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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fuindordm" data-source="post: 9127303" data-attributes="member: 5435">You're right that the rules are intentionally agnostic regarding the source and nature of magic.  This makes it possible for individual DMs to impose their own cosmology, and if they so desire to modify details of the magic system to match the story. For example, if you are trying to emulate a historical Earth culture's view of magic (e.g. Norse or Celtic) then you can ban the Evocation school, or even the whole Sorcerer class, for the sake of consistent world-building. With considerably more work, you can curate the spell list of each class to reflect in-world differences in how they cast and what source of power provides the magic. However, as written, the magic rules do reveal some assumptions about the in-world explanation. For example:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All spells have some combination of VSM components and most have verbal components. This can be taken as evidence that the in-world explanation for magic relies on a primordial language and/or the names of entities being manipulated--although on occasion these names can be expressed by means other than vocal.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All spells have the same effect for all classes who can cast them (barring metamagic). This can be taken as evidence that the spells represent certain fundamental modes of the weave (like the harmonic vibrations of a string or metal plate). Spellcasters can trigger these modes but they can't easily modify them. Alternatively, perhaps spells always have the same effect because every spell invokes an antediluvean contract with some magical, extraplanar entity, who fulfils the contract to the letter even though modern spellcasters have forgotten the details.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Most spells don't work on anyone more than 60 feet away (OK, I don't have a clever explanation for this one)</li> </ul>So have fun with worldbuilding and adjust the way players can access and use magic according to taste! You're not going to break anything by replacing VSM with potion-brewing, by restricting spell lists, or by letting all spellcasters apply metamagic to spells more freely at the expense of damage.</blockquote>

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