Fantasy world with modern world laws.

[Gamereaper]

Hey guys, I wanted to come up with a campaign world that has all of the "fantasy" feel to it, but it's set in the modern world with cars, hospitals, apartments, etc. I wanted to come up with a few beurocratic nuisances or strange laws that would have to be put in place. Service animal laws for example could become extended to familiars because a wizard started a class action lawsuit. Familiars would have to be resgistered or something like that. A criminal pleas innocent in court due to "being enchanted" or "demonic posession" . This is mostly for humor or for creating a feel for the setting.
This is assuming there are no wizards that are optimizing to make locate city bombs or something similar.

Anyone have some humorous ideas that I can use?

[Inevitability]

A fantasy version of the gun control debate wouldn't be hard to imagine.

"Over 500 have already died in blastings this year! Wand control today!"
"Criminals will be getting wands anyway! We have the right to bear deadly magical implements!"

[Buufreak]

Have you looked into Shadowrun? Iirc, it is our current existing world with all kinds of crazy magic and myth races thrown in.

[Gildedragon]

Spell licenses for a number of spell levels.

[Afgncaap5]

"Your honor, please, my wand is intelligent, it was controlling my will! I also believe it to be influencing the decisions of the researchers who've been studying my wand!"

"Your honor, the prosecution would like to remind us that wands are not items that can become intelligent due to the fleeting nature of their capabilities!"

*Eternal Wand of Dominate Person mentally chuckles to itself from the evidence table*

Wasn't there a book called Urbana Arcana that basically did this? I'm not up on my supplements, though, maybe I'm thinking of something else.

[Gamereaper]

I could see 2 lawyers debating about whether an apartment complex could tell a Druid whether they can get be on a lease with their Bear Animal Companion when dogs and cats are not allowed.

Maybe door to door preachers saying "Hello, may we come in and talk about our lord and savior Corellon Larethian?"

Oh man, CAR insurance would be fun.

"See, your car would be covered if an Earth elemental created an earthquake and took your car. Unfortunately, the lightning bolt from the Storm of Vengeance is NOT covered since that is an "Act of God".

[BowStreetRunner]

"Coming up later...Edward Snowden has released dozens of scrolls implicating the Wizard's Guild in illegal Scrying against private citizens! Minor Image at 11."

[Nousos]

Don't urban druids have the ability to literally speak to a building? I'd imagine that could lead to some nonsense debates.

I would think a plausible outcome would be a spellcasting core of investigators to root out all possible magical abuses. No need to go full tippyverse if you want to keep it lighthearted, but it could be a fun threat if some black suited men pulled up in an animated carriage to question the reckless PC's about their glowing gear or disappearing npc's. One of them has a mace blessed by St. Cuthbert at his hip, the other has an itchy wand finger.

Edit- I think I found my next campaign arc

[Gamereaper]

Next on the 9:00 news. Frenzied Berserkers: Are they responsible for their actions or do they need to be placed in the mental hospital?

[AslanCross]

Ranger: "I insist my animal companion is of the animal type and does not have the intelligence for premeditated murder!"

Prosecutor: "While a Worg has the appearance of an animal, it is actually a Magical Beast and has an intelligence of 6! It is a sapient creature capable of murder!"

[Afgncaap5]

"Magic without a license" seems like something that would exist the more that I think about it. Most people wouldn't want to live in a city where their car could be transmogrified or their lawn entangled by mages looking for quick foci for their magic.

[Troacctid]

On the other hand, most everyday magic would be nonviolent. I can't imagine requiring a license to cast mending, unseen servant, or prestidigitation. I think it's more likely that the sale of certain spells and spell components would be the target of regulations, rather than the general use of magic.

[Bohandas]

Check out Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series. That deals with a modern tech (or at least modern as of a couple decades ago when it was written) magical society


"Magic without a license" seems like something that would exist the more that I think about it. Most people wouldn't want to live in a city where their car could be transmogrified or their lawn entangled by mages looking for quick foci for their magic.

Or at least "evocation without a license"

[Necroticplague]

I imagine that undead and resurrection magic would make inheritance laws an absolute nightmare.

I also imagine that, due to the incredible wide array of things that could happen, insurance contracts would similarly be the size of dictionaries. Especially life insurance (see above).

[Nousos]

A popular form of insurance would be resurrection if dead by disease, accident, or murder.

[BowStreetRunner]

A popular form of insurance would be resurrection if dead by disease, accident, or murder.

In the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust this sort of thing takes place. And when someone contracts a hit-man, one of the first questions the assassin will ask is whether they want them just killed, or 'permanently' killed. The series mentions several methods of making sure they can't come back.

Of course, this also makes laws regarding murder (you're honor, I did kill him but he got better...) and death sentences (under the Three Strikes law, anyone sentenced to death who has already been executed twice before is 'permanently' terminated) somewhat convoluted as well. And then there are the really stringent communities (the defendant, having been convicted of several violations of laws under Section 13, shall be put to death, and upon completion of said execution shall then be animated as a zombie to serve in the militia reserves until returned to dust...).

