#magic system ideas

[cepheusgalaxy]

What do we think about a magic system in which magic is very rare and only shines its light to very few people and it is prone to being handed to individuals with malice. In order to counter that, society has a safety net: Every new generation they get themselves one magic user and train them to be their hero and combat whoever uses magic to do vile deeds. As a hero though they don't have much agency. We can't risk them turning Evil themselves, can we? They can't use their powers without permission and are trained from a young age to use their powers and obey their superiors and the rules.

Anyways, whump possibilities??????

[lavender-town-radio]

when u use magic ur palms glow with ur magic color. glowing paw pads 4 humans.

[redd956]

Magic system ideas I want to explore

Language = the magic, maybe language is how you cast it, maybe everybody is born with a body language base magic, but other languages increase it. Different regions speak different languages because that magic is attuned to their way of life or culture. Or maybe the language comes first, new dialects slowly drifting into new groups of magic.

Industrial/Military inspired magical abilities and enhanced powers, that are assigned to every child at birth deciding their role in society. Soldier children are never allowed to leave the military, and dodging it is an even greater task. Imagine siblings watching the other be whisked away for war, feeling guilty that they were assigned factory helpful magics instead. They have the choice to sign up and use their fire ability to perhaps aid their sibling in war, but that would lead them down one of the most brutal military paths. (military craft = alive???)

Magic comes from killing powerful magic beings. Becoming magic from doing so doesn’t make you a powerful magic being, but instead a mortal with magic. Eventually the mortal will die and the magic will leave the realm alongside them, a group finds that magic is evenly dispersed across them. The strongest amount a mortal can get is to kill a magical being alone. No one knows where these magical beings come from, and if they’re slowly hunting them into extinction for magic to never be seen again.

Familiar magic system, simple as that children find their familiars someday, and magic and whatnot comes with that. Familiars would primarily be beautiful immortal spirits that are animals, but I'm not against the idea that perhaps they could be something else. Something even wilder.

[aquadestinyswriting]

Magic and Emotion: Over-Channel and Miscasts

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday everyone. I have been having thinky-thoughts about this subject since it's come up quite a lot in my writing recently. Have a super-long article about it.

Tags: @druidx, @sparrow-orion-writes, @ashirisu, @blind-the-winds, @philosophika, @the-down-upside-finch

The Basics of Magic

I have briefly explained how and why magic users in Titan can cast magic to begin with in the article about Burnout. However, I will provide a basic summary of that explanation here so that we are all on the same page:

The population of Titan has developed an extra layer of cells over their nervous system that exists purely to allow for the transfer of magical energy through the body. This extra layer exists in 99.7% of the general population, meaning that almost anyone in the world can learn magic to some degree. This extra layer of cells is referred to as an aetherial sheath, or Arcane Channel in common parlance. Those individuals who find it easier to manipulate magic have a thicker layer of these cells than average, though whether these individuals naturally have a thicker layer or whether the layer became thicker due to using magic is a highly contentious topic.

Now that we know how the people of Titan can channel magic, let’s look at where magic comes from.

Magic has three main sources in Titan; 

Natural magic is simply the magical energy that was left over from the world’s creation. It is found in nearly every living thing and is the most readily-accessible kind of magic in the world. This type of magic is incredibly volatile and easily affected by the emotional state of those capable of casting spells. This is the magic that makes up the ‘magical weave’ that all casters, no matter what kind, can sense.

Arcane magic is the next most readily-accessible form of magic after natural magic. Arcane magic is even more volatile than natural magic and is, as a result, harder to manipulate correctly. It is currently believed that Arcane magic is some sort of corruption of natural magic, though what caused said corruption is unknown. It is also the most powerful type of magic naturally found on Titan, which makes it extremely useful and sought-after for a large variety of different purposes. 

Divine magic is gifted by the Gods upon those who heed the Call to work in service to one or more of Them. While it is the hardest to access, it is also the safest type of magic to channel, as the amount of power a divine caster can put into any one spell is dependent on how much power a God, or Gods, are willing to grant at any given time. This type of magic is still affected by a caster’s emotional state, though it tends to be less volatile in this regard than either Natural magic or Arcane magic due to the ritualistic nature of casting.

A fourth source of magic does exist, Demonic. However, due to its very nature, it is a difficult type of magic to study in any great detail. All that you need to know, dear reader, is that this type of magic has been far more corrupted than even Arcane magic, and using it is extremely hazardous to any caster that is themselves not a demon. What is known, however, is that it is easier to manipulate and just as powerful as Arcane magic, making it an extremely useful ‘shortcut to power’ for those who don’t care about its corrupting influence.

