Scarcity

How common is magic in the campaign? Are wizards and spell-wielding priests so rare that even low-level characters are figures of legend, or are they so common that any hamlet or crossroads village has its own resident spellcasters? Most AD&D campaigns take a position between these two extremes, but lean towards the high end of the scale, falling in the 6 to 8 range on the 10-point scale—wizards and priests appear as allies, enemies, sources of information, or even window-dressing in literally every adventure a typical group plays. At the highest extremes, campaigns feature numerous spellcasters and magical items. Even a small town has several wizards of skill, plus dozens of minor merchants, craftsmen, or innkeepers with a spell or two up their sleeve. Wizards are so common that even the most remarkable mages lose their aura of mystery.

So, what does this mean? In a normal campaign, it’s safe to assume that anywhere the PCs go, the locals know a nearby wizard, and most people encounter a wizard a couple of times a year. Any sizable town has at least one or two resident wizards and spell-using priests, plus a handful of folks with minor magical powers such as herbalists, hedge wizards, and healers. Large towns or small cities may have up to a dozen or so magic-using characters, and great cities could support several dozen without crowding. Almost any NPC above 1st level owns one or more magical items, even if they’re fairly small or expendable, and player characters frequently own about three to five magical items by the time they reach 4th to 7th level.

In campaigns where magic is not as common (say, a 2 to 4 on the scale), the spellcasting characters become truly unique and important. A priest who can actually invoke his deity’s power in the form of spells may be perceived by the great clerical hierarchy as a saint or great patriarch in the making, or possibly as a dangerous reminder of the true faith in those hierarchies that have become complacent or corrupt. A high-ranking hierarch without spells will certainly watch a low-level PC cleric very carefully, especially if the PC makes no efforts to hide the “miraculous” effects he creates with simple 1st- and 2nd-level spells. Similarly, if wizard magic is quite scarce, a PC wizard can’t help but gather attention, fame, and not a little fear if he publicly displays his skills.

Priests vs. Wizards: A wizard’s magic and a priest’s magic are not the same thing, and both forms of magic do not have to be present in a campaign to the same degree. Imagine a world where wizards are viewed as the worst sort of villain and persecuted without remorse for decades. Wizards and their spells might be exceedingly scarce, while priests are far more common because they are socially acceptable—thus, the presence of wizard magic might only be a 1 or 2 while priest magic is closer to a 6 or 7 on the scale.

Magical Items: Similarly, magical items might be more or less common than spellcasters. If no one had ever invented the spell enchant an item, it’s reasonable to assume that magical items might be a rarity in even the most magical campaign settings. The reverse could be true if there was a lost civilization of highly advanced wizards who left behind great numbers of artifacts and items. The wizards of today might be armed to the teeth with magical items, despite the fact that they are struggling to grasp the basics of spellcasting.

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