[Inevitability]

Ranger: "I insist my animal companion is of the animal type and does not have the intelligence for premeditated murder!"

Prosecutor: "While a Worg has the appearance of an animal, it is actually a Magical Beast and has an intelligence of 6! It is a sapient creature capable of murder!"

How did he get a worg animal companion?

[Troacctid]

How did he get a worg animal companion?
Monstrous Animal Companion feat?

[Sayt]

Copyrights and patents on spells jacking up the price.

[Zanos]

Copyrights and patents on spells jacking up the price.
Oh lord, intellectually property laws for spells would be a nightmare. Can you imagine not being allowed to have rounded corners on your fireballs?

[BowStreetRunner]

Oh lord, intellectually property laws for spells would be a nightmare.

Next up on the docket, 'Otto vs OGL' in the matter of the Irresistible Dance.

[Andezzar]

A fantasy version of the gun control debate wouldn't be hard to imagine.

"Over 500 have already died in blastings this year! Wand control today!"
"Criminals will be getting wands anyway! We have the right to bear deadly magical implements!"I think the vehemence of the debate particular to the USA. Sure there are similar discussions in other nations about what is acceptable as self-defense, but to my knowledge the USA are unique in having a constitutional right to bear arms. I am not sure I would want my fantasy game so close to reality.


On the other hand, most everyday magic would be nonviolent. I can't imagine requiring a license to cast mending, unseen servant, or prestidigitation. I think it's more likely that the sale of certain spells and spell components would be the target of regulations, rather than the general use of magic.Shadowrun does this by separating the required (or available) licenses by school. Magic schools in that game are better separated by what the spell does and less about the fluff behind it (Orb of Acid and Acid Arrow would both be combat spells for example)

[Khedrac]

Orc/Goblin/Kobold/whatever Rights - "we demand equal rights" (or is that equal "rites"?)

A lot of detective work will be much more basic - just cast the appropriate divination spells.
(Which leads to questions based on local privacy laws - do you need a warrant to scry?)

[Gamereaper]

Orc/Goblin/Kobold/whatever Rights - "we demand equal rights" (or is that equal "rites"?)

A lot of detective work will be much more basic - just cast the appropriate divination spells.
(Which leads to questions based on local privacy laws - do you need a warrant to scry?)

National Advancement of Gnome Society (NAGS) declares lawn ornaments "dated and racist".

[hamishspence]

The Law and the Multiverse blog might be of interest - dealing with the fantastical with modern legal concepts.

Starting there, and regressing the technology level only, might give you what you want.

[Bohandas]

Check put the Discworld novels. They have a lot of this.

[Sagetim]

The Incarnations of Immortality books were written in about the 1980's (the last one was first printed in 1990), so they have technology modern to that time (so, not so much cell phones or internet or what have you). But I would suggest reading them because it's a good series of books in general.

Shadowrun gives you a good look at what the future could be like if magic came back suddenly, and it was also like, 60 years in the future. The timeline it gives also provides a handy amount of flavor to that.

Super hero settings can also be a rich farming ground for ideas on how the modern world would react to superhuman capabilities in general. In that vein, Abberant gives you a look at things where there is no magic involved (everything loops back to a science/super science explanation or hand wave), while the Champions pencil and paper game would give you a look at a setting that has adjusted to having not only super human persons, but people with straight up magical stuff going on as well in a modernish setting (any setting with the equivalent of int 18+ characters is going to see a more rapid advance in their technology).

On the DnD side of things, you could wind up with communities or small towns that have fallen off into various slippery slopes. Even to this day America still has a lot of small towns that can have views and practices isolated from the world at large, so it's not out of the question for, say, a small town whose industry is dying to get targeted by hipster druids choosing to flash mob then settle in the area by squatting in abandoned homes and working group nature magic to make the local flora flourish. With the right small town, they might even be encouraged to keep moving in and get the relatively wierd and wonderful abundance of nature to be a tourist attraction. In this same vein, they could copy cat a small town in england where the tourist attraction is that you can wander around and freely consume the local growing vegetation from various people's public access plants.

Clerics depend on if you're going off a real world modern setting or building a modern setting base off of dnd or a dnd setting because it will depend on what religions are involved. I would suggest rolling a dnd world forward (like greyhawk, which while I'm not super familiar with it, seems to be the least prone to apocalypse). It would allow you to avoid stepping on anyone's toes if they feel that their religion hasn't been given fair treatment. That said, evangelists and faith healers would have a pretty strong success rate if any of them got high enough level to cast remove disease or regeneration. You would have to consider if remove disease can cure any affliction that is inherent, like sickle cell anemia, or if it only works on contagious diseases like the flu, syphilis or HIV. If you're willing to rule that the old second edition rule for clerics of casting spells in the name of their faith/to further it's goals gets xp for the cleric in question then faith healers would be some of the highest level clerics around and veterans of the art would be able to manage regenerations and resurrections*.

