AD&D Notes Regarding Magic

All through a prime, the borders with the neighboring planes fluctuates, letting small amounts of energy leak through the barrier. On some planes, such as the one earth is in, have very strong borders, with very little energy leaking in. Other planes have very weak borders, with a great deal of energy leaking in. This energy, a form of radiation that is unclassifyable, forms the basis for powering magic and deities.

Some beings are capable of catching and harnessing the energy, and then converting it into matter, other forms of energy, or gateways to other planes of existance (such as the elemental plane of fire). The energy itself can burn out a sentient's mind, or destroy a creature's body. Sentient spell-casters prepare the harnessing pattern that calls the energy into formation, but do no complete the pattern until the last moment. Once the pattern is completed, the energy takes on the form the pattern dictates, and gives off the indicated spell-effects. At the same time, the pattern wipes out a portion of the spell-caster's mind.

From the very beginning, sentients that utilze the energy learn to partition their minds, storing the pattern in discreet areas of their consciousness. Whenever the sentient completes the pattern, with a word, or a gesture, or a material component, the pattern harnesses the energy, burns with it for a moment, and then takes on the form the pattern dictates -- erasing the pattern, and that discreet portion of the sentient's mind that created the pattern. More powerful mages and sorcerors learn to apportion more and more of their minds, sometimes at a risk of great insanity.

Some races have genetic predispositions for or against magic. Dwarves, for example, inherently alter these patterns, sometimes to disasterous effects. Elves have a built-in pattern system that protects their minds and their conciousnesses from mind-affecting patterns of magic. Humans tend to be about average, in terms of initial magical abilities. With enough training and discipline, however, man's ability to partition and refract his own mind holographically far outstrips the potential of the other races. Those mages able to cast the most powerful of magics are inevitably human.

Some patterns become inherent, burning themselves into the physiology of the spell-caster. Other patterns are the result of genetic design, either by evolution or engineering. Generally, the more often a given individual creates and utilizes these patterns of energy, the more potent the patterns become, and the more resistant to external patterns the individual becomes. This is the basis of magic resistance (although, as mentioned, some species have an inherent resistance to external patterns).

Priests' magic works a bit differently. The pattern is formed by others, and transferred to the priest. These 'others' are usually the deities, and attending secretarial archons, solars, and planetars of the priest. Because these patterns are formed by beings that are, themselves, nearly nothing but patterns (albeit sentient patterns of energy), they are particularly potent.

Magic resistance implies that a spell (or pattern) will have a difficult time of remaining coherent long enough for the spell effect to go off completely. Though some creatures and mages may have magic resistances rated in the hundreds of percentages (say, 259%), they do not disrupt a pattern's effects on themselves on a natural roll of 100%. A mage with 259% magic resistance could ignore a penalty of some 160%, before it actually affects his necessary roll for resistance to magic. Mages or creatures with more potent magics have the opposite of high magic resistances; they force their opponents to suffer penalties. Their magic is just a hair more powerful, or more tightly channeled and focused, than most.

Admittedly, any mage strong enough to have powerful, and more potent magics, probably has a fairly high magic resistance. But, the two do not always go hand in hand.

Deities cannot suffer penalties to their magic resistances. Also, their resistances are doubled on their home turfs, be it within range of their Relics (on Gaeleth), certain planes, or simply places of worship. Additionally, since deities grant priests the ability to cast deitific magics, higher level priest spells induce penalties to magic resistance. Priest spells cast at 6th level cut magic resistance in half, be it from 30% to 15%, or 250% to 125%. Priest spells cast at 7th level do another half of damage, effectively cutting magic resitance by three-quarters. A 7th level priest spell would cut a victim’s magic restiance from 100% to 25%. Of course, no resistances apply to voluntary spells, such as ‘quest’.

Most mages learn how to deal very effectively with the flow of energy on their home plane; this form of magic is known as ‘base magic’. However, the flow works differently from plane to plane, and mages travelling away from their own are at a disadvantage. Some mages learn ‘Prime magic’. Prime magic functions throughout the universe, and on all planes. The energy source for Prime magic is different than that of base magic; rather than draw upon the flow of energy, between the barriers between planes, Prime magic draws upon the source of the energy itself: the multiverse.

All artifacts cast as Prime magic at 28th level (invoking a 75% penalty), unless otherwise noted. Characters must be at least 25th level to cast a 10th level ‘prime magic’ spell.

As an after-note, researched spells at 9th level allow intelligent weapon creation, castle or stronghold creation (or destruction), and army destruction. 10th level spells allow for artifact creation (and destruction), land changes, and temporal alterations.