World development - Magic -

Letsee...

Let me start with what I don't want for magic.
-LIMITLESS POWER (It's OP! nerf it now!)
-Deus Ex Machina producer.

Those are the two things I really cannot have in my own setting, they would be hard to explain away to have a actual plot.

Magical limits -
I prefer to have some sort of limitations to magic, it may rely on some sort of mana, but it will constantly strain the user. Devastating spells cannot be easy to pull of.

So I have decided to have it sort of run off stamina, so exhaustion and other strain induced affections take hold if constantly used. Mana would have to be a type of stamina as well, allowing practiced mages to at least cast for a while.

On the note of Mana, I think it is a neat idea for squads to sort of draw mana from each other, allowing the one magic user to keep sending off spells longer to support the group.

But what happens when one runs out of mana, I think they would feel a tad drained, but in a unexplainable way, like feeling tired from running upstairs for a while but without any thing to directly connect the drain to.

Though on top of the Mana-Stamina and everything, I want emotion to fuel magic, I want fury to be personified by the raging spells that angry mages unleash, I want it to have emotional impact as well as cinematic awesomeness. So yeah... As it is developed.

Deus Ex Machina -

I think I have come up with a decent way to prevent story elements from whisking themselves away. Too prevent the skeleton key of plot keyholes.

What marks a very experienced wizard/mage/sorcerer/whatever is the ability to complex spells without a focus. Focuses would be objects with the spell's guts, it is what the mana/stamina is channeled through to get focus's effect.

For example a novice mage would be able to throw magic missile, but it is really just a straight dumb fire burst of energy. The bolt its self may not last that long if the mage is unpracticed.

In contrast to having the mage with a focus, that may just allow a mage to cast it like it was the 3.5e DnD spell. Fire away, don't worry about actually hitting the target, it doesn't miss.

Too the more extreme end of the magical knowledge and experiance base, a master mage would be able to throw off spells without the focus with much greater effect than the novice with the focus. But that is not too say that the master cannot benefit from using the focus.

While the above examples kept to reasonably simple spells (At least in my mind). The simple spells would just be force, maybe elemental in nature and execution. But it takes a great wealth of experience to do proper healing and mending on the field. Stopping someone's bleeding by healing them would be much harder than "Ta-dah!". It would be healing it close, healing ONLY the original flesh, you can't have germs and other nastiness suddenly growing to life threatening sizes or quantities.

Things that may have been simple in terms of caster level in dungeons and dragons will be complex but also very useful to their users. Perhaps a barkeeper shelled out the money for a channel and crystal that gathers energy that will reform glasses that are broken.

Generally I want to prevent magic from being a catchall for solving problems. I will define more of Magic A is Magic A, when I actually get to writing my stories... Then I can start reconing! whooohooo!

World development - pt1 of nil

Now, lets say... actually update.

The general setting I have in mind has these features.

- All fantasy races represented (But with hopefully my own twist)
- Races of my own creation represented (Like my kobolds, that I will dedicate a whole post to)
- Different racial types of each respective race, so there are not just Scandinavians(white people), we got them all.
- Technological level will be staggered realistically, but a general splatter.
-For example, heavier than air flight has been around long enough that there are attack planes.
-(With what ever medical level was around about then. So think reasonably modern.)
-Magic will be around, but will not be all encompassing utility source.
-For example, it will take a combination of magic and medical knowledge to properly deal with fatal problems.
-I like the spiffy idea that combat medics use magic to stabilize a combatant until extraction.

That is the general mess that comes to mind at this time.
I am always brainstorming on this setting, I want so many neat things, but I really don't want too over load it.
But one thing I really want to avoid is monoculture. There isn't just one elven group, or dwarves that all share the same values with each other. They must be people in their own right.

Later on, say tomorrow if I remind my self, I will post up the general magic system and other topics.