[Aldrahil]

Something I was wondering (actually came up in a conversation with my girlfriend, as horrendously sad as that is) is, when casting a spell of any kind, where does the magic really manifest itself from ? As in, does the deadly fireball shoot from your finger tips, or does it appear in between your two cupped hands like a Kamae-Hame-Ha ?

Was really thinking of ways that spells could backfire, and what effect they could have I.E. the Fireball emerging from your fingertips goes back into your arm, obliterating the inside of your arm, or, say, the Fireball inbetween your hands explodes fiercely, almost melting your two hands away ?

[Cuilean]

Nowhere is it directly stated how magic is defined; whether it is measured in finite particles (magiquarks), a flowing manastream of force (like magnetics), channeled life energy (a la Dark Sun), etc. In short, the D&D system leaves that to the imagination and discretion of the DM running the game and players.

If you want to flavor your campaign with something of the sort, then make sure your players know and understand the consequences of the form magic takes in your world.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

I believe Lying wrote up a rather extensive essay on this subject already. It's all based on wtoc material with a little theory tossed in, but it's pretty sound as far as UFT of magic.

[Cuilean]

Except that some of us don't like "Incarnum".

[Axel]

It's a simple manipulation of probability at the quantum level. At any given point there is an infinitesimal chance that whatever it is you want could happen. A mage simply takes that from an infinitesimal to a non-negligible chance.