Magic schools

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Were you looking for magic schools in World of Warcraft, or magic schools in the Warcraft RPG?

This article is about lore behind magic schools. It contains a list of all schools of magic in published sources and lore behind them. The final section discusses how mechanics in the MMO do not necessarily fit with the published lore.

Contents 1 Paths 2 Divine domains 3 Rune magic 3.1 Rune types 3.2 Rune Patterns (aka families) 4 Branches 4.1 Divine branches 4.2 Arcane branches 4.3 Miscellaneous branches 5 Schools 6 Subschools 7 Descriptor 8 Special powers 9 The World of Warcraft MMO Schools

Paths

Most spells fall into two main categories; arcane and divine. All magic on Azeroth came from the kaldorei, both divine and later arcane.^{APG 123} However, not all magic fits neatly into these two categories. Other magic types lurk outside or within arcane and divine, powerful and strange in their own rights. For example Priests have access to divine magic, while druids wield nature magic.^{DF 64} One of the most sinister is fel magic.^{WoWRPG 252}

• Arcane - cast by arcanists
• Divine - cast by healers and experienced paladins
• Fel Magic - Often a darker form of Arcane.
• Rune Magic - Arcane in nature but accessed more naturally.
• Nature Magic (aka druidic magic^{DF 146}) - Usually divine in nature, but also can be arcane.

Divine domains

Divine domains describe healer spells and help define divine spells.^{WoWRPG 255}

• Arcana^{DF 90}
• Animal
• Ancestors

Magic derived from the worship of ancestors, and by the power of ancestors is the ancestor domain. Several faiths believe in ancestral worship, including tauren, orcs, and tuskarr.

• Crusader^{DF 90}
• Death
• Destruction
• Elements
• Fortelling
• Healing
• Madness

The madness domain is magic often derived from chaotic and terrible sources such as the old gods. It grants power to certain nihilistic cults or crazed priests^DF .

• Power
• Protection
• Spirits

Spirits has some overlap with the Elements and the Ancestors domain. It can cover abilities dealing with ancestral spirits, voodoo spirits and elemental spirits/spirits of nature.

• War
• Wild

Rune magic

Rune types

• Marks

A rune inscribed on a creature.^{M&M 25}

• Glyphs

Runes inscribed on an object.^{M&M 25}

• Sigils

Runes inscribed on a surface subsequently acts as the rune's trigger.^{M&M 25}

Rune Patterns (aka families)

• Awarness family
• Beast family
• Flame pattern
• Frost pattern
• Healing family
• Motion family
• Restoration family
• Shielding family
• Stone pattern
• Storm pattern
• Striking family

Branches

Branches mentioned in the lore in the RPG and other sources.

Divine branches

• Nature (Elune & the Ancients)
• Shamanism
• Holy (aka Light)
• Voodoo^{M&M 9}

Arcane branches

• Fel Magic (aka fel energy or shadow magic)
• Rune magic (runes manifest magical power that is arcane in nature)
• Nature (rare arcane variation^{LG #?})
• Fire Magic (a subcategory of arcane magic.^{DF 166})

Miscellaneous branches

• Earth Magic^{DF 204}

Schools

Cutting across the categories of arcane and divine spells are the eight schools of magic. These schools represent the different ways that spells take effect.^{WoWRPG 255}

• Abjuration - one who specializes in abjuration would be known as as an abjurer.
• Conjuration - one who specializes in conjuration is known as a conjurer.
• Divination - one who specializes in divination would most likely be known as a diviner.
• Necromancy (aka necromantic magic)- one who specializes in Necromancy is known as a necromancer.
• Enchantment - one who specializes in enchanting is known as an enchanter.
• Transmutation - one who specilizes in transmutation would be known as a transmuter
• Evocation - one who specializes in evocation is known as an evoker. Queen Azshara is the inventor of most evocation spells.^{S&L 76}
• Illusion - one who specializes in illusion is known as an illusionist
• Universal - Spell falls under all eight categories. Not a true school.

Subschools

The main schools split into several subschools. Some of the subschool categories can be found within more than one school.

• Healing
• Calling
• Charm
• Compulsion
• Summoning
• Creation
• Glamer
• Figment
• Pattern
• Phantasm
• Scrying
• Shadow
• Soul
• Teleportation

Descriptor

A descriptor further categorizes spells in some way. Some spells have more than one descriptor. Descriptors govern how the spell interacts with other spells, with special abilities, with unusual creatures, with alignment, and so on.^{WoWRPG 258}

• Acid
• Air
• Blessing
• Chaotic
• Cold
• Darkness
• Death
• Earth (aka earth magic)
• Electricity
• Evil
• Fear
• Fel
• Fire (aka fire magic)

Fire magic is a subcategory of arcane magic.^{DF 166}

• Force
• Good
• Language-Dependent
• Lawful
• Light
• Mind-affecting
• Seal
• Sonic
• Totem
• Water

Special powers

These magical discriptions usually have ties to enchantments or enhancements or bonus abilities on items.

• Frost/Ice
• Holy
• Unholy
• Shadow
• Positive
• Negative
• Nature

The World of Warcraft MMO Schools

The World of Warcraft MMO has schools that are used for game mechanics and may not fit into the lore described in other sources.

• Arcane - Not considered a school, but instead it is a path of magic (fire and frost fall under this path for example).
• Fire - Not considered a school, but an elemental descripter. Fire magic is a subcategory of the arcane magic.^{DF 166}
• Frost - Not considered a school, but an elemental descripter.
• Nature - Not considered a school, but a branch of divine magic & sometimes arcane. In some cases it is considered its own branch (covering all spells that a druid would cast for example).
• Shadow - Not considered a school, but instead its a subschool.
• Holy - Not a school, but instead is a branch within the divine path of magic.

Not technically magic:

• Physical