Now I've noticed something lately and I'd just want to throw this out there to discuss. Seeing as World of Warcraft is a game and does use game mechanics there isn't enough space to encompass the whole World of Warcraft as it should be and I think a lot of players are being held back by this.
As I see it, Azeroth contains a lot of options to envoke and control magic but only a little of that is actually used. I see most mages sticking to Fire, Frost or Arcane for possible spells and even those are mostly encompassed by the spells that you see in game. There are so many ways to use these types of magic instead of only the casually fireball. And I've yet to see a mage who specializes in Acid or Electricity while I'm sure this is entirely possible. I'm sure Arcane magic isn't the only form of magic that is as pliable.
I haven't seen a whole lot of magical items either, either cursed or enchanted. And I sort of expect it in Azeroth where magic flows as freely as it does.
Just something I'd like to see, I dislike the player base being held back by the game mechanics and not entitled to a full use of the magic that inhabits the world.
Side note, don't go overboard and throw meteors the size of Texas all over the world, I'm sure you people are able to figure out how to balance a character and still look cool.
-Epicly points at Errata-
You are correct!
People in Azeroth seem to enjoy sticking to the main three magic skills, Fire, Frost and Arcane. We need more variation people! We need to create more specialty mages like Errata mentioned above, Electricity, Acid, etc. Maybe even an Air mage.
Also, about the enchanted and cursed items, I'd like to see a cursed item but I think that enchanted items are illegal or am I just kidding myself?
If cursed items are around I don't see why enchanted items wouldn't be. A curse is just a negative enchantment when you think about it. I believe items with incredibly powerful enchantments are much harder to come by, but it doesn't seem as though they're illegal.
Also I agree, the potential for new and interesting varieties of magic is definitely strong in this world.
Well, there's four elements. Of which (sadly) only two are conjurable with mages. As a fire mage you don't actually control fire, you just shape the arcane energy into fire, which would make it easier to control or something like that. In this case it would only make sense to have Earth and Air Magic. Acid would be more like nature magic, but it's not unthinkable either.
There's proof of this concept in game, because there are Hydromancers,Pyromancers,Geomancers and shadowmancers ingame although it's debatable wether they are of a shamanistic or Arcane nature (perhaps both).
I've wanted to roll a human geomancer (Mage) for some time, but the idea got bounced by gms wo thought I should roll a shaman instead.
I once read up on that sort of stuff, and although I can't remember the details, I'm fairly sure that Geomancers commune with the Spirits, much like Shamans, instead of using magic.
The difference lies in that Geomancers use rituals, runes and ceremonies to impress/convince the elemental spirits to aid them, rather than speaking directly to them like a shaman would. It doesn't sound too far off that something similar applies to Hydromancers and whatnot.
Well, messing around with what has been given to you and turning it into something awesome would be... well... awesome
Also, as the poster above me has said, everything is either arcane magic or divine, it's just the way the caster shapes the arcane magic that is open for innovation. You could always combine different spells, give ambiguity a run for its money, if you know what I mean XD
I would also like to add that the game mechanics are more like guidelines, giving you a sense of how to employ magic. I recommend reading my guide to magic, providing oneself with a better understanding of how it works, thereby allowing one to manipulate it within lore mechanics without going overboard. I hereby declare my support for this thread, hurhur ><
Hogral Wrote:The difference lies in that Geomancers use rituals, runes and ceremonies to impress/convince the elemental spirits to aid them, rather than speaking directly to them like a shaman would. It doesn't sound too far off that something similar applies to Hydromancers and whatnot.
I think he was aiming for a mage who uses magic to bend earth to his will. It shouldn't persé have to be named a geomancer but it is easy to describe one as such.
Here is my two cents on the whole thing. It's not so much that players do not think of these things, but they are afraid to do them because of the strict rules in CotH.
CotH has a strict "normal character" policy that really just doesn't allow you to stray outline the lines too much. If you had some enchanted magical item you would be hounded for it, or people would bug you about it forever. And I think if I were to use magic other than what is the norm for mages, I would get questioned, I know this because I have been questioned about it in the past.
This is one of the reasons in my project I'm allowing mary-sueish OP characters to gives players the full fun experience they want, but this is only because of the short amount of people we have. CotH has a good set of rules to it, if everyone had magical or enchanted items and crazy spells, it would be no different than retail RP in a short amount of time. However I do agree that we should be allowed to step out of the norm a little bit without concequences.
So I just gave two sides to it, but that's my whole thought on the debate.
Also I forgot to add. Yes, magic for mages isn't that easy to do, arcane magic, and elemental magic are almost two totally different fields. Arcane is bending the world around you to your will, and changing things, this is why Furbolgs aren't too fond of arcane magic. The element magic comes from the elemental planes itself and you are basically summoning the magic from the plane. To use elemental magic you must consort with the elementals, which could easily be hard to do, which is why you see it more common for mages to use fire and ice, perhaps the other elementals are harder to understand.
In D&D there were elemental and para-elemental planes that you could "open a portal" to and call forth a stream of acid, mud, magma... whatever. But Azeroth works differently to my understanding.
To start with mages are not calling fireballs from the elemental plane of Fire. Frost is not an "element"... so we have to reverse engineer it to better understand it.
