Schools of Magic

What's your favorite system of categorization for magic and how would you do it?

Schools? Disciplines? Elements?

Also dumping arcane art

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I started one that comprises of Gate / Warp / Move / Change / Life / Mind / Mirage / Ward / Link so far

yes, mirage is an arbitrary substitute for "illusion"

idk what she's about but it sure looks cool
geez that's cool
fuck my mouth

I took this one without a filter hahaaa

this reminds me a lot of an old webcomic I read called "the journey" or something in which this beta peasant sees that his crush got kidnapped and he goes on this long adventure to find and save her, experiencing all kinds of shit like being a slave then a pirate then a tribal warrior, and by the time he finds her he's a sick ass cunt and it turns out she was just a cunt and wasn't even kidnapped and she's like "hey hot stuff" and he's like "haha nvm" and literally jumps out the window and this text is splashed across the frame saying "Start" or something like that.
If anyone can find that please post

from the winter collection

I usually like my magic either categorized into concrete Schools or Elements, things that are globally all the same and work off of a base concept, or I like it done as weird clannish disciplines, where it's all strange prerequisites and nonsense.

A particular favorite for the latter category is Heluso & Milonda's Earth Magic, in which you turn your skeleton into any metal you want as part of your journeyman's training. Permanently.

Traditions or lineages. From apprentice to master you can trace it back.

My favorite sorts of magic are abilities the caster just kind of 'does.' It's less of a learned skill and more part of their nature.

Setting I'm building currently has types of fae that attract elemental spirits depending on what type they are. The smaller species attract the attention of earth and rock spirits and cause gemstones and metals to congregate in their areas of settlement while the larger sort of fae attract the doting attention of nature spirits, causing their settlements to be incredibly lush. Other types of fae are able to watch vast stretches of land through dew drops or rest on clouds, among a laundry list of other random stuff.

The Lizardmen impart their will into any stone they work, with more transferring into the material the more they shape it. Given enough time the stone will eventually become an extension of their consciousness, allowing them to see through any crystals embedded in the material (in the case of granite) or move it like one of their own arms, assuming it's not just a solid piece. It also allows them greater and greater control when shaping the material; masons who work on the same project for a long time can create amazingly intricate works.

Minotaurs take a similar skill to a more specialized extreme; instead of giving birth, they carve a statue of their ideal son from clay. Once the statue is complete it springs to life and a new minotaur is born. They're also able to move through topsoil and clay as if it were water.

>in which you turn your skeleton into any metal you want as part of your journeyman's training.
This sounds like a really bad idea. Wouldn't most metals deform or break under the type of stresses bone is put under? And most of the ones that wouldn't just cave your structure are all too heavy to be any good.

Your red blood cells are also made in your bones. That's a death sentence unless you're some kind of metal vampire.

You handwave the blood thing with magic, but yeah. It's a terrible idea in most cases. Almost all the metals you get are too heavy, or too soft, or god forbid you choose gold and have highwaymen trying to steal your teeth out of your skull.

On the other hand, high level earth magic in that game has shit like bending swords with flicks of your hands, or transumuting entire areas into magnesium, so its a *relatively* fair price for power.

Also living bone is just as hard as steel but lighter

>when you're drawing passionately and fuck up the proportions badly but you were already making all the details so you just roll with it

Depends on the setting, but in settings where there is some form of organization to magic, I prefer to organize it like the departments of a university and the people who study it, since any organization is not a natural consequence of magic but merely something created by the people studying it.

There are people who are concerned with what magic is and how it works, kinda like physics, people concerned with how magic interacts with life and matter, kinda like chemistry or biology. There are people who are concerned with practical applications of magic and they are closer to engineers or software developers and there are people concerned with the theoretical and logical underpinnings of magic, kinda like mathematicians or computer scientists. There are people who focus on the living, kinda like medicine, or people who study things, kinda like mechanical or civil engineers. Also, people who study history of magic or the cultures and religions involved, and people who study magic in relation to society and other "magical humanities."

