Laws of Magic
Idea; Magic
See also: Limits of Magic
Across all known paradigms, magic follows these laws:
- Inertia: things continue as they are
- Possibility: anything can happen until something happens
- Harmony: likeness is sameness
- Contagion: once in contact, always in contact
- Displacement: raising this lowers that
- Entropy: things fall apart
In the Church of the Reverence, each law is associated with one Eternal.
Invoking a Law of Magic
Invoking a Law takes role-playing, not rolling dice. Invoking a Law takes more than just riffing on the details of a spell. It takes an appeal to significant evidence of something profound taking place. Just as regular magic is extraordinary compared to mundane phenomena, invoking a Law is extraordinary compared to regular magic. Invoking a Law usually takes preparation and forethought. The preparation doesn't need to be physical preparation (e.g., meditation may be evidence). The DM decides whether you successfully invoke a Law.
Experienced casters learn to fear the potential invocation of Laws against them, and often take great care to avoid being vulnerable to the Laws. When you are the target of a hostile spell, you can debate with the DM about whether the Law can be invoked.
Example: Isawa is trying to start a fire in the building across the street. Isawa has chiseled out a chip of granite from the cornerstone using tools and a ritual unique to his Order. Isawa also has a page from the original blueprints and he has prepared this page using a similar ritual. Isawa channels the spell through the chip to invoke the Law of Contagion. He uses a candle to burn the page to invoke the Law of Harmony. The DM approves both invocations, for a total of 2 boosts to the spell.
Example: A Swarmkin cultist is trying to cause Isawa to spontaneously combust. The cultist has a glass vial with a sample of Isawa's blood from last week. He uses a candle to heat up the vial to invoke the Law of Contagion. However, every morning Isawa performs a thorough bodily cleanse in his lab, so the old blood is no longer be strongly connected to Isawa. The invocation of the Law fails.
