How is it possible that magic is a costless, renewable resource...

A setting where all magic comes from a single reservoir and when it dries up then that's that would be interesting. Could be used for a type of post-apocalyptic game where previous generation's high magic cities and constructs just don't work like they used to, and society collapses.

So does magic flow from the sun through one giant invisible leyline that powers earth's leylines?

So, Dark Sun?

>There must be something being depleted during the spell process
It vents dark energy into the universe, you're contributing to heat death

You're campaign is now to steal the original writeup of the Mass Effect plot and have some sort of eldritch horror 'reaper' species actually be quasi benign cosmic entities trying to prevent the universe from destroying itself. Each cycle they scour the galaxy of life, uplifting it into a gestalt entity that is one of their own. Each 'Reaper' is literally a galaxy of minds and souls living inside this new being

Isn't that just Dark Sun?

Nah, extraplanar ley lines.

I liked Arcanum or Black&White's take on it : you use stamina and fat reserves.
You become a better caster by doing cardio and eating merrily.

Basis of my most recent game

Then again, when they breach our dimension for more fuel, and Pierce the infinite darkness yearning for the end of all things, people will still want their flying brooms and automatic candles and wands n shit. Don't come crying to me when the void of nothing's eats away at your heart and you're skull fucking your neighbor in a profane ceremony just to prolong the inevitable coming of IT...

Dark energy is just vacuum energy, that's stupid.

>Dark energy is just vacuum energy
u wot

>magic has to abide by natural physical laws
Then it's not magic nigga

>Then again, when they breach our dimension for more fuel, and Pierce the infinite darkness yearning for the end of all things
We're just the magical equivalent of relatively inaccessible oil reserves until they resort to fracking?

You know, quantum fluctuations producing some small energy levels in a given area, resulting in a repulsive effect, creating more vacuun, triggering a runaway, exponential effect resulting in the future in a big rip scenario and WE NEED TO ESCAPE THIS UNIVERSE AND QUICK WE ONLY HAVE BILLIONS OF YEAR OH MY ME

So? What's wrong with Darksun?

I imagine it takes some strain on the body. Hence why there is some sort of finite resource such a spell slots or magic points involved.

>skull fucking your neighbor in a profane ceremony
That's just saturday night.

Right, to mortals it's completely irrelevant

To ageless cosmic beings it's a real problem.

Wait, you don't intend to become an ageless cosmic being ?

poland cannot into universe

NO BLOOD FOR MANA

Nu

Magic IS the dark energy

that way you can call mana Quintessence, and Quintessence is a cool ass word, and talk about Moduli fields.

Wait, do we not know how the Sun came to be? I thought a lot of hydrogen from the Big Bang got really hot after the creation of the universe and clumped together in larger and denser amounts, eventually creating our sun.

Stars are themselves intersection points of the interstellar leylines (which are technically fields)

This is why astrology and constellations are so important

Love.

The Big Bang is one theory, but it's unproven. We also don't know how the Big Bang would have been caused.

You're depleting anything, you're channeling magical energy. It's just flowing through you. Relax man, the politicians are lying to you.

*not depleting anything
fuck

It is possible, but you'd have to disturb the Moon herself. The demons did it 500 years, but they came in a hollow Flesh-moon to do it.

Magic itself never goes away, no. It just takes on other forms, which are less conductive to mortal use.

When you crush a diamond, the life-energy within is conserved, but the diamond itself is not. Since that accursed year, the vast majority of usable magical reagents have been crushed, detonated, or spent on desperate rituals to preserve their casters, with varying success. The forging of magical items is nigh-impossible now, as there is almost no solid mana to draw upon.

Within a century, I predict there will be no unused, untainted arcane stones or metals remaining; and so I have invested greatly into herbalism, for arcane plants still grow, and I have taught the secret of magic to all men, for I fear that the sacrificed blood of mages will be the only substance magically charged enough for my rites.

In my modern fantasy setting, Magic flows from another plane because the Mana concentration in that plane is trying to reach equilibrium with the lower concentration in our plane. It's theorized that if not for this influx, the use of mana would prevent more spells from being cast in the same location for a time, and that eventually the two planes will reach equilibrium and mana will have to be considered a non-renewable resource. There's even movements to get legislation restricting the casting of spells in what proponents call frivolous endeavors. The opposition argues that not only are the current restrictions enough, any lawful restriction on magecraft would leave those with magical gifts unable to capitalize on a resource that criminal elements would feel no compunction in exploiting.

First, congrats for not actually understanding conservation of energy and matter. Energy and matter cannot be destroyed, merely change forms. Entropy is the process of energy turning into forms that we cannot use (yet).
The idea of "peak magic" assumes that magic is a resource that was created in limited forms by a physical process, which we then have to release to power the spell.
That's not magic, that's oil of macguffinite. You idiot.

