Thematic and Elemental Aspects for magic.

[Silverlion]

Alright, this is another brainstorming thread, I'd appreciate help on a game design, I had a dream about someone using magic who was trained in a field of "thematic" or "elemental" magic components, they could only utilize so many at a time. The ones in my dream were things like fire, light, animals, mountains, solidification, and so on. What can you come up with to refine these elements?

In this case, the dream persona drew on Light/Fire, Mountain, Lion to create a spell called the "Sacred Flame Trial of the Lion" (somehow that involved a mountain in the dream, it was a dream so bear with me..) That effect literally purged an evil presence from a location (with fire and light) and later used just fire and solidification to create a paused firework effect. That was triggered to startle someone.

So what kind of aspects/themes might work in a system like this--I may go with Mountain/Stone for Earth, Sun for Light/Fire, Ice? For water, and Breath for air. Not sure though, just trying to turn the oddly specific dream details into part of a system.

 

[TristramEvans]

systemizing magic is an ongoing headache for me.

I don't have much good advice, but here's a system I came up with about ten years ago, then abandoned after some playtesting, which has some stuff in common with your concept (mages focus in a number of "motifs" represented by the "o'mancys" - chronomancy, pyromancy, tyromancy, etc, which they can utilize and combine to create effects), that I duno, maybe you can mine for some ideas or will suggest for you some direction to take:

***

There are 6 Laws of Magic (Legis Magicae), including the Primary Laws (Legis Primus), which apply to every spell:
I. Lex Demergo "The Law of Equivilance"
All magik has a cost. This cost is determined by the intended target of a spell.
II. Lex Nominis "The Law of Names"
The target of a spell must be named. In order to cast a spell on a person or intelligent entity, its True Name must be known to the caster.
III. Lex Aequitis "The Law of Reciprocity"
Also known as the threefold law. The cost of any spell that harms another being is tripled.

And the Secondary Laws, which may be employed to make the spell easier or faster to cast (more on these in a bit):
IV. Lex Iunctio "The Law of Correspondence"
V. Lex Desidero "The Law of Contagion"
VI. Lex Illecetra "The Law of Sympathy"

A Magus, or magic-user, is defined by the following Characteristics:

Paradigm: This determines a Magi's awareness of the greater reality beyond themselves and the physical world, and is represented by one of the Major Arcana of the Tarot. A character with no awareness of the occult (a "norm") defaults to the Fool (0), with a Magi starting at the Magician (I) and increasing this as they become more accustomed to dealing with magikal reality and deconstruction of their identity.
Praxis: This is the school or tradition of magik that a Magi follows, whether Voodoo, Witchcraft, Sorcery, Hermetic or Platonic Magic, Shamanism, etc. A Magus's Praxis determines their Arts (Ars Magicae) and Techniques (Techne Magicae) (see below)
Arcana: Each Magi has a score in the four suits of the Tarot: Swords, Cups , Wands, and Coins. When crafting a spell, a Magus determines which of the Arcana is used as the Primary Arcana of that spell and may draw a number of cards per turn equal to their score in that Arcana.

The Primary Arcana is determined by the target of a spell, according to the following chart:




Magi possess skill in a number of Arts, Techniques, and Domains.

There are 9 Arts, each describing a specific "verb" or "action" desired from the spell:
Abjuration "Banish"
Apportation "Move"
Conjuration "Create"
Divination "Sense"
Domination "Control"
Execration "Destroy"
Nexation "Bind"
Obfuscation "Hide"
Transmutation "Alter"

There are 3 Techniques, which describe how a Magus powers a spell: Invocation (entreating a deity), Evocation (commanding a spirit), and Incantation (channeling magical energies).

Each Magus also possesses a number of Domains (Regnem Magicae), which describe various motifs informing what effects a Magus can create, or at least their approach to performing magic. These are also called "The O'Mancies", as they are based on the -mancy suffix.
(Note that this is actually a linguistic misnomer, as "-mancy" historically specifically refers to divination techniques, but it works aesthetically, most people don't know the difference, and word conceptions alter as time goes on anyways, so I'm allowing myself this concession).

There are over 200 Domains, and hundreds more possible with a bit of linguistic ingenuity, but Magi typically focus on 3 to 5 of them. Some examples include: ailuromancy (cats, felines), cromniomancy (onions), epidiomancy (diseases), necromancy (death), ophiomancy (snakes), and tyromancy (cheese).


Okay, so with that info-dump out of the way, the process of crafting a spell is actually quite simple:

I. The caster choses an Art and any appropriate Domains to fit the effect they are trying to produce
(ex: Arachnomancy + Apportation for "spiderwalk" for example, or Pyromancy + Conjuration for "fireball").

II. The intended target of the spell defines the spell's Primary Arcana and Cost
(the aforementioned "spiderwalk" spell is cast on a person, so uses Corpus, meaning the Primary Arcana is Coins and the Spell cost is 27. The fireball spell, on the other hand, is a primal manifestation of elemental energy, with Wands as the Primary Arcana and the cost determined by the intensity of the flame/how much damage the fireball will inflict/etc, tripled because its an offensive spell.)

