Roleplaying Magic

Wyrmrest Accord
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Magic in Warcraft is vague, inconsistent, omnipotent (at least when the plot demands), and incredibly compelling.

In most settings, magic is borne from a single source and arises from a singular point of origin. It might be expressed in any number of ways, but it all still stems from the Fade, or Chaos, or the Lifestream, etc. Other settings, specifically those created for or attached to table-top RPGs, differentiate between magic gifted by the Powers That Be and magic attained through study or acquired through circumstance.

But in Warcraft?

In Warcraft, magic is the physical manifestation of any number of non-physical, abstract cosmic forces. Spellcasters in Warcraft do not draw from a singular pool, nor is there a clear delineation between the occult and the divine; between magic that is attained and magic that is bestowed. Instead Azeroth’s mystics draw upon Life, Death, Order, Chaos, Light (Creation), Shadow (Entropy), the Elements, and any permutations or combinations thereof. It is a setting in which pyromancers, sea witches, necrolytes, and shadow mages can exist side-by-side, each drawing upon a wholly different font of magic, and each channeling said magic in a wholly unique way.

To say that we, as roleplayers, have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to magic is an understatement.

I digress. On to the focus on this thread!

How do you take advantage of Warcraft’s malleable magic lore, WrA? How do you approach magic in roleplay? Does your character use magic in a way that might set them apart from their peers? Do they have any unique spells or abilities? When designing your spellcaster, did you draw upon a specific archetype, concept, or theme, or are you just rolling with the punches?

Further, how do you express your character’s magic? I’m a big, big fan of elaborate (which does not necessarily mean overlong, mind) emotes describing movements, whispered (or shouted!) incantations, and how the atmosphere reacts to one’s spell-casting. Likewise, the use of talismans, foci, and other bits of mystical paraphernalia is fantastic, and yet seemingly rarely seen.

In fact, I often feel magic is roleplayed in a way that is very… dry, or prosaic, and its flexibility seems rarely taken full advantage of. Warcraft’s magic is colorful (figuratively and literally!), mutable, and really, really cool, and I love to see that expressed in roleplay.

What are your thoughts on magic, WrA?

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I’ve always enjoyed incorperating limitations and drawbacks into magic. If anyone can just pick up a spellbook and instantly know how to enslave the universe, it gets boring pretty fast. My characters who do perform magic always do extensive research and planning even before opening a portal anywhere, and some of them even have personal philosophies against using it for the mundane, such as my orc mage who believes in using it only for things that cannot be accomplished otherwise.

With my characters, the stronger the spell, the greater the risk of lasting consequence. Channeling arcane through the body can create an addiction-like dependancy, where after casting a particularly taxing spell, your body will feel like it has to channel more in order to feel better. This is intensified for magically inclined races such as elves.

Additionally, even a hair out of place can create a chain reaction that could cause a spell to backfire. Magic is not practical for chaotic situations without having years of experience channeling in his stress situations, and for that reason, any combat mages I have are older and have had their share of hardships and mistakes with magic. People like Khadgar, who have spent decades using magic in high-intense situations and with intense study, are among the character types who should be able to use extremely powerful magic willy nilly in a war scenario. I currently have only one character who has tried, and despite a lifetime of dedication to the arcane, his frail body did not hold up when trying to channel a spell powerful enough to destroy some elementals that there attacking civilians during a storm, and it resulted in him unable to use magic for a few days as his body was numbed by the effort.

This also makes it fun for the characters I have that are just learning magic. All kinds of crazy things can happen just while learning to wield the arcane. Spells backfire, feedback from the arcane feels like an electric shock, polymorph spells can sometimes hit themselves or both targets, and once or twice one of my student mages accidentally polymorphed a rabbit into a lion.

It’s not what everyone likes to do, perhaps, but I find it’s more interesting for building and developing characters, as it makes them have to consider ways around problems harder than just a flick of the wrist resulting in a solution. Magic being as much of a vulnerability as it is a strength has always been something I’ve enjoyed, an exchange of accomplishing great feats for the risk of terrible failure that could cause just about anything to happen.

