D&D 5E World building: magical trends

[Nevvur]

In anticipation of launching a new campaign, I've been reviewing and updating setting documents for the homebrew world I started building a few years ago. An interesting trend emerged as I considered the role magic has played in forming the disparate societies of this world. Namely, that tribal and nomadic societies tend to prefer 'nature magic' (druids, shamans, etc.) while sedentary civilizations focus more on the arcane and divine traditions of magic. This appears to be the case not only in my homebrew world, but across most of the fantasy genre as well.

The reason for it feels obvious, almost self-explanatory. The uncivilized folk are closer to nature, so clearly they prefer nature-based magic. Divine and arcane magic supposes the need for certain social structures to support their instruction. Magic as an inborn trait (Sorcerers, in 5e) is a bit of an outlier, but while it seems equally suited to nomadic and sedentary civilizations, most fictional characters who express magic in this way come from the latter.

What I find of particular interest in all this is how it reinforces the idea that magic is a substitute for technology in the fantasy genre. More 'complex' magic requires a more advanced society. There are certainly exceptions to this on an individual level. It's perfectly reasonable to treat as a bard a magic user who uses primal chants and drums in his expression of magic, or for a wizard to be some wild outlander hermit with a 'spellbook' consisting of primitive glyphs etched into runestones.

The reason I share these observations is to solicit examples from other DMs (or players given the latitude) who bucked tradition and developed entire societies with a relationship to magic contrary to the 'standard' described above. More broadly, I'm also interested to hear details about the origin and evolution of magic in your worlds where they deviate from stock cosmologies ("the Weave," etc).

 

[Ath-kethin]

In a world without gods, what is the source of "divine" magic?

I think you can do a lot just by investigating your answer to that question. For example, Eberron had religions, not gods, so divine magic came from some "font of faith" or something and was not bestowed by really powerful monsters looking to spread the love (which is really all D&D "gods" are).

In the old 1e and 2e Lankhmar sets, there as no such thing as "divine" and "arcane" magic, there was "white" and "black" magic. That is one approach, though a rather more complex one now that all classes are the same spell pool. Though I suppose one could argue that "divine" casters learned a way to use the same magics as "white" magic.

In the Dungeon Crawl Classics game, all magic is granted for use by mortals from another entity. So clerics have their gods, but wizards also need to find a patron to grant them power.

In Primeval Thule, magic went through five iterations (though still following the pattern you described). It posits that magic is inherently nonhuman, and humans have to work hard to make any kind of magic function. The earliest for of magic developed by humans was animism (nature magic, if you will), the magic of barbarians and rangers and druids and shamans. Then came divine magic, inspired by and provided by God's (this setting still uses the standard "really powerful monsters handing down power" approach). Then the humans sought out secrets of prehuman civilizations, which was arcane magic (wizardry). Some underwent rituals that changed their very bodies and minds (sorcery). And finally, some directly sought power by making deals with malicious otherworldly entities (Thule incorporates Cthulian Great Old Ones and such) - this is called Theurgy and is the way of the warlock.

For my taste, I jettisoned the distinction between arcane and divine magic. From an operational standpoint, there is no difference; a person performing miracles is a person performing miracles. I run campaigns in the Primeval Thule setting, with modifications, so my baseline is what I described above, but I also don't allow full casters aside from the warlock. I treat the pantheons of gods as religions, not literal entities, though the Great Old Ones are real enough - they just don't for a second care about mortals.

Just some thoughts. I hope it does something for you.

 

[Voi_D_ragon]

The reason I share these observations is to solicit examples from other DMs (or players given the latitude) who bucked tradition and developed entire societies with a relationship to magic contrary to the 'standard' described above. More broadly, I'm also interested to hear details about the origin and evolution of magic in your worlds where they deviate from stock cosmologies ("the Weave," etc).

