Abusing Magic

[Corvus 501]

What do the bag of holding artifact, the teleport and the intangibility spell have in common? The sheer ease at which they can be abused. In that vein, how would you abuse those, and other common staples of fantasy?

[The Romulan Republic]

Virtually any form of substantial magic will give those who possess it great potential power over those who do not. Therein lies the potential for abuse.

Off the top of my head, though, mind control and mind reading magic are particularly nasty (indeed, one could argue that any deliberate use of the former, and any deliberate use of the latter without the consent of the target, are inherently abuse).

[Joun_Lord]

As the above, mind control is especially insidious. It seems atleast to me worse then physically damaging magics. Violating ones mind, taking away ones free will seems like a far worse violation then simple damage of the flesh. Your body is an object, a conveyance of yourself. Even damaged it does not take away what makes you you when you get right down to it, though by no means does the body being damaged or change have no effect and depending on the person can have a drastic effect. If damaged it can be easily repaired to varying degrees with technology (or I guess magic in this case). The mind when damaged changes you fundamentally. Science (and magic) can do little to repair ones mind, to right the wrongs visited upon one psyche.

All that said, magic that changes the flesh is nearly as bad as ones that alter the mind. Even minor alterations can be considered terrible for some people. Worse ones that completely change ones form or things like switching gender, species, or whatever would probably be a bullet to the brain for most people.

It would be a bit like being transgender but rather then being born in the wrong body and having years to adapt somewhat, they are instead after years being one way suddenly another. Some people could adapt, others would attempt to end their wrong lives as fast as possible like transgender people unfortunately do already.

Any magic can be abused though. Even the simple bag of holding could be used to commit robberies or kidnappings. But just the same any magic could be used for good. Mind magic could be great to use on a person getting surgery, make them think they are having the time of their life while getting their tubes and such tinkered with. Body magic could be used to heal people, make them whole, or change a person to what they feel is their correct gender (or species for tumblr otherkins, though I'd argue thats not really a good use of magic).

It just depends on the person but thats the same with even real life objects. Guns, cars, computers, those pointy metal things, or the mighty pen can all be used for good or evil.

[Lord Revan]

without knowing the inherent limitations of those magics we can't really say how we could abuse them, for example a bag of holding could in theory hold a skyscraper but to move the bag you'd have to strength to lift everything that's inside and the bag only makes take less space, we don't know if this is true or false we can't really bend the rules since we don't know them.

[Corvus 501]

When I say abusing magic, I mean something along the lines of taking a simple quick teleport spell and telespaming entire armies al la Yellow Flash or Deadpool. When I mentioned bags of holding, I was thinking of overusing it to the point where a soldier carries a just a water bottle, weapon, armor, and a bunch of bags, and carries enough gear to last for months. When I say abuse magic, I mean taking something to its logical conclusion, and running with it, and turning a commonplace piece of magic, and use it to make yourself of your faction monstrously powerful.

[The Romulan Republic]

Okay, I think I get it. You're talking about unconventional uses/loopholes for magic, as opposed to unethical uses of magic (though obviously the two could overlap)?

Here's one (specific to Harry Potter magic, though maybe some other franchises have similar systems):

There's a thing called a Portkey, where you cast a spell on some object and when someone touches it, it transports them to a pre-set location.

So, Portkey spell plus bomb=bomb you can teleport into an enemy's base.

[biostem]

You could use something like animate dead or animate skeleton to turn cows, pigs, or other animals slaughtered for food, useful as a tireless labor force after providing their meat, (just instruct people to clean the bones and set them aside, 1 animal at a time).

You could use a simple portal spell to create an endless flow of water to power a water wheel, anywhere, (just add more water as it evaporates).

Being able to create golems or the like would also allow for tireless labor, etc.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Use mind control to stop mind control. Command the person under your control to obey no other controller, and to obey no other orders of yours save for the anti-mind control order.

Use a scrying mirror to target a region in daylight, and use the sunlight from the mirror to fry vampires.