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Rogue “magic,” such as it is, is fairly ill-defined (is it shadow? Void? Is it even magic at all?), so I try to play it up as I do any other thing in WoW: a source of conflict.

Enekie’s “magic” usually causes more problems than it solves, fails her at crucial moments and usually can’t do much to change the tide of battle.

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While I enjoy vulnerabilities and drawbacks, and a clear expression of what a certain kind of magic can and can not do, I think an overadherance to “realism” or “how (I think) things should be” often leads to the prosaic spellcraft that feels so at odds with Warcraft’s colorful, high octane setting. While the image of an occult scholar pouring over his notes and carefully etching runes in chalk is a compelling one, it feels somewhat… at odds with what we see and experience in the world (of Warcraft), especially when said pouring and etching is for, say, something as “lowly” as a fireball or a one-way teleportation spell.

I think that sense of/desire for “realism” is why the use of healing magic is both rare and seemingly frowned upon. Even alchemy seems to be ignored in favor of the dry, unadorned minutia of real world first aid. The use of which often seems to be held up as the mark of a “superior” roleplayer, when you’d think spinning what is already present into something unique and compelling would be more of a creative challenge (and, in my mind, much more fitting).

Still. I preach that all forms of roleplay are valid, and I’ll stand by that. I just prefer my magic to be more on the colorful, flamboyant side of things.

I want to see Ren’dorei ghostblades popping in and out of existence as they traipse along the rooftops, orcish warrior-magi turning incantations into war cries as they weave fire about themselves like a tailor weaves cloth, and priests sinking into trance states, litanies and mantras pouring from their mouths as the wounds of their comrades uncomfortably re-knit themselves.

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I also like to think that magic takes a lot of work and concentration. One of my favorite parts of the Jaina riding in on her flying ship is that she actually looks like she’s exerting force/effort when she turns the ship around to aim the Arcane cannons.

Portal spells are one thing I like to think takes a lot of time to master, and require significant energy. And the further the endpoint location, the more energy is required, which is why you often see groups of two or three NPCs channeling portals.

I also think that beginner magi are limited because they are using their own mana/energy to power the spells. And if they use too much mana, they pass out, or even could die. Experienced magi learn to channel directly from leylines and use that raw energy to power their spells.

But, to ready the body to become a vessel and conduit for that much raw energy takes years of work, meditation and magical work.

Archmagi have become so skilled at that art that they make it seem almost effortless, and they seem almost omnipotent.

Also, as a mage, I believe the Arcane to be like the source code of the world. Magi, then, understand the building blocks of energy that make up the world, and understanding that everything is energy, learn how to manipulate it.

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I like to think that Gwenri is a pretty unique magic user as far as Warcraft OCs go. She’s kind of a prodigy, in that she has a very strong natural talent for the theory of magic. Note. The theory.

This comes at a cost to her active, snap spellcasting. So while ritual and long-term spellcasting, she’s very good at that. She can make runes, and she uses these skills in making magically empowered and operated golems. But making a fireball to use in combat? Quickly summoning demons to her beck and call? She’s not so good at that. She needs to use a wand to do any kind of snap spellcasting, and it’s almost always just going to be a bolt of arcane.

The prodigy-level skill in magical theory however, does have its benefits. She is a capable weilder of the raw, non-spellified energies of Arcane, Fel, Shadow, and Nature. She could easily wield Necromantic magic too, but she doesn’t really see it as valued. At all. She can’t use the Light, for a lack of faith, and has not received the Call of the Elements, but she has ways to work around those if she needs it. So while she’s a warlock, she’s a warlock in that she’s a magic caster who’s not strictly a mage.

It’s very scientific. Small motions, heavy mathematical and grammatical considerations with creating runes and spellcraft. Heavy use of magically related tools (usually made up, sometimes lore provides examples, but rarely) with a focus on identifying what natures different types of magics would bring to the table for one kind of spell or construct or another. It’s like a blend of a scientist, a medieval-style alchemist, an architect, and a computer engineer.

