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Dynamic Magic


The world we live in it not fixed in form. The laws or nature that applies to us are mutable. It is people's perceptions of reality that sets the limits on reality. If enough people reality is a certain way, then that is the way it is. This is static reality.

But you are one of the exceptional people who live in a dynamic world. To you, reality is malleable and natural laws are made to be evaded. You can pit your will against the inertia of static reality and win.

As a dynamic magician, you can do anything you like, and you can do it by mere will. No props or special actions are required.

Dynamic magicians grow out of different magic traditions, crutches that you use until you advance far enough to rise above them. Many dynamic still use these crutches, similar to Hocus Pocus, in their daily magic. But they do this out of habit; they don't have to do it.

Dynamic magicians generally strive to change people's world-view to match their own. The best way to do this is to show off your magic. At the same time, the powers of paradox punishes any blatant dynamic magicians, so this is a vicious circle. In the end, most dynamic magicians settle for a low profile.

The faith and hocus pocus limitations of dynamic magic are rather weak. This is why dynamic magic has three limitations instead of the usual two.

Examples and References

Dynamic magic from Mage, The Books of Magic comic book.

Limitations

Echoes You may bend reality through an act of will, but static reality always reasserts itself, and it fights back ferociously. The main way static reality fights back is through paradox, spontaneous magical effects that strike dynamic magicians when it is most inconvenient. Small spells with subtle effects garner little paradox, but when you start throwing powerful and vulgar spells around, they you risk serious paradox backlash.
Faith Dynamic magic is a way to force the world to adopt to your world-view. But to do so, you must first believe in this world-view yourself, and you must never compromise this belief. If your world includes dragons and faeries, then you must act as if they were real, all the time. If you believe in omens, you must constantly watch out for them and act on them. Things that seem unimportant or meaningless to ordinary mortals assume monstrous proportions to you.
Hocus Pocus Dynamic magicians have separate components for each of their schticks, and what foci they choose depend on their tradition and background. A dynamic magician with a background in hermetic magic will have power words and mystic symbols, while a wosrhipper of the earth godess will have things like blood, drums and dancing. Dynaic magicians are nt as dependent on their hocus pocus as other sorcerers with this limitation; they only incur a -2 AV penalty for breaking this stricture.

Summonables

Dynamic magicians summon legendary creatures or incarnations of philosophical ideals.


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Copyright © 1998 and onwards, Carl Cramér. Page downloaded times. Last update Fri, Jun 21, 2002.