NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 8300630" data-attributes="member: 92511">-snip-In my homebrew/houseruled game system (and setting) I make this exact distinction.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Incantation: The casting of spells. The "magic words." The gestures/hand symbols, tracing glyphs in the air or whatnot, rubbing a rabbit's foot = "spell effect." The specific formulae. As you note, the inherent energies/power being harnessed by the magic-worker. It is, for the most part, the method of Arcane casters, though Druids use it too (and I'll get to that in a minute).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Invocation: literally, the definition of the word, of "calling on/down." You have to have an "external" power/spirit/entity involved who you are appealing to (or begging, or demanding, or bargaining, or otherwise asking for). The magic/power is theirs. You're just, kinda, a conduit for it. The power belongs to the entity(-ties) and it is only by your connection to them -be that religious/spiritual devotion, a "faustian" pact, some "origin-story" connection, whatever something that puts you "in tune/on the frequency" of the "outer"/other power. So, clearly, Divine casters are the main users of this method. Clerics, being the default/"base" example. Paladins, Druids, but also D&D-style Warlocks and for my setting/game, Bards, as well.  </li> </ul>The Arcane/Divine divide, for me, has always been something of an insufficient distinction. More because I think there is definitely an ignored divide between Divine and Nature/Natural [4e finally tried to make it a thing, apparently, called "Primal." But I never played 4e.]. So, beyond the pure "fluff" of there being separate kinds of magic, I think something the game has never done adequately is really given the different Magics, themselves, substantial and at least some meaningful mechanical divisions. I mean, diffrerent casters have different mechanics...but they tend to be in the "how you do spellcasting" ...while kind of "glossing over" the differences of the kinds of Magics they are actually working with. Now, granted, that is likely intentional so that different games/settings can "define"those things for themselves...if they choose to bother doing so at all. So, I get that, but think that games (and settings) are only improved by having a bit more thought/definition put into the "in game/in universe" nature and/or origins, what the energies are/come from...the "metaphysics" or 'esoterics," if you will, of it all.What those are, I think is a really creative part of the world-building that often goes unexamined. In my homebrew, there are Divine (from the gods), Arcane (ambient to the cosmos/multiverse), and Nature Magic (ambient to the "natural/material world" includes the elements, life/death/rebirth). The Cleric (who works primarily via invocation), the Mage (who works primarily via incantation), and the Druid (who straddles both) are the primary casters, respectively.  I also have a base Psychic Class that falls under the "Arcane" umbrella in that it is a personal/individual [mental energy/generated] powers. There are other differentiations in casting mechanics and stuff, but the casters all feel</blockquote>

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