I’ve been playing on Moon Guard for a fair while now, on and off, since about the end of BFA (really unfortunate time to start, I know) and as time has gone on I’ve been able to better work out details for my Mage here. But there’s a few distinctions regarding the Schools of Arcane Magic which I wanted to ask about as I’ve seen a number of players in my time playing who interpret some things differently.
First and foremost I should note that for the purposes of what I am asking I am referring to the Warcraft Wiki website (.gg, not fandom) for the most generally “accurate” descriptions. That being said, the school of Conjuration is described as that which covers the creation and conjuring of various items and creatures, such as mana buns and water elementals, yet it also mentions that it’s what governs the use of the elemental arcane magics we use, such as frost and fire. However, I have seen Evocation, the to-this-day canon-dubious school, being regarded as that which covers mana manipulation, including the projection of powerful damaging spells, which I have been led to believe is what’s meant to cover raw Arcane spells. I’m not so sure on this anymore and any clarification would be appreciated.
Second, the distinction between Conjuring and Summoning. I’ve seen these terms used interchangeably when really I’m not sure they mean the same thing. A conjured water elemental for example would be created, not called forth from somewhere else, correct? While summoning a Phoenix for example, a fire elemental creature known to already exist on its own, isn’t something we “create” and therefore wouldn’t count as being Conjured, right? In this case would it not make more sense for Transmutation, which covers teleportation, chronomancy, and the manipulation of matter, make more sense as the school which covers the summoning of existing beings?
Lastly, how many people nowadays even still use Evocation as a listed school in RP at all?
Thanks in advance to anyone willing to answer these questions. They’re just about the last thing I need to properly figure out to get back in gear.
Personally, I’ve long regarded Conjuration as the primary school for all offensive elemental spells, including arcane. Mentions of Evocation governing some might be a holdover from DnD, where that school is the one with those kinds of spells, as I suspect Warcraft’s oldest lore regarding the schools of arcane magic might’ve been adopted or heavily based on that. IC, through relevant characters, I tend to waive these murkier bits with the idea of there being many different means to the same end, thus entertaining the idea of offensive spells performed through other schools besides Conjuration. I also tend to speculate that there may be distinct mechanics inherent to how spells are cast which set the schools apart in addition to the common effects they include. This is of course, all entirely speculative.
I’m of the belief that the difference between summoning and conjuring could be potentially contextual but, overall, I tend to see them by weather or not the specific thing you want already exists. Dark Iron Sorcerers when they freed Ragnaros; summoning. Your average Frost Mage with a Water Elemental; more likely conjuring, unless it’s a familiar. My aforementioned speculation of different defining mechanics to each school might additionally apply when it comes to which schools each feat should belong to.
As for the last question, I personally still acknowledge Evocation as a school. I tend to regard spells like Evocation (obviously), Presence of Mind, and the Blood Elf racial Arcane Torrent as examples of it; techniques for drawing, channeling and/or preparing mana, more or less.
Speaking with a friend on the subject I’ve sort of developed a working interpretation, and your post helps to solidify it.
Essentially I’m thinking that if Evocation as a school is more about manipulating mana directly (I.E. Evocation (the spell), Arcane Torrent, Presence of Mind, etc) then it stands to reason that its general role could be applied to all spellcasting as you naturally need to know how to properly utilize mana in creating a spell to cast, right?
Working off of that, if Conjuration could broadly be considered the school that’s all about creating items, beings, and projectile elemental effects through the arcane, then that would cover all forms of offensive spellwork, including raw arcane energy. You naturally need to create such a spell before it can be cast, after all. Using this same idea I think I can conclude that it does make more sense for Summoning to probably function under principles of Transmutation rather than Conjuration given it typically refers more to taking an entity from one place and bringing it to another for some purpose. A Phoenix being an existing elemental creature from the Firelands would be summoned, not conjured, and therefore Transmutation would be the appropriate school for that.
So overall: Conjuration covers all offensive projectile spellwork since you need to actually create the spell before it can be cast. Transmutation covers Summoning while Conjuration covers, uh, Conjuring. And lastly, Evocation is a school focusing directly on mana and how it can be used and otherwise manipulated.
Thanks again for helping out! If there’s nothing more to add I think I’ll be moving forward with this interpretation.
S̶e̶l̶f̶ P̶r̶o̶c̶l̶a̶i̶m̶e̶d̶ Mistress of the Magical Arts, here to answer all your questions and curiosities!
Evocation is ‘canon-dubious’ because it’s not really a school of arcane magic in the World of Warcraft. It’s mentioned in Ansirem Runeweaver’s ‘Schools of Arcane Magic - Abjuration’ but there isn’t a canon description of exactly what it is, nor is it an official school of magic if the rest of the Ansirem books are anything to go by.
