Magical Limitations

[kitsune_boy389]

I need a list of limitations to magical.
I've already got:
- Physical Exhaustion
- Mental Exhaustion
- Possibilities of Injuries

Any others?

 

[Matt010]

Spiritual consequences? (depends on what your magic system is based on)

also, social stigma and/or physical signs that aren't damaging but do "mark" a magic user.

 

[j d worthington]

There's the old one of "balance" ... for every bit of magic used (a violation of the natural order) there's a price to be paid (anything from small illnesses to death of a loved one -- even to fall of a nation or end of the world... and them not knowing the precise consequence -- say, with death of a loved one, they know that, but not whom -- can be used to up the tension).

Jack Vance (and others) made it where a magician/sorcerer could only hold so many spells in the mind at one time... the more powerful/complex the spell, the less of them could be retained.

Effects on past spells. Again, calling from classic fantasy, CAS has a story where a sorcerer was unharmed by the demon he had caught in his circle this time, but when someone else cast a spell to recall a lost hour with a now-dead love, that hour was repeated for everyone... and the sorcerer's demon was no longer held by the circle.... something of that nature, where one person's spell can effect things even in the past.

Finding that the results of the spell isn't what one expects it to be... disappointment, unreality, "fool's gold", as it were...

 

[Culhwch]

We had a thread on this not so long ago, it shouldn't take much digging to find.

I quite like Matt's idea of a physical disfigurement or stigma that marks a magic user - that could be particular effective in a settign where magic is outlawed or looked down upon. It could also create an interestign duality - the bent, scarred and disfigured old sorceror you'd take for a villain is in fact a good guy...

 

[Culhwch]

Huzzah!

http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/35589-magic-limitations.html

and...

http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/35663-magic-problem.html

And then there is also:

http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/35729-method-of-magic.html

and even...

http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/36183-my-magic-concept.html

...and a few others besides, I'm sure. But it's a good start.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

In many historical magical traditions a major limitation is that you can't just do it -- mumble a few words, and hey-presto, fireball -- you have to prepare yourself, you have to choose the right hour and day, you may (possibly) have to use tools that you have made for yourself (and that usually require a lot of effort to make), you have to chant lengthy invocations, or (in more primitive magic) drum and dance around until you're so exhausted you go into a trance -- the requirements can be many and various.

The point is, that in these traditions magic is just inherently hard, it's not something you do because it's easier than doing a certain thing the ordinary way, it's something you do because you want something very badly and ordinary methods don't seem to be working. (Or because you have a great hunger to climb inside the machinery of the universe, see how it works, and tinker around.)

 

[Talysia]

I guess it could also depend on the type of magic. If it's the sort that comes from within, then maybe there could be some sort of external influence - ie not being able to concentrate due to the situation, or maybe there's another with more power able to block the magic user's efforts - for a different type of limitation.

If it's the type of magic that relies on other forces, like the use of spirits, then there's the possibility that there'll be some sort of consequence to their summoning - physical or otherwise. Also, they might not want to be called on, and would act accordingly.

 

[Sapheron]

Simple possibility. You could, for example, explode someone. Yes, all well and good, could happen in real life, but would be unlikely. Not impossible. On the other hand, you can't create a new colour no one has seen before. I don't mean a new shade; completely different, indescribable with our language, because we don't need words for it because it isn't there. This, you see, is comlpetely impossible. Magic might 'do the impossible', but in that cases there are varying degrees of 'impossible'.

Other than that thought, I think everything has been covered by someone. At least, everything I can think of.

 

[Marvolo]

The better question is: What sort of story are you aiming for?

That would hone the suggestions a bit.