The BIG Spell Table

Roll 1d100.

The BIG Spell Table
[1] Not a spell- but a spell failure! This arcane formula is incomplete or intentionally flawed. Whatever you thought the spell might do; find the nearest corresponding School of Magic on this list and roll on its subtable. If not applicable, roll on the Spell Cataclysms table.

[2] Not a spell- but a method to acquire spells. Roll on the Cruel Executions for Magic Users table; slaying a magic user in a ritualized fashion with this method will grant you knowledge of one spell they knew in life.

If your magician can already suck out magical knowledge from dead people- then you learn a very Occult Spell from Silent Hill instead.

[3] This spell is stupid. Roll a d12 on the Idiotic spell table.

[4] Not a spell- but a Runebrand. This magic brand provides a small permanent bonus to anyone it is applied to, or a once per day cantrip-level magic effect for its wearer. Roll a 1d6 on the Witcher Runebrand Table for your brand. If you roll a 6, instead roll a d20 on the Random Discipline Table, which is tattoo representing that magical concept with a matching effect.

[5-6] Chaotic Burst! The spell caster must name a desired outcome or target of the spell; and the magic flies! Use the powers of Mana Points and their effects, with the number of Mana Points equal to the caster level. You cannot use the same effect twice in a single casting of the spell. Don't have Mana points? You'll have to use Hit-Points instead.

[7] You learn a spell that is quite amateurish, but charming. Roll a spell made by Your Apprentice.

[8-13] Mutation of a Classic Spell. Roll 1d6, then roll on its corresponding table.

1. Knock
2. Color Spray
3. Sleep
4. Hold Portal
5. Comprehend Languages 
6. Magic Missile (Same rules as magic missile; it just looks different.) 

[14] You learn the rituals and callings to perform a random Dark Pact.

[15] You learn how to cast magical curses. The next time you curse someone with your words, it can become a magic spell. Use the Freeform Curse Generator.

[16-18] Roll a Basic Starting Spell.

[19-24] Roll a Random Starting Spell.

[25] You learn a useful utility spell- roll on the Camp Spells Table.

[26-27] Instead of a spell, you gain a new face. The face appears on your chest; though it can be hidden under your clothes. Roll a 1d4 to determine where the face comes from, and what powers it grants you. If you already have a magical chest-face-spell; then just roll a Random Mutation.

1. Roll a random face of the Many-Faced Man
2. Roll a random surface from the Weird Monster Generator
   
3. Roll a random face of a Hand-Face-Hand
4. Roll a random Chaos Medallion Relief which also grants you a Medallion Power.
   

[28-32] You learn a first level spell. Roll 1d4, then roll on its corresponding table.

1. Attack Spells
2. Defense Spells
3. Illusion Spells
4. Summoning Spells
   

[33] You get some strong magic with some very glaring flaws. Roll 1d2 and then roll on the following table.

1. Powerful Enhancements ended by Very Trivial Things
2. Powerful Curses Countered by Very Common Things

[34-39] You learn a spell inspired by the bards. Roll 1d8 on the table below, then once again on whatever table you randomly selected.

1. Hedge Wizard
2. Green Colored Sun
3. Adventures in the Upside Down
4. El Bosco
5. Moth Tower
6. Mumble forth verses of subtle control with Purple Magic.
7. Learn a random magic Song.
8. Generate an Orc Song. It grants magical power- but only to things related to the song.
   

[40-43] You learn a Monster spell. Roll 1d4 to determine the origin, then on the relevant table to learn the spell.

1. Goblin
2. Gnoll
3. Orc
4. Instead of a spell, you become infused with Fairy Magic. Gain a Blessing of a Fairy Queen.

[44-45] You can condense magic energy into a Magical Skillgem. If socketed into an item, it grants its user a special power. Roll 1d3 to determine the color (Red, Green, Blue) and then a 1d12 to determine the exact power it grants.

[46-50] You learn one of the 36 Magic Spells.

[51] You learn a spell that is strangely interconnected to everything else. Roll on the Blog Spells Table.

[52-55] You learn a personalized spell. Roll 1d4 to determine who, and then roll on their spell table for the exact spell of theirs you steal.

1. Anten the Murderer
2. Walks-In-Emeralds
3. Hotar of the Holy Vapors
4. This spell acts as a Turn Undead; but turns something Weird instead.
   

[56] You learn a spell relating to arcane symbology. Roll a random Symbol Spell.

[57] You learn a Random Cleric Spell

[58] You learn a spell related to Exploring Dimensions

[59-63] You learn a Generic Enemy Spell. Perfectly generic, perfectly serviceable. You'd do well in the Monster Manual.

[64-71] You gain a spell of the rainbow. Roll 1d6 to determine a random color, then on the relevant table below.

1. Red
2. Blue
3. Yellow
4. Green
5. Purple
6. Orange

[72] You learn a spell relating to magical runes. Roll a random Rune Spell.

[73-75] You learn a chaotic, strange, or highly-random arcane formula. Roll 1d3.

1. Weird Low-Level Spell 
2. Altered Classic Spell
3. Weird High-Level Spell

[76] You learn a spell used in war- roll on the Warfare Spells Table. 

[77-79] You learn a spell relating to nature spirits. Roll 1d4 and then roll on the relevant table below.

1. Dryad Spells
2. Satyr Spells
3. Mermaid Spells
4. Fae Ice-Queen

[80-81] You gain the ability to create, bind, or summon forth a creature. This creature is not a short-lived conjuration but is alive. Each one has a will of its own and must be sated or bound magically to serve. Roll a die to determine what Hit-Dice of monster you get; apprentice should only be rolling a 1d4, where as master wizards or archmages might roll a 1d8 or even 1d10.

1. Unfortunately you are only able to summon a shitty Pest.
2. Hearth Minion
3. Malevolent Zombie Servant
4. Trapestrod
5. An Intruder
6. The Unconquerable Ulazoo
7. Angered Nature Spirit - Treat the "Why is it Angry" table as Bewitched. It will break free in 1d6 years of serving you.
   
8. You revive a long dead Lich. The Lich will serve you, but has its own agenda and jealously guards its own Signature Spell.
9. Big Scary Ass Demon
   
10. Oh shit. You accidentally summoned an Elder God! Make a saving throw against magic to close the portal in time; if you succeed, you survive but your mind is burdened with Terrible Knowledge. If you fail; the elder god sucks you through into the void and you disappear forever. Alternatively if the proper ritual protections are prepared; you can summon one of these powerful beings as a supernatural patron instead.

[82] You peek into the primordial past from the shamans and spirit-callers of old; learning one of the First Magic Spells. For every year you spend sequestered in the wilderness living as a primitive; you can roll again on this table to learn another.

[83-87] You learn witchcraft. Roll a 1d6 to determine the origin of the Witch magic you are learning, and then roll again on the relevant table.

1. Forest
   
2. Sea 
3. Swamp
4. Mountain
5. Squirrel
   
6. Instead of a spell; you learn a method or two to Bewitch someone. Bewitching someone is like Charm Person, but better.

[88] You learn all the dark powers of an Anti-Sage. If you commit a deed of great evil, these spells count as though you are one caster level higher.

[89-94] You learn a potpourri spell. Who keeps inventing these?

1. You conjure a basketful of some Magic Fruits.
2. You can perform Star-Doctor Experiments; using your caster level as the die size.
   
3. You speak a Magic Incantation. The spell does about what it sounds like it would.
4. Lean a random spell of the Mindscape.
   
5. Generate a Weird Spell.
6. Learn the mystic ritual of the Kindlesoul 
7. Upon casting this mysterious protection spell, you realize it does nothing until you die. 
8. Learn the Spider Spell.
9. Learn a ritual to become the Master of 23 Men
10. You can stick a sword in a dead guy's face to make a Swordyface. 
11. Learn a powerful Enchantment that can reach across the whole world! 
12. Roll on the Trickster Special Ability table. This isn't a spell; you just have this ability now. 

[95] You learn a spell with no levels- Roll on the No-Level Spell Table. These can be prepared with any spell slot or use of any mystic resource of any level.

[96-97] You learn how to call forth powerful mystic weapons. Roll 1d4.

1. You learn a Magical Weapon Summon-Spell
2. Pick two weapons from the Celestial Armory and they both appear; one in each hand.
3. You call forth one of the Almighty Astras. Roll 1d2 to determine which table you roll on. You can call forth the Astra for a number of rounds equal to your Caster Level +1.
4. You need no weapons when your hands will suffice! Learn the basics of Gestural Combat- gain the first two and then two more random Proscribed Gestures. Increasing your Will and unlocking new gestures simply requires more Juice.

[98] You learn all the basic powers of a Sage. After you commit a deed of great good, you gain all the advanced powers too.

[99] You gain a powerful spell that grants you a Godly Power for a single day. When the spell ends, you fall unconscious and slip into a coma for one year to recover from such awesome powers in your mortal form. This doesn't happen if you're already a demigod.

[100] Instead of a spell, you get one Wish. No twists, no catch.

Unknown Armies- Algomancer

In the mystic underground; Magick changes with the times. Because of the nature of post-modern magick being hand in hand with popular culture and the human experience, the changes that come upon society are reflected back into the world of the weird. For Adept schools, people who are obsessed with a singular magickal idea or paradox and can gain power from it, this can hit especially hard. With today's social media and total divorcement from legacy broadcast; the Videomancers have completed lost the power of their paradox and have all but died out. Instead of watching television bringing millions of people together; content has become custom coded, algorithmically sorted, served fresh on demand all of the time. This has regressed Videomancy into a minor school, if not spelled its total extinction. But surely this new massive social change has brought magickal potential? 

