Abusing Magic

[LadyTevar]

5. Biomass sacrifice.

In worlds where you need to sacrifice living things to strengthen magic (think some of Mercedes Lackey works) or you draw power from the life of living organisms (think defiles in WoTC Dark Sun setting), why not sacrifice bacteria? Obviously pre industrial worlds don't know about bacteria but lets just go on. The biomass of bacteria is estimated to be as much as that of plants if not more. Assuming only a select group of wizards know this trick, they won't likely deplete the bacteria "life force" so soon.

In most Blood Magic, there's a reason why humans are preferred, especially young ones. The blood is only the visible thing; it's the soul that powers the ritual. The younger the soul, the more magic can be drawn from it (this could also tie into the idea that a young soul is uncorrupted by life, which is a strong belief in many religions).

There is also another thought that blood magic is stronger the more sapient the victim is, and if the sacrifice is aware of the sacrifice. Fear of death is a strong emotion, and adds power to dark deeds, whereas a willing sacrifice is the most powerful sacrifice for the light. Again, blood is only the symbol of the life-force being stolen. It's the carrier, not the source.

However, with Biomass, there's none of these things. No blood, for one thing, which is in itself believed to be the life-force. No sapience to be aware of what's being done to it, so no fear of death. No soul ... well, that's up to religious belief. Most religions wouldn't see a giant mat of pond scum as having a soul. By the usual beliefs, it simply would not have enough power.

[Corvus 501]

Teleport spell plus guidance spell equals Call Exterminius. Port up a few bolders a mile or so above a base, guide 'em down, and you have turned yourself into a swords and sorcery fantasy B 52.

[Simon_Jester]

Not with the specific intent of raining on your parade, but just so that we have ideas for why some of these ideas might not ALWAYS be in use...

Now some other ways to abuse it in fantasy

1. Infinite mana combo in Magic the Gathering - this has been abused so much its not funny
2. I am sure if you read power gamers in D & D they will abuse it.

Gates may be destabilized by having uncommonly large amounts of power flow through them.

1. Psionic enslavement / empathic powers combine with slaves / allies and magic incantations.

In a world where speaking a few words creates a certain magical effect, but not everyone can direct the magic or know the words. Well you have one person who knows the words and how to control the magic, and then have that person use other people either as puppets or allies (who allow them willingly to use their bodies to speak the words) then cast the spell. Its like having multiple people cast the spell at the same time.

I actually have an original fic idea where the characters do this.

In some settings, the mere act of saying the words must be done by people who have the appropriate innate ability- even trying to speak them will result in either failure or disaster otherwise. Any idiot can read the words off a piece of paper, but they can't get results if they don't have the right frame of mind.

The other way I think this could go is in some settings you can sacrifice some magical object to power your spells. Well sacrifice the undead.

No reason to expect this to work better than normal human sacrifice on a comparable scale.

4. Gold alchemy

Come on, like you never thought about this before. In worlds where the gold pieces are still used (even if debased), turning lead or some other substance into gold leads to screwing up the economy. Just abusing the D & D spell on a global scale does this.

It is reasonable to assume that in any society with cheap transmutation, either:
1) This process has already proceeded to completion and the gold standard is no longer used, or
2) The means exist to detect and neutralize counterfeiters, with governments being so effective at punishing magical counterfeiters that even powerful wizards fear to cross them. Alternatively,
3) Wizards are the only people who can issue currency and ultimately all currency is redeemable in terms of the favor of powerful wizards. In which case it's probably the metal you dig out of the ground that's "counterfeit" and the weird pinkish-purple alloy created out of thin air by sorcerors that's actually valuable.

6. Teleporting => vacuum

Imagine a nasty assassin is in a room and they are warded against common spells including teleport. Well you teleport the surrounding air out, causing a vacuum and then the air in his lungs try to come out.

Teleporting often targets a specific solid object, or at least a contiguous mass of objects. A mass of air molecules may be hard to pick up.

7. Giant growth with explosives

A standard trope spell to increase the size temporarily of an object. Well increase an explosive or incendiary device and let it rip before the spell expires.

May dilute the effect depending on how this works. Making the molecules of the explosive magically bigger won't necessarily cause them to release more energy.

