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<blockquote data-quote="Gentlegamer" data-source="post: 3232470" data-attributes="member: 2425">D&amp;D magic was purely mnemonic, based on &quot;Vancian&quot; magic. What that meant was that the magic-user &quot;memorized&quot; a spell by forcing an energy pattern into his brain that represented the spell. In the Dying Earth stories, the word &quot;memorize&quot; is never used. It was created as a technical term in D&amp;D. Vance uses &quot;encompass&quot; to describe what wizards and anyone else who &quot;memorizes&quot; a spell does. As has been noted, purely Vancian magic has only verbal components which must be recited exactly or risk mishap (such as reversing The Spell of Forlorn Encystment or The Agency of Far Dispatch as Cugel, a non-magician did). Purely mnemonic magic with verbal components was used in the original D&amp;D game, though the risk of mishap was not present. The AD&amp;D game used a synthesis of &quot;Vancian&quot; mnemonic magic and sympathetic magic from Camp &amp; Pratt's Harold Shea stories (&quot;The Mathematics of Magic,&quot; et al). Sympathetic magic requires spell components that somehow match the desired effect of the spell. This was seen in the expaned material and somatic components required for AD&amp;D magic. Combined with the requirement to &quot;memorize&quot; spells, the synthesis is clear. d20 Fantasy has inherited this synthesis from AD&amp;D.So, to answer the OP, d20 Fantasy (3E) magic is not purely &quot;Vancian,&quot; but the influence is still very strong.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gentlegamer, post: 3232470, member: 2425"] D&D magic was purely mnemonic, based on "Vancian" magic. What that meant was that the magic-user "memorized" a spell by forcing an energy pattern into his brain that represented the spell. In the Dying Earth stories, the word "memorize" is never used. It was created as a technical term in D&D. Vance uses "encompass" to describe what wizards and anyone else who "memorizes" a spell does. As has been noted, purely Vancian magic has only verbal components which must be recited exactly or risk mishap (such as reversing [i]The Spell of Forlorn Encystment[/i] or [i]The Agency of Far Dispatch[/i] as Cugel, a non-magician did). Purely mnemonic magic with verbal components was used in the original D&D game, though the risk of mishap was not present. The AD&D game used a synthesis of "Vancian" mnemonic magic and sympathetic magic from Camp & Pratt's Harold Shea stories ("The Mathematics of Magic," et al). Sympathetic magic requires spell components that somehow match the desired effect of the spell. This was seen in the expaned material and somatic components required for AD&D magic. Combined with the requirement to "memorize" spells, the synthesis is clear. d20 Fantasy has inherited this synthesis from AD&D. So, to answer the OP, d20 Fantasy (3E) magic is not purely "Vancian," but the influence is still very strong. [/QUOTE]

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