Magic Nulling

[Jaspenellar]

It came up tonight and seems to be a popular "power"... (though I will argue that mine has been around the longest, maybe not on this board but conceptually... meh). Let's open up a discussion about their character's nulling power, or get any other's opinions on the topic. I'll start by refining what Lo'en can and can't do, without giving away too much of what I have planned for her in the bigger picture:

What is affected: Lo'en only affects active magic. Somebody who uses magic in her presence would notice an increase in effort to produce magic- a weak magician may not be able to cast at all, but a moderately trained, skilled, and practiced user would be able to make magic, and find himself drained after expending more effort than what he is used to. If a shifter is based on genetic shifting, he would not be affected, but if a shifter does so by the use of magic, he might find himself unravelling in Lo'en's presence. Magic-imbued items, invoked in the half-elf's presence, would be useless, but taken away from her, would be restored. Ranged magic, as long as summoned from outside Lo'en's area of effect, will effect her if magic is not required to sustain it- i.e. a ball of fire, summoned by magic, would burn her to a crisp, but if a line of electricity, if needing to continally fed by magic power, would not be able to harm her.

Range: Active casting within an arm's length would be nulled. About twice that, a weak caster may feel the effects by having to put more effort into the magic.

Reason for nulling effect: Here's where I must preserve some of the surprise. Lo'en passively nulls magic because her body is supressing her own attunement to the astral plane. Construe that as you may, its a subconscious reaction to something that she does not know. All that she is aware of is that she has this null power while in close proximity to those who use magic.

Can it be overcome: Yes, I do not plan for this to be part of Lo'en in the long-term. Again, secrecy for the sake of plotting and surprise. In the short term, I'll argue that a very strong, old, and/or practiced user would be able to overcome her nulling effect, after expending more-than-normal energy.

Now that I've wasted my breath on boasting about my own character, another related sub-topic that I'd like to remark on is that nature is all about checks and balances, so IMHO, i'd like to suggest that with a rise of magic and power, may also come a rise in nullifiers, perhaps real ones, unlike Lo'en. I think this concept intrigues a lot of players and while we wouldn't want to make this a commonplace thing, there is plenty of room in this world to plot some kind of rise in nullifiers. A villian or even hero may be interested in gathering these kinds of natural magic nullifiers.

I'm only putting this forth to help people refine what their concepts of this "power" for their characters. Take it or leave it, it is also open for those who want to offer suggestions and mods to step in and steer it more to something conducive for everyone playing on the board. This power can be a touchy subject since it blanketly affects players who come into contact with it and as such, needs its balances.

[Devon]

As being a .. being ... with magical (tainted) blood, this would affect Devon severely. As in, he may feel automatically drained without even activating magic in the presence of a nullifier, regardless of activation, because his blood is constantly activating to keep him alive. To I find a problem with this... For Devvo's development, no, because it provides a huge weakness, he could literally die from over exposure to a nullifier's powers.

So that means he would stay away or atleast not make physical contact with one. Do I as a player have a problem with this? It depends, do I have a problem with you making the character, no, but I do have a problem with you playing with Devon. I want him to develop, not die.

For someone like Gia, who is a bio shifter (right?), this probably wouldn't make her suffer, do to the fact that it's her body. For Arturo who believes it is a gift from a God, and therefore in his (and mine) magic, it goes back to the slow death thing. It nullifies the traveling of the blood, and the life giving/healing properties of it.

I'm not saying don't create them, I personally think they are kick ass, and it's a kick ass power. But just like the character trait "is a loner, doesn't play well with others" might be a pain in the ass for posting with others, killing them probably would to. Also, even if their blood isn't magical, lets say I chain you (the nullifier) and him (the magic user) up together. Ok, get free. Yeah sucks huh?

Just some thoughts. When your making a character, think of the world around you, and the people you may be posting with. It could seriously cause you to have a lack of players posting with you if you want to have mages in your group, cuz well.... then they just become normal people now don't they? And no one likes their main advantage away.

(Bela and Kamar, you little shadow stealing bastahds! How am I the lowly demonic human supposed to be able to keep hold of the shadows if I have an ancient vampire, and a battlemage running around takin' them away? Sheesh. Be considerate, kill your characters.)

[Niabi]

Hehe nice Devon didn't mention Talion in his list of shadow magic stealing mages. Anyway I totally agree with devon; nullifiers are cool but for characters like Talion, all he has is magic and without it how is he going to protect his crazy crippled ass. Something I just thought of, would a nullifier be able to cancel the effects of Talion's magical drugs? If so then he would go into painful withdrawals and probably die. Don't steal the drugs!

[Miro]

I'm only putting this forth to help people refine what their concepts of this "power" for their characters. Take it or leave it, it is also open for those who want to offer suggestions and mods to step in and steer it more to something conducive for everyone playing on the board. This power can be a touchy subject since it blanketly affects players who come into contact with it and as such, needs its balances.

I see the errors of my ways, lol. And agree.

[Frug]

You were the second character to have a 'null magic field' in Thar, Jasp. I remember because Aura was the first, and you two made the chars close together. And it was a weird circumstance because of how it ties in with Chrishton's plot.

