In a world where magic is easily accessible to most people, how do you effectively police society?
https://youtu.be/3Zw58knC9zI
>>43875889
You've answered your own question. If magic is easily accessible to most people, that means it's also accessible to most cops.
>>43875889
I can't be the only one who would watch a wizard version of Law & Order: SVU.
In the setting I just created, magic is basically a single trick that can be applied to any skill, and the magnitude of it is based on your proficiency in that skill.
When reality in one area becomes too distorted from magic use, it "snaps back" and fucks up the source that caused the most distortion.
This means that raw numbers are more important than anything when dealing with magic users. If the evil wizard causes 2% distortion, you just need 98 people causing 1% distortion apiece to make reality slap him. It might not even need to be people. You could have items that channel magic for this very purpose.
>>43875889
>In a world where technology is easily accessible to most people, how do you effectively police society?
>>43876414
Depends on the kinds of magic. D&d esk arcane magic is esoteric science and the police would simply adopt a wizard core to assist with potential arcane problem, maybe have an abjur to assist with high level threats.
Every human, after the age of 12 can cast Wish as per the 3.5 spell at will as a Spell Like Ability.
What happens?
>>43876756
All the conflicting Wishes wind up tearing the world apart.
Congratulations, everyone's dead Jim, and you killed them.
>>43875889
Anti magic and wizard cops.
>>43875889
I would run a game like that 100%
But what system?
>>43876756
Shinseki yori. 2: the electric boogaloo
>"Mages" is filmed on location with the men and women of laws of reality enforcement. The suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Sounds like a great high-magic investigation fantasy game. If it were a splatbook I'd buy it.
Easy. Ban all assault magic wands. Why would a law abiding citizen needs one anyway? As if the 'New Wizarding Order' or Lizard people will invade us.
>>43879781
>Who needs fifty charges? Wands should be limited to ten charges. That gives peasants a chance to retaliate when they go on polymorph sprees in no-magic zones.
>>43875889
A giant zone of anti-magic around important structures and sensitive areas.
>>43875889
The real problem for law enforcement is not your average Joe who has the same level or magic talent and skills as an average police officer, but the rare extremely overpowered individuals. These definitely-not-PCs are going to be very hard to control and their appearance is statistically inevitable as the number of civilians is much larger than the number of the officers.
How to you deal with them? Ideally, try to recruit them preemptively. Focus the cops training on group combat to overwhelm them with the superior numbers in case the recruitment fails.
I would love a fucking series of this, I'd watch i religiously.
I'd play the game, too. Probably low magic, in that magic isn't incredibly destructive, but dangerous in the wrong hands. Projectiles, shields, shapeshifting maybe some summons and gate opening stuff? Normally you can only achieve so much, but certain drugs allow you access to greater flows of power, which are almost always more risky, but people are cocky and confident, and the desire for more power is great. Government are probably trying to isolate the effect and inject it into soldiers to make unstoppable battlemages. Kids would probably be practicing black magic behind the school instead of smoking.
No anti-magic shite, so you've got policemen armed with arcane power of their, specialized neutralization spells, paralysis spells (that can get badly abused, just think about it) and the like. Powerful wards against other attacks, wards which are highly specialized. Drug use in SWAT teams for more effectiveness and such are a badly kept secret.
>>43880026
Ritual magic. Have cabals of magicians able to achieve stuff they individually could never achieve.
If an epic level wizard is causing shit, enough paragons could fuck him up in a big ritual.
Usually though the few outliers in the magical city can be taken down by the ritual specialist squad.
Replace ritual with circle, cabal, coven, unity or whatever you want to call your group casting mechanic.
>>43876384
That is terrible
>>43876187
Oh my god, I'd actually watch TV for that shit
>>43875889
In a world where magic is easily accessible and exactly as potent as generally presented, expect the powers that be too regulate the shit out of it.
The Wizards' Guild in my group's setting maintains an extensive bureaucracy for issuing and tracking licenses of practicing magic users. They also maintain a gendarmerie for the purposes of apprehending/killing rogue sorcerers.
Most of them are just magical insurance adjusters, though.
>>43881001
>too regulate
To*
Standard Operating procedures become as follows.
First response team always has at least one divination initiate. They scan the scene with detect magic and if anything pings up then a special Magical crimes task force arrives.
