Laws of Magic?

[soldersbushwack]

I am playing a Lawful Evil Arcana Domain Cleric of Azuth (god of magic practioners) in the setting of Forgotten Realms. He uses Magic Initiate to get Shillelagh and also has Green-Flame Blade due to Arcana Domain features. He is going to be a Judge Dreddesque character running around bashing people with a Shillelagh empowered Green-Flame Bladed truncheon to enforce his cult's "Laws of Magic." The only problem with this character is that I don't know really what sort of "Laws of Magic" his cult would have in the first place. I do know that the Laws of Magic are going to be Lawful Evil in nature and focused more on fear of chaos then causing good outcomes though.

So, what would you imagine a religious cult dedicated to Azuth would have for their "Laws of Magic?"

[Regitnui]

Unashamedly stolen from Dresden Files.

1. Thou shalt not kill.

Really self-explanatory. Wardens use magic to disable their quarry, but a sword to do the actual killing, because actively ending another's life with magic leaves a stain on the soul. You can't do magic you don't believe in, and if you believed it was your right to kill someone, that's a slippery slope. They only allow a slight leniency in case of self-defense. It also doesn't apply to.l nonhumans. That could be any non humanoid or any being without alignment choice.

2. Never transform another

Bye, bye, polymorph. No, seriously, self-transformation a lá druidic wild shape is OK. Transformation of the willing skirts the edge of the Law. Transforming the unwilling is breaking it. The reason is simply that a human mind is meant for a human body. Putting a human mind in a frog body puts terrible strain on the mind.

3. Never invade the thoughts of another.

Detect thoughts and die. Seriously, though, when you mess with another's mind, there's a mark left. It doesn't matter what you did, there's a some broken hinge or interrupted thought, or at the very least a sense of violation.

4. Never enthrall another.

What? Suggestion? Never heard of it. Seriously though, this is a counterpart to the second Law. Messing with the mind creates the same problem as messing with the body. Change someone's mind and there's a damn good chance you broke something, just because humans can't understand another's mind completely. Change someone's aversion to broccoli, and they're still going to remember hating the stuff. Cognitive dissonance ahoy.

5. Do not reach beyond the borders of life.

Necromancy, the entire school of spells, is a no-go. Reanimating the dead breaks a Law of Reality; death is a one way trip. Messing with that brings all sorts of unpleasant attention and weakens the fabric of reality just a little bit more. Of course, animal corpses are skirting the line, but it's a dark, dark grey. This gives your temple a great excuse to hunt down liches and mummies, while also seeming like jerks trying to force everyone to sign a collective DNR.

6. Never swim against the currents of time.

Time travel is wrong. Thankfully, I can't think of any D&D spells that allow such things without major headaches of their own. This is one that might be easier to enforce than the others.

7. Never seek to open the Outer Gates.

Outside. Outside reality hide... things that want nothing more than to disassemble life and reality as we know it. Our cosy existence is an aberration to them. Coincidentally, the Outside of the Dresden Files corresponds nicely to the Far Realm/Xoriat of the Great Wheel. A lot of aberrations come from or are influenced by the Far Realm, most notably in Eberron where the Daelkyr overlords are already on the material plane, having destroyed one civilization as a 'work of art', and look to finish the job. This either means that aberrations like beholders and mind flayers are the enemies of your church, or that all outsiders, no matter their intentions or alignment, must be chased off the Material Plane. Simply put; do the Outer Gates include the Great Wheel or not?

[Haveatya]

I like these. I would very much like to utilize them! if you don't mind.

[Zman]

Unashamedly stolen from Dresden Files.

1. Thou shalt not kill.

Really self-explanatory. Wardens use magic to disable their quarry, but a sword to do the actual killing, because actively ending another's life with magic leaves a stain on the soul. You can't do magic you don't believe in, and if you believed it was your right to kill someone, that's a slippery slope. They only allow a slight leniency in case of self-defense. It also doesn't apply to.l nonhumans. That could be any non humanoid or any being without alignment choice.

2. Never transform another

Bye, bye, polymorph. No, seriously, self-transformation a lá druidic wild shape is OK. Transformation of the willing skirts the edge of the Law. Transforming the unwilling is breaking it. The reason is simply that a human mind is meant for a human body. Putting a human mind in a frog body puts terrible strain on the mind.

3. Never invade the thoughts of another.

Detect thoughts and die. Seriously, though, when you mess with another's mind, there's a mark left. It doesn't matter what you did, there's a some broken hinge or interrupted thought, or at the very least a sense of violation.

4. Never enthrall another.

What? Suggestion? Never heard of it. Seriously though, this is a counterpart to the second Law. Messing with the mind creates the same problem as messing with the body. Change someone's mind and there's a damn good chance you broke something, just because humans can't understand another's mind completely. Change someone's aversion to broccoli, and they're still going to remember hating the stuff. Cognitive dissonance ahoy.