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In the way that if I play a villain character, I look up different types of predators and decide what sort I want to base them off in how they interact socially, (ya girl n00dl is a trapdoor spider and goliath bird eater), I pick an aesthetic for my character in how they handle magic.

Does it use the full potential? Maybe not, but I treat magic, just like I treat homes, as part of the character themselves, but strong enough to be its own character in a way.

For this particular little monster, I use body horror during combat or intense narrative scenes.

Her magical aesthetic is slime and sludge and living blobs, sometimes fungal-like depending.

I use it to try and show that the Void, it’s magic, and the user have very flexible or undefined boundaries about where one begins and ends.

Let’s be friends.

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Mm. My mage, Cumberland, has a unique way of spellcasting.

So, basically, he goes into hand-to-hand combat. Through a masterful combination of conjuration for fiery effect, enchantment for infused focus, abjuration for protection from his own explosive technique, and bare knuckle know-how, he forged his own Pyrotechnic Pugilism. While similar in many respects to the styles of monks, it lacks the grace and agility of the Pandaren-based style, instead trading it out for focused, overwhelming power. Not to mention that should he be unable to cast the requisite spells to enable his form, he can simply just punch their lights out.

I actually sorta developed this style after reminiscing on how I played my fire mage in Legion, where one of the talents basically allowed you to keep your Flame Barrier up by casting at enemies in essentially melee range, a portion of your damage contributing to your shield upkeep. And, since Fire Mage’s burst windows are very punchy in a way, I just sorta imagined him going with the good-ol’ 1-2 1-2 when doing Fire Blast/Hot Streak Pyroblast during crit chains.

Also, he kinda fights like Rugal Bernstein in King of Fighters.

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My theory for rping magic users is that they can do -anything- their creativity gives them… within the limit of their physical capabilities. I think of it less as would this spell be plausible, more how can I make it plausible. What are the limits.

I’ve had Warlocks health funnel their own health into allies to keep them fighting, mages force wounds to close with the arcane, fling lightning, turn themselves into explosive battering rams.

Anything can be done - but can you survive doing it? Are you capable of managing that much mana? If not, get creative. Mana gems, siphon mana from external sources and redirect it. You may still die if you don’t prepare properly and if you aren’t extremely talented, but nothing is -impossible-… just potentially extremely stupid.

TL:DR, be creative. If your character would do it, find out how they can. If you hit a roadblock, get around it. You may not succeed, the results could be catastrophic, but nothing is impossible.

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I feel like magic is usually extremely undersold in the RP community out of fear for godmodding.

It’s okay for your casters to cause some mass damage if they’re left to cast, people!

That goes double for healers.

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Aside from Tam here, I mostly play Trolls, which means pretty much all of my characters who deal with magic do so through the prism of WoW style voodoo.

In a mostly unrelated series of events, I actually ended up getting into actual Vodou, which has really changed how I treat it in WoW conceptually. I understand the very problematic origins of many classic voodoo tropes that WoW draws on, and I try to downplay those while giving other ones more depth and/or context.

Like a lot of the people mentioned here, I’m a big fan of ritual magic as opposed to snap your fingers/magic words/wave wand style spells. Largely because ritual magic often requires input from other players. I also very much play up the relationship between the voodoo practitioner and the loa- and not just the major ones, but pretty much any spirit with which a mortal can have some kind of interdependent relationship.

Being able to romp around Zandalar and not just speaking to the loa, but fighting some, but making actual agreements with or venerating others has been an absolute treat. They aren’t just super powerful plot contrivances sitting on high or enigmatic power sources lacking any real personality. They’re actual characters who live, struggle, and even die along with the rest of us!

I also keep away from anything too overtly creepy or sinister. People bring enough of that stuff with them to begin with. Drumming and dancing, kiling a pig and cooking it. Conjuring the spirits of the dead by offering them some of the meal. Can be spun as dark and unnatural- or just a family cookout involving great great great Grandma.

