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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kinem" data-source="post: 5789563" data-attributes="member: 24234">If magic is to stimulate the imagination, it must be more than just another power source for doing the same things as everyone does.Here's my list of what magic should be able to do:- affect people's mindsCharm and compulsion spells, love potions, mind reading, and modifying someone's memory are a key part of magic's lore ... and lure.- fool peopleDisguises, invisibility, treasures and monsters that don't really exist ... illusions are indispensable.- do what mundane means never couldThis includes rapid healing of wounds, raising the dead, as well as things like finding something far away (like the compass in Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest).- be able to do things that REQUIRE more magic to undoThis includes things like curses, turning creatures to stone, or creating a portal to hell. Often this leads to quests to obtain the required magic.  A classic example is the witch in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe who used a wand to turn creatures to stone.This is a VERY important aspect of what makes magic important; without it, magic is simply NOT INTERESTING.This is why baleful polymorph in 3.5 is a cool spell, but "foe to frog" in 4E (which is a temporary inconvenience that could only matter in combat)  is a sickening embarrassment that would make baby Gygax cry.This may seem like I'm saying magic has to be powerful, but actually that's a seperate point. Even if baleful polymorph required that the victim had to be knocked unconcious first, which would make it totally suck, it would still be infinitely cooler than foe to frog.- be able to end fights without causing hit point damageThis should go without saying, but then 4E came along, so I'm saying it. Also, in other news, 1+1 = 2. A fight against a wizard should feel different than a fight against a warrior, and magic should not just be a means to allow the warrior to do his job, either.- be able to enhance warriorsProtection spells, enhancing the body, giving them items with deadly powers.- sometimes be unpredictableI don't know why water pools in caves sometimes turn into powerful magic pools with random effects, but I do know that encountering them in play can be quite entertaining.- be able to create monstersAnimating undead, building constucts, and crossbreeding or mutating creatures are classic uses for magic - and should be available to PCs too.- flavor the worldImagine living in the campaign setting. In some ways it's like medieval Earth; but magic is one important difference. Raising of the dead is one obviously important difference, if it exists, but there should be other things that matter to the way people live. Perhaps there is a large city supported by farmland in the middle of the desert; without the local druids, the crops would vanish. Perhaps illusion shows are a popular entertainment. Perhaps you can send a magical message to your relatives in a distant city.</blockquote>

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