As part of a rolling of a setting's timeline, remember that lawsuits play a major factor in modern settings. As has been mentioned, someone might have tried to copyright having rounded corners on a fireball. More likely than not, there's going to be a lot of extant patents on spells that may not even exist yet, but rather on the concept of that spell that could potentially exist and how it might potentially function. Having a lawyer on your side, or being one in character by having knowledge (law), diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, sense motive, and profession (lawyer) could be an integral part of doing spell research...just to ensure that corporations filing near frivolous patents can't try to steal your work from you.

When it comes to undead, you're going to likely want to establish how that's been handled in the past. After all, it's not out of the question for descendants who feel they have been cheated out of their inheritance to have done something about the inheritance laws to prevent, for example, a lich from being able to keep the family mansion and holdings indefinitely. Or to force a vampire baron to pass on his lands when he became undead. That's not to say that undead can't hold lands, but it seems likely that once you pass from living to dead, you would have to pass on your living holdings to your living heirs, if any. And the state would probably want to take anything that isn't passed to living heirs, encouraging said undead to keep living heirs around if only to pass them things and then try to get them back by hook or by crook.

Mental domination would probably be highly illegal, not only as a violation of someone's privacy, but also a violation of civil rights, and if using something like the US constitution, a violation of the pursuit of happiness...since being able to pursue happiness kind of implies that you have a free will to do so to be able to enjoy it. So even the innocuous Charm Person spell would be a felony. The Friendship spell would probably be in troubled waters, and Sleep would be a regulated spell requiring a license, much like any firearm. Because being able to sleep a store owner would allow you to rob them blind for example. Being an Enchanter as a specialist wizard would probably carry social taboos and stigmas as people would probably be raised to assume the worst of anyone willing to dedicate their time and efforts to that kind of magic.


*When it comes to material components, bear in mind that the real world has a gemstone cartel that keeps the prices of things up. Most likely your world is going to have the same in place, but with the added benefit for the cartel that they are now sitting on piles of material components for spells. Diamond dust alone figures into a lot of healing spells as a material component. Which brings us to an important question you would need to answer as a DM: does the cost refer to the market value of the item, or does it refer to an inherent value of the item that does not fluctuate with supply and demand. Another question needing answering by you as the DM is: do synthetic gems count for material components for spells? Between these two questions you could have very different approaches to material components. If materials have an inherent value, then you always need, say, an ounce of diamond dust for a raise dead or what have you. But if it is based on market value, then you need 500 gold worth of diamond dust for a raise dead, depending on the current market value, which may mean 1 ounce, or may mean 10 ounces, or it may mean a delicate sprinkling of a few grains. If you go with market value, then the diamond cartel has the greatest power in the world: determining the price of diamonds to their needs or whims. When synthetic gem technology (possibly augmented by magic) comes into the field of play you have another series of potential problems on either side of the question. IF synthetic gems don't work, then being sold 'fake diamonds' can become a lethal problem of fraud when stone skin doesn't work, for example. If synthetic gems do work then most religions are going to be growing their own supply of material components if they can, and the cartel is probably going to be working to undermine those efforts to keep hold of their power (which could possibly be a campaign unto itself, in the form of a shadow war between a major religion's synthetic diamond production and the cartel trying to destroy it so that the religion has to rely on them for healing supplies).

Hospitals are going to be very different places as well. If resident priests can cast healing spells, then actual surgical knowledge might be stunted. To have something like a modern hospital you might need to establish that in one of the world wars it was found that certain vile weapons and spells allowed for the inflicting of wounds that would not heal from magic, and that surgical techniques had to be developed as a counter measure.

[Telonius]

One from a recent campaign: "Church of Asmodeus-Amon. Service at 10, pancake breakfast to follow."

Binders = hipster Clerics

You could do a lot with guilds and unions. "Fabricate = no jobs," things like that.

Sports scandal: Quarterback found to be consuming Potions of Bull's Strength

Legal stuff:
- Testimony from extradimensional beings is inadmissible unless they are able to physically manifest in the courtroom
- Resurrection does/doesn't sever various legal rights and responsibilities (marriage, debt, voting privileges)
- Undead are legally unable to assert ownership of property previously-held by their living base creature

[Sagetim]

Magic with criminal intent counts the same as being armed with a weapon. Yes, even for illusions (falling damage from dropping into a pot hole could be just as, if not more devastating than a blow from a mace. Especially if the sewer has modified oozes within it)

On that note sewage treatment could be accomplished by having it get filtered through magically modified gelatenous cubes. With the added benefit that when the cubes consume enough they split off a smaller cube that gets coveyer belted to a collection truck to be taken out to farms (the smaller cubes then get killed on site to dissolve into a pile of fertilizer for crop growing).