Not sure of image source; but it may very appropriately
be @GetClearSpace

Algomancers interface with social media and content-distribution platforms not merely for entertainment, or as an addiction, but as a spiritual pursuit. To define themselves based on the characters, media, and advice found on bite sized, vacant content. Algomancers usually use phones; but they don't have to. You could use a laptop, a pair of google glasses; but whatever it is it must have a screen and must have an internet connection. The ultimate paradox of the Algomancer is that everything you consume is custom tailored for you; based on what you watch. You're trying to find enlightenment by looking in a mirror. If you don't have it already; then you can't get out more then what you put in.

Minor Charge- Spend a day or significant portion of a day scrolling and consuming content. Breaks can be taken, but no more then 10 or 15 minutes between sessions of screen time. Mechanically, you can't do anything useful for that day such as working a 9-5 job or training a useful skill.
Significant Charge- Make a serious personal decision based on the recommendations or attitudes found in the Algorithm. Such as removing your child from public school after watching a clip about how public schools are actually made to make people stupid, or taking an expensive trip to northern Iran to investigate claims of giants in the mountains. These decisions can ultimately be good in the long term, but all are ultimately risks based on nothing.
Major Charge- Become immortalized in a viral internet clip. You do not necessarily have to the one to record it, but you do have to see it after it is posted, watching very cuts and edits of your 15 minutes of fame. The ultimate form of self recursion; wasting time viewing yourself through an algorithm designed to engage you.

Taboo
The Algomancer cannot ever take advice or face-value social cues from others in person. This doesn't work for obvious things; you can't say "Hey you should keep breathing" and by continuing to breathe they don't taboo, but it does mean that they can't change their plans or learn valuable skills from others. They cannot seek psychological therapy; as they are supposed to be self sufficient from the "nourishment" of their recursive algorithm. You can still make use of any service bought and paid for (like medical care or buying the services of mercenaries, etc.), but accepting medical advice from your friend who is a trained combat medic will cause you to taboo. You'd much rather scroll on your phone to search how to apply a tourniquet while bleeding from a gunshot wound, just to make sure you're "doing it the right way".

Blast
This school's blast works a little different. Instead of performing direct damage, this school curses the target to be beset by fear or anxiety inducing content on social media, tailored for them. This causes minor stress to their gauges; such as short videos which expose their political beliefs at being defeated or inferior, or if they had a rough time in high school their highschool bullies and social-superiors suddenly reach out with their beautiful wife and house, etc. You can avoid this blast by shunning all "devices" for a day for a Minor Blast or a Week for a Significant one.

Algomancer Adept Spells
Wake the Sleep (1 Minor Charge)
This spell can only be cast when you first wake up; either from sleep or the state of being unconscious. If you stare at your phone for at least an hour, you regain +1 hit point or increase your daily healing by a small amount. If you ever perform this spell; the next time you wake up without using it, you cease natural healing for the rest of that entire week.

Search Function (1 Minor Charge)
When presented with any large number of items you can spend a charge to "search" them incredibly fast and find exactly which one you were looking for. This is only Magickally enhanced luck; it does not provide new knowledge or discernment beyond what you already would have had, this simply allows you to compress a longer search time into a shorter one, finding whatever you were looking for in just two or three attempts. For example, instead of spending an hour searching the library for a rare manuscript you know the name of, it only takes you 10 minutes. If you wouldn't be able to find the item within a reasonable human amount of time (massive archive that would take days to search, it's hidden too well, details are too fine for you to discern, etc.) then this spell does nothing and the charge is not returned.

Armor of Ignorance (2 Minor charges)
If you are suddenly thrust into a dangerous situation, such as a mass shooting incident, a natural disaster, or a riot, you can walk while scrolling on your phone. You are given an aura of protection. No crossfiring bullets, random falling objects, or floods of water while strike you; instead miraculously avoiding your path. This effect doesn't work against people trying to target you specifically, but random criminals or muggers will just skip their eyes right over you. This effect ends the moment you stop scrolling to take in your surroundings.

Tunnel Vision (3 Minor Charges)
You can curse anyone whose social media profile you have open to suddenly be afflicted with a sense of visual vertigo. They can only see and react to things directly in front of them, causing panic and stress, and cutting out all of their peripheral vision. This could be extremely useful in a fight or to sneak past someone, but you have to find an online account of theirs in some fashion to use it.

Time to Forget (X Minor or Significant Charge cost)
By standing behind someone and motioning on the back of their skull, you can make them forget events that transpired recently, going back in a linear fashion. Each "event" is a single instance but covers roughly 10 minutes of time or an hour for unimportant or if the person was on "autopilot", such as working at a job or scrolling a phone themselves. You can also remove any stress gathered during this time as they forget these. Every Algomancer has a different motion; from swipping right with their thumb, to scrolling up with an index finger for vertical video feeds, to flicking their middle finger back and forth on the back of your skull like a mouse wheel, scrolling your memories away.

If the target is willingly trying to forget something, this costs Minor charges. If you are using this against someone's will, it costs Significant charges instead. You cannot use this ability on yourself.

Thumb of Power (2 Significant Charges)
You can swipe your thumb across any device to activate, hack, or bypass it; like an electronic security door or time-lock safe, or hotwiring a car. This device must have at least one electronic component; meaning old school padlocks or complex wooden puzzle boxes are totally unfathomable to your abilities.

Filter the Information (3 Significant Charges)
You gain the ability to read and possess a massive amount of information in a short amount of time. For example, flipping through the pages of a book as fast as you can, or rapidly scanning your eyes over a police databank and absorbing all of that knowledge immediately. You have perfect photographic memory and recall and can perfectly replicate the knowledge found within no matter how complex. You can perfectly write down or sketch what you've seen with an uncanny, savant-like level of accuracy. You forget all of this information in exactly eight minutes.

Turning of the Wheel (4 + X Significant Charges)
An obscure Algomancer spell; seemingly invented by an Adept with a high degree of intelligence and craftiness that continued to absorb media while engrossed in crafts or tinkering. This spell requires a specially prepared music box and wind up key, and magickally alters the properties of the box to make it capable of holding its "charge" and playing music for up to a maximum wind up of two hours.

When this spell is cast, any amount of magical charges can be "stored" within the music box, and then it is wound up for the first time. As long as the music box remains wound and continues to play, the charges remain safely within. This means it must be round up occasionally (at least once every 2 hours) by being hand cranked; no machine or automated system can accomplish this, the key must be removed and replaced by human hands each time. Even if the owner of a magic charge breaks taboo, has their magick stolen, or even if some other catastrophe happens; the charges remain safely inside the box. If the box ever fully expends its charge and stops playing, all charges within are lost permanently. Otherwise, you can open the box and willfully regain the charges within as long as you can charge it.

This spell lasts for as long as you keep the box going. Any magic user can store their charges within, regardless of school or type, and regain them even if they break taboo afterwards. The charges stored within could be Minor, Significant, or even Major; which remain safe as long as you keep the box playing.

MAJOR CHARGE EFFECTS
Insert a new idea, piece of disinformation, or useful tip into the public unconscious. People are free to ignore or build upon this idea, but it will worm its way into the public sphere forever and be impossible to fully get rid of. This can also be used to improve an existing idea, causing it to reach more people.

Force every single screen in the entire world to play a single video clip for exactly 60 seconds.

Some Algomancers also speak of the power for one to fully embrace their madness; retreating into themselves and disappearing into a world entirely made only for them. This self recursive mirror world would be an Otherspace with an almost Godlike entity ruling it; but only able to recognize and act upon its own vision and ideas endlessly repeated until the end of the world.

Random complaints about Magic Systems since this post was too long for r/magicbuilding

1) Magic is a purely genetic or "superpower"-like ability that is manifested wholly from the body/person using it.

For me, magic needs to have some component of spiritual or mental acuity to use it. I don't have a problem with magic being heavily tied to a person's bloodline, even if it's "unfair" in the world its in like if it's only available to superhuman elves or spirits or whatever, but magic where humans can just wave their hands and simply can do it or can't doesn't feel magical to me, it feels more like a superpower. You need to have some component of at least mentally imagining the spell or willing it into existence somehow. I also like to self insert in most fantasy worlds I read or interact with (don't we all) and I much prefer magic being the result of hard work or at least special knowledge.

2) Magic that mixes symbolic and pseudo-scientific aspects.

Regardless of if a magic system is soft or hard; I dislike when magic systems mix these two aspects. If you want to make magic the result of different varieties of magical or elemental energy that is collected in crystals to power magitech machinery, that's fine. If you want to make magic more folkloric and/or occult and base it on symbolic methods; like making a voodoo doll that looks like someone to harm them remotely or nailing an iron horseshoe to your doorway to keep fairies away that's fine too. But don't tell me there are mystic curses that can only be broken with true love's first kiss AND you're a red wizard with 250 MP practicing your 2nd level fireball spell.

3) Magic "Schools" or categories that have inconsistent naming conventions

This one is probably the worst and most nitpicky of all; but I very much dislike magic systems where they have a sort of order to their spell schools. White magic, black magic, gray magic; ok that's cool, don't suddenly add in "charms" or "illusion" magic to that list, it completely ruins it. Same as systems that will inexplicably have elemental magic and then throw in mind-control or psychic phenomena as a category. No, if you're going to have a category that breaks the rules like that, you need to fit it into the existent naming scheme like letting elemental magic also affect people's moods and body humors or start over. The worst part is its not even the effects or spells, just the naming scheme. I have zero problem with Elder Scrolls magic schools as they exist in the game but having every spell school follow this naming convention of "AlteraTION, DestrucTION, RestoraTION," and then tossing in "Mysticism" or "Illusion" irks me.

