So, long story short, I'm making a home-brew world, and magic is very integral to the fundamental nature of the world. So, I've been building the world from the outside in, but it seems I've gotten stuck on the first step: magic. Magic suffuses the world, but there are different types. What I'm having trouble with is "what are the types?"
I know of course theres divine and arcane in DND, then Arcane, Divine, Occult, and Primal in PF, but I wondered if any of you used alternate categories of magic? How does magic work in your home-brew worlds?
~Raccoon
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Hi, I'm Raccoon_Master, a young genderfluid actor, writer, explorer, and bass vocalist. Pronouns They/Them/Theirs
My Characters: Brorminthe Devout Crusher; Morgrom the Cunning Summoner;Theathe Rebellious Beauty;
I don’t think D&D, at least officially, really has that split anymore. I guess there’s flavor text about how the various classes get their spells, but I can’t think of places where it actually says spells are arcane or divine. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do that if that’s what you like, it’s more like you don’t necessarily need that structure if it doesn’t serve your world-building.
In my world there’s just magic. I didn’t really think about different types or sources because it doesn’t really come up at my table, and the campaign stories haven’t really focused on it. It’s worked perfectly well. I honestly don’t think it would come up unless I wanted to do one of those “someone is trying to cut off the magic in the world” campaigns.
So, I’d ask, do the types of magic matter to the campaign you are planning? Because if not you could probably put off the decision about how it works in your world.
Basically, there is kind of a....(IDK the word but whatever) flow chart(????). Basically, the sources of magic define the divine entities of the world, who therefore define the mortal and immortal creatures of the world, seeing as they are the creations of said Divine Entities. So yeah, the types of magic are important to the current concept of the world. I hope that makes sense (it probably doesn't, lol). But yeah.
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Hi, I'm Raccoon_Master, a young genderfluid actor, writer, explorer, and bass vocalist. Pronouns They/Them/Theirs
My Characters: Brorminthe Devout Crusher; Morgrom the Cunning Summoner;Theathe Rebellious Beauty;
So, magic is like the overgod that created the gods? Cause that’s pretty cool. If I were doing that, I’d probably just use the schools of magic as the split rather than something like divine/arcane. You could have something like 8 great sages in the past were able to define the types of magic in a way mortals could comprehend and that’s how the names for the different schools came to be. Then you don’t have to re-invent the wheel.
For a somewhat different take I run a modified FR world so a lot of the magic background is built in already. On the other hand they have changed the magic so many times I had to allow for it. In addition its include psionics in my game. So raw magic suffuses the world then Mystra has taken that and created the weave for arcane use ( and Shar’s shadow weave) as well as established the limits on spell casting and spell levels.then Corellon described a different way of accessing the raw magic which explains why the elves had to modify the nether scrolls to use them. The other gods access the raw magic directly providing access to their clerics. Rangers access the raw magic nearly directly but through a nature oriented lens, Druids access either through nature deities or directly with a nature lens similar to rangers. Warlocks access bits and pieces as provided by their sponsors. Psions access the raw magic directly controlling it with their minds
Basically, there is kind of a....(IDK the word but whatever) flow chart(????). Basically, the sources of magic define the divine entities of the world, who therefore define the mortal and immortal creatures of the world, seeing as they are the creations of said Divine Entities. So yeah, the types of magic are important to the current concept of the world. I hope that makes sense (it probably doesn't, lol). But yeah.
It is important to the concept, but how is it really relevant to the players. IMO that is often a mistake in world building, is getting so engrossed by concepts that players won't deal with, or won't for a long time if there is any actual player effect. And sometimes just going with the flow and not defining it, you may get inspired on how the players do so.
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Hello all,
So, long story short, I'm making a home-brew world, and magic is very integral to the fundamental nature of the world. So, I've been building the world from the outside in, but it seems I've gotten stuck on the first step: magic. Magic suffuses the world, but there are different types. What I'm having trouble with is "what are the types?"
I know of course theres divine and arcane in DND, then Arcane, Divine, Occult, and Primal in PF, but I wondered if any of you used alternate categories of magic? How does magic work in your home-brew worlds?
~Raccoon
Hi, I'm Raccoon_Master, a young genderfluid actor, writer, explorer, and bass vocalist. Pronouns They/Them/Theirs
My Characters: Brormin the Devout Crusher; Morgrom the Cunning Summoner; Thea the Rebellious Beauty;
Check out my EXTENDED SIGNATUR and don’t forget to join the Anything but the OGL 2.0 Thread!
"I don't make sense to you, and I don't make sense to myself. Maybe the only one I make sense to is God" ~ Me, trying to sound smart
I don’t think D&D, at least officially, really has that split anymore. I guess there’s flavor text about how the various classes get their spells, but I can’t think of places where it actually says spells are arcane or divine.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t do that if that’s what you like, it’s more like you don’t necessarily need that structure if it doesn’t serve your world-building.
In my world there’s just magic. I didn’t really think about different types or sources because it doesn’t really come up at my table, and the campaign stories haven’t really focused on it. It’s worked perfectly well. I honestly don’t think it would come up unless I wanted to do one of those “someone is trying to cut off the magic in the world” campaigns.
So, I’d ask, do the types of magic matter to the campaign you are planning? Because if not you could probably put off the decision about how it works in your world.
Basically, there is kind of a....(IDK the word but whatever) flow chart(????). Basically, the sources of magic define the divine entities of the world, who therefore define the mortal and immortal creatures of the world, seeing as they are the creations of said Divine Entities. So yeah, the types of magic are important to the current concept of the world. I hope that makes sense (it probably doesn't, lol). But yeah.
Hi, I'm Raccoon_Master, a young genderfluid actor, writer, explorer, and bass vocalist. Pronouns They/Them/Theirs
My Characters: Brormin the Devout Crusher; Morgrom the Cunning Summoner; Thea the Rebellious Beauty;
Check out my EXTENDED SIGNATUR and don’t forget to join the Anything but the OGL 2.0 Thread!
"I don't make sense to you, and I don't make sense to myself. Maybe the only one I make sense to is God" ~ Me, trying to sound smart
So, magic is like the overgod that created the gods? Cause that’s pretty cool.
If I were doing that, I’d probably just use the schools of magic as the split rather than something like divine/arcane. You could have something like 8 great sages in the past were able to define the types of magic in a way mortals could comprehend and that’s how the names for the different schools came to be. Then you don’t have to re-invent the wheel.
For a somewhat different take I run a modified FR world so a lot of the magic background is built in already. On the other hand they have changed the magic so many times I had to allow for it. In addition its include psionics in my game. So raw magic suffuses the world then Mystra has taken that and created the weave for arcane use ( and Shar’s shadow weave) as well as established the limits on spell casting and spell levels.then Corellon described a different way of accessing the raw magic which explains why the elves had to modify the nether scrolls to use them. The other gods access the raw magic directly providing access to their clerics. Rangers access the raw magic nearly directly but through a nature oriented lens, Druids access either through nature deities or directly with a nature lens similar to rangers. Warlocks access bits and pieces as provided by their sponsors. Psions access the raw magic directly controlling it with their minds
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
It is important to the concept, but how is it really relevant to the players. IMO that is often a mistake in world building, is getting so engrossed by concepts that players won't deal with, or won't for a long time if there is any actual player effect. And sometimes just going with the flow and not defining it, you may get inspired on how the players do so.