How do you RP certain spells?

Wyrmrest Accord
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Me again. This time I come bearing an interesting theory and perhaps a bit of a share.

So I was RPing my Pandaren Monk and someone asked him how Chi healing works. Obviously, I can say from experience of playing a monk:

I have no f-ing clue.

So I said, ICly “The mist goes through the pores of your skin, and the energy spreads outwards to heal from the inside out. You will still be sore where you were struck, but any injuries within will be taken care of.”

I’ve done this before for vague spell ideas or concepts and I wanted to know what WrA thinks? Or, what WrA thinks about my explanation of chi healing?

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Personally, I’m a proponent of “there are five hundred ways to use every kind of magic”, and acknowledge that there are tons of other “methods” some characters know about that mine aren’t familiar with; it leaves room for more fantasy.

That said, I’ve my own set way of using certain schools of magic. I don’t know the flippity first thing about monks, chi, or anything about that class, lore wise or mechanically, so I can’t be much use on that topic.

When it comes to the arcane and the Light, however, oh boy I’ll talk all day about it.

THAT SAID, I think your use of it is really solid; I’m visualizing it more like a fluid essence based on your description, and it’s a really soothing/fitting idea, imo.

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I’m actually part way into a series where Astrea writes instructions on how to perform a selection of spells; one of which was Arcane Blast.

If memory serves I described arcane blast as building one’s personal mana then projecting it directly onto the target to detonate against them. This idea was mostly inspired by current animations for the spell.

For Counterspell I described multiple possible methods. I think one method involved calculating the amount of mana the hostile spell is using then either matching it to nullify, overpowering it, or siphoning the mana from the spell thus rendering it inert.

Addendum:

In regards to chi, it’s essentially an element. Perhaps thinking of it that way may help one’s perception of how it would work.

Personally I’ve often looked at it, including healing mists, as a sort of fluid energy; somewhat akin to water. As such I imagine physical properties to be at least vaguely similar. Since I’m pretty sure there aren’t many, if any, literary descriptions of it just about any interpretation is arguably valid.

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I am fond of using physical components to perform the spell, as well as each magical discipline having multiple takes on and variations on the same sort of spells and abilities.

Earth Shock, by my Orc Shaman here, revolves around using a nugget of unrefined iron ore that slowly absorbs the electrical charge from the lightning that Gen is throwing around, and when Gen feels the nugget has absorbed enough of a charge, he’ll throw it at the target.

In RP, that means it flies really friggin’ fast towards the largest clump of metal near the target, courtesy of developing a magnetic charge thanks to all the elemental lightning it has been absorbing, hits the target like a bullet and then explodes, and that’s how Earth Shock works as far as Gen uses it.

Chi Healing, Druidism, Shamanism and other ‘natural’ forms of healing magic work on accelerating the body’s natural healing methods, sort of like time-lapse photography, whereas healing from the Light, the Arcane, the Void and the Fel literally warp and twist the flesh, blood and bone back into position.

That’s not to say that the ‘natural’ forms of healing can’t also do extreme acts of restoration or that the Light and the Void can’t do little, small-scale healing, but one discipline of healing works on natural methods and the other says “Screw the rules, I have money.” as it does the job.

The healing received from a Priest varies in sensation dependant upon race and/or belief system. Healing from a Human or Dwarf who practises the Light can feel like being bathed in the warm sun of a spring day, while the healing from a Draenei can feel like being suffused in pleasantly cool silk and a Night Elf Priestess might give the sensation of being exposed to the icy-cold waters of a Moonwell coursing through the injury. The healing sensation may also vary depending upon the recipient’s compatibility with the spirituality of the Priest, the Priest’s feelings towards the recipient and the conflict with other forms of energy the recipient may have within them, noticeably the Fel or the Void, although those Arcanists healed by a staunchly anti-arcane Night Elf Priest might find their healing comes with a sensation of the Priest’s magic agitating against their own internal arcane reserves.

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Hey. I know I’m quite a bit late to the party. I was looking up lore on counterspell and managed to find this thread lol But I’ve actually RPed a mistweaver quite a bit in my time, and I’ll share my experience.

Chi has roots in real-world healing practices. Eastern medicine has a technique called “Reiki” that literally just means “healing chi”. The way they theorize it functions is that, by being a conduit to transfer healing energies to another person, they can create an atmosphere and sensation that relaxes their patient’s body to the point that it heals itself more effectively.

So, that’s where I base my chi healing off of. Since chi is considered life energy in its pure form, essentially I have it highly accelerate the healing processes of the character I’m healing. It can be somewhat disgusting to describe, masses of pus forming to decimate an infection, then draining off the excess fluid. Pinching open wounds closed so that they can fuse back together. That kind of thing.

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I think Simon has the right idea. If I am looking to RP a certain type of magic then I do a little bit of research on the source material which Blizzard was inspired from and then go from there.

On this character I look to the vodun/sanateria practices of Haiti and Cuba. On my monk I look to Buddhism/Hinduism. Etc etc.

But… if you are drawing from real world sources be sure to change names/abilities as to not offend the adherents of these real world religions/philosophies whom you may encounter in game. You really don’t want to start RPing about Lord Krishna when RPing on your monk (even though many of the abilities in the monk toolkit are directly sourced from Hinduism.) Be inspired by the source material and tweak it so that it’s your own interpretation while being mindful that you are borrowing a real world culture… so try to be super respectful.

