D&D 5E Categories of Magic

[Minigiant]

So in another thread, people were discussing the categories of the D&D spells. The conversation moved to whether magic should but categorized by power source, by the iconic class archetype, spheres, or some other method.

So I was wondering how the community would divide and define them.

Arcane: Magic gained by following the fundamental rules of magic of the world.
Divine: Magic coming from gods.
Eldritch: Magic coming from powerful beings that are neither gods, nature spirits, or greater elemental powers
Elemental: Magic sourced from raw elements or from greater powers of the Inner Realms or Elemental Chaos
Nature: Magic that this filtered through nature either from a nature deity or nature's divinity itself
Primal: Magic from nature and ancestor nature spirits.

Well what's the point of doing this?

To see how you see magic in D&D.

For example I seethe druidic tradition of magic to be sourced from both Nature and Primal magic. However a ranger would use Nature and Arcane magic as rangers have a totally different mentality about and reasons for using magic. A druid is dipping down into the spiritually of the natural world and has acces to all of it. So rangers are will to use wizardry to conquer the wildnerent and hunt foes whereas the druid use primal magic as they commune with nature spirits.

Or understanding why wizards can learn eldritch blast. The spell is tied to beings that are magical themselves. No amount of study can make you partially a greater power. It's not science. It's a cheat from a fey, devil, or another powerful thing.

So how would you divide or categorize magic? And why those groups?

 

[Doug McCrae]

Magic can be categorised in a number of different ways.

1. Source of power. Examples: divine, arcane.
2. Actions undertaken by the caster. Examples: rituals, spell memorisation.
3. Properties of the caster such as their race or cultural group. Examples: pixie magic, Red Wizards of Thay magic.
4. Desired goal. Examples: illusion, healing.

These can depend upon one another. For instance divine magic tends towards healing and protection, whereas arcane magic is flashier and more destructive. (The bard is an exception to this general rule.) Psionics, if we consider it to be magic, usually produces mental or self-buffing effects.

Regarding categorisation principle #1, if the source is another being, a god or demon for example, this could be further subdivided according to the caster's relationship with the being such as supplicant, transactional, or dominant.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Power Sourcers: Ki, psionic, arcane, divine and primal. Elemental may be independient or under primal space.

Vestige pact magic could change. Some vestiges would give divine magic, other arcane and other primals. In my Dark Sun version there are vestiges of totem spirits and they work as divine or primal magic.

I would like something like the mysteries by the shadowcaster class, but powers linked to the elements, quasi and para also, or others (metal, wood, shadow, taint..), and the mysteries working as magic version of martial maneuvers, the middle step between at-will and once-encounter powers. (Do you remember the Tome of Battle: Book of the Nine Swords?).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So in another thread, people were discussing the categories of the D&D spells. The conversation moved to whether magic should but categorized by power source, by the iconic class archetype, spheres, or some other method.

So I was wondering how the community would divide and define them.

Arcane: Magic gained by following the fundamental rules of magic of the world.
Divine: Magic coming from gods.
Eldritch: Magic coming from powerful beings that are neither gods, nature spirits, or greater elemental powers
Elemental: Magic sourced from raw elements or from greater powers of the Inner Realms or Elemental Chaos
Nature: Magic that this filtered through nature either from a nature deity or nature's divinity itself
Primal: Magic from nature and ancestor nature spirits.

Well what's the point of doing this?

To see how you see magic in D&D.

For example I seethe druidic tradition of magic to be sourced from both Nature and Primal magic. However a ranger would use Nature and Arcane magic as rangers have a totally different mentality about and reasons for using magic. A druid is dipping down into the spiritually of the natural world and has acces to all of it. So rangers are will to use wizardry to conquer the wildnerent and hunt foes whereas the druid use primal magic as they commune with nature spirits.

Or understanding why wizards can learn eldritch blast. The spell is tied to beings that are magical themselves. No amount of study can make you partially a greater power. It's not science. It's a cheat from a fey, devil, or another powerful thing.

So how would you divide or categorize magic? And why those groups?

I don’t see druids as divine nor nature and primal magic as separate.

Otherwise, that’s not a bad categorization.

