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<blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 7992859" data-attributes="member: 52734">The structure of D&amp;D has not been kind to the mystery of magic, because it is so mechanical.&nbsp; So reproducible.&nbsp; There is no mystery to it, no uncertainty beyond &quot;will the target make the save?&quot;.&nbsp; Even the Wild Magic table is not sufficient to invoke the mystical aspects that make it strange and wondrous.&nbsp; To invoke the might and mystery of magic would require a complete reworking of how magic is performed in the game, and I don't think many people would be happy with the results.To truly make D&amp;D magic, well magical, you would have to back away from automatic casting, slots per day and fixed effects.&nbsp; Sure, you could have a few sample spells and &quot;well-known&quot; results.&nbsp; But to make it awe-inducing, the brunt of a spellcaster's actions in the game would be in &quot;crafting&quot; or cobbling together the magics to actually induce a spell successfully.&nbsp; Something even as mundane as a Firebolt would have to become risky for the spellcaster to invoke.&nbsp; Weird and strange effects - many beyond the spellcaster's control would surround even mundane magic.&nbsp; Imagine, for example a simple casting of Dancing Lights causing leaping embers to drift from the phantasmal flames to run scampering about; perhaps the embers one time might be harmless, another time they might sting allies like mad hornets and yet another time they madly run amok, setting fire to everything they touch.&nbsp; But most essentially, these side effects aren't under the control of the caster - they are unpredictable.&nbsp; Because once the effects become repeatable, controllable - gameable, they stop becoming fantastic and become mundane, abusable and controllable.When I think of the magic fantastic, it's not just in the homebrewed description of a PC's or NPC's description of their spell effects but in that mysterious, dangerous and slightly uncontrollable aspect - along the lines of older, 60's and 70's style magic that you find in systems like the old Warhammer Fantasy RPG (I'm talking like the 80's version).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Stormonu, post: 7992859, member: 52734"] The structure of D&D has not been kind to the mystery of magic, because it is so mechanical. So reproducible. There is no mystery to it, no uncertainty beyond "will the target make the save?". Even the Wild Magic table is not sufficient to invoke the mystical aspects that make it strange and wondrous. To invoke the might and mystery of magic would require a complete reworking of how magic is performed in the game, and I don't think many people would be happy with the results. To truly make D&D magic, well magical, you would have to back away from automatic casting, slots per day and fixed effects. Sure, you could have a few sample spells and "well-known" results. But to make it awe-inducing, the brunt of a spellcaster's actions in the game would be in "crafting" or cobbling together the magics to actually induce a spell [i]successfully[/i]. Something even as mundane as a [i]Firebolt[/i] would have to become risky for the spellcaster to invoke. Weird and strange effects - many beyond the spellcaster's control would surround even mundane magic. Imagine, for example a simple casting of Dancing Lights causing leaping embers to drift from the phantasmal flames to run scampering about; perhaps the embers one time might be harmless, another time they might sting allies like mad hornets and yet another time they madly run amok, setting fire to everything they touch. But most essentially, these side effects aren't under the [i]control[/i] of the caster - they are [i]unpredictable[/i]. Because once the effects become repeatable, controllable - gameable, they stop becoming fantastic and become mundane, abusable and controllable. When I think of the magic fantastic, it's not just in the homebrewed description of a PC's or NPC's description of their spell effects but in that mysterious, [i]dangerous[/i] and slightly uncontrollable aspect - along the lines of older, 60's and 70's style magic that you find in systems like the old Warhammer Fantasy RPG (I'm talking like the 80's version). [/QUOTE]

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