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alt title(s): Vancian Leeky Windstaff: You did not actually prepare any sonic energy spells today, did you? Vaarsuvius: Not as such, no. Leeky Windstaff: Truly, more wizards have been laid low by the writings of Jack Vance than by any single villain. Vaarsuvius: On an unrelated note, would you consider a brief pause in the battle? Say, about eight hours or so?
Vancian Magic is a specific form of " rule magic" that conforms to these functional rules (along with whatever other metaphysics the writer chooses):
- Magical effects are packaged into distinct spells; each spell has one fixed purpose. A spell that throws a ball of fire at an enemy just throws balls of fire, and generally cannot be "turned down" to light a cigarette, for instance.
- Spells represent a kind of "magic-bomb" which must be prepared in advance of actual use, and each prepared spell can be used only once before needing to be prepared again. That's why it also known as "Fire & Forget magic".
- Magicians have a finite capacity of prepared spells which is the de facto measure of their skill and/or power as magicians. A wizard using magic for combat is thus something like a living gun: he must be "loaded" with spells beforehand and can run out of magical "ammunition".
A frequently used fourth rule is that the spells have names like Sumpjumper's Incendiary Surprise - generally, "<name of inventor> <adjective> <noun>" and variations thereof.
This tends to create the problem that the mage must somehow know which spells will be most useful in the near future. If you are expecting combat, then you aren't going to prepare "talk with animals" that day. If you need to talk with an animal, you are then out of luck unless you wait until the next day. To work around this problem, some writers use a mana or "spell points" system, where the mage can cast any spells they know at any time, using up some of a fixed pool of energy which then gets replenished later.
The name comes from Jack Vance, the supremely gifted, though (especially in the larger world) obscure writer of exotic Science Fiction and Fantasy. Vancian magic first appears in his The Dying Earth. Gary Gygax and his collaborator Dave Arneson subsequently "borrowed" the basic ideas for the magic system of Trope Codifier Dungeons And Dragons.
The disapproving term is " Utility Belt Magic" (you load it, then have N buttons to press). Compare Powers As Programs. See also Fantastic Science.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- In Mahou Sensei Negima, Weasel Mascot chamo often to bring up concepts such as magical limits and exertion, which Negi tends to push. Also, many wizards in the series like to subvert the "Magic-bomb" variety of spells by overpreparing them — wizards who chant a spell - depending on its power and complexity - are said to be able to hold said spell for at least 20 seconds, effectively eliminating the weakness of enemies knowing what they're about to be attacked with (RPG-style interruption becomes a full-on plot-point when fighting speedy warriors because of this).
- For a good example of this in action, see the fight with Takamichi and Jack Rakkan, but mainly the former.
- Certain scroll techniques seem to be used this way in Naruto.
Comic Books
- Used by the White Witch, in the pre-boot Legion of Super-Heroes.
- In Comics Scenen#9, Chuck Dixon noted that he wrote magic users in his Conan stories as having similarly restricted by stringent parameters for magic, with users required to make at times painful sacrifices and efforts.
Literature
- As noted above, originated in Jack Vance's The Dying Earth, hence the name of the trope.
- It was not structured into "levels," and it was possible for anyone to attempt to use it, although with the possibility of backfiring. Spells that killed people instantly (such as The Excellent Prismatic Spray) were quite common and every wizard knew them. Of course, the Dying Earth series was not exactly about people killing each other - they were often too petty and vain to take the simple route to their troubles.
- Actually it's unclear whether the hundred or so spells still known to most magicians included less-powerful choices compared to the ones we see in the books. We might assume that less-powerful magicians couldn't handle or didn't know the more-powerful spells. We aren't really introduced to a wide selection of them.
- The Dying Earth represent only a few books and the Vancian Magic system wasn't present in his other work.
- Also used in Roger Zelazny's Amber mythos: Merlin, hero of the later novels, explicitly prepares and "hangs" spells to be used later. However, prepared spells decay over time and must be prepared again even if not used.
