D&D General What does "magic" mean? [Read carefully, you can't change your vote]

[Eyes of Nine]

To my mind, Magic is essentially, the codified explanation for all of the things in any given setting that couldn't exist in the real world, its generally a 'thing' with many points of contact and many dimensions to it that have been designed to create a certain kind of world-feel and implications. The design might be explicit, like in hard magic systems, or it might be implied as is usually the case with soft magic systems. People can use it (spells, magic items) but it also exists naturally in the world (something like a dragon's naturally abilities, for instance.)

It serves to heighten one's suspension of disbelief by lubricating the impossibility of the stories with a 'rational' explanation that operates to create cause and effect, without worrying too hard about believe-ability (contrast with sci-fi, which traditionally makes small changes to the laws of physics, but tries to operate within real world ideas.)

Whats weird and interesting, is that we have 'magic' and 'Magic' lower case is things that are can be identified descriptively as magic because they exist in that 'rational explanation for the irrational' space of holding up the fantasy elements, but upper case can also be used to refer to a specific kind of magic in a world with 'competing magic systems' like psionics, which are totally magic, but aren't Magic, simply to show that its a different, competing system.

You said what I wanted to say, but better.

 

[Umbran]

The word "magic" is used in several different contexts, and which definition applies will depend on the context. What counts as magic for purposes of an Antimagic Field spell is different from what counts as magic as far as a commoner in the Village of Hommlet thinks about it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I’m definitely somewhere in the middle set. Psionics is definitely magic. Giants’ bones (to use @Oofta s example upthread) definitely aren’t.

I can kinda see the argument for giants being “magic” but I cannot fathom how anyone could view psionics as non-magical.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I’m definitely somewhere in the middle set. Psionics is definitely magic. Giants’ bones (to use @Oofta s example upthread) definitely aren’t.

I can kinda see the argument for giants being “magic” but I cannot fathom how anyone could view psionics as non-magical.

Traditionally, it was all about where the power comes from. Magic is about controlling external forces, while psionics springs from within. Now, it doesn't have to be that way, if course, but that's the interpretation I prefer.

 

[Deset Gled]

3e had a sort of classification about this, and it was a fairly good idea, the main drawback being that it was complicated and created a lot of technical tags.

I found 3.Xe's system to be very useful. I didn't find it to be overly complicated to play with, but it was something the game designers had to keep track of. I often read things in 5e and find myself saying "I wish this had an Ex, Su, or SL classification".

 

[Lanefan]

"Unique and special snowflake" is the closest the poll will let me get to my (game-related) definition:

Magic is a force of physics; along with gravity, strong and weak electromagnetism, and the other one which I don't remember right now.

Any and all "fantastic" (i.e. not found in the real world, past or present) creatures cannot survive in places where this force does not exist; and there's one particular element on the periodic table which suppresses its existence. Earth is one such place where that element exists and thus magic does not.

Some creatures can in various ways access this force, gather a bit of it, and shape it to their will. Spellcasting, psionics, "supernatural" abilities, divine powers, etc. are all just different versions of this access-and-shape process. Magic isn't always all that stable, however, which is how-why wild magic areas exist and how-why releasing magic in a manner unintended (e.g. by breaking an enchanted item or interrupting a spell in mid-casting) can sometimes lead to very unpredictable results.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Snowflake.

It is nebulous concept, especially in a worlds that are inherently magical. In real wold magic seems to refer to things that are not part of the 'normal physics' of the world, I.e. supernatural. We had discussion about word 'supernatural' in some thread a while back, and it has problems in world which is magical by nature. Perhaps in a magical world asking 'what's magic' would be like asking 'what's physics' in the real world?

But in general sense working magic is 'hacking' the reality in some way. Making things do something they otherwise wouldn't. So yeah, casting spells is obviously magic, as are innate spell-like effects and psionics is definitely is magic too. ("Can you do magic?" "No, I just can read thoughts and make things levitate using the power of my mind." "That's magic!")

Also, I think there is some distinction between doing magic and being magical. Magic items or some weird creatures can be magical, but they don't necessarily actively do magic.

In any case, I don't think it is an important question at all. Metaphysics can work differently in different settings and people in the setting will definitely use the language imprecisely anyway.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

I consider anything that wouldn't be possible on Real Earth as magic. So, next to spells and items, that includes at least telepathy, the abilities of some monsters that aren't explicitely mentioned as spells, such as the ability to go invisible (e.g. Quasit), teleport (e.g. Marilith). It probably would include psionics (but I try to keep psionics out of our campaigns because I think it's a bit "Meh"... but that's a personal opinion that I enjoy sharing but should be considered irrelevant here. ).

 

[Yora]

I can't think of any supernatural effects in D&D that wouldn't be magic.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

In any case, I don't think it is an important question at all. Metaphysics can work differently in different settings and people in the setting will definitely use the language imprecisely anyway.

Well, for an example of where it becomes important: Are Fighters "magic"?

They don't cast spells. But they're certainly able to take punishment they should not be able to do so if they lived by Earth physics, at least in every edition of D&D I know of. They can pull off some actions or feats that border on physically impossible, and all it takes is some training to be world-class best at at least one or two tricks.

But if you call Fighters "magic" quite a few folks have a conniption fit. Fighters getting anything that even looks vaguely like "magic" is often anathema. Many folks--even those who see "supernatural" as encompassing a much broader space than just "magic"--get super wary about allowing any recognition of certain classes as doing anything beyond the limits of mundanity.