4) Magic incantations that don't mean anything

Now obviously they mean "something" in the world-space when spoken aloud, you can't expect every creator or author to create an entire conlang just for this, but what I mean by this is if a magic system uses magic incantations that inevitably boil down to saying things like "water, form, towards target" in word form I get annoyed. Once again this is often abstracted but if its a magic system based on words and "you can't lie in this ancient language so whatever you say has to become true" or it's "imposing your will on reality" via speech then what needs to be said needs to be intelligible. I've come to enjoy magic incantations just spoken in plain English/whatever language the story is written in as being more evocative anyway; calling upon supernatural forces or commanding inanimate objects to obey and they suddenly spring to life is so much better then some keywords in some made-up gibberish language.

5) Sorcerers = Inherited Magic & Wizards = Learned Magic

This is literally just an annoyance I have with the naming convention once again; and only D&D in specific. The most famous Sorcerers in pop culture and fiction (named Sorcerer)? King Solomon, Dr. Strange, and Mickey Mouse (Sorcerer's Apprentice)- All had to learn or gain their powers through magic items. The most famous Wizards in fiction? Merlin, Harry Potter, Gandalf- all inherited or belonging to a magical bloodline. Once again, this is 100% down to taste, I just hate how D&D has created this connotation when if anything it should be the opposite. At least "Witch" can always mean a hearth caster!

6) Everything "magic" comes from the "Wizard class"

Not literally video games again, but if everything magical or supernatural in a world has to come from a magic using catch-all term or type of individual; it sucks all the suspense and intrigue out of the world for me. Magic swords should be crafted by the most skilled and experienced blacksmiths of the land; not "enchanted" in some process by some magical wizard guy. Once again this is down to flavor, and more scientific magic systems get a pass on this by necessity, but everything cool being made by the special snowflake Wizard-type is boring to me.

7) Magic is defined as an energy field + real world physics on top

This was described by other comments on this post better; but basically I really hate when fantasy magic is defined as a sort of magical energy field that can be turned off or on, "Anti-Magic Shell", etc. These things suck all the mysticism and spiritual aspects out of magic. You can have magic be weaker in certain places, or certain materials be resistant to it, but this should be because of a great lodestone or fallen star that disrupts the subtle "weave" that surrounds all living things, NOT an attempt to crease over a soft magic system with a hard-magic system explanation.

8) We don't see enough of it / Only brought out for the "cool" moments

Final complaint; magic systems that don't let us get any fun stuff out of it. Yes, I know this sounds a bit hypocritical from some of the stuff above, but if I get invested in a world, story, or game; I really want to at least get a taste of the magic. If it's a Lovecraftian style magic world with great costs and dangers for using magic, I get it, but in an attempt to not spoil the flavor with overexposure, many creativities make magic too rare, special, or plot-important to actually absorb and enjoy. Let me see how magic users use magic to rid themselves of annoying daily tasks or how low-powered magic stuff is sometimes used for entertainment or to play pranks on people. Let me steep myself in the unreal world. People are people even if they're elves; so you KNOW somebody is going to use these fantastic powers for something boring, something mean, or something kinky. It's inevitable and, if anything, a sign of good writing. It's a part of the world, so let me experience it in your world.

I hate the Technocracy (MAGE WoD)

I can never talk about World of Darkness shit because I'm always afraid I'll get it wrong. It's such an old series of games and books, with multiple changed editions, some with totally different lore. I'm too casual for it. My World of Darkness experience is limited to a few games of vampire, one Hunter, a shitty play-by-post RP Forum game set in the setting but with none of the rules, reading the wikis, and pirated .pdfs. As such, I feel I can never speak with any authority on the subject, as I'm 100% sure my ideas about the setting are either headcanon confused as real stuff, other people's headcanon, or just flat out misremembered stuff I read from years ago. However, that doesn't stop me from really enjoying the implied setting, spitballing new ideas, and seeing what people make of it. No matter how much I read about WoD there always seems to be more.

But time and time again, something about MAGE really bothers me. MAGE in particular I feel like is the weakest and most contentious bit of the WoD, and is widely considered one of the hardest games to both run and play in, despite WRAITH having every player needing to play both their own character and a foil shadow to another character too. The Storyteller is just so loaded down in MAGE. I don't think this is a contentious opinion; I also frequented a roleplaying site for multiple years where a single dedicated GM continually tried recruiting for his WoD Mage game, in a place where people's games would usually fill up quite fast. I admire the dedication. But MAGE in particular bugs me.

I think the main issue with MAGE in terms of its universal appeal is its trying to be too broad and all-encompassing in scope. You're taking this core idea of "reality is what you make of it" or "reality is consensus", which works great for a highly focused piece of work like Unknown Armies, another favorite game/setting of mine, BUT you're also trying to tie it into the mythology and "monster"-fantasy of being a Witch or Wizard. I feel like you're creating an innate problem here. Vampire works great because you get what you say on the tin, you're a vampire. The game encompasses a massive amount of vampire mythology, and even encompasses some creatures that aren't traditional vampires yet all of them can safely fit into its mythology. It's scope is simple enough to understand and becomes a creative tool; restriction breeds creativity and all. But MAGE is basically anything you want as a magic user; no unifying themes other then the core rules of Spheres of power. Lip service to Ars Magica, but none of the actual grounding in Medieval Europe to tie it all together. It's trying to fit the fantasy of being Harry Potter, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the Wizards of Waverly Place, Wizards101, Charmed, Wanted, and all that other shit together in one unified splat. I just think it's flawed. I personally think it would have been much better if it was just trying to be one of those; just let me play a Teenager Wizard trying to keep their powers a secret or else they'll get their powers taken away by the evil wizard police or whatever. Normie opinion? Fine.

But I get why people like MAGE. You can basically create anything you want and fit it into the rules; a conspiracy theorist seeing numerology in the stock market manipulating reality, a Wicca with some punch behind her practices, the kids from Chronicle and that one X-Files episode, and it all kinda just works. For those who like it, I can't OBJECTIVELY say it's bad, I just think it suffers from trying to be too philosophical. But you know what part of MAGE I can say is objectively bad? The Technocracy.

The Technocracy in Lore
I have read two version of MAGE. I don't remember which is which and I don't care to do so, just know I've seen both the oWoD and nWoD versions. To explain my limited knowledge of this topic, I will reiterate my understanding.

In the first (older?) WoD splat, the world is in a fallen state. Achieving enlightenment was once possible, but the ladder to climb to reach it was kicked down by those above; the Supernal world is the philosophical and power end-goal of all Mages in this edition of the splat. The Technocracy is another faction, even one allied with the standard Mages of this edition, using super science and technology as their form of "magic" in this world. They're still breaking the rules, but to the sleepers and unawakened, it's a slightly easier sell. Essentially, they're like those spy gadgets in movies. Nothing overtly supernatural is happening, but they're still working magic, as objective reality doesn't allow what they're doing in the strictest sense. It's an interesting potential faction in a game like this which is very gnostic in its theme (as if I haven't talked about that enough on this blog), but I personally dislike it due to the theme of "magic magic is real" which is supposed to induate the rest of the splat.

Then? The second splat. This one has the technocracy being its own faction, one of several compared to the Order of Hermes (the good guys), Marauders (crazy mages) and Nephandi (the actual bad guys). Here the technocracy are like the Agent Smith's of this splat, helping to keep down the reality threats in a world that should, in most cases, side with them. Reality is built on consensus and in the modern world, with religion all but dead and science and rationality being so strongly held in belief with normal people that the technocracy are all but indomitable. Then, they have Extraordinary Citizens who are basically the magictek science-driven form of Sorcerers. Both editions of MAGE mention this Extraordinary Citizen concept by this name.

And it is some of the worst, most tone-deaf shit I have ever read in my life.

The Core Problem
The entire point of World of Darkness is that the world is dark. Not necessarily grimdark, but depressing and always a bit sad, always a bit degraded. Every single splat of WoD, no matter what it is, has a very strong theme of loss and slow decay or degradation over time.

Vampires slowly lose their humanity. Werewolves gain too much rage and become animals. Changelings gain banality and eventually forget they were ever fairies- their enchanted existence becomes mundane and boring. This last one is really important. Mage has its own morality/essence mechanic in the form of Quiet. This isn't the issue to me, the issue here is tone and theme.

The entire concept behind Mage is that the world is what we make of it. Human belief and superstition changes what is objective and real. Magic in the WoD is rare and precious because... most people don't believe in magic. Mages are constantly fighting an uphill battle to create magic because they're fighting their own version of banality, but in this case, it's objective scientific fact. Education, capitalism, and communication have eliminated so much of the folk traditions and beliefs that magic is becoming almost impossible to achieve- at least effects that look especially unreal and impossible. This is true even though belief is supposed to be localized and fluid; even in the middle of the woods around none of the sleepers making something levitate by itself is difficult because the stink of "what comes up must come down" is so strong that it even happens even when no-one is looking. This is supposed to be the aspect of MAGE that is sad, that is dark, that is your uphill battle. That human achievement is limited by what we think is possible, that people accused of crimes can't actually be innocent because nobody gets accused without a good reason, or that "everyone is out for themselves" being a belief so ingrained that it becomes part of reality. This concept is even directly stated in the Nephandi book, for fallen sorcerers, who are actively trying to make the world a worse place by spreading these ideas and misery into the world. So what is the Technocracy doing with special divisions, intentional conspiracies nobody can breach into, and extraordinary citizens? I hate this concept. 

