Hello again, time for another of my "Does this Exist/How Common is this" Recommendation Requests! This time I'm looking for stories featuring weapons that do not work well, if at all, as a weapon without magic. What do I mean by that? Well, Swords, Polearms, Guns, Staves, Bows, and other all work in the real world because they don't need magic to function. Nor do they need a significant amount of training to become proficient in the basics without harming yourself (sharp end goes in enemy/shoot at enemy). However, in a Magical World, some weapons we ignore, or never thought of, may become reasonable due to the presence of magic. Magical Cloth to bind, whip or even cut an enemy. Floating Orbs as Magical Maces for the physically frail. Things like that. I'm looking for stories where that's not only common, but expected, due to magic changing the rules. NOT: TO CLARIFY, I am NOT looking for Magic Powered Weaponry. Magic Wands, Staves, and other such items that are simply there to empower the magic, or are canonically in the story to allow magic to work. Nor am I looking for weapons formed from magic, or anything of the like. So the presence of "Magic Swords", "Magic Staves", "Magic Wands", "Magic Powered Guns" and many other such things DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT FITS MY REQUEST. While they could be argued to fit my request, I would also like to request that things like "Shape-shifting Metal Weapons for easy armour, swords & shields", and "Work Tools Used As Weapons Because Stupid Class Restrictions" also not be included. This is because neither of these have the level of creativity I am hoping to find by making this request. AIMING FOR: What I AM looking for is weaponry that only exists, or is only commonly used, due to the presence of magic. Floating balls, Magically Controlled Chains, Magical★Explorer's MC's Stole (though, to be honest, I would prefer weapons that only one person can/does use like this to not be included), Three Sectional Staves with magical connections, or something else. Basically, an interesting weapon that's method of utilisation only works due to magic, be it Cultivation Spirit Power, Mana/Soul/Other Powered Magic, or Divine Power Gifting. AUTO REJECT: "Bricks" and "Seals" are to be rejected out of hand due to them being common in Cultivation Novels and almost never actually used as something other than "something heavy held in the hand" or "magical device that contains a power that changes the local landscape". "Impossibly Light, Sharp & Indestructible" Swords and other regular weapons are to be rejected out of hand not only due to them being commonplace in fiction, but also not especially far from what exists in reality. "Minion Creation" is also something that will be rejected out of hand, be the minion Zombies, Monsters, Dolls, Elemental's, Animals or other. This is because using magic to create "minions" to win with mass mob tactics, and using interesting weapons designed purely due to the presence of magic are two completely different things.
Most if not all magic weapons are based on reality, only thing magic usually affects is some property of the weapon. E.g. threads normally can be used as weapons in cqc, but magic makes it usable at range. Same goes for flexible swords, whip swords, chakrams, etc. Example of pure magic only weapons would be formation disk , Talismans that actually work , alchemic weapons with weird effects. If you are ok with real weapons modified by magic, then there are flying chariots, amulets shooting laser/magic, flying swords, shuttles(?), Zither and other musical instrument based weapons.
Well I guess with all those preconditions included the closest I can think of is Age of Adepts ; while arguable that there is particular presence of weapons of Any kind , I would like to point out that quite the opposite is true , every thing from ring to the boots they wear is classified as a weapon , again arguable that they r accessories but I think it clears the point that while they do have a real replica , they do not function the same AT ALL. I would also suggest something like The Strongest System and Shovels in Spades ( though fair warning , I have yet to read it myself ) or Dao of Magic ( he uses a tree, I really don't know how to qualify that , up to ur judgement )
Yeah , inspiration is drawn from somewhere I guess. Really with all the conditions listed by the OP the only "weapons" left r those u actually won't use as a weapon like threads, wire, whips ( they r torture devices , to the best of my knowledge No One has ever used them as a weapon because of unpredictability and hard control ), clothes, accessories ,etc. Which , again while ever present in novels , were outlisted
Actually I just remembered a weapon from mahouka that can only exist due to magic, used by Angie Sirius. I think it was called brionac. Then there is also gae bolg in fat e, but at its core it's just a spear.
