It is well-known that mages like to collect all kinds of spells in their spellbooks. If you roleplay a mage, what interesting spells do they know that aren’t found on their action bar in-game?
Personally, while I don’t keep a precise list of spells that Lintian knows, here are some custom ones that were established in RP:
A spell to summon and precisely and slowly move (instead of hurling) a globule of fire, taught to her by a pandaren pyromancer.
A spell for two-way telepathic communication that requires an item given by the recipient as a physical focus.
A spell of her own devising to remove tattoos from skin on touch. Its intended use was to remove night elf facial markings.
Any that your mage knows? They can be anything from powerful game-changing ones to simple flavor!
So technically it is in the game, but it’s a PVP talent so it’s only available with warmode or PVP flagged on, which is the Ice Wall talent which does exactly as you’d expect. It makes a wall of ice that enemies can’t pass through, which to me feels very much like it should be part of the mage’s arsenal.
Not just dealing damage, but being able to strategically reshape terrain, create chokepoints for opposing forces, block off retreats or cut off persuers - that’s a big part of the mage fantasy and outside of Blizzard and Ring of Frost, we don’t get much of that in the base kit.
Indeed. When I play a wizard in D&D, to me it’s not so much about damage as about battlefield control and utility. It’s a shame WoW doesn’t really lean into that because of how the game is structured.
My mage, Opa, focuses on illusions, and they are fitted to be a downgraded version of mirror image. They don’t cast spells, attack. They are made simply to perform actions for storytelling.
From that, if she is forced to fight, she uses one of her illusions as a focus, channeling power into it and making it appear as if the illusion is the one casting spells, keeping attention away from her.
Xiao can conjure Ice Gauntlets around her fists in combat, inspired by the Undermine tier-set gloves, which has been really fun. A good way to blend the magician/monk fantasy that I try to run with Xiao!
Tapping into echoes left behind via the Law of Sympathy. The character has a natural-born talent for it, which is how they first realised their magical potential. Take away all else, and their affinity for the Law of Sympathy remains at the core of the character.
The Lore preamble
According to The Last Guardian () everyone leaves behind a little imprint or an aura of themselves on every object they touch. This phenomenon has been given the in-universe name of Law of Sympathy. The stronger the emotional bond, the stronger the imprint, and mages can use it to relive memories associated with it, including how someone died by touching their bones, as Khadgar discovered as an apprentice.
In the same book, it’s also demonstrated that mages can read letters without opening the seal this way by reading the imprint of the writer’s thoughts reinforcing each word as they were written—further giving also insight into whether the words written were actually truthful, or if the author of the letter is lying. Medivh claims you can absorb entire books’ worth of knowledge this way by touch, but the Big Book Industry doesn’t want you to know this trick. Spellwork also leaves behind an aura with a little piece of yourself that can be used to identify the caster—though this will dissipate with time.
Items with strong bonds to their owner can also be used to track down the person. With a lock of hair and a measure of blood, there’s nowhere a person can hide, and they can also be used to directly influence the person through sympathetic magic if one is maliciously inclined.
Khadgar also uses it in the novel to enhance his sight with a spell to detect items of importance that have been recently touched by highlighting latent sympathetic imprints on them.
Utilising the Law of Sympathy is considered an Apprentice-level feat and they’re expected to understand the mechanics of its application. Whether they devote time to mastering the skill is an individual choice, however.
How I use it in RP
In addition to using it for the canon examples above, as an occultist and a cursebreaker, my mage uses it to investigate supernatural crimes and occult phenomenon. Scenes of violent murder are often emotionally loaded, so they tend to leave behind an echo—though several deaths happening at once can overlap, causing it to become a blur of emotions and despair. I often leave it up to the narrator to decide how much information or clues it can reveal so as to not spoil the entire story right away.
Since it has been demonstrated to be able to detect the thoughts of a writer reinforcing their written words, I’ve also headcanoned that it can be used (if the user is skilled) to detect sympathetic echoes being made in the moment. An enemy priming themselves to commit violence is often emotionally charged (though animals, undead, and mechanical and unthinking entities should logically reveal nothing), and a skilled mage might sense their intent to attack a second before—though whether they successfully defend themselves is another matter.
Just because you know an archer intends to shoot you doesn’t mean you know where they are. I only do it when rolling successfully against ambushes to explain the successful outcome.
This is a fun topic idea! In fairness, most of the spells Thyasa uses are not on the spell list, as the spells we see in the books are often far more creative than fireball and frostbolt. I’ll post a few she has employed over the years I’ve been RPing her.
Quicksand: a transmutation spell designed to trap foes in difficult terain. If applicable she’ll reverse the spell to trap them more permanently.
Conjured chains: typically these are actual chains used to bind her opponents.
Animated objects: this can go whichever way, such as animating weapons or statues to fight for her, or to enchant a broom to clean up the house. She has used this several times to disarm and turn her foes’ weapons against them.
Silence: a fun little spell she often uses on those she considers too talkative.
Water repelling charm: always effective on rainy days and you don’t need to cover your head with an ugly hat.
I also have another mage who uses more Dream inspired spells, such as Sleep, and who can semi-Dreamwalk through the use of a Green Dragon artifact. He uses it to practise divination.
As an enchanter, Danrek often use rune traps.
(Influenced by his father-hunter teachings)
For example:
Flashing Rune - When activated, flashing with bright light.
(Have many uses, such like: blinding, distraction, sending a signal etc.)
Rune of Grip - When stepped on, arcane hands burst from the floor and grapple the target’s legs. (Functions like Hold Person, but flavor is physical grip.)
Rune of the Anchor - Creates a gravity field that pins a creature to the ground, increasing their weight.
(Halves movement speed, prevents jumping/flying.)
I like the potential of mundane uses of magic because why wouldn’t you? Staying warm in winter with a flame ward, chilling your drink in the blistering summer, levitating the book you’re reading, reversing time as you slip on that banana peel…
The Bronze dragonflight, seeing the misuse of magic, strategically positioning a rake for the mage to step on - the mistake must happen for the timeline to be true.
I have lots of mages and try to RP each one’s magic differently. Some of my favourites (on characters I don’t RP anymore) have been:
For one of them, I’ve stolen a spell Oromis performed in the Inheritance books by Paolini in order to apply a chain of convoluted curses like tied strings all mixed together. Much like the original wielder of said magic in the books, my mage also used it on his apprentices in order to give them a better (and brutal) understand of dispelling. It’d be a bit too much to use in any other setting though.
My Forsaken mage has an entire system of spells which allow her to automatically transcribe her memories and all she sees and learns into an endless tome. She’s a bit of a wacky concept, her brain in undeath has been significantly affected by rot, so she can’t remember much without her book.
They actually have used it in-game in a quest! Khadgar uses it in Legion on Broken Shore to transcribe memories left behind by the initial battle into a book to preserve them.
) everyone leaves behind a little imprint or an aura of themselves on every object they touch. This phenomenon has been given the in-universe name of Law of Sympathy. The stronger the emotional bond, the stronger the imprint, and mages can use it to relive memories associated with it, including how someone died by touching their bones, as Khadgar discovered as an apprentice.