>theory
>unproven

Please learn the meanings of words before using them.

Also
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang

"Since Georges Lemaître first noted in 1927 that an expanding universe could be traced back in time to an originating single point, scientists have built on his idea of cosmic expansion. While the scientific community was once divided between supporters of two different expanding universe theories, the Big Bang and the Steady State theory, empirical evidence provides strong support for the former."

Please don't believe that person. They obviously don't have any idea about the world.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Formation

The components contain the magic. Once you cast the spell it goes back into the ecosystem and magical plants and animals consume it and grow.

That's the weirdest dildo I've ever seen.

>As with any theory, a number of mysteries and problems have arisen as a result of the development of the Big Bang theory. Some of these mysteries and problems have been resolved while others are still outstanding. Proposed solutions to some of the problems in the Big Bang model have revealed new mysteries of their own. For example, the horizon problem, the magnetic monopole problem, and the flatness problem are most commonly resolved with inflationary theory, but the details of the inflationary universe are still left unresolved and many, including some founders of the theory, say it has been disproven.[96][97][98][99]

The Big Bang theory is the only the best fit interpretation of current data. It doesn't mean it's wrong, but it doesn't mean it's correct either. We lack the necessary proof.

>en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Formation
Yes, the sun is a superdense gas cloud emitting energy via nuclear fusion. But how did that gas cloud come to exist?

It is not. Each single spell, each gryphon flight, all of it consumes energy of a magical nature. The resulting entropy is dumped into the Realm of Eldritch Beings. Their existence became like so because of this process. They seek to enter our reality to escape this entropy or to punish us for enabling it on the first place. That is why they hate Life, it causes them a disturbance akin to pain and toxic radiation at the same time.

It's magic, I ain't gotta and ain't gonna explain shit.

>. It doesn't mean it's wrong, but it doesn't mean it's correct either. We lack the necessary proof.

Not the guy you're arguing with, but this is an asinine assertion. To the extent that we can know anything can be true, we know that the expansion of the Universe from a single point is true. Science cannot deal in absolutes to the degree that jackasses like you won't be able to say "but we don't KNOW!"

All that science has is theories. The things that are called laws are just theories that have been supported by the evidence for a long time.

Uh, that's a prolapsed anus, isn't it?

Nothing.

It's just pretty bad when all life uses magic and the magic goes away.

As in, enjoy your Mad Conan Max in Thunder Middle Dome Earth.

It's purely the manipulation of elements/forces. If things in nature had a cost, we wouldn't have nature at all. Everything in nature renews itself and nothing is really lost.

Last i checked, life began selecting for psionic-based food chain.
I'm certain in as little as a hundred thousand years most of the biosphere will have completely healed.

Recognizing degrees of uncertainty is also an important part of science. When all evidence points to a conclusion with no data to the contrary, we accept treating that conclusion as fact until we find new evidence that conflicts. When we have a best-guess postulate that has multiple open gaps, we acknowledge that it's incomplete and that there may be a better answer that we have yet to identify.

Automatically assuming truth from partial evidence is the shit journalists do every time you see a headline blaring a cure for cancer, because some researcher found a correlation that's a decade from trials.

You are asserting a point against which no one is arguing, and introducing a level of uncertainty into this conversation that is not necessary, because you want to be an "um actually" pedantic jackass.

Big bang caused the sun. Bam. Done. Cosmological discussion sufficient to the needs of this conversation.

Most people seem to ignore components.

>It's purely the manipulation of elements/forces. If things in nature had a cost, we wouldn't have nature at all. Everything in nature renews itself and nothing is really lost.

it does have a cost, it's just there's a lot of stuff in the universe so we don't notice it happening very quickly. if the universe lasts long enough though it will inevitably become a cold dead husk due to entropy.

Someone argued it or there wouldn't have been a derail.

If you're allowed to assert the Big Bang caused the sun, I'm allowed to assert it was actually ancient space wizards. It seems to be entirely appropriate for this thread.

I bet you believe in souls, ghosts, crystal healing and others woowoo nonsense, too.

What if, bear with me here, what if components are just a way for scam wizards to pocket valuable things like gold coins and gems on the pretense they need them for magic, potions and stuff while in reality magic doesn't even need them?

Well yeah, it's the manifestation of all that magical energy being delivered by the solar ley lines. The ancient space wizards made those for a reason.

Is that cat about to go to a better place?

>How is it possible that magic is a costless, renewable resource
It is not. Its owner sent you notification letter but you weren't able to notice and read it. Since you aren't going to cover his expenses, he will take good luck out of your life until your debt is paid.

In AD&D 2nd Ed., there are some powerful spells that instantly age you a few years. I imagine it would increase according to severity.

You spend your soul, user. Most goes into the spell, with a cut off the top for the devil. Unless you've been sacrificing other people's souls.