 

[dave2008]

I have had two basic ideas of magic, though I have never full developed them:

Quintessential Magic: This is magic from the foundation of the universe, the magic of creation. It it covers divine, elemental, primal, nature, etc. Those are just different methods of access the fundamental magic of the multiverse.

Arcane Magic: This is magic from outside the multiverse, from the void or the far realm. It is the source of eldritch and arcane magics. It either needs to be gifted by eldritch horrors, and obtained and controlled through research, rituals and rare ingredients, complex words and gestures to open the gates to another reality - if ever so briefly.

 

[Tonguez]

I also would not seperate Nature/Primal (nor spirits and ‘divinity)
You’ve got a good list there and the only couple which I’d add would be

Mysticism/Psychic - magics that are sourced from the mind and affect the mind or perception, includes illusion and perception based divinition.
Body Augmentation - magic that enhances or alters the natural state of the body (Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce, limb stretching, darkvision, monk stuff, possibly healing, some of the necromancy spells eg blindness and blight fit here too)
Quantum - manipulating fundamental forces at an atomic level eg Gravity, Magnetism, Kinetic Energy, Time

 

[Shiroiken]

I'm old school: all magic comes from the same source, the only difference is how you access it: inner, outer, or other. Inner is drawing the power from within, mostly as psionic, but would include monk's supernatural abilities and the sorcerer. Outer is the direct manipulation, and is usually the province of the wizard and bard. Other is the manipulation by a being other than yourself, such as druid and cleric. Warlock could be considered outer or other, depending on how you view Warlock spellcasting.

 

[cbwjm]

I typically have the following distinctions for magic when I think about it:
Arcane (wizardry, sorcery, pact magic) - your typical arcane forces, throwing fireballs and lightning bolts, and teleporting around the place. When you think of the things a wizard can do, you're thinking about arcane magic.

Arcane Word (bardic magic) - uses arcane magic to harness the words of creation. Typically more subtle than standard arcane magic (i.e. draws heavily on enchantments, illusions, and psychic damage spells).​

Shadow - magic drawing upon darkness and shadow. Typically arcane magic that draws upon the plane of shadow/shadowfell. Not currently much of a thing in 5e.​

Divine (cleric, paladin) - magic of the gods as channelled through their divine servants.
Primal (druid, ranger) - magic of the primal world, nature. Sometimes this magic is granted by wild gods of nature and so can be a subset of divine.
Elemental (all) - magic harnessing the power of the elements. It can be harnessed through arcane, divine, or primal magic and so is a subset of all.

​

 

[tetrasodium]

Arcane: Magic gained by following the fundamental rules of magic of the world.
Divine: Magic coming from gods.
Eldritch: Magic coming from powerful beings that are neither gods, nature spirits, or greater elemental powers
Elemental: Magic sourced from raw elements or from greater powers of the Inner Realms or Elemental Chaos
Nature: Magic that this filtered through nature either from a nature deity or nature's divinity itself
Primal: Magic from nature and ancestor nature spirits.

I like this far better than the odd meaningless & nearly vestigial in 5e divination/evocation/conjuration/etcbreakdown but would change divine from "From gods" to

"Divine: Magic coming from faith in a sacred creed or entity", it doesn't rule out the gods, allows t to continue working in the event of a schism, & most importantly still works in settings like eberron where the gods may not exist & some religions are based entirely on belief in something. or Darksun where you might not have gods or religions (long lore argument for some that I'm not interested in delving into) but you do have elemental priests who do perform some of the divine stuff
This sort of breakdown along arcane/divine/eldritch/etc also has the added benefit of allowing spells to be in more than one school when they walk a murky line so instead of having a school you won't miss like divination excluded you might have a foundation theory or whathaveyou that you can't avoid but will have spells that you can't learn until later or cast at a penalty.

 

[Minigiant]

I don’t see druids as divine nor nature and primal magic as separate.

Otherwise, that’s not a bad categorization.

Well I see Druids are divine but the power is filtered through nature so much that it's something else.
Like chocolate milk.

Same with Nature and Primal. Magic from a Eagle spirit isn'tthe same as magic filter through nature from Meilikiki, Eldath, Malar, and Silvanus.