be the way to go with that. I've decided to name that particular land Tenanbwa. I think it may work best as an archipelago formation jutting from the west of the continent. Zaria takes up the majority of the middle of the continent, with Aester being primarily northern. The planet itself has a geography that is primarily temperate, though Aester is known to have bitter winters.

A thought has occurred: Why hasn't Zaria taken the entire continent? I don't want them to have, but with such magical superiority (assumed or otherwise), what reasoning would there be for them not doing so?

[Gildedragon]

Mythals.
Their territorial power (ubiquitous spellcasting for ethnic Zarians) is dependent on that (effectively natural and irreproducible... for now) resource.
There is the Great Mythal that acts as a territorial boundary. They have a lot of power within the Mythal but not outside of it.

This along with a very inward looking society (lots of political and hierarchical squabbling) makes it difficult to expand territorialy as moving troops to the outlands means your heartland base is vulnerable, or you have to leave the court to do that, and if you leave you're gonna get backstabbed...

Add to that a small empowered population (with a very big underclass) and most struggles are to keep the peace in the homeland

Add to that that, well they have power, but it isn't as secure as they would like to believe. SR is a thing. Probably a very common thing among the "barbarians" that surround Zaria; if not the racial trait, the spell at least.

Also there might be deadmagic lands around Zaria (side effect of the ancients having raised such a large mythal?)

[Honest Tiefling]

Here's a question, inspired by the safari comment: Does everyone in Zaria have access to magical items, or only upper classes? What ARE the social classes in Zaria? Is there social mobility? Maybe there are oodles of magical items, but they are zealously guarded by the upper classes to maintain their grip. They aren't stupid however, and promising folks from lower classes are given opportunities to advance--And reasons to be loyal to Zaria.

Perhaps you need entry to the upper classes to legally own or operate magical items of certain natures. Like, you need to be in the military to have offensive magic, or connected to a library/school to have magic used for research.

Maybe you can also get citizenship through marriage. If they have a basic idea of DNA, then they might have the basic idea of not screwing your cousin over and over. And I totally forget where, but somewhere in Forgotten Realms there is a spell to determine lineage. I think it might be related to Nobanion or a Mulhorandi god.

[Gildedragon]

Here's a question, inspired by the safari comment: Does everyone in Zaria have access to magical items, or only upper classes? What ARE the social classes in Zaria? Is there social mobility? Maybe there are oodles of magical items, but they are zealously guarded by the upper classes to maintain their grip. They aren't stupid however, and promising folks from lower classes are given opportunities to advance--And reasons to be loyal to Zaria.

Perhaps you need entry to the upper classes to legally own or operate magical items of certain natures. Like, you need to be in the military to have offensive magic, or connected to a library/school to have magic used for research.

Maybe you can also get citizenship through marriage. If they have a basic idea of DNA, then they might have the basic idea of not screwing your cousin over and over. And I totally forget where, but somewhere in Forgotten Realms there is a spell to determine lineage. I think it might be related to Nobanion or a Mulhorandi god.

That is Know Bloodline but Cleric (general) and 3rd level
Much cheaper is the Cityscape Discern Bloodline and 1st level arcane

Though the benefit of Know rather than Discern is that Discern can only tell race + inerited templates, whereas Know can tell you about the whole ancestry (identify an 'elf' with very very distant human ancestors as human descended)

[Kazudo]

Here's a question, inspired by the safari comment: Does everyone in Zaria have access to magical items, or only upper classes? What ARE the social classes in Zaria? Is there social mobility? Maybe there are oodles of magical items, but they are zealously guarded by the upper classes to maintain their grip. They aren't stupid however, and promising folks from lower classes are given opportunities to advance--And reasons to be loyal to Zaria.

Perhaps you need entry to the upper classes to legally own or operate magical items of certain natures. Like, you need to be in the military to have offensive magic, or connected to a library/school to have magic used for research.

Maybe you can also get citizenship through marriage. If they have a basic idea of DNA, then they might have the basic idea of not screwing your cousin over and over. And I totally forget where, but somewhere in Forgotten Realms there is a spell to determine lineage. I think it might be related to Nobanion or a Mulhorandi god.