III. The spell is then cast, once the Magi pays the Spell Cost.
So, in order to cast the spell, i.e. cover the spell cost, the caster uses one of their Techniques. ( I'll limit this discussion to Incantation for now, the simplest and most direct method).

The caster draws a number of Tarot cards equal to their score in the Arcana corresponding to the spell's Primary Arcana.

If a Suit card is drawn, and that Suit matches the spell's Primary Arcana, the value of that card is put towards the spell's cost, otherwise, the card is discarded. A Caster takes 1 point of Stress for every discarded Suit card.

If a Trump (Major Arcana) is drawn, it is compared to the caster's current Paradigm. If equal to or below, the caster can use the card's value towards the Spell Cost. If the Trump is higher than the caster's Paradigm it is discarded and the Caster takes a number of Stress equal to the Trump's value.

A caster may also employ one or more of the Secondary Laws to aid in the casting of a spell. This involves crafting a Ritual, the elements of which determined by the Law: Lex Iunctio, the "Law of Correspondence" can be invoked by involving symbolic associations in the casting. The Primary Arcana of the spell must be represented, first off, and for every additional Arcana represented, the caster may then use Suit cards of that Arcana to power the spell as if they were of the Primary Arcana. Lex Desidero, the "Law of Contagion" can be invoked if the caster utilizes a personal effect or piece of the intended target of the spell, reducing the target's defenses. Lex Illecetra, the "Law of Sympathy", allows the caster to reduce the spell cost by using Foci.

Example:

say you have a Magus with the following stats:

Larry Kotter Jr.
Paradigm: The Hermit (IX) Praxis: Wizard

Fighting: Typical (5)
Agility: Good (10)
Might: Puny (3)
Durability: Good (10)
Reason: Good (10)
Wits: Excellent (15)
Will Power: Uncanny (25)

Stamina: 28
Psyche: 50

Arcana: Swords: 3 Cups: 3 Wands: 5 Coins: 3
Arts: Abjuration, Apportation, Conjuration
Domains: Ceranomancy (lightning), Integomancy (protection), Ophiomancy (snakes)

Larry, wandering in the dark woods, is confronted by a Spectral Twisp. Being of a contentious disposition, Larry decides to fend it off with a lightning bolt. The Art & Domain for this are Conjuration + Ceranomancy.

The target being a supernatural being means the Primary Arcana is Wands (Prodigi), so the Spell Cost is 5, x3 because this is an offensive spell, so 15. However, Larry is using his trusty Simurgh-feather wand as a Foci, reducing the spell Cost to 3 (x3), so his adjusted Spell cost is 9. As Larry's score in Wands is 5, he can draw up to 5 cards the first turn. He gets:
Ace of Cups, The Hierophant (V), 5 of Swords, 6 of Wands, and The Hanged Man (XII)

First Larry discards the Ace of Cups and 5 of Swords, taking 2 Stress. Additionally, The Hanged Man is discarded for a whopping 12 Stress. This temporarily reduces his Psyche to 36. Larry is left with The Heirophant, worth 5 points, and the 6 of Wands, for a total of 11. Naming his target ("Spectrum Vexatio!") a bolt of lightning will hurl from his Wand.

 

[AppleJax]

Elemental Magic For GURPS

S John Ross wrote an elemental magic system for GURPS in which the five elements of air, earth, fire, water, and ether have both physical and mental/spiritual components.

 

[Raleel]

Alright, this is another brainstorming thread, I'd appreciate help on a game design, I had a dream about someone using magic who was trained in a field of "thematic" or "elemental" magic components, they could only utilize so many at a time. The ones in my dream were things like fire, light, animals, mountains, solidification, and so on. What can you come up with to refine these elements?

In this case, the dream persona drew on Light/Fire, Mountain, Lion to create a spell called the "Sacred Flame Trial of the Lion" (somehow that involved a mountain in the dream, it was a dream so bear with me..) That effect literally purged an evil presence from a location (with fire and light) and later used just fire and solidification to create a paused firework effect. That was triggered to startle someone.

So what kind of aspects/themes might work in a system like this--I may go with Mountain/Stone for Earth, Sun for Light/Fire, Ice? For water, and Breath for air. Not sure though, just trying to turn the oddly specific dream details into part of a system.

this sounds like mountain and lion have symbolic significance in the setting/system. sacred flame is fairly straight forward, and lion is lion, obviously. This leaves mountain. it might be a blessed thing, a literal holy place. Thus it us useful in countering evil influences and energy. Fire by itself won't purge evil. It has to be Holy Fire to be able to purge evil.

lion seems pretty aggressive. it's going to claw and purge and attack. So maybe Lion is a symbol of taking action against something. Counter this with Turtle or Porcupine, which stings when you attack, vs Owl which watches and waits. Sacred Flame Wall of the Turtle is going to ban evil influences and stand strong. Sacred Flame Spikes of the Porcupine is going to cause them damage when they try to get through, but is not going to block as much. Sacred Flame Lantern of the Owl is going to be a lantern you conjure and it exposes all evil and writhes them in flame.

So, you have Element, Place, Animal each representing different facets.

 

[Silverlion]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!