Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8191634" data-attributes="member: 18">It looks to me like the Doylist and Watsonian explanations for this whole issue may align.Re: 5th+ spells. Okay, but LFQW isn't a big problem until you get to 5th-level spells and higher. That was why people didn't discuss it much in 1E/2E, because so few groups played at that level, and tended to be bedecked in magic items if they did.Re: &quot;interrupting&quot;, that's missing the point, sorry if I was unclear.I'm asking a more fundamental question.Can the caster (not a third party) of a Vancian spell, accidentally (not intentionally) screw up the casting of that spell? This entire thread and your comments seem to be premised on the assumption that they can. With non-Vancian spells, with many magic systems, absolutely the caster can screw it up. Harry Potter's approach for example has people screwing up spells all the time. It's a very common trope as I mentioned. But is it present in the Dying Earth books? No-one has answered that. I suspect the answer may be &quot;no&quot;.My suspicion is, and this 100% fits the D&amp;D model, AFAIK, is that Vancian spells are essentially &quot;self-casting&quot;. Once you've &quot;uploaded&quot; them into your head, they're self-executing programs that move your limbs as necessary. This is why there's no failure chance from the caster themselves. Only third parties interrupting the spell, or restrictions on movement that stop the limbs moving as the program attempts to execute can screw up the spell.EDIT - Because nobody else seems to have read the Dying Earth books (which seem incredible, but whatever), I've just downloaded a collection of them on to my Kindle and we shall see I guess. Should be a trip if nothing else.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8191634, member: 18"] It looks to me like the Doylist and Watsonian explanations for this whole issue may align. Re: 5th+ spells. Okay, but LFQW isn't a big problem until you get to 5th-level spells and higher. That was why people didn't discuss it much in 1E/2E, because so few groups played at that level, and tended to be bedecked in magic items if they did. Re: "interrupting", that's missing the point, sorry if I was unclear. I'm asking a more fundamental question. [B]Can the caster (not a third party) of a Vancian spell, accidentally (not intentionally) screw up the casting of that spell? [/B] This entire thread and your comments seem to be premised on the assumption that they can. With non-Vancian spells, with many magic systems, absolutely the caster can screw it up. Harry Potter's approach for example has people screwing up spells all the time. It's a very common trope as I mentioned. But is it present in the Dying Earth books? No-one has answered that. I suspect the answer may be "no". My suspicion is, and this 100% fits the D&D model, AFAIK, is that Vancian spells are essentially "self-casting". Once you've "uploaded" them into your head, they're self-executing programs that move your limbs as necessary. This is why there's no failure chance from the caster themselves. Only third parties interrupting the spell, or restrictions on movement that stop the limbs moving as the program attempts to execute can screw up the spell. EDIT - Because nobody else seems to have read the Dying Earth books (which seem incredible, but whatever), I've just downloaded a collection of them on to my Kindle and we shall see I guess. Should be a trip if nothing else. [/QUOTE]

Verification