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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5967971" data-attributes="member: 996">Magic rarely works like that.&nbsp; It's very often an innate gift as well as a matter of secret knowledge, and it's not something you buy and upgrade and keep in a hanger.&nbsp; Magic isn't too consistent at all, in genre, actually.&nbsp; Sometimes powerful magic can be sensed half a world away.&nbsp; Sometimes a wizard's magic rests in an amulet or staff or somesuch, sometimes it's a matter of knowledge, sometimes it's in his blood or soul or even gallbladder (really).&nbsp; Similarly, a warrior in a fantasy story may have tremendous strength or other physical talent, or a legendary bloodline, or divine or fey ancestry, or be chosen by the gods or fate, or simply have greater courage and will and thus try, and do, things lesser men simply can't.So, no, your metaphor doesn't hold, at all.&nbsp; Besides, if magic were simply a skill, and defeating a flying, firebreathing intelligent dinosaur with little more than a particularly long sharp stick was simply a skill, you wouldn't have mages and heroes, you'd have arcane technicians and dragon exterminators.As long as the casters are on the same track:&nbsp; doing subtle magic and rituals at low levels, and saving the crazy stuff for later.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 5967971, member: 996"] Magic rarely works like that. It's very often an innate gift as well as a matter of secret knowledge, and it's not something you buy and upgrade and keep in a hanger. Magic isn't too consistent at all, in genre, actually. Sometimes powerful magic can be sensed half a world away. Sometimes a wizard's magic rests in an amulet or staff or somesuch, sometimes it's a matter of knowledge, sometimes it's in his blood or soul or even gallbladder (really). Similarly, a warrior in a fantasy story may have tremendous strength or other physical talent, or a legendary bloodline, or divine or fey ancestry, or be chosen by the gods or fate, or simply have greater courage and will and thus try, and do, things lesser men simply can't. So, no, your metaphor doesn't hold, at all. Besides, if magic were simply a skill, and defeating a flying, firebreathing intelligent dinosaur with little more than a particularly long sharp stick was simply a skill, you wouldn't have mages and heroes, you'd have arcane technicians and dragon exterminators. As long as the casters are on the same track: doing subtle magic and rituals at low levels, and saving the crazy stuff for later. [/QUOTE]

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