Personally I feel that most of the ideas here are too formulaic and fundamentally much closer to scientific systems than occult magicks.
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1) Magic is fundamentally about dealing with things unknown or alien. If the in and out are utterly controllable and calculatable then you haven't got a system of magic per-say, rather odd science.
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3) Magic is dangerous. A wizard maintains control through skill and knowledge - but her knowledge is never truly complete. Ultimately mages will become over confident and meddle with something outside their knowledge. Power should rarely be personal, but rather come from discovery, deals with powerful otherworldly entities and ancient fundamental knowledge of existance.
3) Magic is not God. ... I think it is important that any existing physical powers remain disconnected from any theological being.
When thinking magic think old-school. Think Merlin, Sauron, the Faerie (and their fucked up lands); think deep powers, demons, hell - Cthulu!
If magic isn't inheriantly dangerous and/or difficult you run the gauntlet of making it everyday. That WILL kill it, as will making it too weak or too flashy and obvious. I support folklore, druids and spiritual leaders of all kinds in communities. I am totally against a Gandalf in every Human town and a Legendary Runemaster in every Dwarven fort.
I agree with you on most points (except that a kind of "magicness" could come from a Deity. Magic is dealing with the unknown, not evil but bizarre and Other (surreal, alien), etc.
Playing Incursion, which implements many D20 Prestige Classes, taught me about the Alienist class which is focused on just this. Though we are perhaps less interested in his plane walking abilities than his psychology and development, the description magnificently captures what we want: an interesting and unique profession with drawbacks that increase with development:
There exist beings beyond the capacity of the minds of humans (and demihumans) to comprehend. Dwelling beyond the Outer Planes that define the human concept of the afterlife, these creatures are ancient, inscrutable, tremendously powerful and unbelievably alien. ... The Alienist is a spellcaster who has devoted herself wholly to the intensely esoteric practice of summoning and dealing with these beings. Most would call her a madwoman, a crazed and irresponsible cultist that endangers the safety of all of Theyra. For some Alienists this accusation is true, while others are more responsible — but no less feared or hated. The most common motive among alienists is knowledge — knowledge of concepts and ideas that cannot exist in a stable manner in our reality and thus must be experienced firsthand in order to be understood, since human languages lack the terms to express them. This search for ultimate knowledge drives many alienists to enlightenment, damnation or both.
Alienists are not, by their nature, stable beings. They are driven by inhuman desire and exposed to unknowable secrets and eldritch beings, and as a result their minds are often deeply fractured and the majority of them are no longer able to relate to their original race in any normal way.
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* Surreal Presence — The sense that there is something faintly off, something wrong about the alienist crystalizes to a razor-sharp clarity at 3rd level, and she gains the benefit (or curse) of a constantly active spook spell as an innate supernatural ability.
* Mad Certainty — At 4th level, the alienist's fanatical devotion gives her a kind of ability to ignore physical harm and pursue her obsession with an utterly inhuman resilience even in the face of crippling wounds. She gains Toughness as a bonus feat and a +10 bonus to the Concentration skill.
* Visitation — At 5th level, the alienist may use contact other plane at will as an innate spell-like ability.
* Inhuman Allies — At 6th level, the alienist gains the ability to invoke ancient pacts between the harbringers of the Outer Rim and their Outer Ones' more modern spawn. Aberrations are neutral to her unless she breaks the pact by taking some hostile action against them.
* Feverish Obsession — Upon reaching 7th level, the alienist becomes so driven and devoted that she develops an inhuman kind of vigor, working beyond the established limits of the human body. She thus regenerates fatigue points just as dwarves do.
* Psychic Mortification — At 8th level, the alienist's mind has become so scorched by outer horrors that mortal traumas no longer have the ability to damage it — her Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma are sustained at 5 points each.
* Sanity-Blasting Spellcasting — At 9th level, the alienist's methods of spellcasting are so otherworldly and alien that any creature of CR 7 or lower who sees her cast a spell takes 1d2 points of Wisdom damage.
* Distant Apotheosis — At 10th level, the alienist becomes a fundamentally alien creature herself, developing trememdously increased physical resistance. She gains immunity to critical hits, no longer needs to breathe or eat and does not age.
I say, a crazed unpredictable dwarf going increasingly strange until he is actually harmful to be around sounds like the perfect not-directly-controllable neither-good-not-evil DF-styled inhabitant!
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Topic: Generalized Theory of Magic (Read 4212 times)