Magic Limitations

[Commonmind]

What I find amusing is that every story I've read in the fantasy genre has a balancing system when it comes to magic. Honestly, who wrote the rule that a mage couldn't become so powerful he could destroy worlds, rip through time and space with a finger, and create a universe for himself to rule from his own dandruff. Why not? I mean, in a lot of ways I would be interested to read a story where magic users only had to study their art and could essentially become the bane of all existence if they so wished it. Imagine a novel where wizards warred, but instead of shooting fireballs at one another from across a span of green grass they cast down the very fire of the sun, battling one another across worlds, running through tears in reality, destroying whole peoples as they rent mile wide crevices in the earth. Maybe the battles they wage against each other reshape the world, or the very fabric of existence. Seems crazy, I know, but I would read it.

Actually, I could try and write it...

 

[Aes]

If you're up to the challenge, I say go for it. Just remember, while your wizards are battling eachother from one end of creation to the other, you'll to build on them as people too, and that gets harder to do when they're destroying trillions of other people with each spell. Otherwise, you're just writing the text-only version of Dragonball Z.

 

[Commonmind]

I was being completely facetious. Granted it is intriguing, but the reason why something of that ilk hasn't been done before is likely because it is too difficult to write, as like you said, it would be difficult to characterize magic users whom had little concern for life or existence in general. The only way it could work is if these particular mages battled in their own constructed realities, that their powers were so strong they went beyond the normal confines of reality as we know it, and that they could only battle in another dimension entirely. But, therein lies the rub: in itself that could be considered a limitation; being unable to use the fullness of their strength within their own realms.

 

[Chrystelia]

Commonmind, there's a person writing a fan fiction doing exactly that ... granted he borrowed the original author's work, but I'd say he did a fair job on the universal destruction, giving the hero and villains godlike powers ..

I don't know the best way to say this without offending anyone ...

 

[Urien]

I once tried to turn a cat into a kettle. It failed. All I got was a rusty tea pot. Magic's rubbish.

 

[Commonmind]

Commonmind, there's a person writing a fan fiction doing exactly that ... granted he borrowed the original author's work, but I'd say he did a fair job on the universal destruction, giving the hero and villains godlike powers ..

I don't know the best way to say this without offending anyone ...

Not sure I understand what would have been taken as offensive.

 

[Chrystelia]

Not sure I understand what would have been taken as offensive.

Because it was a fanfiction, and I like it. I don't mean to say I dislike the original author's work, but this person wrote it like a totally different story, changing almost everything except for the names of people, places etc. and his writing isn't bad either. I know he's also working on his original work.

 

[Commonmind]

Because it was a fanfiction, and I like it. I don't mean to say I dislike the original author's work, but this person wrote it like a totally different story, changing almost everything except for the names of people, places etc. and his writing isn't bad either. I know he's also working on his original work.

Ahh. What was the original work, and where can I find this fanfic? I'm curious now.

 

[Lith]

You could certainly write a godlike, world-destroying battle between magicians. You need to humanize them early, though- their wants, desires, building sympathy for them. But yeah, it's a difficult way to do drama.

There's more than a little irony in that the first thing most authors do when they introduce magic is introduce rules for it. Magic is by definition what goes beyond the rules, so introducing rules makes it non-magic.

There are some sources of magic listed here that I've never thought of. It's an interesting read. I do get a little tired of magic being based on some sort of "personal energy".

 

[chrispenycate]

If magic is totally outside rules, there is no way of knowing what a particular spell is going to do, so it's not worth using magic at all, since at least half the outcomes are negative to the user.
If magic is, as in much Christian mythology, is invariably the effect of some supernatural being,(good, evil or, with elementals, neutral) then the limits of the magic are not merely the absolute power of the demon or djinn, but the control the human has over it, and the ability to communicate one's desires ("blow that to bits" is easy to communicate; "I want a good meal with decent wine and acceptable company" not, particularly if the "plane" from which the entity originates has radically different physical laws.
Remove the controlling intelligence, and the problem becomes an order of magnitude worse; muscles like a professional wrestler don't help with threading a needle.
Given unlimited power, the first hurdle is to avoid sawing off the branch you're sitting on, followed by avoiding destroying the tree, and the continent it's growing on. Any universe where this law is not rapidly learnt rapidly becomes a potentiality; infinity is unforgiving.
Evolution of fictons; any ficton which survives to breed must have limitations on magic, and at least a minimalist structure of "laws", ways in which said magic can be controlled, otherwise the result is true chaos, which does not lead to any great stories.
The better the author (not the reader, and definitely not the characters) understands the magic system in his or her ficton, the more convincing the writing can become. Mana, personal power, gods or demons, life force - there must be some form of organisation or your universe degenerates into one source of desires, the first one who spots "I wish you'd never been born, I wish your country had never existed. I wish…"

 

[asher marquering]

i agree with chris there must be laws other wise it can become very chaotic and complicated

eg. A-casts, B-counters, A-counters, B-counters, A-counters, etc, B-time reversal magic, B-increase speed of caster, B-casts, A-dies, A-revives.

i think y laws must be put in place is because when it comes to magic its only limitation is your imagination hmmm corny but i think its tru

also by adding laws its easier to cause conflict in a scene

eg. A gripped his chest pain writhed through his heart he shut his eyes trying to fight the pain, the pain subsided slightly A looked up and saw B's magic approaching he lifted his hand, nuthin but chest pain came from it...

 

[Pyan]

eg. A-casts, B-counters, A-counters, B-counters, A-counters, etc, B-time reversal magic, B-increase speed of caster, B-casts, A-dies, A-revives.

Which would last for about two pages. I think you may find difficulty selling that one to a publisher!