[mr friendly guy]

In some settings, the mere act of saying the words must be done by people who have the appropriate innate ability- even trying to speak them will result in either failure or disaster otherwise. Any idiot can read the words off a piece of paper, but they can't get results if they don't have the right frame of mind.

Which is why I marry the ability to speak the words and get a result with mind control. Not just the charm spell or hypnosis mind control, the actual mind control where you're in that person's mind and using their body. Think like a really strong telepath from comics or dream walkers from Sword of Truth series. In other words, you are actually possessing multiple people at the same time.

No reason to expect this to work better than normal human sacrifice on a comparable scale.

It depends on the setting. Post ? 4th edition Dragonlance when the gods of magic left, the best way to power magic was to sacrifice old magical artefacts. Undead behave just like that.

1) This process has already proceeded to completion and the gold standard is no longer used, or
2) The means exist to detect and neutralize counterfeiters, with governments being so effective at punishing magical counterfeiters that even powerful wizards fear to cross them. Alternatively,
3) Wizards are the only people who can issue currency and ultimately all currency is redeemable in terms of the favor of powerful wizards. In which case it's probably the metal you dig out of the ground that's "counterfeit" and the weird pinkish-purple alloy created out of thin air by sorcerors that's actually valuable.

In D & D people still use gold pieces even though they can transmute lead to gold. In David Edding's Belgariad, the sorcerors blatantly do this when they need the gold coins, however reframe from doing this because of the economic effects. So you just need someone for whom the economic effects are desirable - eg a country trying to wage economic war on another country which uses gold as a currency.

Now I believe once someone does this on mass, people would start issuing magical currency which is hard to counterfeit, and wizards become valuable the same way the federal reserve becomes. However someone must have tried this trick of debasing gold the first time, and it just so happens I am one of the first.

Teleporting often targets a specific solid object, or at least a contiguous mass of objects. A mass of air molecules may be hard to pick up.

I guess that depends on the wording of the spell.

May dilute the effect depending on how this works. Making the molecules of the explosive magically bigger won't necessarily cause them to release more energy.

Sure. Although if giant growth works by increasing the size of the molecules in an object, rather than the number of molecules (plus density of course to support the bigger frame), then that would have interesting effects on its own. I am trying to imagine the effects of say electrons being 1000 times the size, but with equal or greater charge. Wouldn't they kind of fall in on their orbits? Would they even maintain orbits because the distances would alter beyond what is "normal." I have no freaking idea and I am interested in hearing from someone who knows quantum physics.

If giant growth did that, arguably it won't be giant growth anymore.

[Simon_Jester]

In some settings, the mere act of saying the words must be done by people who have the appropriate innate ability- even trying to speak them will result in either failure or disaster otherwise. Any idiot can read the words off a piece of paper, but they can't get results if they don't have the right frame of mind.

Which is why I marry the ability to speak the words and get a result with mind control. Not just the charm spell or hypnosis mind control, the actual mind control where you're in that person's mind and using their body. Think like a really strong telepath from comics or dream walkers from Sword of Truth series. In other words, you are actually possessing multiple people at the same time.

Then you run into a separate question; how many bodies do you have the mental strength to control, and can your magically-empowered self actually channel power while occupying a magically-powerless body?

Or would it be like trying to make a paraplegic walk? You can control or occupy his mind all you want, you can command him to walk all you want, but those nerves aren't growing back and those legs aren't moving.

No reason to expect this to work better than normal human sacrifice on a comparable scale.

It depends on the setting. Post ? 4th edition Dragonlance when the gods of magic left, the best way to power magic was to sacrifice old magical artefacts. Undead behave just like that.

Whether the undead are reservoirs of magical energy or not definitely depends on setting. Usually, no.

In D & D people still use gold pieces even though they can transmute lead to gold. In David Edding's Belgariad, the sorcerors blatantly do this when they need the gold coins, however reframe from doing this because of the economic effects. So you just need someone for whom the economic effects are desirable - eg a country trying to wage economic war on another country which uses gold as a currency.

D&D's economy as portrayed is inherently unstable in so many ways that this is just another one of them.

The sorcerors in the Belgariad are capable of this- but are also a handful of elite, reclusive demigods with nigh-unstoppable powers who can only be opposed by the mightiest of evil entities. So the only way they'd destabilize an economy with that power is if they used it often- probably more often than they have any real need to do.

