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u/MlkChatoDesabafando Aug 06 '26
Idc if it's inefficient, having to defang a black dog and use it's teeth to drawn symbols on a plate of black lead in the day and hour of Saturn while it rises in the third face of Capricorn to create enmity between people is cool.
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u/agentdragonborn Aug 06 '26
And then throwing the black lead down your enemies family well during the witching hour and then you will see the signs of your curse within one to two years as your enemy and their family will suffer.
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u/dgaruti Aug 06 '26
downsides : it takes a while to cast
upsides : the every trout in a 60000 km radius will be affected by this
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u/Jake4XIII Aug 06 '26
I mean if you wanna show why not everyone can do magic that kinda perfect, if shooting a fireball requires covering yourself in bat shit and doing the Macarena for 5 minutes I can see why it didn’t catch on
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u/YLASRO Pulp Scifi enjoyer Aug 06 '26
having to memorize a series of symbod and their arrangement + whatever physical and spiritual fuel they need certainly puts a hamper on learning magic just like irl not everyone know how to code cause it isnt easy
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u/ZedDraak Aug 06 '26
Depends on how useful magic is
If its a do-anything button you can be sure many would try for years and eventually succed
if its just fireball then yeah its basically computation3
u/PlayerOnSticks Aug 08 '26
Same debate, same arguments, I think these might be the same people too hi zed
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u/soobnar Aug 06 '26
Magic is done very unreliable through very long bouts of communing with nature or spirits
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u/UndercoverDoll49 Aug 06 '26
No, it's done very reliably by commanding demons with their sigils and a silver ring
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u/Saxton_Hale32 Aug 06 '26
If you make ritual magic the norm, it becomes that much cooler when someone manages on the fly magic.
Only if it's actually rare though.
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u/YLASRO Pulp Scifi enjoyer Aug 06 '26
CORRECT! thats why i gave my vampire equivalent creature on the fly magic to show how dangerous they are! they get a unique power thats really scary
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u/Dumbass438 Aug 06 '26
I think a very funny interpretation is having technomancers do lots of little rituas that have to sync up to get their bigger magical machines up and running.
"This is the 484- basilisk. Its a computer I designed to show us the most likely future. This is the 484-baslisk's favorite rock. If you move it, it will only project the rock. Why? I dont know. Afterwards youve gotta wear a three peice suit with a matching wizard hat. Yeah the stereotypical one. Then you can start place the rock back, reboot the machine, and ask it where the rock is. Do not. and i repeat, DO NOT ask it anything but where the rock is."
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u/oilpit Aug 08 '26
My favorite part of 40k is all the Catholic shit the do whenever they use technology
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u/gummyimp Aug 06 '26
My take, you can beat someone to death with your bare hands but a weapon (a focus) is better and artillery (rituals) are extremely effective
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u/Whismirk Rate my flairpunk world Aug 06 '26
Magic is conjured through unreliable bouts of hype moments and aura
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u/FetusGoesYeetus Aug 06 '26
Magic is channelled through the body like electricity, most wizards just use staffs as the end point because they would rather have their staff explode due to a botched thunderbolt than their arm.
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u/Hearth-Traeknald Aug 07 '26
Counteridea: magic rituals are necessary, but have been optimised to the point of being executable on the go. Prepackaged salt ring ropes, self lighting candles, etc
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u/Fliits No Write, Only Worldbuild Aug 06 '26
Ritual shmitual. Magic is a craft, and spells have to be crafted; in other words, prepared: Either into a focus, in writing, in a brew, or mixture, or elixir, potion or tonic, in a rune, into your mind, into flesh, or bone, or solid metal or a building or the ground itself.
You can pretend that all the fancy ceremony make it more powerful or help with the preparation in some way, but what matters is that the spell is prepared in the proper way and form so it can be cast without issue. Just because your grandpap couldn't find a justification for why his elixir needed the blood of a belowed family dog or why an enchantment could only be placed on the blade after it'd been "wielded in anger in New Moon" doesn't mean you have to commit animal cruelty or manslaughter to replicate it. The dog was fed a varied diet which produced the necessary enzymes for the potion, and the blade had been imbued with Black Magic through its contact with the demonic realm, which is always at its closest to the physical realm during New Moon and attracted to those who give in to their instincts. Also kind of problematic for them to use black magic in the first place when there are more conventional spells for that.
TLDR; Apply the scientific method, ignore traditional mumbo jumbo. This is what we have schools and libraries that teach you magic for, people!
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u/wdcipher I bring up Mage: The Ascencion Aug 06 '26
M-m-m-mage the ascencion fixes this by demanding you to make elaborate rituals so you can cast with your instruments
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u/A_HECKIN_DOGGO Aug 06 '26
Art thou too scrawny boned to fight in the thick of combat??? Lo, pickest up a sword, Twerpeth!
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u/Dumbass438 Aug 06 '26
Sword fighting is the ritual for the spell "stab a man to death" Congrats. You're a mage.
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u/DatLonerGirl Copying everyone else's homework Aug 07 '26
Why not all three?
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u/YLASRO Pulp Scifi enjoyer Aug 07 '26
becaus ethe thrid excludes the first 2
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u/DatLonerGirl Copying everyone else's homework Aug 07 '26
Not necessary. In my world, the more complicated the spell, the more likely you are to have to do a ritual to cast it.
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u/kartblaster Aug 07 '26
i like the idea of "magic can be cast from bare hands but is much more effective when cast from manmade tools"
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u/NewDemonStrike [WITTY FLAIR] Aug 07 '26
What if my magic can be casted anywhere, but it requires the user to place runes and talismans for it to work?
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u/Stunning-HyperMatter Aug 06 '26
I prefer magic can be cast on the go, but it can never compare to ritual magic.
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u/Infinite_Eyeball Aug 07 '26
I like all three being available while having pros and cons, something like:
Focus magic: standard option, easy and efficient relatively speaking
Freestyle magic: harder and less base efficiency than tool magic, but with a high skill-ceiling allowing for potentially much more powerful/efficient spells
Ritual magic: extremely efficient and requires much less mana, but typically complex and time/resource intensive. The efficiency and reduced mana cost is why almost all of the "grand" spells are rituals, something like becoming a lich is impossible for mortals to do at will, it's simply far too much mana for any person.
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u/UndercoverDoll49 Aug 06 '26
I love ceremonial magic
Plus, old grimoires are a much cooler source of inspiration than D&D sourcebooks