The Technocracy doesn't need any of this shit, because the Technocracy already won. In the battle for reality, the boring, safe, practical minds already infected themselves into every single person on Earth, crushing down the once beautiful systems of belief and being and magic that was once possible in every human soul, now most of which are asleep, going through the motions of what is expected of them. They only care about contributing to society; making money and living in a family, because the thought they could be out having epic adventures or exploring realms beyond Earth or slaying dragons and creatures of the night is childish, impossible, and out of their comfort zone of reality. This is supposed to be what MAGE is about, but the entire concept is completely ruined by the Technocracy as some entity.

So for me; the Technocracy still exists in MAGE, but it is faceless. There are no extraordinary citizens. There are no secret gadgets or conspiracy. Those who teach and learn the scientific method, and who crush the human soul out of the real world by asking you to point it out on their anatomy chart, are just as dangerous and diabolical as the Marauders; not asking for consent as they change the reality around you to their own twisted song. But for the Technocrats, it's worse. They are the middle managers of the gray eternity, perhaps even destined to turn humans into nothing but the intelligent primates they evolved from. How do you know we evolved from primates? Because they dug up a skeleton and all the DNA they discovered pointed to it. Why are there fossils? Why is there DNA? Why did humans evolve at all? Because they believe it so, and every time they're being proven right. "That is true" is the most common, endlessly repeated, and all-powerful magic spell. And that is why they are winning; not just today, but in the past too. Retroactively changing the mythical past of humanity into just myths and dreams and revisions of history, because those things "just aren't possible".

This, to me, is what makes the Technocracy scary; not a neat little list of special "divisions" that are basically just the orders of Mages but with different names. I have always imagined this to be the true enemy of the awakened ones in the WoD; something faceless and impossible to reason with, something infecting every corner of the globe and every human mind with the crushing endless repetition of "TRUTH", unassailable in all ways, as impossible to snuff out as knowledge and as eternal as the concept of a state. It's the one world order of the reasonable, the cautious, spreading by industry and information itself. That is what the Technocracy should be.

(Rant) Spell Categorization Complaints + The Seven Schools of Magic

I hate the schools of magic most games / settings choose for themselves. The only real reason is pedantry. I was thinking about making my own and came to a conclusion. Let's nitpick these.

Dungeons & Dragons
The schools of D&D Magic (depending on edition, world, writer, etc.) can be roughly boiled down to these;

• Abjuration
• Conjuration
• Divination
• Enchantment
• Evocation
• Illusion
• Necromancy
• Transmutation

Already, we are seeing a problem. We have this extremely nice naming scheme; abjurATION, conjurATION, divinATION, and then we get to Enchantment, Illusion, Necromancy... what the hell is this. Where's the nice naming scheme? If every type of magic or spell has its own unique naming scheme, that would be one thing, but this half measure is just infuriating. Every spell school should either end in a "-mancy" or "-urgy" or "-ation"; the title essentially being the action or verb that the magical school does or can do. "Conjuration" creates things, "Transmutation" changes things into other forms, and so on.

Secondly, the name-to-effects connection of the schools is also, in my opinion, lacking. It is difficult to directly tell what a Wizard can do or is good at based on these schools or their knowledge of them alone. Now from an in-universe perspective, it is fine- each school is named and codified based on what they do or their general group of effects that the spells of that school accomplish. The issue for me is I want the spell school to not only fit within this world-space of understandable effects, but ALSO grant some kind of worldbuilding or character-defining effects that each school could have. For example, if you were traveling in a fantasy world and heard tales of a "Mighty Conjurer" living out in a cave somewhere- you could probably assume that Wizard or Witch would be quite capable of summoning powerful creatures to attack you if you dared enter, or would perhaps be impossible to catch since they could just teleport away. Such concepts feel valuable in a game system-to-worldbuilding space; creating more texture and possible avenues for gameplay- except it doesn't work for every school. What exactly would a Transmuter be good at? Would they be good at escape or entry- given levitation or being able to open locked doors with magic? Would they be more combat focused- capable of buffing allies and cursing enemies with various spells? Are they more helpful support characters; able to transform various items into other useful items- all of these could fit under the umbrella, making it almost too broad in certain categories, but too specific in others. You can't just take the spell school's name at face value- as one could extrapolate "Magic that changes/alters stuff" could do basically fucking anything. Oh it can make you tougher- like Abjuration? Oh it can make objects that are stationery move- like Evocation's creation or control of energy? Could one extrapolate this to say that it can make people do what you want by "altering their minds"? No- this is covered by other magic schools- but you can see how trying to apply this with logic starts to get a little out of control given its vagueness.

It also would allow different Magic-User type characters to differentiate themselves in the party more; though largely unnecessary, as I don't think anyone has an issue differentiating different Wizard characters given the inherent differences in how they amass and prepare spells, or even their preference for spells if both have the same spell list, compared to say a Fighter or Rogue type class which would be almost totally identically if they shared a similar level; only have equipment, stats, or feats to really differentiate them.

I also just hate the D&D spell schools mostly for being a bit misleading as well. "Enchantment" sounds like an interesting school- something akin to weak magic spells emulating some of our favorite pop-culture Wizardry; like the Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia, or any number of the small useful "Charm" spells from Harry Potter. But no; Enchantment spells almost exclusively focus on mind-affecting and social spells- things like Sleep and Charm are Enchantment. This actually almost feels like the opposite of the above paragraph, where the designers of these schools tied themselves to the etymology of the word "Enchant" to the title of a possible character archetype or creature to encounter- being Enchanter. An Enchanter being able to control and manipulate people's minds is a very powerful and scary fantasy archetype- especially played up in recent years due to what has been a more "realistic" reaction to mind control and other forms of mental-manipulation magic as being pure horror or extremely morally questionable, if not downright always off the table. Your & my opinions on this are totally irrelevant on this topic I should mention- it is simply an observation. However, it doesn't fit that other schools of magic feel much more "invented" in their categories- Necromancy possibly being the worst, since it has nothing at all to do with divination of the dead (other then speak with dead) and instead relates to souls, life energy, and raising the dead as minions or other "death themed" spells. This further muddles the waters as Necromancy could mean a powerful offensive caster with various drain life abilities, summoning/raising minions, budget healing magic, powerful buffs in the form of undead transformations, and so on and so on- making Necromancy feel like it fits more in an Elemental magic system as the "Death" element over in this more acamedic, non-elemental, effects/use focused system like what we are discussing- which is more focused on the arcane, scholastic, non-spiritual forms of magic seen in D&D, Dying Earth, Elder Scrolls-ian style pop culture Wizardry.

Another more minor issue I want to add here? The implied dynamic of the setting- at least in regards of healing or holy magic being its own separate "thing" from the list here. It's not a huge deal since it's covered by Clerics and important for the resource management side of the game. But I kind-of want to have healing magic be its own category for what I'm going for here. More on this later.

Finally- we have the redundancy. We'll get more to this later, but the redundancy of this list is probably among the worst of various spell-schools I have seen. The fact we have both "Enchantment" and "Illusion" on the same fucking list, both mind/social/perception effecting spells is a sin. Now it's important to state that I COMPLETELY understand why this is the way it is. Illusionist and Illusion-Magic are very thematically different then Enchanters and Enchantment. However, I just don't like there being two-too similar spells like this with similar cases. Even in practice they aren't that similar, but the concepts are thematically muddled enough that I don't like the crossover.

Harry Potter
This one will be brief. I don't really hate the spell schools in the HP universe due to them being, in their own words, "vague and ill-defined", but I want to touch on them momentarily.

• Transfiguration
• Charm
• Jinx
• Hex
• Curse
• Counter-Spell
• Healing Spell
  

These spell schools are almost entirely focused on the use of a spell, over its effect or elemental bearing. Obviously, having three different schools for three levels of just "offensive spell" going from annoying to harmful to dangerous is right out- but I respect the attempt to try and fit them all in there. You can't just so easily fit them all into one category either; just calling it "Dark Magic" or something would simplify the system too much. Perhaps we could simplify the categories down to just "Dark Magic" and "Light Magic" to make it simple- with a third "Gray Magic" or perhaps unaligned spells being for purely transformative or utility-based effects on changing objects or the world. Maybe take a page out of Final Fantasy with Red Mages being a jack-of-all-trades kind of caster- thus Red/Blue/Color Magic would related to the various non-good and non-evil type of spells. This, however, transforms the system too much.

I honestly don't mind this system for two reasons. The first being that Wizards in the HP universe are more "full formed" in terms of magical abilities- they don't just cast spells but ALSO brew potions and ALSO ride brooms and ALSO do psychic combat and ALSO have other magic powers too; spells are just a small portion of the full kit, which means that specialization are far more specific then something as broad as a "type of spell". The second, and perhaps even more specific reason, is that I absolutely LOVE Charm spells as a rule. I love the idea of commodify and gamifying the mystical secondary abilities or lifestyles of various magic people in fantasy media; the self cleaning dishes, the magic clocks that wind themselves up, the unrolling chests that store way more stuff in them then they should, the little magical bubbles and lights coming from various trinkets and potions on the shelf to make a "full" magic user experience from the aesthetic and description alone. Sadly- only useful in game terms, tabletop or otherwise, for flavor- being mostly beyond flattening down into rules and pressing all the fun out of it. I just figured I should mention it; because what other blogpost am I going to be able to write this up for?

