Help me with my campaign world

[flamewolf393]

I have one main trait that is unique in the world, and Im trying to figure out how to base the rest of the world around it.

People born in the world all have a random spell as an at will ability. The closer to a source of magic you are born, and the stronger your bloodline, the higher level your spell. I figure noble/royal houses sprung up by being the ones to secure a rare permanent portal and build a castle around it, ensuring high level powers in their bloodline.

My question is, what would the general world be like with this quirk present? Would there be more war with people trying to fight over the portal fortresses? Or would there be less war because the fortresses would be so well protected by high level spell weilders that assualting them is pointless. What would peoples general lives be like? Inter-racial relations? How would it effect the desire to study magic as a class/career?

Keep in mind these portals and the resultant magic talents have always existed, not just appearing one day. Life evolved with an instictive understanding of these powers.

[lagninja]

A source a magic is more than just a location. If your mother is a powerful spell caster, she could be considered a source of magic, depending on your definition. Going with the beings of magic idea, it could cause a matriarchal society, where high class women of immense magical prowess are the leaders, passing their magic to their daughters. On the opposite side, it could cause a patriarchy, where powerful spell casting women are seen as property, their sole purpose to breed powerful spell casting sons. Pacts with powerful outsiders, where they are present for the birth to allow a powerful child to be born would become commonplace. Relics passed from generation to generation, held by mothers in labor. It would cause a shortage of magical items in the world, I'd wager. Even something as minor as a +1 Bracer of Armor could give you a child with an at-will Mage Armor or Shield.

Personally, I would ban every spell casting class if you plan on doing this, and have your players either auction for spells to start with, or give a good reason for a certain spell as part of their character. A scarcity of magic items, as well as a massive gold hike would make sense. Honestly, D&D is probably not the best system to try this in.

[DarkSoul]

Read up on Dragonmarks from Eberron, and how society has evolved around them.

[Honest Tiefling]

I would imagine another reason for a matriarchal basis: Sending your womenfolk out to not give birth near the magical font of power is a bad idea. If the time spent near the area BEFORE conception or during pregnancy matters, you suddenly have a reason for women only areas as men would be crowding out the magical power for the babies. At the very least, I could see a matrilineal society.

If I was a noble, I wouldn't put my castle onto the font of power. Why? Because I don't want my servants (or people hanging around my dungeon) sucking up the magical juice. Would be mildly embarrassing if a female prisoner you kept around got pregnant with a kid that stole YOUR magic.

Temples staffed by people utterly of the same organization seems more likely to me. Nobles are usually a very small minority of a population, so you might not have enough to spare to keep your enemies at bay AND keep your populace under your control. A temple or a more numerous upper class (such as Roman senators) seems more likely to me.

I imagine that the religion would center around natural features, given that some are pretty provably important.

[thoroughlyS]

If this were my campaign world, the first thing I'd do is establish why there are magical sources (portals/wellsprings/fairy circles/etc.) to begin with. In most campaign settings, the gods made the world, and then made the different races to populate them. It follows then, that they would create the first sources. Perhaps you could narrow the spells available, by saying the sources can only give a spell from one of a god's domains?

For Example: A player who chooses to be a dwarf would have a spell selected from the domains available to dwarven deities. Note that this does not just mean Moradin. The player could have the 2nd level spell detect thoughts, from the dwarven goddess Mya (Races of Stone p.18) who has the knowledge domain.

And because player characters are extraordinary, perhaps you could bend these rules in certain cases. "My elf was born prematurely while my mother was travelling to a nearby human settlement for a festival. I have heat metal from Pelor's sun domain."

I might also recommend capping a player at 2nd or 3rd level spells. After all, getting close enough to a source for even 5th level spells would mean being born in the main castle of one of the fortified settlements you mentioned.

You could also introduce the idea of sources from different origins. Perhaps one can spring up if an area has especially long lived fey presence. Or one could happen after a volcano (tied to the Elemental Plane of Fire, naturally) erupts. These sources can provide explanations for NPCs that have their own unique spells.

