In a standard medieval fantasy setting...

In a standard medieval fantasy setting, would the invention of the printing press and the subsequent widespread availability of reading material result in an influx of wizards? Could spellbooks and scrolls be mass produced, to the point where the average individual could get a hold of one?

Is this a setting where anyone can learn magic, or do you have to be born with magical talent

Because I think it would be cool if it was a setting where you were or were not born with THE GIFT, and the printing press was already in widespread use. Spellbooks would be banned because the magocracy has kept a tight control on who gets to see spellbooks ever since its invention.

Sort of like Fahrenheit 451 if the firemen were pyromancers.

depends on the setting
But I'll answer it for mine which does have the printing press since it's about pre-renaissance era. TL;DR no there wouldn't

Writing scrolls requires magical talent, meaning you have to literally put your magical skill into creating a scroll (game-mechanic wise you have to expend mana or a spell slot). Spellbooks are usually just notes on how to write ritual circles, components needed, the gestures, words you need to speak, etc.. However the books are often (and scrolls, always) written in the ancient magical language of which every magic user knows because they are either a) taught it or b) inherit the knowledge from their bloodline, patron, etc. (its magic I ain't gotta explain shit).

Pic slightly unrelated

Can you put a magical source of energy into the ink of the printing press to make it work?
Like collect various magical creatures, mill them down and then use the fairy dust to print scrolls quicker.

It's not the ink that's magical, it's the hand that writes it.

>In a standard medieval fantasy setting
You mean D&D, so why even bother pretending you are talking about anything else?

Because I'm not talking about D&D maybe?

I recall reading some user's description of a game setting where all magic was rare and expensive because every spell had to be painstakingly and perfectly copied by hand; the BBEG was some magician drawing infinite power from nowhere and putting it in the hands of his minions

While infiltrating his castle, they found halls and halls of printing presses, which the GM described incomprehensibly to them because they had no idea what they were.

Shit son, you project any harder and teacher's gonna have to pull down the sheet and sleep off her hangover at her desk while we all watch about 34 minutes of a movie.

>to the point where the average individual could get a hold of one
No. Books were still uncommon in the Renaissance, but unlike the previous illuminated manuscripts, peasants may have seen them.
The only certainty of increased access to books is increased spread of ideas among the learned classes, because they're the only ones who can read.

So, if you're looking for a magical renaissance, then the printing press is the right way to go about it. But, it's still going to take a good long while before the idea of teaching everyone to read really catches on. And that may catch on slower if being able to read means being able to test yourself for wizardly potential.

The one sure thing that you could count on would be government-sponsored schools for the training of battle mages.

This reminds me of a story. So a friend of mine was running a game, 4E D&D, and he wanted an idea for a difficult to move plot Mcguffin. Something the paranoid king of the kingdom his players were in feared enough to hide, but not destroy lest he had need of it. I suggested a printing press, movable type at that.

The paranoid king knew what unleashing knowledge of this device could in time do to his rule, as it would help to make reading and knowledge more commonplace, and then the serfs and peasants might start to get ideas.

Helping my friend lay out some plot, with the creator of the device in hiding and thought to be dead eventually coming out of the woodwork to help the party, and how the warehouse was guarded.

Long story short, the players didn't get what was so important.

...not the characters. The players didn't understand why a goddamn printing press would be something a king feared.

I'd say that scrolls would need to be penned by someone magical, and just printing whatever things on there wouldn't do anything. With spellbooks, it depends if the books themselves have power or not. If they're just scripts to guide mages, then why not? However, if they imbue power by themselves, I wouldn't think that they could be produced in such a way.

Depends on setting.

>The players didn't understand why a goddamn printing press would be something a king feared.

Sounds like someone needs to be educated. Print 100 copies of "Player X has AIDS" and stick them on random windshields at their school / job / place of worship.

Not him, but you clearly asked about D&D version of wizard and mechanics behind one, so get rekt

The concept of compulsory education predates the printing press. The actual implementation of compulsory education came less than 100 years after the invention of the printing press and was heavily tied-in with Protestant Reformation. Cultural and social issues played an arguably bigger role in the spread of education.

But the printing press already exists in D&D?

