History Main / VancianMagic

* In Diane Duane's ''YoungWizards'' series, Kit and Nita often use this method of spellcasting, and even sometimes "pre-load" their spells (i.e., "writing" all but the last word of the spell so that it can be used at a moment's notice.) Of course, Kit and Nita have favorite spells, so presumably it's easier for them to remember those words. And of course, at one point Nita actually carries a ''utility bracelet'' of spells.
* In Patricia C. Wrede's ''EnchantedForestChronicles'' the Society of Wizards has a magic system that is very similar, though not identical, to Vancian Magic. Some of the other magic users in the same world use a similar system; spells must be prepared through ritual beforehand, and cast on the spot through the use of a magic word which is set up during the ritual as a trigger. However, in those cases (such as "Argelfraster") it appears that the ritual only has to be performed once, and the trigger can then be used repeatedly.

* ''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.

* The Swedish RPG ''Chronopia'' has Librumages (who stores their spells as pages in giant tomes) as well as the powder based Cranemorts (essentially Vodoo priests) and Witchbarons (who use more standard spells). While both types require quite exotic ingredients to mix the ink/powder as well as much time and energy to prepare their spells, once they're loaded up however, the only real limit to their stored spells is their carrying capacity (and you can bet that they always keep more at home).

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' uses a system similar to this with it's [[AlchemyIsMagic potions]]. All potions must be meticulously crafted to achieve [[StatusEffect very specific effects]], and there is a limit to how many can be carried at once.

* The game ''Balances'' by Graham Nelson was written as a demonstration of how to write Vancian magic in the [[http://www.inform-fiction.org Inform programming language]], and is explicitly based on the ''Enchanter'' series. As befits its status as a demo program and source of code snippets, it takes Vancian magic UpToEleven -- spells can be reversed, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything work on almost every object and NPC in the game (and fail gracefully when they don't)]], and one spell even provides an example of a spell that can only be memorized once.
* Earlier versions of ''VideoGame/NetHack'' had a similar system, where reading a spellbook would give you a finite number of uses of the spell. An [[GameMod unofficial patch]], later integrated into the main game in version 3.3.0, changed spells to be forgotten after a sufficient amount of time had passed.

'''Vancian Magic''' is a specific sub-set of [[FunctionalMagic rule magic]] which conforms to these functional rules (and optionally whichever metaphysics the writer chooses):

* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'': Another ''D&D'' parody. Lampshaded with a "VANCE!" UnsoundEffect for a Color Spray spell. Prestige underscores the problem late in the level when she lets loose a {{Fireball|s}}, resulting in the page-image seen above.

* In [[http://yourplayersaidwhat.tumblr.com/post/133930221462/over-the-course-of-a-long-campaign-that-sent-young one story]] featured in the Website/{{Tumblr}} blog "Shit Your Players Say", a spellsword constantly wrote in a book for years during a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game and warned her allies to never open it. It turns out that she was writing explosive runes each of which doing 5d6 of force damage (6-30 points) in every available spell slot in there (100 slots totaling to an average of ''600,000d6 of force damage'') and used it to wipe out a third of the {{BigBad}}'s forces, punch a gateway into another plane of existence pulling in every psionic that uses that plane, creating living explosive spells that destroy everything in their way, and sent the surrounding area into ruin.

* In [[http://yourplayersaidwhat.tumblr.com/post/133930221462/over-the-course-of-a-long-campaign-that-sent-young one story]] featured in the Website/{{Tumblr}} blog "Shit Your Players Say", a spellsword constantly wrote in a book for years during a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game and warned her allies to never open it. It turns out that she was writing explosive runes each of which doing 5d6 of force damage (6-30 points) in every available spell slot in there (100 slots totaling to an average of ''600,000d6 of force damage'') and used it to wipe out a third of the {{BigBad}}'s forces, punch a gateway into another plane of existence pulling in every psionic that uses that plane, creating living explosive spell that destroy everything in their way, and sent the surrounding area into ruin.

** Also, the whole idea of spells taking so much energy to prepare is now sometimes being passed with "well, it was the least competent wizard in the world claiming that". (This was in ''[[TabletopGame/DiscworldRolePlayingGame GURPS Discworld]]'', probably.)