Haven't quite actually changed any of the societal standards for magic, and in my world magic does indeed come from the Weave, but I decided to make an origin story for it as well:

TL;DR: the guy that created the universe broke his body down into the Weave to trap his ancient enemy and so his minions could shape the world as they saw fit

In the beginning, there existed only Cthulhu and Uhluhtuc, primordial forces of destruction and creation.
As Uhluhtuc created the planes of the multiverse, Cthulhu slumbered, knowing his time would come. Once Uhluhtuc had finished his grand work, Cthulhu, sensing there now existed something for him to consume, awoke and fed upon the universe, grinding its matter to nothingness and turning its souls into lesser versions of himself, each gnawed by an insatiable hunger for all things material.
Each plane was connected to all the others by an astoundingly complex system of portals-through these, Cthulhu's entities swarmed, gaining form and substance as they entered the material world from the void beyond, and though the forces of whatever races existed in those ages past fought valiantly, they could not resist the endless onslaught of Cthulhu's children, much less the Force of destruction himself, and were eventually consumed after years of battle-the entities destroyed in the war replaced by those born of the newly devoured souls.
So this cycle of creation and destruction continued uninterrupted for eons, leaving behind an infinite expanse of emptiness where dark entities writhed, forever ready to pounce on Uhluhtuc's latest creation.
After the destruction of his most recent multiverse, Uhluhtuc as always moved onward, and was about to commence yet another of his works when he sensed something; pausing, he listened, and was hit by a sensation similar to hearing an echo of a familiar voice. Slowly, he realized: what he felt were residual traces of energy, his creative energy, tenaciously resonating from the empty void where his first multiverse had been born and accompanied by the undercurrent of its death screams.
In that moment, seeing the suffering of his creations frozen in eternity, he decided he would no longer stand to watch Cthulhu devour the fruits of his work: he would break the cycle of destruction, allowing his children to live in peace for all of time. And so Uhluhtuc began creating his last multiverse, carefully structuring it so that his plan would work when the need arose: instead of connecting the planes to each other as he previously had, he connected every one to a single transition plane, which would later become known as Sigil, City of doors. By doing this, Uhluhtuc ensured that anyone traveling from one plane to another would have to pass through the transition plane, which would slow down Cthulhu's eventual invasion, but would not be enough to halt it for good. Uhlutuc then proceeded to create six devices, installed in different planes, which would amplify and divide his power, creating a web that would wrap itself around the multiverse, allowing its inhabitants to tap into Uhluhtuc's power and shape their world as they saw fit. These devices, which would later be known as Weave Spinners, remained dormant, for at the moment they lacked a source of energy powerful enough to make them function. Uhluhtuc then created one last portal, leaving it sealed and under the care of his minions (which would eventually become the gods of the multiverse), and proceeded to end his existence.
Or rather, to will himself into a different form of existence, splitting himself into six parts, each now unconscious but brimming with energy that poured out into the surrounding world. Uhluhtuc's servants then brought their creator's new forms to the devices he had previously constructed, allowing them to become active. Their energy, however, remained sealed away, to be released during the final stage of the plan.
In the Far Realms, among the shattered remains of the previous multiverse, Cthulhu grew restless, for he sensed his brother was no longer in the act of creating new substances to be devoured, but still his presence lingered in the vicinity of his latest work. Ravenously, Cthulhu called out to Uhluhtuc, urging him to move on so his feast could begin. This was the signal the gods had waited for: they opened the new multiverse's final portal, ushering in the primordial Force of destruction.
Though Cthulhu was taken aback by the fact that Uhluhtuc had stayed to witness his meal, the fact that he was being summoned to this latest multiverse rather than being made to travel through countless centuries an across infinite expanses to reach it, as was usually the case, appealed to him very much, and he hurried through the portal to reach his food, appearing in the center of Sigil; two things happened then: Uhluhtuc's Weave Spinners were unsealed and the multiverse, though not as perfectly as its creator had intended, was rendered safe.
Uhluhtuc's Weave Spinners, once activated by the gods, shot out a myriad of strands of power, each originating from Uhluhtuc's fragment within. These strands converged upon Cthulhu, wrapping themselves around his form and binding him in place. The Force of Destruction struggled, but in a world governed by the laws his brother had created, he was powerless against the strength of the Force of Creation; nonetheless, as the strands of the Weave wrapped round and round him before shooting out to the furthest reaches of the multiverse and beyond, Cthulhu's thrashing brought destruction to his brother's work: whole sections of Weave were torn away or deviated from their intended places, creating holes, tears, and knots in the Weave, which would eventually come to be known as areas of dead magic and wild magic. But ultimately, Cthulhu was restrained and hidden under endless strands of magic, creative energy, and the gods proceeded to continue molding the world as they saw fit, each following a different aspect of existence, creating races and places as they saw fit. This has brought the multiverse to the state it is currently in.