If nothing turns up and the crime is severe like murder then Forensics arrives: A senior diviner, a necromancer, and a transmuter. The diviner uses zones of truth to interrogate witnesses, then minor augury to answer a few questions after his cabal has finished their respective jobs.If the augury turns up any interference in the portents such as magical obfuscation then the case may be kicked up to special crimes unit. The necromancer inspects the body of the deceased and if it has not been desecrated interrogates it, then halts decomposition and assesses the cost of a ressurection to hold a guilty party accountable for. The transmuter collects samples of various forensic evidence and determines their composition and purpose, fabricating and mending as necessary to repair damaged evidence, or uses flight to survey the scene from above. An illusionist often attends to scribe scrolls of persistent images and programmed auditory illusions so that the evidence gathered can be played back in a court of law later.
Special crimes consists of a squad of abjurers and diviners well versed in arcana who scour a scene identifying spells, wards, alarms, and any other kind of magical residue of spells or spell components before dispelling them. More modern squads bring reformed or trained spell thieves who capture spells instead of dispelling then and study things about them like "fingerprint" signatures of the mages who cast them, meta magic, type of magic, or what items might have been used. All this information is passed along to Forensics.
Investigators often include an evoker or abjurer for dealing with difficult suspects, Interogations are sometime conducted by an enchanter and a Mage skilled in telekinesis. The "Mind Shaper and Scraper" squad.
>>43875889
In my setting, it's only accessible to some people, but it makes them relatively overpowered. Luckily, the gods are running the show. In civilized lands, Wizards obey the law of the land, and respect the throne like every other citizen, or they face holy wrath. The Divine Right of Kings isn't just a figure of speech.
In wilder places, Wizards do whatever the fuck they want. As you might imagine, most powerful magic users are reclusive hermits, living in remote wildnernesses where they can pursue their arcane studies in peace.
In game terms, this provides good plot hooks for adventuring. It also means that for practical purposes the PCs have to keep their magic on the DL when in town, if they don't want the local Paladin's boot so far up their ass they'll be tasting his shoe leather while they say their acts of contrition for the next two months.
The other valid option is to be a court wizard, operating in the king's name, under the watchful eye of the royal inquisitors.
>>43880484
Why?
What sort of stats would you use for a Wizard cop game?
Also how about other entities? Do other races exist or is it mostly just humans with equal parts magic and technology like in that video?
Should mugged exist? Should the magical world be the whole world or is it like one state and mugged are everywhere?
I personally like the idea that wands and staves are required to cast really deadly spells, Wizards can cast weak spells at will but magic wands require a lisence.
>>43883039
I didn't mean mugged, I meant muggle.
>>43882312
This just gave me an idea for a campaign. I might use some of this for my setting anon.
>>43881429
Dragonlance policed it.
The order of high sorcery.
In game terms any Wizard who could cast spells above 2nd level (covers that in a 3.5 book "The towers of High Sorcery")
Has to go take a life risking test in order to keep using magic and join the order.
If they skip out they send members of the order to fetch the spellcaster to take it. If they manage to escape they're branded as a renegade spellcaster. What happens then is usually up to how they react if they're at some point outed and identified.
If they actually murder other wizards they send out renegade hunters. Guys prepared to track, capture or kill the renegade. There's even a prestige class for it. They can flat out shut magic down.
Going out and going all mass murder hobo is frowned upon and can get you branded/executed.
You're pretty much expected to obey the laws of the land.
Think of it like the mages guild in Oblivion.
It doesn't STOP them from doing evil deeds. There just has to be tact in doing so.
A few other rules as well. Nothing that could harm the order itself. And no experimentation with the creation of life. And to have loyalty to the order above all other loyalties. If some whacked out warlord up and decides to destroy the orders or wizards. It's your duty to either report it, and if able to neutralize the problem.
In the recent age the order is still together but very loose. Due to storyline.
Another order has been founded that goes outside of the order of high sorcery. The Thorn Knights. Or grey robes. They're given the chance to join the order. It's a bit shaky because they're a branch of a military organization in a very hostile and inhospitable area.
Outside of that there have been a few successful renegades. But they had amassed enough power and had the resources to deal with it.
Galan Dracos.
Raistlin Majere was branded in his last years.
Most gnome wizards. They're usually isolated in they're own kingdom and don't cause any issues. Some do seek out to join the orders.
>>43875889
I'd watch this and I'd play this. We need a setting like this.
>>43880599
Wizard baristers. Look it up.
>>43889177
I might.
>>43875889
>Blast first
>ask questions later
>turn suspects into wands for later interrogation or general use
There's a manhwa I read that explores that exact premise, OP. It's called Dead Sorcerer's City.
>>43875889
Reminds me of Dresden the TV series. It was cheesy, but I still liked it.
>>43889177
>Wizard baristers
okay dokay friend!
>how do you effectively police society?
Burn them all