Elves, naturally immune to the sleep spell and with bonuses to perceptive skills, may find the easiest employment in security positions such as police, body guards, and bouncers.

Halflings as undercover agents to break up playground smuggling cartels being conducted by other small races and sometimes adults under the cover of reduce person and alter self to disguise themselves as children.

Psionic teachers who can telepathically transmit the course information directly into your mind....which would probably hit a big scandal once the main stream news became aware of it.

magazines like the Weekly World News that specialize in stories about the strange, the wierd, and the alien (and whose contents are widely considered suspect) would focus on stories about epic level monsters and naturally elusive creatures since big foot not only exists but might well be seen working as a manager at the super market. Depending on the setting, psionics in generally might be the 'wierd and unverified' thing in the world instead of stories of magic, demons and the like. Which would give players running any psionic class a very roleplayable wrinkle to their existence.

oh, and Urban Arcana was a d20 modern supplement. But the d20 modern setting was more of a 'magic exists but is hidden from normal people' kind of thing. So while there were neat pictures, like a mind flayer preacher, the average schlub would have seen a normal fire and brimstone preacher because that mind flayer would have had some form of disguise up (or in the d20 modern game I ran, he would have looked human because he put the minimal effort into a disguise and most people just don't have the will save or care to not just let their mind fill in reasonable blanks. That was a fun house rule, inspired by the Maxx animation from years gone by).

[Bohandas]

Psionic teachers who can telepathically transmit the course information directly into your mind....which would probably hit a big scandal once the main stream news became aware of it.
The scholar's touch spell could accomplish that too.



magazines like the Weekly World News that specialize in stories about the strange, the wierd, and the alien (and whose contents are widely considered suspect) would focus on stories about epic level monsters and naturally elusive creatures since big foot not only exists but might well be seen working as a manager at the super market. Depending on the setting, psionics in generally might be the 'wierd and unverified' thing in the world instead of stories of magic, demons and the like. Which would give players running any psionic class a very roleplayable wrinkle to their existence.

alternately the line between the celebrity gossip tabloids and the woo-woo BS tabloids would blur or disappear thanks to gissip stories about gods and archdemons

EDIT:
In terms of mortal celebrity gossip there could be stories about prominent figures struggling with addiction to potions of good hope. Also addiction to magic rings.

[Gamereaper]

WOW! Awesome guys. Thanks!

Anyone have any satirical politically correct scenarios?

[Sagetim]

Oh, the LGBT community of this world would probably petition not only to have the classification of belts of gender changing altered from 'cursed' to 'difficult to remove' but would also likely seek a reliable method for the creation of rings or something less in the way that has the same effect.

Troll rights activists would be rallying to remove troll meat from fast food restaurants as keeping a troll with a ring of sustenance in captivity for the purposes of harvesting it's ever regenerating meat would be considered cruel and unusual and a violation of a sapient creature's civil rights. The equivalent of Taco Bell would probably be the company caught doing it, with allegations of the eqivalent of Mc Donald's having supposedly been in the practice of it in years past (but of course being a McD's analogue, they would have distanced themselves from the practice long before it became a matter of public attention and outcry).

You, as a GM would have to figure out if someone wearing a ring of sustenance would create any waste, as it would become a logistical (plumbing) issue if a significant minority of the population stopped using bathrooms/never had them installed. Alternatively, it might be a mark of wealth 'oh, we're rich. We don't do such things *insert stare down the nosery here*'. Rings of sustenance are about as cheap as a ring of protection +1, and would likely not only be family heirlooms, but there would probably be a significant number of them floating around, especially if this world hit a great depression (where the rich would be looking for ways to make it through the lean times without becoming too lean themselves, insert hiring wizards or making the family wizard produce enough rings of sustenance for them all to wear).

A ring of sustenance could also be a traditional symbol for marriage, since it magically does part of the whole binding two people to support each other thing. There might even be older (traditional) versions of the ring that were cheaper to make, but only worked in linked pairs of two living spouses. These would not be in vogue any more due to the inconvenience of having to actually ensure the safety and well being of your spouse but could still provide for an interesting historical trinket for the players to be aware of or get a hold of (or even buy in a pawn shop for the cheap).

Prestidigitation being used for cleaning could possibly be such a wide spread convenience that it would be part of the public education system that would impart the feat of magical education (or whatever it was called, from player's guide to faerun). While this Would require the average person to have at least 10 intelligence, a wide spread lack of people being unable to manage the cantrip would be an incredible black mark against an education system in this setting.

That said, being able to soil someone's outfit then clean it with the same usage of the 1 hour duration cantrip could create a form of stench bullying, where the target gets soiled by the spell for a short period of time before being cleaned of the same to try and keep the teacher from finding out. The rise of this form of harassment would start a public debate about the appropriateness of teachers/other staff using detect magic on the school grounds and in doing so invading student's privacy.