I would - and do - go by the D&D description of school and the description of the spell in game and describe it as magic/mana/energy manipulation, but do not consider it an official School in it’s own right as far as WoW is concerned.
Conjuration is the art of creating or forming something from one plane of existence to another. Transmutation is the art of changing or moving one thing from the same plane. Summoning means essentially to move from one place to another, regardless of plane of existence, but generally denotes something you have familiarity with; such as a familiar, minion, person, or otherwise some being you have a pre-established agreement or preparation for.
Summoning is both a verb and a noun. A ‘Summoner’ is generally someone conjuring minions or familiars from another plane of existence. To summon means to ‘bid or send for’ or to ‘command’, which generally means one has some sort of established authority over or relationship with.
Examples:
Summoning your companions from Stormwind to Ironforge through a portal? Transmutation.
Summoning your demonic minion from the Twisting Nether? Conjuration.
Using a spell to form a glass of water (from nothing)? Conjuration.
Using pre-existing materials you have on hand to form a glass of water? Transmutation.
Calling forth a fireball from the elemental plane? Conjuration.
It is important to remember not to get lost in the specifics. Do not attempt to play a 100% lore-abiding mage, because you will drive yourself (and everyone else around you) mad. The lore is shoddy at best, incomplete and sometimes contradictory.
I personally use D&D as a good reference where lore is not clear or completely non-existent.
So by your view of it then Evocation shouldn’t necessarily be taken as its own school amongst the others but as more of a term describing the underlying process of manipulating energy?
And going by your view of distinctions between Conjuring and Summoning, a Phoenix being called from the Firelands would fall under Conjuration because it’s from a different plane?
How do you feel about Yonara’s statement of Conjuration being the school that all offensive magics fall under, including raw Arcane spells? That particular subject remains one of my hangups, even though I have a working interpretation for it.
And yeah, I can’t help but get lost in specifics sometimes. It’s just how my brain likes to work. But ultimately I’ll play a Mage how I decide to, I’ve just not been sure how to proceed in regards to the subject(s) at hand.
I’ve thought about this, and honestly I don’t really know how to answer it.
World of Warcraft has a habit of only going into specifics where it suits the narrative, and it doesn’t usually suit the narrative. The book ‘The Schools of Arcane Magic - Conjuration’ is a main in-universe explanation of the craft, makes it seem like conjuration is only concerned with the summoning of elemental familiars; which is backed up by the fact that most times conjuration is mentioned in-game/lore, its in relation to this.
With that said, I would argue that any expression of the elements in arcane spellcasting could be classed as conjuration, in the instance that you are tapping into the elemental plane. Warcraft doesn’t really explain how or where their fireballs are being made, because most players aren’t terribly interested in getting a lesson on it and they just want to see something that looks cool.
It also should be mentioned that the Schools of Arcane Magic is primarily an overarching classification that has been developed by the Kirin Tor. It does not account for everything, nor is it seen with any major prevalence outside of Dalaran trained magi.
Some spells could be classified into multiple schools, some mightn’t fall into any! It’s a fairly limited view of magic, which is in keeping with the limited view that the Kirin Tor traditionally had.
My character is a Kirin Tor Magus which is why I seek to properly utilize these schools. It’s a shame that there isn’t much of any specific focus on the subject, though. That’d make this a lot easier.
I guess the idea of Conjuration being the overarching school for arcane spellcasting, particularly projectiles spells, depends on what you’d define as being an element. In which case:
“Though extremely volatile, arcane is so similar to an element it might as well be one, for all magical intents and purposes.”
There’s also the fact that Arcane Elementals are a thing and explicitly classified as being “elementals” apparently, so I guess Arcane in and of itself would count as an element and therefore fall under the Conjuration school. Though that’s still ignoring that Arcane doesn’t necessarily need to be pulled from another plane and plenty of other schools still, obviously, utilize arcane power.
I suppose one could also consider the schools just more specialized principles of arcane magic use. Conjuration covers the creation and summoning of things through magic. Transmutation covers teleportation, time manipulation, and matter. Abjuration is focused on defensive spellwork. Looking at it from that angle you don’t necessarily need a specialized school for offensive or otherwise common, generic spells since those aren’t particularly specialized, relatively speaking. If you’re a mage then it’s extremely unlikely you wouldn’t be able to cast offensive spells, so if that’s more or less the baseline then everything else covered by a particular school of magic is just more complicated spellwork that can be classified more specifically. Perhaps that’s why this question is so hard to truly answer.