If you can teleport repeatedly and fairly quickly, you can use it as a budget-basement replacement for flight*. Just teleport faster than you fall. You just have to make sure you are teleporting to a spot high enough that your teleport recharges before you hit the ground. I did that quite a lot in City of Heroes, actually.

*If you can teleport quickly enough like the "demon" in Terry Pratchett's Strata it can be flight for all practical purposes; but that's technically not fantasy, just a technological imitation.

[Corvus 501]

Use the bag of holding spell on the spare fuel tank and store a several times the fuel stored in the main tank. As the fuel is stored in a pocket dimension with a portal attached to it, mass and weight are not a factor, allowing a vehicle to carry a hell of a lot more fuel than normal.

[Adam Reynolds]

Okay, I think I get it. You're talking about unconventional uses/loopholes for magic, as opposed to unethical uses of magic (though obviously the two could overlap)?

Here's one (specific to Harry Potter magic, though maybe some other franchises have similar systems):

There's a thing called a Portkey, where you cast a spell on some object and when someone touches it, it transports them to a pre-set location.

So, Portkey spell plus bomb=bomb you can teleport into an enemy's base.

It has been awhile since I read the Harry Potter books, but IIRC Portkeys were especially insidious because they lacked a counter. Wasn't one used on the grounds of Hogwarts despite the fact that more conventional teleportation spells are normally impossible?

If you can teleport repeatedly and fairly quickly, you can use it as a budget-basement replacement for flight*. Just teleport faster than you fall. You just have to make sure you are teleporting to a spot high enough that your teleport recharges before you hit the ground. I did that quite a lot in City of Heroes, actually.

How is that superior to simply teleporting between locations?

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah, their's no stated countermeasure for Portkeys in the books as far as I recall, though I seem to recall that they are difficult to make. You also need Ministry authorization to make one in theory, though I'm not sure how they enforce that law (Dumbledore disregards it in front of the Minister at one point).

Maybe they could track them, the same way they do various other forms of magic.

Though now that I think of it, one possible limit is that I'm not sure they can be activated except by touch. In that case, they could only be used for my bomb teleporting trick by a suicide bomber.

[tezunegari]

Though now that I think of it, one possible limit is that I'm not sure they can be activated except by touch. In that case, they could only be used for my bomb teleporting trick by a suicide bomber.

In Goblet of Fire there are two activation modes shown.
Timed - The Portkey to the Quidditch stadium is set to activate on a certain time, anyone not touching it at that moment is left behind.
Touch - The Triwizard Cup activates the moment Harry and Cedric touch it.

As far as I know the pass-phrase activation is fanon only...

[The Romulan Republic]

Okay, well, timed obviously works for a bomb.

Either would work if you wanted to insert a spy or commando team, of course.

[The Romulan Republic]

Here's another Harry Potter one (that franchise has been on my mind a lot lately).

There's a spell in the books to detect the presence of a person. Forget exactly what it is.

While this somewhat depends on how the mechanism works (does it detect any being with a sapient mind or only living beings, beings with a soul, humans, etc.), it could be used as a quick detector for undead trying to pass as human (like vampires).

[Lord Revan]

assuming you could make one small enough, make bag of holding style item then stuff it with things, have person or moster swallow it then have it "fail" so that creature is torn from the inside.

[Purple]

Does a bag of holding have air inside? If so, instant inescapable prison. Also if not, even better!

[Corvus 501]

Screw up a bag of holding so that the opening is sharp edged. You can now shoot through anything, though you might need to have a second opening on the other end. Let's call this a worm missile.

[Purple]

Explode a grenade inside a bag of holding. Point at enemy and open for a convenient fireball shotgun of doom. Bonus point if its not a hand grenade but a 155mm artillery shell. Extra bonus points if the opening is done via an intricate clockwork mechanism involving three meters of string, a kilogram of rice, 253 rubber bands and a cat.

[Corvus 501]

Congratulations, Purple. You have just figured out how to turn a tank cannon into a pistol. Or a capital ship's spinal cannon into a turret, or at least a small fixed forward facing weapon.