Magic and Emotion

We have previously established that all kinds of magic are affected by the emotional state of spellcasters, simply due to the fact that magic can be manipulated by imposing one’s will upon the ‘weave’. Many are the stories of young children that have an innate ability to cast creating minor magical explosions during a tantrum. Most spellcasters grow out of this stage fairly quickly as they learn how to control their emotional state, though Sorcerors tend to experience a second surge of this kind of activity once they begin puberty. 

Sorcerors aside, most spellcasters feel drawn to one magical discipline or another from a young age. Wizards feel a calling to study the magic in the world and how it works, Bards will feel compelled to make music, tell tales or sing and share that joy with others, Druids and Rangers will feel a connection to the wild places of the world and Clerics will be Called into the service of one or more Gods. Paladins are a little more tricky; some feel a Call to serve the Gods, while others feel a compulsion to protect those weaker than themselves, or hold themselves and others to a strong moral compass. All of these casters are trained not just in how to manipulate magic, but also how to control their emotional state. Strong emotions and magic are very often an accident waiting to happen, especially as the caster grows in power and strength. 

What happens to a spell during when the caster is experiencing a particular, strong emotion varies wildly. Generally speaking; stress/desperation and anger tend to make a spell much more volatile and uncontrollable; though also much more powerful in effect, sadness and anxiety tend to cause spells to falter and fail, panic and fear most often lead to blind bursts of magical energy rather than the spell that may have been initially intended. 

Out of all of these, stress and anger are generally deemed to be ‘useful’ emotions for spellcasters of all types, especially those who regularly cast in combat situations. Despite the drawbacks of casting a more volatile spell, most casters agree that in desperate situations, more power is much more useful than a spell fizzling out altogether. Unfortunately, due to this, some spellcasters who are regularly placed into stressful situations while casting end up developing anger management issues; preferring to get angry rather than upset or scared even in situations where anger is not useful.

Even when not actively spellcasting, all casters will draw power towards themselves when strong emotions are present. This is a purely unconscious response to stress and is likely a response to an increase in adrenaline; the draw of power basically being a way for the caster to fight back, create cover for them to hide or flee or to manipulate the emotional state of the person or people causing them stress in order to avoid confrontation altogether. In all cases, if the drawn in magic is not dispelled or released in a safe manner, it will explode out from the caster in a non-aligned concussive blast. How large the explosion is and how much damage it causes is dependent on how much power was drawn, and how much power is drawn is entirely dependent on how extreme the adrenaline response is. Even relatively weak spellcasters can create a concussive force strong enough to knock unprepared people over if their stress levels are high enough.

One unfortunate side-effect of a significant draw of power by a caster who has not yet developed the capacity to safely store large amounts of magical energy, is over-channel.

Over-Channel

Over-channel, as explained in the article about Burnout, is a condition that occurs when a caster channels too much power through themselves at once. This damages the aetherial sheath and can, if handled improperly, lead to permanent disability or even death in the most severe cases. 

In the most minor cases, Over-channel leads to pain, usually in the hands and arms, and fatigue for a few days. More severe cases may end up with the caster losing consciousness and requiring weeks to recover. The severity of a case of Over-channel depends on several factors; how much power the caster channelled in comparison to how much they can normally safely channel at once, how long any power drawn was stored in the caster’s body and whether the power drawn was released via a controlled cast or was a blind blast of energy. The most severe cases of over-channel happen when a caster has drawn in a far larger amount of power than they can usually safely cast, the power has been stored for more than a minute and when the drawn power is released as a blind blast. As noted above, these conditions are usually found in cases where the caster was experiencing extreme emotional stress. This is why training in how to manage one’s emotional state is so important for casters of all types. 

The only instance where a caster may not experience over-channel despite all three conditions being met, is where a cleric is used by their God to channel Their Will. It is thought that, as the God is the caster, They temporarily bolster the body of their cleric in order for Their Will to be known physically. These displays of power are both awe-inspiring and frightening to behold. In these instances, the cleric is usually left only slightly fatigued by the experience.

Miscasting

Miscasting is another kind of magical accident that can happen when a caster is in an emotional state when casting a spell. It typically happens when a caster is panicking while trying to cast a specific spell, or becomes distracted in the middle of the cast. 

