# Possible Physical effects of magic



## wulfAlpha (Apr 10, 2017)

I have an idea for a story that involved magic in a future setting. It is kind of cyber punk and it involves magic as well as magic interfacing with technology. I've been thinking about ideas on what kinds of interactions with tech as well as with people magic has. I have some of my own ideas but id like to see anyone else's ideas. My main idea is this. Magic tires you out and requires lots of energy. It makes you have a fast metabolism. Also magic and most machines don't mix. There are some that are designed to work around magic while still others harvest and even use magic in specific defined ways.


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## Thaumiel (Apr 10, 2017)

The concept of 'Magicka/Mana' is used extensively in computer games. Where say stamina is defined as a set number and swinging a sword will use a certain amount of stamina then time will be taken to recover, the same concept is used in 'mana' for casting spells.

It makes sense in the background of gaming because you don't want a mage character to be a unstoppable spell casting machine, it would ruin the balance of the game. I think it works well in the setting of a story as well, you don't want anyone who has magic to be able to cast indefinitely. 

This is a good limit to have, but it also means you couldn't have a character suddenly become incredibly powerful in a short span of time, they would have to deliberately train or just develop more 'mana' from using it more and more over time. From what you've described of magic using energy and affecting your metabolism it sounds like the traditional view stamina. This would mean that the most powerful mages would probably also be the most physically fit. 

It takes away the kind of deep mysterious paranormal side of it and makes it seem more... natural? That sounds like it will work well in interfacing it with technology.


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## wulfAlpha (Apr 10, 2017)

James 剣 斧 血 said:


> The concept of 'Magicka/Mana' is used extensively in computer games. Where say stamina is defined as a set number and swinging a sword will use a certain amount of stamina then time will be taken to recover, the same concept is used in 'mana' for casting spells.
> 
> It makes sense in the background of gaming because you don't want a mage character to be a unstoppable spell casting machine, it would ruin the balance of the game. I think it works well in the setting of a story as well, you don't want anyone who has magic to be able to cast indefinitely.
> 
> ...



That was kinda the idea I had though I'm kind of worried it would cheapen things. I want it to be kind of dark without being grimdark if you know what I mean


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## Thaumiel (Apr 10, 2017)

wulfAlpha said:


> That was kinda the idea I had though I'm kind of worried it would cheapen things. I want it to be kind of dark without being grimdark if you know what I mean
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Well if you have technology that can harvest magic as you said (as an energy form?) then perhaps it could be used to store it and deliver it back to a caster when they need it? It would allow you to keep the physical limits of the caster in place but allow them to have more power to play with for your needs. I'm not sure how far that would take you away from the more 'realistic' setting of magic though.

That might be an even cheaper solution to a cheap problem though.


Edit: Just a thought, but it might be more grimdark. Physical feats carry a risk of injury; strains, pulled muscles, damaged bones, etc. Physical magic might also have that effect if the caster over exerts themselves.


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