FATE
Yes, the video game. The Diablo clone for kids where you have a cat or dog that goes back to town and sells shit for you. I wanted to mention this one because, exactly as above, it's very short and simple. It also includes Charms. My weird obsession with magic "charms", or being a Wizard in a fantasy world who specializes in "Charms" magic, extended to this game where "Charms" was almost entirely based around summoning. But let's go over it all the same.

• Attack Spells
• Defense Spells
• Charm Spells
  

I actually really like this system. In the game, magic effects you wouldn't think are typecast into each category based on how its used and general playstyle. For example, Attack Spells cover both direct offensive attacks AND curses or debuffs inflicted on enemies. You can cast fire or lightning from Attack Spells but so too can you cast slow or weakness. (As a side note; I find such concepts odd- as you'd think a character specializing in Attack Spells would want to use damaging spells. This pretty much invalidates the concept of playing a curse-heavy mage that kills foes with weapons or summons- but given the realtively low investment in each school to use its spells, with most scaling being either damage (useful) or duration (almost pointless) then I suppose it makes sense). Defensive Magic also includes healing, buffs, and general defense- especially in regards to the elements. Finally, Charm magic as stated above is almost totally used for summons- with higher levels giving you stronger creatures, longer-lasting creatures, and higher numbers of creatures depending on the spell itself. Interestingly, Charms stays true to its name as being a useful category of utility magic as with very little investment you can get the "Identify" spell, acting as a Scroll of Identify with unlimited uses, no inventory space taken up, and a low mana cost. Charms also encompasses the few other utility spells the game has; like identifying items or opening up a town portal, so it gets some points.

Given my strange penchant for playing games in the most obtuse way possible- such as wanting to play a Warrior who uses magic to weaken foes instead of just putting all my points into strength, or playing a Melee fighter character who doesn't use armor and relies on magic or evasion; this system doesn't work very well save for Charms, which does make you feel like a cool Summoner and magic-item master.

However, it doesn't fit the arcane fantasy magical universe sort of vibe I'm going for; the D&D list is better despite its faults; yet the FATE system is perfect for the medium it is going for- a simple dungeon crawling video game. Still, it strains my immersion a little too much for a more "fully realized" setting- maybe a world where magic is incredibly new, only capable of being used in a single specific dungeon or place- with the three colors or flavors of magic seeming to be the three general categories of spell people can specialize or get better in. Still, I thought it was interesting enough to mention.

The Quest
This is little-known Indie Game I got on Steam during a previous sale. I actually quite like this game; it feels very much like a scaled down version of something like Daggerfall or Morrowind- an open world with several quests and viable character playstyles. Also, not realizing it, but the game was originally made for mobile and has a TON of expansions not even ported to PC. The artstyle is probably my favorite part, having some very nice hand-drawn graphics, but the gameplay got a bit repetitive. Why am I mentioned it here? Because it has a big list of skills with many types of magic. How does this game split up its magic spells into schools?

• Attack Magic
• Environment Magic
• Healing Magic
• Mind Magic
• Protection Magic
• Undead Magic

Yeah, no. Fuck you. Next.

Elemental Systems
Instead of listing a single game, TTRPG, or source for this- I'm just going to go off on Elemental Systems entirely. I've talked about this one a lot.

Not every Elemental System is the same, so I can't give a universal list. Obviously pretty much all of them are going to have the big four of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air- unless it's a Chinese inspired elemental system instead with Wood and Metal making the list. I think elemental magic spell/differentiation systems are very strong thematically for obvious reasons. I think my idealized system would be something like;

• Fire
• Water
• Earth
• Air
• Life (Creation)
  
• Death (Destruction)
  
• (Arcane/Void/Purple/Other?)
  

This grants the full spectrum of possible elemental configurations without getting into annoying redundancies and ultra-specific use cases of spells. The text in paranthesis indicates alternate names or possibly interpretations of these elements. As stated above, I think elemental systems are VERY strong thematically. You could easily imagine a character specializing in one or more elements- a Fire Wizard having all sorts of useful offensive powers, or an Air-Bender being good at travel and evasion. Life Magic can also be strongly coded as holy or good-guy magic; being able to heal wounds or damage the undead, as well as summoning animals or plants ala nature or drudic magic found in other games or universe. Death magic is also nice; once again it follows the same problems as with "Necromancy" but I feel its more appropriate given the elemental and thematic width of each school of magic in this system.

However, once again, elemental systems suffer from two main problems. The first is the rather limited lack of scope outside of elements. Now- a CREATIVE DM or writer could adapt to this easily; increasing the scope of each magic school to encompass or build out to various other things that aren't simply the element. For example; you may find elemental systems limiting because you can't do things like fate or luck related curses or spells if you had a full elemental system of just the four main elements; but this could be subverted and combined into the other schools. Fire grants luck at the cost of burning you later as a cost. Fire can not only create and conjure fire, but also give people boiling hot fevers or increasing their passion by putting their hearts ablaze- the thematic connections between the possible uses or targets of magic in the world and the elements themselves become a part of the magic, and in a way work better then a more academic or "nonelemental' spell-school system, as the elements themselves are made mystic and all-encompassing. The above system is also great as it basically shits inspiration and worldbuilding resources for writing plots, characters, or mystic underpinnings of the universe. Places of great natural importance are tied to one or more elements, granting mystic powers to those who reach them on a pilgrimage of sorcery. Elemental Wizards have personalities fitting their elements. Each elemental magic can be cancelled or weakened by the presence of their opposite- Air magic being incredibly weak underground and Fire magic being weak in the rain and so on. This is pretty much perfect for a fantasy world- but once again isn't exactly what I'm looking for in trying to make a sort of non-elemental, non-spiritual based magic system for spell categorization.

Dominions
Also talked about on this blog at least a few times, the Dominions series is a group of high-fantasy strategy video games where you play as a Pretender-God trying to kill all the others and ascend to glory. The game has a very thematically strong magic system of various elemental and sorcerous paths. While it is somewhat specific to its setting, it is broad enough to be widely applicable to multiple fantasy settings and I have stolen these elements/paths for my own games before.

• Fire
• Air
• Water
• Earth
• Astral
• Death
• Nature
• Blood
  

This system I really like; as it encompasses the mythology and magical underpinnings of an Elemental magic system BUT also covering everything else you may need- not only magic in terms of what characters could do but also the setting or cosmology itself. You can also imagine what each mage who specializes in each type of magic might look like- Nature mages being witches and druids. Blood mages being evil cultists and summoners. Death mages get to be necromancers- Astral mages being the theurges or soothesayers- controllers of fate and the stars- also tied strongly to themes of having the "fifth element" or element above the other elements in some way. Even more appropriate given Astral Magic's use in communions. Not unheard of outside of Dominions; but extremely fun and setting defining once it is introduced. Crosspath magic allows for yet more versatility and explains many things and how this relatively simple and small list of Paths could be used to encompass almost any magical effect you can think of- the game even has a nice in-game and universe categorization of Magic User based on their paths; with the first four paths of the basic elements being what Wizards use, and the latter four paths being what Sorcerors use.

It's also important to note that Dominions doesn't have quite the same scope or scale as the other games or universes on this list; most are focused on single characters (such as a TTRPG character or video game protagonist), where as Dominions is much more focused on mass combat and grand enchantments- meaning that Dominions Mages are very powerful and appropriately so.

...Of course that was all true, until the Illwinter development team introduced Glamour as a new magic path and fucked all this up! The newest Dominions game just came out as of the time of this writing- creating an Illusion, dream, and mind-based school of magic. While I haven't actually played with it yet to see how it works or how fun it is- I simply detest this inclusion into the above list of magic schools. While it wasn't perfect before, Illusion was moreso a subcategory of magic that fit into other schools- like how most Illusion spells were Air Magic related. I actually really liked this, as it created connections and concepts in setting that any nation with access to Air-Magic had the capacity to cast various illusion and trickery spells- and indeed most of the nations who did have high level Air Magic had the capacity for it. I mean, if any school of magic should be split up, it should have been water- thematically speaking at least. Because water was basically the number one most important school of magic for all underwater nations (go figure) AND because it was also used for all cold or ice related magic spells as well; leading to the strange in-setting weirdness of the Nifelheim Ice-Giants also being really good at invading water provinces and casting whirlpool spells. Makes sense in terms of the path, less in universe and less in gameplay. Personally, I would have preferred illusion magic remain a sub-category- just letting the various Elvish nations having unique spells related to it- much like how Man had a very unique set of spells relating to Nature magic- spell songs- allowing for cheap and safe communions at the cost of their power and casting speed. Perfect for a bunch of half-fae wise women descended from the Tir'na'nog, less so for the druids or wild beastmen blood sorcerers- hence why it was specific to that nation. Oh well. I've never even won a multiplayer game of Dominions, so what do I know?

Ars Magica
Another huge inspiration. Ars Magica straddles the line between elemental & arcane distinctions for spell schools, in this game called "Arts", but has the knock-on effect of working really well for my purposes here. I feel as though I don't need to list all of the forms in their latin names, but just know there are ten of them comprising everything from the classic elements, to the human form, to magic itself. But how those forms are used is by the techniques, meaning how they are manipulated.

