This edition also includes what the game designer community would come to call the Vancian magic system.
[1]: 240 The idea of spell memorization was inspired by the way magic works in Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories.
It is the opinion of this writer that the most desirable game is one in which the various character types are able to compete with each other as relative equals, for that will maintain freshness in the campaign.
[8][10][11] The mechanical change of adding at-will and encounter powers "moved spell-casters away from the idea of 'Vancian' spell casting [...].
Since the publication of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977), magic has typically been divided into two main types: arcane, which comes from the world and universe around the caster, and divine, which is inspired from above (or below): the realms of gods and demons.
Your class helps determine that, and again this meta divide between divine and arcane can also provide a role-playing framework, and is this magic coming in service to a being or cause or are you in way manipulating reality to your own designs.
[22]Bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards learn to cast arcane spells, which are typically flashy and powerful.
Clerics, druids, rangers and paladins cast divine spells, which draw their power from a deity, from nature, or simply the caster's inner faith.
[22] Under the Vancian magic system, wizards would have access to spells that were committed to memory after a session of meditation upon a spellbook containing the details of the incantation.
[1]: 240 As the 3rd edition moved away from the Vancian magic system, some arcane spellcasters, such as sorcerers and bards, just knew their spells innately.
Others can delineate their magic to an extraplanar source, such as the shrouded lands of the Shadowfell, or the roiling chaos of Limbo".
The healing aspect is "influenced by Irish mythology" where bards use "music and storytelling to weave together this magic to restore vigor and health to other people".
[22] Cleric spells are typically devoted to either healing the wounded, restoring lost abilities, and acquiring blessings, or to inflict harm and to curse opponents.
Clerics also have the ability either to turn (drive off or destroy) or to rebuke (cow or command) undead, based on their alignment.
[14] Druid spells are typically devoted to communing with nature, interpreting or directing the weather, communicating with creatures and plants, and the like.
The core spheres are All (generic divine spells), Animal, Astral, Charm, Combat, Creation, Divination, Elemental (optionally divided into Air, Earth, Fire and Water sub-spheres), Healing, Necromancy, Plant, Protection, Summon, Sun and Weather.
Tome of Magic (1991) introduced the Chaos, Numbers, Law, Thought, Time, War and Wards spheres.
[12][25] Shannon Appelcline, author of Designers & Dragons, commented that "D&D 4e's primal power source focuses on transformation: the barbarian rages, the druid wild shapes, and the warden hybridizes.
[1]: 109 In 4th edition, spell schools are initially absent but were reintroduced with the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials supplement.
[13] In the Dark Sun campaign setting, arcane magic draws its power from the life force of plants or living creatures, with the potential to cause tremendous harm to the environment.
Due to the scarcity of natural resources on the fictional planet Athas, few wizards have access to books made of paper pages and hard covers; instead, they record their spells with string patterns and complex knots.
Unlike arcane magic, psionic abilities are accepted and revered in every strata of Athasian society.
[60][61]: 3–4 In previous editions, templars (casters who directly serve and derive their powers from the sorcerer-kings) were treated as a specialized form of cleric.
[57]: 62 Many templars are not clerics at all but instead warlocks who have pacted with their sorcerer-king and thus are entirely dependent on their patrons for their magical abilities.
Within the context of the Forgotten Realms, raw magic is characterized as difficult for mortals to access safely.
[65] The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (2015) states, "in two senses, both the metaphorical and the real, the goddess Mystra is the Weave.
[1]: 273 Dungeons & Dragons simplified Vance's formula "to a number of spell slots scaling with the player character's level".
[54] The 3.5 edition sourcebook Unearthed Arcana (2004) added optional rules to Dungeons & Dragons including variant systems for magic.
It expanded on the concept of incantations which were introduced in the d20 System Reference Document as part of the variant magic rules.
The player may simply state what the character does, or may embellish with sound effects or gestures to enhance the theatrics of the game.