A proper magician would probably know a bit of everything but dedicate their life to one type of pursuit and a student at a magic school, if one exists in the setting, would take classes from multiple departments.

Basically, I like to classify magic by application, and a spell or magical construct could fall under different disciplines at the same time.

This, of course, only applies to societies with advanced knowledge of magic.

Know exactly the one you mean. Don't have it though

this is my fav magic supplement

system off the top of my head, according to which fundamental force it manipulated

Life: necromancy, biology based things (physical augmentation, healing)
Time: aging effects, stops and slows
Gravity: telekinesis, flight, weight effects
Kinetic: fire, cold, straight up blasting
Space: teleportation, planer travel
Thought: mind altering things.

If you had to classify the d&d schools of magic into the larger catagories of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water how would you do it.

And on a separate matter. without using preexisting schools of magic, what would you say would be the abilities of someone if they only had access to the four elemental magic schools mentioned above?

What would an Elementalist of each element be able to do?

A few more thoughts on that note.

Ice magic and fire magic are both in the kinetic domain, they involve the manipulation of heat, speeding or slowing molecules. Assuming they can't just generate heat/sap it on their own, the need a reagent of some kind. Fire mages need to start extreamly hot fires to use as fuel, places to draw heat from. Maybe they keep bags of thermite on hand. Cold mages need a heat sink, something to put all the heat they drain into. Maybe a staff with a tip made from some highly cold resistant material, although if they draw enough heat the thing could still end up glowing. That's kinda cool as a secondary weapon.

Anything but elements. Elements are fucking shit.

uh are you asking me specifically? the thing i posted isn't really about that.
but if i had to give it a shot i guess
fire: enchantment and evocation
air: conjuration and necromancy (breath?)
earth: divination and transmutation
water: abjuration and illusion
fire is bewitching and destructive, could also have illusion but i guess if illusion and enchantment are separate, i'd rather fire have destruction and the seductive option.
air is about breathing and thus life, and also conjuration because... i guess transportation seems airy.
earth is about divination (sensing) and transmutation (maleable reality).
water: abjuration because... and illusion because of mist and clouds and stuff?
maybe earth and air should swap necromancy (graves) and divination (heavens).
maybe fire should be necromancy (shadows -> illusion of life) and earth gets enchantment (uhhh shiny stuff?).
maybe earth should get abjuration (hard stuff) and water gets divination (glassy lakes to see into, peering into a pool of water).

I'd like to see the poor bastard that chooses Francium.

...

So just rename World of Darkness Mage's?

Preservation, Destruction, Aggression and Denial.

I'm fond enough of the Elder Scrolls method. Seconding that elements are the worst fucking option.

I have neither read nor heard of this webcomic, but now I'm interested. Not turning anything up for "The Journey" though.

I agree blue magic is best magic.

It's called My Hero by Matt Rhodes

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For self-consistent magic that can be taught and studied, Ars Magica's Target-Effect pairings are my absolute favorite. It takes some modification to bring the system into settings with different limitations on magic or cosmologies, but that's simple enough.

For other settings, a few gradations of power are enough categorization, and then have a lot of weird niche effects like , and none of it makes sense except to the people doing it.

Minotaur are all Geppetto, I like it.

This is an interesting system. Or has an implicit status quo which would be interesting to explore. For example a minotaur could make a son that looks like a bird, but he wouldn't because no minotaur has that as their perfect son.

Can there be druids in a more urban setting?
Can things like Sorcerers and Wizards come from a more nomadic/tribal culture?

you are My Hero
have a gish

I've always wanted to implement Blood Magic but don't want to make it all edgy and evil.
Kind of hard.

I like the Arcana from Mage: the Awakening:
>Fate Forces Matter Prime Time Life Death Spirit Mind Space

Though if I could tweak it slightly I'd like to delete Spirit and make summoning themed minions a technique available to all the others.

I've had plenty of fun with the old Ars Magica system as well
>Earth Air Fire Water Mind (human)Body Animal Plant Image Magic

but on balance I prefer Mage for cutting through the bullshit and collapsing a bunch of less popular arts into Matter and Life to make room for magic that manipulates more abstract concepts like space and probability.

