Which in my mind, doesn’t make much sense. If mundane tech evolves, the infusion of magic into said tech should evolve at the same rate. IMO, Artificer should not be its own class, it should be what a Wizard becomes in an industrial age. So then, other magic classes would similarly get their own industrial flavor in such an age of artifice.
That would be super cool to build out actually, I’ll add it to my list. 😅
It depends on what you define infusion as. Three big theme of magic versus tech isn’t that magic stops existing, but that tech radically changes the balance of power in how to use magic. To use a fire wizard as an example, the best use of a fire wizard is different between the medieval era and industrial era.
For the medieval era, the best use of a fire wizard is as magical artillery. Sieges are likely broken as the attacking army has enough fire power from their wizards to burn away defenders in a castle. You likely need these wizards to understand strategy, so they will likely be generals or kings. A fire wizard is going to have a high status in society.
For the industrial era, the best use of a fire wizard is as a replacement for coal. Weapons on the battlefield have replaced the need of fire wizards and some weapons have enough range to be a threat to the wizards, negating their need. Instead, a fire wizard is either used to melt metal or to power a steam engine because they are cheaper than using coal. At best, a fire wizard is going to be at the level of skilled labor in this society as their efforts are best used to be an energy supply.
That shift in power is going to have major ramifications on societies.
Depends on your setting and how magic works, I suppose. You can sidestep that by putting limitations on magic: innate ability, skill, limitations on power, etc. Or experimenting with magic is dangerous/difficult, and culturally mages jealously guard their hard won discoveries – whereas mundane tech encourages collaboration and is easy to reverse engineer.
I like magic settings that deal with non-magic technology becoming a threat to magic.
Which in my mind, doesn’t make much sense. If mundane tech evolves, the infusion of magic into said tech should evolve at the same rate. IMO, Artificer should not be its own class, it should be what a Wizard becomes in an industrial age. So then, other magic classes would similarly get their own industrial flavor in such an age of artifice.
That would be super cool to build out actually, I’ll add it to my list. 😅
It depends on what you define infusion as. Three big theme of magic versus tech isn’t that magic stops existing, but that tech radically changes the balance of power in how to use magic. To use a fire wizard as an example, the best use of a fire wizard is different between the medieval era and industrial era.
For the medieval era, the best use of a fire wizard is as magical artillery. Sieges are likely broken as the attacking army has enough fire power from their wizards to burn away defenders in a castle. You likely need these wizards to understand strategy, so they will likely be generals or kings. A fire wizard is going to have a high status in society.
For the industrial era, the best use of a fire wizard is as a replacement for coal. Weapons on the battlefield have replaced the need of fire wizards and some weapons have enough range to be a threat to the wizards, negating their need. Instead, a fire wizard is either used to melt metal or to power a steam engine because they are cheaper than using coal. At best, a fire wizard is going to be at the level of skilled labor in this society as their efforts are best used to be an energy supply.
That shift in power is going to have major ramifications on societies.
Depends on your setting and how magic works, I suppose. You can sidestep that by putting limitations on magic: innate ability, skill, limitations on power, etc. Or experimenting with magic is dangerous/difficult, and culturally mages jealously guard their hard won discoveries – whereas mundane tech encourages collaboration and is easy to reverse engineer.
“I cast magic missile!”
“Oh yeah? Well, I cast mundane missile!”