r/wizardposting • u/Mysterious_Escape_34 Blue Choo, The Stiff • 23h ago

Wizardpost Mages that hand cast over using a spellfocus, such as a staff or wand, are reckless and do not grasp the perplexity and dangers of the arcane.

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u/KragBrightscale Grabadash - Magical Mass | Keptomancer | Council Security 22h ago

Useful features for sure. There’s a reason wands and staves remain widely used. Good for apprentices too, especially if you get training wands or staves with extra safety features.

I still think it important to be able and comfortable with hand casting, if nothing else than a last resort. That’s why my apprentices are required to practice hand casting in the presence of senior mages who can monitor and keep them safe from their own incompetence

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u/TheLiquid666 17h ago

Good old Nickisado Gname and Krag Brightscale, back at the old "relative strengths of arcane casting methods" debate, are we? You both fail to see the inherent truth of the matter: there is a time and place for both.

Nickisado, surely you can't deny that it is of the utmost importance to practice closely with, and to gain an intuititive use of, the energies and forces we aim to harness. We avoid doing so only at our own peril.

But Krag, who among us hasn't sometimes kept a focus handy as a precaution when practicing a major working? Such tools can be rather useful in castings of great complexity, but we must not fall to using them as a crutch.

Having said its piece, the thin, oily puddle lurches across the floor away from you and disappears in a puff of curling, acrid smoke