Magic in typical C&C setting ??

[MacTele]

How usual are the magic users In typical C&C setting ?? I mean, how easy can a character meet a cleric with heal spells or a wizard. Let say that a party comes to a manorial village (owned by a lord who lives in a nearby manor) with a small temple. Would they meet a cleric there who can use magic and heal their wounds. What should be his lvl ?? Would all the people from nearby villages be healed by the cleric ?

How many clerics (magic users) and/or wizards are in the world ? One in every village/town/city ?

And the second question, is it rather usual for clerics and wizards to sell their magic ? Can a commoner buy a heal spell for his sick child or ?

Pls tell me how it works.

Another question is: how many people from population start to become heroes and get level ups ?? It is very connected because it shows how many magic users would be in population. ( and how many heroes would be)?

[Matthew]

As much or as little as you want, really. There doesn't appear to be a standard, nor is one really desirable in my opinion. The percentage of Classed Adventurers is not necessarily an indication of the number of Spell Casters, as the distribution does not have to be equal. In 2e AD&D the Fighter was stated to be overwhelmingly the most common Character Class. Consequently, you might get a distribution that looks somewhat like this:

Total Population: 100,000

Adventurer Population: 1,000

Spell Casting Adventurer Population: 100
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[serleran]

It is generally assumed that magic is relatively rare, but the precise quantification of non-magic to magic is left for the CK to decide. High-powered magics, such as resurrections and mass heal, or even the simple reincarnate of a mid-level druid, are likewise very rare, by assumption. This is easily witnessed by the lack of spellcasting by most classes (there are only 4 spellcasting classes in the PHB, rather than 7) and the difficulty (ie, XP charts) those classes do have in obtaining any kind of significant power. Add the treasure tables (wealth distribution) and you'll see that even a lowly +1 magic weapon is a major thing to find, and far from likely to exist in the home sof peasants without very good reason.

[Turanil]

This is an excellent question IMO. There is a long thread on ENworld (this thread about demographics), that provides interesting food for thought on this subject.

My opinion is that the arms race about levels between PCs and foes, distorts what would be a coherent view of a "believable" fantasy gaming universe. I think that high level characters should remain rare, a village cleric or wizard IMO, should be no higher than 2nd or 3rd level. However, to each GM his/her campaign, but myself, I cap PCs at 12th level, where higher level NPCs clerics or mages (no other classes) are occasional (very rare) legendary characters. In fact, IMC, at 6th level, characters are becoming heroes...
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[CoryKhouri]

Turanil wrote:
My opinion is that the arms race about levels between PCs and foes, distorts what would be a coherent view of a "believable" fantasy gaming universe. I think that high level characters should remain rare, a village cleric or wizard IMO, should be no higher than 2nd or 3rd level. However, to each GM his/her campaign, but myself, I cap PCs at 12th level, where higher level NPCs clerics or mages (no other classes) are occasional (very rare) legendary characters. In fact, IMC, at 6th level, characters are becoming heroes...

But, if you want to have campaigns where hero level or epic level characters go in on a venture to, say build an airship, or assist a magic user in creating magic devices for their keep, business, etc, you would have to go higher, right? I mean, at what level can a Wizard create magic items, golems, airships, etc?

[Tadhg]

In my campaign world, I sort of took Botkinburg as my model for towns and thorps and lesser sized cities. Clerics are more available and visible to the public as expected. Wizards are rare or rarely seen.

Botkinburg has 350 people with a chancel and head priest at 6th lvl. He has 3 lesser priests/adapts at 1st, 2nd & 3rd level. I would expect that perhaps the lesser priest travel some sort of circuit to some of the surrounding cities including Malforten down south of the Blacktooth Ridge.

Druids and their healing abilities are found generally outside of the cities but are available but not necessarily rare.

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[Treebore]

Rarity is relative. In a world with millions of people (if you combine all the human like races) one out of every hundred is rare enough.

The bottom line is don't worry too much about "realism", just do what you have to do in order to keep things fun and challenging.

This particular link has some solid background type info, and the site in general is a good one for stealing rules ideas from.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/wilderness.ht ... Adventures
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[Fizz]

CoryKhouri wrote:
But, if you want to have campaigns where hero level or epic level characters go in on a venture to, say build an airship, or assist a magic user in creating magic devices for their keep, business, etc, you would have to go higher, right? I mean, at what level can a Wizard create magic items, golems, airships, etc?

You come from a 3E background, don't you? That's ok, we welcome converts.
A wizard can try to create anything anytime he wants, provided he is a high enough level to cast all the required spells. The CK can set the CL based on how difficult the rituals are, and/or how powerful the item is meant to be, etc.

At least, that's how i'd handle it- in true SIEGE fashion.
-Fizz

[CoryKhouri]

Fizz wrote:
You come from a 3E background, don't you? That's ok, we welcome converts.
A wizard can try to create anything anytime he wants, provided he is a high enough level to cast all the required spells. The CK can set the CL based on how difficult the rituals are, and/or how powerful the item is meant to be, etc.

At least, that's how i'd handle it- in true SIEGE fashion.
-Fizz

Nay, forsooth! I'm old AD&D 1E, but I've been lurking around different RPG sites, incl WotC, and was intrigued with the new item creation options. Different adventure hooks out of that. I like the CL stuff, though, because my item makers can start earlier, if they're lucky/prepared enough.

Cory

[Turanil]

Fizz wrote:
A wizard can try to create anything anytime he wants, provided he is a high enough level to cast all the required spells. The CK can set the CL based on how difficult the rituals are, and/or how powerful the item is meant to be, etc.

Plus you can houserule that with some specific lengthy rituals (days long in the laboratory), use of ley-lines and magical nodes, assistance from fellow wizards, etc., a spellcaster would have an easier time succeeding difficult SIEGE checks related to creating magic items, golems, and what not.
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[DangerDwarf]

I dunno that there is a "typical" C&C setting. Seems we span the gamut of RPG settings.

[Dangersaurus]

CoryKhouri wrote:
But, if you want to have campaigns where hero level or epic level characters go in on a venture to, say build an airship, or assist a magic user in creating magic devices for their keep, business, etc, you would have to go higher, right? I mean, at what level can a Wizard create magic items, golems, airships, etc?

Turanil give great advice on this WRT to PCs.

My advice is that adventurers should hire people to handle "mundane" things like businesses and construction. Magic devices can be bought through secretive brokers, guilds and schools to drain overfull coffers. Finally, quests can be taken for the really fantastic stuff like airships and golems.

Also, when it comes to background NPCs (and retired PCs) nothing says you have to be (X*2)-1 level to cast X level spells. Unless fair resolution of combat or other competition is required, NPCs don't need to follow rules.