Just as you sculpt the physical topography and cultural geography of your campaign to create opportunities for adventure, you can shape the arcane makeup of your cam- paign in the same way. The exact nature of magic and the details of its workings are critical elements of any fantasy world. While the magic system of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
game answers many of these questions (What’s the process for casting a spell? What can a spell do? How long does it take for characters to recover their magic?), many opportunities remain for building distinctive campaign features from the wealth of classes, prestige classes, feats, and spells available in the game.
620_17925_Chpt7.indd 172
CH
AP
T
E
R 7
AR C A N E CA M P A IG N S173
For example, given the differences in each class’s approach to arcane magic, consider how sorcerers and wizards might interact in a campaign. It’s easy to imagine a setting in which wizard magic is “legal,” sanctioned and approved by the powers of the land, while sorcery is considered reckless and dangerous. If the realm is basically a good kingdom, sorcer- ers might be viewed as agents of evil and chaos regardless of their actual alignment or allegiances. On the other hand, if the realm in question is an iron-fi sted tyranny, sorcerers might be fi erce freedom fi ghters who represent the only path of arcane power open to the downtrodden common folk. You can also designate specifi c roles or responsibilities for certain prestige classes. The Initiates of the Sevenfold Veil (see page 44) could be an elite order of royal mageguards in the service of a great realm, or you might create the High Sagelords of Zeirr as a special council chosen from the ranks of proven loremasters. Alternatively, you might
choose to design your own prestige class to cover the campaign niche you have in mind.
Cultural Inclinations
In general, the D&D game assumes that any character can do anything. Dwarves can be wizards, elves can be bards, half-orcs can be sorcerers. Some choices might make more sense than others from a cultural perspective, but the game puts no real restrictions on race or class choices. When building your own campaign world, you can modify this principle to suit your own needs. Magic by its nature is exclusive and incomplete, so the bloodlines necessary to master sorcery might exist only in a few families, just as the lore of the wild mage might be taught only in one specifi c arcane college, and warlocks might arise only among the people of a certain tribe or nation.
Your own sense of how the magic of the campaign works should never be forced on player characters, for while many players will naturally want to create characters who fi t well in the world of the cam- paign, any character a player imagines is by its very nature exceptional. Players
have the privilege of creating unique and hard-to-explain characters. For example, if the human Telziijka tribesfolk are the only known warlocks in your campaign, and a player wants to play a dwarf warlock, you and the player should be able to come up with a means to accommodate that desire (the dwarf character might have been raised among the Telziijka, perhaps, learning their customs and traditions). Alternatively, the unique component of Telziijka heritage responsible for the warlocks’ power is something that might logically be found among others under certain conditions—perhaps the curse of a deity, the possession of a particular artifact, or the presence of one’s ancestors at an ancient cataclysm. The effects of creating unique systems of magic in a cam- paign might include the following.
• Specifi c classes might be favored classes for characters of a certain race or ethnic group.
• Specifi c prestige classes or feats might be available only to characters who meet special racial or cultural require- ments.
• Spells or feats might function better when used by char- acters with a special heritage or training.
In general, it’s preferable to offer advantages to a particular character combination than
to create insurmountable restrictions. For example, if you decide that the Necromancers of Ilphaz are the most infamous of evil spellcasters
in your campaign, you might des- ignate a handful of necromancy spells as Ilphatian spells. You
could create a feat called Dark Lore of Ilphaz that pro- vides a caster level boost or similar advantage to a caster using an Ilpha-
tian spell. Although anyone in your game could still become a
necromancer, the most dangerous nec- romancers are the students of Ilphatian lore whom your players
will quickly learn to fear. Details like these are the stuff that memorable
worlds are made of.
The Magocracy
Sorcerers, wizards, and other arcane spellcasters have many advantages over the common folk around them. In many lands, it’s easy
Il lu s. b y M . P hi llip pi 620_17925_Chpt7.indd 173 620_17925_Chpt7.indd 173 9/15/04 9:40:32 AM9/15/04 9:40:32 AM
174
for mages to accumulate wealth and infl uence. Like any other elite group, these mages will naturally seek to preserve their advantages and pass along these privileges to their heirs. A society that formalizes this role for arcane spellcasters is known as a magocracy—a realm ruled (directly or indirectly) by mages.
A magocracy can be inclusive, recognizing that any spell- caster of suffi cient accomplishment is entitled to the rights and privileges of being a mage. Anyone desiring more of a say in how society is run need only take up arcane study and demonstrate some profi ciency with the arcane arts. An exclusive magocracy, on the other hand, is founded on the tenet that arcane power—the key to membership in an elite group—is to be shared with none but a chosen few. In some lands of this sort, anyone undertaking the study of arcane magic other than the chosen elite of the realm is committing a crime punishable by exile or even death.
