Light

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

@CaptainManbeard

If we're all making 2nd characters than I might be able to implement the character idea I skipped over before. Would it be OK if I PM'ed you about a question regarding that?

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

<Snipped quote by Light>

That sounds awesome, but some of that you may want to save for later after she progresses more. Since she's starting out as a freshman, I don't think the Professors would enjoy her throwing down motes of starlight everywhere which may flood the school with solar radiation if not done properly XD XD XD. How much of that were you wanting her to have right at the beginning of the RP? I'm fine with her having had some very basic training in Cosmic Magic from a mentor or relative, but as an eighteen year old who is only just starting her formal academic college education, I don't want her to be too overpowered compared to the other students.

@CaptainManbeard

He* is definitely going to need to reach that power fantasy later on as a goal both for himself and me. I think it will start out more of flavoring pyromancy as solar flames/heat rather than warping reality right out the gate. I think his initial/signature ability beyond the most basic pyromancy will be setting beacons of light that deal fire damage, and connecting them together with superhot lasers. Maybe he can have them orbit his body like a star system.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

I've got it. Using the faceclaim I posted last night, I'm going to roll up a Fire primary character who's invests a lot into learning cosmic magic, as a sort of astrologer. I'm thinking big AoE wizard type, covering the battlefield with burning motes of starlight arranged in constellation patterns, obscuring smokey nebulas, and other sun/star/space magic.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

Just gunna drop this character art here for later use, maybe, haha

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

Hmmm... So I'm considering a simplified version that combines my ideas with some of Light's:

The Aetherscape is a giant energy bubble around the Mortal Planes and is split into four quadrants - the Elemental Planes of Air, Earth, Water, and Fire - and in the center between them is the Infernal Abyss, where all dark magic is pulled from. Beyond the outer edges of the bubble is the Cosmic Void, where magic pertaining to space, time, and gravity is pulled from. Any character can learn to harness any kind of magic with the right training, but they are born with a natural affinity to one of the Elemental Planes.

The actual classes at the Academy focus on different methods to use the magic. So, for instance, the Professor in Evocation class would teach students how to evoke blasts and such of their attuned element, the Enchantment Professor would teach them how to enchant items, the Runology Professor would teach them the various runes of the Ancient Tongue, etc.

What does everyone think?

@CaptainManbeard

I like this approach. It's open ended in picking what kind of magic we use, and it only makes sense that there would be teachers that instruct students how to do certain things with it. I'm just double checking that you did intend for us to only start with one affinity this way then (and only from among Air, Earth, Fire and Water), and we'd have to learn others as we go?

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

To be clear, I'd still want us to be able to pick two of these affinities for our characters to blend them in a primary and secondary way. Even as you've said before, two people with the same affinities can have vastly different magic. Let's make an example of Air and Water as a pair:

The first mage calls the storm, cracking the sky down onto their foe with torrential rain, ear splitting thunder, and the devastating stroke of lightning from on high.

The second skates across the battlefield like a dancer, propelling themselves up, down and around with flight. They weave razor sharp slivers of ice into blades that tear their enemies asunder, or snap freeze those unfortunate enough to survive the first assault.

Edit (sorry km kinda scatter brained and afterthoughts are common for me haha): Now this definitely seems like the first is just hydromancy and electromancy, while the second is aeromancy and cryomancy, which is true. But with the affinities as I described, the first would still easily be able to fly or use wind magic as per the Air affinity (and ice with the Water affinity), and the second would be able to transform those icecles into water and attack with them, or just use electricity if they wanted. It might not be optimal for them these other ways, maybe they are more drawn to the depictions I gave them, but my goal is that the option is there.

For me personally, electricity has always been very closely associated with the element of air, and a lot of the other consolidations I suggested follow suit.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

I think the choice between these affinities and the D&D schools would largely hinge on one of two viewpoints in deciding how magic is built fundamentally.

1) the utility and general effect of a person's magic is intrinsic, and they learn to express that form through various elements or "lenses." (D&D system) Someone born into Evocation would be able to utilize that through blasts of fire, lightning, ice, force, sound and so on, but night need training to branch out to Conjuration before they can summon anything.

2) the flavor of one's magic is intrinsic, and how they refine it to specific uses is learned (your original system and mine). Someone born of pyromancy can shoot blasts of fire and summon fire elementals, but might need training to branch out and perform those same blasts or summons for lightning, ice, force, sound and so on.

Personally, for a non-stats non-dice rp, I prefer the 2nd method.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

<Snipped quote by Light>

... What does everyone think?

@CaptainManbeard

If I may, I'd like to suggest a bit of a simplification to the system, mostly just a condensing of schools into categories that capture more under one umbrella, so people can pick more freely and still play into niche power fantasies. The core idea is the same- give people the ability to pick schools and still have the freedom to express how their character uses that school, potentially differently from others. I just believe that with less schools, we can achieve that "unique expression" even more, and have less edge cases of "I want to use a certain kind of magic but there isn't a school that really captures/allows it."

There are 7 schools/attunements/affinities this way: Air, Cosmic, Earth, Fire, Occult, Radiant and Water.

Air, Earth, Fire and Water would be the central schools, focusing on manipulation of the world around us. Air would take on the responsibilities of electromancy. Earth would be the unions of geomancy, metallurgy and the magic of nature's plant and animal life. Fire is mostly unchanged, as it's a well-established archetype that needs little more than heat, flames, embers and smoke. Water would inherit cryomancy as well.

The remaining three schools of Cosmic, Occult and Radiant would take on the job of more esoteric magics, with perhaps Radiant still being allowed as a non-forbidden school.

Occult represents most of what you'd consider forbidden magic. Hellish or eldtritch rituals, illusions and mental manipulations, and of course all forms of dark life-exchanging magic such as sangromancy/hemeomancy, osteomancy and fully fledged necromancy.

Cosmic would be a fringe case on how/if its use is allowed. As likely the least undstood school, Cosmic reaches deepest into the void to control space and time with telekinesis, chronomancy, and teleportation. Cosmic would also be responsible for "null type" magics such as force, kinetics and sound.

Radiant is the closest one could analog to divine magic. Still a scholarly and learned art, it would encompass light (both illumination and hard-light objects), order, and most other magics you could associate with prototypical clerics and paladins from other fantasy settings.

I want to point out that I did not attribute healing to any of the schools here, any school should be able to interpret their magic in a way that allows them to heal in some way.

Edit: my phone can't spell Cosmic apparently, and thought I was still talking about Occult.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

Is there any capacity for people to learn magic beyond the kinds they are naturally attuned to? I'd assume it's possible, else how would the black mana arts have been discovered to begin with? Unless I'm mistaken and that an individual can be born with attunement to a kind of black mana.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

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Feel free to throw some ideas around, or you can also PM me if you'd like to discuss some ideas more directly XD.

@CaptainManbeard

It's ok, I had a pretty specific idea in mind but it just doesn't seem like it'd work- given the time scale of where our characters are supposed to be at this point in their lives. Don't worry about it, I'll fill in the gaps for party composition once people have settled into their ideas.