 

[steeldragons]

I don't know how "bucking of tradition" it is, but my homebrew world has (and has had for decades, almost since its inception) and acknowledges therre are three distinct kinds of magic that exist in the world. Each coming from or existing in its own particular source and its own particular interaction with/from the world.

The magic of the clerics (and paladins) and used by institutional religion, called "Divine" Magic by those knowledgeable about such things. The prayers, spells, and invocations used in Divine Magic are spoken in the near-dead language of the former (not destroyed) empire. This is "outside" magic. Namely, it is not inherent to the individual -though the modes for harnessing and directing/channeling it may be easier to grasp and control for some than others, i.e. Higher Wisdom = higher capacity/facility to use divine magic- but is a mere spark or shard of the "essence" of the infinite and immortal granted/gifted from or, more accurately, "shown" or "lent to" the caster from a divine entity. In my setting, this must be a deity of some rank -greater (any/all spells), lesser (6th level spell max), or demi- (for up to 3rd level spells). The energy is external to the caster and not theirs/at their fingertips. They are merely the conduit for the magic (essence) of the gods slipping into the world and molding things/reality (the spell) to a specific outcome/instance.

The magic of the mages (wizards and subclass/specialists of all types) is called the "Arcane" Magic. It is a part of the cosmos, permeating the universe and everything in it. It ebbs and flows, having more readily available means of connecting to and controlling it in some places (and worlds) than lesser available -or non-existent- ones in other places. But it is readily "mold-able" I suppose, for lack of a better term, with the proper incantation, gestures, through specific -sometimes even improvised- formulae (spells) or ritual -to generate energy or illusion, change one thing into another, bring things from other planes -or transverse the planes themselves, even skirt the line between life and death. Its uses are nearly endless and the ultimate use of its power -really- barely conceivable by most mortals. Those with a higher intelligence are assured a higher degree of comprehension (can learn higher spells) and facility in harnessing and directing these energies, learning and recalling and properly activating the intricate syllables and discreet motions, and reliably replicate them with the successful outcomes (i.e. desired spell effect) that constantly flow about and through -over and under- the world...effecting everything and everyone in it without their slightest notice. To the extent these ever-present energies can be codified -countless civilizations across countless worlds have devised different means of utilizing them with varying degrees of success: making music or other primal vocalizations, carving runes and other mystical alphabets, ceremonies, dreams, specific rhymes, the use of specially prepared items or foci to "catch" and direct the magic. The methods are far from exhausted. - on the world of Orea, the instruction and affectation of using Arcane magic is conducted -most commonly and easily- by the learned in the Arkanic tongue. Who first devised it? Any number of myths exist, though the most commonly accepted legend is that it was passed down from the first most ancient and powerful of Dragons, the Children of Zho, the first creatures in existence to independently control/wield these energies. From there it was merged with the magics of the Titans. From there, it was taught or passed (or some say stolen!) by the first Elves in the dawn of the world before Men, and after great amounts of time, eventually, bits and pieces of it ended up in the ears and hands and mouths of human magi who have been teaching it -master to apprentice- ever since.