In an autocratic magocracy, power is concentrated in the hands of a single mage (or possibly a small group), usually of signifi cant personal power. An autocrat might delegate some of his power to chosen agents or lesser autocrats, as in a feudal magocracy where a mage-king commands the fealty of a number of mage dukes or lords, each of whom rules over lesser mages in turn. Under this system, all mages are nobles (with the expected rights and responsibilities). Another autocratic magocracy could be bureaucratic in nature, with all mages together forming a privileged class in service to a nonmage king (and often comprising the true power behind the throne). Other magocracies are more democratic in nature; the mages of a kingdom might form an exclusive assembly that holds the power to make laws, levy taxes, or oversee the doings of the throne.
Just as mages can easily accumulate political power, they can also provoke resentment and fear: An antimagocracy is a realm in which mages are censured for their dangerous and unpredictable nature. In the simplest form of antimagocracy, the practice of arcane magic is illegal, and anyone engaging in arcane spellcasting might be subject to fi nes, imprisonment, or execution.
Sometimes a rival type of spellcasting—the divine spells of clerics of a certain set of approved deities, for example—is the only form of sanctioned magic permitted in a realm. Agents of a sanctioned institution might seek out arcane spellcasters with inquisitional tactics, or (in a campaign with a long anti-arcane history) they might assume that arcane magic is an art long dead. In other lands, mages might be fettered by restrictive laws or rigorous obligations to the throne, and young people in such realms with the potential to work arcane magic might be made to choose between state servitude at an early age or a life of imprisonment or exile. Even outside the scope of a true antimagocracy, some forms of magic might be sanctioned in a realm while others are prohibited. Some lands might have laws against the practice of the warlock’s dark arts, for example, and a fair number might take a dim view of necromancers, conjurers, and sorcerers on general principles.
Deities of Magic
Magic is power. In a world where arcane might is the single deadliest weapon that mortal hands can wield, deities are sure to have a keen interest in that power. Most pantheons have at least one deity whose portfolio includes magic, and in many pantheons, the power and destiny of arcane magic falls squarely under the ruling deity’s infl uence and control.
Despite the strength of most deities of magic, few possess a great number of cleric followers compared to other deities. Since many deities of magic venerate arcane spellcasting over all else, divine spellcasters never become as important to the maintenance and growth of their church. Boccob, as the deity of arcane spellcasting (not magic in general), has few cleric followers who don’t also study arcane spellcasting. Of course, deities of magic whose portfolios include other important functions—such as Wee Jas, deity of death and law as well as magic—often have a powerful priesthood primarily concerned with the nonarcane aspects of the deity’s divinity. In both churches, most high-ranking priests command both arcane and divine magic, often becoming mystic theurges as they pursue the paths in tandem.
Clerics of deities who scorn magic as a tool used by those without the strength or courage to meet foes in physical battle tend to take an antagonistic view of arcane spellcasters, and many savage or barbaric races disparage arcanists because their warlike deities urge them down the path of physical valor rather than the one of study and cunning. Though an average orc is smart enough to recognize the battlefi eld potential of arcane magic, Gruumsh’s priests have little toler- ance for spellcasters; in a society built on brutality, an orc sorcerer or wizard must demonstrate even more strength and savagery than his warrior brethren just to survive. In human lands, the clerics of faiths celebrating strength and valor (the churches of Kord or Heironeous, for example) often work to limit the spread of arcane knowledge and the infl uence of its practitioners, possibly even serving as the inquisitorial arm of an antimagocratic government.
The All-Arcanist Campaign
One interesting and challenging twist on the arcane cam- paign is the all-arcanist campaign—a scenario in which every player character is a sorcerer, wizard, or other arcane spellcaster. A party composed entirely of arcanists can be extraordinarily powerful at higher levels, but successfully completing adventures without access to the unique skills and abilities of the fi ghter, cleric, and rogue (or having those skills only at lower levels because of multiclassing) can be a signifi cant challenge for those characters. Obstacles such as
antimagic fi elds and monsters with broad spell immunities are
much tougher to overcome when arcane power is the only weapon in the party’s arsenal.
An all-arcanist campaign works best if the characters involved each specialize in specifi c functions or roles—it becomes diffi cult for each character to carve out her own niche in the world if everyone tries to cover as many bases
CH
AP
T
E
R 7
AR C A N E CA M P A IG N S 620_17925_Chpt7.indd 174 620_17925_Chpt7.indd 174 9/15/04 9:40:41 AM9/15/04 9:40:41 AMCH
AP
T
E
R 7
AR C A N E CA M P A IG N S175
as possible. For example, a party consisting of an illusion- ist, a sorcerer with numerous damage-dealing evocations, a conjurer, and a multiclass cleric/wizard heading for the mystic theurge prestige class allows each character a chance to excel in different areas—the sorcerer and the conjurer’s summoned creatures stand in for the party’s fi ghters, the multiclass cleric grants needed healing, and the illusionist provides stealth and deception akin to what a skilled rogue might be capable of. Taking the Leadership feat is another way for members of such a group to expand their skill base; fi ghter or cleric cohorts can offer indispensable support to a party of mages.