Fire & Frost are not elemental in nature but rather states of matter under different conditions. More specifically, in the presence or absence of heat... which is energy. So mages in Azeroth would not be able to call forth "acidballs" anymore than they could shoot murlocs from their fingertips.
Now Electricity is electrons moving down a copper wire... again not an "elemental force" but within the realm of possibility for a mage to apply it if he/she understands the principle and effect. I.e. Polymorph (sheep) everything around the Glass golem and run like hell before the dungeon collapses.
But you also have physical limitations to the meat puppet called a mage. Their corpse-to-be cannot handle enough energy at once to say, tear off a chunk of Stormwind and fling it into the ocean. They could possibly hold and manage enough energy to heat it over time and turn it to slag, or open portals for beings that could possibly perform such a herculean task.
IMHO
Ren, in WoW the source of all magic is the elemental plane, fel magic, or the use of Arcane, science isn't really in the equasion unless you're a techno-mage. But even that is different, I recommend wowpedia.org to refer to for your lore needs
EDIT: there is also voodo, divine magic, and a bunch of things. But normally, magic is a type of conjured spell.
All Mage magic comes from the Twisting Nether, along with its Fel counterpart. That's the "Arcane Plane," and since all magic is arcane, all "Elemental" forms of Mage spells are actually a shaping of the Arcane to do the work one asks. This limits your abilities, since the Arcane is rejected almost outright by nature as it is inherently corrupting. That said, I know for a fact Mages can use lightning and energy magic as well as an extremely minor form of nature magic that involves forcing plants to grow with Arcane energies or making the water in a cloud condense and rain (Hedge Wizardry, done solely by non-Dalaran Hedge Wizards because no one in Dalaran would stoop low enough to teach farming).
And then, of course, Shamans use elements from the Elemental plane in order to help out the Elementals of Azeroth.
Without a doubt Shamanistic and Priestly spells would be inherently different from the Mage's Arcane magics. A God can do anything theoretically, so if they grant a spell to fire murlocs or acidballs from your fingers, sure, that would work. Shamen and Druids pull their magics from Nature, and of course Acid is a concentrate that nature immediately dilutes to a non pure or harmful form.
While we may have spells that deal with lightning, you have to understand its the Naturally occuring kind. No one "called" lightning from the Twisted Nether... you summoned arcane energy that manifested itself as Static electricity. It then did immediately what electricity does, which is ground itself out, you merely summoned it and gave it the target. Of course you "knew how" with your arcane knowledge... but you didn't "summon lightning" but rather summoned the energy and directed it in a method to cause it to build up a static charge, then subsequently discharge. That's the way lightning works in nature.
Again, if a mage actually pulled a lightning bolt from the sky he would be a smoking spot on the ground. If the energy was channeled thru him he would be tiny bits splattered onto his enemy's fur/armor. Meat, the tasty substance we are made of, cannot deal with such as that.
All magics should be thought of just like that. Today we have "wizards" who come out to your house and fix that weird light that keeps going on and off by itself. They are not Magic, or supernatural beings... they are electricians who understand how electricity operates and take precaution to make sure it doesn't flow thru them, but rather flows down the intended path to perform the task.
If you ask said electrician to add a light here or there he would check your capacity to add more circuits and install your light. If you ask him to turn your car into a rolling Van de Graaff generator he will laugh at you. Some things electricity can do, others it cannot. Some things it can do cannot be done everywhere.
Electricity cannot fry you a hamburger... it could blow a hamburger patty into hamburger putty, but despite the fact that we "cook" with electricity every day, you cannot cook with it directly. By using it in an oven or thru a stove eye you can use electricity to heat a pan or grill to fry your burger... but its not the electricity frying the burger, its the heat created by the resistance of the stove eye to the electricity that cooks your meal.
As for "forcing" plants to grow... its their nature to grow and I assume "magic" could be used to enhance or encourage that growth. It of course isn't magic that is actually growing the plant. But I think you're on the right path with the statement that nature would prevent somethings from happening even though a powerful mage might imagine them or attempt to use arcane energy to manifest itself into a force that works against the natural order.
I don't think there is an actual one all powerful diety in WoW, the light is controlled by the Naaru, and the Old gods arent as powerful as Titans, or it's the other way around...I forget,
OK, reading
here was very enlightening.
Quote:In lore terms, the textbook definition of magic in Warcraft is an ever-present field of energy — the result of the Well of Eternity's waters being spread to the entirety of the world. While this is common knowledge, there was a great debate within the magical community regarding exactly how magic allows a user to manipulate elements of a plane of existence. The Kirin Tor were arguing if, say, fire was created because of physical forces dictated and powered with the help of magic or whether the fire was summoned from another parallel existence. Medivh believed magical fire comes into existence because the caster concentrates the inherent nature of fire in a certain area to summon it into being.LG 47-48, 148-151 Medivh also maintained that the practice of magic is "the art of circumventing the normal."LG 92
So Arcane energy is not pulled from the Twisted Nether directly... it is pulled from the Well of Eternity created by the Titans. Dwarves and the Well both share a common ancestor, very interesting.
Also mentioned are two "types" of magic, which I disagree with... if its allowed with lore. They mention Arcane and Divine... but I'm not convinced that is completely accurate.
Divine covers Light gifted and Shamanistic powers, including Druidical and other spells covering the "Natural" spell field.
Arcane seems to cover everything else... too much of a grab bag for me to buy into there.