*** Oddly enough, the Arcanist class from the Advanced Class Guide does pretty much exactly what 5th Edition does (bonus points for being in-development at the same time as 5E was, so identical thought processes there). Being a hybrid of the Wizard and Sorcerer, the Arcanist still prepares spells like a Wizard, sorta. The "Sorta" comes from the fact that the Arcanist doesn't prepare his Spell Slots; instead, he prepares his SPELLS KNOWN. From there, the Arcanist can spam spells left and right just like a Sorcerer. An Arcanist with the Heighten Spell Metamagic Feat, therefore, can cast only MagicMissile all the live-long day, using every single daily Spell Slot available to him, just like 5th Edition. The fact that the Arcanist can learn Metamagic Feats for free via their Exploits just makes this nonsense all the easier.

* In ''Comics Scene'' #9, Chuck Dixon noted that he wrote magic users in his ConanTheBarbarian stories as having similarly restricted by stringent parameters for magic, with users required to make at times painful sacrifices and efforts.

Vancian Magic is a specific form of "[[FunctionalMagic rule magic]]" that conforms to these functional rules (along with whatever other metaphysics the writer chooses):

# 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 is also known as "Fire & Forget magic."

* Videogame/Minecraft uses a system similar to this with it's [[AlchemyIsMagic potions]]. All potions must be meticulously crafted to achieve [[StatusEffect very specific effects]], and there is a limit to how many can be carried at once.

** This is a common mistake, where people tend to default to D&D because it is the most popular fantasy RPG. Guardians isn't based on D&D, but rather on a somewhat more obscure system called "Runequest." One of the key traits that demonstrates Guardian's use of the Runequest system is that skills (including attacking and spellcasting) are leveled by using them.

* Diverging from it's [[VideoGame/DemonsSouls spiritual predecessor's]] ManaMeter, ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' and its sequel follows this model. Each spell has a given number of uses, which replenishes when resting, and takes up one or more "Attunement Slots." The number of slots can be increased by leveling your Attunement stat, or wearing a couple of rings. If you have aquired more than one "set" of spell uses, you can put more of them into slots to increase your total capability of casting that specific spell. ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' just goes back to using a ManaMeter.

* In the ''Literature/{{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 to summon nubile virgins, he's way too old to remember why he wanted to do that.\\\
This is demonstrated with the various transportation spells used in the series: In one book, a character who wants to ascend to the top of the tower first has to use magic to knock loose a stone from the top, and use its energy and momentum as a lever in the spell. In ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', they teleport Rincewind to the Aurient, but have to exchange him with something from his landing spot and of approximately the same weight. At the same time, in ''Discworld/EqualRites'', levitating a staff a handful of feet is extremely physically taxing because there isn't anything nearby to use as a counterweight, so the wizard in question has to do ''all'' the heavy lifting with his mind.\\\
This is subverted in a fashion in ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'', when a character who is a literal conduit 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 now sometimes being passed with "well, it was the least competent wizard in the world claiming that". (This was in ''[[TabletopGame/DiscworldRolePlayingGame GURPS Discworld]]'', probably.)
* Joel Rosenberg's ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' series, which features a set of ''D&D''-playing college students who are 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 supposed to play like ''D&D'', but he even mushed up some of the mechanics (attributes are rolled with 5d4 (reading 0-3) and class levels are on an alphabetical scale (A to whatever) for example. Importantly, it has rules for going berserk (which ''D&D'' of its era never did), which is a plot point.\\\
After the first book, Rosenberg sort of moved away from Vancian spell-casting -- the next one that features really extensive use of magic by a viewpoint character [[spoiler: (the wizard in the first book having given up wizardry to pursue the far mightier power of engineering, which has begun to radically change the nature of the fantasy world in which the heroes are stuck)]] is the sixth, ''The Road to Ehvenor,'' and I don't recall any references to Andy-Andy having to prepare spells, or forgetting them after she casts them. You get the impression Rosenberg didn't much like Vancian magic, or writing in detail about magic in general, given the focus of the books on the warrior and thief-types, and the fact that [[spoiler:Andy-Andy also loses her magic at the end of Book Six.]] In the later books it becomes very clear that magic has a strong tendency to [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity consume the sanity of those who use it -- the more powerful wizards are, the crazier they get]]. And it's also [[FantasticDrug addictive]].

* Used partially, with well-defined parameters, in Lawrence Watt-Evans' ''Literature/TheLegendsOfEthshar'' series. There are many different forms of magic, the Vancian one being Wizardry. This is 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. Unlike traditional Vancian magic, the spells are cast as soon as the ritual is completed and the number of times a spell can be cast is limited only by material components consumed and casting 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: [[spoiler: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.]]