Two things regarding this subject:

Remember what "magic" is in Thar Shaddin, and what that means anti-magic is. Magic is the dreaming side of the universe leaking into the waking world. It is illogical and it is caused when someone's mind is strong enough to cause physical reality to listen to their imagination. Using magic is like daydreaming into reality.
Anti-magic is the opposite of that. That means that it is a compelling force of logic and reason that binds the physical world to physical laws. Any character with anti magic must reflect this mental disposition somehow just like how any suitably powerful mage is supposed to be a little crazy. A daydreaming artist won't have anti-magic. A steadfast mathematician probably will.
When your character uses magic, it means your character is using her imagination. If your character always nullifies magic, it means your character is stifling imagination.
Anti-magic can't stop physical objects that have been created by magic. If a mage creates a rock, that rock can be an ordinary rock and won't vanish if anti-magic comes along. It's just a rock, regardless of what created it. When it comes to lightning bolts and fireballs, it depends on how the mage created them and whether or not it's a 'real' fireball he's summoned, or one he maintains with his imagination.

When Aura and Jasp made their characters, at least one person came up to me and said they thought that anti-magic was too powerful. I approved the characters because I disagree. Anti-magic on its own is not very powerful at all if the character doesn't have any other abilities. You can always rid yourself of their troublesome anti-magic by beating them unconscious or killing them the old fashioned way. If you can cast spells, and their only ability is to stop you from doing that, it's simply not very powerful in my eyes. It only becomes powerful when you combine it with other skills. Whether or not other people will want to play with your anti-magic character is not for me to judge when approving profiles.

[Frug]

would a nullifier be able to cancel the effects of Talion's magical drugs?

Talion would hate an anti-mage because of his very nature as someone who goes around lusting after people's imaginations. I think Talion would suffer just being in the presence of someone with anti-magic. But the herbs he smokes are physical things, and they would be fine.

Magical objects are an area I haven't figured out. We have them, because people want them and it makes the world more interesting. I haven't figured out what it means for an object to be magical within the framework of this system. For now, magic that persists without a mind to keep it working is an enigma.

[Aura Thesin]

These are Aura's powers, as stated in her character profile...

Perhaps the most distinguishing ability Aura has is one that cannot be seen or sensed. For some reason, perhaps because she comes from a dimension that has absolutely no magic, Aura is not affected by magic. This includes spells cast directly at her, targeted to her, or any item that comes in contact with her. However, should magic throw items at her, or create an explosion that would have an area effect, she would still be vulnerable to that.
Magical items will often have their abilities suppressed when they come in contact with Aura, for a period of time determined by the item's magical strength. This can be anywhere from a half hour to a day or two. However, some items will only have their abilities weakened instead of completely suppressed. (Obviously it would also be dependent on the owner's needs/wants.)
Magical creatures, such as Faeries, and to a lesser degree, werewolves and other shifters, would be harmed by even just a touch from Aura. However, the harm would only amount to a minor burn or burning sensation, perhaps increasing to the type of pain felt when one places one's hand on a hot object without realizing exactly how hot it really is.

Aura's anti-magic is only active when she comes in contact with people. There is no area affect. Magic cast at her wouldn't work on her, but, as Frug said, if a boulder were to be created and then rolled down a hill onto her, that would still hurt a little bit.

I also think that any type of illusion created and sustained by magic wouldn't affect her, except for perhaps an overlapping of the creature or area that was part of the illusion and the actual world around her. Think of looking through a ghost, perhaps?

Aura's anti-magic is harder to look at as a strength, since she wouldn't be able to use it to stop people from using magic against her, unless she rushed forward to touch the person.

That's all I can think of to say on this subject at the moment.

[Maeve]

(Bela and Kamar, you little shadow stealing bastahds! How am I the lowly demonic human supposed to be able to keep hold of the shadows if I have an ancient vampire, and a battlemage running around takin' them away? Sheesh. Be considerate, kill your characters.)

It's not exactly a very unique power you know. And how about how you stole Ryxa's pyrokinesis? Huh? HUH?

Anyway, I think it's an interesting power, I would even dare say nature would develop something like this to protect itself against magic.

But I was wondering, how would this affect mental powers? Ryxa is crazy, but her pain touch and pyrokinesis don't come from the astral plane. They come from her mind. She's more of a sci-fi thing in that regard. Her spells, on the other hand, are magic, and she learned them more easily than a normal person would because her mind is more open to the astral plane than others, mainly because of her mental powers and because she's crazy. So I suppose the nullifying effect would not stop Ryxa's mental powers?

[Devon]

By the way, I have stated this, mostly to Frugmeister though, that Ryxa is my inspiration for ever making a battlemage. I loved playing with her briefly in "The Skull.." thread. I was recently thinking about making a battlemage, but I don't think I could hack it.

*Bows down to Ryxa*

Oh, and demons had the power first. So I win.

[Maeve]

By the way, I have stated this, mostly to Frugmeister though, that Ryxa is my inspiration for ever making a battlemage. I loved playing with her briefly in "The Skull.." thread. I was recently thinking about making a battlemage, but I don't think I could hack it.

*Bows down to Ryxa*

Oh, and demons had the power first. So I win.

Lol, dammit.

Thank you. She is pretty cool, isn't she? (^_^)