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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deadguy" data-source="post: 985129" data-attributes="member: 2480">Aha! Well that, my friend, is the crux of the matter!When magic appears only as part of the backdrop of a setting, and not in the hands of the PCs, then it can be as mysterious as the DM wants, since only he or she has to understand the reasons (or can have things happen entirely on a whim).But then the PCs get their hands on magical abilities we need to formulate at least some rules governing its use. Why? Well in part its because it helps the DM make reasonable determination of the effectiveness of the magic, rather than having to wing it every time. But more importantly than that it gives the player some idea of how to try and use those magical abilities.Can you imagine how hard it would be to play a Fighter if there were no rules governing its use other than DM fiat? How confident would you be in having your PC enter a fight, if you really had no idea what things were possible, what you might reasonably be able to achieve, and so forth?In a sense it's because we are playing a role-playing game, and games need some rules, else they devolve into 'I can do this', 'Can't', 'Can too!'. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Of course, none of this means that all aspects of magic need be comprehensible, just those elements in the hands of the PCs. For example, in my own Shattered World campaign the players can develop a pretty clear understanding of how Arcane and Divine Magic works - both in and out of character. But the magic of the Fey is forever closed to them, and its actions are based entirely on my moods and the needs of the story. The rhyme-and-reason lies outside the understanding of mere mortals. As such it is 'magical' in the sense I think you meant.There, that's better. Got that out of my system! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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