How might Illusion Magic and actual physical shape-alteration magic be used, for cosmetic purposes, in a magocracy?
Illusion Magic is easier to do, but has the drawback that it can be disbelieved - seen through - on an individual basis, more commonly by those with higher Perception and Intelligence, and keener pertinent Sense (e.g. a dog with a very sharp Sense of Smell is hard to fool with illusions that contain an olfactory component, especially an uplifted dog such as a Familiar, or a Human Shapechanged into dog).
Usually you only get one roll to disbelieve each illusion, ever, but if someone credibly points and shouts "that's an illusion" you do get a second roll, same way if you see something self-contradictory (such as a torch not lighting up a dark room, or a weapon striking a person well without causing impairment, or really anything that makes you stop and re-think).
Shapechange magic is trickier, more demanding to learn (you need to learn two Realm Skills) and use (the effects of a Casting Fumble are likely to be worse, as if with a Prestige Realm), and is limited in how long the effects can last, but has the benefit that only actual Dispel Magic effects can thwart it - those aren't needed to ruin an illusionist's day.
The culture of this magocracy is one in which visual vanity is common among both sexes (unlike our Western society, in which vain males are seen as very effeminate. A man's place is to wear his uniform-type business suit/tux, and the only permissible bling is a gold watch). There's a strong temptation to "cheat", for everyone who can, in this culture.
How would such a society function? It has been in existence for about a thousand years, and so would have evolved a lot of traditions and etiquettes surrounding the public use of magic, especially Illusion Magic and Shapechange Magic for cosmetic purposes, and of course MetaMagic to Dispel those kinds of magic as well as other kinds of magic, and the creation of invisible or hard-to-detect Anti Magic Zones.
There'd probably be an element of politely pretending not to notice, the same way most of us don't (or daren't) call attention to even obvious cases of plastic surgery (ugly fake lips on women!) or over-use of makeup. Even taken to the extreme, where the Mage Lord is walking around stark raving naked but nobody says anything because it's not done.
But beyond that? I'm thinking, could there be a game theory angle here?
What if there's a social game element added, where you can "gamble" by exclaiming that you think a particular person is faking something, but with consequences if you lose? Risk vs reward. You can take down your rival by unmasking him (or his new arm candy concubine), but only if he is wearing a mask - if he isn't, you're the one who stand to lose... but what would you lose?
And that's actively casting a spell such as Dispel Magic on a particular target. What about laying "traps" in the form of Anti Magic Zones for people to walk into? You can't be sure you'll "catch" the right target that way, but if there are too many of those, you can't have the masquerade, and I think the magocracy wants to be able to have their masquerade. 99% of the time, anyway.
For the former, people might habitually have illusionary green dots on their noses (my initial thought was red dots, but that'd look silly), so that if somebody casts a Dispel spell on someone who isn't wearing a cosmetic illusion, only the dot disappears, making it clear to everyone who's paying attention that the target wasn't cheating, and so the caster loses... face? But something beyond face as well?
And for the Zones, those who can afford such things can have a "forward lackey" who always walks ahead of them when out of their home (or out of their bedchamber, for the more thoroughly paranoid), a temporarily uplifted animal (who becomes unintelligent if entering a Zone), or an animated skeleton (skeletal cats might be popular, or squirrels or ferrets), or a Human lackey with some obvious illusion effect on him. If this "forward lackey" always predicts roughly where his patron will walk, any Zone effects will be discovered in advance.
Disbelieving isn't automatic. It's a contested roll, Spot Illusion Stat vs the Quality of the illusion, so a high-skill illusionist can almost stop worrying about being disbelieved, although it is possible to Enchant items to give a bonus to Spot Illusion (e.g. the jade Buddha amulet which Asbrand the Stuttering took as loot in Normandy - thans to Matt Riggsby for having reminded me of such finds).
Likewise, any kind of Anti-Magic is also a contested roll, the effect strength of the Dispel (or AM Zone) vs the Level of the Spell (with some Spells always or sometimes getting a bonus to effective Spell Level for this purpose), although the Zones persist for their duration, rather than disappear after they've Negated one effect or even just tried to Negate one.
But this is for cosmetic purposes, and so many of the Mages will want to participate (many who started out not wanting to will change their minds when body parts begin sagging, or wrinkles appear), whereas few of them want to specialize deeply in Illusion Magic, or even specialize at all. Many have jobs, or vaguely job-like duties at the higher ranks, that require them to specialize in something else, and most people have a limited supply of Skill Points. This means most cosmetic illusions will be low-Quality, and most cosmetic Spells of any type will be fairly easy to Dispel, Supress or Negate.
