BoLS Prime: ‘The Dying Earth’ Brought Magic to D&D
Have you ever wondered why magic works the way it does in D&D? Turns out it’s all thanks to one series of novels.
Magic fits into a strange structure in D&D. For something as many-splendored as magic, there sure are a lot of rules.
Wizards, in particular, have to memorize a certain number of spells. And they can only cast a few times per day before they run out of magic. It’s this real complicated process that has been a part of D&D since the beginning.
All of this illustrates a sort of pastiche that we might just brush off as “well that’s fantasy…” And sure, it is fantasy of a sort. But it has its roots somewhere. These ideas, which many hold to be self-evident, don’t describe every branch of fantasy out there.
We can all agree wizards and elves have their place. But one only need look at the works of authors like Ursula K Le Guin or Joan Aiken to find fantasy of a very different sort– even when it features wizards and dragons.
But Wizards are different from story to story. Sometimes they’re clever, like in Le Guin’s work, where their mastery of names lets them transform the world.
Other books have wizards attending a magical boarding school. There, magic does everything from levitate your wand to make your poop disappear.
Why then, does D&D’s magic leave its casters so frail? The answer comes from a series called The Dying Earth by author Jack Vance.
The Dying Earth
This book is where we get the term “Vancian Magic.” It laid the foundation for how magic worked in D&D. But as the editions changed, the system has been something that the designers have been working to fix throughout the editions.
Sometimes it’s whether with new rulesets or player kits. Other times, it’s things like Cantrips, which ensure you never have a boring session after casting a single, solitary magic missile.
Jack Vance is reportedly one of Gary Gygax’ favorite authors. You can feel the influence of his work on magic-users in D&D. It’s also the reason there’s probably a lot of sci-fi sprinkled in throughout D&D.
The story is set in the distant future of Earth, when the sun is nearing the end of its life and the sky is lit by its fading light.
The world of The Dying Earth is a post-post-post apocalyptic one. where the ruins of uncountable civilizations dot the land, littering the world with the fragments of their passage.
You might find ancient technology, but to the people who lack understanding, it may as well be magic. And so you have wizards who memorize and “load” a handful of spells. They do this by studying lengthy formulas which they then activate by speaking the proper commands.
Once cast, the spell is gone from their memory and unavailable to the wizard until they have time to rest and rememorize the formula. But it’s implied that the magic here is actually technology– advanced mathematics and sciences long forgotten by the people in this distant future.
Spells that require specific formula and somatic/material components to activate? That sounds like D&D’s Magic System.
The trick here, though, is that Vancian magic stops at the fact that magic = limited resource/spell slots. But in The Dying Earth, Wizards have other tools they can rely on, like magical relics, skills, and special talents.
A big part of the action and fun of the Dying Earth series is watching wizards scrape by once they’ve spent their limited store of magic. Or watching them try to save a spell for something that really matters. Frequently you’ll watch them trying a lot more than just stabbing someone with a dagger that does 1d4 damage, if they can even hit.
Even the spell names mirror those found in D&D. Spells are named “the Excellent Prismatic Spray” or “Phandaal’s Mantle of Stealth”. Both are much cooler spell names than Pass without Trace.
But D&D takes more than just the magic systems from The Dying Earth. This is also where Ioun Stones appear. But rather than magic gemstones that are just around, they’re more metal in the novels.
In The Dying Earth, IOUN Stones are harvested from the core of neutron stars after they’re left shattered and fragmented by the Nothing at the edge of the universe. The dead hearts of stars are pretty awesome, as far as magic items go.
And if you’ve ever played a thief or rogue, you also owe a lot to The Dying Earth. Specifically to the third book in the series, Cugel’s Saga.
The series’ titular character, Cugel the Clever, is a sort of ur-rogue who is curiously able to decipher magical scripts and to use certain spells. But it doesn’t always work the way he hopes. But that’s the whole reason that Use Magic Device ever existed in D&D in the first place.
Or consider Liane, a “bandit-troubadour”, who is a vain and overconfident adventurer. Liane is always seeking wine, women, and song, and sets out on quests to win the affections of a beautiful witch.
If you’re wondering where the idea of a Bard came from, sure, you can claim storytelling traditions from real world cultures like Skalds all you like. But they also have their roots in Vance’s saga.
Gygax was such a fan of Vance that he took his name, anagrammed it just a little, and created Vecna, the archlich of D&D. It was a fitting choice for the god of secrets.
And that’s why magic is the way it is in D&D.
Happy Adventuring!
