It is commonly understood among students of magic that non-magical persons are at greater risk of harm from exposure to raw magic. But discerning users must understand that the ways in which two casters’ essences interact can greatly alter the effectiveness of certain spells.
Most spells used in mage combat are glorified magic missiles. They simply generate a great amount of raw essence and propel it towards the target. Because this lacks refinement, it is particularly devastating to objects or persons with little to no essence of their own to mitigate it. However, a person with any significant amount of natural essence can absorb or resist a corresponding amount of magical damage. In other words, raw essence is effective for physical damage, but less effective in a magician-on-magician scenario.
But in order to apply a lasting effect, the caster must exert some energy refining their magic as it leaves their body. Any sort of refined magic will interact with another person’s innate essence in a different way. The target can choose to attune their own magic to embrace or resist the effect. Using healing magic on a willing target, for instance, will result in the target passively channeling the magic throughout their body, increasing its effectiveness.
On the flip side, resisting an effect exhausts some of the target’s reserves, and their own casting abilities will be temporarily inhibited. Resisting a spell may also cause physical damage similar to improper channeling. Experienced battle casters have learned to discern when it is more favorable to allow the effect or to risk the damage. Or, as is more often the case in that specific profession, they have great enough essence reserves to simply tank it and keep blasting.
Certain spells are known to exist that actually overload and hijack a target’s internal essence channels, causing truly painful and lasting damage. These spells are restricted by magical authorities and rarely encountered.
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