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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9741674" data-attributes="member: 18">But it is in a lot of magic-centric fantasy. The hard outer limits might not always be defined but there's often a clear rationale, things it can never do, things it's good at or bad at and so on.This isn't just modern either - it's true in A Wizard of Earthsea, for example. But in modern fantasy it is extremely common, Jordan and Sanderson centre entire stories around what magic can and cannot do and how and why, for example. ASoIaF we don't know the outer limits but clearly there is little or no battle magic or similar and most magic has a terrible cost. I could go on pretty endlessly.D&D arcane magic though has just been increasingly the "misc" folder of magic, where literally everything is just filed into there without rhyme, reason, consistency, limits or themes. For a while it generally couldn't heal and had limited buffs but 3E ended even that mild limit. There's no system or theme, there's just a pile of random junk. Much of it pretty dull and unevocative I would personally suggest. Generic simplified shared spells are good for reducing page count, bad for providing flavour or atmosphere or verisimilitude.It doesn't actually matter whether it's common though. If you never question one power source and are very skeptical and limiting about another there is clearly an issue imho (if you give both a lot of leeway, or both none, fine).</blockquote>