Edit: ! I didn’t notice this was a necro thread

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You foolish spellcasters and your “effects.” All my RP is “/e hits t% with her sword” and sometimes “/e hits t% with her sword real sneaky-like” if I’m using Ambush.

I can type out a thousand such feats by the time you’ve finished sentence ONE of your lengthy description of conjuring a mana biscuit!

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See - I’ve been using my own home-brew magical codex (tinyurl.com/magiccodex) for all my spellcasting for years now. I don’t really describe all too much anymore outside of the first time I use a spell with any given group of people.

I like being able to use spell words and then describing the result, more than the visual component of actually casting it; let’s me bring a lot of variety into the mix.

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I shoot the arrows and people fall down :man_shrugging:

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typing usually spells

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“What do you call a Goblin mage?”

“I don’t know.”

“A Goblin who can spell!”

“Oh hohohohoho!”

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I think this hits the nail on the head for druids and shamans, but I’d like to add my interpretation of how Chi works for monks. I think it’s similar, but with some notable differences.

While Buddhism and Hinduism are valid places to draw inspiration for eastern healing practices, I think that the best source for monks is Taoism, and also Chinese fantasy like cultivation novels, xianxia and wuxia.

(Please note I am ignorant of broader Chinese culture and am only speaking of what I’ve personally read, which may be inaccurate or not the full picture of the genres and concepts discussed.)

In Taoist belief, major emphasis is placed on breathing. Breathing represents so much that it’s hard to succinctly explain, but in short, the breath which you draw in is fuel for your life, and every exhale is a step you take closer towards death. It’s a yin yang relationship, and very important to cultivating and manifesting chi. Chi is, essentially, (when greatly simplified to explain in a forum post), life energy. Chi is within every living creature, but can only be harnessed through certain methods. For instance, my monk harnesses chi through a special method of breathing, and I would play that as the most common method. The important part is, it’s a process that takes a very long time to learn, and a monk’s power comes from within themselves.

In most fiction I’ve read, the use of chi is pretty vague, and typically just enhances the person using it, or allows them to perform superhuman feats or use magic. Making swords fly around is a common motif. Specifically in reference to healing though, I would play it as this; The monk harnesses their own energy, and channels it through their body and into the person they are healing. Pressure points are also a fun idea, and a monk might tap on a few of those to quickly allow a person’s uncultivated chi to be used more effectively in their body.

In general though, I think ‘fast and loose’ suits this kind of magic just fine.

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I don’t typically play casters and I try to keep my martial classes as magic free as possible. At least, in the sense of their own innate abilities. For me personally I have always admired heroes in literature who were just ordinary people who did the right thing, and maybe through hard work and training they were able to overcome their obstacles.

Which isn’t to say you couldn’t play a mage per se exactly the same way. Mostly I just suck at kiting lol

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I really like this post.

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I’m similar, honestly. To me, Warriors, Rogues, Hunters, Mages and (to a lesser extent) Monks are classes without “built-in” stories.

A Warlock or a Demon Hunter is probably going to be concerned with demons, a Druid or Shaman is probably going to spend their time talking about nature and a Death Knight and a Paladin only really differ on the “should everyone die” question.

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Exactly! /Anyone/ can pick up a sword or a knife or a bow or just punch things, and if they want -it- badly enough (whatever -it- happens to be), they can make their own story.

Whereas like you said, the other classes seem to be a bit more locked in based just off the nature of the class. Not to say they aren’t also cool, but they are inherently more of a special deal than just a farmer who lost everything and took up arms, or a girl raised on the streets to survive by wits and blade alone. It’s just built into the archetype is all.

But again, any class can be cool depending on who plays it. That’s just my own leaning. I like the underdog.

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Now here’s something I’ve discovered: you can take any of these “higher calling” classes and make them more palatable by deliberately refusing to live up to their potential.

Playing a Druid who is concerned about protecting the wild is not that interesting. Playing a Druid who squanders her powers smoking treants and sneaking into villages as a cat to chase them around is.

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That’s true! And in a way it’s another feature inherent to those classes that the other ones don’t get BECAUSE martial classes can be anything. The classes like druids shamans dh etc are locked in to some things by nature, BUT they also get the option to entirely flip that on its head and take it in the other direction, which is neat in its own way.

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I’m inclined to partially agree, but everything depends.

If you play a druid who says, “I must protect the wilds!” and don’t do anything with that ideology or dive into what it means to protect the wilds, to what degree you’re supposed to protect the wilds, who you’re protecting the wilds from, or why you’re doing it in the first place, then there’s missed potential. And, specifically with druids, you can set your roots in just about any place, and have them say, “I have sworn to protect the wilds of this place specifically.”

I agree with Gorebath also, however. The less-magical people are very fun to play as. For me, it’s because they are facing greater adversity by not being able to turn into a bear. When they fight a person with magic, or a magical creature, it’s a lot more of an uphill battle, and they have to employ wit and cunning to get on even footing. It’s good ol’ sword and sorcery at its best.

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There’s also something to be said about low-magic magic users, ie. spellswords with an emphasis on the sword, citizens with practical prestidigitation sort of spells, or people that don’t have a natural affinity to any magic but are trying their best to ascend to mediocre (they’re excited about casting their first arcane missile last week! It was only one bolt but next time, next time they’ll get two out!).

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