Note: This article makes assumptions about the history of the world and the makeup of the multiverse that may not fit well with the cosmology of many games. This information can simply be ignored and left unexplained to the players.
Magic is a strange and wonderful thing. It can stitch together the worst battle wound or burn an entire platoon of soldiers to cinders. It can instill fear and terror or inspire awe and wonder. Magic can even return the dead to life. However, for all the wonders that it can accomplish, magic is one of the least understood forces in the world. Even those that study and practice magic for a living rarely understand the forces they are dealing with, and very few mortals, if any, have ever managed to discover the origins of magic.
To truly understand magic in an advanced way, one must know where it comes from. Very few people in the world have ever unearthed this ancient knowledge. For even the most learned wizard or powerful druid, discovering the origin of magic is rarely a concern. Magic exists and that is enough; there need be no more thought dedicated to the subject. However, throughout the ages, a few dedicated souls have worked diligently for entire lifetimes (and sometimes longer than that) to unlock what could potentially be the oldest secret in the world. For these people, there can be no greater goal than to discover the root of all magic, for he who understands a thing completely has complete control of that thing.
Different people utilize magic in different ways. For some people, it is enough to assign simple methods to each of the spellcasting character classes and call it done. Clerics have faith. Wizards have books. Druids love nature. However, for others, there is a desire to better understand the spellcasting classes and their magical abilities on a deeper, more fundamental level. This is the purpose of this discourse. Each of the spellcasting classes—the adept, bard, cleric, druid, paladin, ranger, sorcerer and wizard—and their relationship to magic will be discussed and dissected and in the end, a better picture of magic will have been painted.
However, to understand magic and its origins, we have to go back in time, back through the ages to a time before the creation of the world. Despite their awesome power, even the gods can’t make something out of nothing. The world and everything in it didn’t just suddenly pop into existence at the mere thought of a deity. The gods had to have a substance to work and mold into what they wanted. This substance was the raw material substance of the universe. Using this “universal substance,” the gods created the world and everything in it.
However, the universe is an unpredictable thing, and even the gods did not foresee the inevitable side effect of their work. The gods use the raw form of the universe to power their own spells, but were surprised to discover that their new world, being made from that same universal substance, literally radiated magic. However, this was a different kind of magic altogether. This was arcane magic. To the gods, this was not a problem. Instead, it was an unexpected blessing, and they got to work creating all manner of magical things, places and beings to populate their new world.
Given the insight that this history provides us as to the origin of magic, and given also that it’s a known fact that only two major types of magic truly exist, we can move on without a further need for a history lesson. Each of the spellcasting classes uses magic differently from the others, even if they use the same kind of magic. Each class and how they relate to and use magic is discussed below.
The Cleric
Clerics are perhaps the easiest class to relate to magic. In a mechanical sense, they don’t require a story comprising a lifetime of hard study, they require no rest to regain their spells and their magic doesn’t suffer from the wearing of armor. It’s a known fact that their magic is granted directly from the gods in order that they should act as an emissary of a particular deity. Beyond that, most people—not even the clerics themselves—know little more.
The gods are actually little more than proxies for the power they grant. Once a petitioner is accepted by a deity to be one of his clerics, the deity creates a link between the cleric and the deity’s store of raw universal substance. The deity maintains control over this link and can end it at any time. In essence, the deity acts as a sort of middleman between the divine magical power and the cleric. The cleric is expected to set an example and act in accordance with the deity’s wishes, which is why a cleric that displeases his deity may wake up to find his link to the divine power source has been severed.
Clerics without a patron deity, the so-called “cleric of a cause,” interact with magic in the same way as their patroned counterparts. While their daily ritual may be a meditation and cleansing of the mind as opposed to prayers for guidance to a higher being, they still get their power directly from a deity’s source of raw universal substance. The only difference is that the deity sees the cleric’s worth and creates a link for her…even if the cleric isn’t acting as an agent for him in name, she is certainly forwarding his cause through her actions.