5. Do not reach beyond the borders of life.

Necromancy, the entire school of spells, is a no-go. Reanimating the dead breaks a Law of Reality; death is a one way trip. Messing with that brings all sorts of unpleasant attention and weakens the fabric of reality just a little bit more. Of course, animal corpses are skirting the line, but it's a dark, dark grey. This gives your temple a great excuse to hunt down liches and mummies, while also seeming like jerks trying to force everyone to sign a collective DNR.

6. Never swim against the currents of time.

Time travel is wrong. Thankfully, I can't think of any D&D spells that allow such things without major headaches of their own. This is one that might be easier to enforce than the others.

7. Never seek to open the Outer Gates.

Outside. Outside reality hide... things that want nothing more than to disassemble life and reality as we know it. Our cosy existence is an aberration to them. Coincidentally, the Outside of the Dresden Files corresponds nicely to the Far Realm/Xoriat of the Great Wheel. A lot of aberrations come from or are influenced by the Far Realm, most notably in Eberron where the Daelkyr overlords are already on the material plane, having destroyed one civilization as a 'work of art', and look to finish the job. This either means that aberrations like beholders and mind flayers are the enemies of your church, or that all outsiders, no matter their intentions or alignment, must be chased off the Material Plane. Simply put; do the Outer Gates include the Great Wheel or not?

Follow them or face the Doom of Domacles!

[Grod_The_Giant]

In the Dresden Files RPG, the laws are- obviously- a thing. When you break them, you get a "lawbreaker stunt," which basically makes you better at doing said evil act...but also robs you of self-control*. Accumulate enough lawbreaker stunts and you'll find yourself a very powerful, very unbalanced NPC. I imagine one could fit something similar into D&D, if one was interested... Especially if Inspiration is being used.


*It's a Fate-based game; lawbreaker stunts count against your Refresh like any other stunt. The less Refresh, the fewer Fate Points you start with, so the less ability you have to resist Compels- essentially stopping you from being able to resist acting on your own flaws.

[JoeJ]

If your group has any influence over the civil authorities, one of the laws of magic would most likely be that you have to have a license from them to practice it.

[Regitnui]

If your group has any influence over the civil authorities, one of the laws of magic would most likely be that you have to have a license from them to practice it.

Kinda like getting a license for explosives. You could own them without, but the authorities are going to have a field day keeping you under constant surveillance. Having a magic license tells said authorities that you're making an effort to use the spells responsibly and for defined purposes.

[JoeJ]

Kinda like getting a license for explosives. You could own them without, but the authorities are going to have a field day keeping you under constant surveillance. Having a magic license tells said authorities that you're making an effort to use the spells responsibly and for defined purposes.

Right. Or possibly like a guild that you have to belong to if you want to do business, because they won't tolerate competition by outsiders.

[Regitnui]

I like these. I would very much like to utilize them! if you don't mind.

Go ahead. They're not mine to prohibit or keep. I did steal them directly from the Dresden Files, after all.

[YCombinator]

Go ahead. They're not mine to prohibit or keep. I did steal them directly from the Dresden Files, after all.

This is a pretty cool find. I'm going to toss them into my campaign. I have a campaign where a town has forbidden magic use and the wizard's school has gone into hiding. I think the wizard's school should abide by these rules and use. The evil presence of magic that has caused the ban would obviously not abide by these rules.

[JackPhoenix]

This is a pretty cool find. I'm going to toss them into my campaign. I have a campaign where a town has forbidden magic use and the wizard's school has gone into hiding. I think the wizard's school should abide by these rules and use. The evil presence of magic that has caused the ban would obviously not abide by these rules.

I don't know, reading upon Azuth on FR wiki, I think he would rather protected the wizards from unfair persecution. And propably made sure they are not doing something too dangerous. He's not really a god of law, or magic (he's Mystra's servant)

[soldersbushwack]

I think one of the "Laws of Magic" should be that some magic should be left to the god's alone and that Karsus should be viewed as a devil-figure.

Likewise, any attempts to steal True Resurrection or similar Cleric reserved spells would be viewed as an attempt to play god.

[Regitnui]

I think one of the "Laws of Magic" should be that some magic should be left to the god's alone and that Karsus should be viewed as a devil-figure.

Likewise, any attempts to steal True Resurrection or similar Cleric reserved spells would be viewed as an attempt to play god.

Isn't that the reason for the split between Arcane and Divine magic? If not, that's how I think a god of magic would present it. Divine magic is not mortal magic, and therefore isn't under his purview. Arcane magic is, and therefore his agents can act against it