Social castes would easily identify themselves dependent on lineage. Mundane magic items (yes, it's an oxymoron, but it makes sense in context) would be easily obtained. Certain spell storage items like potions and scrolls would be readily available, albeit with heavy legislation. Magically enhanced items as well, though again I could envision permits for any that aren't security or soldiers necessary to wield items. And of course, some modifications (WACs, named enchantments, etc) would probably fall under some legislation for the same reason most of the school of Evocation and Illusion would.

A notion that someone gave me is that it's possible that the Zarian race go on safari not just for sight seeing, but to essentially...well...bring more DNA into the family, as it were. Expand the race by enjoying the local wildlife. So it wouldn't be hard to see Half-Zarian as a template or possibly Zarian Heritage as a feat. I would imagine that using Know Bloodline would help with discovering who is and is not actually Zarian heritage. It's even possible that it's a rite of passage for a certain caste to do so. There might be a caste whose entire job is to generate offspring with other races and nations to attempt to bolster the numbers of Zaria and better diversify their people.

Perhaps, since this IS WIP material, only the upper echelon of Zaria's hierarchy can breed with other Zarians as a method of "keeping the lineage pure", and that's how they assert dominance over the lower castes.

[Honest Tiefling]

How many Zarians are there, and can they avoid inbreeding problems? Might be a hook that something else has contaminated the pure Zarian stock, such as fiendish blood, abomination heritage, etc.

An entire caste of people to breed can...Get a bit silly, or a bit squicky fast. Also, they would be pretty lazy, not contribute much and not help genetic diversity. Perhaps a more mercantile middle class has a better idea of marrying out to obtain resources and alliances, and culturally perpetuates it. A higher class might look down upon people who work, and have a different cultural idea of marriage. Of course, that means that the more pureblooded ones maintain their status, while the mercants, who had no hope of using that, get money and alliances to counteract it.

So what traits do the Zarians look for in exotic spouses? Do they have a concept of beauty? Are sorcerers and others with magical bloodlines attractive, or extending the Zarian blood a bit TOO far?

[Kazudo]

How many Zarians are there, and can they avoid inbreeding problems? Might be a hook that something else has contaminated the pure Zarian stock, such as fiendish blood, abomination heritage, etc.

An entire caste of people to breed can...Get a bit silly, or a bit squicky fast. Also, they would be pretty lazy, not contribute much and not help genetic diversity. Perhaps a more mercantile middle class has a better idea of marrying out to obtain resources and alliances, and culturally perpetuates it. A higher class might look down upon people who work, and have a different cultural idea of marriage. Of course, that means that the more pureblooded ones maintain their status, while the mercants, who had no hope of using that, get money and alliances to counteract it.

So what traits do the Zarians look for in exotic spouses? Do they have a concept of beauty? Are sorcerers and others with magical bloodlines attractive, or extending the Zarian blood a bit TOO far?

You're right. That's a stupid gimmick and everybody knows it.

It may be then that Zarian Soldiers are the least magical. No need to waste the good talent for people who either won't do anything or will die defending the nation from barbarian hordes and dragons and such. However, it's possible that Zarians actually lack the ability to create offspring with other Zarians? A deific curse of some kind?

Perhaps a bit of understanding of the cosmology would help here.

The notion is that in times far too old to be ancient, the Material Plane was all there was, and it consisted of one world with an orbiting moon and stationary star. The gods of old kept it simple, and they almost literally walked among the forerunner races. The problem is, they received the bulk of their power from the praise of those below. It's not that they NEEDED praise, per se, but they were at the height of their power when they had a major following. The forerunners figured this out quickly, and began to essentially hold themselves hostage from the gods if to sway their deific powers. After enough time of this, each forerunner eventually gained the powers of the deities since, after a while, they essentially had deities worshiping THEM. They also then learned exactly WHY the deities wanted as much power as they could: The Abominations were just on the other side of a very shaky wall between the Material Plane and the Otherworld. The Abominations pierced the wall with the deities no longer able to stop them and eliminated the entire forerunner race. The deities, no longer having to pump so much energy into their creations, fought the Abominations back to their hole and sealed the wall. They took each forerunner and flung them into the void between worlds where they rotted and collected matter. The Abominations that fell in the struggle were lit ablaze and also flung into the world. The deities created their own planes to put a sort of barrier of separation between them and the material plane and vowed never to make another sentient race again.