The third distinct energies of the world for the..."core," for lack of a better term, of existence. This is the energy of life the batteries that sustain the physical, material, natural world. It comes as no surprise, I am sure, that it is referenced as "Nature" Magic. This is the magic of the druids (a single continental hierarchical organization, the world's original "priests"- instructed by the beneficent titans who served the elder goddess Llyndra before she discorporated in the destruction of the World-as-it-was-known. Now an all but secret society revering the natural world above and instead of any "Gods of Man." They are considered "godless heathens," marginalized and distrusted in most "civilized" lands. While the undisputed grand masters of "Nature" magic, there are many other than Druids of the Ancient Order who tap into the ever-present..."radiation" is a good way of thinking about it...of Nature. It is also the purview of shamans, witches, bards, and accessed by many fae, elemental, sylvan, and other innately magical creatures. Each with their own particular way of harnessing and directing the energy emanating from the world and the elemental forces and living things which comprise it. The druids, for their part, utilize a primordial language, taught to the first Green Men in the times when humans first appeared (the elves had learned it long before that). Today it is simply known as the "Druidic" tongue and is neither taught nor known to anyone outside of the order. It is said that the primeval power of the cryptic tongue defies reason and will rend the minds of any uninitiated unfortunate enough to hear it. With their incantations and invocations, distinct from those of either Divine or Arcane magic, they can duplicate some effects of both. But their true powers lie in harnessing the growing green, the beasts, the cardinal elements, and the storm.

The types of magic are typically instructed to the neophytes with the analogy of "The Sun (or Stars), the Wind, and the Tree (or Stone/Earth)." The light, heat, and energy of the Sun is something that you are only granted at certain times in certain instances (you have to be standing in the sunlight, for example to reap its benefits). The Divine Magic Sun shines down, above and beyond mortals, effective only when the deity supplying them is "listening"/paying attention/has been "satisfied" (as by the proper invocation) by their servant. The moving flowing air all around us, sometimes a whisper, sometimes a hurricane. Fan it or block it for more or less. Hold it. Breathe it. Change its temperature. The Winds of Arcane magic flow around and through all things in the [multi-]universe. The growing thing that provides sustenance and protection, drawing strength from the ground and the sun and the water to increase. The birds and beasts are drawn to and flourish in it. From it all manner of uses are possible and even in destruction, it shall eventually rise anew. This Tree of Nature Magic eminates life, beauty, strength and renewal.

Or, as I've often cliffnoted it, "Divine is like a source of light, coming from outside. Arcane is like the air/wind, moving through. Nature is like a radiation, emitting from/coming from within."

 

[Nevvur]

Thanks for sharing to those who have responded so far! I'm not surprised to see the long explanations about how magic works in your worlds. Combined, the documents I wrote detailing the cosmology and magic systems in my world clock in at about 5500 words. It's not the sort of thing I expect my players to read, but it's there and I guess that's something?

All those pages began as an attempt to explain why different classes use different ability scores for spellcasting. It quickly turned into a history of magic since the dawn of sapience. Worth noting that all the PC races evolved from animals naturally, and developed sapience at about the same rate as humans on Earth. Magic sort of sprung into existence alongside sapience for reasons. I'd just rather not begin restating those 5500 words.

I will share that for most of the existence of sapient species, magic was so rare as to be nonexistent except in the imagination. There were maybe a hundred or so people over the course of 200,000 years who could manifest an actual magic effect. That changed about 1,000 years prior to the "present day." The reason for this paradigm was my own difficulty in imagining how society and culture would evolve in the presence of magic if it were there in all its glory since the days of prehistory. 1,000 years is still a long time for the weirdness of magic to reshape an otherwise Earth-like trajectory of civilization, but is at least more manageable in my mind.

