CrosshairCollie Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 More of a philosophical question than anything else ... if you run Fantasy games with gods, do you have a god of magic? It seems to me that having a god of magic blurs, if not erases, the whole 'arcane magic' vs 'divine magic' thing. If the source of magic is divine, doesn't that make all magic divine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Re: God of Magic Not necessarily. It might be more of a Prometheus kinda story, or Thoth if you're into Egyptian mythology. A divinity that gave the secret of how to do magic to humanity, rather than the divinity being the process of magic itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Re: God of Magic Not necessarily. It might be more of a Prometheus kinda story' date=' or Thoth if you're into Egyptian mythology. A divinity that gave the secret of how to do magic to humanity, rather than the divinity being the process of magic itself.[/quote'] L. Marcus beat me to it. I tend to go even farther with the Prometheus parallel, in which the 'god of magic' is punished by other god(s) for giving magic to humans, justifying a certain amount of mistrust between magi and priests. Also, in this version of the story, the mythical hero who rescues the prometheus-figure is more likely to be a powerful mage than a warrior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Re: God of Magic There's nothing wrong with having the core of Magic work in a single way. Forgotten Realms is that way. Before the 4e Spell plague crap, magic worked by manipulating the weave. How you got your magic made you a divine or Arcane Caster. Divine magics are bestowed by whatever god of goddess one is a priest for. You gain the knowledge of how to make that effect, you pray for it and the god fills you with that knowledge. So the miracle is the knowledge of the use of the spell, not the spell effect itself. Arcane casters either have innate knowledge of how to work the weave (ie Sorcerers), or study magic for long years to learn to use it (Wizards). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowsoul Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Re: God of Magic But just because that is the dominant magical paradigm in RPGs, doesn't mean that you have to use it. For example, in the Malazan world magic is drawn from alien worlds inhabited by gods and weird races. Mages draw on the same power that gods wield and Priests only have access to magic if they train as Mages, which many of them do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Re: God of Magic Many pantheons have a God of Smithcraft. Does that make smithcrafting divine? Lucius Alexander If there is a God of Palindromedaries, does that make training and riding palindromedaries divine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rentauri Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Re: God of Magic I think it can depends with how the God deals with magic. Is he the source of Magic or is he simply the most powerful magic user, the most wise in its understanding of it and most knowledgeable about it? If he is second then maybe he doesn't have priests that are Divine Casters. I remember a setting (and I want to say its Forgotten Realms but I can't remember honestly they tend to jumble) where one God of Magic didn't have priests in the traditional sense, all of his Priests where Arcane Casters. These people prayed and worshiped more as one would venerate the greatest caster that ever was, this God was the patron of all Arcane casters in a way. The God would "bless" the worshipers and faithful not with spells but with knowledge to learn and understand the essence of magic. If it is the first idea then, to me, it springs to mind at least two questions: If your God of Magic is the Source of all Magic does this mean he controls all magic ... even that of the other Gods and their Priests? If Pelor the God of Fiery Destruction pisses off Bob the God of Magic can Bob turn off the magic going to Pelor and all his Priests as he is the source of all Magic? What happens when Bob dies, does magic stop working or is their multiple Gods of Magics in case something like that occurs. In either case life is going to be real interesting for Bob I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Re: God of Magic In my world the Human Gods are more divine champions than creators. The God of Magic is more of a patron of mages and living catalog of all spells. Not the source of magic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Re: God of Magic In many mythologies there seems to be a distinction between what a given culture calls "magic," and the divine miracles that gods may perform. The Greek gods possessed many wondrous abilities, but the goddess Hecate was the especial patron of witches and witchcraft, implying that's a separate discipline. The Norse god Odin impaled himself upon the World Tree for nine days to learn the secret of the runes, making him the greatest magician among the gods. In modern mainstream Western occultism, many magic spells summon or draw from the power of God, angels, or demons; in this case the "magic" is the ritual that calls upon the desired entity. A God of Magic may simply be the being who knows the most about such practices, or the one who teaches or inspires the craft of magic among mortals. In some cases it would be misleading and a misnomer to define manifest divine will as "magic." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Re: God of Magic My god of magic is more aptly termed the god of knowledge. His priests hoard knowledge of all types, of which magic is just one. There is no divine vs arcane distinction - magic is just a skill that can be learned by rare individuals. Some of these do nothing else and are called mages. Some work for a church and are called priests. Many priests can cast no magic at all, and some churches forbid it completely. I have a clear distinction between a church ritual, such as blessing a birth or wedding, which are all non-magical, and casting a spell. And a non-spellcasting priest may be able to work a miracle (exorcism, healing) once in a blue moon, but it's by convincing the god to help, and cannot be relied upon (i.e., beg the GM for help, and I might toss out something). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Re: God of Magic This could be a case where PRE would be used instead of INT or EGO for the skill roll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Re: God of Magic This could be a case where PRE would be used instead of INT or EGO for the skill roll. I've been saying that for years. For one thing, making Priest a PRE based Skill lets you use it to add to PRE when turning undead. My god of magic is more aptly termed the god of knowledge. His priests hoard knowledge of all types' date=' of which magic is just one. There is no divine vs arcane distinction - magic is just a skill that can be learned by rare individuals. Some of these do nothing else and are called mages. Some work for a church and are called priests. Many priests can cast no magic at all, and some churches forbid it completely. I have a clear distinction between a church ritual, such as blessing a birth or wedding, which are all non-magical, and casting a spell. And a non-spellcasting priest may be able to work a miracle (exorcism, healing) once in a blue moon, but it's by convincing the god to help, and cannot be relied upon (i.e., beg the GM for help, and I might toss out something).[/quote'] I usually don't care for Perks and argue against them, but for this, I'd say what's called for is a Contact: Deity (or entire pantheon) and that's what you roll for to get a miracle - maybe with a Skill like Priest or Paladin or Holy Person as complementary. (see above) Lucius Alexander PRE Based Palindromedary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted March 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Re: God of Magic Interesting stuff. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Re: God of Magic Also most times a god is a representation of their field. They created that field in some stories, are the best in it. They are the patron of those who work in that field. They are human-like in that regard. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.