Look what followed me home!

[Eloran]

For those of you who remember, I used to go by the White Toymaker back before I switched internet providers, lost my old email, and forgot my password.

So, life went crazy. My old 3.5 group died with a sputter, and if there was a funeral I wasn't invited. I met a girlfriend and helped run a long running LARP based on Werewolf: The Apocalypse (so far as I know it's still running strong -- it was around three years old when we left).

Most recently we've been working on finishing our new Roleplaying system. I was trying to brainstorm and develop the magic system, and remembered the pages and pages of ideas mixed with banter I used to find out here.

So, here's my main question, and it's pretty open ended:

Given a spellcaster with sufficient power, what sorts of things do you think spells should be able to do? Assume that an Arcanist would, like anyone else who has a versatile talent, try to fill in their weaknesses.

[Charles Evans 25]

Would they try to fill their weaknesses though? Some of them might go for the 'look at me' big effects.

There is a long tradition of casters in stories being able to:

Turn themselves into other things.

Turn other people into other things.

Force beings from other planes to do their bidding.
Those three in particular are features of the Arabian Nights stories, although to force beings from other planes to do their bidding, usually an item engraved with a holy seal/symbol is involved.

Craft magical traps in which to catch people or beings from other planes.

I'm not sure how far back traditions such as invisibility or levitation date back, although I think there is the enchanted helmet Tarnhelm that in some versions of myths allows the wearer to pass unseen.

Besides turning other people into other things, witches and warlocks in some folk takes have the ability to inflict wasting diseases on their enemies, or to 'bewitch' people or animals so that they (almost in a hypnotic state) are fixed to a spot, cannot let go of an item, or are forced to behave in a particular manner. Such witches and warlocks (especially if they are in league with infernal powers) are vulnerable to items made of silver or of iron, or to salt which has been blessed by a holy man.

Traditions of calling up and questioning the dead to discover answers exist. Dracula uses his knowledge of the spirit world to find treasue caches to fund his expedition to London, and in HP Lovecraft's story about Charles Dexter Ward, the wizards are raiding graves and tombs to reanimate the dead to make them do their bidding and reveal to them certain secrets.
Also on a 'divination' front, wizards can cast runes or sticks to try to divine things about the present. The wizard in Aladdin does this to discover that Aladdin has escaped from the cave and is livig a life of luxury with the assistance of the magic lamp, in sme versions of the story.

Some spellcasters use (or abuse) their powers to try to 'live forever' in some manner (death is the ultimate weakness!); the enchanter Koschei in The Firebird has hidden part of his lifeforce in an enchanted egg, and is invulnerable whilst it exists (although its destruction is fatal for him).

Then there are more modern fantastic concepts such as instant personal teleportation from one location to another (back in the Arabian Nights you needed a Djinn to carry you from on place to another) and direct control over the elements - Shakespeare's Prospero needs his servant, Aeriel, to call up the storm for him.

Anyway, hope I've been helpful, and pleased to hear that you're back on the boards. A while back I came across some of your old posts and wondered where you'd gone to....

[Eloran]

Wow, I wasn't expecting such a thorough reply. Apologies for my own belatedness, but a friend brought over the newest model of head cold the other day. Be that as it may, it's reassuring to know that I came back to more or less the same community I left.

There's a definite precedence in mythology for both levitation and invisibility -- remember Perseus? Borrowed Hermes' Sandals and a veil/cap that allowed him to walk unseen.

The quest for immortality is a fairly common thing with the more powerful sorcerers. The irony is that classical sorcery in the modern age is unable to extend one's life beyond its natural terminus. Of course, the more determined sorts can turn to necromancy or demonology... but if you could get a lich to calm down enough to discuss things rather than rampaging and trying to blow you into your constituent parts, he'd probably suggest that you make wiser life choices than that. There isn't much that you can't get if you ask the right demon, but of course there's always a price tag.

Granted, with enough power you can bind and compel demons to do a lot of things, but even if you could, it just sounds unwise to anger an immortal creature by forcing it to extend your lifespan.

Necromancy and Life Magic play a fairly pivotal role in the history of this world actually, because it's as you said: death is the ultimate weakness.

As far as Divination goes, I'm actually not terribly well-versed in what it is considered able to do beyond the classics -- Scrying, Penetrating Glamour, Detecting true natures, and discerning past or future events. I know there are a bunch of ways in which it's done: tarot, dice, sticks, birds, entrails, stars... I've just never really thought about how it works.

As an aside, I'd been wondering what sorts of things are generally viewed in folklore as being naturally disruptive to magic. I'm familiar with the idea of iron being the bane of fey creatures or even of magic in general, of course. Silver to ward off evil spirits is another fairly common one. I've been not looking forward to trying to piece together a comprehensive list of materials and their mystical affinities and repulsions, I admit.

[Charles Evans 25]

Whilst not exactly regular folklore, the old 2nd edition 'van Richten's Guide to the xxx' series (or the Monster Hunter's compilations) have some sections I find interesting reading on fantasy 'allergens' for ghosts, 'bane' materials for were-creatures, etc.

I'm afraid that my reading is otherwise rather limited, and I said most of what I could think of on the subject in my earlier post, with the exception that in Welsh folklore the branches of yew and rowan trees are associated with some ceremonies to exorcise particular ghosts or demons, being used to make 'protective circles' for the exorcist and any assistants to stand in, and as 'traps' for the ghost or demon to be forced into as a preliminary to sending it back to hell or trapping it in a specially prepared receptacle.

[Kassil]

I do know that salts are viewed as being a kind of mystic ward, with 'protective circles' often outlined in sea salts and the like. Iron is a bane to creatures from Beyond, while silver, being linked to the moon, is a threat to therianthropes who are lunar-bound. Lightning-struck oak was something rumored to be useful for vampiric creatures, and by example could be expanded to lightning-struck wood in general and undead in general, as lightning is usually associated with The Wrath of God, and as such the lightning-struck would is purified and blessed by it. Gold might be of use for dealing with corrupt entities, since as a true noble (and thus chemically inert) metal it cannot tarnish.