Themes of Magic

[Baron Opal]

What are the themes of magic in your campaign?

I'm codifying what types of magic I want in my next game and I was trying to think of how magic is defined. Not mechanics-wise, but what the magician is supposed to be manipulating to make his will manifest. In defining that, then we proceed to what mechanical changes we might consider to evoke the desired flavor.

Themes of Magic

Aristotlean - The alteration of the balance of the four classical elements produces magical outcomes. Controlling gusts of air to fly, bursts of fire as a weapon.

True Names - Each thing in the world, be it a animal, plant, object or person, has a name that completely identifies and describes it. Learning these names allow you to control, manipulate, inform or otherwise allow you to manipulate the named.

Blood magic - Blood is life, blood is power. Only living things have blood and only living things can change the world. Spilling blood allows it to be consumed by magical forces which then allows magical change.

What else can you think of?

 

[Voadam]

True Patterns from Mage the Ascension as an extension of true names. Shape shifting is changing your pattern temporarily, healing is restoring your pattern, etc.

Runes as an extension of True Names.

 

[Set]

Principles of Sympathy and Contagion. Related to the notion of the Jungian 'archetypal' forms, all things of a certain type are related and connected, like different shadows all cast from the same primal source. The closer the correlation between one item or person, the more able the caster is able to manipulate the other item / person. So a voodoo doll is barely related to a person, being roughly humanoid. But if it is dressed up to look like the target person, it becomes closer connected. If blood, hair, nail clippings, etc. from the target are included, the other rule of magic comes into play, that if two things were once connected, they remain connected in some way, even if miles apart, and the caster can use that 'link' to direct his power from one to the other.

A variant of True Names is to have words of power / angelic names as lost tools of creation. In the beginning, the creator spoke words, and with each word, that thing was created into being. Wizards spend their time trying to find these lost names, which would be unpronounceable to a human, and they can only approximate their original potency, so that they too can evoke things into being. Wizards attempt to steal the power of the creator-god themself, and some consider them blasphemers because of this...

 

[Piratecat]

Magic is a weave, visible using detect magic. While wizards cause spell effects by weaving the strands together through word and gesture, bards vibrate them with their music and psions use only their minds to touch the primal forces of the world.

 

[RangerWickett]

The world exists only as the imagination of a sleeping deity with an attention span like a hyperactive child. She likes cool things and flashy things, and thinks dragons and kitties are the coolest stuff ever. Whenever someone does enough cool stuff to entertain her (like by swinging swords and hacking monsters to pieces), she concentrates on them and imagines that they are tougher, making it harder for them to die, so she can watch more cool stuff from them.

So yes. D&D is governed by the whims of a god with ADHD.

 

[Boss]

Lines of energy travel throughout the earth, creating a web across the world, yet within it. These lines of energy, or ley lines often follow beds of gems, drawn to the crystalline structure and leaving a little of the magical energy behind within the matrix of the gem. These gems are sought after by wizards to enable and enhance their spells.

Actual basis for the magic in my home-brew campaign.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Magic takes several discrete forms in my homebrew. Let's see:

The basics should be stated: arcane, divine, and psionics.

"Magic" user can be broken down into those who study for their spells (wizards and the like), those whose power emmanates from their body (sorcerers and warlock types), and those whose magic emmanates from their mind (psionics). This should tell you that I adher to the magic/psionics transparency and as far as vocabulary is concerned I lump all psionics into arcane use. The distinctions are important, though. I liken the wizard (and those like him) to a university professor: always in the books and their power comes from knowledge. A sorcerer and warlock is like a well gifted athlete: they cannot explain why they are able to do the crazy things they can, but their body just knows how. The psionic character is like a weird cross between a hypnotizer and a therapist: the power to unlock the secrets of life is in the mind.

Divine magic is a bit easier to understand. There are temple priests who must study and pray dilligently for their spells (Clerics and the like). They are like priests and typical "church clergy" who spend time studying their holy scriptures and draw strength from the knowledge and wisdom gleaned from the words they study. There are also those who simply exude faith (Favored Souls and the like). They are like evangelists who go around and may or may not know the intricate details of the scriptures that represent their faith but boy do they sure talk an entertaining afternnon.

Natural magic is simply what it says (Druids/Rangers and the like). Their magic comes from the life of the earth. They draw magic out of the life around them.



Of course, there is also this thing called alchemy. Alchemy is not a seperate form of "magic" in my world. Rather, alchemy is something that can fit into any of the above discrete categories. It's like a plug and play monitor. With the right ability, anyone can be an alchemist with regard to their area of magic. [Game mechanically speaking, it could be something like the Brew Potion feat or even Craft: Alchemy skill.]

 

[DMH]

Most recently I have taken Occult Lore's spiritual cultivation concept and merged it with Green Ronin's Shaman style spirits and added themes from the Sorcerer rpg.

So we have spirits that are the only source of magic, but using them induces corruption. It is not a happy setting.

 

[interwyrm]

Has anyone else played LucasArts old adventure game, Loom? In it, you play a wizard. All spells are a series of notes - resonances on the strings of the loom. As you progress through the game, you are able to play higher notes, and cast more spells.

 

[Warren Okuma]

A variant of True Names is to have words of power / angelic names as lost tools of creation. In the beginning, the creator spoke words, and with each word, that thing was created into being. Wizards spend their time trying to find these lost names, which would be unpronounceable to a human, and they can only approximate their original potency, so that they too can evoke things into being. Wizards attempt to steal the power of the creator-god themself, and some consider them blasphemers because of this...

Aye, tis the cheat codes of the universe... wizards write them down, sorcerers... it's the blood that has the cheat codes... both have to awaken them by blood.