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<blockquote data-quote="Harzel" data-source="post: 7919938" data-attributes="member: 6857506">Overall, a good,&nbsp; interesting list.&nbsp; But, hey, you posted it on the internet, so let's pick it apart. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f913.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":geek:" title="Geek&nbsp; &nbsp; :geek:"&nbsp; data-smilie="30"data-shortname=":geek:" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f914.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":unsure:" title="Unsure&nbsp; &nbsp; :unsure:"&nbsp; data-smilie="24"data-shortname=":unsure:" />Arcane - This description sounds more like a method or practice (like [USER=21169]@Doug McCrae[/USER]'s #2) than a source; that is, more &quot;how&quot; than &quot;what&quot;.&nbsp; Perhaps the &quot;what&quot; is something more like &quot;the magic (or magical energy) that permeates all things in the physical world&quot;, similar to, but perhaps not exactly the same as The Weave.Eldritch - I think I get what you are going for here, but this description only partly says what it is (Magic coming from powerful beings), but then the rest just says what it's not, which kind of makes it a catch-all or &quot;other&quot; category.&nbsp; I guess you'd have to focus on a particular cosmology to say what other powerful beings those are, exactly, and why they all happen to work the same way.Elemental - &quot;Magic sourced from raw elements&quot; seems to me like a subset of what you might have been going for with Arcane.&nbsp; On the other hand &quot;from greater powers of the Inner Realms or Elemental Chaos&quot; sounds more like a specific instance of what you described under Eldritch.Nature - First, &quot;filtered&quot; seems a little odd here in that it seems to beg the question of what the ultimate/original source of this magic is.&nbsp; Second, I, at least, would want to decide whether nature deities are just particular gods or whether they are aspects of &quot;nature's divinity itself&quot;.&nbsp; If the former, then I'd punt the &quot;nature deity&quot; part back to Divine.&nbsp; But in either case, while I kind of like the phrase &quot;nature's divinity itself&quot;, I might go for something more parallel to the description of Arcane I suggested above, perhaps something like &quot;the magic (or 'magical energy', or maybe just 'power') that permeates (or arises from) all living things&quot;.Although on reflection that might be a bit narrow since many conceptions of Nature extend beyond the things generally classified as &quot;living&quot;.&nbsp; I'm not sure exactly how I'd want to fix that.Also, that sounds kind of Star Wars The Force - ish, but trying to think about the difference, The Force always seemed mainly concerned with sentient life.&nbsp; I mean, did uprooting a shrubbery ever cause a Disturbance in The Force?&nbsp; Star Wars experts are welcome to correct my misconceptions.Primal - As others have noted, the distinction between Primal and Nature is a bit unclear.&nbsp; However, you mention ancestors here, which is a category that largely gets overlooked in D&amp;D.&nbsp; Ancestor spirits might be seen as nature spirits, but needn't be.&nbsp; I think maybe Ancestral should be a category unto itself.So, then, what's my list?&nbsp; I guess it's something likeArcane (as redescribed above)Divine (your description seems fine)Eldritch - Yeah, I want something here, if for no other reason than &quot;eldritch&quot; is such a great word.&nbsp; Idk, maybe an &quot;other&quot; category is ok - it's a category for magic we just don't have a good explanation for. (?)Nature - I just want it to be a source on it's own, not a &quot;filtered&quot; version of something else.Ancestral - Magic arising from the connection of a creature to the spirits of its ancestors.&nbsp; Probably only a thing in particular cosmologies.&nbsp; Also begs several interesting questions such as do ancestral spirits have any volition and if so, do they have to be willing?Sure, ok, but I personally would find the topic much, much more interesting if we were to talk about how the different categories of magic might have differing game mechanics associated with them.&nbsp; It's a lot more work to make them feel different in the game if the game mechanics treat them all the same.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Harzel, post: 7919938, member: 6857506"] Overall, a good, interesting list. But, hey, you posted it on the internet, so let's pick it apart. :geek::unsure: [U]Arcane [/U]- This description sounds more like a method or practice (like [USER=21169]@Doug McCrae[/USER]'s #2) than a source; that is, more "how" than "what". Perhaps the "what" is something more like "the magic (or magical energy) that permeates all things in the physical world", similar to, but perhaps not exactly the same as The Weave. [U]Eldritch [/U]- I think I get what you are going for here, but this description only partly says what it [I]is [/I](Magic coming from powerful beings), but then the rest just says what it's [I]not, [/I]which kind of makes it a catch-all or "other" category. I guess you'd have to focus on a particular cosmology to say what other powerful beings those are, exactly, and why they all happen to work the same way. [U]Elemental [/U]- "Magic sourced from raw elements" seems to me like a subset of what you might have been going for with Arcane. On the other hand "from greater powers of the Inner Realms or Elemental Chaos" sounds more like a specific instance of what you described under Eldritch. [U]Nature[/U] - First, "filtered" seems a little odd here in that it seems to beg the question of what the ultimate/original source of this magic is. Second, I, at least, would want to decide whether nature deities are just particular gods or whether they are aspects of "nature's divinity itself". If the former, then I'd punt the "nature deity" part back to Divine. But in either case, while I kind of like the phrase "nature's divinity itself", I might go for something more parallel to the description of Arcane I suggested above, perhaps something like "the magic (or 'magical energy', or maybe just 'power') that permeates (or arises from) all living things". Although on reflection that might be a bit narrow since many conceptions of Nature extend beyond the things generally classified as "living". I'm not sure exactly how I'd want to fix that. Also, that sounds kind of Star Wars The Force - ish, but trying to think about the difference, The Force always seemed mainly concerned with sentient life. I mean, did uprooting a shrubbery ever cause a Disturbance in The Force? Star Wars experts are welcome to correct my misconceptions. [U]Primal[/U] - As others have noted, the distinction between Primal and Nature is a bit unclear. However, you mention ancestors here, which is a category that largely gets overlooked in D&D. Ancestor spirits might be seen as nature spirits, but needn't be. I think maybe Ancestral should be a category unto itself. So, then, what's my list? I guess it's something like [B]Arcane [/B](as redescribed above) [B]Divine [/B](your description seems fine) [B]Eldritch [/B]- Yeah, I want something here, if for no other reason than "eldritch" is such a great word. Idk, maybe an "other" category is ok - it's a category for magic we just don't have a good explanation for. (?) [B]Nature [/B]- I just want it to be a source on it's own, not a "filtered" version of something else. [B]Ancestral [/B]- Magic arising from the connection of a creature to the spirits of its ancestors. Probably only a thing in particular cosmologies. Also begs several interesting questions such as do ancestral spirits have any volition and if so, do they have to be willing? Sure, ok, but I personally would find the topic much, much more interesting if we were to talk about how the different categories of magic might have differing game mechanics associated with them. It's a lot more work to make them feel different in the game if the game mechanics treat them all the same. [/QUOTE]

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