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<blockquote data-quote="Mustrum_Ridcully" data-source="post: 5989068" data-attributes="member: 710">I don't think Vancian Magic fits the &quot;unpredictable&quot; concept of magic.Vancian magic means pre-packaged, well defined magical effects in form of spells. Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Mordekainen's Faithful Watchdog. The fascinating part of Vancian magic is it's specificity. Instead of, say, conjuring some magical force to hurt someone, you conjure an invisible dog. Instead of just creating an empty extradimensional space, you create a mansion (yeah, that's not Leomund's spell).Vancian Magic is at best the chaos and unpredictable nature of magic tamed so it can be controlled and used reliably. It can lead to weird, awfully specific effects, but it is very predictable. An unpredicatable magic system would do away with spells and there would be no way to guarantee what will happen, or that you get what you want in the first place. Because otherwise, it isn't unpredictable.The next closest thing to unpredictable is magic with side effects - you may channel magical force to kill someone, but that may alert some demons to your presence, and the more often you do it, the more likely they'll come to get you. Or you teleport, but there is a good chance that you drag some astral monsters with you, or end up a different place then you intended to, or a different time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mustrum_Ridcully, post: 5989068, member: 710"] I don't think Vancian Magic fits the "unpredictable" concept of magic. Vancian magic means pre-packaged, well defined magical effects in form of spells. Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Mordekainen's Faithful Watchdog. The fascinating part of Vancian magic is it's specificity. Instead of, say, conjuring some magical force to hurt someone, you conjure an invisible dog. Instead of just creating an empty extradimensional space, you create a mansion (yeah, that's not Leomund's spell). Vancian Magic is at best the chaos and unpredictable nature of magic tamed so it can be controlled and used reliably. It can lead to weird, awfully specific effects, but it is very predictable. An unpredicatable magic system would do away with spells and there would be no way to guarantee what will happen, or that you get what you want in the first place. Because otherwise, it isn't unpredictable. The next closest thing to unpredictable is magic with side effects - you may channel magical force to kill someone, but that may alert some demons to your presence, and the more often you do it, the more likely they'll come to get you. Or you teleport, but there is a good chance that you drag some astral monsters with you, or end up a different place then you intended to, or a different time. [/QUOTE]

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