But perhaps the best part about having the majority of sources be gifts from the gods is that it doesn't have to change the power dynamics of the world at all. Traditionally, the strongest orc in a tribe is the leader. Now the strongest orc is the one with earthquake at-will (from the cavern domain). Dwarves are led by a council of elders? Their word is law thanks to dictum at-will (law domain). Halflings are jovial nomads? They can return to any of the sources they call home thanks to greater teleport at-will (travel domain).

[vasilidor]

from a crunch perspective there are feats that grant magic abilities, such as the aforementioned dragon marks. I think that you should also take a look at spheres of power. furthermore sorcerers and wizards and the like could be those individuals that found a way to make their inherent magic stronger. it would make sense that those houses who depended on magic would look for ways of strengthening said magic.

[dude123nice]

A source a magic is more than just a location. If your mother is a powerful spell caster, she could be considered a source of magic, depending on your definition. Going with the beings of magic idea, it could cause a matriarchal society, where high class women of immense magical prowess are the leaders, passing their magic to their daughters. On the opposite side, it could cause a patriarchy, where powerful spell casting women are seen as property, their sole purpose to breed powerful spell casting sons. Pacts with powerful outsiders, where they are present for the birth to allow a powerful child to be born would become commonplace. Relics passed from generation to generation, held by mothers in labor. It would cause a shortage of magical items in the world, I'd wager. Even something as minor as a +1 Bracer of Armor could give you a child with an at-will Mage Armor or Shield.

Personally, I would ban every spell casting class if you plan on doing this, and have your players either auction for spells to start with, or give a good reason for a certain spell as part of their character. A scarcity of magic items, as well as a massive gold hike would make sense. Honestly, D&D is probably not the best system to try this in.

I think it would make sense for there to be temples built around these locations of power where high ranking women stay for the whole duration of their pregnancy. You could also make it so that caster classes are considered outsiders because they willingly break the natural balance that the nobility and clergy with control over these locations try to impose.

[jmax]

For a thorough take on the societal ramifications, read Piers Anthony's A Spell For Chameleon (https://books.google.com/books?id=8sZ7aagsXZYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false). Consider cantrips to be a step above "spot on the wall" talents and 7th-level+ spells to be Magician/Sorceress grade. It doesn't deal with talents corresponding to how close you were born to a font of magic, which would likely change settlement patterns, but in terms of how people would interact with each other, it's great. The first few chapters (https://books.google.com/books?id=8sZ7aagsXZYC&lpg=PP1&pg=PT12#v=onepage&q&f=false) would probably give you a decent idea.

Are you going to have "ordinary" spellcasters in your setting? If so, in a society in which everyone is ranked by talent, now it's suddenly possible to earn your talent through hard work rather than it being an inherent quality you're born with. But of course earned magic has a finite number of uses per day, whereas inherent talent is at-will and therefore has nice staying power.

[Honest Tiefling]

I think it would make sense for there to be temples built around these locations of power where high ranking women stay for the whole duration of their pregnancy. You could also make it so that caster classes are considered outsiders because they willingly break the natural balance that the nobility and clergy with control over these locations try to impose.

Why not make the women into wizards? If they're just going to sit around and be useless, they might as well pick up a book. Besides, getting them some wizardy knowledge means they can more easily raise a child with magic, and then teach the kid magic. Sure, they get a spell right off the bat, but knowing how magic works will probably help them put that spell to good use.

[Deeds]

The uncivilized lands could be the opposite: children are born with resistances to magic. Spell resistance/turning, resist fire 5, immunity to compulsions, etc could be the effects of living far from the magical hotspots.

[dude123nice]

Why not make the women into wizards? If they're just going to sit around and be useless, they might as well pick up a book. Besides, getting them some wizardy knowledge means they can more easily raise a child with magic, and then teach the kid magic. Sure, they get a spell right off the bat, but knowing how magic works will probably help them put that spell to good use.

If you go that far then it might make sense to make the society at least slightly matriarchal, with dynasties of magic wielders that pass on through the mother's line.

[the_david]

I'd go by bloodline rather than magic leylines, but that's just my personal taste. Maybe you should check out the Birthright campaign setting. Or Ebberon.

How are your players gonna determine which spell they get? You can let them roll for it, but that might lead to some balance issues. Depending on your group, that could turn into player envy or it could add to the roleplaying experience.
You can let them all start with the same spell level, and add an option to raise it with a feat. (Kinda like dragonmarks.)