What technologies would you expect from a magi-tech setting?

[heavyfuel]

I'm currently working a campaign setting that makes heavy use of magi-tech. It's Pathfinder, but the general question remains. (I'm also pretty much set on using SoP, so if you could make suggestions that involve the system, it would be appreciated)

What technologies would you expect from a magi-tech setting?

Things like:

Phone = Item of Sending
Flying Ships = Bound elementals (as in Eberron)
Street lights = Continual Flame
Intruder Alarms = Item of Alarm
High Security Prisions = Permanent AMFs

These are just from the top of my head. Please send other suggestions and say if you disagree with any.

[ExLibrisMortis]

A ring of sustenance (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rings/ring-of-sustenance) for everyone.

[heavyfuel]

A ring of sustenance (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rings/ring-of-sustenance) for everyone.

Ring of Sustenance is fine, but not everyone will be able to afford one.

Think more along the lines of things that CAN exist though many may not be able to actually acquire them (like the telephone), or public services the government can provide (like the street lamps)

[hiryuu]

I would combine Ghost Sound, Prestidigitation, and Whispered Message into one item - it'd cost around 1500 gold or so, but you now have a smartphone. Ghost Sound is a great mp3 player, and Message is a great phone on their own. If you want to chop the price down even farther you could force it into a slot and make a Pip-Boy - it's your Peppy Pageboy!

Always shoot for the lowest level spell that can accomplish a goal. I would guess that prestidigitation accounts for a lot of stuff - a 70-250 gp washing machine, presti/arcane mark paint guns, prestidigitation toilets, put prestidigitation on a piece of glass and it's always shiny and clear! Use silent image effects to create 3D mirrors. Presti mops/brooms/rags (complete with ghost sound-autotuned salesmen!), mage handed everything. Lose our keys? Activate the mage hand fob and they'll come to you! Stuff like finger of fire and ray of frost can create nearly infinite mechanical and electrical energy if you're feeling particularly nutty. Door locks that operate on an Open/Close fob.

Create Water everything. 500 gp and you don't care if you're building a city in the desert, or anywhere else, really. Purify Food & Drink cookware, Resistance-based insulation, Guidance-based study materials, detect magic geiger counters, mending tools.

Cantrips along essentially turn the world into a future scenario.

Also, don't forget the uses monsters have. The Pokemon series is essentially a magitech fantasy setting where the primary method of magic use was to just use spirits and monsters as their power base instead of the older, unreliable spells that required hefty research and time. Beholder prison guards can shut down riots with ease. Displacer beasts make great bodyguards even without decking them out in gear. Digesters, otyughs, and gelatinous cubes get rid of trash. Puppeteer psychoanalysts. Fire elementals operating steel mills. Ankheg, Bulette, and Earth Elemental construction crews. Basilisk security teams operated by Grimlock handlers. Dryad and Nymph ecological engineers and advisors.

[3.5dmgisbible]

A Flying ship with extra dimensional or intergalactic capabilities would be very, very cool. The latter might be a little hard to explain through magic, but crossing demensions is a given.
Robot dragons. Like... A dwarven construct animated with magic. It could have weakness to shock or something.
You could make ray guns... That are really just wands that look like rayguns.

[Jack_Simth]

Ring of Sustenance is fine, but not everyone will be able to afford one.

Think more along the lines of things that CAN exist though many may not be able to actually acquire them (like the telephone), or public services the government can provide (like the street lamps)

Trap rule abuse for beneficial spells (Cure light wounds, endure elements, create food & water, Remove Disease, et cetera). Theoretically, once the trap's in place, it has a maintenance cost of 0, so you could charge a few coppers for people to walk through the corridor... and when they get out on the other side, they've little need for food or shelter for the rest of the day. Depending on the size of the city, it could theoretically pay for itself fairly quickly.

Fabricate manufacturing plants for mundane goods.

Buildings constructed primarily of Wall of Stone spells.

[Nifft]

Light.

Fire prevention.

Disease prevention.

Food preservation.

Pest reduction.

Waste disposal.

Pornography.

Long-distance communication.

Transcription.

Some way to do heavy lifting.

Language translation.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Ring of Sustenance is fine, but not everyone will be able to afford one.
2500 gp is a lot to a labourer, but not to a lord, merchant or other rich type. How about this: There is a factory, mine or mill whose workers are issed with a ring of sustenance. The workers must work over twenty hours a day to pay for housing and the ring of sustenance, and interest on the 2500 gp purchase price. Most workers never pay off the ring, but some do. When ring-owners die, they pass the ring to their children, who cherish the precious heirloom, and the independance from food suppliers that it brings.

Two centuries after the industrial revolution, virtually everyone carries a ring. The people of this age look back on the days of the ring-slaves with pity, and are happy that rings are only a fraction of the cost thanks to modern artificing techniques.

Either era is a viable setting, just pick the one you like best.

[kalos72]

My campaign has some nice ones I think:
Spell Traps
Various spell traps created throughout the city - free of charge for citizens - All of these types of traps have the added effect of Enhance Fertility

Panacea /Bless Traps - Spread through out Neverwinter for the population to use as needed
Prestidigitation Traps - Cleaning or repairing personal items
Last Breath Traps - Used to revive the dead
Mount Traps - Give anyone the use of a horse for the day
Greater Floating Disk Traps - Gives 2000lb capacity Tenser style disks for moving cargo
resetting Fabricate traps - Used to supply raw materials to the city for free


Walls will be 5x5x10 white granite blocks
Boon Traps of Fabricate on wagons to create block at build site
Create Lyre of Building and appropriate “homunculus” to play 24/7

[Oneris]

Decanter of endless water set to Geyser + a lot of piping = Running water with good water pressure
+ Resetting Trap of Heat Metal on pipes = Running hot water with good water pressure

[heavyfuel]

@ people suggesting resetting traps:

It's my fault for not mentioning them in the OP, but this kind of Tippyverse abuse of rules (which, IMO, were never intended) is not what I'm looking for. Thank you for suggesting them, but I don't think fit magi-tech as much as they fit a plain high magic setting.

