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| magic [2026/03/26 17:25] – [Magic, Watsonian] swedishberry | magic [2026/04/03 11:05] (current) – [Magic, Watsonian] swedishberry |
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| ====== Magic, Watsonian ====== | ====== Magic, Watsonian ====== |
| Very rarely, an individual will be blessed (or cursed, one might very well say) with the gift of magic, perhaps through divine ancestry (or daemonic, given how these things tend to turn out). The magic of the world is not necessarily as powerful as the cannon, and it might be less productive than the steam engine, but being able to bend the spirits permeating the aether to your will still makes a very convincing argument for your sake. | Very rarely, an individual will be blessed (or cursed, one might very well say) with the gift of magic, perhaps through divine ancestry (or daemonic, given how these things tend to turn out). The magic of the world is not necessarily as powerful as the cannon, and it might be less productive than the steam engine, but being able to bend the spirits permeating the aether((the phasmiferic aether, as it's known)) to your will still makes a very convincing argument for your sake. |
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| Spells work by, essentially, summoning the appropriate spirit—or aspect of a spirit for lesser spells—called by different names for different purposes, like deva, daemon, fae, djinn etc, from the Spirit Planes and binding it to your will. This takes a thematically appropriate sacrifice, the size and elaboration of which scales according to the needed power level, and of course a sufficiently trained wizard to convince the spirits to do his bidding. Summoning a slight breeze to turn the pages of a book while reading might require no more than a snap of the fingers and speaking the True Name of a wind spirit. Sending a fireball across a battlefield may be more involved and mentally taxing. A ritual to force a breach in a fortress wall likely takes days to prepare and several small livestock. | Spells work by, essentially, summoning the appropriate spirit—or aspect of a spirit for lesser spells—called by different names for different purposes, like deva, daemon, fae, djinn etc, from the Spirit Planes and binding it to your will. This takes a thematically appropriate sacrifice, the size and elaboration of which scales according to the needed power level, and of course a sufficiently trained wizard to convince the spirits to do his bidding. Summoning a slight breeze to turn the pages of a book while reading might require no more than a snap of the fingers and speaking the True Name of a wind spirit. Sending a fireball across a battlefield may be more involved and mentally taxing. A ritual to force a breach in a fortress wall likely takes days to prepare and several small livestock. |
| Spell Books, then, consist of graphs, figures and text explaining various known and/or relevant True Names. | Spell Books, then, consist of graphs, figures and text explaining various known and/or relevant True Names. |
| ====== Magic, Doylist ====== | ====== Magic, Doylist ====== |
| There is magic but for balance reasons it's very rare and not excessively powerful. A talented wizard should be comparable to a 6-pounder cannon on the battlefield, only they demand rare cheeses and vintage wines for sustenance. They might be able to heal minor wounds, though, which is nice. There's probably more stuff they might be able to do but GM fiat rules the world here. I think the upper bound on their utility is "what could 10 Guys with proper training and tools do?". | There is magic but for balance reasons it's very rare and not excessively powerful. A talented wizard should be comparable to a 6-pounder cannon on the battlefield, only they demand rare cheeses and vintage wines for sustenance. They might be able to heal minor wounds, though, which is nice. There's probably more stuff they might be able to do but GM fiat rules the world here. I think the upper bound on their utility is "what could 10 Guys with proper training and tools do?". For magically inclined Characters, spells are cast using the appropriate SMART stat. |