Edit: the meat industry would get in hot water as their strategy of breeding the tastiest cow then putting a ring of regeneration and a ring of sustenance on it to get unlimited meat from the cow would come to light. Prompted by druidic animal rights activists who broke into the facility to cast awaken on the cow and then youtube bombed the incident of the cow waking up , screaming, and pleading. The fallout of the incident would likely fall mostly against the druids, in part due to corporations having better lawyers but also from the public backlash of having their cheap meat supply threatened by morality.

[Troacctid]

Oh, the LGBT community of this world would probably petition not only to have the classification of belts of gender changing altered from 'cursed' to 'difficult to remove' but would also likely seek a reliable method for the creation of rings or something less in the way that has the same effect.

That one is actually easy—"Character's gender changes" is one of the standard cursed item "drawbacks." Under Pathfinder rules, it can be intentionally added to any magic item you like, at no additional cost other than having to have bestow curse as an extra spell prerequisite. A potion of gender changing should set you back only 25 gp.

[Sagetim]

That one is actually easy—"Character's gender changes" is one of the standard cursed item "drawbacks." Under Pathfinder rules, it can be intentionally added to any magic item you like, at no additional cost other than having to have bestow curse as an extra spell prerequisite. A potion of gender changing should set you back only 25 gp.

So you're saying that the innocuous oil that your friend brewed up to give you a one hour hair color change using prestidigitation might be laced with a prank in the form of changing your gender until you can get someone to break the curse? Never trust someone in necromantic studies I suppose.

[Xar Zarath]

So necromancers take up the mortuary/medical industry? Or the "After-Life Program" where all the undead or those who want to be undead some unlife long programs to do.

Heck, enchanters would be highly regulated though govts would employ them with a vengeance. While necromancers would maintain control over a large number of incorporeal undead shadows etc to use in a MAD concept.

[Andezzar]

How does inheritance even work when the dead can be brought back any time years after they died?

[Sagetim]

How does inheritance even work when the dead can be brought back any time years after they died?

Brutally and in favor of the decedents. Likely as a hold over from an earlier time, but the end result is the same: the decedents are around now and don't want to wait to see if great uncle horace will come back to life by some means or other, so he gets declared legally dead and his stuff passes on. It doesn't matter if he gets rezzed later or comes back as a vampire or lich, because he's already been declared dead and his stuff has been divvied according to his will. Most likely there would be a law or clause to prevent 'my will is to spend my money to get me rezzed' or something similar, but again, that would be the end result of decedent shenanigans that they could get away with because they happen to be physically present at any legal proceedings.

Now, if someone did get raised from the dead only to find that their stuff had been passed out they would probably have to start a process of filing for recognition of living status. But most likely their stuff would have already legally passe and they probably couldn't get it back unless their resurrection was both timely and part of a life insurance policy or something. Certainly not going to get away with being rezzed 20 years later and trying to reclaim ownership of old holdings.

[Andezzar]

That is one option yes, the other option would be to change the laws saying that ownership is only transferred 20+ years after the decedent's death, or that ownership is only transferred if the owner has made that wish known. Either way, it is a question that should be answered for such a game world. You could even have different laws for various countries within the gameworld. A country with a significant portion of the population being Necropolitan would probably have different laws than a country that makes all forms of undeath illegal (or at least denies them personal rights)

[Xar Zarath]

You know you could also make magic regulated. There's an international mage union (IMU) where all wizards are catalogued and so on. There are 8 orders of magic and among other duties such as being a police force to oversee all magical activity, they also are used to hunt down dissidents/terrorists (crazed sorcerers, mad warlocks, deranged wizards etc)

You could also have regular practitioners of magic around but any magic used must be licensed and regulated according to laws. There's an international standard approved by the IMU and UN. Some spells are not allowed but can be used by the wizard corps and only for those who have the clearance to use them.

Then people react accordingly when meeting these wizards corps. Sort of like a cross between FBI/MIB esque kind of reaction, depending on the wizards you meet.

Necromancers -handles undead matters, stray undead or wannabe penny ante necros in the making. May be seen as dour, anti social clinical people.

Enchanters - handle social matters, taming riots, hostage situations (when called on) or interrogation matters. Highly feared, people may be superstitious about them. Like what was posted earlier, there may be taboos regarding those who practice enchantment.

Evokers - classic burn and blast. Demolition, army blasters etc. Seen as an army type kind of person.

Diviners - intelligence, crime busting, all those CIA types. Also may be seen superstitious by others. Never know when these people might be reading your thoughts.

Conjurers - reinforcements, crowd control/riot handling also, army support and logistics. Seen as boon since they can help in bringing supplies to disaster hit areas, like first responders.

