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View Full Version : Idea for magic types: philosophical factions



Ichneumon
2009-09-26, 05:22 AM
So instead of dividing magic in devine or arcane, I thought about making the differences more ideological for in my homebrew campaign. What if there are no gods and magic is more like psionics in that it comes from within. Being one with your reasoning and emotions, while at the same time distantiating yourself from them is what gives you magical powers. You fuel your magical ability by either embracing your logical or emotional side. Which side this is, is the difference between the 2 factions. Both factions have an entire philosophy on why logic or emotion would be superior. The irony though is that the "Emotion"faction's ideology is mostly based on logical arguments on why emotions need to be embraces, while the "logical"faction's ideas are more based around the "feeling" that life would be horrible if everybody would let their actions be guided by emotions and not logic.

What do you think?

Jair Barik
2009-09-26, 06:09 AM
I think thats similar to the basis of the Ardent. Powers derived from a persons philosophical views. Its an interesting concept, are you intending to make a new magic system around it or just use it as a way of defining why people cast spells?

The Witch-King
2009-09-26, 06:38 AM
I like it--but wouldn't it be better with more than two factions? You could divide the emotions camp by which emotion they think is best (or at least provides the most power) and you could divide the logic camp by their intellectual philosophies.

Ichneumon
2009-09-26, 08:22 AM
I think thats similar to the basis of the Ardent. Powers derived from a persons philosophical views. Its an interesting concept, are you intending to make a new magic system around it or just use it as a way of defining why people cast spells?

Currently I am just looking for ways to make my campaign setting interesting and non-standard, so creating an entire new magic system is possible and certainly worth considering, but not at the moment.


I like it--but wouldn't it be better with more than two factions? You could divide the emotions camp by which emotion they think is best (or at least provides the most power) and you could divide the logic camp by their intellectual philosophies.

That is certainly interesting. What about 2 main factions with each factions devided in schools. Certainly a good idea.