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The Game Analists

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Galdred

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I have read several of the related posts, but I don't think feudal structure can accomodate wizards that easily:
Noble privileges came from them being the warrior class, but wizards would wield even more power, so I find it doubtful they'd end on the bottom of the chain.
That would work much better in settings where mages are legendary figures(like Pendragon, or historical medieval RPG) rather than recognized members of the society IMO.

That said, the feudal system could be "easily" adapted by putting wizards on top of the food chain, or making them follow a separate parallel organization (they'd answer to their superiors in the wizard guild or whatever).
 

Galdred

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Yeah, wizarding guild or more realistically, few wizards can actually afford to get up to the higher levels of spell-casting. Not every doctor is a neurosurgeon, right? So his example of a battlefield mage is a dinky little loser who throws a few sleep spells and then fucks off. It's not prestigious and likely not respected.

My point is that the mere existence of wizard would surely have prevented medieval society to exist as it did, especially if you consider that their main attribute is INT, I don't see how they would have left nobles on top of the food chain.
There are a lot of way it could have turned out, but I doubt them just being part of the medieval society at the same rank as craftsmen makes any sense.
If we want to preserve medieval power structure as much as possible, wizards would end up being parts of guilds, as it would provide them with more control over their possible competition, and they would probably not allow unsanctionned use of magic, nor let non wizard easily command one of theirs.

That said, his later post about the wizard class makes more sense with chartered, outsider, and outlaw wizards, but even there, the chartered wizards seem no more powerful than your usual medieval craftsmen guild.
 

Galdred

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Yeah, wizarding guild or more realistically, few wizards can actually afford to get up to the higher levels of spell-casting. Not every doctor is a neurosurgeon, right? So his example of a battlefield mage is a dinky little loser who throws a few sleep spells and then fucks off. It's not prestigious and likely not respected.

My point is that the mere existence of wizard would surely have prevented medieval society to exist as it did, especially if you consider that their main attribute is INT, I don't see how they would have left nobles on top of the food chain.
There are a lot of way it could have turned out, but I doubt them just being part of the medieval society at the same rank as craftsmen makes any sense.
If we want to preserve medieval power structure as much as possible, wizards would end up being parts of guilds, as it would provide them with more control over their possible competition, and they would probably not allow unsanctionned use of magic, nor let non wizard easily command one of theirs.

That said, his later post about the wizard class makes more sense with chartered, outsider, and outlaw wizards, but even there, the chartered wizards seem no more powerful than your usual medieval craftsmen guild.

Technically nobles are the second on the food chain. The church has a great "soft power" which means while it cannot realistically tell anyone what to do, everyone listens to its "advice" and even the rudest clerics don't get hung. The church is left to govern itself almost entirely.
Indeed, that would be a good model for the wizard tier too, they could govern themselves and have a separate structure, or act like criminal families and demand compensation for their protection over a given area if they don't feel like replacing the feudal order.
It would make sense if there is little of interest to them in populated lands. Many settings have magic weaker where there are a lot of inhabitants, so that would work well in these cases.

Birthright had fully separate control for the temple, the law (aka the nobility), the merchant guilds, and the magic sources, so you could have sovereignty split between 4 entities in a region.
 

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