Blood Magic is pointless edginess if it's just another wizard specialization where you summon blood imps and shoot blood bolts.

It becomes a lot more compelling if it's a set of gruesome practices that theoretically any magic user could whip out in a pinch. Really need that spell to work and you're out of mana points? Well you COULD just kill one of these people that are going to die if you don't do anything and use the energy from cutting her heart out to boost your spell.

Don't you find it's clumsy that a spell to teleport yourself, raise a zombie, or make someone lose control of a limb all fall within the same specialization?

Well I like the idea that all magic is sacrificial in nature; that by giving up little bits of yourself you are reinforcing that particular concept of reality.
Just that some magical traditions are more.... Honest about how their magic works than others.

Don't all mages have their own summonable monsters from the watch-towers?
Just that two of the Towers have.... less present summons (Aether and Arcadia) in the world.

I prefer the method in which it's cast and practiced as it's classification

>Wild/Witchcraft
Often elemental, used in conjunction with naturally occurring spirits in contracts akin to demons, occasionally users fall into contracts with demons.
>Demonology/Warlocks
Contracts with demons, simple as that.
>Enchanters
Inscribe magic into physical objects, often create for other schools even. Inscribe their spells into tomes and such for quick casting, but need preparation ahead of time and may be more limited if they haven't been able to resupply.

Part 2.
>Thorn
Technically a subset of the above, but the runes are often inscribed as tattoo's instead with enchanted dyes. More primal form of magic and often more raw, but draws directly from the user's life force, allowing more casting, does not need to replenish supplies.
>Sorcerer/Shaman
Draws power directly from the magic in the area around them, lots of lava? Easy fire magic, difficult water magic. Does not form contracts to do such things and simply harnesses the free energy they can gather.
>Wizardry
Often combines many of the above methods, usually far more refined and based upon written and well-documented research rather than instinct. The most practiced and controlled form, but hardest to learn. Draws from the power of the caster's very mind, allowing them to cast anything they can envision, but the power and mental fortitude required to do so reduces most to casting simply 'by rote'.

Supernal summoning is available to everyone but it's dangerous and strictly limited. You mostly summon a supernal entity because you want it's advice, and don't let it out of the circle.

Spirit is very much the Arcanum for having lots of ethereal pets, and I think that's better suited to being a Practice.

It's life magic that pulls energy directly from the caster rather than using him as a conduit. Wether this form of magic is especially powerful, capable of unique effects, or simply a desperation move for mages out of options is up to you.

Or GURPS's ritual path magic.

But there are also ghosts and mind mages get all sorts of small-fry mental beings.

It's a bit weird from a different perspective, but it follows its own logic (Rego Corpus moves, slowly or quickly, a human body, living or dead). If you wanted a setting where magic dealing with undead was significantly different, or where teleportation was a more unique thing, then it wouldn't make sense, but very few magic systems make that sort of transition well.

All of these. Mage the Ascension, Mage the Awakening, Ars Magica, really any 'freeform' magic system is great.

Bump

If you squint a little you can see where this started as the D&D system.

- Annihilation: Blowing shit up.
- Bewitchery: Fiddling with the mind.
- Divination: Learning things via magic.
- Geomancy: Changing the land.
- Illusion: Making fake things.
- Necromancy: Controlling the dead.
- Summoning: Bringing creatures from somewhere else.
- Transmutation: Changing living things into other things.
- Wards: Protection and barriers.

8 of the 9 of these are essentially direct 1:1 translations of D&D schools, with the exception of Geomancy which D&D places under Transmutation.

I got Geomancy by splitting up Conjuration, actually.

But yeah, it's very close to the D&D schools. I actually think the schools of magic are one of the best concepts in D&D.

Is GURPS any good at wizardry?

You have several choices of magic systems ranging from D&D-like to making shit up to rituals only.

My personal favorite is actually to use Powers, a system more directly designed for superheroes, but which acknowledges the possibility you'd use it for spells. Using it implies your mages are more likely various kinds of specialists, but it does that very well.