- There it's a matter of pre-constructed spells allowing more efficiency, and a [properly trained] sorcerer can use magic anywhere on a spectrum from Vancian magic to realtime improvisation with the raw forces of the universe. It's not that a wizard can't come up with a spell in the middle of a battle, it's just that a wizard who comes prepared can spend less time worrying about the most elegant formulation of a spell and more time not getting fried by the opposition. The "hanging" spells take this a little further: if you want to use a highly complicated spell in battle, it saves everyone's time if you've already cast most of the spell in advance.
- In the Discworld, wizards are sometimes shown using this form of magic, and the series takes the third rule to an extreme - for the first two books, Rincewind has one of the eight spells of the Octavo in his head, and it's so powerful that other spells just don't fit (or are too scared to stay). Although once it's ejected, it turns out he still can't learn any useful magic.
- In addition, spells follow the law of conservation of energy: with few exceptions, a wizard must expend as much energy learning or preparing a spell as it uses to do its task. Therefore, impressive spells could take many lifetimes to prepare and simply aren't worth it.
- And once a wizard finally finds out how summon nubile virgins, he's way too old to remember why he wanted to do that.
- This is subverted in a fashion in Sourcerer, when a character who is a literal font of magical energy is present, wizards are capable of overriding the usual restrictions of conservation of their own bodies by using the excess energy floating around. This also allows them to perform highly tricky transmogrification of turning people into Newts without the usual floating bag of flesh containing all the parts that are too big to fit.
- Also, the whole idea of spells taking so much energy to prepare is by now sometimes being passed with "well, it was the least competent wizard in the world claiming that". (This was in GURPS Discworld, probably.)
- Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series, which features a set of college students playing D&D who get transported into the actual D&D world, uses the same trope, though note that D&D is not mentioned by name due to trademark concerns.
- It's definitely suposed to play like D&D, but he even mushed up some of the mechanics (attributes are rolled with 5 d4 (reading 0-3) and class levels are on an alphabetical scale (A to whatever) for example. Importantly it has rules for going berzerk (which D&D of it's era never did), which is a plot point.
- Witches in Kim Harrison's The Hollows series usually make spells in advance. Spells are made in small batches, and only last for a couple of days before they won't work. And one can only carry as many as one has space for on one's person or in one's handbag, or car, or...
- More accurately, they prepare spells as potions, making this more Device Magic.
- Used heavily, with well-defined parameters, in Lawrence Watt-Evans' Ethshar. There are many different forms of magic, the Vancian one being Wizardry. This is fire-and-forget, heavily dependent on ritual and materials or foci, uses the naming convention almost universally, and most significantly, structured into levels: spell "orders," a second-order spell being eight to ten times as hard as as a first order spell, and so on. There are at least twelve orders referenced, so small wonder that major wizards use an eternal youth spell so they have studying time.
- Also subverted in Taking Flight, there two fire-and-forget wizardry systems are introduced, both with severe drawbacks. The first one lets wizard prepare any one (but only one) spell in advance, to be used once at his convenience, with practically zero casting time. Can be useful, as some spells need days to cast. The drawback is, until the spell is used, the wizard cannot do any other wizardry. The second system is a plot point: wizard prepares about a dozen of spells, to instantly cast later as many times as he likes. The drawback? No other wizardry ever for that wizard, except for these spells.
- In Matthew Stover's Acts Of Caine series, spells can be patterned into a variety of items and then used as necessary, essentially creating this effect. As the world is a very Low Fantasy take on the Forgotten Realms, the inspiration is likely a direct one.
Tabletop Games
- The original Dungeons And Dragons rules adopted this form as one that would be relatively simple to implement for a game, that wasn't part of any real-world belief structure and easily balanced. Since then, it has become a bit of a sacred cow in later editions, retained even when the game adapts a licensed property (such as Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time books) that itself doesn't use the form.
- And, well, Gary Gygax was big fan of Vance
 , so not only D&D obviously was influenced, but its lore contains shout outs to Vance: the evil necromancer turned God named Vecna, said to have been the most powerful mortal wizard ever; also, Robe of Eyes from The Dying Earth.
- Wierdly, Gygax et al. also implemented Vancian magic for clerical spells. At the start of the day, the cleric petitions his deity for divine intervention. In specific forms. In advance. This made no sense at all in context.