Is it controlled in some way by magic? Or otherwise made easier to control? Because if the only reason why it's "magic" is either due to the MC learning via memory download, or something akin to lightning running down the blade on successful strikes, it isn't what I'm looking for. While this is true, I am not looking for those. That's why I started the thread with the post "Another Does this Exist Thread" line. And weapons that exist in reality, but aren't commonly used as weapons due to the difficulty in, well, use fit this request, so long as the reason why they're used in that reality is due to magic making their use easier. Deepon, your "Pure Magic Weapons" is my "Magic Powered Weaponry", where it's the magic doing all the work, and the "Weapon" part of the "Weapon" is halfway to being a gun, trap, or equivalent. Flying Swords are RARELY used as Flying Weapons, and when they are it's hard to differentiate from them being used as handheld swords. There are exceptions, but the real problem I have with them is that there's rarely, if ever, anything different in design about a flying sword to a regular sword. If it was explained that it was all blade and no handle, or at least had a handle that separated from the blade for some reason, I would consider it a reasonable answer. But that doesn't happen often, if at all. I haven't read Age of Adepts, and stopped reading The Strongest System very early on, a little after he started using Monkey Steals The Peach. So I can't actually talk about those. Dao of Magic... sounds like it technically fits my request, because without the magical strength boost I suspect the MC wouldn't be able to swing his tree around, but doesn't fit the spirit of what I wanted. Think of it this way, what I'm looking for here is "1,000 Hexagons the size of a palm, flying around acting as shields, clubs, traps and more", and what Dao of Magic has is "Strong Man, Big Club". I know it's more complicated than that, but still. Shovels in Spades... also technically fits my request. Not everyone, not even those who are commonly fighting, but there are those who have "weird weapons", and use them as such. The problem is, most of the time, those "weird weapons" are useful not because of having magical assistance, but magical powers. One guy has a Syringe as a weapon, and it's useful as one due to abilities that allow it to heal or drug others. Another person has a fishing rod as a weapon, and after being persuaded to use it as their primary weapon, they quickly retired from fighting to using their rod to fill the local waters with fish, due to their class being able to catch fish even in fish-free waters. From what I've read of Isekai Nonbiri Nouka, MC doesn't use his "Ultimate Gardening Tool" as a weapon unless it's by accident or in Spear Mode. And everyone else has typical weapons. Not sure about Smartphone. Is there anyone who actually uses a non-typical weapon there? The Smartphone is almost certainly not used directly as a weapon, and so is just, at it's most powerful, Magic Powered Weaponry. More likely it's an assistance device that allows the MC to force multiply the power of his own spells, or otherwise allow him to do whatever he wants. Honestly, Brionac is just a Magical Staff/Throwing Spear. Irregular at a Magical Highschool actually has a much better example of what I'm looking for, Leo's Weaponized-Integrated CAD, or Mini Communicator. That is to say, the sword-blade that shoots from the handle that Leo uses in Monolith Code. Yes, it IS just an extended sword with a gap in the middle. That doesn't change the fact that it fits this request, as it's a weapon that only works due to the world having magic. Sure, something similar could pop up in Sci-Fi, but it's unreasonable to expect it to be considered as anything more than a toy in most Sci-Fi. Where as here it's actually used as an, admittedly considered gimmicky, weapon.
So... it's Shape-shifting Magic Powered Weaponry. Not exactly original, nor is it something that only works as easily as it does due to the presence of magic. Definitely not what I'm asking for here.
Well, I did say maybe Anyway, what about 'Glutton Berserker ~The One That Exceeds The Concept Of Levels~'?
Can you please give an explanation about the weapons you are referring to? Because if I haven't read it, like in this case, I don't know what you're talking about.
Well, let me see The weapon (sword, some artifact with a past) can talk and can transform to several other forms/weapons like bow, spear, etc... each form brings with it great power but the forms needs to be unlocked each once (then the sword can transform at will to the unlocked form) but in order to unlock a form, the sword (named greed) will absorb its master's (MC named Fate) stats once they reach a certain threshold thus forcing the MC back to his 'basic' stats and making him raise them again so another form could be unlocked... Is that clear enough as an explanation ?
Yes, that is a good explanation, but, again, that weapon doesn't fit what I'm looking for. It's just a Shape-shifting Sword with Cheat Powers added. Sure, the Cheat Powers are magical, but it would still work as a weapon most of the time without them. I'm looking for weapons with magic intrinsic in their design, things that either don't work, don't work as well, or give some potentially major issue to learning the basics if it's used without magic. Shape-shifting Magic Weapons RARELY fit this request, despite having magic fundamentally a part of them. This is because most Shape-shifting Weapons are simple weapons that CAN be other weapons, but are almost always used as regular weapons and only changed due to circumstances, or because different forms of regular weapons have different powers.