Discussion Magic systems for authors

It's all about constraints. The best novels so far had the limit the character could grow.

The reason why a lot of novels became cluster**ck by end is due to not limit of power set beforehand. "by the end of the novel the first battles look like playing with ants". Literally.

But the generally public might love it random power ups here and there.

 

I don't know if I have any clearly defined magic system in mind but..

I prefer imagine a magic system where the Fire, Water, Earth and Air system is a flawed system grounded in the medieval mindset and if someone from our world, someone with a good grasp of physics and chemistry and such were to appear in a fantasy world and acquire the ability to use magic, they would be able to archive greater results than someone who thinks in medieval terms, given the same ability in magic otherwise..

Another thing, I sometimes like to think the MP "Mana Points" could also be "Mental Points" and that using magic could make you mentally rather than physically exhausted.. and while a physically oriented warrior could go at it, rest a little and go at it again, remaining awake and alert the whole time, a magic users on the other hand, wouldn't be able to recover at all except by sleeping..

 

I have a magic system I have been toying with ( never could get a story started)
so classic 5 elements magic
earth , air, fire, water, and light.
The caster can only manipulate not create the element. so firecasters would need something like a match or tinder box to create a spark which they can turn

The caster can only use 1 element of magic which is defined at birth (usually as a result of your bloodline). When ever magic is cast it is not mana that is consumed instead it is their blood. blood straight from their veins or closest to their heart.

This limitation would be interesting as the concept of blood transfusions would make sense as well as a mandatory blood drive in the villages to fuel the casters in the army of an empire. Side effects of too much magic casting would be similar to anemia.

 

Yeah that is why i have decide to get my big OP battle out of the way. Now after writing the big OP battle nothing is going to come close to that battle.

 

For my magic system, all of the elements are available for use but your soul needs to be strengthened so it can withstand those magics but there is one magic anyone can learn, [Null Magic] cause it has no cost or experience needed.

 

What I had in mind is a magic system which is called as "Heptagram Main Branch Discipline".
The 7 main element are:

• Liquid:
• mainly manupilating water and other similar object. Also, liquified object such as molten steel or liquid hydrogen can be manipulated as long the caster skill is adequate. While ice is also considered as 'water', Liquid caster can't manipulate it directly. The caster must melt it forcefully so he can control it.
• Thermo:
• mainly manipulating heat by increasing it, tweaking it oxidation rate and moving the heat freely, which is also can be said, manipulating fire. A skilled thermo caster is useful in industrialization and machinery.
• Earth:
• mainly manipulating what on the earth crust, such as ground, rock, iron, coal etc. A skilled earth caster, can manipulate an ore to refine it and mine his desired product.
• Nature:
• mainly manipulating 'life' by not ending it. Increasing metabolic rate, healing rate, changing hormone balance. In other area, skilled Nature Caster can command swarm of bug, small animal, bending plant, but NOT species from kingdom fungus, protista and any other unicellular species. The manipulation of fungus, protista and monera kingdom fall on dark element type.
• Weather:
• mainly manipulating what control the 'weather' and what 'weather' produce. such as wind, thunder, atmospheric pressure, air pressure, ice, snow, rain, sunray etc. although Weather Caster can only summon rain, not controlling it, to support Liquid Caster. Weather Caster can summon harsh sunlight as if it was in desert to support Thermo caster. The only Weather Caster can directly control is wind, ice with other variant and thunder.
• Dark:
• Mainly manipulating 'chaos' in the universe. Such as 'chaos' of human, which include mental pathological (depression, jealousy, resentment, paronia, overzealous etc.), disease and poison. On other example, 'chaos' of the world such as, unimagineable mystery which include, poltergeist, ghost, phantom, undead and the 'darkness' iteself. While certainly this element is gritty and 'dark', but fully functioned social dark caster can be a consultant in many health departement
• Light:
• Mainly manipulating 'order' in the universe. Such as 'order' of human, which include religion, faith, reasoning, information, calmness of heart, ethic etc. on other example such as 'order' of the world, such as, knowledge, civilization, progression, technology, system balance and the 'Light' itself. Many of Light Caster is not strong in combat, but useful in civil society.

But I don't know how to do this with this concept. Since it seems too 'scientific' for magic and can make contradiction in a long run.

 

Honestly this thread is a wall of text that I genuinely want to read bc a lot of it seems interesting! I think y'all are basically circling around the same idea though - internal consistency. If you decide a rule of magic, you need follow that internal logic to the end. I think it's fine to play quick and dirty with the "system", as long as you hold on to that internal thread of consistency. I go hard on worldbuilding because I find it fun and relaxing, but a lot of the time when it comes to magic, I basically set up on central tenet that acts as the logical thread around which everything else revolves. This can lead to things conflicting with each other from an outside view, but because I know it follows my own internal consistency, I feel comfortable with that.