• Creo (Create, Restore, Repair, Replenish, etc.)
• Intellego (Understand, See, Divination, etc.)
• Muto (Transform, Change)
• Perdo (Destroy, Lessen, Weaken)
• Rego (Control, Move)
  

The useful thing here is, by simply taking this list of techniques and removing the forms, we now have a general purpose list of magic spell schools or verbs we could use to serve as our spell schools! However, it isn't perfect for me for two reasons. One, the latin names, while fitting for a medievalish historical setting, don't exactly fit for a fantasy world and two, in regards to the spell effects or categories fit within each; some of them are ill-defined or extremely narrow in application. Rego is a good example, seeming almost useless for certain forms (just look at the example spells for Rego Imaginem), where as other techniques (Creo) are so broad they basically encompass anything you can do with the magical arts. With that being said- it's a really good list and will serve as the backbone for my magic schools I'll share in a bit- that and one other less obscure property.

Elder Scrolls
Here's the other big one. Besides D&D, Elder Scrolls has one of the strongest spell-school categorizations out there. Once again- it is quite fitting for its own genre and what it's trying to do- but there have been lots of bumps in the road. This is further complicated by the fact that each game in the series changes, removes, or moves around the various spells and effects from school to school! For this, we'll go with Oblivion/Morrowinds schools.

• Conjuration
• Illusion
• Destruction
• Restoration
• Alteration
• Mysticism
  

These Schools are also pretty evocative. I especially like the implementation of "Restoration" as an actual school of magic- a very fitting word and usage for magical healing. I especially like it over "healing magic" or "life magic" because it fits not only healing but also restoring other attributes and curing diseases without it being as broad as "Creo" from above. My only issue is the term being used as "Restoration" but this spell school also includes increasing, empowering, buffing, etc. various attributes or stats as well, which is not implied by the name. (Also, in Oblivion, Restoration is where the drain attribute spells go, and not even in the criminally underused Mysticism. What the fuck were they thinking?) I don't think this is that bad of a trade off of clarity since the school would be too focused otherwise, but it is still a slight imperfection.

However; the names, once again, are flawed. Same issue as D&D, though to a lesser extent. And we have a traitor in our midst. "Destruction" fits the naming scheme, but is extremely divorced to the actual effect or "magical tool" used by the spells within this school. It does destroy things; but by conjuring elemental forces. Earlier games in the series (Morrowind) did a better job of this, since some Destruction spells could also do simpler things like damaging attributes or equipment- but I dislike this vagueness. To me, a "Destruction" school would be focused totally on magic effects that just damage things- not elemental blasts or manipulation of energy. Mysticism is of course right out- but I think if you had a list of magic schools and had just ONE that violated the naming/type conventions, Mysticism would be the best choice for that. It's the "other" school, with weird and freaky powers and meta-magic that other schools of magic don't have. Also- if ANY school on this list should be able to trap Souls, Mysticism would fit. It's sad it was axed for Skyrim but, in a way, I've grown to like it. I feel that using Conjuration for the spell was less interesting then making Soul-Trapping its own mechanic- relying on rare weapons or maybe forcing the player to kill a target with a magic staff (actually giving them a reason to use them?) to trap souls- but not giving players a way to farm souls would probably be bad form and not helpful to the gameplay experience. It makes sense to stick it here if you don't have Mysticism. But to the negatives again- we run into Illusion magic here a second time- somehow even worse given it directly changes targets minds for a large number of the spells instead of just actually creating illusions. Better for a video game where type and effects are combined- worse for a fantasy world's wizarding etymology.

Now- Alteration. I know I complained about "Transmutation" for D&D spells up above for being too broad and ill-fitting, but I actually think Alteration works much better for the School of Transmutation. While there is no "Alterationist" mage you can use in the same way "Transmuter" rolls off the tongue, the school of Alteration just fits better for that sort of all-encompassing "changing" things magic that fits the school. In the games, Alteration is basically the catch-all school for weird utility and helpful effects not directly used in combat; besides Mage Armor; most of it is doing things like unlocking locks, walking on water, flight, and so on.

Finally- Illusion. Illusion actually works great in this system; due to the relative low power level of TES mages compared to other media and due to the fact, in the context of a video game, Illusions can comfortably encompass everything you can do to manipulate NPCs- make them calm or fight each other, make them not notice you, improve disposition. Skyrim also grants some new interesting effects, like the "Muffle" spell that just reduces sound- fitting for mage-thieves. It also bafflingly includes Clairvoyance into Illusion, which is obviously a cut effect for Mysticism. While I quite like it from a mechanics perspective- it honestly doesn't fit the name. Most of the effects of "Illusion" are just directly mind-effecting magic- Enchantment works better as a name here. But once again, both names break our naming convention. We're getting close though.

Homebrew- Seven Schools of Magic
When the ancient mages first decided to categorize magic into various schools- the more scholastic and less religious methodology of magical convention was born. Divorced from the concept of the natural forces and elements of the world- these schools became the general grouping of magical skills of which different mages often specialize or study in their pursuits. There were seven distinct schools, which are-

1. Alteration
2. Conjuration
   
3. Restoration
4. Evocation
5. Divination
6. Abjuration
7. Domination

These schools are based on the techniques of Ars Magica divided into a few more schools to provide more specificity and round out the list. Creo is split into Conjuration, Restoration, and Evocation as its application is too broad in a more traditional fantasy game with specific wizard schools. Conjuration makes new things or summons creatures, restoration heals or replenishes, and evocation conjures up energy or power in specific- ie; blaster magic.

Abjuration is another special note. Abjuration in D&D terms is mostly defensive spells and anti-magic- and while it certainly can do this here- Abjuration is being more used as a general term and as a replacement school for the Perdo effects. Abjuration lessens, weakens, rebukes, cancels, snuffs out, or otherwise reviles in all cases. It is everything Destruction does except summoning up elemental blasts, which is Evocation instead. Alteration lets you turn invisible and makes things lighter so they can float or fly- Evocation can maybe let you fly but only if you're summoning wind and you have a kite like you're Aang or whatever.

Finally- the most original school here is Domination. Domination is a perfect fit for our Necromancy, Mind-Control, Enchantment, and otherwise bad-guy school of magic. It's name both fits our naming convention, has a negative and evil connotation, and describes exactly what the school does. Domination is how a Wizard bends lesser minds, controls emotions, animates objects, or creates curses and unbreakable vows and things of that nature.

And yes, that's right, there is no Illusion magic. I know, I know. For some, that's a dealbreaker. Fair enough- but we all know Illusion is kinda an afterthought. Most "illusions" could just be fit under Conjuration (for false images and sounds) or Alteration (for glamours) if you really needed to come down to it. Domination could already be used to control minds or bodies- meaning we have little need for the extra school. I get it's a staple of fantasy and all- but Illusion magic sucks anyway.

(Rant) Illusion Magic Sucks

Let's be honest, illusion magic sucks. In pretty much every game or franchise. Normally, tabletop games have an advantage over video games in the realm of creativity and player-agency, but with Illusion magic I feel the exception. At the very least, in a video game, you can see the outcome of casting an illusion spell. Watching the AI glitch out and jankily attack other entities in the world from your Rage spell, The decoy that every enemy suddenly turns to attacks, the 50% increased damage taken by the mirror image- hinting it is too squishy to be the real opponent. Both player facing and NPC-facing- Illusion spells are a rare but welcome inclusion, as they are the only real way to trick or interact with hostile NPCs beyond bartering or speech systems inherit to games that have them.

However, Illusion magic in tabletop games suck. I don't think I've ever played a full campaign with an Illusionist in the party, or played one myself. Don't get me wrong, some illusion spells are cool. The classic mirror image or blur spell, invisibility, silence (especially if Silence upon a spell caster is a literal Silence, so they can't even scream out for help? So cool.) But the entire category of Illusion spells or magic? The entire School of Illusion magic? It's so bad.

Typically when people talk about Illusion magic, they mean one of two things. In the more video-gamified sphere, it would probably be any spell that disguises, changes, or magically alters the appearance of a character and/or effecting the minds of characters in a game in some way for an effect. The other classic example being Sleep or Charm- but once again- these aren't actually Illusion spells- at least not in D&D. So instead, Illusions are relegated to fake phenomena. Things like holograms (images without weight or substance), fake sounds, or glamours that disguise. Some more enterprising games do with faking entire sensations- painful false wounds that scale all over the body or illusionry walls of flame that require a morale check to jump through. These uses of the spell all share the same common issue- it's always a trick. That's the point of illusions. The issue here is that they aren't interesting. Once you've beat on Illusion, you've beat them all. The illusion is always the same; a Will check, a Wisdom roll, a round to concentrate to will the illusion away; it's painfully boring. An actual wall of flame is interesting. You can toast marshmallows on it, or dose yourself in water to take less damage to jump through, or try to make a bridge over it made of something that won't burn, or any other number of things that a real obstacle would need to overcome. Illusions don't have that benefit. They are simply a trick- you describe what the players see, and then they figure out its fake.

Codifing and making types of illusions into spells is also terrible. Illusions, being fake things, also have some of the weakest and least well-defined spell rules. Usually, you can just make an illusion of anything with an illusion spell, with some arbitrary restriction (it can't make noise, it can only be so big, etc.) making it honestly less creative then other spells that might breed ingenuity with their limitation. Be honest with yourself; when has anyone ever used an illusion other then for intimidation, or pretend to be someone to get past a locked door with one of those little slides that the guards can peek through? I can't think of almost any. There are some creative exceptions to this of course- a line of illusory customers to make your business seem booming and scaring away your rivals- only to be undone when they discover none of them moving after a long period of time. This is part of the fun of tabletop games, and while Illusion magic can do that, it's a one trick pony. It ONLY does that, and nothing else.