Illusionists - Entertainers, public face of the IMU. People love them and they do show off. Keeps the image of the IMU friendly.

Transmuters - spies, infiltrators, espionage plants. Maintains watch over some sensitive issues or things. People may not like them, maybe the person sitting at the end of the bar is a transmuter who just heard you yap on about bringing down the wizard corps, that sort of thing.

Abjurers - Support for other mage/army groups, protection details, excellent bodyguards. You want the best protection, hire an abjurer. A IMU Abjurer to be exact. People may see them as a useful service to have.

This corp doesn't have to devolve to 1984/Orwellian setting but do understand that if there are multitudes of magic users, there has to be some regulation or everything ends tits up. So this is just my small take on the matter.

[BowStreetRunner]

Brutally and in favor of the decedents.

Sorry to quibble, but...

Decedent: a person who has died.
Descendant: a person who is descended from a particular ancestor.

The distinction here is significant to your argument.

[Necromancy]

if you read Ed Greenwoods books involving Cormyr, you'd agree that even having a fantasy realm with the existance of magic is utter chaos. A modern realm would be worse

[TotallyNotEvil]

To expand on the IMU idea, I think it could work as a regulatory organ, you go there, pass you tests, swear your oaths, and you are an officially licensed Mage for comercial practices.

The Magical Training feat would be the standard for modern education:

You come from a land where cantrips are taught to all who have the aptitude to learn magic. Every crafter and artisan, it seems, knows a minor spell or two.
Prerequisite: Int 10 or Cha 10, elf (Evereska or Evermeet) or human (Halruaa or Nimbral).
Benefit: You can cast three 0-level arcane spells per day as either a sorcerer or wizard (your choice, so long as you have a score of at least 10 in the ability that controls the spellcasting for that class). You must make this decision when you first take the feat.

To make it less prone to chaos, most casters would be like a Bard or Duskblade or any other class that doesn't go all that high up the spell levels. Full Clerics, Wizards, Archivists, Druids, Sorcerers, Favored Souls, etc, should be very, very rare. You have to take into account the world's population very carefully before saying things like "1 in 1000 is a full caster".

Also, power levels between those classes are likely to balance out, as you shouldn't have the ability to optmize like you do when you know all possible spells and feats you can pick from, as when you are playing.

[Gildedragon]

Regarding inheritance and the undead
Does anyone think that a wizard that's gotten themselves liched will -let- some twobit lawyer take his library, his spellbook, and give it to his goodfornothing children?
No
That the druid that used a contingent last breath will allow the lands they bought (to protect from development) be given to his next of kin, which will sell them to be razed and turned into suburbs?
No
After these sort of events the law is very much in favor of the ex-deceased

Maybe before someone can be considered dead a period of time (year and a day?) has to pass.
Certain forms of intelligent undead might not count; such as ghosts.
If so, ghosts might mobilize into activism to be considered first order undead too...
Or not, they tend to have other stuff in their minds

[Inevitability]

Certain forms of intelligent undead might not count; such as ghosts.
If so, ghosts might mobilize into activism to be considered first order undead too...
Or not, they tend to have other stuff in their minds

I think with undead, it should boil down to 'is this still the same person'? A lich or ghost still possesses his original soul. A ghoul or shadow, despite being intelligent, isn't the same person.

Of course, there's the issue of how people figure out when the soul transfers over and when not. Simply restricting inheritance to those who willingly became undead doesn't cut it.

[Telonius]

Regarding inheritance and the undead
Does anyone think that a wizard that's gotten themselves liched will -let- some twobit lawyer take his library, his spellbook, and give it to his goodfornothing children?
No
That the druid that used a contingent last breath will allow the lands they bought (to protect from development) be given to his next of kin, which will sell them to be razed and turned into suburbs?
No
After these sort of events the law is very much in favor of the ex-deceased

Maybe before someone can be considered dead a period of time (year and a day?) has to pass.
Certain forms of intelligent undead might not count; such as ghosts.
If so, ghosts might mobilize into activism to be considered first order undead too...
Or not, they tend to have other stuff in their minds

Writing a last will and testament bequeathing everything to the lich (or setting up a trust fund maybe?) would probably be part of building the phylactery.

Bankruptcy laws would probably be affected too, since debts can't be inherited.

[Malroth]

Enchanters rule, Protection from Evil and Mind blank are Felonies, Mindbender1 police officers roam the streets to find Citizens whose Geass or Dominate has expired and arrest them. High will save classes besides Enchanters are blamed for all Societies woes, Walls are built to keep out the Druids.




All Glory to the Hypnotoad

[khadgar567]

Summoners gonna be rolling in cash scoorge mcduck style free labor for few spells per day dont mind things like succubus and brotels( or any lust driven sin hole) or earth elementals for construction jobs

[Sagetim]

Sorry to quibble, but...

Decedent: a person who has died.
Descendant: a person who is descended from a particular ancestor.

