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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 1557815" data-attributes="member: 18280">Where my feathers get ruffled is the assumption that a person who says that &quot;this magic system doesn't have the right feel because there seems to be no cost/unpredictability to magic&quot; is somehow equated with a person who says &quot;casting magic is a bad thing.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!&nbsp; &nbsp; :eek:"&nbsp; data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":eek:" />&nbsp;&nbsp; But I am guessing that you've had some bad experiences in that regard and are therefore a bit defensive?&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh&nbsp; &nbsp; :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" /> In any event, I have been reading a few consistent ideas in this thread related to the feel of magic, and one of them is that magic should tempt the user to go to far.&nbsp; As has been pointed out, something that tempts the user to go to far must offer an increase in power, not a decrease.&nbsp; The Shadow Weave stuff in Forgotten Realms is a pretty good example.&nbsp; It gives some pretty good bonuses in immediate power for some penalties that might prove nasty later.Another thing that I have noted is a concern about the predictability of magic.&nbsp; Making magic available through several routes (folk charms and thaumaturgy in the Medieval Player's Guide, magical tattoos and gem magic in the Forgotten Realms, rune casting in Vikings, etc.) makes things harder to predict.&nbsp; If the DM gives some thought as to where spell energy comes from, alterations to some spells may also make sense.None of this is designed to nerf the spell caster.&nbsp; It is to make the spell caster a unique, flavorful individual with powers others cannot easily duplicate.Raven Crowking</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 1557815, member: 18280"] Where my feathers get ruffled is the assumption that a person who says that "this magic system doesn't have the right feel because there seems to be no cost/unpredictability to magic" is somehow equated with a person who says "casting magic is a bad thing." :eek: But I am guessing that you've had some bad experiences in that regard and are therefore a bit defensive? :heh: In any event, I have been reading a few consistent ideas in this thread related to the feel of magic, and one of them is that magic should tempt the user to go to far. As has been pointed out, something that tempts the user to go to far must offer an [I]increase[/I] in power, not a [I]decrease[/I]. The Shadow Weave stuff in Forgotten Realms is a pretty good example. It gives some pretty good bonuses in immediate power for some penalties that might prove nasty later. Another thing that I have noted is a concern about the predictability of magic. Making magic available through several routes (folk charms and thaumaturgy in the Medieval Player's Guide, magical tattoos and gem magic in the Forgotten Realms, rune casting in Vikings, etc.) makes things harder to predict. If the DM gives some thought as to where spell energy comes from, alterations to some spells may also make sense. None of this is designed to nerf the spell caster. It is to make the spell caster a unique, flavorful individual with powers others cannot easily duplicate. Raven Crowking [/QUOTE]

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