What do verbal spell components sound like?

I'm not user, but what you described could work.

In return for massive damage.
After all, handling magic without prior knowledge would make it more wild and damaging, but you would also be hurt and drained of more spells than normal.

I usually see this idea with the justification "don't use a language you actually speak fluently for spellcasting, or you'll end up setting off spells by accident"

That's basically how Naming works in The Name of the Wind.

The whole point is to invoke the 'Name' of a force or object. The Name being the complete and total description of the thing, a 100% understanding of what you are dealing with with such accuracy that if you were to write it down on an infinitely long piece of paper, the very words you wrote would literally be the thing you described. Your description of fire would, itself, be fire.

This is obviously impossible for anyone to do on purpose. Your mind can't process that kind of information. The act of trying to think about it in defined terms means you are limiting your understanding of the subject. You can only invoke a name by exploiting your subconscious mind's ability to deal intuitively with what would be enormously complex to do consciously.

Aka: if you think about it, it won't work. If you don't think about it, it also probably won't work. But if you reach for it without even thinking about it, purely on autopilot, that's when it works.

That's also part of it.

My group and I always just stuck with the idea that the verbal components are basically the spell name in draconic.

Ad someone who works heavily with mysql, I am severely enamored with this explanation

I think this was a tolkien thing or something?
I vaguely remember reading a book where the magic language of the settings was the language of dragons, so a dragon's speech is full of magic.

A dragon persuading you is also casting spells that charm and confuse you. A fireball was the draconic translation of the sentence 'fuck you' essentially.

So the same way Nagato uses her "bogus magic" in the Haruhi series? I can dig it.

Honestly, I was just wondering how long it would take someone to get the reference.

You win.

Stinking cloud, point towards target, eat material component, say "Pull my finger!"

Verbal components don't come into play in my campaigns, because they always sound weird in the worst way possible.

Eragon?

I am currently rocking a half orc warlock who uses not!Japanese themes for some shit and therefore have shamelessly stolen Japanese phrases.

I use my action to cast X
"Doko ni toireii ga arimasu ka?"
"Omae wa mo, shindeiru!"
"Hai moshi moshi fire desu"

Etc

If you believe Baldur's Gate et al. it's just thematically appropriate Latin.

If we're talking about our own settings, I have one where incantations work like lines of BBC code, with hand gestures standing in for the symbols you can't pronounce. Basically sounds like someone speaking Hawaiian super fast with a lot of repeated syllables.

In another setting I made, the words are there to help you focus. The words need to have meaning, but they only need to have meaning to you, so any language you speak is fine.

>That's basically how Naming works in The Name of the Wind.
Thanks for confirming that it is indeed the most retarded idea conceivable.

RYU WAGA TEKI WO KURAU

Glad Im not the only one who thought of that.

Its rude to jerk yourself off in public, user.

Vas Ort Flam, Kal Vas Flam, In Sar

OooOOooOoOoOOooo

>What do verbal spell components sound like?
Depends on the spell.
There can even be different languages used though some are more associated with magic like draconic or abyssal. There's some bard spell that is literally just insulting the opponent.
>Is there a common tone in the speech among spells of the same school?
Maybe in some cases but not always as a rule, see above.
>Is there a major difference between the verbal components of a 5th level spell and a 1st level spell assuming they both take the same time to cast?
Again, maybe. More powerful spells might employ greater magical secrets or incantations and there're more specific cases like the power word spells.

In my campaigns there is usually a language of power that is old and terse, with a lot of emphasis on combinations and conjugations. Something like Latin, or Draconic, Or even Celestial/Infernal depending on the spell or school or individual caster. You don't need full comprehension of the language to put together words of power. They are their own sort of shorthand, and are as much a focus as a wand or material component might be. They don't work without the other, and even if you have a feature that lets you cast without one or the other, it don't fire off accidentally. It needs the caster's intent and will behind it.

The intent and will is the important part. Like when a person is writing or drawing or performing a song. A guitar is a focus, technique is somatic component, lyrics are the verbal. But unless there is clear intent and talent or skill behind the person putting it together, it won't move anyone.

Flamencwo.

>Casting Charm Person
Extend hand toward target, "Oh hey there, friend!"

Lemme fix your mental fuck up: in the Dresden Files, you pick a language that you don't speak, or words that you don't use in ordinary conversation, because when you practice your spells you create a trigger mnemonic for each one. For those who don't understand uncommon words, a mnemonic is a phrase used help with information storage and retrieval. PEMDAS? Mnemonic. Those stupid work safety things that get rolled into a four letter acronym word? Mnemonics. That jingle you learned as a kid for the planets and the length of the months? Mnemonics. Say it, or think it, and the information linked to it is there.
That's why the wizards in the Dresden Files use that method: pick a common word for a spell and every time you say it your mind goes through the routine of casting that spell. For maximum fun, connect fireball to "Hi".
Its a safety measure.
Not sure what's up with that naming bullshit though.