Quote:
Originally Posted by scc
Magic doesn't exactly have the best rep, some of it deserved (Not really updated from 3e) and some not (It's too cheap), but I think I've figured out a real problem it suffers from: No Meta-physics.
There's no attempt to explain HOW any of the spells work and that's rather important. Now this may sound silly or folly but it's actually rather important because it informs you how magic itself works and what it's limits are. And lack of definitions here may have carry on effects.
An example of this problem is how the College's are organized, they work along themes rather then appearing to work on fundamental (magical) concepts, which can result in spells that would logically go together not, or very weak colleges (Food).
Now while the various other magic systems lack the same level of definition, given that they don't have pre-determined lists of spells it less of a problem.
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Honestly, Magic does far more to explain how the spells work than is usual for an RPG magic system. The prerequisite chains are far more systematic than is normal and give you a clear idea of the basic knowledge you need to master before moving on to more advanced applications. As for the colleges, I find them rather unimportant.