Preserving the Mystery?

[Magicker Kank]

If you're playing a magicker character, to what extent is it your "duty", your "responsibility", to preserve the mystery of magick? To keep extremely powerful spells out of the public eye?
Let's say you're in a potentailly life-threatening situation... you're stuck down a hole with no water, for example. There are several non-magickal witnesses around. You could use SpellA, an ultra-rare spell that you doubt any of the witnesses have ever seen. It will definitely get you out of the situation, risk-free, and ICly, it's your character's spell of choice for this problem.
Or, you could use SpellB. You're not as good with SpellB... there's a chance you might explode, or fall to your death or something. Also, there are IC reasons as to why your character would be hesitant to use SpellB. But SpellB is a very basic spell, one any experienced Armer would probably have seen before. Even players that never encountered magick before, in-game, could probably guess at it's existence due to help-files and such.
Which spell do you choose, and why?

[Vanth]

What would your character do?
What would your character do?
What would your character do?

[Cale_Knight]

God, I hope OOC considerations like that would never come into play.

[Larrath]

In my experience, these situations aren't exactly as purely IC as they can be made out to be.  However, in any situations where it makes a real difference, use whatever your character would use without OOC inhibitions.
If the other players learned a major game secret from that, that's the nicer half of Find Out IC.

On the other hand, it does seem discouraged for a magicker PC to walk around and tell people about magick, the nature of magick, or start listing the spells they know to people.
This isn't as taboo in a magicker-to-magicker or magicker-to-templar/employer situation, but in a magicker-to-mundane it seems generally preferred if you don't do this, or even tell people too much about components or how particular spheres/moods act unless you're actively and seriously trying to teach them magick for some strange reason.

[Maybe42or54]

Just keep this in mind for your Pc, or don't.

"The more powerful you look, the more of a threat you are."

[joyofdiscord]

"Do what your character would do" is the bottom line here, but let me provide some counterpoints to your well-considered position.

Yes, magick is supposed to be mysterious, and I'm one of the more adamant ones around here about keeping it that way, griping about even the tiniest revalation of the magick system on the GDB.

However, the fun of the mystery is gradually -discovering- that mystery IC.  And if my character happens to be in a super-rare situation, stuck down a pit with a magicker with a super-rare spell that just happens to be just right for the situation, that sounds like just the kind of super-rare circumstances that justify my discovering a small, super-rare part of the game's magickal mysteries.  And that's all right!

[Agent_137]

yea, mystery isn't exciting unless you eventually learn the secrets.

It's like money, good to have, but meant to be spent.

[Tuannon]

What would I do?

Use the non-risky spell and then kill all the witnesses.

[FightClub]

Spell B, always gotta go out with a boom.  :twisted:

[Gazarsgo]

yea, mystery isn't exciting unless you eventually learn the secrets.

It's like money, good to have, but meant to be spent.

Like all good things, diminishing returns applies.  And eventually when you get enough of it, having more is worse than being happy with what you already have.

[Cenghiz]

I understand when someone bends his character a bit for a newbie. I understand when a character acts weird for playibility issues. (Like, "I've been given another mission by a sergeant. I won't be able to make it to this one, sarge" means "I need to quit and sleep.")
But bending your character so that witnesses won't learn fire mages can actually summon rain? (Warning, that one's just an example and I doubt it's true.)
Do whatever you please.