S
Sunseeker
Guest
So lets make magic have to be seen and heard. At least for any spell that isn't translating magical energy into a real-world matter. Spells that affect the mind, the body, and so on should need to rely on the senses of the target in order to work. Just as you can't mind control a mindless creature or an incredibly stupid one, you can't blind a creature that can't see, a you can't deafen a creature with no ears. Magic needs to be understood at least on some basic level by the target.
This also adds an interesting side-effect to negative conditions, they don't just punish, they also provide a benefit. If you are deafened, you can't hear the vocal components of a spell, so that spell cannot affect you(or at least not as fully) as a spell that you could see an hear. The same applies to blinded. If you cannot see certain magics(such as a gorgon's gaze attack where classically eye-contact needed to be made), then those magics cannot affect you(or at least not as fully as usual, or the save DC is reduced.
Magic doesn't just affect you, it interacts with you, alters your perception, your thoughts, your physical being. To do so is more than simply a will save. Can a blind monk be affected by a visual illusion? Can an ear-less ooze be affected by Ghost Noise? Of course not.
Like mundane characters, there must also be real-world rules by which magic must follow, it cannot simply do anything otherwise it renders all other systems pointless.
So, I suggest and hope that in 5e, we will see magic that doesn't simply happen but requires very specific conditions to be met in order for it to succeed. Specifically, I want to see magic that requires the target to comprehend, at least on some basic level, that which is affecting them. Effects that rely on specific senses to function should function poorly or not at all when those senses are not recognizable to the caster(such as an alien creature whose eyes are in some location unknown to the caster) or are not functioning properly.
This also adds an interesting side-effect to negative conditions, they don't just punish, they also provide a benefit. If you are deafened, you can't hear the vocal components of a spell, so that spell cannot affect you(or at least not as fully) as a spell that you could see an hear. The same applies to blinded. If you cannot see certain magics(such as a gorgon's gaze attack where classically eye-contact needed to be made), then those magics cannot affect you(or at least not as fully as usual, or the save DC is reduced.
Magic doesn't just affect you, it interacts with you, alters your perception, your thoughts, your physical being. To do so is more than simply a will save. Can a blind monk be affected by a visual illusion? Can an ear-less ooze be affected by Ghost Noise? Of course not.
Like mundane characters, there must also be real-world rules by which magic must follow, it cannot simply do anything otherwise it renders all other systems pointless.
So, I suggest and hope that in 5e, we will see magic that doesn't simply happen but requires very specific conditions to be met in order for it to succeed. Specifically, I want to see magic that requires the target to comprehend, at least on some basic level, that which is affecting them. Effects that rely on specific senses to function should function poorly or not at all when those senses are not recognizable to the caster(such as an alien creature whose eyes are in some location unknown to the caster) or are not functioning properly.