The Druid
Everything in the natural world is made from the substance of the universe given form. As such, everything in the natural world contains divine magic. Druids are special people that have a deep connection to the natural world. Their connection is so strong that it allows them to tap into the divine power held in all things that are natural and haven’t been corrupted by the organizing forces of civilization.
Nature is a fickle thing. It favors no one thing or group of things over another. A fierce tiger has claws and teeth that can shred its prey, but even a lowly armadillo has thick armor. There is also no fairness in nature. A sprawling forest may be home to thousands of forms of life, but a mighty hurricane may level that forest without any regard. In all things natural, there is a balance and this is reflected in the druid’s decidedly neutral stance on life. This empathy with nature is what makes a druid’s ability to tap into the divine magical power of the natural world possible.
The Paladin
If clerics are the divine mouths of a deity, bringing the word of their patron to the masses, then paladins are the divine hands of a deity, enforcing the will of their patron on those that would oppose their holy message. In many ways, clerics and paladins are very much alike. The way they utilize magic is one of these ways. Like clerics, paladins get their magical power through a link with a source of universal substance. This link is established by a deity, who acts as a proxy, maintaining this divine link, and severing it if need be.
From a magical standpoint, the major difference between clerics and paladins is that (on average) paladins are less likely to venerate a deity directly. Like the “cleric of a cause,” many paladins earn their divine link not through the worship of a deity, but through championing a cause that a deity wishes to forward. These paladins earn the respect of a deity through their dedication to a cause, which is why a paladin is in serious danger of losing all of his divine abilities if he grossly violates the oath the dictates how he will live his life in service to a cause (or a deity directly).
The Ranger
As is to be expected, rangers utilize magic in a way very similar to druids. Both classes have a closeness to nature that allows them to tap into the residual divine magic of the natural world. However, while druids usually focus on being one with nature, rangers instead focus on coexisting with nature. Rangers respect the natural world, and through their closeness and familiarity with their natural surroundings, they eventually learn how to tap into the divine magic present in the natural world, much as a druid does. The only real difference is that rangers gain their ability through a harmony with nature, instead of a complete oneness with nature, as the druid.
The Adept
Adepts are almost like a combination between a wizard and a druid. Their magic is divine in nature, but comes not from faith, but from the study of one’s surroundings. Adepts maintain a sort of “hands-on” method of research, much like a wizard. However, instead of researching formula for shaping arcane spell power, adepts learn all they can about the world around them, which eventually leads them to discover the divine magic present in everything. Learning how to tap into and utilize this divine force in the unique way they do brands the adept as a witch, medicine man, shaman or hedge wizard at best.
The Bard
Among the classes that utilize arcane magic, the bard is unique. Arcane magic, a byproduct of the divine power present in all things, literally radiates from the world. Bards are highly talented people that have learned how to manipulate these arcane forces through the use of controlled sound vibrations. The music, song, verse and the like that they create resonates with the vibration of sounds specifically designed to be easy to control. Through a force of will, they control these sound vibrations and use them to harness and shape arcane magic into the result they desire, be that stitching wounds or charming others. This is why bardic magic must always be accompanied by sound of some sort, and may not ever benefit from the Silent Spell feat.
The Sorcerer
In many cultures, sorcerers scare their parents and peers while growing up. Their use of arcane magic without their control, or even their intention, can lead to all manner of frightening conclusions, such as demons or ghosts. Eventually, most people with the sorcerous ability either repress and outgrow it, or they refine it and become true sorcerers.
Sorcerers are gifted individuals. Through a sheer force of will, they are able to leech arcane magic from their surroundings and shape it to fit their desires. Though a bit of practice is needed to get this process right, sorcerers have no need to spend their lives in study. Their ability comes from raw talent and the strength of their inner personality.
The Wizard
Some say that the first wizards were just aping sorcerers. Others say that wizards were the first mortals to discover arcane magic through their hard studying. Regardless, wizards use arcane magic in much the same way as sorcerers. However, wizards don’t possess the natural talent for harnessing and using this power that sorcerers do. They must condition themselves to understand arcane powers through a lifetime of diligent study. Through research and practice, wizards develop the skills needed to do what sorcerers do naturally.