The other problem with Illusion is it is down to DM fiat on how effective it is. If an NPC believes something is real or fake is based on out-of-character knowledge. How common is Illusion magic in the world? If the NPCs take whatever they see at 100% face value, then Illusion magic is too strong, as you could summon a wounded orc outside the camp and they'll open the gates for you every time. If you make enemies too smart, too skeptical, then it does literally nothing. I only see it as a way to start arguments at the table; "You know, people in this world KNOW that illusions exist, right? Nobody is going to believe your ragtag team of level 5 dudes can summon a dragon if we don't give them all their stuff." Then comes the counter- "b-but I've specalized my character to cast illusion magic! That's not fair". This comes the second part- in a fantasy world- who the FUCK wants to be an Illusionist? It sounds cool on paper, but it's terrible in principle. Nothing an illusionist does has any weight- nobody would take them seriously. Once again, nobody would actually seek out an Illusionist for anything. Maybe to hide a castle or trick an enemy- but once again- that's something a mundane, non-magical group of Rogues and thieves can do and would arguably be more interesting. The only "good" Illusionist would be one who disguises themself as any other Wizard and pretends to cast other spells, only tricking people into thinking they are powerful in some other way when they are not. It feels like you're taking extra steps to get the same result. If tricking someone should be easy- it lacks value.

It's also a big problem with scope and power-balance-dynamics in a campaign or world. If Illusion magic is so strong that it can create living illusions that can interact with a world, or do things like trick you into thinking you're leaving an area but really just walking in a circle over and over- then it's way too powerful. (Not even getting into spells like "Shadow Conjuration" which make "Quasi-Real" illusions- at this point it's basically just a budget Conjuration spell.) Essentially equal to mind control, another form of magic that's equally as game-world breaking in its potential power- both for the players and for the DM's own worldbuilding and campaign design. If you can cast a spell to make anyone stab their brother thinking it's a monster- everyone would be investing all their resources into countering and stopping that kind of magic- making it a moot point. If you don't allow illusions to be flexible or have some minor interactivity- then they're too weak. You could counter any illusion by just carrying around a bag of stones and throwing them at it- if the rock doesn't bounce off or hurt them, it's fake. The entire concept of a "Disbelieve" action is just so terrible. I hate this concept. If you're going to prove something isn't real, you need to do it through something that interfaces with the game world. It's the same problem with perception checks- it's a binary yes or no with the DM largely determining how bad it really is to succeed or fail. If you set up a programmed illusion to make a spooky noise or create the image of a monster to scare people from looting your cave away- it will either work or it won't. They'll either run away and never try to enter, or figure out it's fake and ignore it- no real counterplay other then a random chance or check on a character sheet.

However, with all that said, that doesn't mean Illusions can't have a place in fantasy or your fantasy games. Illusions can be extremely cool. But once again, it's specific to how it works and its iteration, not necessarily a player-facing power or feature. Glamors that hide characters true forms are classic, as are mirrors showing the worst side of you in its reflection. But once again, these feel like they should be less like spells and more like aspects or parts of a world that could potentially be created- very rare magic items that can steal people's voices or masks that change your own face while you wear them are cool. One could apply this logic to any magical phenomena, but Illusion is especially enhanced by this touch because it becomes a secondary element to magic. Not a spell or school of magic, but a side activity, almost like Alchemy or something similar- a specialized skill that exists in the world as rare craft- something that few would admit to knowing or trading in. Consider this; would you rather pretend to summon a dragon with an illusion spell that creates one, or dress up your PCs in a multi-person costume and hoist them up with a winch? The fun of tricking people is in the trick; not in ticking off a box on your spell slots. 

Now to be fair- having a suite of different small magical tools used to trick people does make it much easier, and fantasy settings have the benefit of having more "tricks" then real life illusionists do. Not needing to hire a bunch of random townspeople to dress up and just being to create illusions of them is a valid and believable use of "problem solving" with magic as part of any Sorcerer's toolkit. If anything, this post was just to justify why I don't care for Illusion spells and don't really like writing or including them in my games or on this blog. Just an opinion.

Cantrips Ain't Easy + Demon Summoning for Dummies

I've already talked about this concept before, both in the Magic Cards post, which was more based on a way to put magical one-time use spells into a fantasy world, and then in the Freeform Curse generator, which was a bit more folkloric and a way to make a fantasy world feel a bit more "mythological" in its moral landscape. A lot of people include within their fantasy settings the concept of magic being more common- including to the point of most (if not everyone) learning a few basic magic spells (cantrips) in order to help with daily life. The reasoning behind this being that if low level magicians can cast weak magic with relatively little investment; then it makes sense most people would want to learn at least some magic given the extreme utility of some of the weaker spells- even spells like Prestidigitation or Light would have a profound impact on any society, especially one stuck in a anachronistic medieval morass of development.

However, both of these posts above illustrate something I think is interesting; a typical inversion of the fantasy trope of magic being weak for beginners, and strong for experts. Of course, it makes logical sense that magic should operate this way; a master wizard can throw fireballs, while an apprentice can only conjure a candle flame. This is obvious even, a common trope. But it doesn't necessarily have to be the case; and even if it exists for some forms of magic, it doesn't have to be that way for all of them.

Remember; magic doesn't necessarily follow real world skills, nor do all skills directly follow this correlation of low skill = small & simple and big skill = big & complicated. While it makes sense that an amateur carpenter can build a birdhouse but not a human-sized house; I wouldn't trust an amateur surgeon to make a small and delicate incision as opposed to say, amputating a limb. I think the closest analogy to magic when it comes to mundane skills would be demolitions and pyrotechnics. Any idiot can blow the shit out of something, since they just pile on the TNT- but only a master can say launch a human out of a cannon. After all, too little and they won't fly, too much and they'll explode. Controlling arcane power could very well be the same.

This also goes hand in hand with the concept of amateur magic, magic backlash, or unintentional side effects of magic creating various monsters, curses, or negative magic effects in a setting. When old farmer willow asks you to bring his dead crops back and you say the words, you're also going to bring back the skeletons of ancient warriors buried deep beneath the farm as well. They can hear the words under the soil just as well as the dead plants can. The same applies to lighting a candle instead of blowing up half the inn- the portal you open to the elemental plane of fire isn't so easy to shrink to the exact right size- as such, a "cantrip" or minor trick of magic is actually much more difficult to learn and master then a big and powerful spell. Most magic users spend decades of their life perfecting this fine art of control. Amateur wizards blow themselves up all the time, because they don't have this level of control. Cantrips are the sign of a powerful magician; not an amateur.

But moving away from just "magic" in the arcane sense, the stuff that wizard's use, let's focus more on the folkloric style of magic. The above really gave me an idea for magic being a serious problem; not because it's hard, but because it's way too easy for someone to fuck everything up. Like for example- anyone can summon a demon. Naturally, demons like it this way. If it was too difficult or required some high-end rituals and powers to do so; it would be too rare an occurrence. Oh no, demons make it very easy to call them, and for this reason, people often oblige.

"Ritual" magic in most TTRPGs tends to be a high end thing, often reserved for the Wizard or magic using class, due to being good set dressing to powerful and unique magic effects. However, the entire concept of a "ritual" is to be a set of steps and procedures that can be followed time and time again. This is the exact type of magic that is most likely to be spread far and wide, in shadowy alehouse corners and campfire conversations.
"If you sacrifice a living thing- like a chicken or a goat- and invoke the powers of darkness, you can make a demon come to you. They will serve your command or grant you a wish."
"Aren't demons dangerous?"
"Yeah- that's why you draw a circle of chalk at your feet. That means they can't hurt you- at least until you leave the circle..."

Demon Summoning for Dummies
In order to summon a demon, you need only know the steps. Different cultures and races may have their own steps or their very own demons they deal with- but for humans, this is the most common one.

Note: These steps are listed in this way so they can easily be disrupted. If a dark presence has formed- casting a Light spell can banish it and disrupt the ritual, so can coming in loudly and screaming into battle, or obviously saving the sacrifice before it or they are killed, etc.

1. It must be at night, or in a very dark place. Candles are used during rituals so as to not produce too much light.
   
2. A living thing is sacrificed and its blood is run over the ground or on an altar.
3. While the animal or person is bleeding out- the one who killed them must speak aloud and speak the name of a spirit to call them. For the sake of demons, simply saying "I call upon the darkness" is enough to call a random demon.
   
4. Everyone must be then be quiet and wait for a dark presence to form and speak.
   

Once these steps have been completed, a dark presence will appear. This presence will typically be a mass of shadows in the corner, or appear in a mirror or reflective pool of water. The presence is the spiritual form of the demon, which has not yet manifest fully into the living world. However, it can communicate and speak- its voice often carried by the rustle of wind in the trees or a groaning beneath the earth. Typically, the demon will ask what is willed of it- and several things can happen.

If the demon is significantly stronger then the individuals summoning it and it is being bid to do something very difficult, impossible, or against its nature- it will manifest and attack. Use HD or level of the caster x2 vs the demon's HD. If the demon's is still twice as high, it's just going to kill them for the arrogance for disturbing it. If the summoner is standing in a chalk or salt circle, the demon cannot attack them, but will still destroy or attack anyone else nearby out of spite.

If the demon is significantly stronger then the individuals summoning it, and is being bid to do something evil, malicious, or well within its purview of interest- then it will oblige the request. Demons are tricky, and prefer to leave the world a much worse place then they found it. Whatever request was given to them will be twisted and exaggerated to cause as much chaos and misery as possible. Often, demons will make the situation worse in an attempt to get the individuals to call them back again to continue the cycle.

