I keep Tinkerbell's head in an old ladies coin purse.

[Empath Negative]

While my ex girlfriend and I were packing to move one day her beloved tinkerbell stuffed animal, old and ragged as it was... had the unfortunate circumstance to become decapitated. you know, like Ed Truck.

Thinking I would some day get it repaired for her I kept the pieces. We split a few months after. I kept the head.

And now and again it reminds me of magic.


And why I positively, absolutely, undeniably and quite reliable hate the magic system. I don't merely hate the magic system, I most sincerely hate the magic system. In dungeons and dragons.



The problem being there is no unifying and elegant theory of magic in dungeons and dragons.



Consider the Warlock. Warlock makes a bargain with a demon for his supernatural powers.

Alright, so let's say the Warlock becomes epic. Can whatever entity that "granted" those powers then be killed by the Warlock? If not... why not? Could the entity simply yank the Warlocks powers for poops and chuckles? Would he simply be Frank the Vile lvl 17 Commoner?


Further... what turns an antimagic field off? Either the antimagic field is "powered" by the caster... or it's simply part of the spell. In which case how does a spell that negates magic find itself affected by magic?


In other words... just how does magic work?



We don't know.

 

[Tuft]

Both Shadowrun and Earthdawn back in the Fasa days had really, really good explanations on how magic worked. If you are interested in that kind of fluff, then those old rulebooks are well worth digging up. Too bad Fasa sucked at writing actual rules and understanding dice probabilities...

 

[Frostmarrow]

Consider the Warlock. Warlock makes a bargain with a demon for his supernatural powers.

Alright, so let's say the Warlock becomes epic. Can whatever entity that "granted" those powers then be killed by the Warlock? If not... why not? Could the entity simply yank the Warlocks powers for poops and chuckles? Would he simply be Frank the Vile lvl 17 Commoner 17?

Awesome plot!

 

[Yora]

3.5e psionics for everyone!

And does tinkerbells head have anything to do with it? Why not call it "D&D magic systems have no structure"?

 

[Minigiant]

This is why the first thing I do as a DM create the rules for magic.

It took me a while but I finally thought of a way for Wizard arcane, sorcerous, warlock, psionic, and divine magic to all make sense at once.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Consider the Warlock. Warlock makes a bargain with a demon for his supernatural powers.

Alright, so let's say the Warlock becomes epic. Can whatever entity that "granted" those powers then be killed by the Warlock? If not... why not? Could the entity simply yank the Warlocks powers for poops and chuckles? Would he simply be Frank the Vile lvl 17 Commoner?

The big appeal of a warlock pact, rather than just getting a favor from a demon or worshipping a dark god, is that it gives YOU power, which you can do with as you wish. The devil/demon who makes the pact with you is just granting you a connection to the massive power of the demonic realms.

Why is this a good deal for the demon? Because that power corrupts you, and makes you more likely to pursue demonic ends, even after you go your own way. Plus, powerful demons are arrogant, so they may not dream that you could ever learn to channel enough dark power to threaten them personally.

Further... what turns an antimagic field off? Either the antimagic field is "powered" by the caster... or it's simply part of the spell. In which case how does a spell that negates magic find itself affected by magic?

Same way a radio jammer works. Spellcasting requires careful manipulation of magical energies and auras (the stuff you see with Detect Magic); antimagic fields give off enough scrambled magical energy to disrupt any structured spell effect.

 

[Jester David]

There's a lot more world specific fluff on this.
The base game has always left it nebulous as campaign settings ended up going into the finer details of how magic works and why. And each campaign setting does it differently, so we're unlikely to see a generic description unless WotC wan't to throw Dark Sun magic under the bus for Realms' Weave.

 

[erf_beto]

well, let me take a shot: if the warlock got to epic levels, then we could say he's absorbed so much power from his master to the point that he himself become "magical" and couldn't really be stripped of his powers - at least not all of it. Perhaps the dark lord didn't really notice his rapid ascension, and had hoped for him to die and to take his soul much earlier, like with so many others before... but now they are "equals", their powers shared by each other. Where once was a convenient situation, now there is a parasitic relationship and either one could be struggling to get the other out of the equation.
Or maybe he planned for his "apprentice" to take his place or grow into such power in order to become a consort with whom he'd be powerful enough to take out the other lords. Or maybe he just wants to possess his pupil's body, to serve as his avatar.



But yes, D&D doesn't really have a unified magic theory. But it's this catch'all kitchen sink approach that allows for any interpretation and can fit into any campaign that is its strength.

IMO.

 

[Umbran]

In other words... just how does magic work?



We don't know.

That is a feature, not a bug, in my eyes. Exactly how magic works is a matter of the metaphysics of the setting. If a game only has one real setting, (like Shadowrun), then the game can fill in the blanks, and have mechanics that actually refer to them baked in.

But, in a game where it is expected that a great many will not be using the default setting, having metaphysics-dependent rules in the core is not so hot, so you want to minimize them.

 

[Minigiant]

well, let me take a shot: if the warlock got to epic levels, then we could say he's absorbed so much power from his master to the point that he himself become "magical" and couldn't really be stripped of his powers - at least not all of it. Perhaps the dark lord didn't really notice his rapid ascension, and had hoped for him to die and to take his soul much earlier, like with so many others before... but now they are "equals", their powers shared by each other. Where once was a convenient situation, now there is a parasitic relationship and either one could be struggling to get the other out of the equation.
Or maybe he planned for his "apprentice" to take his place or grow into such power in order to become a consort with whom he'd be powerful enough to take out the other lords. Or maybe he just wants to possess his pupil's body, to serve as his avatar.



But yes, D&D doesn't really have a unified magic theory. But it's this catch'all kitchen sink approach that allows for any interpretation and can fit into any campaign that is its strength.

IMO.

Well in all my settings, warlocks don't channel magic from their patron. The patron literally makes them into a magical being. They tossed radioactive spiders on the warlock to make them into Spiderman. They give them nymph eyes and demon tongues. And the process is not easy to reverse once performed.


Of course this won't work with every setting and that is why the D&D magic system is so vague. It is a feature, not a bug. But the feature is no less annoying.