Each spell has components that dictate what is needed: Verbal, Somantic, Material (or Focus/Divine Focus). A Cleric prays/meditates to gain their spells for the day, but also need to vocalize for any spell with a V component. A Sorcerer has to speak to cast any spell that has a V component, just like a Wizard. And a Wizard needs to wave his arms or waggle his fingers for any spell with a S component, just like a Sorcerer.
So, casting spells is defined mechanically, and for good reasons. I'm not entirely sure what advice you are seeking here. If you are talking about how these classes get their power, then I guess that can be flavored to anything you can imagine.
Fireball as your example, has verbal, somatic, and material components.
To cast the spell you must speak a certain incantation, move you hands in a certain way, and supply the correct material component.
But in order for divine casters to get their spell slots they must pray to their deity or spiritual connection.
Arcane casters draw their magical energies from within themselves and must sleep to recharge that innate magical energy.
So regardless of whether its a sorcerer, wizard, or cleric (with the fire domain) all 3 would cast a fireball spell using verbal, somatic, and material components. However, the incantation used, the hand movements used, and possibly the material component may vary from user to user (though I personally think this is unlikely since Spellcraft allows one to identify spells as they are being cast which implies consistency to the magic spell components.)
|
So regardless of whether its a sorcerer, wizard, or cleric (with the fire domain) all 3 would cast a fireball spell using verbal, somatic, and material components. However, the incantation used, the hand movements used, and possibly the material component may vary from user to user (though I personally think this is unlikely since Spellcraft allows one to identify spells as they are being cast which implies consistency to the magic spell components.)
I like to think the Incantation and Material component is the same. But a Divine caster is much less somatic component required (thus they have no divine spell failure from armor).
There's a pretty nifty discussion already, regarding the purely flavor-side of spell casting - how Divine casting differs from Arcane casting (and both from Psychic), over on the General Discussion Board, started by some dork with too much to think about :)
Why Magic Works
So regardless of whether its a sorcerer, wizard, or cleric (with the fire domain) all 3 would cast a fireball spell using verbal, somatic, and material components. However, the incantation used, the hand movements used, and possibly the material component may vary from user to user (though I personally think this is unlikely since Spellcraft allows one to identify spells as they are being cast which implies consistency to the magic spell components.)I like to think the Incantation and Material component is the same. But a Divine caster is much less somatic component required (thus they have no divine spell failure from armor).
I like to think that divine casters just don't need as precise of hand movements because that's part of the nature of divine magic. Divine only spells usually don't even have somatic components, it's only when a spell is shared/taken from an arcane spell list that somatic components show up on divine spells (I think).
In the example of fireball, there's a verbal, somatic and material components.
So that means all three will be saying something, though precisely what and in what language is never specified, so it might be a specific magic word for each spell, any random phrase (perhaps the act of speaking focuses magic energy or something), the name of the spell in a relevant language (so maybe the wizard uses draconic, the sorcerer has one depending on his bloodline and the cleric uses celestial/infernal etc depending on who he worships) or anything else at all really, as long as speaking is involved.
Then we have the somatic, again all three make this, arcane spells have a more complicated motion, restricted by armour, divine don't so the cleric's is simpler somehow, perhaps the cleric merely touches her holy symbol, the wizard and sorcerer likely make very similar, complicated gestures with their hands, in the case of fireball this definitely ends with pointing as the bead of flame erupts from the tip of their finger and streaks towards the detonation point.
Finally the material component, this is the biggest difference, the wizard has to hold bat guano and sulphur which get used up in the spell, perhaps burning away to nothing or vanishing in a puff of smoke or flash of light at the completion, the sorcerer has no need at all for this part (unless he traded away his free eschew materials feat somehow, in which case he behaves like the wizard, likewise a wizard with that feat ignores this part), finally the cleric, I'm not sure about fireball, but generally for the costless foci/material components the cleric simply uses a divine focus, the holy symbol of his god, but if clerics without gods exist it is simply an item of spiritual significance.
So I'd have the wizard gesture with one hand, as a ball of bat guano and sulphur in his other burns away to nothing, finally he bellows the word fire in draconic, a bead of energy shoots from his finger tip and explodes. The sorcerer makes a complicated, but quick gesture, points and shouts fire in the language of the ancestor from whom his bloodline gained it's power, and the spell erupts from his finger. The cleric brandishes her holy symbol, points her finger and calls out in celestial for her god to unleash fire.
There are alternate rules in ultimate magic called word casting that let's you rearrange certain blocks of info into custom spells. It's quite fun to name all the words and put them together. (Foos roh dah!)