Illusion Magic is easier to do, but has the drawback that it can be disbelieved - seen through - on an individual basis, more commonly by those with higher Perception and Intelligence, and keener pertinent Sense (e.g. a dog with a very sharp Sense of Smell is hard to fool with illusions that contain an olfactory component, especially an uplifted dog such as a Familiar, or a Human Shapechanged into dog).
Usually you only get one roll to disbelieve each illusion, ever, but if someone credibly points and shouts "that's an illusion" you do get a second roll, same way if you see something self-contradictory (such as a torch not lighting up a dark room, or a weapon striking a person well without causing impairment, or really anything that makes you stop and re-think).
Shapechange magic is trickier, more demanding to learn (you need to learn two Realm Skills) and use (the effects of a Casting Fumble are likely to be worse, as if with a Prestige Realm), and is limited in how long the effects can last, but has the benefit that only actual Dispel Magic effects can thwart it - those aren't needed to ruin an illusionist's day.
The culture of this magocracy is one in which visual vanity is common among both sexes (unlike our Western society, in which vain males are seen as very effeminate. A man's place is to wear his uniform-type business suit/tux, and the only permissible bling is a gold watch). There's a strong temptation to "cheat", for everyone who can, in this culture.
How would such a society function? It has been in existence for about a thousand years, and so would have evolved a lot of traditions and etiquettes surrounding the public use of magic, especially Illusion Magic and Shapechange Magic for cosmetic purposes, and of course MetaMagic to Dispel those kinds of magic as well as other kinds of magic, and the creation of invisible or hard-to-detect Anti Magic Zones.
There'd probably be an element of politely pretending not to notice, the same way most of us don't (or daren't) call attention to even obvious cases of plastic surgery (ugly fake lips on women!) or over-use of makeup. Even taken to the extreme, where the Mage Lord is walking around stark raving naked but nobody says anything because it's not done.
But beyond that? I'm thinking, could there be a game theory angle here?
What if there's a social game element added, where you can "gamble" by exclaiming that you think a particular person is faking something, but with consequences if you lose? Risk vs reward. You can take down your rival by unmasking him (or his new arm candy concubine), but only if he is wearing a mask - if he isn't, you're the one who stand to lose... but what would you lose?
And that's actively casting a spell such as Dispel Magic on a particular target. What about laying "traps" in the form of Anti Magic Zones for people to walk into? You can't be sure you'll "catch" the right target that way, but if there are too many of those, you can't have the masquerade, and I think the magocracy wants to be able to have their masquerade. 99% of the time, anyway.
For the former, people might habitually have illusionary green dots on their noses (my initial thought was red dots, but that'd look silly), so that if somebody casts a Dispel spell on someone who isn't wearing a cosmetic illusion, only the dot disappears, making it clear to everyone who's paying attention that the target wasn't cheating, and so the caster loses... face? But something beyond face as well?
And for the Zones, those who can afford such things can have a "forward lackey" who always walks ahead of them when out of their home (or out of their bedchamber, for the more thoroughly paranoid), a temporarily uplifted animal (who becomes unintelligent if entering a Zone), or an animated skeleton (skeletal cats might be popular, or squirrels or ferrets), or a Human lackey with some obvious illusion effect on him. If this "forward lackey" always predicts roughly where his patron will walk, any Zone effects will be discovered in advance.
Disbelieving isn't automatic. It's a contested roll, Spot Illusion Stat vs the Quality of the illusion, so a high-skill illusionist can almost stop worrying about being disbelieved, although it is possible to Enchant items to give a bonus to Spot Illusion (e.g. the jade Buddha amulet which Asbrand the Stuttering took as loot in Normandy - thans to Matt Riggsby for having reminded me of such finds).
Likewise, any kind of Anti-Magic is also a contested roll, the effect strength of the Dispel (or AM Zone) vs the Level of the Spell (with some Spells always or sometimes getting a bonus to effective Spell Level for this purpose), although the Zones persist for their duration, rather than disappear after they've Negated one effect or even just tried to Negate one.
But this is for cosmetic purposes, and so many of the Mages will want to participate (many who started out not wanting to will change their minds when body parts begin sagging, or wrinkles appear), whereas few of them want to specialize deeply in Illusion Magic, or even specialize at all. Many have jobs, or vaguely job-like duties at the higher ranks, that require them to specialize in something else, and most people have a limited supply of Skill Points. This means most cosmetic illusions will be low-Quality, and most cosmetic Spells of any type will be fairly easy to Dispel, Supress or Negate.
Cosmetic illusions in a magocracy
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