Well, that didn't happen. See, each forerunner received a piece of the god they took their power from. A small portfolio of no more than two domains, you see. One particular deity received the domains of nature and magic, and the globe that his corpse eventually created settled the right distance away from a star for life to form on its own out of sheer defiance. The deities learned later that living primarily in their own planes kind of set up a one-way flow for praise to go, and began to accept the races that spawned from that planet.

It's possible therefore that the Zarians, reminding the gods too much of the forerunner race or perhaps being some fractured remnant somehow surviving the eons, have been cursed to never be able to multiply within their own ranks and thus they HAVE to go to non-Zarians to further their race. They can't take over the world because they know that they would die out otherwise.

With that in mind, I'd imagine that the Zarians essentially look for low-hanging, good fruit when it comes to having to find a "spouse" with one of the "unrefined other races". They look for people or creatures with qualities that set them aside from other members of their race. Unique mutations, strange powers, etc. And they look for the ones that are easy to separate from their basic area. It's important to note that some less scrupulous or plain evil Zarians who are having to create a prodigy before being allowed to return to Zaria may actually resort to criminal ways to get a Zarian child of their own, from terrible acts performed in secret to kidnapping their children from the other parent to stealing another Zarian's offspring.

[Honest Tiefling]

Honestly, I like the idea of marrying out, as it makes them have to dabble in other countries and a very present force. I take it they are intended to be a very large part of the setting? It also sets precedent to allow multiple races in the party, if your group tends to do that. If they multiply with other races, they will also spread across other cultures. If they are not powerful enough to simply force all Zarians to come home, there could also be a problem of splinter Zarian groups who decided to bail and live with their other parent's culture.

Depending on how dark you want your setting, it could be that forcibly producing your own offspring is considered extremely shameful. You're a Zarian, you could seduce someone, come on!? Also, it means that the other parent isn't there to take care of the children to allow the Zarian to do more important things. Thirdly, it would be an indication that the child didn't come from the best stock, so it isn't helping the race very much. It'll still happen, but it could be a way to handwave things away if not to your tastes.

[Kazudo]

That's the notion, actually.

As far as politics is concerned, I think a pretty generalized Oligarchy with particular reverence to elders would work. The oldest heads of the most prodigal families will be the decision makers.

[Honest Tiefling]

If they are huge, perhaps they splintered due to marrying out and cultural influence? Would give several cultures that are similar enough, (which means cutting down on explaining stuff to players), but still able to have distinct personality to them. And, it would open the way for intrigue, as a less magical society might not be able to compete.

[Kazudo]

That is an interesting notion, that's for sure. I like it.

So to sum up so far:

Zaria is a caste-based ancestral oligarchy which permits only racially linked Zarians to become citizens. The Zarians erected gigantic magical barriers to protect themselves in ancient times from the outer countries, and in doing so they concentrated the latent magical energy of their nation. They are at their most powerful while inside Zaria. However, due to their similarities to the Forerunners, the gods cursed the entire Zarian race that no two Zarians can make offspring. This leads to a small number of problems, namely that they need to breed with non-Zarians and therefore must make sure that there is a steady stream of non-Zarians for them to breed with. They therefore have seen fit not to expand their nation past their magical barriers and merely live with the knowledge that they are (at least to themselves) the most prominent and powerful race on the planet.

Their economy, being more tilted towards magic and magical creation, has seen a price decrease across the board of 20% on anything to do with magic (barring expensive material components, of course) due to competition of individual and guild. This, combined with all Zarians having Use Magic Device, Spellcraft, and Knowledge (Arcana) as class skills with Eschew Materials being granted as a racial bonus feat, as well as most commoners having access to a few cantrips per day, has led to a very obviously magically-centered society. The more powerful you are, the more influential you become. With a basic education, you have the equivalence of one level of wizard spellcasting or archivist spellcasting depending on your style of education. Many schools and spells require a permit and advanced education to learn and are otherwise essentially illegal.

