Dangerous magic. Good examples?

[Cryomancer]

Many games have magic dangerous in lore but safe in gameplay. The most iconic example is WoW. Fel magic is in lore extremely dangerous. In gameplay, is exactly the same of Arcane magic. A good example of magic being a dangerous is from Conan Exiles. A bad example is from Age of Conan, from the same developers. Some iconic RPGs only have dangerous magic for very few spells, like summon elemental in BG2 which can be turned against the caster. Warhammer Online implemented the magical backlash mechanic for Bright Wizards and Sorcerers, spamming fire/dark magic left and right can be devastating but more the caster uses, greater is the chance of it 'backfiring", sadly the game din't made daemon summoning from magus risky.

The new Warhammer Rogue Trader CRPG, seems to implement psyker powers in a interesting way. More you use, more the "veil" between the reality and the immaterial is damaged and weird things can happen.

 

[Average Manatee]

System Shock 2 psi powers can all be overloaded for greater effect, but if you overload too hard it backfires and damages you. Curiously there's next to nothing in the lore of SS2 that I can recall talking about how psi powers are dangerous and risky to use. If it was a modern game it'd deal 1/10th as much damage to overload and there would be 5 different crew logs warning about the mechanic in the first area of the game.

 

[octavius]

Aleshar: World of Ice. Casting spells is not for the faint hearted.

 

[madbringer]

Real life example: jewish blood rituals. Bloodletting young Christian boys will give you power, but will forever cement ur status as a vampire. Also condemn u to hell. Also magic is not real so u cannibalized blood just to give everyone else an excuse to hate u.

Dont eat matzas, fellas.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Not many. Beyond demon and elemental summoning, wild mage in BG2 is dangerous for threat of a surge.

Similar to System Shock 2, Freedom Force has a chance to fail the ability and stun the user if the player empowers it beyond their existing action points. All magic in Betrayal at Krondor uses Stamina and then Health in order to cast it. One can severely injure themself if desperate enough. That's not quite the same though.

 

[Whipping Post]

ADOM. Someone posted on the forums saying they lost a char by holding down the A key to dump their inventory. After that it went into the Alchemy menu, mixed two potions together and blew them up.

 

[Fedora Master]

Shut the fuck up about magic.

 

[Cryomancer]

Aleshar: World of Ice. Casting spells is not for the faint hearted.

Is how? I din't found much info about it.

ADOM. Someone posted on the forums saying they lost a char by holding down the A key to dump their inventory. After that it went into the Alchemy menu, mixed two potions together and blew them up.

Seems interesting

 

[Whipping Post]

Seems interesting

It has its tactical uses as well. Players with fire immunity will deliberately mix incompatible potions to blow enemies up.

 

[Lady Error]

In Grimoire there are powerful Arcane and Eldritch spells that can drive you insane when you learn them. Though the spells themselves rarely backfire and the insanity can be slept off or cured with another spells.

 

[octavius]

Aleshar: World of Ice. Casting spells is not for the faint hearted.

Is how? I din't found much info about it.

If your skill is low, your character risks a heart attack every time casting a spell.

 

[V_K]

Aleshar: World of Ice. Casting spells is not for the faint hearted.

Is how? I din't found much info about it.

If your skill is low, your character risks a heart attack every time casting a spell.

IIRC it wasn't tied to skill as much as to stamina. The more exhausted you are (and magic drains stamina more than anything else), the higher the chance of heart attack. Low skill just increases the stamina cost, so even weak spells are dangerous. But you could also die of a heart failure if you've exhausted yourself with spells and then try performing a regular melee attack.
Magic in Aleshar is dangerous also in the sense that the main quest is about escaping the world-dominating cult that hunts magic users.

 

[Dadd]

You can blow up an inn you're staying at while making potions in Darklands.

 

[laclongquan]

The Witcher 1, Alchemy system.

Potions general come with its own poison points~ Drinking too much migh lead to poisoning~

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Many games have magic dangerous in lore but safe in gameplay.

dragon age origins magic in general, but blood magic especially
game also frequently ignores it in story contexts too, very inconsistent about it

 

[Pocgels]

Paradox mage from TOME4.

 

[CHEMS]

System Shock 2 psi powers can all be overloaded for greater effect, but if you overload too hard it backfires and damages you. Curiously there's next to nothing in the lore of SS2 that I can recall talking about how psi powers are dangerous and risky to use. If it was a modern game it'd deal 1/10th as much damage to overload and there would be 5 different crew logs warning about the mechanic in the first area of the game.

It's a huge psicotronic thingie jammed into your arm, doesn't take much brains to imagine that overcharging it might be a little painful

But then again, modern vydia players are not very smart to begin with..

 

[Average Manatee]

But then again, modern vydia players are not very smart to begin with..

Always remember that tutorials are not just made for modern gamers, but modern games journalists too.

 

[buffalo bill]

In Infra Arcana, you accrue insanity from every spell cast, which causes semi-permanent issues when enough builds up, and can eventually cause a game over. There is also a chance for spells to cause unexpected additional results, like setting things on fire around you or moving walls around or summoning eldritch tentacles. IMO it is the best magic system I've ever encountered, especially since non-combat utility spells are very useful.

In Caves of Qud, psionics (the game's equivalent of magic) comes with a cost that extra-dimensional psionic hunters are more and more aware of you the more psionic power that you have, leading to more frequent encounters with more and more powerful hunters.

 

[Hagashager]

You mentioned Rogue Trader. In the Fantasy Flight Warhammer 40K PnP RPGs like Dark Heresy Psykers are at terrible risk of having their magic fuck them up.

Un-altered, casting a spell and rolling doubles (11, 22, 33 etc.) Causes a Psychic Phenomena- a list of increasingly inconvenient though not lethal effects. Roll above a 75 on that chart and you get a Peril of the Warp which is another chart that can range from having a limb explode, an unbound demon summoned, or the Warp just swallows you.

Pushing a spell automatically triggers a phenomena which in turn can trigger a peril more frequently. If you're like me, especially in Black Crusade, *always push*. Some of my absolute most memorable and favorite PnP stories are of my unbound Tzeetchian Psyker who believed his sorcery to be all encompassing and *always pushed*.

Once summoned a Bloodthirster trying to telekinetically open a door.

 

[Harthwain]

Baldur's Gate had Wild Mages - essentially 5% chance for something to go differently than planned.

In Mordheim: City of the Damned there is a chance for a spell to fail (have no effect) and/or to have a negative effect. Consecutive use of magic by the caster increases the chances of this happening. I like this, because it reinforces the feeling that the use of magic is dangerous and shouldn't be taken lightly.