Theurgy

Theurgy (/ˈθiːɜːrdʒi/; from Greek θεουργία, Theourgia) describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more gods, especially with the goal of uniting with the divine, achieving henosis, and perfecting oneself.

Definitions

Magic of Dungeons & Dragons

Magic of Dungeons & Dragons consists of spells used in the settings of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). D&D defined the genre of fantasy role-playing games, and remains the most popular. Many of the original spells have become widely used in the role-playing community, across many different fictional worlds, and across books, board games, video games, and movies.

The specific effects of each spell, and even the names of some spells, vary from edition to edition of the D&D corpus.

Origins

The idea of spell memorization is sometimes called "Vancian" in the game designer community, since its first use, in Dungeons & Dragons, was inspired by the way magic works in Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories.

d20 System

The current rules are based on the d20 System—a core set of rules which can be (and are) used as the basis for many games. Thus, many d20 games might use the D&D spell list, while others create their own or even replace the entire magic system.

Types