Quote Originally Posted by digiman619 View Post
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In fairness, in the Dresden files ONLY rituals work like that because they are explicitly contacting otherworldly things; Harry regular magic is closer to a spell-point system.
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Leaving aside sponsored magic rituals (like the coven in Blood Rites), DF magic is Evocation (what you can do in an instant) and Thaumaturgy (what you can do with time to carry out a ritual).

We usually see Dresden doing Evocation -- Fuego or Forzare or Ventas Servitas -- because he's usually doing things in a rush. And, yeah. It's definitely like a spell-point system -- or perhaps like a hybrid hit point/spell point/exhaustion system with an option to overchannel with longer-term consequences.

Thaumaturgy is the ritual stuff. Like when he takes time to make a circle and gather power and charge up a tracking spell, then breaks the circle and uses the spell.

But yeah... Harry basically does either evocation or ritual magic that he uses immediately. To the extent that he "prepares" magic for later, it's either potions or charging up something like his force rings.

So... mostly agree.

There are definitely hints that other wizards do more preparation and less on-the-fly evocation. (Like the Merlin's bandolier of potion vials.) But nothing particularly like "preparing spells".