I’m not sure where the idea that conjured food is bland comes from. The one canon source that we have on the subject implies that conjured food is actually fairly tasty.
“There is nothing more enjoyable for a mage than creating a fresh slice of bread or a glass of water. Just ask any of us!”
“A summoned elemental is a formidable ally in combat, a great listener, and they even taste great!”
Regarding how taxing conjuring food is, to me it seems like the whole thing is more a matter of skill rather than mana reserves.
“More formidable specialists in conjuration can summon several glasses of water at once, or perhaps even a tankard.”
“Perhaps the most famous conjuror of our time, however, was the beloved Archmage Nielas Aran. Aran was not only noted for being able to summon several elementals at once, he also perfected a recipe for conjuring sparkling cider.”
Yeah. It’s always been my impression that conjured food can taste wonderful. But you will also have mages who will create bland, tasteless food. Or salty food etc. It would depend on the skill of the caster and experience with the spell.
I imagine the wards don’t cancel the spell, but redirect it. So all incoming portals and teleports are automatically redirected to the appropriate landing sites; this way even a less skilled caster can successfully teleport to the city, and it takes less effort for the professionals too.
Conjuration is the study of summoning - both creatures and objects. Ever really, really wanted a fresh drink of spring water when you’re in the middle of nowhere? Conjuration, my friend, is the answer. There is nothing more enjoyable for a mage than creating a fresh slice of bread or a glass of water. Just ask any of us!
More formidable specialists in conjuration can summon several glasses of water at once, or perhaps even a tankard. A few daring wizards have occasionally attempted to summon water without remembering the glass - and thus, the art of summoning water elementals was born. Water elementals are a wizard’s best friend. (Felhounds are not, in fact, friendly at all.) A summoned elemental is a formidable ally in combat, a great listener, and they even taste great!
Though this creates even more questions than it delivers answers. If conjuring water is truly that difficult, how can frost mages create a massive ice lance? Perhaps there is some distinction between drinkable water and conjured ice?
Drinking your water elemental seems rather cruel as well.
I’m unsure, but didn’t the first “conjure food” spell in vanilla use to summon water? I don’t think it’s really that difficult, honestly. Especially because we have frostmages, like you mentioned. Perhaps the difficulty there was conjuring the glasses or the tankard.
Frankly I think it’s just an oversight from Blizzard’s side, and I agree that a simple glass of water should probably be within the reach of a novice conjurer as well.
Food on the other hand may be more difficult simply due to the fact that you need all sorts of nutrients to provide proper nourishment, but that’s just speculation from my side.
I see it in the D&D way.
Conjured food is magic pretty much and does not give real sustainment.
If has an epphimeral effect like something conjured for X time. Think of a magical lantern, or some druid roots … they last X time then they automatically undo unless focus (and thus energy draining on the caster) is kept.
The person eating conjured food feels (in the way of an illusion) sated to a degree but after X time, the effect dissipates and they’re hungry again.
In general I apply common sense, otherwise horde of mage apprentices or the like were sent to Westfall, and the like, and some regions would not have suffered mass famine as well.
But…DnD food does give sustainment. It’s explicitly called out as being ‘(highly) nourishing, if bland’. But you can fix the blandness with a different spell (a cantrip, even).
The reason it doesn’t ruin the economy* is because it costs a very valuable spellslot that casters may want to be spending on something else, and it goes bad after 24 hours so it could only ever be used locally. A 3rd level spellslot to feed 15** people per day may work in a siege situation, but chances are you’ve not got that many level 5+ clerics running around with spellslots to spare for your day-to-day stuff. WoW…doesn’t have that sort of direct restriction. It seems to be easier to cast and there’s a lot more spellcasters running around these days.
*unless you get into Tippyverse shenanigans
**in 5e
Even if there was a horde of mage apprentices (who are capable of creating food) available in lore to send to Westfall, they would have to stay there to keep producing the food while neglecting their other duties.
And let´s not forget that Westfall had pretty small population that got massively increased by people who lost their living during war against Lich King and Westfall became pretty much the only place they could migrate to. The whole situation there during Cata is result of negligence on the side of Stormwind, not some natural disaster.
(Also, a reminder, WoW is much more about themes than consistency so using a zone where Blizzard went for “homeless city people being dumb and making mud pies, also CSI” as proof of why magic works in the lore is sort of missing the mark)
Thanks for all the new replies as for the books of different schools I believe they should be taken with a grain of salt since they seem to be added as a little humorous element?
I think they’re intentional lore, but it’s also lore from the Kirin Tor’s flawed perspective. Heck, the only reason they’re separated like that is because that’s how the KT do it. Arcanists of other races (trolls, elves) could/should view it totally differently.
Conjured food is mana acting like food. Arcane basically acts the way you mimic it to be, but it’s still arcane and mana.
Conjured fire acts and feel like fire, but it’s arcane in disguise (I believe it burns much shorter). Same with offensive frost spells.
Blood Elves and Nightborne used their Wells as sustenance when they ran out of food. Both became imbued with a lot of Arcane, while the Nightborne were altered from the Pillar of Creation (Eye of Aman’thul).
The headcanon is pretty persuasive that a mage could feed people, but using so many resources for it is impractical and falls flat at a certain scale. A mage could reliably keep 1-2 (one of them being themselves if they aren’t eating outside food) people fed forever. WoW doesn’t think about vitamins and minerals you get from food, so it’s headcanon regarding conjured food.
The driving comparison was pretty good. Portals mess with the leylines. A well prepared one only hampers it and a quick, hasty one will either use a big portion of the casters energy, a big portion of the leylines energy, or is inaccurate on exit location.
At the end of the day, give your character flaws for their strengths. Not only will it give balance, but brings synergy with other RPers, but give you situations where you have to think differently.
Felfire is said to be all but impossible to extinguish, and fel is simply another way of conjuring it. So I doubt arcane fire has to be worse than natural fire.
Fel is it’s own source though and seem “stronger” than arcane, for example can portals last longer with fel than with arcane, but I don’t know about the fire thing, I have a vague memory of reading it before
as for the books of different schools I believe they should be taken with a grain of salt since they seem to be added as a little humorous element?