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

[EzekielRaiden]

This has come up plenty in various threads and forums I've participated in. Obviously not scientific, but it's the best we can do. Keep in mind, unlike most polls on this forum, you CANNOT change your vote after voting, nor can you view the results until you have voted.

By "spells/etc." I am referring to all of: actual spellcasting, magic items that cast spells (such as scrolls or wands), and magic items created through the use of spells (e.g. 3.5e/PF's crafting system, where explicit spellcasting is needed in order to craft most "magic" items). I am NOT referring to similar but distinct systems (such as psionics, Truenaming, spiritualism, etc.) that are not formally spells or the aforementioned items that produce or are produced by spellcasting.

Edit: Since more than one person has asked, if your answer would depend on whether the question is asked with regard to some specific system, or asked generically, please choose whichever of those two answers is most natural for you. If your first thought on reading this post was, "It depends on the edition/game in question," then you should probably answer based on rules of some kind (or use option 6). If your instinctive response was to consider the thematics and concept of magic generally without reference to rules, then let that guide your answer. And if you really, truly cannot settle on one or the other, again, that's what option 6 is for--your answer cannot be confined by the given limits because the question isn't sufficiently defined for you.

 

[HammerMan]

I have always believed that not all supernatural things should count as magic.

 

[Mind of tempest]

now, this is a difficult one.

 

[Scribe]

By "spells/etc." I am referring to all of: actual spellcasting, magic items that cast spells (such as scrolls or wands), and magic items created through the use of spells (e.g. 3.5e/PF's crafting system, where explicit spellcasting is needed in order to craft most "magic" items).

Given this.

I am NOT referring to similar but distinct systems (such as psionics, Truenaming, spiritualism, etc.) that are not formally spells or the aforementioned items that produce or are produced by spellcasting.

And then given this.

The only answer to me is:

• "Magic" is ONLY spells/items made with spells (e.g. it excludes psionics/spirits/paranormal/etc.)

 

[EzekielRaiden]

now, this is a difficult one.

Yeah, that was more or less the intent.

I find a lot of conversations on this topic hit a hitch because some people use "magic" as a shorthand for "supernatural." That is, everyone agrees magic is supernatural, but some folks also think that if it's supernatural it's magic, so the two are perfect synonyms. Other folks see it as "magic" is a subset of "supernatural," but disagree on whether "magic" is most supernatural things, some supernatural things, or just a very narrow slice.

This is of course not helped by the fact that a lot of people use the terms very casually while others use them very formally.

 

[Charlaquin]

Are you asking what the actual rule is or what we think it ought to be?

 

[MatthewJHanson]

For what purposes?

For the purpose of how I think of a fictional world, I would say anything that breaks the laws of physics to be magic. So a spider as large as a horse would be magic. (It would collapse under its own weight.)

For the purposes of D&D rules, like whether an antimagic field spell negates it or it bypasses resistance against non-magical weapons, my answer is much narrower.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Magic to me is only spells/items made with spells or other magic such as druidic, arcane, clerical, draconic magic etc which excludes psionics, spirits or paranormal activities.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Are you asking what the actual rule is or what we think it ought to be?

Frankly? However you prefer to answer the question. Seriously. If your gut answer is to go to the rules of your favorite edition to determine it, then do that. If your gut answer is thematic, then do that.

For what purposes?

For the purpose of how I think of a fictional world, I would say anything that breaks the laws of physics to be magic. So a spider as large as a horse would be magic. (It would collapse under its own weight.)

For the purposes of D&D rules, like whether an antimagic field spell negates it or it bypasses resistance against non-magical weapons, my answer is much narrower.

And which would be your gut answer, the thing you would act to do first if someone casually asked you the question? Would you immediately say "well, it depends on the edition," or would you say "the way I see it..."?

 

[Oofta]

Supernatural is just magic by another name and vice versa for me.

Some things like anti magic zone specifically counter what I would call constructed magic but not inherent magic. So spells and crafted magic items are constructed, dragons are not.

At one point I had areas of "dead" magic (no magic at all) and a giant walked in only to collapse as all his bones broke.