Thinking Outside the [Magic] Box.

[steeldragons]

My game world tends to have areas that are higher "magic" and realms that use or have access to lower levels of magic.

In the lands/areas/races/NPCs that have or use magic a lot, I am likely to explain some "mysterious" or "intriguing" magical effects or abilities that are not, necessarily, explainable with "by the book" spell use.

Some examples of what I'm talking about:
1) A magical sorceress/lady who "walks" without seeming to walk (no discernable "leg" movement or ever seeing her feet beneath her flowing robe/skirt)...more "floats" across the floor.

2) An NPC wizard, who I suppose would be considered an "archmage" of sorts who is able to invoke spectacular effects (like teleporting the whole group at once) without concern or looking up, how many persons should this level wizard be able to teleport and what are his chances of error?

3) A magical being, appearing human/oid, who is able to transmute themselves into a vague incorporeal image of him/herself as a snowy wind, or a bunch of leaves or flower petals (a la that tree "woman" from the Narnia movie).

4) An old witch with wrinkled wooden bark-looking skin. But she isn't actually "wood" or "part-dryad" or anything like that...but the result of a botched spell or potion, though there are no potions on the books that give you "barkskin." (or at least not to my knowledge at the time)

5) Doing things like "opening/closing windows or doors without actually having/marking down the cantrips the mage has access to.

Generally speaking, these things have no "in game" mechanical consequence. They're just used to invoke a sense of "oo. ah. they're magicky." My players, for the most part, have always enjoyed them. But every once in a while, you get that book-worm who either out of pure curiosity or argumentative rules-lawyering asking (or "demanding" ) "How'd they do that? What spell is that? Why can't I do/find a spell to do that?!"

When you DM, how much leeway/ "off piste", as it were, is too much? How magical do you go before having to "explain" yourself in book/rules terms? Or do you not do this at all? Is it something to be avoided or something that adds to the game, in your humble opinions?

Just a curious thought that passed through my head with the morning's coffee. No "right" answers, obviously. But curious to hear what you all think.

Happy Friday all!
--Steel Dragons

 

[Sunseeker]

When you DM, how much leeway/ "off piste", as it were, is too much? How magical do you go before having to "explain" yourself in book/rules terms? Or do you not do this at all? Is it something to be avoided or something that adds to the game, in your humble opinions?

Just a curious thought that passed through my head with the morning's coffee. No "right" answers, obviously. But curious to hear what you all think.

Happy Friday all!
--Steel Dragons

I'm a little harsh on my players when they rules lawyer. I'm pretty up-front that I just make a lot of stuff up off the cuff. It's fun, it's spur of the moment, and it's unexpected. When players ask if there's a way to do that, if it's something I find reasonable that they could do without breaking the game(such as the floating thing, or fireworks powers like Jubilee), I come up with some contrived "mystical tome" that they would have to find/steal. If it's something a little bit more special and possibly more powerful, I just flat out tell them "no".

 

[S'mon]

NPCs are free to research their own spells, same as PCs. A permanent floaty-person spell might be a higher level form of Tenser's Floating Disk. I had a wizard, Dovistar in one 3e campaign who had a revised form of Greater Teleport that allowed him to teleport a group of willing subjects to a location without him having to come along, and another revised form that allowed him to summon back those same subjects, the latter requiring a permanent magic circle - a "Portal" in the 4e sense - but this was 6-7 years before 4e.

 

[steeldragons]

Sounds cool, S'mon. I woulnd't have thought of the altered floating disc. But yeah, good idea. If pressed for an explanation in that case I probably would have just handwaved some kind of low level (only an inch or so off the ground), though permanent, levitation that only worked across a solid surface (so you could still use stairs, cross a thin beam -with balance checks still being required, etc...but not hover over a chasm, sorta thing).

Another one I've used multiple times are runes/magic symbols on robes, armor, items, carved in stone arches or obelisks, you name it, that seem to change/slowly shift position or turn into other symbols when you're not looking. Have used that one a lot.