- 3rd Edition does allow some flexibility, though; a spell's effects can be fine-tuned with "metamagic feats", and sorcerers, a separate class from wizards, don't have to prepare spells (but can only know a very limited number of them).
- AD&D rulebooks has enough metamagic spells to compose a (semi-official) "school". Spell-point systems of all official products were used only in Netheril setting *
where arcanists were supposed to be quite powerful and Players Options *; plus homemade variants, of course * in The Net Wizard's Handbook alone 3 systems of 6 were spellpoint-based .
- The optional Psionics system (which exists alongside magic) used Mana instead from the beginning.
- Late into edition 3.5, "reserve feats" were introduced, which grant non-Vancian abilities to the caster as long as he has not cast a particular Vancian spell yet.
- 4th Edition weakens the Vancian ties, adding in "at-will powers" that can be used as much as a character wants with no penalty, but at the same time gives every character class Vancian abilities, from Cleric spells to Fighter melee techniques.
- The encounter power mechanic sort of splits the difference between Vancian powers and at will ones by being powers that only refresh after a brief rest. They still use the Daily Power mechanic though, only they use it with every class now whether it makes sense or not.
- This started in 3rd ed. Fortunately, at least rogue isn't limited to pick locks N times per day.
- While it started in 3rd Ed, it started as a sort of playtest for 4th ed. Pretty much every variant mechanic from the Warlock's at will abilities onward was a playtest for 4th edition.
- The Slayers d20 adaptation averted this trope and introduced a more flexible (and arguably much more powerful) variant to coincide with the anime and manga on which it was based.
- Averted in Mage The Ascension, where Players are encouraged to invent new spell effects on the fly. The magical stats (Spheres) don't dictate how many and which spells the character can use, but how complex their effects can be. While knowing a prepared 'rote' or 'procedure' is helpful, it is mostly in the ability to do things consistently without as much effort (in gameplay terms, they mean that the action doesn't need to be halted in order for the player to consult with the Storyteller about the requirements and effects of a spell).
- Played with in Warhammer Fantasy: Battle Wizards (and sorcerers, shamans etc.) can have up to four "levels" of magic, each level representing a spell and a die to cast spells with. No normal wizard can then cast each spell they know more than once, so even the most powerful archmage is limited to 4 spells. However this limit refreshes each 'turn' rather than each 'day' as is common in other tabletop systems. Wizards can also opt to have a better chance of casting a given spell by neglecting to cast one or more of their others and using the power thus saved on their big kill-everything-within-fifty-feet spell. Of course this is still Warhammer; using more dice on a spell in this way increases the risk of mis-casting and something horrible happening.
- In some editions certain types of magic (mostly necromancy) can bypass these limits.
- Magic The Gathering, in that the "ammo" is represented by cards — you can only cast a spell if you have a card for it, and each card is used up once its spell is cast.
- GURPS: Thaumatology spends a few pages discussing how to make Vancian magic work with its system. The default magic is based more on Larry Niven then Vance, however.
- Slightly subverted, and then averted, in Unknown Armies. Adepts have to have charges to cast spells, but you can use one or more charges for one of a number of different effects (depending on the charge size), and, when all else fails, use it for a Random Magic effect, which is (mostly) determined by the GM. Meanwhile, Avatars don't have any kind of charge system: they just choose to do it, and they do (if they pass the roll, of course).
- Torg mostly uses more Hermetic magic, but in the more magical realms, mages can also learn Imprinted spells, which allows them to do the long prep of a spell beforehand, and then at some point later perform the one gesture final part of the spell to invoke it instantly.
Video Games
- Unsurprisingly, pretty much every video game based on Dungeons & Dragons.
- Used extensively in the Touhou series, and handwaved as a form of ritualized magic duelling which allows for balanced fights between skilled humans and beings of godlike power.
- At the same time, it's averted in supplemental materials; it appears the Vancian Magic rules only apply to Spell Cards, wherein lies the Hand Wave.