The distinction here is significant to your argument.

Then I blame firefox for correcting my spelling of Descendant into Decendent. Thanks for pointing that out though.


Don't forget that if enchanters are used in talking someone down from suicide you might wind up with a mr. incredible style scandal of the person suing the enchanter for using magic to prevent their suicide attempt (or blame them for possibly self inflicted injuries under the claim of 'the wizard made me do it')

And while a summoner pimp could cater to more exotic tastes, their minute per level duration doesn't seem like it could do a good job of replacing a work force that can be relied on to exist for an 8 hour work shift. That said, unions and strikes against cheap golem replacements for labor would probably be a thing.

[khadgar567]

Then I blame firefox for correcting my spelling of Descendant into Decendent. Thanks for pointing that out though.


Don't forget that if enchanters are used in talking someone down from suicide you might wind up with a mr. incredible style scandal of the person suing the enchanter for using magic to prevent their suicide attempt (or blame them for possibly self inflicted injuries under the claim of 'the wizard made me do it')

And while a summoner pimp could cater to more exotic tastes, their minute per level duration doesn't seem like it could do a good job of replacing a work force that can be relied on to exist for an 8 hour work shift. That said, unions and strikes against cheap golem replacements for labor would probably be a thing.
You just need several of them to act as maids in your exotic club then when the cash starts just start binding them to building you are using come on just use your brain mate we are optimazers for ideas like these

[Sagetim]

You just need several of them to act as maids in your exotic club then when the cash starts just start binding them to building you are using come on just use your brain mate we are optimazers for ideas like these

Then my counter argument would have to be 'specify your intentions instead of relying on me reading your mind'. Alternatively 'we aren't obligated to assume anything you don't specify'. As stated you made no mention of binding any of them, just a reference to the summoner class. Now that you've mentioned binding them, that makes more sense. The main problem with trying to do that isn't any material costs components for planar binding, however, it's getting started.

The low level summon monster lists don't really cater to a regular stream of clientele for a business like that. You would need people whose desires are decidedly outside the norm to have any kind of regular business, and at level 1 having only a minute duration might put a damper on any customers who Would pay for such services, since the duration would be so short. Your best bet at low level might be small water elementals, but even then the summon monster list is things made for combat, not 'companionship'. And small elementals are summon monster 2, which means you would still need to find a way to get to level 3.

In the less seedy side of things, you could possibly open a legitimate petting zoo with low level summons, conjuring up from a set list of things that are not covered in contact poison or on/made of fire. This is where that minute duration would become an asset, as people would have to pay by the minute per animal and you could blame it entirely on the magic involved instead of your own nefarious money gouging schemes.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'binding them to the building'. That doesn't seem to be an option in the Pathfinder Planar Binding spell, so if it's something from a summoner archetype, feat, or other source, you should specify it so that we know what you're talking about. In that same vein, Planar Binding lets you negotiate for one service per casting and requires you to succeed at opposed charisma checks. Would your summoner really risk rolling that nat 1 and getting attacked just to provide a client with a fling with a succubus?

Binding Earth Elementals to construction work could turn out better, but a number of problems would arise. Not the least of which is that they would have no skill ranks in craft (carpentry) or Profession (construction worker). The other problem is that they would still expect to be compensated for their time and effort with the task. In addition the line in Planar Binding about impossible or unreasonable commands could come back to bite you, as it may be unreasonable to expect an Earth Elemental to do precision construction work. Similarly, it may be counted as unreasonable to command a succubus to work as a maid/waitress, and compensating them is probably going to require letting them kill someone or drop some negative levels around instead of just handing over some jewelry and calling it a day.

[Gamereaper]

Could you imagine police reports?

Police:
(Walks up to a witness)
Did you see what the suspect looked like?

Witness:
Yes. They appeared human, 5'6", light skin, and had a black cloak.

Police:
Do you believe the person in question was human?

Witness:
Yeah, they looked human.

Police:
I understand that, but the person in question may not even be human. We have to rule out all possibilities. It is possible that it could have been another being polymorphed into a human. We needyou to look past what they looked like and just tell us based on what you have seen what they did if they could have been human.

Witness:
I don't get what you're saying.

Police:
You may not be sure about what you believe you saw, we need a more definitive description.

Witness:
Yes, I believe they were human.

Police:
Ok, do you believe they could be a human born human, a clone, a simulacrum, or other perceived magical entity?

Witness:
Look, I saw a normal person break into my house. I don't care about that stuff. Find the person who did this.

Police:
You do realise "normal person" is a dated and racist term right? I need you to be more open minded and understand that there are more than humans on this planet.