Now I believe once someone does this on mass, people would start issuing magical currency which is hard to counterfeit, and wizards become valuable the same way the federal reserve becomes. However someone must have tried this trick of debasing gold the first time, and it just so happens I am one of the first.

There's term I've heard called an "idiot plot," a story that only works as written if all or nearly all the characters are idiots.

There's also a second order idiot plot, where the plot only works if everyone in an entire society is too stupid to put together the obvious logical implications.

This is one of those times. If the ability to make gold out of base metal is fairly common and/or has existed for a long time, people have to be stupid not to see or be able to make use of the implications.

A lot of these 'exploits' only work if you live in a society that is a second order idiot plot: if only you are smart enough to think of the implications of abilities that many people possess. If all the people around you are non-idiotic, then some of them will have already done this, and society will already have grown accustomed to the consequences.

It's why I disapprove of unique-special-snowflake munchkinnery in RPGs. Taken to extremes it implies that the PC doing the munchkinnery isn't just clever and resourceful, but that they are the only clever or resourceful person on Earth.

Sure. Although if giant growth works by increasing the size of the molecules in an object, rather than the number of molecules (plus density of course to support the bigger frame), then that would have interesting effects on its own. I am trying to imagine the effects of say electrons being 1000 times the size, but with equal or greater charge. Wouldn't they kind of fall in on their orbits? Would they even maintain orbits because the distances would alter beyond what is "normal." I have no freaking idea and I am interested in hearing from someone who knows quantum physics.

If giant growth did that, arguably it won't be giant growth anymore.

Well, if spells of enlargement do just add matter in large amounts, it begs the question of where the matter comes from or where it goes. When you really try to think through the physics there are no good or easy answers.

[mr friendly guy]

Then you run into a separate question; how many bodies do you have the mental strength to control, and can your magically-empowered self actually channel power while occupying a magically-powerless body?

Or would it be like trying to make a paraplegic walk? You can control or occupy his mind all you want, you can command him to walk all you want, but those nerves aren't growing back and those legs aren't moving.

If the magic is genetic base, that would run into problems, just like making a paraplegic walk. If the magic is knowledge based, then this wouldn't be a problem as the possessed person would share your knowledge on how speaking a few words actually channels the magic.

Whether the undead are reservoirs of magical energy or not definitely depends on setting. Usually, no.

Things like vampires aren't usually thought of in this manner, however skeletons are blatantly like this, at least in Dark Sun. The characters should not be able to detect magic on the skeletons until they actually are animated (the trick is, they only animate at certain times of the day).

The sorcerors in the Belgariad are capable of this- but are also a handful of elite, reclusive demigods with nigh-unstoppable powers who can only be opposed by the mightiest of evil entities. So the only way they'd destabilize an economy with that power is if they used it often- probably more often than they have any real need to do.

I think you're remembering things a little off. The disciples of Aldur were only a handful. The Ankaraks had an entire ethnic group of sorcerors, the Grolims ? spelling. Some of the elites are clearly powerful enough to give some of the disciples of Aldur a run for their money. There is no reason why they should not have been able to train some sorcerers for this purpose. Well except Torak. Frankly, very few people think of war in terms of economics, mostly in tactics, troop numbers and logistics, so its not surprising no one thought about debasing currency as a weapon.

There's term I've heard called an "idiot plot," a story that only works as written if all or nearly all the characters are idiots.

There's also a second order idiot plot, where the plot only works if everyone in an entire society is too stupid to put together the obvious logical implications.

This is one of those times. If the ability to make gold out of base metal is fairly common and/or has existed for a long time, people have to be stupid not to see or be able to make use of the implications.

A lot of these 'exploits' only work if you live in a society that is a second order idiot plot: if only you are smart enough to think of the implications of abilities that many people possess. If all the people around you are non-idiotic, then some of them will have already done this, and society will already have grown accustomed to the consequences.

It's why I disapprove of unique-special-snowflake munchkinnery in RPGs. Taken to extremes it implies that the PC doing the munchkinnery isn't just clever and resourceful, but that they are the only clever or resourceful person on Earth.