 

[cbwjm]

Just some quick notes on a world I was developing. I use arcane, nature, and divine magic. The elves used nature magic exclusively until the secrets of the arcane were stolen from dragon creating the first sorcerers who later codified the magic into wizardry. Later (borrowed heavily from WoW) there was a split civil war between the arcane and nature casters and the arcane elves were driven out and most of the remaining arcane artifacts and tomes were destroyed or locked away (this provided a distinction between the high and wood elves).

Humans, goblins/hobgoblins, and dwarves used divine magic initially. Dwarves, a new race, gained access to the forge domain receiving this gift from a connection to their mysterious creator. Humans and goblins had shamans (homebrew cleric domain I was working on).

Later, humans gained access to wizardry due to the tutelage of a renegade wood elf who delved into arcane magic and was cast out. He taught the human tribes who had moved up from the south arcane magic and, incidentally, fathered the first half elves.

The signature of champions.

 

[Yaarel]

More useful ways of organizing magic are:

Life magic (healing, animals, plants, nature spirits)
Elemental magic (earth, water, air, fire, alchemy)
Force magic (light, void, telekinesis, teleportation, force damage, quasi-real force constructs)
Mind magic (telepathy, empathy, knowledge, charm, fear, suggestion, phantasm, psionics, will, luck, fate)

Each mage tends to focus on one or two out of these four ‘sciences’. Specialists tend to emphasize one of the ‘domains’ within a science, such as Healing magic or Fire magic.




Dividing magic by ‘arcane’ or ‘divine’ seems useless to me, especially when they cast the same spells. I much prefer organizing magic by themes and tropes.

 

[Oofta]

In my campaign, magic permeates the world as aether. Always present, always around us but only a few have the ability to focus the power so that it can affect the material world. Some creatures such as dragons have evolved to to channel the aether giving them their supernatural abilities.

So called "pure" magic if you can unleash it isn't of much use although it can be quite destructive. Similar to how lightning strikes can be quite damaging while electricity powers our world.

Adventurers are good at good at manipulating aether in quick bursts of power while others are more like craftsmen building to their goal slowly. Since magic permeates everything, many people use magic without even realizing it. The smith hums a little tune while forging tools and they don't rust easily. The baker recites a small incantation and their pastries really are magically delicious and so on. Ritualists or groups of people working in a coordinated effort can sometimes do magic far beyond that normally possible by even high level mages.

Since the aether can be manipulated in such a way, things that are close enough to living can sometimes be given that "spark of life" and transform themselves, usually with non-beneficial outcomes. This is why my world doesn't have techno-magic like Eberron, it's simply too dangerous. If you tried to create something like a threshing machine powered by magic, it could develop a will of it's own and decide that it was tired of harvesting wheat and might instead try harvesting humans.

There are some that believe that the gods are not truly "real" in the sense that they created mankind or the world. Instead, every time someone prays they make small manipulations to the aether and help form deities. The more followers a deity has (or had in some cases) the more powerful, coherent and able to affect the material realm that deity is. So instead of the gods creating mankind, mankind created the gods.

So there is really no difference between the schools of magic, it's simply different ways that people have learned to focus and manipulate the aether.

 

[Nevvur]

In my campaign, magic permeates the world as aether. Always present, always around us but only a few have the ability to focus the power so that it can affect the material world. Some creatures such as dragons have evolved to to channel the aether giving them their supernatural abilities.

So called "pure" magic if you can unleash it isn't of much use although it can be quite destructive. Similar to how lightning strikes can be quite damaging while electricity powers our world.

Adventurers are good at good at manipulating aether in quick bursts of power while others are more like craftsmen building to their goal slowly. Since magic permeates everything, many people use magic without even realizing it. The smith hums a little tune while forging tools and they don't rust easily. The baker recites a small incantation and their pastries really are magically delicious and so on. Ritualists or groups of people working in a coordinated effort can sometimes do magic far beyond that normally possible by even high level mages.

