Great article! Mages are one of the most fun classes to play, in my opinion.

As far as using words for magic, if you pull from Wicca, or other earth based magic-using religions/groups here on earth, the words are used to gather the energy, and once enough is gathered a power word is used to release the magic towards the focus of the spell. Whether you believe in such things or not is irrelevant, this is just an example. Words are very powerful whether you are using them to cast a spell, tell a story or persuade a friend. Words have the power of communication, expression and knowledge, and that is what a mage is all about – knowledge.

Then of course, for spells that use a reagent, I kind of always viewed this as a magic storage container. The spell is stored in the reagent, and when used, it’s released and the reagent is destroyed. Whether it comes that way, or you have to work to store the spell prior to use I guess is up to you. When I purchase runes, I often envision my mage glancing through the bins of runes and picking up certain ones… “Oh! Stormwind runes are half-off this week!” or “I wonder if this arcane powder is cheaper at Fizzwigets.. I knew I should have kept that sales parchment..” Then during down times, my mage is taking empty runes and storing teleport spells inside. Just some of my thoughts. Sorry for the wall of text. 

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