101 Ways to Cast a Spell

[dragonjek]

There are as many approaches to magic as there are stars in the sky. But, rather than making a different feat and class and archetype for each one, why not just describe the way in which your spellcaster works his magic? This is for thematics and style, not to fix the rules.

1. You make the motions and mouth the words--but anyone looking closely would see your shadow shaping different symbols, and would hear a faint second susurrus of sound, for it is through your shadow that you work your magic.

2. You spin webs, pulling in magic and weaving it into strands like an arcane spider, which you throw out into the world.

3. The words don't matter, the motions don't matter, so long as you think they do. They are tools to focus your will to the superhuman levels required to change the world.

4. Magic? You don't work magic. Everything is in your head, after all, and you are just changing them to be what you imagine it to be. No one else really exists. Solipsism? No sir.

5. You have nurtured the seed of magic in your soul since you began your training. When the time comes, you reach out and intone your thanks to the spirit within to pluck one of the fruits of the tree of magic to alter the world.


I thought it would be interesting to see what the internet could do with this, to make magic even *more* interesting.

[Redshirt Army]

Note: This is something I literally made up right now.

Deep within magician's souls live the V'stha, known as the "swarm". These bee-like creatures do not actually exist in the universe that is commonly perceived, but in a parallel reality. Skilled practitioners of magic are able to commune with the hive which took up residence within them, and command them to fetch the various nectars needed to change certain aspects of reality to their liking. Sorcerers are born with a hive bonded to them, whereas each wizard must undergo an arduous cleansing process that attracts the attention of the various hives.

[smasher0404]

Magic is the true language of the gods, a single word alters the planes, a gesture and a material form the basis for the language. Wizards and sorcerers learn this language and simply talk their way to victory, even a spell that is completely silenced powers through by speaking in one's thoughts.

[OracleofSilence]

By envisioning complex probability based equations and collapsing the potentiality of the universe in such a way to insure that some predefined event occurs.

By allowing fate itself to guide your actions, and directing the narrative force of reality in such a way as to insure its completion

By simple belief in one's self.

By using mystic/hermetic traditions, honed and refined through generations of individual and cultural work to tap into fundamental energy based interactions, and channeling the resulting force into a predefined form.

By harnessing a series of minute planar gates within oneself to mix and match elemental and spiritual forces to create spells similarly to the chemical equations of the alchemist or chemist.

[eggs]

One part schizophrenia, one part solipsism, two parts unreliable narration. :smalltongue:

[Yeturs]

A bureaucracy of demons and devils and other outsiders listens in on all mages, hearing the "Arcane" words they speak. This bureaucracy proceeds to bash on typewrites and submit the proposed changes upon reality to the council of the gods. Luckily for the mage, it is company policy to make all changes rendered real until a god shoots the idea down, usually about six seconds after the effect begins on the material plane. Most ideas get shot down, with a notable exception being the owlbear's genesis.

Some people have insider help, though. Demons who plug up the machines and slow the process or grind it to a halt, resulting in what humans call "Spell-resistance" or "Anti-magic fields"

As the mage's skill increases, so too does the length of his "revisions" to reality, forcing the God's to take longer to review them.

This works in reverse for Divine magic, causing quite a chaotic system...

[Ryu_Bonkosi]

Upside-down.

[Alleran]

Glyphs and runes that exist in the mind, keys to the mantle of natural energies in the world and universe surrounding you. Sketching the design of the rune in the air, "touching" it with your hand as if pushing a button, and speaking the word that embodies the rune to unlock its power.

[Moony--Doggy]

Magic exists in the very air around us. It is a part of all things. Wizards use words and gestures to carefully weave it into the desired effect. Sorcerers bluntly pull the magic from the area around them, and force it to become a spell with sheer force of will. Bards carefully coax it with the song of their souls. Clerics/Paladins are allowed to store an amount of magic within their body, granted to them by their Gods, to be blended with their own divine energies before being utilized. Druids/Rangers now the ways of the natural world around them, and draw the magic into themselves, to blend in with the wilds. Monks ki pools are drawn from their ability to understand the world around them, and allowing the magic to pass through them in a manner of osmosis. Even the rogues stealth is nearly supernatural, and their understand of traps allows them to diffuse the very essence of magical traps. Even Barbarians tap into the magic around them, taking on an animal-like ferocity, by embodying the fury of the beast spirits of their native lands.

[Venger]

Magic is the true language of the gods, a single word alters the planes, a gesture and a material form the basis for the language. Wizards and sorcerers learn this language and simply talk their way to victory, even a spell that is completely silenced powers through by speaking in one's thoughts.
truenaming ftw

By drawing on your own vitality. While a simple cantrip may make you feel as though you had simply held your breath for 30 seconds, more advanced magic makes you feel as though you had gone without sleep for days (thus explaining finite spells/day and the need for rest to replenish them)

While some harness magic by flashing gang signs (spc 245) you know that the power lies not in the hands, but in the feet. You cast spells by tap dancing.

[Chronos]

Magic flows in leylines between all things, from the stars and planets, through weather patterns, and even down to individual living creatures. But it's not enough simply to tap into the leylines-- They have to be connected and combined in precise patterns in order to work. And there are a combinatorically large number of leylines, but each one has a sharply limited amount of energy in it.

A spellbook uses specialized technical language to describe the pattern of lines necessary for each spell. When a wizard prepares her spells, she's calculating which leylines will be in close enough proximity to each other and to herself, for the upcoming day, to be able to combine in the appropriate patterns. For each copy of the same spell she prepares, she still has to find different sets of leylines to form the patterns, which may well include different verbal and somatic components for each one, that she has to remember-- Just making the exact same words and gestures again will do nothing, since those specific leylines have already been exhausted. Working out these patterns is very intellectually demanding, which is why Intelligence is important to wizards. As a wizard gains experience, she develops stronger connections to the leylines, and is able to combine them in more complicated patterns, giving access to more and higher-level spells.

Sorcerers use the same basic process, except that they don't have to calculate the patterns in advance: Rather, they've developed an instinctive sense for artistically combining the leylines on the fly. While a wizard could tell you at the beginning of the day what gestures she'd use for her first fireball of the day, the sorcerer couldn't tell you how he'd do his fireball until it came time to cast it, and would then find his hands just naturally flowing into the positions that felt right.

[The Bandicoot]

In the words of m DMPC Slice "the hell are you all going on about? Magic is magic, just another tool to keep me alive. I don't weave no webs, I don't chant no mantras. I just grab ahold of whatever component I need wnd CAST THE DAMN THING"

[Venger]

(ur-priests) Magic is wifi. The gods leave their networks unlocked. How am I supposed to not steal it? I take what I need and log off before they can figure it out. Stupid gods.