Explain Arcane Magic!

[inuroku842]

Hey guys, I'm wanting to hear your ideas on how you explain arcane magic in your game, like how and/or why it works. I already have an explanation for my own seting, but I want to hear what you guys have set up.

Please don't post things like "nobody knows" or "magic is magic". I think these are boring and lazy.

And please, please PLEASE no attacking/flaming each other's ideas guys.

Let's see what ya got!

[Valarian]

Magic is the art of causing change through the appliance of will. The Mage wills the change or effect to occur and it becomes so. The magic is powered through the Mage channelling natural elemental forces.

[Phystus]

I'd go with Gygax's explanation from the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon master's guide. (It's on page 40, if you feel inclined to look it up.)

The short version of it is this:
The power of a spell flows from either the Positive or Negative Material Plane. The portal to this power is opened by the words of the spell, and directed by the somantic components (gestures and so on) to its target. Something has to flow back to that plane to balance the energy that passed to this plane, and that's the purpose of material components. If the spell doesn't have material components, then the air exhaled by the caster in speaking the words is used.

But to tell you the truth, I only recall someone asking about it twice. And both were over twenty years ago.

~P

[inuroku842]

I'd go with Gygax's explanation from the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon master's guide. (It's on page 40, if you feel inclined to look it up.)

The short version of it is this:
The power of a spell flows from either the Positive or Negative Material Plane. The portal to this power is opened by the words of the spell, and directed by the somantic components (gestures and so on) to its target. Something has to flow back to that plane to balance the energy that passed to this plane, and that's the purpose of material components. If the spell doesn't have material components, then the air exhaled by the caster in speaking the words is used.

But to tell you the truth, I only recall someone asking about it twice. And both were over twenty years ago.

~P

Ahh, well that's neato. So the wizard is essentially studying how to form the power that he is calling, and the sorcerer inherently knows how to form only a few things. Good ole 1st ed, haha. Simplistic, yet effective.

[Pandar]

For me, magic was always something special, that not every P.C. could do like they have in the 3.0 and up editions now. The magic-user(s) who are able to cast magic found out they were different by being able to read magical writing or could see things that so called non-mages could not, which is how they found out something was different about them. Then, through training by a mentor or trial and error they began to be able to cast spells and finding out that by using props or components it actually focused the spells energy making their spells stronger and last longer.

In my mind's eye, I have always felt that the spells power came from the spell caster themselves, not from another plane. This is what helped make spells different, ex.- colors, the way the spell reacts, compared to the original spell the caster learned. This also accounted for why the spell caster could only cast so many spells per day as the magic-user relied on his intelligence to control the mental energies required to cast said spells, but it required more and more mental energies to cast complex spells, which resulted in the spell casters becoming drained once they reached beyond that mental capacity, requiring the mages to rest their minds to be able to cast spells again. Which is why magic user's need to rest just as much as fighters/clerics and so forth even if they do not do as much physical work as the others, without that rest their mind can not comprehend the complex mental energies needed to do spells.

At least this is my complicated and simplistic view of casting spells.

[Aristotle]

I'll bite. In my fantasy homebrew...

The world is a globe of debris, encrusting the slain body of the one true god, at the crossroads between the elemental planes. The most basic description of what magic is, is simply the ability to channel the forces of creation and bend them to your will. Unfortunately the only being who could do this naturally, and with perfect knowledge of the process, was the one true god.

Magic was stolen from the one true god by his twisted children (demons). Their understanding of the process was imperfect, dangerous, and tainted by darkness. They used it to enslave the mortals, and passed a diluted form of their profane version of magic onto their consorts (witches and warlocks) and half-breed children (devils). By this time the art was so far removed from the origin of magic that it required additional effort to work. Incantations, sacrifices, relics, and complex rituals were required.

A messiah figure eventually emerged and led the mortals against their false gods. He wielded a purer, but still imperfect, form of magic that also required additional effort. His art weighed heavily on the purification and harmonization of the mind, body, and spirit through meditation and martial arts. He took on apprentices (magi) and taught them his secrets which were then passed down from master to apprentice through the years that followed.

Lastly... Reincarnation is a core concept of the setting. Some particularly old souls can recall knowledge from past lives. Rarely, and unfortunately, a predatory soul can be so strong that it takes over after reincarnation and shapeshifters are born. Even more rarely: a "young soul" is sometimes born and has a greater affinity for the forces of creation from which it to recently sprung. These rare creatures can innately work lesser magics and are quick to master traditional magics.

Sorry... didn't intend to go that long.