Forums » RP Discussion » Discussion Topic: Fantasy Magic

Greetings, salutations, hola, aloha, hail, hello, yo, bonjour, etc. etc. I used to only introduce myself when I was a newbie here, but with my recent inactivity and the awesome wave of newcomers it's probably important to do it again. So, hello, I'm Gamers, been here a few years... blah blah blah. Hopefully if this discussion topic goes well I can do a few others, yay.

Alright, now that the formalities are out of the way I'll move on to the actual thread topic. For a while now I've been mulling over the different ways magic can be used in fantasy settings. With this in mind, I thought it would be fun to open the topic up to discussion with all you wonderful people. How do you implement it? What systems do you use? Etc.

To me magic is something that is very fun to use, especially in my world building, but has to be closely monitored. What magic can and cannot do, the limitations and strengths, is something I go to lengths to figure out for my current world.

Well, in my characters my magic is usually based on Skyrim's magic. You don't need any books, you don't need any wands, you don't need any incantations or ingrediants to perform a spell, you just do. I usually have it powered by Mana.

Components for spell rituals? Needing someone's true name to have power over them? There's all sorts of neat stuff you can do, I'm boring so I just tend to tie magic to physical stamina where stronger spells equals more exertion equals more tired, etc. It's bland, but a safe bet because it's easy to narrate and fair and people can get it without much explanation. In free-for-all text RP settings like in MMOs magic can be dicey because the sky's the limit and people out to "win" will take it as far as they need to, but among moderated settings/friends I trust people enough that I'll just roll with whatever.

Slightly off-topic, but I wish more people bothered to take similar care to define the limits of their sci-fi, which is magic in its own right. High-technology is awesome but a lot of people don't seem to think of anything past "It works!", which at best is a wasted opportunity and at worst a tiresome cop-out (see people out to "win" above).

You haven't lived until you've seen an impromptu bar fight RP devolve into nerds arguing out-of-character about nanites

Howdy!

Most of my experiences with magic systems have either been D&D/Pathfinder or White Wolf, both work well enough for what they're meant to do (especially with Pathfinder getting rid of the limit on 0 level spells). I liked the overchanneling system from the Wheel of Time RPG they did back when too.

I suppose what I prefer to use really depends on the setting. Too much magic can start to be just plain nonsense, one of my issues with some of the Faerun stuff, and I do like logical limits to exist. Even in Mage the Awakening, which is all about breaking reality, there's a set formula for how you do it as well as a guideline for what your magical knowledge can accomplish (no nuclear explosions without being an archmage, for instance).

Hmm... I usually take magic inspiration from myths or existing franchises. It usually boils down to the same thing: you got an energy source, you got an energy channel and you got the expression of magic. From there on it's pretty easy to elaborate and change details and either make your own or use existing franchises' theories to make it happen. In some cases, magic can be explained as science that we don't understand yet. The formula is pretty much consistent no matter what system you end up using, it's the details that matter.

This differs per character and per genre. I don't think I have a set preference, as long as it makes some sense and isn't terribly overpowered (e.g. unlimited power, no drawbacks of using said power, no source of the power). I enjoy the differences between learned magic (i.e. growing more powerful with wisdom and time) and naturally imbued magic (i.e. learning how to control already existing power channeling) because each proves to be a different challenge on its own.

The formula for Sci-Fi gadgets is the same as for magic actually. You have something that powers it, you have a vessel that conducts power, and you have the expression of said power. In most cases it really doesn't require much more than this to explain it. I don't think it has much to do with laziness, personally.

I mix and match at times and depending on the character as there is not set way I use. ALSO I wish I could have seen that Nanite argument xD

I actually don't have a whole lot of character's with a true "magical" ability. Except for Ceilibell. As with any power though, I try to put limits on it as much as possible. For example, Ceilibell works a siren type magic with her instruments. However, it is less likely to work on people who are already experiencing a strong emotion or those who have very strong wills. Of course, one could also always find a way to take her instrument away from her and her magic would be gone until she got her hands on a different instrument she knew how to play.

With all my other characters, if they have a certain ability they can use, I usually just use a stamina type system. The more they use their power the less stamina they have, the more concentrated their power the quicker it drains, etc.

Well, one of my characters was created by combining alchemy and magic, so i guess magic can serve several purposes. Also, magic usually as a "price": High-level spells might strain the spellcaster's mind a lot, possibly causing him/her to faint after using it, or at least be severely exaushted/weakened. There's also magic that can phisically hurt the user for a drastic boost in power, or even use the caster's life force as a catalyst. You could add in Cursed/Holy weapons, but i guess that's a bit off-topic

I really only have one character that uses "magic" specifically and that's Shita. She uses elemental magic, but requires something close to the element at hand before she can use any of it. For example, she can mold and shape earth, but she needs dirt/mud to do so. For fire, she carries around flint, and water obviously needs water. I haven't gone into too much research on the air portion, if she can even control it yet.

A big thing for using this type of magic with this type of character is that it's "borrowed" magic (but shhh, she doesn't know that)from a talisman around her neck. Because of this, it takes a lot of mental strain and practice to use any of these elements. If she tries to use magic she hasn't had a lot of practice with or control over, it tends to be a bit explosive. (At least in the case of fire). All in all the character is rather weak comparing her to other magic users, but I like it that way since she's so young.


TL/DR - I like it when magic has specific sets of rules and limitations on it, so that characters are not overpowered.