How do you make a Mage magical?

[EroGaki]

Lately, magic has seemed bland and boring to me. I'm going to be playing a wizard in an up coming campaign, and I want to inject some mystery into his magic. So I ask the good people of EN World: what do you do to make your magic-users seem more magical? Does he have any odd traits? Do strange and usual things happen around him?

I'd really like to hear from you and perhaps get some advice on how I can inject a bit of magic into my mage. Thanks!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I am not exactly a fluff expert, but one thing to consider:
You get a 1/2 level bonus to all skills (and more). Make you whenever you use a skill (and narrating its use sounds reasonable), to inject some "magic into it" - that +1/2 level is not just physical or mental training, it's subtle magic at work.

if you jump, it might look a little clumsy, but something also seems to carry your weight - you shouldn't really get that far, but you do.

If you enter a social situation, you start by mumbling some arcane words, giving your voice reach and strength. Maybe if you make a succesful Bluff or Diplomacy check, make that Jedi gesture "These aren't the droids you are looking for"-style.

 

[EroGaki]

Ack, I should have mentioned that I am playing 3.5 with the Pathfinder rules. Sorry, I tend to forget that most people on this site switched to 4E.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Ack, I should have mentioned that I am playing 3.5 with the Pathfinder rules. Sorry, I tend to forget that most people on this site switched to 4E.

Well, you can do the same, just explain your ranks as magical training. Of course, this would only work for actually trained skills, since the rest of your skills will... be bad.

More cantrips are always good. Doesn't Pathfinder allow unlimited cantrip uses? Cast Prestidigitation to clean yourself after every combat, rely on Light instead of lanterns or torches.

 

[Ydars]

Here is a couple of ideas I have used in the past. Some of these work much better if the DM is on board, though some can't be bothered with the extra work..............

1) Make it seem as if your mage is often conversing with things that the other PCs cannot perceive; as if spirits and elementals are everywhere but are unseen. if you are lucky then the DM will play along and start introducing things like this for real.

Create small rituals that you use before camping, before sleeping, upon waking etc to placate "the Unseen".

At certain areas or places, make offerings to the Unseen who are sleeping or bound into trees and rocks etc.

2) Talk about your dreams all the time; sometimes you could wake up suddenly at night and have to consult your charts and begin protection rituals. Invest dreams with a powerful significance and seek out lore pertaining to them.

3) Cast horoscopes and observe the sky for portents all the time. Make reference to the constellations (I would invent some new ones) and indicate that you cannot cast a particular spell at the moment because "the moon is in the house of the hunter" rather than saying "I am out of spells".

4) Insist on visiting henges and ancient circles of stones whenever you travel through the wilderness and make offerings there. You have to keep the old powers on your side.

5) Leave apples wrapped in ribbon with a silver penny under the pillows of those who have been angry or disagreed with you "as a charm against ill humour". Similar charms can be tied to your horses saddle etc.

6) When you go to an inn or want to thank someone, do a "Gandalf" and say things like "a blessing of surpassing excellence upon your beer master aleseller" etc. I have, as DM, actually made a series of extra cantrips like this and one called sourbelly, for just such a purpose to allow mages a bit of flavour.

7) Know the history and geography of the world better than anyone else (if DM allows this) or else get your DM to pre-load you with information that he wants put "out there" but using you as a mouthpiece. This doesn't work in some games as more childish players become "jealous".

Be careful; all of the above can be annoying if over-used. Just enough for colour and no more.

 

[Gilladian]

Collect small objects from everywhere you go; a wizard in one game I play in has a collection of pebbles from each dungeon, temple, town and ruin we've passed through. He often pulls them out and says they "help him" cast spells.

He also talks to the air.

Another trick is to "theme" your magic. Get the DM's permission to describe everything you cast as having a similarity to it. Perhaps you're a diviner. Make each spell relate to that in some way. Don't cast an fireball, draw heat that was there in the past, which only you can see, into the present. Don't cast sleep, remind the villains of the sleepiest moment they've ever had in their lives...

It may take some work, but you'll get into it if it sets the mood you want, and if it doesn't, you can try something else.

 

[Tuft]

The best way I've found is simpy to shun basic damage-causing spells and really choose spells that do work in mysterious ways. There is nothing mystical or interesting about plain damage, anyway - just a zap gun with a fancy name.

I played a wizard in the Dragonstart d20 universe, which is a fantasy/SF mix. With the martial characters equipping themselves with power armor, 50 round 3d12 railguns, bunch-of-d6:es hand grenades, etc, there wasn't much use trying to compete in the damage department.

And it was an absolute blast.

Trying to find use for odd, quirky, non-damage spells, trying to manipulate the situation into getting the most use out of them... Magic has never felt so special.

 

[Aeolius]

Your wizard could use an alternate spellbook. Perhaps he tattoos his spells onto his skin, or uses the bones of animals to store his spells.

 

[Spatula]

Lately, magic has seemed bland and boring to me. I'm going to be playing a wizard in an up coming campaign, and I want to inject some mystery into his magic. So I ask the good people of EN World: what do you do to make your magic-users seem more magical?

Play Ars Magica instead of D&D.

 

[Mallus]

Lately, magic has seemed bland and boring to me.

What made (3e) magic originally interesting to you?