Laws & Limits of Magic

Latest revision as of 03:00, 15 December 2016

[edit] Laws of Magic

There are six fundamental Laws of Magic. Any spellcaster can try to invoke one or more Laws when casting. If you succeed at invoking a Law, you have advantage or the target has disadvantage (DM's choice). Alternatively, you can avoid some or all of the Strain (DM's choice).

The 6 Laws of Magic are:

• Inertia: things continue as they are
• Possibility: anything can happen until something happens
• Harmony: likeness is sameness
• Contagion: once in contact, always in contact
• Displacement: raising this lowers that
• Entropy: things fall apart

[edit] Invoking a Law

Invoking a Law takes role-playing, not rolling dice. Invoking a Law takes more than just riffing on the details of a spell. It takes an appeal to significant evidence of something profound taking place. Just as regular magic is extraordinary compared to mundane phenomena, invoking a Law is extraordinary compared to to regular magic. Invoking a Law usually takes preparation and forethought. The preparation doesn't need to be physical preparation (e.g., meditation may be evidence). The DM decides whether you successfully invoke a Law.

Experienced magicians learn to fear the potential invocation of Laws against them, and often take great care to avoid being vulnerable to the Laws. When you are the target of a hostile spell, you can debate with the DM about whether the Law can be invoked.

Example: Isawa is trying to start a fire in the building across the street. Isawa has chiseled out a chip of granite from the cornerstone using tools and a ritual unique to his Order. Isawa also has a page from the original blueprints. He channels the spell through the chip to invoke the Law of Contagion. He uses a candle to burn the page to invoke the Law of Harmony. The DM approves both invocations.

Example: A Swarmkin cultist is trying to cause Isawa to spontaneously combust. The cultist has a glass vial with a sample of Isawa's blood from last week. He uses a candle to heat up the vial to invoke the Law of Contagion. However, every morning Isawa performs a thorough bodily cleanse in his lab, so the old blood is no longer be strongly connected to Isawa. The invocation of the Law fails.

[edit] Limits of Magic

Magic is very powerful. However, as magic is understood by most spellcasters, it has limits. All spells and most other magic obey these limits.

• Limit of Divinity: There are some beings and forces whose nature, intent, and influence cannot be understood or changed by magic. Some spellcasters see this limit as arising from the cumulative belief of a large number of mortal beings, while others see it as evidence of one or more higher powers.
• Limit of Essential Nature: Each thing has an essential nature. This includes including all beings, matter, energy, and forces. A thing's essential nature is tied the thing's identity, including its origins and composition. Magic can change any or every other aspect of a thing except this essential nature.
• Limit of True Belief: Magic can't create, change, or destroy a being's true belief. Magic can repress a belief or create a false contradictory belief, but the true belief will eventually revert back. Some spellcasters view this limit as a special case of the Limit of Essential Nature. True love and similar pure feelings are true beliefs, so they also can't be fundamentally changed with magic.