Originally posted by Konton
Rules of magic? huh? Most of these guys derive magical powers from different sources and rarely, if ever, do their magics fail in effect unless acted upon by some mitigating force.
Most of the time they're doing stuff they know they can do, though.
It's not all that unknown for someone ask them to do something and for them to inform the asker that their magic can't do that (either being magic in general can't, or just they don't have enough omph).
And opposing the power cosmic is what I'd call a 'mitigating force'.
Magic, if we are to present it as a force that innately defies logic and reason, has no limitations at all as long as the caster is proficient (and there are no second-rate mages present here) and in good form.For example, it is more reasonable to assume that Zatanna could manifest a stream of water even if we had not seen her do so in comics than it is to assume Silver Surfer could manifest the same stream of water with the power cosmic should no wielder of the power cosmic have generated water before.
Making a stream can be assumed to be within her abilities, sure, but that's not the same as having no limits.
If she was asked to make an ocean, I'd say, "No, that's probably too much for her."
If she was asked to make an advanced piece of technology, I'd actually assume that if it's too complex and advanced, that'd be out of her range (to name two things I'd say she definitely couldn't, a motherbox and GL ring. Or even a flight-ring, I think she'd at best end up making a magic item that mimiced it's general functions but wouldn't truly be a Legion ring and might lack some of it's more minor functions), and she'd have a better chance than just about any other mage here since flexibility of magic is her thing compared to most. Even next to the likes of Fate and Arion, their powers don't do nearly as many different effects (they seem more 'pure magic,' that is they're really really good at manipulating raw magic for stuff like shields, counterspells, etc., while reverse speak magic is generally a lot more physical and about using magic to cause a specific attack rather than just throw a raw bolt of it).
Granted, you could argue that some dialogue has hinted magic to be just science beyond our comprehension, but I would think it in poor taste to agree with based on the random crazy stuff magic users accomplish on a whim.
In-comic, they certainly don't act like magic can do anything.
Versatile and limitless aren't synonyms.