To all the LitRPG authors…

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

What I mean by "unplayable" is your pyromancer in the golem factory scenario.

It sure makes a lot of real world sense to have the player be dogshit in that area.
But if so, why would they spend time and whatever monetization resource the game in question charges to play it?

One possible solution is the magic damage.
A basic fire spell would then deal say one fourth of its damage as magic.
The enemies have resistances in the respective damage types, which in this example would be high fire and average to low magic.
Sure, you're still better in the forest of wizard ents while its the other way around for a pure sorcerer, but its playable, at least.

OP skills are cancer, I agree with you on that, but game elements are the chosen explanation, not the culprit here, imo.

In a videogame, yes. It makes absolute sense to give everyone the chance to kill a monster and progress. Reality? Not at all. LitRPG's are not always a game world, and I'm pointing that out. Magic dealing a different kind of damage is exclusively a game mechanic. All I'm saying is have your magic make sense, even if that sounds contradictory. Pyromancy isn't just damage, you can have a fire shield that blocks projectiles if they're not a fire-proof material.

How do you define 'magic damage' tho? It is a handwaved mechanic in games precisely to downplay it and also give everyone a different mechanic they have to keep in mind. If a character in your novel, which I assume is their own reality and not a coded videogame, has a really good protective armor that insulates their body from outside physical damage, why does fire go through it? Does fire not interact with physical reality? If their vit stat makes their body tougher and durable, does it not also increase the amount of thermal/kinetic energy they can sustain before being injured? Are universal laws broken solely for the purpose of making wizards shine? Why can't a wizard simply have realistic magic and handle fire at 1400 degrees celsius? Or 500 as I mentioned before. Why is Wizard a starting class at all? Why can a wizard handle fire and not be burn by it? Explain all that, make your world be realistic according to universal laws, and you'll have a solid and logical world.

In my own novel, Pyromancer is a class people can get after the base Wizard. They learn to insulate their bodies from the fire they cast otherwise they simply burn to death because fire kills. This takes a lot of time to learn, similar to perfecting a sword technique or a healing spell (also depending on the understanding of the user). Intelligence (the stat), dictates the spell's temperature and how fast the pyromancer casts the spell. This way, leveling up also strenghtens the spell by a linear, observable magnitude. The spell itself also becomes more efficient and can grow in range and scope by usage. The weakest fire a pyromancer can cast burns at 120 degrees celsius like a cool flame (something that happens in reality), so it makes sense when considering stats, levels, time, and results. This wont burn any metal, but will burn the flesh of 'weak' creatures.

 

[Zirrboy]

How do you define 'magic damage' tho? It is a handwaved mechanic in games precisely to downplay it and also give everyone a different mechanic they have to keep in mind. If a character in your novel, which I assume is their own reality and not a coded videogame, has a really good protective armor that insulates their body from outside physical damage, why does fire go through it? Does fire not interact with physical reality? If their vit stat makes their body tougher and durable, does it not also increase the amount of thermal/kinetic energy they can sustain before being injured? Are universal laws broken solely for the purpose of making wizards shine? Why can't a wizard simply have realistic magic and handle fire at 1400 degrees celsius? Or 500 as I mentioned before. Why is Wizard a starting class at all? Why can a wizard handle fire and not be burn by it? Explain all that, make your world be realistic according to universal laws, and you'll have a solid and logical world.

"Magic" damage would be the same as any other. Attacks deal a certain amount, gear and stats reduce the actual damage taken. Against "magic plating", the it'd be the fire that comes through.
The base defense of someone a lot stronger would make it pointless to damage them even if they have no adequate gear.
So the only effect I see is making insurmountable defense harder to achieve.

In my own novel, Pyromancer is a class people can get after the base Wizard. They learn to insulate their bodies from the fire they cast otherwise they simply burn to death because fire kills. This takes a lot of time to learn, similar to perfecting a sword technique or a healing spell (also depending on the understanding of the user). Intelligence (the stat), dictates the spell's temperature and how fast the pyromancer casts the spell. This way, leveling up also strenghtens the spell by a linear, observable magnitude. The spell itself also becomes more efficient and can grow in range and scope by usage. The weakest fire a pyromancer can cast burns at 120 degrees celsius like a cool flame (something that happens in reality), so it makes sense when considering stats, levels, time, and results. This wont burn any metal, but will burn the flesh of 'weak' creatures.

Then why make it Lit-Rpg in the first place? Just to note: I haven't read it.
But from what you say here, it doesn't actually seem necessary.
And if you accept arbitrary numbers affecting a real world in one case, why not the other?

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

"Magic" damage would be the same as any other. Attacks deal a certain amount, gear and stats reduce the actual damage taken. Against "magic plating", the it'd be the fire that comes through.
The base defense of someone a lot stronger would make it pointless to damage them even if they have no adequate gear.
So the only effect I see is making insurmountable defense harder to achieve.