I don't buy this argument that well because a lot of what seems obvious to us, ie people must be an idiot not to think of it by now, was not obvious to ancients. For example, mathematical concepts like ZERO took a while before people realised it (a quick wiki search showed that the Greeks didn't have a symbol for it until well pass the birth of Christ even though they had civilisation for much longer).

Once someone thinks of it, then it becomes "obvious". I don't think the people in the setting are stupid for not thinking of it, just that they have never experienced economic concepts we are familiar like QE.

Well, if spells of enlargement do just add matter in large amounts, it begs the question of where the matter comes from or where it goes. When you really try to think through the physics there are no good or easy answers.

Obviously not. However the implication of x amounts of explosive y does z damage, then 10 x of the explosive y does 10 z damage could be reasonably inferred even if we don't know how giant growth changes x to 10x.

[Simon_Jester]

I think you're remembering things a little off. The disciples of Aldur were only a handful. The Ankaraks had an entire ethnic group of sorcerors, the Grolims ? spelling. Some of the elites are clearly powerful enough to give some of the disciples of Aldur a run for their money. There is no reason why they should not have been able to train some sorcerers for this purpose. Well except Torak. Frankly, very few people think of war in terms of economics, mostly in tactics, troop numbers and logistics, so its not surprising no one thought about debasing currency as a weapon.

While quite a few of the Grolims practice sorcery, they were also the dominant religious hierarchy on their half of one continent and almost all of the other continent. They would have had no incentives to destabilize a society they mostly ruled or at least had a dominant position in.

This maps back to my option (3), which amounts to "the people with the power to make gold make the rules, and make gold whenever it suits them, and may continue to use it as currency... but with gold effectively being fiat money issued by the magocracy rather than being intrinsically valuable."

For that matter, one subset of the Angarak race was famous for their massive production of an exotic "red gold" with (supposed) magical properties. Wouldn't be surprised if sorcery was at some point involved.

There's term I've heard called an "idiot plot," a story that only works as written if all or nearly all the characters are idiots.

There's also a second order idiot plot, where the plot only works if everyone in an entire society is too stupid to put together the obvious logical implications.

This is one of those times. If the ability to make gold out of base metal is fairly common and/or has existed for a long time, people have to be stupid not to see or be able to make use of the implications.

A lot of these 'exploits' only work if you live in a society that is a second order idiot plot: if only you are smart enough to think of the implications of abilities that many people possess. If all the people around you are non-idiotic, then some of them will have already done this, and society will already have grown accustomed to the consequences.

It's why I disapprove of unique-special-snowflake munchkinnery in RPGs. Taken to extremes it implies that the PC doing the munchkinnery isn't just clever and resourceful, but that they are the only clever or resourceful person on Earth.

I don't buy this argument that well because a lot of what seems obvious to us, ie people must be an idiot not to think of it by now, was not obvious to ancients. For example, mathematical concepts like ZERO took a while before people realised it (a quick wiki search showed that the Greeks didn't have a symbol for it until well pass the birth of Christ even though they had civilisation for much longer).

Once someone thinks of it, then it becomes "obvious". I don't think the people in the setting are stupid for not thinking of it, just that they have never experienced economic concepts we are familiar like QE.

Although that can cut both ways; I remember a Chris Anvil story that did a very good job of pointing out something that ancients usually understood but modern people who think in terms of "capital" and "investment" may not- which is that in a subsistence economy any serious diversion of effort from the production of the necessities of life results in death, regardless of how wise the investment of that effort otherwise seems.

Anyway.

Thing is, if we're going to play up the idea "this is a non-obvious innovation for someone to think of!" then it logically follows that no one person would be the beneficiary of more than one or two of these tricks. It's not like the same person was able to be the one who invented the zero and the horse collar and gunpowder and the serrated knife blade and dozens of other "gee I wish we'd thought of that sooner" items.

Whereas a lot of RPG munchkins try to stack up huge numbers of these power exploits as though only their characters are clever and resourceful. Which isn't appropriate; lots of other people should have their own unique tricks, and no one person will have more than a few of them, and over time what used to be the clever unique tricks will become generic and normal technology.

Obviously not. However the implication of x amounts of explosive y does z damage, then 10 x of the explosive y does 10 z damage could be reasonably inferred even if we don't know how giant growth changes x to 10x.

That depends- can the enlarged food be used to feed dozens of people with one (now much larger) piece of food? In some settings yes, in others no.