Help with a refluff of the distinctions between arcane and divine magic.

[frogglesmash]

I'm slowly putting together a campaign world, and one of the things I'm having trouble with is figuring out how magic works in the setting.

What I have: Everything anyone does, says, and thinks influences the arcane energies around them in random inconsequential ways, arcane spellcasters know certain combinations of thoughts, words, and gestures that can cause these arcane energies to behave in spectacular ways i.e. spells.

What I need: An explanation of how divine magic works that a) Preferably does not include the use of the aforementioned arcane energy b) is ambiguous concerning the source of the power i.e. could or could not be attributed to gods c) Explains how your typical divine caster works, and how archivists, and druids work (I single these two out because unlike most other divine casters, they rarely associate themselves with any specific god.)

[Geddy2112]

I always think of it that arcane magic is nonliving, and divine magic is living.

Arcane magic exists because arcane energy is just a present force that arcane casters can tap into. It is not "alive"

Divine magic is something that arises out of a cosmic force or being, something that is not the raw arcana. Deities, but even nature or ideals, these are living breathing venerated things. They have magic because in some aspect of their being, they have a magical aspect. It could be that they carry over some part of the arcane from their creation(if all we are is star stuff, and stars are arcane...) or that because they are such a powerful thing, they have a gestalt magic, the divine.

Also, that arcane is almost always int based, it relies on logic. Divine is usually wisdom or charisma based, relying on intuition and faith. These are not forces to be finitely calculated, but to be understood and believed in. You can't logic your way into the divine workings of nature, or the nature of a deity, or an ideal. Math and logic answers how, but divine magic covers a why.

[Darth Ultron]

I have always done it like this:

Arcane magic is where people tap directly the magic of the multiverse. It's raw and wild and dangerous and uses can't do everything.

Divine magic is where a god ''filters'' the magic for a person and makes it safe for use.

Healing magic is a good example of something that is too dangerous and wild for arcane users. Any attempt at healing or cure type effects kills the caster. Only a god can make the magic safe to use. The same way planual ally is much safer then planar binding. Commune is safer then contact outer plane.

This can be applied to other types of magic too. In my house rules, for example, all creation type arcane spells only make cheap, weak objects. Only divine magic can make good strong objects.

[trikkydik]

Generally divine magic is in the name. "Divine" It means The gods grant you the power to cast the spell. The divine caster is nothing more than a conduit by which the gods perform their manipulations on the mortal realm.

You need to figure how it fits into your campaign though, conform the book to your story, not the other way around. That's what i always say, but i DM the rules loosely.

[atemu1234]

Divine is derived of the gods, the natural world, or the 'spark' of divinity within oneself.

Arcane magic is from the elemental planes, or through the exterior world, or the arcane spark bred into one's bloodline.

[Spore]

Divine magic comes from within, arcane magic is manipulating your surroundings. If you have faith you can cast divine spells. If you have willpower or a clear intellect you can manipulate the very fabric of the world.

[Falcon X]

I did a game where the only divine casters were ones who worked through inspiration: Crusader and Factotum
To NPCs it was hard to pinpoint that these people were actually receiving inspiration. By all means, they might have just been very skilled or lucky. It's a fun twist because it plays off closer to how real-world divine people work: It's all inspiration and faith in a god.

[Pugwampy]

The ocean of Divine magic belongs to a few selected big fish that either steps on you , ignores you or feels sorry for you . Using the right combination of begging / sales pitch , you can convince these suckers to lend some of their super powers . You dont work for it so you have time to study how to swing a weapon and wear armour .


Arcane Magic on the other hand is space and time from the very fabric of the cosmos. It remains among the most mysterious of concepts. Is it an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without arcane energy? Can we travel to the past? From Arcana,s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to creations fluid conception of space time, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can instantaneously coordinate their behavior, Magic binds us all, regardless of our race or background, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern alchemy has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday dreams.

Basically for arcane power you have to work your butt off to try and figure all this out so you end up underfed , puny , wearing a girly dress and can hardly swing a stick nevermind a dagger .

Another way to think of this is Clerics are lazy grasshoppers but useful to society while wizards are hard working ants contemplating the secrets of the universe but dont really do anything productive .