You're not defining magic damage as a different form to affect reality, fam. The same as any other? See, that makes no sense when explaining why a weak flame harms a metal monster.

Then why make it Lit-Rpg in the first place? Just to note: I haven't read it.
But from what you say here, it doesn't actually seem necessary.
And if you accept arbitrary numbers affecting a real world in one case, why not the other?

They are not arbitraty numbers, tho, It's a part of reality given name and measurement within a logical system.
Arbitrary: based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system.
I'm not saying magic damage is arbitrary, but that it's only purpose is in games and that's fine. If I punch you, I'm not dealing 5 damage. I'm hitting your face with 1 tonne of kinetic force. The same should apply if I throw an arcane ball at your face, for example.

You're thinking GameLIT, not LitRPG.

 

[Zirrboy]

You're not defining magic damage as a different form to affect reality, fam. The same as any other? See, that makes no sense when explaining why a weak flame harms a metal monster.

Oh, that's what you're asking. You talked about mechanics before, so that's what I thought.
A wave of mana. I this case a leftover due to spell inefficiency for example. Because it was incorrectly channeled, it becomes volatile and disrupts/inhibits magic circuits. So beings that have magic as a vital part of their organism, like I'd expect those moving tungsten block to, take damage from it.

They are not arbitraty numbers, tho, It's a part of reality given name and measurement within a logical system.
Arbitrary: based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system.
I'm not saying magic damage is arbitrary, but that it's only purpose is in games and that's fine. If I punch you, I'm not dealing 5 damage. I'm hitting your face with 1 tonne of kinetic force. The same should apply if I throw an arcane ball at your face, for example.

Arbitrary in that it affects some aspects of reality while leaving others untouched in a way that for me does not make for an objectively irrefutable whole.
Spell fire burns without fuel, lightning does not discharge into the ground, but as soon as they hit something, everything has to have a real world explanation?

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

Arbitrary in that it affects some aspects of reality while leaving others untouched in a way that for me does not make for an objectively irrefutable whole.
Spell fire burns without fuel, lightning does not discharge into the ground, but as soon as they hit something, everything has to have a real world explanation?

I gave you the definition for the word 'arbitrary'. Definitions are not arbitrary so as to change meaning based on what you think they mean. That's called being wrong. You're looking for 'Inconsistent'.
Who has ever said fire spells burn without fuel? State that the mana the character is spending to cast said spell is used as fuel. Everything needs an in-world explanation for consistency. That's why games make sense: Magic damage is stated to deal a different kind of damage. It makes sense in-world.
Logic makes a novel easier to understand even if it has a convoluted system.
My point was that 'magic damage' makes no sense outside of a game world.
Again, you're thinking GameLIT.

Oh, that's what you're asking. You talked about mechanics before, so that's what I thought.
A wave of mana. I this case a leftover due to spell inefficiency for example. Because it was incorrectly channeled, it becomes volatile and disrupts/inhibits magic circuits. So beings that have magic as a vital part of their organism, like I'd expect those moving tungsten block to, take damage from it.

Now that's an explanation. It makes sense in-world and is not handwaved with numbers or lazy terminology. It makes sense because you defined that golems have magical circuits in this specific case. You didn't just say 'they have low magic resistance'. Now, you'd have to also explain why people who have mana inside them and are able to cast spells do not have something similar to those magical circuits in them that could be disrupted/inhibited by that. Or they do, and that makes them vulnerable to this mana wave you mentioned to some extent. That's the kind of explanation I'm talking about.

 

[Zirrboy]

I gave you the definition for the word 'arbitrary'. Definitions are not arbitrary so as to change meaning based on what you think they mean. That's called being wrong. You're looking for 'Inconsistent'.

This goes besides the point, but if so, who could with absolute certainty claim they have understood one?

I'm using arbitrary since for me the "intentional" whimsicality is a core aspect, but yes, I could have used inconsistent.

My point was that 'magic damage' makes no sense outside of a game world.

In that sense any "damage" exists only in a game world. Fire and lightning destroy tissue with thermal, physical attacks with kinetic energy.

We could play the flaw game for near eternity, for example me saying that pyromancers would asphyxiate themselves in any enclosed spaces or with big spells, to which you could respond by saying that the mana substitutes both reagents or simply make it a real issue they have to deal with.

At some point we'd hopefully get a system that fulfills all author requirements and is robust enough to survive even the most questioning reader.
But unless asked, there'd be little point to force the entire 400 pages of magic theory that required onto them in the course of the story.
So, without having read what you complained about, the inconsistency for me is that you're giving the benefit of the doubt to one, but not the other.