I'd really like to see a magic system built off the Quest demake for GBA. I found it really fun and interesting - you start off with the four basic elements (earth, wind, fire, water), and as you level each one up, you can begin to combine them for new effects and spells. Fire and water, once both have reached level 7, can combine into "Hot Steam". With water and wind both at level 9, you can combine water, water, and wind into "Ice Knife". I think it's a really neat concept and one that translates well into a more literal world, if you think of levels as just knowledge/experience markers. You start by building a foundation and as you come to understand more about the different elements, you're able to manipulate them and combine them into something new. Simple knowing a lot about water but not as much about fire won't allow you to combine them into a new spell, you need to understand both.

I like it because it's a more interesting and I feel a more realistic approach than just "Fire Magic". I always found the way a lot of novels make it so that people specialise in one or two elements, while logical in their own worlds, unimaginative, constricting, and not wholly realistic. The idea that there is a very hard delineation between the different "elements" of magic, when the whole idea of nature and elements is that they work in balance and tandem with each other. I'd like to see a world where the opposite is true - that most people build up an understanding of all the elements, treating them as different tools with different purposes, and people who "specialise" in just one are looked down on because they're effectively crippling themselves. You can't build a house with just a hammer. You need nails, you need a saw, hell, you need wood. To build something, you need to draw upon the unique strengths and skills of a varied tool set.

 

Most of what I write has a system regarding souls and knowledge. For example, the older the soul, the more mana it contains, the longer it can sustain certain reactions. And the reactions come from a scientific understanding of how things work, such as the combustion of fire. By knowing the actual molecules involved with combusting a fire, a mage would have a stronger fire than say another mage who simply thought of fire as something hot and burns. The age of the soul plays into this with reincarnations having an obvious advantage; they contain knowledge already and their soul would be twice the age of anyone their physical age.

 

I have an another hard magic. In this world everyone has a "strand" basically a magical invisible string that allows them to move the object similar to telekinesis. Each person has a fixed number of strands at birth some have more ( the royals may have dozens) while some have less (peasant may only have 1 or 2 ) there might be other rules to this magic but it would be a very limited magic system yet would provide some difference to this world compared to us

 

As a fantasy reader and one who enjoys thinking about magic and how it could or can function
I have found that you can divide magic systems in to several different templates or types.
if you are creating novel world then it's good to know which type of magic system exist in which kind of world.
World refers to any independent universe where there is no active exchange of energy.

Fundamental part of the world: Here lays any magic that depends on magic as an fundamental part of the world like if all things where made of fire, water, earth, wind and or light, darkness, space and Time. Some cultivation novels is this type where everything is made of "gas". Attributes commonly seen in this type is that magic changes into water, earth... and then it is water, earth....

A part of the world: Here lays magic that is more of an attribute or a separate structure of the fundamental structure of the world instead of the foundation. This magic while inherit in the world it's effect is more of a chemical nature than an fundamental reaktion. For example the magic might have attributes of fire, water, earth, wind and or light, darkness, space and Time, where the attribute water might be able to create water balls or rain like phenomenon but fundamentally it's not water. After the controlling force is gone the attribute dissipates in the air or is absorbed by the surroundings. This might also be more inclined to controlling effect like, controlling fire attribute is able to induce and control plasma.
There are also some interesting questions in such a world ect. If you water attribute from water will it still be water? Will it loss "wetness" turning into dust? If you increase the water attribute what happens? Is there a limit on the amount? If you introduces fire, earth attribute into the water?

Non-natural part of the world: Here magic is not a necessary part of the world the magic might be natural inactive, or separated in another dimension or an spirit world. The magic is itself non-active or non-influential and needs to be activated or connected with to affect the normal world creating magical phenomena. This magic usually do not exist if not an active participant is involved. This kind of magic usually only limited to the ability of the participant or practitioners as well as the connection stability or the amount of activated magic. Spirit world type there is can be limitation on the practitioners ability to create or maintain a spirit body. Or the practitioner might contract one or more spirits for using there abilities in the normal world.


External or outside influence affecting the world: Here magic do not exist naturally, it's alien outside the boundaries of the world. It might be like in a lovecraft novel so alien that the mind cannot grasp it. Or it might be an external influence affecting the through the practionary by temporarily or permanently altering the fundamental laws of the world.
Magic of this type works by utilising external forces to to make slight alteration of the natural law, thereby making something impossible possible or limiting something possible or natural. Extreme version rewrites the whole world at the will of the practionary.

 

Manipulating mana and naural law to achive something you desire, ofc with rule and setback.