Witness:
(gets arrested for assaulting a police officer)

[WeaselGuy]

So, I made an impulse buy at Barnes & Noble's quite a few years ago, and got this book called "Keeping it Real (https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Real-Quantum-Gravity-Book/dp/1591025397) (Quantum Gravity Book 1)", by Justina Robson. The basic premise of the book was that a few years from "now" (being present times), a rift of some sort was opened to a generic fantasy plane where elves, demons, fairies, magic, etc all exists. And now we have to adapt our society to coexist with it. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember there being some sort of murder mystery type thing, and the main male protagonist being an elf and the lead singer of a fey rock band.

[GungHo]

Police:
You do realise "normal person" is a dated and racist term right? I need you to be more open minded and understand that there are more than humans on this planet.
So, here's the deal. You gotta figure out a couple of things before you do anything.

1) Has magic, at levels in your world, always existed?
2) Has technology, at levels in your world, always existed?

Both questions are different but similar in that they give you grounding in your base cultures. If either are "new", society hasn't figured it out yet and you can have things like misunderstandings, fish out of water moments, and the like.

Shadowrun is like this. Magic, while it's existed in the past, is more or less something entirely new and modern society is trying to adapt around having things like trolls walking around and bouncing at night clubs. Shadowrun also approaches society, in general, as having broken down... without magic it's cyberpunk. So, you can only template so much from it, as there's a lot of things that are ridiculous even if you took magic away.

Pathfinder goes the other way and inserts things like high tech into a fantasy world. It's just as weird. The barbarians want to use the robots as mounts, because they think they're basically megafauna.

Other things to look at for these kinds of "invasions" are V and Alien Nation, which cover the other appearing and trying to integrate into a modern society.


However, if both magic and tech have always existed, then you have an entirely different scenario. There's no fish out of water. The above paragraph doesn't happen, because magic and tech are normal parts of life unless you're saying "magic is hiding" in the Harry Potter sense. You essentially end up with Star Trek or Star Wars minus the Star part, with a lot more acceptance of things like Gary Mitchell, because it's just not as weird for someone's eyes to turn grey before they start throwing things around with their minds. You may not have transporters, but you certainly do have teleport. A lot of technology still might look like it does today, but have different ways of actually functioning. Do you need oil or can you actually have a perpetual motion machine? Do golems replace automation?

[DirePorkChop]

There are some amazing spells that no one has mentioned that would seriously affect society.

Cure Disease! I've got to take my Advil Cold, Flu, Aids, and Cancer again.
Mage's Magnificent Mansion! Hotels would be the absolute bomb diggity.
Firetrap, Explosive Runes, Mage's Faithful Hound! Never find your security compromised again.
Purify Food and Drink, Create Food and Water, Fabricate, Mending, Wall of Stone, Wall of Iron! Feed, clothe, and shelter everyone.
Miracle! Eat your heart out Joel Osteen.
Control Weather, Control Water, Move Earth! Natural Disaster? More like Natural Nuisance.

Don't even get me started with Planar Ally/ Binding.

[Wolfkingleo]

Wouldn't the disrupting of summon humanoids be considered a form of abortion in this setting?

Cheers

[Jay R]

Hey guys, I wanted to come up with a campaign world that has all of the "fantasy" feel to it, but it's set in the modern world with cars, hospitals, apartments, etc.

I suspect that this is impossible. Certainly reading the suggestions in this thread has given me no fantasy feeling at all. It feels far more like the world I game to get away from.

[Canine]

I'm only two books into it, but The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13539191-three-parts-dead) has elements of fantasy mixed with a more modern world, or vice versa. I recommend it in general, not just for someone looking to build this kind of world.

[Cailin]

The X-Crawl campaign world is actually a modern day magical world. And they have produced a book using Pathfinder rules for it.

And there is a wonderful book by Harry Turtledove, "The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump" (1993), where EPA agent David Fisher battles displaced magical powers in a very creative sorcerous equivalent to late-20th century Los Angeles. He follows the evidence to a toxic spell dump, where dangerous remnants of industrial sorcery are stored. (to quote the Wiki on Turtledove). In it, magic completely replaces science.

[Jack_McSnatch]

"I swear, your honor, she told me she was a halfling!"

[2D8HP]

I suspect that this is impossible. Certainly reading the suggestions in this thread has given me no fantasy feeling at all. It feels far more like the world I game to get away from.Amen!
After a bit over a decade of glorious gaming with D&D, Traveller etc., I left RPG'ing for decades because the only open tables I could find were for Champions, Cyberpunk, and Vampire.
Boring!
All involved PC's with super-powers (Bionics, Comic-book, or Supernatural) in worlds far too close to the real one. Just not for me, I RPG to explore a fantastic world, and I'd rather have a crippled drooling begger as a PC in a world with Dragons, than a superhero PC in a world without them.

[Bohandas]

So you're saying that the innocuous oil that your friend brewed up to give you a one hour hair color change using prestidigitation might be laced with a prank in the form of changing your gender until you can get someone to break the curse?
Wouldn't it be cheaper in this instance to just buy a second one?