Level Up (A5E) Representational Magic and You!

[Steampunkette]

Could you scry on someone with a +4 or +10 if you were in love with them?

After all... your heart belongs to them.

If someone said that at my table? I'd -absolutely- give them the +10. Any time someone uses representational magic to interact with arcane magic I'm -deeply- compelled to provide them with interesting connections that don't work literally but work metaphorically or in effigy.

What are your thoughts of this kind of magic?

 

[Distracted DM]

I like to give my players benefits, but they have to sell it to me if they want it. And if I'm not sold, no dice. I can be a pain in the ass I guess, but it seems to play well for my groups!

I'd want more context for this:
For instance, a player says they're in love this individual they're trying to scry- if the love is mutual, it seems likely that the individual would permit the Scry, choosing to fail the save. We wouldn't need to talk bonuses etc.

If the love isn't mutual, it sounds like either unrequited or an obsession. Definitely not getting a bonus except for familiarity.

If the love is mutual and for some reason the other party is trying to resist the Scry... well, I might give a situational penalty to the save like an extra -2 for knowing the target very well.

Finally, love seems more like it'd touch on the first more- knowledge, since that one's about how well you know them. Scry specifies a physical connection, not an emotional one. Plus, even if you let that fly... you'd need their heart, not them having yours.

Aaand that's my bit of pedantry for the day.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Plus, even if you let that fly... you'd need their heart, not them having yours.

i think the idea was that if your heart belongs to them, and you have your heart (in your body), then you have a "possession" of theirs.

 

[Distracted DM]

i think the idea was that if your heart belongs to them, and you have your heart (in your body), then you have a "possession" of theirs.

Ah, you definitely had a better handle on it than I did. Thanks for the clarification

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Ah, you definitely had a better handle on it than I did. Thanks for the clarification

to be fair, i had to reread it a few times before i got it too.

 

[Steampunkette]

Yeah, very much Representational or Metaphorical stuff. Things like Voodoo Dolls and Effigies or driving a cold iron nail into the shadow of a Fairy to nail it in place.

Giving someone your heart is a saying representing a nonliteral experience, but magic isn't exactly literal. Or, at least, shouldn't be exclusively literal.

A lot of the "Rules" we associate with monsters like Fairies and Vampires are based in representational magic. Vampires don't cast reflections because Silver represents Purity and mirrors were lined with, or made of, silver to be reflective. You don't "Give" your name to a fairy because they can take it, and with it all that makes you who you are, all that that name represents.

I feel like its an underexplored territory in gaming spaces. And I definitely think it could use some expansion.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Vampires don't cast reflections because Silver represents Purity and mirrors were lined with, or made of, silver to be reflective.

...OH, there's a REASON for that????

 

[Distracted DM]

A lot of the "Rules" we associate with monsters like Fairies and Vampires are based in representational magic. Vampires don't cast reflections because Silver represents Purity and mirrors were lined with, or made of, silver to be reflective. You don't "Give" your name to a fairy because they can take it, and with it all that makes you who you are, all that that name represents.

...OH, there's a REASON for that????

So this "interesting fact" went around witchy Tiktok circles and other similar social medias for a while, but if you look at the myth's history versus the relatively brief period of time where silver was regularly used in mirrors, and the origination of the vampire-mirror relationship, the relationship of vampires and mirrors well preceded said use of silver in mirrors.

Also, silver's efficacy is more classically associated with werewolf myths, not vampires.

 

[Steampunkette]

So this "interesting fact" went around witchy Tiktok circles and other similar social medias for a while, but if you look at the myth's history versus the relatively brief period of time where silver was regularly used in mirrors, and the origination of the vampire-mirror relationship, the relationship of vampires and mirrors well preceded said use of silver in mirrors.

Also, silver's efficacy is more classically associated with werewolf myths, not vampires.

While it's true that Silver-Lined glass mirrors (Looking Glasses) weren't common until the 1800s, polished silver mirrors have been a thing since the Roman Empire at the absolute latest. It's why I included the "or Solid Silver" portion.

But even if you want to argue it's a modern belief about an ancient tradition, which is entirely valid, it's still an explanation of why they don't cast a reflection. And one that would happily fall in line with any ancient myth.

 

[Distracted DM]

Like I said, it doesn't have a correlation with the times that silver was regularly used in mirror production, nor where such would be regularly used and where you'd find the vampire myths popping up with mirrors.

If you find evidence to the contrary I'm happy to be corrected, but I did a bit of research into it when my wife's TikTok popped up with that "interesting fact" and it seemed like bunk.