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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4985057" data-attributes="member: 58197">When I invoke &quot;Magic!&quot; it's done in advance. In other words, the villain doesn't suddenly, with no warning, bust out a ritual that will let her summon Orcus and bind him to her will; the PCs find out in advance that that's what she's going to do, along with information on what she needs and how to stop it. I'm not above using &quot;Magic!&quot; as a plot device - writing the rules of the ritual to fit the needs of the adventure I'm planning - but I try to avoid using it as a diabolus ex machina.(I will also put in some requirement for the ritual which the PCs are pretty much guaranteed not to be able to meet, in order to answer the question &quot;Why can't we summon Orcus?&quot; And if they come up with a clever way to meet that requirement... okay, you just summoned freakin' Orcus using a ritual you don't really understand. That's going to end well. But it's important to maintain the sense that the rules of the world are the same for PCs and NPCs, even when the rules of the game aren't.)In general, I try to make sure that my &quot;Magic!&quot; fits, not necessarily within the explicit rules of the game, but within the conceptual framework of those rules, and abiding by whatever hard limits I've set. For instance, I disallow all long-range teleportation spells in my games; therefore NPC casters don't get them either. Necromancers don't generate auras of pure healing radiance. Druids don't raise undead. Ritual magic requires components and time. An NPC wizard's version of a fireball may not work exactly like the PC wizard's fireball spell, but it'll still do fire damage and target Reflex and hit allied creatures who happen to be within the blast radius.Again, it's about creating a sense that the world operates by consistent rules, even though the players don't know exactly what the rules are.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 4985057, member: 58197"] When I invoke "Magic!" it's done in advance. In other words, the villain doesn't suddenly, with no warning, bust out a ritual that will let her summon Orcus and bind him to her will; the PCs find out in advance that that's what she's going to do, along with information on what she needs and how to stop it. I'm not above using "Magic!" as a plot device - writing the rules of the ritual to fit the needs of the adventure I'm planning - but I try to avoid using it as a diabolus ex machina. (I will also put in some requirement for the ritual which the PCs are pretty much guaranteed not to be able to meet, in order to answer the question "Why can't [I]we[/I] summon Orcus?" And if they come up with a clever way to meet that requirement... okay, you just summoned freakin' Orcus using a ritual you don't really understand. [I]That's[/I] going to end well. But it's important to maintain the sense that the rules of the world are the same for PCs and NPCs, even when the rules of the game aren't.) In general, I try to make sure that my "Magic!" fits, not necessarily within the [I]explicit[/I] rules of the game, but within the conceptual framework of those rules, and abiding by whatever hard limits I've set. For instance, I disallow all long-range teleportation spells in my games; therefore NPC casters don't get them either. Necromancers don't generate auras of pure healing radiance. Druids don't raise undead. Ritual magic requires components and time. An NPC wizard's version of a fireball may not work exactly like the PC wizard's [I]fireball[/I] spell, but it'll still do fire damage and target Reflex and hit allied creatures who happen to be within the blast radius. Again, it's about creating a sense that the world operates by consistent rules, even though the players don't know exactly what the rules are. [/QUOTE]

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