[kalos72]

A ring of sustenance (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rings/ring-of-sustenance) for everyone.

My group has discussed these actually...and are torn between these or just feast halls with rings of Heroes's Feast and some Unseen Servants to assist maybe.

Garbage/sewage is still an outstanding issues for us though. Prestidigitation on a toilet bowl sounds about possible.

[BilltheCynic]

Couple of things we would need to know.

1) How much can the average worker expect to make in this time period?
2) What is the prevalence of high level characters?
3) What is the non-magical tech setting in this place?

That said, here are a few suggestions off the top of my head:
1) Warforged as expensive but tireless workers.
2) Psion Nomads leading interplanetary expeditions using Astral Caravans (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/astralCaravan.htm).
3) Gelationous cube disposal units. For those people too poor to afford one of them fancy magic toilets, I would expect cities to have a cart with a gelationous cube in it that the drag around and feed the waste into. Keeps the streets much cleaner.
4) Undead aristocrats (perhaps Necropolitans).
5) Field Provision Boxes. Owned by either business (who charge a small fee for their use) or aristocrats, these things make food much more of a nonissue and greatly reduce the need for farms.
6) Temporal Stasis on dangerous prisoners.
7) Wraith city guards (why yes, I did enjoy Kaveman's campaign logs (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?245994-City-State-of-the-Enigmatic-Overgnome-Recap), thanks for asking).
8) Prestidigation based magic 'Zippo lighters'
9) Lyres of Building for construction
10) Phantom Steeds for cheap single person transportation

[Oberon Kenobi]

I think even in magi-tech settings there are different tech levels that can exist. Are you thinking more "close to modern day but with Tensertech instead of Samsung labels on everything" or more "steampunky Eberron-esque industrial revolution era"?

ALSO EVERYONE: OP said they're using Spheres of Power. Things based off of specific spells are substantially less helpful here than you are probably thinking.

[hiryuu]

I think even in magi-tech settings there are different tech levels that can exist. Are you thinking more "close to modern day but with Tensertech instead of Samsung labels on everything" or more "steampunky Eberron-esque industrial revolution era"?

ALSO EVERYONE: OP said they're using Spheres of Power. Things based off of specific spells are substantially less helpful here than you are probably thinking.

That's why i was trying to pick to lower power spells - in Spheres, it's straight up just a feat to get all those effects.

[heavyfuel]

Couple of things we would need to know.

1) How much can the average worker expect to make in this time period?
2) What is the prevalence of high level characters?
3) What is the non-magical tech setting in this place?

That said, here are a few suggestions off the top of my head:
1) Warforged as expensive but tireless workers.

1) Standard NPC WBL. Richer characters are of higher level (though Nobles and such will have PC wealth)
2) High level characters exist, but are very rare. I believe the highest level character I have thought so far is 15 or so, and he's the only only one this high.
3) Standard PF I suppose. There are guns, but they haven't replaced bows and swords so far. Other mundane technologies didn't evolve due to magi-tech prevalence.

As much as I love the Warforged, they don't exist in PF, and I'm hesitant to port pretty much anything from 3.5


I think even in magi-tech settings there are different tech levels that can exist. Are you thinking more "close to modern day but with Tensertech instead of Samsung labels on everything" or more "steampunky Eberron-esque industrial revolution era"?


Still unsure. I might go for a more modern focus, but I feel like my players might not appreciate it so much. Try to focus on eberron-esque, but don't feel limited by it.

[kalos72]

Couple of things we would need to know.

3) Gelationous cube disposal units. For those people too poor to afford one of them fancy magic toilets, I would expect cities to have a cart with a gelationous cube in it that the drag around and feed the waste into. Keeps the streets much cleaner.


One post I saw was some sort of sewer system that drained into the cube...was just too big a design for a full size system.

[frost890]

Have you ever played FF3/FFVI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDMWp1oLoA0

You might take a look at that. Beyond that I would look at steam punk or the Eberron setting. That seems to be the closest you have that is already made for you to look at.

[BilltheCynic]

One post I saw was some sort of sewer system that drained into the cube...was just too big a design for a full size system.

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of "Gelatinous Cube street sweeper/garbage truck". Like a cart with a gelatinous cube in a cage (it doesn't care, its mindless) pulled by a couple horses and a couple guys with shovels walking alongside it that pick the garbage off the street and feed it to the cube. Instead of throwing their trash out the window, the townspeople would leave them in garbage bins that a Cube Cart would occasionally come along and empty. Simply, very low tech, and keeps the streets way cleaner.

[kalos72]

I like the idea for sure...maybe to address the "larger" sites, markets/schools/businesses, but Prestidigitation Toilets for each home?

Retraining Academies - Takes all the locals you free up and offers them training in another field/class. Take all your farmers, assuming stats are there and turn them into Mages or something. Or just Craftsmen of what ever sort floats their boat.

I am trying to get my head around Commoner improvement still but expect alot of my locals to move that route somehow. But I use much more magic then is discussed here I think...

[marphod]

A lot depends on if there is a way to mass produce/production line the process and the organization of the state/extent of state powers.

Indoor plumbing with decent water pressure is possible with 1st Century technology -- Rome had it. When there was a strong state, and there was a means to provide access to most, it could be implemented.

Without, you'll run in to a multiple tier system, with the wealthy having access to unique technologies and the lower classes not.