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I love a lot of the perspectives being offered here. I’m in the camp of preferring to let magic be expressed a little more freely. However, I like to keep that expression within reason so that it seems more believable and isn’t breaking into godmode territory.

For this character, I’ve always rolled with Subtlety as my main spec. Due to the abilities and the way they are described, I’ve always felt like there was a definite shadow magic aspect at play. When Legion hit and certain abilities were changed, I felt like that added even more validity to to my notion. I made sure to keep in mind the difference between gameplay mechanics and lore compatibility, finding that for sub rogues, everything still worked out pretty well. And then the icing on the cake was the class/spec descriptions that were released alongside these new abilities. The Chronicle books clarified a lot about Void/Shadow, and that was that for me. The character’s usage of these forces so openly during the war with the Legion is what led her to being recognized as a Void user, exiled, and becoming a void elf.

That said, speaking on shadow magic and Void use in particular, I feel it is a type of magic that can do a variety of things, albeit dangerously or with a cost. I feel that the way a character uses the Void is largely determined by their mental fortitude and the methods that they find easiest to work with or are most comfortable with. Fey here prefers to channel her usage of these energies into physicality, tapping more of the Void’s pure consuming aspect instead of its more mental one. She has an easier time with abilities that don’t require a lot of projection of these energies far away from her body, which keeps her from breaking into the realm of shadow priests or other casters. I’ve loved playing with the concept of spatial rifts, using them with the obvious racial ability and as an explanation for shadowstepping. Of course, as I mentioned before, all of this is with a cost. Using these abilities over a length of time will erode her ability to keep focused and hold the whispers at bay. So in that way I keep the character from becoming OP and not fun to interact with.

One last thing is that I kinda headcanon that shadow healing is totally a thing that hits on the more vampiric nature of the Void. It can heal…but with a cost. It has to take something from somewhere before it can grant healing properties. Whether that cost is immediately observable or not is up to the writer, but there being a cost feels good to me and rationalizes the idea of shadow healing in my mind.

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This is rad as heck and exactly the sort of thing I love to see.

Agreed.

In fact, I think the at times slavish adherence to “realism” just in general can be traced back to a fear of godmodding, metagaming, or being seen as being too “out-there” (rather a silly notion in a setting as comic book-esque as Warcraft, imho).

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I’ve seen my fair share of presumably skilled healer-themed characters take weeks to heal minor wounds.

In a sense, it’s good that they’re sort of cautious about their perception, but the fear is unnecessary. Anyone who calls out, for instance, a warlock for draining a foe and healing non-crippling wounds is just being foolish.

They are powerful, they’re removed from cut-scenes for a reason.

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The fear/stigma surrounding the use of magical healing in RP will never make sense to me. Going to another world to fight demonic spaceships is fine, but someone using magic to heal even a superficial wound is too much?? Okay.

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It’s the same for undead characters.

If you, say, chop off an undead character’s arm off, and he keeps coming at you, you don’t really have any grounds to say “Hey, you should be screaming in pain, I cut your arm off!”

They’re undead, it makes total sense for them to no-sell something like that.

They’re not immortal, but things like pain or stabbing vital organs won’t drop them or typically even give them pause.

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Absolutely agreed.

Any Forsaken worth their salt would pick their arm up and beat the enemy to death with it, and I’ll not hear a word otherwise.

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To me, at least, ignoring healing in RP has always seemed transparently to create drama. A person can’t RP being injured for days or weeks if easy magical healing exists, after all.

Which is fine, if that’s your jam, but it’s better in my experience if there’s a reason why easy magical healing won’t work.

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Part of it is that they don’t want to kill off their character, but want to be wounded, for as you said, drama purposes.

Which sort of flies in the face of healers who could, frankly, very easily handle something that isn’t a mortal injury.

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It’s a shame people underutilize magic in RP. And it really is because of fear of being harshly judged and publicly ridiculed.

That’s why it’s so important to encourage creativity instead of put people down :+1:t2:

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