Magic and Military

I was wondering how I'd mix magic with war tactics. I suppose earth users would send boulders flying over the walls of a city (or hurl them at the walls), wind users would be able to send people flying, darkness users would be able to hide in the shadows and ambushing enemies etc., but all these ideas sound absurd to me.

I'm not sure if I should nerf that system quite a bit, simplify it or Take a Third Option. Help?

Have you considered how the defenders would be using magic as well? A flying boulder might not be as problematic if the target is also capable of manipulating earth and can throw it right back, or catch it, or they can pull up the earth to rebuild walls.

What era you talking about? Also what sort of magic? We talking about stuff we could find in the D&D books kind of magic?

There was a D&D 3.5 Source book that had a section that nicely covered using monsters and magic in war.

Spells that spy, obscure, confuse, or misdirect are valuable. Things like lightning bolts, fire balls, shaking up the earth or manipulating stone or rock would be handy.

Healing magic would save lives and put boots back into the field. Magically enhanced projectiles like enchanted trebuchet stones or arrows.

Really there is a lot you can potentially do with magic.

Since you seem to be talking about elemental magic:

It seems like the most practical use for earth magic isn't hurling rock through the air, but altering the terrain to suit their needs. Obviously making the ground collapse under the enemy army would be useful, but if the enemy has earth magic users of their own, they can probably counteract that. In that case, it would turn into a situation where each side tries to give themselves the low ground, the high ground, a clear plain, hills to hide behind, or whatever most suits their needs at the moment, and then reacting to how the enemy alters the terrain on their side, making the battle like a game of chess where both players are constantly changing the shape and layout of the board.

Wind magic could be useful for redirecting projectiles (either to make you own more accurate or your enemies' less accurate). Water magic has obvious uses for naval battles and crossing rivers, but could also be useful just for making sure the army has enough drinking water. Shadow magic would be good for hiding what you're doing from the enemy. And fire magic . . . well, its uses are pretty obvious.

That's precisely my problem. I don't want to focus too much on war tactics based around elemental magic. I want it to be simpler, kind of like in Fire Emblem, for reference. I want diversity, but I want to avoid O Pness unless the characters in question are supposed to be OP.

A medieval era. I'm not too keen on D&D, so I only know a few of it's spells. It's possible that my setting shares a few of its spells with D&D, though.

Oh, that detail escaped from me completely. =P

Just pick up a D&D book and you will find just about every kind of spell depicted in fiction and then some in the various books.

Do you have a link for that book in question? If it is illegal to ask these things, then I'm sorry.

I do not have said links. There is a lot of Open Source D&D stuff though.

edited 16th Nov '13 1:01:15 PM by TuefelHundenIV

This website has all of the open-source D&D material available, including a list of spells.

Without knowing the parameters of magic, I can't extrapolate scenarios.

One thing about OP ness. It depends on how rare your magic users are. If every kingdom has a 'royal wizard' then you can bet that before the battle ever takes place every assassin possible will be trying to kill them.

Huh... there's a story there...

How long has magic existed in world and be used militarily? If it's relatively new, commanders would have no idea how to respond, and regular troops might break and run after several well placed fireballs. Imagine a 15th century pikeman square suddenly faced with a high-level wizard or three. Yes, they prepared Ao E spells that day. On the other hand, civilizations that have been dealing with magical warfare will have developed tactics and strategies around it. For example, an abundance of casters might precluded development of massed infantry formations, since those tend to make juicy targets for the aforementioned fireballs. Instead, armies from such a culture may focus on small and highly mobile (e.g. hard to hit) units of light infantry. Of course, things can get much wonkier. Other questions would include how magic is accessed, how often it can be used, is it taboo, who can use it, how squishy casters are, etc etc.

Magic always existed, even though people took a long time until they could have a good grasp on it... And they still haven't developed enough to use magic to its true potential (for the best or for the worst, since it's O Pness could be devastating). Think as if magical affinity is also part of a darwinist evolutionary proccess (and thus, it goes on and on).

They've been using magic for a very long time, though. The magical slider goes basically from Iron Weight 1 to Super Weight 3. You can count with one hand how many Hyper Weight characters are in the setting (until now, 4, and two of them lived in different times from the other two).

I'd say magic is fairly common in my setting (in the military, at least), and most of the wizards are not only capable of fighting on the front lines as they also use their magic to aid them in the middle of the battle. The squishiest of them stay in the rear, but even they know how to fight - even if just a bit. Those with little magical talent can at least throw fireballs and that sort of thing, even if it's not their focus.

Let me try to sum this up. The less magically apt soldier is still able to use simpler magic (throw fireballs, freeze things in a slow pace, throw rocks at others using earth magic, push others with moderate strength using the wind etc.), but only skilled wizards can use advanced magic, like the Ao E ones, or sending people flying with wind magic, or freeze others at a moderate pace, throw boulders with earth magic etc.

In an even shorter version: The average soldier can use simple magic, but it requires a lot of training and talent to use the more advanced ones, as far as the magical slider goes. Those who can use it are harder to find (but they do show up moderately). In one of the countries in the setting, they may even be promoted to nobles (if they weren't beforehand) and attain high positions in the military.

edited 24th Nov '13 2:06:55 PM by Rapier

Hmmmm okay. So sort of Proud Warrior Race, but instead of warriors think wizards? That sounds like a pretty scary army... Can the weaker casters boost the stronger ones or vice versa?

No, they aren't Proud Warrior Race guys. Imagine kingdoms with their average soldiers, except said average soldiers can use simple magic, and the most experienced of them (like high ranked soldiers, commanders, generals etc.) can use more advanced magic (with a few exceptions). That sums it up.

Trivia: There IS a Proud Warrior Race Kingdom in the setting, and they focus on the old, gold ways of getting their axe into an enemy's face. Their equipment also has a high resistance to magic. In short, they're basically mage killers. Luckily, magic is only one part of warfare.

edited 25th Nov '13 3:21:10 PM by Rapier