Since the aether can be manipulated in such a way, things that are close enough to living can sometimes be given that "spark of life" and transform themselves, usually with non-beneficial outcomes. This is why my world doesn't have techno-magic like Eberron, it's simply too dangerous. If you tried to create something like a threshing machine powered by magic, it could develop a will of it's own and decide that it was tired of harvesting wheat and might instead try harvesting humans.

There are some that believe that the gods are not truly "real" in the sense that they created mankind or the world. Instead, every time someone prays they make small manipulations to the aether and help form deities. The more followers a deity has (or had in some cases) the more powerful, coherent and able to affect the material realm that deity is. So instead of the gods creating mankind, mankind created the gods.

So there is really no difference between the schools of magic, it's simply different ways that people have learned to focus and manipulate the aether.

This sounds very similar to my cosmology. It's heavily based on the concept of thought-forms, as I had been inspired by Pratchett's Small Gods and Gaiman's American Gods when I set out to develop my setting.

One major difference is that unintentional spellcasting, as in your example with the smith and baker, isn't really a thing. Also, magic items inherently possess a degree of intelligence rather than a chance of developing it, though common ones are closer to a single bug in terms of intellect, and not really able to communicate with or resist their wielder.

Your last remark pretty much captures the essence of magic in my world, too. When I use the terms arcane, divine, and nature magic, I do it more for their accessibility to my audience than for their applicability in my setting. What really distinguishes the different types of magic are the state of mind of the caster as they shape the energy of magic. Intelligence based casters perform intense visualizations and process mental algorithms, Wisdom casters require clarity of mind and intuition, and Charisma casters shape it through force of will. I should also note that Warlocks are Int casters and Paladins are Wis casters in my world.

 

[DireHammer]

In my 2e Nordic campaigns wizards actually owed their power to the more "primitive" Northmen. Southmen (based on Greek, Egyptian, and other ancient civilizations) practiced a more free-form, but ultimately limited (in some ways) form of magic.

In 1e and 2e magic worked much differently, it was more difficult to master and in my opinion more satisfying. A wizard in 2e required 10 minutes per spell level (15 minutes in 1e) to memorize a single spell, meaning memorizing JUST fireball required a 30 minute time investment.

This mechanic meshed very well with runes. I ruled that instead of memorizing spells and then forgetting them when cast a magic-user instead would spend time empowering a rune and when cast that power is simply spent. Thus, the barbaric magic-users followed the RAW much more closely (though different thematically) than did civilized magic-users.

Civilized magic users were much further afield than were barbarians. While they "could" learn runes (and many adventurers did because they're very handy in an adventuring environment) they also could learn a spell as a potion (requiring a much longer time to create than a rune, but being able to be used by anyone), an incantation (requiring 1 round per spell level to cast but not requiring preparation), scrolls (working very similar to runes, but less convenient and easily destroyed), or astronomical (only can be cast when the stars are right, but with far more power.)

Clerical magic was available to both, but the spell lists were different due to the sphere system 2e used. Barbarian gods tended to be far more elemental and were more likely to smite your foes with lightning from the sky than heal you and your allies after a battle. I also would assign some of a cleric's spells rather than letting him choose. I wouldn't do this every time, but maybe when the cleric prayed for spells he received a slow poison spell unexpectedly in place of another spell he had requested. This served a purpose of giving an omen or premonition for what lays ahead. If I give you slow poison you can bet there's a venomous creature in your future, act accordingly.

Druidic magic was elf-only. Elves were magical and all elves were druids or multi-classed druids, and ONLY elves could be druids. Essentially the druid became the elf class. The ability to shapechange (not available until 7th level in 2e) was a sign that the elf had ascended to a higher state of being and was now counted among the nobility.

I just recently bought 5e books due to it becoming harder and harder to find old school gamers. 5e doesn't fit my game world or style very well and I'm not quite sure on how I'm going to make it fit but I'm working on it. Wild shape is especially troublesome, 2nd level is just WAY too early for such a powerful ability. Every edition of D&D magic becomes more and more pronounced and "mundane," adapting my world to 5e may not be possible.