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D&D Magic: Does it Feel Magical to You?
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<blockquote data-quote="The Grassy Gnoll" data-source="post: 6834975" data-attributes="member: 6788652"><p>At each table, the level of detail/personalition that goes into the description of spell effects will vary. </p><p></p><p>Some will, much like Matt Mercer on Critical Role, describe how "a crackling build up of purplish arcane energy wraps around your arms and then with a shoving motion you fling it across the chamber towards the monster...roll to hit".</p><p></p><p>Others may simply go down the route of "you cast Eldritch Blast...what'd you roll?".</p><p></p><p>A good example is the visualisation of Magic Missile. In BECMI, Bargle's version was a glowing arrow. On Acquisitions Inc, it's balls of light that spell out "Jim" in their vapour trail. It could just as easily be tiny orange shuriken or glowing wraithlike ravens. This spell lends itself to players adding their own colour, because it's a generic spell name: Magic Missile could be anything. And some groups may just wish to announce the spell and roll damage without thinking about the aesthetics at all.</p><p></p><p>So, while the possibility of personalisation is there, because the rules don't really give these kinds of examples, focussing instead on relatively "this is what it is" descriptions instead, there is no <em>need</em> to think about it.</p><p></p><p>Example: Fireball is a mote of energy that is sent to a space and then explodes. But it could be a tiny dancing imp that appears in that space before radiating flame and then disappearing; or a circle of arcane letters appears on the ground/in the air the size of the blast radius before lines radiate from each letter to its opposite side and the space is filled with flame, or an image of the caster's laughing face made of green fire.</p><p></p><p>Eldritch Blast could be seen as dark shadowy forms raking the victim, or a gout of hellfire, or a crackling spectral hound running into the body of the victim, or a black octopoid limb fashioned from ink-in-water visuals striking the victim.</p><p></p><p>I think if each spell had more of this "make up your own cool visualisation" text baked into its description - and the intro section flagged that each caster draws upon the magic of the weave in their own way and much like a Patronus charm, each spellcaster's manifestation of magic is unique - perhaps with some more 'vanilla' naming conventions to force the issue ('magic missile' lends itself to interpretation more than 'melf's minute meteors'), then magic might feel more <em>magical</em>.</p><p></p><p>If each spellcaster (had to have?) invested in what THEIR spell looks like, it would definitely feel more unique and more mysterious - Wizard Prang casting Fire Bolt sends an elongated Z shaped javelin of pure fire. But what's this? The evil Wizard Wheeze casts a sickly yellow glowing skull of energy, wtf is that??? (It's also Fire Bolt, but Prang doesn't necessarily know that - and even if he did because of standard Verbal components ("Crucio!"), each Wizard could admire their opponents Magecraft).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Grassy Gnoll, post: 6834975, member: 6788652"] [U][I][/I][/U]At each table, the level of detail/personalition that goes into the description of spell effects will vary. Some will, much like Matt Mercer on Critical Role, describe how "a crackling build up of purplish arcane energy wraps around your arms and then with a shoving motion you fling it across the chamber towards the monster...roll to hit". Others may simply go down the route of "you cast Eldritch Blast...what'd you roll?". A good example is the visualisation of Magic Missile. In BECMI, Bargle's version was a glowing arrow. On Acquisitions Inc, it's balls of light that spell out "Jim" in their vapour trail. It could just as easily be tiny orange shuriken or glowing wraithlike ravens. This spell lends itself to players adding their own colour, because it's a generic spell name: Magic Missile could be anything. And some groups may just wish to announce the spell and roll damage without thinking about the aesthetics at all. So, while the possibility of personalisation is there, because the rules don't really give these kinds of examples, focussing instead on relatively "this is what it is" descriptions instead, there is no [I]need[/I] to think about it. Example: Fireball is a mote of energy that is sent to a space and then explodes. But it could be a tiny dancing imp that appears in that space before radiating flame and then disappearing; or a circle of arcane letters appears on the ground/in the air the size of the blast radius before lines radiate from each letter to its opposite side and the space is filled with flame, or an image of the caster's laughing face made of green fire. Eldritch Blast could be seen as dark shadowy forms raking the victim, or a gout of hellfire, or a crackling spectral hound running into the body of the victim, or a black octopoid limb fashioned from ink-in-water visuals striking the victim. I think if each spell had more of this "make up your own cool visualisation" text baked into its description - and the intro section flagged that each caster draws upon the magic of the weave in their own way and much like a Patronus charm, each spellcaster's manifestation of magic is unique - perhaps with some more 'vanilla' naming conventions to force the issue ('magic missile' lends itself to interpretation more than 'melf's minute meteors'), then magic might feel more [I]magical[/I]. If each spellcaster (had to have?) invested in what THEIR spell looks like, it would definitely feel more unique and more mysterious - Wizard Prang casting Fire Bolt sends an elongated Z shaped javelin of pure fire. But what's this? The evil Wizard Wheeze casts a sickly yellow glowing skull of energy, wtf is that??? (It's also Fire Bolt, but Prang doesn't necessarily know that - and even if he did because of standard Verbal components ("Crucio!"), each Wizard could admire their opponents Magecraft). [/QUOTE]
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