Limitations on Wartime Magic

The scene is set for the epic final battle between good and evil. Two vast armies face each other across an expanse of barren plain, weapons ready, warriors alert, generals ready with cunning strategems, and fantastic creatures slavering for battle. The horns of war blare and the two hosts charge into bloody battle!

But ho, what is this? The party’s mage steps forward and unleashes a torrent of fireballs, chain lightning, earthquakes, and maybe even a power word or two. When the smoke clears, the enemy army has been laid to waste by the vast powers of a single man, without the army of good drawing a single weapon.

Why on Earth or Krynn or Athas would a warlord raise an army of 10,000 men to lead into battle when a single high- (or even medium-) level mage could wipe them all out faster than you can say “Cloudkill.”  The large sums of money spent on equipping an army that size could tempt even the grumpiest, richest, most disinterested mage into coming out of his tower for a little wanton destruction.

In Rakendawn, large-scale conflict causes an effect called 'mana sealing' where the eldritch energies need to power a spell or spell-like effect are prevented from being manipulated by mortal beings. This includes all demihuman and goblinoid races, with only the most powerful magi or dragons being able to circumvent it and then only in limited fashion.

For every 20 living beings involved in a pitched battle all Saving Throws against spells and spell-like effects gain a +1 bonus up to +10 for 200 beings. Undead, summoned creatures, and other being not native to Rakendawn (notably entities from the Interstice) are not counted in this total. If 100 or more beings are fighting, spells that normally allow no Saving Throw now do so, with a successful Save causing the spell to operate at half strength. If 1000 or more beings are engaged in combat, then all magical spells have no effect at all (other than bright lights and loud noises) with a successful Save, and only half effect with a failed one. This means that if one is lucky, being struck directly by a meteor from a Meteor Swarm spell may result in nothing more than a pair of painfully singed eyebrows.

The effect radiates for one mile in every direction from the edge of the battlefield for each 100 beings involved. These effects also last for the duration of the battle and for one day after for each 100 beings involved.