* The original ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 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 [[CompetitiveBalance balanced]]. Since then, it has become a bit of a sacred cow in later editions, retained even when the game [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames adapts a licensed property]] (such as Robert Jordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' books) that itself uses a completely different type of magic.\\\
And, well, Creator/GaryGygax [[http://www.google.com/search?q=%2B%22Gary+Gygax%22+%2B%22jack+vance+%26+the+d%26d+game%22 was a big fan of Vance]], so not only ''D&D'' obviously was influenced, but its lore contains {{shout out}}s to Vance: the evil necromancer turned [[AGodAmI God]] named [[SignificantAnagram Vecna]], said to have been the most powerful mortal wizard ever; also, Robe of Eyes from ''The Dying Earth''.\\\
Starting in ''AD&D'', and continuing through 3.Xe and 4e ''D&D'', the game began to allow some flexibility to the Vancian system. Examples are as follows:

* Played with in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': 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.\\\
It's also worth noting that the "Battle Magic" spells featured are simply the most powerful spells known to those schools of magic, wizards technically know a host of lesser spells as well, but these lesser magics are more the province of roleplaying games than wargames focusing on clashing armies.

* Used with slight variations in ''LegendOfTheFiveRings''. Spells must be learned in advance (generally from scrolls) and are divided according to their rank and element. However, spell slots are tied directly with the caster's "rings", which measure affinity for a given element, rather than to specific spells. So a particular caster might be able to use, say, three fire spells in a particular day, choosing from any fire spells they've previously learned. The exception is ''maho'' or "blood magic", which has no per-day limit; its drawback is that blood must be spilled for each spell cast.

* Diverging from it's [[VideoGame/DemonsSouls spiritual predecessor's]] ManaMeter, ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' and its sequel follows this model. Each spell has a given number of uses, which replenishes when resting, and takes up one or more "Attunement Slots." The number of slots can be increased by leveling your Attunement stat, or wearing a couple of rings. If you have aquired more than one "set" of spell uses, you can put more of them into slots to increase your total capability of casting that specific spell.

* ''VideoGame/{{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.

* In ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', Black Mage started being able to use the Level 9 [[KamehameHadoken Hadoken]] once per day, [[CripplingOverspecialization and nothing else.]] Or at least, [[TheAllSolvingHammer nothing else he's in the mood to use]], as "not-level 9 spells aren't [his] idiom".

** 5th Edition has reached a bit of a middle ground for spell-preparing casters. Now, they prepare a certain number of spells equal to (spellcasting ability modifier + caster level), but they don't assign those spells to specific slots--indeed, the number of prepared spells and the number of available slots may not even match up. They can cast any of their prepared spells as often as they want, so long as they have an unspent slot of the spell's level or higher.[[note]]EXAMPLE: A wizard who has prepared Alter Self, Invisibility, and Levitate, and has 4 level 1 slots (and no higher-level slots) can cast each of them once and one of them a second time, or cast two spells twice, or one spell once and one spell thrice, or one spell four times. The wizard doesn't decide how many times each spell will be cast when s/he prepares them; s/he decides which spell goes in a slot when s/he casts.[[/note]]

Naturally, this approach to magic is a lot more common in non-interactive media (where it's easy for the creators to match the character's spell selection to the later needs of the plot) than it is in video games, which, while often inspired by VancianMagic, stretch its rules quite a bit since demanding a lot of magic preparation in a game could easily become annoying and/or create pacing issues. As such, most games that involve magic base its rules around the much simpler ManaMeter. Or sometimes a mix, you may only be able to "equip" a certain number of spells for any given level, but use them as often as you can afford the cost.

Naturally, this approach to magic is a lot more common in non-interactive media than it is in video games, which, while often inspired by VancianMagic, stretch its rules quite a bit since demanding a lot of magic preparation in a game could easily become annoying and/or create pacing issues. As such, most games that involve magic base its rules around the much simpler ManaMeter. Or sometimes a mix, you may only be able to "equip" a certain number of spells for any given level, but use them as often as you can afford the cost.

* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'': Another ''D&D'' parody. Lampshaded with a "VANCE!" UnsoundEffect for a Color Spray spell. Prestige underscores the problem late in the level when she lets loose a {{Fireball}}, resulting in the page-image seen above.