Themes of Magic

[Jhaelen]

What else can you think of?

Lots!
No, seriously. I definitely can recommend checking out the various Ars Magica supplements, nearly all of them introduce new magical methods and traditions - all of them based on 'real-world' ideas and groups.

I'll try to provide a short list of the ones that've been covered so far (once I am back home...)!

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Take a look Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth, which has several magic traditions that give you access to the magic Skills used to cast spells.

There's so many different concepts out there:

Animism: Everything from the smallest stone to the largest ocean, from a soft breeze to a raging inferno, has a spirit. The spirits embody and represent the elements, as well as concepts and such. In order to "do magic", you have to convince those spirits to use their natural powers on your behalf.

The language of Magic: The universe was created with a word - or rather, a language. The Great Maker talked everyting into being, and the words he used got infused with that power along the way, so now speaking his words means changing the very fabric of reality. The only thing is: It was the Tongue of the Great Maker, not pidgin orc, and it's hard to find out what the words are, what they mean, and even harder to pronounce them properly. Magic users of this path try to learn the words with their proper pronounciation, exact meaning, context, so they can use them. If they pronounce something wrong, the magic might not work. Or the effect is quite different from what they hoped.

Conduit of Heaven and Hell: Power rests with Greater Beings of the Outer Spheres, and they grant it to those who further their goals and submit to their ideals.

The Weave: Magic is like a great net underlying all reality, and wizards learn to grasp the net ant twist it, altering reality to suit their wims.

Gems of Power: The universe was created with raw power, which transformed into stone and steel and earth and the wind and everything else. Some of the power remained in its raw form, though, and some substances seem to collect and accumulate this power, changing it in the process, "colouring" or "flavouring" it. Let's say that precious stones are those materials. So the crimson light of ruby speaks either of raw destruction or of unbridled passion, while sapphires with their soothing blue light will heal you - or freeze you to death.
Fortunately, these gems aren't prone to leaking, so you won't be victim to the terrible power just by touching or even being near a gem. But there are those who know how to coax the power out of the stones. Combine different stones in different ways for different effects. Light reflected first through ruby (emotion, passion) and then sapphire (cold) will calm emotions, for example. Spellcasters don't learn spells, they learn the proper combinations of gems to cast their spells.
A gem only stores so much power before it is depleted, but it will be recharged over time.


Levels of Reality: Our nice, predictable, solid world isn't as real as we tell ourselves. Above our mundane plane of existance there is a higher plane, where the mind truly triumphs over matter, and ideals and outlooks are more real than elements and physical properties. The awakened mage learns how to reach beyond his own reality and, for a short time, draw the Higher Place down upon our world. Since it is the higher reality, its rules will supersede ours for as long as the connection stands.


The Great Mythos: In the dephts of time and space (and beyond both), there are entities far older and crueler than anyone could ever imagine. They lie in hiding, sleeping, but occasionally they whisper their dark secrets into the ears and minds of unfortunate chosen ones. Those poor souls invariable go stark raving mad within weeks, but before their mind is forever lost, they write down what they have heard, for others to read. You can read those dark secrets and see behind the curtain of reality, alter it in ways that should not be possible, but the price is your very sanity.

 

[Abisashi]

struct direction
{
int x;
int y;
int z;
}

class orb : conjuration
{
   orb (int power_investment, string *descriptors, int number_of_descriptors);
   void launch (direction dir, int power_investment);
   void explode (shape burst_type);
private:
   void impact();

   int power;
   vector <invocation> types;
}

orb::orb (int power_investment, string *descriptors, int number_of_descriptors)
{
   int i;
   int power = power_investment + caster_level;

   for (i = 0;i < number_of_descriptors; i++)
      types.push(invocation_sourcing(descriptors[i]);
}
...

Not that the orb spells would look like this, but you get the idea. I think a programmed magic language would be awesome in a computer game. It would be hard to implement (directly) in pen and paper, but that's the case with pretty much every magic system. The universe is your hardware.

 

[Zaukrie]

There was a D20 book released early in the 3.0 timeframe that had something like 12-15 kinds of magic, but I'm blanking on the name. It was pretty good stuff for defining different types of magic....

 

[Kae'Yoss]

There was a D20 book released early in the 3.0 timeframe that had something like 12-15 kinds of magic, but I'm blanking on the name. It was pretty good stuff for defining different types of magic....

AEG's Magic?

 

[Thaedrus]

Spiritual Metabolism

The rules or reality work as a great biological metabolism, it recycles energy into new forms. Those who know the inner workings of spiritual metabolism can change the way things work. Various "exercises and diets" can create different effects in the system. Suplements and vitamines can enhance performance, and "spiritual athletes" are the most efficient at getting the most out of their metabolism.

 

[GreatLemur]

It's a weird thing to draw on for D&D, or even to remember at this point, but one of my favorite models of magical theory is from the old TSR Marvel Super Heroes game. In an expansion product called Realms of Magic (which, because the Internet is awesome, you can download here, along with all the other MSH stuff), they divided up the basic types of magic by exactly what power sources they drew on: personal energies, universal energies, and dimensional energies. That is, power that comes from within the individual user, ambient power that is gathered from the surrounding universe, and power that comes from other planes of existence (and possibly sentient supernatural forces).

I think this maps pretty well to the idea of psionicists (and monks!) drawing on some kind of inner power, arcanists gathering mana from the world around them, and divine casters being granted power by deities. But it leads to all kinds of interesting questions about how all three flavors of "magical" energy might be fundamentally different, and how that would be modeled mechanically if you're willing to drop the existing magic systems. Users of "personal energies" might have ready access to their abilities at all times (or with only a bit of rest), but it's quite reasonable that they have much less raw power than than those who use outside energy sources. Users of "universal energies" can achieve a large store of raw power and manipulate it in precise and complicated ways, but it would logically take them time to gather the energy they need, and they might have to compete with each other for the resource. Users of "dimensional energies" would theoretically be working with potentially infinite and readily-available power, but they wouldn't have direct access to it, might not be able to control the way it's expressed, and could even suffer some terrible physical strain from channeling it.