- Patchouli Knowledge, at least, does seem to use Vancian Magic, as she is described as having a habit of preparing an entirely seperate set of magic spells for every day of the week. Of course, unlike other characters who have more general superpowers, she really is a Witch Species character who gains her magic power by studying books in the traditional wizardly way.
- Every technique in Pokemon has a set amount of PP that determines how many times a Pokemon can use it. The only exception is Struggle, the default attack every Pokemon knows but can only use after all other moves have been exhausted, and the user experiences recoil damage when its used.
- Arguably, this only applies to a Pokemon's battle capabilities, at least if the Pokedex is to be believed: For example, if a pokemon that is known for being able to power entire cities was held to this trope, rolling blackouts must be painfully frequent.
- Indeed, even if a Pokemon's PP for an HM move such as Fly is exhausted, it can still be used outside of battle. This is also true, somehow, if the Pokemon has fainted.
- In the original Japanese, "fainted" was "unable to battle", a phrase that doesn't necessarily imply unconsciousness. They changed the term in the English release because of the character limit.
- The BattleChips in Mega Man Battle Network are a technological version of this. (Fortunately, MegaMan also has a chargeable buster that never runs out — much better backup than a Pokemon's Struggle move.)
- Magic works just like this in The Magic Candle. Spells are strictly verbal, but once cast, a spell fades immediately from the caster's memory. Wizards prepare for battle by memorizing their spells over and over, apparently compartmentalizing the "copies" somehow.
- Final Fantasy VIII works exactly this like this. Each character has a Magic stock which can contain up to 32 distinct types of spells with a maximum 100 uses each. Characters can Draw magic from opponents, and add them to their own Magic stock. Each individual type of Magic is its own type, even within the same element: 'Fire', 'Fira' and 'Firaga' are three separate spells. There are unlockable abilities that allow you to trade a set certain amount of a lesser Magic for a single use of a higher Magic. (100 'Fire's become twenty 'Fira's, and they can become four 'Firaga's.)
- Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy III both feature a magic system based on this. Caster classes gain spell charges for each level, with the slight variation that charges can be expended on any spell of that level, instead of need to be used on specific spells that have been prepared in advance. Higher level magic classes tend to get more charges per level, as well as access to higher level spells. These two games (and the above mentioned Final Fantasy VIII) are the only three in the series to stray from the "Magic points" system.
- Final Fantasy used "Magic Points" in the Dawn of Souls Rerelease.
- Suikoden I used a magic system similar to Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy III.
- Chrono Cross uses a system like this. Each character has a set number of rows and columns in which "elements" can be set. Each element can only be used once per battle (except for "consumable" elements, which act like items do in other RPG's).
- And even consumable elements have a limit of five uses per slot.
- Japanese rogue-like Elona follows this to the letter. Quite unfortunate considering how easy it is to fail most high-end spells, and how rare their books are.
- The Enchanter Trilogy from Infocom plays this almost completely straight. The spells themselves are very tongue in cheek with "fold dough 13 times", "balance checkbook", and "turn original into triplicate" being several examples. Or, for that matter, "turn purple things invisible".
- The Spellcasting series, written in part by the same people, does the same thing, and ups the ante by including a spell that transforms other spells. "Enlarge Tree Root" -> "Enlarge Wee Fruit", and so forth.
- Wizardry 1-5 used a system of leveled spells with a number of shots for each level, avoiding the need to memorize specific spells but keeping the essential flavor.
- The first and the third Final Fantasy copied this system almost exactly (the first used almost identical spells to their Wizardry equivalents, learned at identical levels). In addition to only having a limited amount of charges per level of magic, every character could only learn three spells per level out of four (eight for Red Mages).
- In Runescape, there is an example of this with the magic runes. Each spell takes a certain combination of runes, and if you are out of a required type of runes, you either need to buy more or make them by mining rune essence and taking it to a special altar.
- The Legend Of Dragoon features spells as buyable, boostable combat items. This would be useful, were they not forced to share the same limited inventory space as your healing items. It does have a few reuseable spell items though.
- This is how staves and enchantments work in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, though the magical item in question generally has several "uses" before it runs out of energy.
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