If the demon is roughly equivalent then the individuals trying to summon it- it will listen to the request fairly and fulfill it or decline if it is too difficult. The demon is unlikely to want to get on the summoners bad side, but will absolutely still take advantage of any weakness or opportunity it can sense. This is still the most "fair" demonic interaction.

If the demon is significantly weaker then the individuals summoning it, and is being bid to do something very difficult, impossible, or against its nature- the demon will lie and make excuses, demanding more sacrifices or proclaiming itself to be the lord of hell itself, insulting the summoners and threatening them with their destruction, etc. The demon will lash out via curses or possessing nearby objects to fly, control nearby animals to attack, and so on.

If the demon is significantly weaker then the individuals summoning it, and is being bid to do something evil, malicious, or well within its purview of interest- the demon will be forced to manifest and become the servant & familiar of the person who summoned it. It is still not likely enough to be powerful enough to fulfill the request on its own and will assist the summoner as the "devil on their shoulder".

While the "strength" of the summoners could be literally based on the HD or level of the characters, there's also a greater component of spiritual strength. For example, an anointed priest could call upon a more powerful demon then a layman and have more guaranteed protection given their status. Human nobles with no special skills or powers are also likely considering "greater" then an average outlaw to the demonic forces due to their position in society- but this could just as easily be flipped on its head for calling upon spiritual forces like jaguar demons from the depths of the jungle hells- an entity like that would consider a fellow hunter or outdoorsman a far more equal to itself then a city slicker regardless of their wealth or social connections. Following these mechanics; a Cleric or Paladin should count as a level or two higher when compared to the HD of the demon. In addition, if your game has skills, then every rank or two of Arcana or Demonology should also count as a bonus +1 to your HD when summoning a devil. Your character may be a withered old man but if he has memorized the names and guises of a hundred dark ones you can bet he can command some sick ass demons.

Once a demon has "manifested", it has the appearance and powers of its statblock. Typically demons can do things like travel long distances quickly, transform, turn invisible, cast spells and curses, etc. It will use its abilities to fulfill requests as well as attack any foolish summoners who anger it.

It should also be noted that these mechanics, while known to you, are not necessarily known to the people of the setting. Only the ritual steps, and even those may be incomplete or rife with misinformation. As such, demonolgists and sorcerers can summon demons much more reliably and safely by calling upon demons who fit what they need for a given curse or summoning and that they can control. It's also pretty much designed to cause as much chaos as possible for weaker beings who use this ritual; which is the point. The more desperate and lowly something is, the more demonic forces can take advantage of it for their own ends. This also leads directly to fun story moments; bandits accidentally summoning an demonic prince of hell and getting gutted, or a powerful necromancer now having an annoying imp following them because they wanted to "gain more knowledge" and the idiotic thing just keeps stealing books for him and piling them on his bedsheets every night.

You might also ask, "why the hell would anyone summon a demon in the first place?!" and that's a good question. There are actually a lot of reasons why. I dislike settings or cosmologies that have "deals with the devil" being a literal component of the world or setting- not only is it incredibly cliche at this point, but it doesn't make logical sense. Selling you soul to the devil is not always literal thing, it's a metaphor meaning doing evil or violating your own moral compass to accomplish something or take advantage of someone. Demons don't need you to hand over your soul to get one over on you, just summoning one and sacrificing a living thing and also fulfilling whatever crass or selfish desire or petty plan for revenge is enough to damn you anyway.

There are also a lot of situations where one would be desperate enough to summon a demon. Here's twenty examples.

Desperate Demonology Table - Roll 1d20
[1] Group of bandits are held up in a fort. They're under siege by the local lord's forces and are running out of food. They take the last scrawny chicken from the courtyard's coop and perform a ritual to try and negotiate a way out of here.

[2] An older prostitute in a city has lost much of her beauty over the last few years- and will soon not be able to attract enough clients to make her living. Instead of become destitute, she nabs an orphan off the street and is getting ready to sacrifice him in exchange for returning her youth.

[3] Someone in your family is going blind. The local healers cannot help, and the evil-racist church refuses due to their status as a mixed breed person. You decide to spite the church since they won't help you anyway- and slit the throat of a goat to see if darker forces can heal the ailment.

[4] Group of musicians performing at a local fair were stopped by a young and arrogant nobleman's son. He ordered all their instruments broken and laughed at them. Because of their status as lowly travellers, and the young son being out of reach for the law- the musicians circled their wagons and are now performing a ritual to get revenge on the arrogant noble.

[5] Pirates stuck at sea within a dead zone- no wind or currents. Totally unable to move for multiple days, they will surely die unless they do something. They pick the youngest cabin boy and move to have him drowned in the ocean at midnight to call upon the devils of the deep to let their ship sail again.

[6] Proactive village elders, disillusioned by their years or peace and prosperity under the local nature spirits who have protected them, are concerned about recent pillaging and bandit attacks. In order to protect their village; they perform a sacrifice of a pig to their local shrine- not realizing they've called something else this time; pretending to be the deity they've relied on for so long.

[7] Lazy, ignorant farmer's back is acting up again. He's not gonna take it this year. Takes his old horse out back with a knife and wants to sacrifice a demon of sloth to harvest and mill his grain for him.

[8] Kids at an orphanage have an extremely cruel and strict mistress who they can't stand anymore. They find an alleycat and decide to sacrifice it to call upon a demon to rid themselves of their mistress once and for all. Bonus points if the party stumbles onto the ritual and the kids falsely assume they are the demon sent to take care of the problem before the real demon shows up. Yes this is literally just copying the Skyrim quest, I still think it's pretty good.

[9] Blacksmith's son ran away from home, went missing, presumed dead and eaten by something in the mountain. The blacksmith is a patient and faithful man; but can't stand the loss anymore and decides to sacrifice an animal and call a demon to find or bring their son back. The blacksmith is aiming for a very powerful demon to accomplish this goal, and (correctly) believes he can control it by twisting its nose with his tongs. But he also (incorrectly) assumes the demon can actually bring his son back, and not just a revived soulless husk.

[10] Clever merchant has his grip on every local townshed and tradesman, gaining half his money through bonds and loans he's given without lifting a finger himself. Excessively greedy- the merchant buys a slave girl to sacrifice to summon a demon. Not for a favor, but to get some insider tips from his own kind.

[11] The local priest is preparing a sacrifice of an all white lamb to summon a powerful demon. The reason? To beat the shit out of him and get back the souls of some of his flock, who recently died in a plague, before they could be well enough to give their final confessions and cleanse themselves of sin.

[12] Insane wildwoman kills people in the woods and whispers dark names she learned as a child when she fell into a cave for three whole days and went insane and nearly died. The catch is every demon she summons is instead set loose- she doesn't ask any favors of them, merely creates them and moves on- reveling in spreading out the great darkness she once knew. 

[13] Dumbass wizard apprentice at wizard collage wants to summon a demon to punish fellow classmates for insulting and bullying him. The demons are very resentful as he doesn't allow them to kill his classmates- merely pranks and humiliates them before dispelling the demons before they can have any real fun. With his knowledge he can summon up to three demons before he conjures up something WAY too big for him to handle.

[14] The Storm King can create tornadoes and zephyrs at his will; such is his brightright of the divine desert royal bloodline. But in recent years, this gift has been fading in each successor to the throne until him, barely able to conjure a dust devil. Fearing his future son will not have this power at all and will become dethroned as a result; the king orders a dozen palace servants sacrificed in a bloody ritual to call upon all the hells for a worthy mate. The succubus he summons up will be the mother of the antichrist.

[15] Scholar, obsessed with completing his works on ancient history, wants to call up spirits of the dead to get first hand accounts of his lore. Sadly, demons catch wind of his bloodletting divination tricks and whisper to him in his sleep to sacrifice a life, his old messenger owl, so they have a gateway into our world.

[16] Cruel and paranoid warlord who managed to conquer four cities now obsessed with his three lieutenants, each in charge of another city, who may betray him at any moment and try to unite to rise up against him. He kills a captive soldier and summons a demon to spy on them and rely information; but with each day his paranoia only grows as the demons feed him lie after lie.

[17] Beggars in the city grate are usually content with their lot; but one night when the snow and rain got too much for them, they decided to take shelter in a storm drain. Their, they found dark writings on the wall and, putting their heads together to make out what they mean, they could only piece together the steps of a ritual to "grant happiness", but not actually what that means. They've tied the tails of seven rats together, and will crush them all with a great mallet tonight- summoning something far worse.

[18] Constantly ill and bedridden young lady, obsessed with romance novels and living in her own fantasy world. Needing a friend more then ever, she kills one of her songbirds and drizzles a ritual circle on her bedside table- hoping to get a "friendly" imp familiar as a companion.

[19] Temple priestess of the heathen "foreigner" religion is an expert at summoning up devils and creatures from other worlds from her many daily sacrifices and captives from slaver parties. However, one week from now is the equinox where she will have her heart removed to please the God of the sun and return the light back to the world. Until then, she is trying hard to secretly gain power over the many devils and demons the temple summons to fight her way out.

[20] Horrible, wealthy old man desires a young and beautiful bride- but she continually refuses his advances. One night, he pays local thugs to capture her and bring her back to his mansion- but not for what you think. He's going to kill her, summon a demon with her sacrifice, and demand the demon drag her soul straight to hell for slighting him.