As S'mon just reminded me, I neglected to mention/ask in the OP, but if you have any kind of "outside the magic box" effects or spells you've had or used in your games, please feel free to share them!

Always interested in hearing other people's ideas

--SD

 

[TarionzCousin]

I do a lot of hand-waving as a DM. In my games "Fun" and "Cool" triumph over rules every time. When I explain this to players they nearly always agree.

The critical part for the players is that all things must be fair. There can't be any favoritism.

 

[Hautamaki]

steeldragons I think the easiest way to explain these unusual effects might be to say they are caused by unique artifacts, ancient magical items made with knowledge that has long since been lost to time. If the players want to reproduce the effect the simplest way would be for them to identify which item is giving these wizards their magical power and then find a way to buy it or steal it off them.

 

[Loonook]

steeldragons I think the easiest way to explain these unusual effects might be to say they are caused by unique artifacts, ancient magical items made with knowledge that has long since been lost to time. If the players want to reproduce the effect the simplest way would be for them to identify which item is giving these wizards their magical power and then find a way to buy it or steal it off them.

Yes, the mystical major Artifact the Necklace of Floaty Legs.

You really need to realize that you do not owe your players to explain the window dressing, nor do the players automatically have the chance to get everything the NPCs use. The Mage doesn't always have his Spellbook of his Awesomeness available for the PCs to keep it up.

Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[steeldragons]

Yes, the mystical major Artifact the Necklace of Floaty Legs.

You really need to realize that you do not owe your players to explain the window dressing, nor do the players automatically have the chance to get everything the NPCs use. The Mage doesn't always have his Spellbook of his Awesomeness available for the PCs to keep it up.

Slainte,

-Loonook.

Oh, absolutely not! And, as I said, most players are fine with it and enjoy the added "touches" of magical fantasy without question.

There have been plenty of times a wizard character has made a "request" or offered to pay for something specific they find out another wizard has/can do. Generally speaking, unless the offer is some other form of magic that interests the spell-holding mage, they won't be interested...and/or, to put it plainly, not every NPC is a "nice/giving/'Big Bird says share' person" hahaha.

In general, in my world setting, the sharing of spells from one's spellbook is relatively rare, unless you are offering your services as an apprentice or it is a family member/someone you know and trust very well. It's considered something of a social "faux pas" (if not outright insult/impudence) among many of the mages of my world.

I've gotten many miles of side-quests, even once where the "side-quest" became a whole story arc of its own, of the party undergoing a quest for a wizard to retrieve XYZ (be it an item, rare ingredient, etc) in exchange for access to A (1, singular) spell of theirs.

There is a mages' guild and various academies across the world, of course, where one might find spells to add to their spellbooks...but not every tower in every city has the same resources/spells at hand...least not that they allow just anyone to have access to.

But no, I don't ever really feel the need to (nor am often asked to) explain myself for these kinds of "flavor" magics. A "rule-lawyer" kind of demand usually gets an eye roll, if anything. haha. thankfully, I haven't had to deal with one in a game in a very long time.

 

[jefgorbach]

Its perfectly normal for individuals to "fit" their environs so just as someone in a modern setting would be expected to use (but not build) things like cell phones, computers, and the like; it would be reasonable for individuals in a high-magic area to likewise routinely access certain effects without actually knowing "how" it works nor being able to replicate those effects if broken.

As far as your examples, most are either custom-researched effects unique to that person or refluffed existing spells. The PC's are free to roleplay studying the effect to research it themselves or simply politely inquire the user; the same as any other activity/skill.

1. tenser's floating disk, fly
2. archmage with ongoing clairvoyance effect using teleport/greater teleport
3. refluffed gaseous form spell
4. failed barskin spell or attempt to research such.
5. PCs usually dont know exactly what an NPC do/doesnt have so presume he has the neccessary cantrips.