However, there are the occasional spontaneous casters whose latent magical ability is so potent that they need no official training to make the most of it. These are snapped up at an early age and have their magical powers analyzed and evaluated heavily. Should they turn out to know illegal spells or schools, they are handed over to the Rogue Agency where they are paired with a handler and occasionally used for furthering the Council's goals in and outside of Zaria.

Domestically, many Zarians seek to gain monetary government grants for whatever reason. In a heavily magical community, there is always a reason to want more money. The Zarian Council hands out these grants in return for what the Zarians often refer to as "Safari". A Zarian Safari is an event in many Zarian lives in which the individual in question leaves the nation (with permit, of course) and seeks companionship with a non-Zarian for the purpose of creating offspring to bring back to the nation. Zarians who bring back offspring with exceptional parentage often receive the largest grants in return for an obvious service to the Nation. It is not unheard of for Zarians to wed other Zarians for reasons of partnership, companionship, or otherwise, and typically prize mental traits above physical ones. It is also equally common for Zarians to wed non-Zarians during their search for potential offspring. Should this happen, the laws of the Nation require the couple to send their first offspring back to the Nation to be raised by parents within it to fulfill the contract set upon leaving. Unfortunately, it is rare that the non-Zarian parent is ever granted citizenship into the Nation.

Socially, there are many kinds of Zarian. They are all similar in nature, but their castes are difficult to perceive due to complicated social tradition. It's difficult to see that, for example, most merchants are of a lower caste than nobility and a higher caste than the crafters. However, merchants who deal specifically with nobility and very valuable goods could be easily mistaken for one, even by other nobility. Likewise, a crafter who creates magnificent works of art or function and requires a high price for his sought-after goods could be mistaken for a merchant and dealt as one even by other merchants. Only Zarians and those well versed in their culture would know the difference based on the slight social differences.


That all sums them up about enough for my original purposes anyway. The group won't be starting in Zaria, but will probably have to deal with Zarians somewhat frequently. Especially Rogue Agents in whose business they may interfere.

Now then. I'd like four other countries outside of Zaria to exist. We have the Beastlands (where Giant Monsters Roam) as a chain of about a half-dozen islands each a third of the size of the core continent just off of Zaria's western shores. We also have Aester, the basic core fantasy world to the north of Zaria. What other two nations could be taken advantage of to provide the most potential for adventure without leaving the continent?

[Honest Tiefling]

Those magic resistant people spoken of earlier. They don't pose a threat...yet, but maybe Zarians cannot or will not breed with them. Also, maybe some form of Aasimar. The Zarians obviously don't like gods, and a race of people tied to them would irk them I think. They don't even have to be heavily good-aligned, just connected to the godly realms. Maybe a high number of sorcerers or favored souls? Also, what is your opinion on alternate magics, such as incarnum, psionics, or warlocks? Do the Zarians use these, or would they be utilized by their enemies? Do Zarians even have divine magic?

I think it would be hilarious if a female Zarian wandered up to a male PC, indicating that he has a strong magically heritage and is suitable to sire a child, possibly children! And have her be baffled as to why he might not be flattered at such a wonderful offer as to have his bloodline be added to the glorious Zarian nation! Actually, now that I think about it, wouldn't it make more sense to have females go on Safaris? Less of a chance of missing a child, should the Zarian get into the swing of things, and it is probably easy enough to convince someone to spend about 10 minutes (or 30) in a room with someone with heavy amounts of magical items to look better. Nine months just to see the child be taken away? A little harder I think.

So if these Zarians neglect physical traits, are they even attractive to other races? That might impede their chances of finding a non-Zarian to bone to produce kids if they fail to meet up with the outsider's ideals of physical beauty, depending. Or if there is a similarly frail society that thinks that Zarians look decent enough, be looking to join in via marriage and alliances? Sure, it doesn't work now, but if all of the next generation is of that nation, perhaps it could chance. Maybe they're getting beat up by outside forces and believe that union with the Zarians is the only way out. Maybe they pissed off a god. So now their plan is to join by assimilation, hoping that the next generation will bail them out.