[Gaidin]

Depending on your Bag of Holding "level" don't they have enough room in them to actually let the explosion expand and all you'd have in them is...well...whatever's leftover of the material?

[Lord of the Abyss]

If you can teleport repeatedly and fairly quickly, you can use it as a budget-basement replacement for flight*. Just teleport faster than you fall. You just have to make sure you are teleporting to a spot high enough that your teleport recharges before you hit the ground. I did that quite a lot in City of Heroes, actually.

How is that superior to simply teleporting between locations?

Most obviously, you aren't limited to teleporting to spots on the ground you can see (assuming you can't teleport blind). You also have greater visibility (same advantage as normal flight). You also aren't going to accidentally teleport onto a minefield, lake or something else you can't stand on. Note; not all teleporters have unlimited range, or even a large one.

[Zixinus]

Explode a grenade inside a bag of holding. Point at enemy and open for a convenient fireball shotgun of doom. Bonus point if its not a hand grenade but a 155mm artillery shell. Extra bonus points if the opening is done via an intricate clockwork mechanism involving three meters of string, a kilogram of rice, 253 rubber bands and a cat.

Wouldn't you be pushed by the explosive force of the gas or projectile coming out of the bag?

[Purple]

Explode a grenade inside a bag of holding. Point at enemy and open for a convenient fireball shotgun of doom. Bonus point if its not a hand grenade but a 155mm artillery shell. Extra bonus points if the opening is done via an intricate clockwork mechanism involving three meters of string, a kilogram of rice, 253 rubber bands and a cat.

Wouldn't you be pushed by the explosive force of the gas or projectile coming out of the bag?

Ergo the mechanism. Do everything right and you should be nowhere near it when it goes off. Although I admit that the cat is probably going to have a significant emotional experience.

[mr friendly guy]

Brandon Sanderson took the logical consequences of some of the magic he was tasked with to create nice stuff. For example when he took over from Robert Jordan in WoT, he created

1. teleporting gates which moved and acted as a weapon. These type of portals as weapon tactics isn't new, think of Babylon 5 and John Sheriden using a jump gate to destroy enemy ships, either by opening a gate into their ships or creating a jump gate within another gate which leads to explosions apparently.

2. Gates as scrying tools - open a gate high above the enemy and watch their actions

3. Gates as one way attacks - open a gate, shoot your cannons, and then close

4. Lavagate - open a very big gate inside a giant volcano and let the lava flow onto the enemy armies

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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.

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Now here are my thoughts on abusing the usual tropes of magic, not necessarily the ones mentioned in the OP, but it did give us an option about the "usual tropes" so there.

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.

2. Necromantic enslavement combine with magical incantations

Same as above, only you raised undead have some intelligence which you teach them basic spells. So imagine an army throwing fireballs.

3. Undead suicide bombers

Yeah ok, may be in bad taste. But consider undead wrapping themselves up with some magical explosive and detonating it. What's the problem? You just free the ghost.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

That's all for now.

[amigocabal]

Brandon Sanderson took the logical consequences of some of the magic he was tasked with to create nice stuff. For example when he took over from Robert Jordan in WoT, he created

1. teleporting gates which moved and acted as a weapon. These type of portals as weapon tactics isn't new, think of Babylon 5 and John Sheriden using a jump gate to destroy enemy ships, either by opening a gate into their ships or creating a jump gate within another gate which leads to explosions apparently.

2. Gates as scrying tools - open a gate high above the enemy and watch their actions

3. Gates as one way attacks - open a gate, shoot your cannons, and then close

4. Lavagate - open a very big gate inside a giant volcano and let the lava flow onto the enemy armies

Or imagine a gate leading from a higher elevation to a lower elevation. If a heavy object like a boulder goes through, the object would have less gravitational potential energy at the lower end, meaning that this energy must be released in some form at the other end. (Similar to how a falling boulder's gravitational potential energy converts to kinetic energy as it falls, which in turn is released when it strikes the ground.)