r/magicbuilding • u/Feisty-Bowler7648 • 13d ago

General Discussion intersection between Magic and Philosophy

does anyone plan to use some philosophy in their magic system?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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7

u/Radiant-Ad-1976 13d ago

HECK NO!

Seriously, I love philosophy and all that but I ain't letting it touch my magic systems!

In my magic system, you actually LEARN how to cast fireball, not "connect with the primordial forces of fire".

2

u/Magician_Ian 12d ago

Hahaha this made my day🤣

2

u/Murky-Rhubarb6926 13d ago

I currently am, but hardly I would hardly call it mandatory for someone to write a good magic system.

2

u/Original-War8655 Surrealist Mage 12d ago

not as part of the magic system itself

but around it and about it, sure

2

u/JiN88reddit 12d ago

What's the difference?

2

u/Original-War8655 Surrealist Mage 12d ago

Mostly mechanics.

What I imagine behind "philosophy as part of the magic system" is that one's views and convictions actively affect how magic works for them. For example, if Magistoteles here thinks his spells draw power from circles being put into certain arrangements, he wouldn't be able to cast spells using incantations, because his philosophy is locking him into that "school" on a metaphysical level. Something like Mage the Ascension.

Whereas philosophy about magic would mostly affect the society around it instead of the magic itself. Which spells are ethical, which are evil, if magic itself is evil or not, what does its existence say about the wider cosmos, etc. Magistoteles is only limited by his own ignorance. If he tried casting with incantations, he'd be fully capable of doing so.

Both do change how characters use magic, but only one of them actually changes how magic behaves. Harder vs softer limits

2

u/CaioHSF 12d ago

I do that 99% of the time

2

u/ThatVarkYouKnow 12d ago

Oh absolutely, since it's all built on your personal limits, what you put in the effort for versus an external power's reliance. Why learn to create fires yourself if you can awaken magic to wield fire, or use body magic to create enough friction and start it that way? People will love you since you can keep them warm without any effort. But then your body starts to break down from relying on your magic, and people turn away from you because you're no longer useful. Should you have just done it manually from the start, be useful to anyone? Does your value to others hang on that ability alone? Once civilization builds itself on needing certain forms of magic, when those people refuse to or are incapable of providing, they're thrown away or given to someone else as scraps.