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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 8192007" data-attributes="member: 7026594">They can, but to my recollection competent/skilled magicians generally do not.&nbsp; Cugel the Clever screws up spells by mispronunciation multiple times, to my recollection, and this (and a similar incident with The Grey Mouser mispronouncing a spell) is the origin of thieves being able to mess up when casting spells from scrolls in D&amp;D.&nbsp; [URL unfurl=&quot;true&quot;]http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/05/origins-of-thieves-using-scrolls-cugel.html[/URL][URL unfurl=&quot;true&quot;]http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/05/origins-of-thieves-using-scrolls-gray.html[/URL]I remember a scene in Jack Vance's Lyonesse where a master magician is talking to a minion/apprentice and asks him how his visualization exercises are going.&nbsp; He talks about envisioning a tree in perfect detail, its dimensions and attributes fixed and clear to the extent that one can count the leaves, then count the same visualized leaves again and come to the exact same number.&nbsp; The apprentice bemoans the difficulty and wishes he could get more magical devices which don't require such demanding work to master.I haven't read all the Dying Earth magician stories yet, I'm sorry to report.&nbsp; In the couple of them about Mazirian I've read I don't remember him screwing up any spells, even under duress.&nbsp; But I wouldn't be shocked if less-competent casters did make mistakes, as Cugel did.I also haven't read the Harold Shea Incomplete Enchanter books by de Camp and Pratt which are the other immediate influence on Gary's concepts of fantasy magic, but to my understanding the protagonists screw up magic in those books too.[URL unfurl=&quot;true&quot;]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shea#Original_series[/URL]So as for why Gary made the design decisions he did?&nbsp; I suspect it's really the game balance/differentiation of play style between classes concept.&nbsp; Fighters and Thieves get to do their stuff all day long, but they might miss or fail the check.&nbsp; Magic Users have limited use (which IS extremely Dying Earth*) of quite powerful spells, but those spells are usually (barring Saving Throws and such) guaranteed to work. (*Reference the story Mazirian the Magician, in which the titular character memorizes his capacity of 5 mighty spells, which he employs one at a time to overcome various challenges and dangers)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 8192007, member: 7026594"] They can, but to my recollection competent/skilled magicians generally do not. Cugel the Clever screws up spells by mispronunciation multiple times, to my recollection, and this (and a similar incident with The Grey Mouser mispronouncing a spell) is the origin of thieves being able to mess up when casting spells from scrolls in D&D. [URL unfurl="true"]http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/05/origins-of-thieves-using-scrolls-cugel.html[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/05/origins-of-thieves-using-scrolls-gray.html[/URL] I remember a scene in Jack Vance's Lyonesse where a master magician is talking to a minion/apprentice and asks him how his visualization exercises are going. He talks about envisioning a tree in perfect detail, its dimensions and attributes fixed and clear to the extent that one can count the leaves, then count the same visualized leaves again and come to the exact same number. The apprentice bemoans the difficulty and wishes he could get more magical devices which don't require such demanding work to master. I haven't read all the Dying Earth magician stories yet, I'm sorry to report. In the couple of them about Mazirian I've read I don't remember him screwing up any spells, even under duress. But I wouldn't be shocked if less-competent casters did make mistakes, as Cugel did. I also haven't read the Harold Shea Incomplete Enchanter books by de Camp and Pratt which are the other immediate influence on Gary's concepts of fantasy magic, but to my understanding the protagonists screw up magic in those books too. [URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shea#Original_series[/URL] So as for why Gary made the design decisions he did? I suspect it's really the game balance/differentiation of play style between classes concept. Fighters and Thieves get to do their stuff all day long, but they might miss or fail the check. Magic Users have limited use (which IS extremely Dying Earth*) of quite powerful spells, but those spells are usually (barring Saving Throws and such) guaranteed to work. (*Reference the story Mazirian the Magician, in which the titular character memorizes his capacity of 5 mighty spells, which he employs one at a time to overcome various challenges and dangers) [/QUOTE]

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