>implementation of compulsory education (...) was heavily tied-in with Protestant Reformation
Weber, leave. You never were right with your theory, but this is getting ridiculous now.
If anything, compulsory education for everyone was heavily tied with industralisation, because you needed people able to read and write to operate all that equipment. Not much more beyond that, but if they know how to read and write, you can cut the time needed to train them to bare minimum

Which is main reason why OP's question is simply retarded

Learning Magic requires lots of effort and dedication, just because the books are available doesn't mean a bunch of people are going to do it. I mean nowadays we have almost all of known history and all the practical knowledge you need for just about any career you can think if availbe for free on the Internet. and still, the vast majority of people can hardly be assed to pay attention to anything beyond sports, celebrity gossip, social media and the same 2 Veeky Forums boards they cycle between every day. Even if internet existed in a fantasy setting and most of the magic books were available for free online, most people wouldn't do it. Takes way too much time and effort and for years you're seein very minimal results

Actually, in my setting, that was just the case before great nations decided to go to war with each other using spellcasters as troops. Printing press made magic much, much more accessible to the point everyone could do at least some magic. Needless to say, they fucked up and ended up drowning half of a continent under water, kill off dozens of civilizations and letting all kinds of daemon-ish monstrosities walk the remaining earth.

No. Quite simply, becoming a wizard is more than just being able to read and thus learn more things, it's partially an inherent ability to reason in ways others can't.

So let's start with the 800 lb gorilla and the system most of your jargon is addressing, D&D.

Spellcasting is represented by higher ability to reason, not necessarily how much you know. Wide spread books and learning wont increase spell casting because the amount of individuals who have minds suited to it won't increase. Education is represented by ranks in knowledge skills, wide spread books and the ability to read would only grant a few more ranks in various basic knowledge skills.

As to scrolls, they require handwritten transfers with special expensive inks. The same is true of spellbooks. The reason for this is that the creation of a spellbook or scroll is that the wizard is essentially casting the spell onto the page while writing it.

PF has printing presses within its world and and they specifically cannot create spellbooks or scrolls, though they have had the same effects from our world via the spread of news and revolts.

I don't know, I feel like people would be motivated to learn to read much earlier if the ability to read also gave you the ability to shoot lightning from your hands

wait, when and by whom do you think was compulsory education implemented in continental europe?

Would the modern day version of that world get you sent to the Mystical Isle of Guantanamo for ordering an offensive, Fully Automatic boom.

>boom

Book

It does in CthuluTech.

Same reason that wizards don't take over D&D land - the number of people with the capacity to actually learn wizardry doesn't change no matter how many books you print.

More importantly, see

>implying being able to read and reading constantly from a younger age doesn't factor extensively into the development of intelligence and critical/upper thinking skills

I realize a lot of it is genetics, epigenetics, and really just luck, but reading (and similarly mentally engaging activities) play an extremely big part in the development of all the traits which make good spellcasters.

OP -

It depends on setting. I remember reading about a setting on here once where due to widespread magical knowledge (and I believe the printing press?) use of common/simple magic was everywhere. The farmer down the road knows how to use a cantrip to water his plants, the librarian can use mage hand to reach high up books, the entertainer uses prestidigitation to spice up the performances, and the guardsman uses a cantrip to light his torch while on patrol.

Really, something you need to take into account is what levels and "spellcasting" mean - a level one wizard is a beginning student of magic usually, but in some settings they're already years into their studies (and that's just for first level spells!).

tl;dr - tell us what your setting is and why it's not D&D, or gtfo fag.

I've been wanting to play a magic arms dealer who specializes in the manufacturing of extremely low level magic gear that can be mass produced for armies.

Consider this- this wizarding nigga rolls up to the kingdom with what appears to be a modified Halberd. Said Halberd is a "Common" rarity magic weapon, with its magic being "When this trigger is pulled, emits an Eldritch Blast (1d10 damage, while a Longbow does 1d8 and a Heavy Crossbow does 1d10)"

Being a Cantrip level spell, this "Blasting Halberd" can be used without fear of it running out of charge or breaking like items which cast full power spells.

He offers to sell a stack of 100 Halberds to the king for a low price, in exchange for having his Captains and other people make reports on their effectiveness, issues with the enchantments, and suggestions to improve on the design.

Said King then has a Pikeline able to fire out Heavy Crossbow damaging blasts in a volley with no need to reload or recieve formal training to handle, if you can point a stick you can use this weapon.

Anyway the point of this long ass post is that said dealer was also going to be working on a magic printing press, the end goal being able to mass produce lower level spell scrolls to be used in combination with other inventions, like a "caster gun" which uses small scrolls rolled into cylinders as ammunition.

>expecting from this thread to be anything else than half-baked D&D bait
Cute

>higher power keeps control and tries to suppress information
>like Fahrenheit 451
REEEEEEEE

Short answer: No.

Then it really depends on your mechanics and your setting, specifically the magic rules.

And finally culturally: printing has been around for thousands of years. Grind up some ocher, dissolve it in water and make a potato stamp. The impact of Gutenberg was that he industrialized the process and used it to print a translation of the most crucial document when it came to power in the Middle Ages which made it accessible to people outside the power elite.

god DAMN I love magitech shit like this.
>tfw you will never be a magitech engineer