Which Villain do you prefer to have magic?

[Lord Vectra]

There are two villains:
Villain 1: Someone of high societal status and regard, and therefore, easier to track but hard to pin down.

Villain 2: A peasant of low societal status and regard, but is off-the-radar making them harder to track but easier to pin down.

By pin them down, it basically means it's easier to get them punished once you catch them in the act. It's like how people say Celebrities or rich people get off easy simply for being rich and/or famous.

Q&A (EDIT)
This is more of a generalized question where you think of just your average magic-based game. In my particular project, only criminals don't have access to magic, but I felt that was unneccessary to say since I figured it'd be assumed magic is at least common since, if it was super rare, it'd be strange to leave it out.

My question is: Which do you prefer to be the most powerful when it comes to magic assuming you are the one that has to catch and pin them? Please mention why down below

 

[ShadowDragon]

villain 2, as low in in contact people can probably create more powerfull
or develope more powerfull magic and maybe forbidden than the other
among the peoples.

but thats up to you though, is your game, so use what you see fit
but this is my opinion though.

 

[Enigman]

Villain 2, the peasant because they are already at signicant disadvantage compared to a noble due to their inherent lack of power and social standing.

If we consider a feudal society, a peasant couldn't even leave the lands of their liege without express permission. Peasants could be killed for even the most minor of transgression whereas there are numerous examples of nobles in history literally getting away with murdeer.

A noble would probably be less likely to use magic as they can exert power in other ways and might even be seen as weak for using it. If you look at the decline of nobles in the 19th century, many looked down on the middle class industrialists who became wealthy even as their own wealth and power declined.

A peasant would be more likely to use magic as a means of making up for the power imbalance in their society. A peasant magic user might be viewed with suspicion - the witch trials of the inquisition resulted in th deaths of many women whose only crime was having no family and being knowledgable in herbal remedies.

One possibility of nobles being the magic users is if you use Ascendance of the Bookworm as an example. Only nobles could use magic and peasants/common folk with magic power were forced into servitude of nobles (via a condition that would kill them unless they had a noble sponsor the expensive artefacts to fight the condition.) Nobles in this sort of world would be more inclined to use magic as a way of showing off their power/status. Peasants would be more likely to conceal their powers and be perceived as evil. It could even be the peasant was forced to become evil because of the societies prevailing attitude, their need to conceal their power and one thing leading to another.

A society where only nobles could (or were allowed to) use magic would increase your pool of suspects and provide a few red herrings/plot twists.

 

[Sword_of_Dusk]

Soon as I read the question, I knew people would pick Villain 2, but I personally think it depends a lot on how rare magic is in your world, how it's viewed by people, and the personality of your villains.

If magic is a rare gift that doesn't pop up all that often, either character works equally well for being the better spellcaster. If magic is more common, I'd toss the edge to #1 because they're more likely to access talented teachers to better train them. However, that dynamic shifts if magic tends to be frowned upon in your world, as the lowborn person would have a better chance of finding someone who could teach them properly, since magic would already be kept on the down low.

Finally, there's the individual personalities to consider. If #1 is a perfectionist or has a superiority complex, they're better suited to pulling out impressive magic when the chips are down, putting the player through a final hell in order to apprehend them. Even if they aren't, if #2 isn't concerned with being particularly dangerous or simply lacks discipline, they likely aren't gonna be difficult to beat and all of their best skills should be in stealth and evasion.

That's my two cents on it all.

 

[nbgamemaker]

Villan 2, it'd make for a more fun time tracking them down and it could make for an interesting story with some pretty awesome themes.