Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jfdlsjfd" data-source="post: 8453043" data-attributes="member: 42856">Of course they don't have to be scientists or even rational.A staple of fantasy is that there are wizarding schools or places of knowledge where people are teaching magic. It implies that self-discovery, while possible (after all, you get 2 spells every level) isn't the only mean of progress or even the easier. Even in setting where organized teaching doesn't exist, a mentor/apprentice relationship is often the norm. Magic is not something you only study, it's something that's  transmissible.But you don't have to make it rational at all. Sure, we can all learn (regular) physics because everything works the same way, all the time, once circumstances are set, irrespective of the observer. So if you create a chemical reaction in London by mixing two elements, you'll observe the same reaction causeing the same effect in Athens. So you can actually teach something: what to do & what it does. Now... remove the last part about the rules being universe-wide and you can have really unhinged wizards. Have you read what the rules say about copying spells into your spellbook? It's taking a lot of time not because you're just copying, it's because you're adapting. No two wizard cast a spell the same way. What are they teaching, really, in this case?Contrary to physics, what happens depend on where you are. Wizard are spending all their time doing experiments... not to perfect their spells, but to adjust to the always fluctuating local conditions. In London, a fireball is two pinches of sulphur, one of bat guano and the invocation is chanted in a barytone voice. In Athens, if you do that, your tonsils inflate and you die, unable to breath. Fireballing in Athens is a stick of solid sulphur, standing on a drachma of guano at which you chant in a high-pitched voice. And yes, you need to measure a drachma. If you measures in grams, even if it's the same amount... well, nobody tried that, do you want to be the first? Wizards spend their time analyzing their local environment to adapt their spells so they can produce consistent results in a world where ley lines changes the fundamental properties of their art. Do they need to memorize spells? Are you thinking they are dumb enough to forget them every day? No, it's only that they can only localize a few of them overnight. And woe to you if you failed to take into account the phase of the moon, because sulphur is replaced with coal on the day new moon.When you get a wizard spellbook, you only get the spell as it was cast the day and place the wizard wrote it down first. Ever after, the wizards continually adapted it to its current situation, so you need to patch the spell up to your casting style, place and time and the spellcasting cost and time reflects to necessary changes you need to make to it.A low INT wizard can memorize fewer spells because doing all the measuring of the local rules take time if you must do it from scratch, while remembering huge catalogues of local rules will help. "We're east of a cemetery, but north of Athens and it's Friday... I've read something in Hogwarts, a History... I can reliably cast spells as if I were in Magdeburg under a heavy downpour in May. No need to measure everything by myself." Cantrips are just spells simple enough that they don't depend on external factors, so they can be cast at will, without any further consideration by a wizard. If wizards could get their hand on a supercomputer to offload their mental work, they'd be casting 9th level spells as cantrips.You can have your quicky wizard being focussed on noticing any mundane details just so his magic isn't made ineffective or dangerous. "Going to the tavern? No, not that one, it has a thatched roof and it's complicated to take into account. Let's rather have a drink in the horse manger, where we get a good view of Sirius." And yet, for him, it makes sense.</blockquote>

Verification