Verbal components: who is the mage talking to?

[lukelightning]

When wizards (or other classes) cast a spell with verbal components, who are they "talking" to?

Do the words themselves have power? Is the wizard "talking to the universe"? Does "the spirit of magic" hear the words? Is the wizard talking to himself, using the words as a trigger (if this is the case, why does silence negate verbal components?).

For divine casters, you could say their gods are listening, but that means the gods are the actual source of the spell (in which case you'd wonder why it is the cleric's own abilities that determine the spell's effects and DC).

 

[Enkhidu]

Hoggoth and his hoary hosts, and all seeing Agamatto.

 

[WayneLigon]

Depends on his the GM has defined his universe. In most of mine, the words themselves have power; they are the building blocks or 'cheat codes' of reality. Technically, visuallizing them very clearly invokes their power but most people have to speak them to actually visualize the structure clearly. (Silence prevents that essencial feedback, kind of like trying to shave without a mirror. Some people can manage it, most cannot.)

Clerics are channels for their god's power. The god is always the source of the power (and any other granted abilities the cleric has); the verbal part is the prayer to get the god's attention and frame the request. The god hears and usually channels that power back down through the cleric. The strength of the god's power depends on the strength of the vessel.

 

[Warbringer]

Well, given its 2 seconds or so, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the verbal componment for all spells is the same and along the lines..

"I'm buggered if this fails..."

 

[Crothian]

When wizards (or other classes) cast a spell with verbal components, who are they "talking" to?

Me

 

[Contrarian]

All magic and cleric spells are similar in that the word sounds, when combined with whatever patterns are applicable, are charged with energy from the Positive or Negative Material Plane. When uttered, these sounds cause the release of this energy, which in turns triggers a set reaction. Released of the energy contained in these words is what causes the spell to be forgotten or the writing to disappear from the surface upon which it is written.

The triggering actions draws power from some plane of the multiversed. Whether the spell is an abjuration, conjuration, alteration, enchantment, or whatever, there is a flow of energy -- first from the spell caster, then from some plane to the area magicked or enspelled by the caster. The sounds, each of which is charged with energy which is loosed when the proper formula and/or ritual is completed with their utterance.

Thus speaketh Gygax, DMG, page 40.

 

[Henry]

Let's see if we can make a logic that fits the game rules...

I've always seen vocal components of a wizard or sorcerer was a smattering of the language of creation itself. It is, at best, a pale version of the vocalizations spoken by the gods at the beginning of everything, the difference between a studio version of a song and an a capella version as done by American Idol contestant William Hung. But still, it carries enough power just in the speaking that minor effects can be generated by their use.

When generated, these sounds "coax" the universe into behaving differently. Just as in physics, energy added to an atom can cause it to change state, or even change composition, when these words are uttered, the universe changes shape, or state, in a small way.

When a wizard prepares spells, he is preparing a vocalization that was designed to have a pause in its utterance; the very act of pausing "hangs" the change on the wizard's very energy of his soul. It is all potential, no magic yet, and cannot be negated. However, when it is "unhung" by completion, it takes a very small toll on the caster, one that disorganizes him and makes him less able to hold a spell. However, with experience, he can learn to keep mental and spiritual "order" enough to hang and cast more than one spell. Even unconsciousness cannot separate the spell potential from the wizard; death, however, and the flight of his soul from its body will cause all "hung" spells to go back to their lowest state of existance with nary a ripple.

In some cases, however, verbalization isn't enough. If it is combined with gestures meant to reinforce or concentrate the power, and symapthetic materials to guide the power to its intended state of being, then magic happens.

In some cases, casters have come up with alternative verbalizations, ones that negate any need for gestures or symapthic components. The alternatives strain the potential of the wizard's soul much more strongly than just the regular magic would, and cause his loss of spell potential much more readily. These "metaverbalizations", or their corresponding "metagestures" can alter this language of creation, but as before, putting more strain on the wizard's ability to hold this energy together, and lessen the amount his soul can "hang."

Sound good enough for government work, as the saying goes?

 

[wingsandsword]

Why would they have to be talking to anybody? They might be talking to themselves, or they might be doing it because it's just part of the technique of safely channelling and releasnig magical energies.

It's a point they really downplay in 3.x with "preparing" spells, but in earlier editions it was heavily emphasized that memorizing (what they now call "preparing") was a difficult task and that the knowledge to make magic work was esoteric, bizarre, and strange, and hard to remember (especially arcane, but divine to a lesser degree). Arcane magic involved illogical mathematics, contradictory but true statements, things that worked but just plain shouldn't, and was the sort of thing that the normal conscious mind didn't take well to remembering in exacting detail (before 3.0, an arcane caster could only know a limited number of spells per spell level, no matter how many spellbooks they had, unless they had at least a 19 Int, because magic was that hard to learn). Divine magic was things that were so complicated, so powerful, so above mortal reckoning that it was hard for the mortal frame to contain it, and prayers and songs of faith were a way of helping the cleric (or druid) concentrate enough to release their granted spells in a controlled and safe fashion.

Thus, I saw most verbal components as just part of the mnemonics to remember how a spell works. Like the little mnemonic devices you remember in school to remember the presidents or the planets or other things, sometimes nonsensical phrases or odd combinations of syllables that help you focus your mind. You could even see Silent Spell and the increased spell level as the difficulty of learning how to remember it all without relying on these normal memory tricks.

The best allegory to spell memorization I ever saw was while I was in college, I had a roommate who was getting out of the "oral communications" requirement through taking an acting & vocal production class (instead of the public speaking class most people took). One assignment was to be able to perform a specific little bit, which was a short but nonsensical and confusing poem exactly as written, while doing a set little bit of hand gestures and body language with it, and do it all timed and exactly right. After extensive cramming, he was able to memorize the whole thing, just well enough to do it once: step up, perform the little bit, getting all the syllables correct and doing the gestures and motions that went with it, and then he couldn't remember it well enough to do it again, he could remember bits and pieces but not enough to accurately duplicate the act. We both looked at the whole story and realized it was pretty much the way spell memorization worked.

 

[Tonguez]

The Theory of Tones

It is held in the doctrine of certain religious sects that all things in Creation were sung into being and that the Universe is itelf a Song.

Now a song is composed of an arrangement of tones, a series of vibrations which each generate harmonies in accordance with the Universal Song. The words of magic rely not on the words themselves but on the tones invoked by the speaker to generate specific harmonies and invoke the changes which we view as effects and feats of magic. It is thus that, though a humanoid may speak in elven, dwarf, goblinoid, draconic or celestial all are effective in casting his spell for it is not the word but the tone.

Now certain creatures, those most steeped in magic, or of celestial and infernal nature, are able to create tones of concordance and thus participate in the song, but others, humanoids amongst them, do not have the physiology to create the required range of tones and so invoke discordance in the song. The gesturing of a Wizards hands assist in shaping the tones to the correct harmonic

Only the greatest of the Spellsingers and the most accomplished of Bards may stand amongst the assemby of Mortals and sing in true accord...

- A lecture given by Gwalchgwyn the Omaan (Master of Bards)

 

[lukelightning]

Why would they have to be talking to anybody? They might be talking to themselves

Then why would it have to be audible and in a "strong voice"? And a deafened wizard only has a 20% miscast chance. So he doesn't have to hear the words.