Imagine a massive army of twenty thousand professional soldiers. They have highly trained spearmen who can set up pike lines, heavy cavalry with full plate barding (meaning both rider and horse are basically encased in steel), light cavalry for speed and scouting, Zweihanders (highly skilled fighters who can unhorse or take on anyone who somehow breaks through a pike line), longbowmen, engineers who can install dikes and other static defenses, design combat bridges, and design siege engines, and a command staff who have installed a level of discipline on par with the modern army in the United States. This is an army that most historians would tell you would crush anything that they came across all the way up to the point when gunpowder weapons were introduced.

But, they have no spellcasting ability of any kind.

Now, put them up against a fighting force consisting of a single master of each of the nine schools of magic found in the Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying games. Nine people. If asked, most roleplayers will put their money on the nine wizards to beat this army, particularly if they had more than a couple minutes to prepare for the battle. Even if the army had experience fighting spellcasters, they’d likely lose against nine masters.

Why? Because the spellcasters can protect themselves from every manner of attack from the army. Conjure a strong breeze or protection from arrows and the archers have suddenly become useless. Another could create any number of walls, spikes, pits, or terrain. The Illusionist can render them invisible. They can also attack with methods that the army cannot defend against, such as fireballs or bolts of lightning. They can summon creatures over and over, so casualties on their side are irrelevant. They can have perfect communication among their side, including over great distance. They can also execute a perfect retreat, as at least one of them could simply teleport them away.

No general would allow such a gaping hole in their strategy. They would need to have something to defend against and defeat such a threat. If they didn’t, the first army that boasted wizards would completely destroy them. What that is will depend on what sort of resources they have. Perhaps they have wizards in the army. It could be that wizards must be part of the military, or must provide a certain amount of military service. Maybe they have magical items that help them fight magic users. Perhaps they have elite forces, special formations, or specific strategies to use against those magic users.

If there are countries that have competing militaries, this can lead to a magical arms race. First one fields wizards, then the other brings forth whole squads of wizards. The first develops a new strategy more effectively integrating magic into their army. How will the second country react? Look at how this worked with the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, or even the Axis and Allies during World War 2.

If your setting has magic, it will be in the military. How that works can lead to a lot of interesting ideas for your setting. Magic academies are a staple of fantasy settings. Imagine if that academy was a military school instead of the typical university-type school.

Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next Sunday!