A miscast spell is simply a spell that is not cast correctly. It may be the result of a mis-spoken power word, a rushed prayer, an incorrect hand gesture or the caster trying to switch to another spell in the middle of a cast. Alcohol and other such substances can also affect the chances of miscasting a spell, so care must be taken not to overindulge to avoid any accidents.

The result of a miscast depends on the spell that was intended and how far through the spell the caster got. Some miscasts may result in an entirely different spell than the one the caster intended, while others may just result in the spell fizzling out altogether. In any case, the emotional state of the caster is usually a major component in why a spell was miscast.

As miscasts are more common in those spellcasters who are still training, anxiety is usually the largest contributor. Confidence is key when it comes to casting spells; after all, magic is first and foremost about imposing one’s will on the magical weave of the world. You cannot expect a spell to complete if you are not confident in your ability to cast it in the first place. 

Wizards also have the added difficulty of learning to speak, read and write a whole new language, typically draconic. Learning to properly pronounce and enunciate the verbal component of a spell takes time, as does learning how to write out the spell in the first place. Add on learning any somatic gestures and what magical spell components to use then is it any wonder that miscasts are most commonly seen among young wizards? 

Thankfully, unless the spell being cast is dangerous to the caster to begin with, most miscasts are relatively harmless. However, care must always be taken when casting destructive spells as miscasts of these may result in collateral damage that is not intended, such as a Fireball exploding too soon, a Flamestrike targeting the wrong area, or ending up on the wrong side of a continent or getting stuck in a cliff during a Teleport.

Summary

To conclude: while emotions are an intrinsic part of being mortal, care must be taken when attempting to cast while experiencing extreme emotions. Even when not actively casting, spellcasters must learn to become acutely aware of how their emotional state affects their environment. Learning how to effectively manage an unintentional draw of power is an absolute necessity in order to avoid blind explosions of magic and over-channel. This does not mean that every caster must avoid their feelings, if anything that would make the situation worse. Bottled up emotions require an outlet, and in spellcasters that tends to lead to a much larger draw of power and subsequent explosion of said power, leading to a severe case of over-channel that, as noted, can result in death. 

The safest thing any caster can do to manage this risk is to find healthy and safe outlets for their emotions, particularly anger and fear. Having healthy relationships with family and friends who can notice when a draw of power is occurring and who can then step in to help the caster safely release said power is probably the best way to manage any risks associated with this subject. 

[cepheusgalaxy]

[ID: #the internet. /end ID.]

Neither “the magic is going away” nor “the magic is just beginning” but “the magic has been around for fifty years and society has only partly adjusted”

[disgracefulthings]

Shang Qinghua, holding a present: Happy Birthday my king!

Mobei-Jun: ...what?

Shang Qinghua: Oh, once a year humans celebrate our birthdays with gifts, so I got you something!

Mobei-Jun: No I got that, I just don't know how you know it's my birthday, I don't even know when I was born

Shang Qinghua, sweating profusely: I guessed

[sunderwight]

Thinking about a crack SV AU where Shen Yuan transmigrates into a horse.

Luckily he is not a normal horse, no! He is a spiritual stallion, a character that was mainly a joke about the novel's genre in PIDW, originally bred on Cang Qiong's beast tamer peak but not actually encountered until Luo Binghe's "raze cultivation society to the ground" phase. At which point there was a subplot about him finding the stallion and letting it loose to run free, as like, an allegorical reference. Occasionally Binghe would find other horses across the years that were obviously descended from that one, as more jokes, until Airplane forgot about the reference and never brought it up again.

Shen Yuan, of course, was always Big Mad that Binghe never got to actually ride this super magical mystical horse, and never got the horsegirl arc he deserved! Where is the man's companion animal? How can someone with nine billion wives and even more nameless underlings be fated for a life of perpetual loneliness??

Naturally, the first thing Shen Yuan does upon figuring out that he's this magic horse is break out of the beast peak and make for Qing Jing. He's not necessarily planning to go bond with the protagonist or anything, but he's not particularly keen to live out his fate as some feral horse that fucks other horses either, and he's extremely valuable so it's unlikely anyone will kill him even if they catch him again. So, might as well take the opportunity to clap eyes on his favorite character before he's doomed to a life of eating hay and whatever, right?

Horse SY manages to arrive on Qing Jing Peak right before the start of the skinner mission, though, just as Ming Fan is telling Luo Binghe that there aren't enough horses. Ning Yingying points out SY and is all oh look, one of the stable hands must have realized the error and brought another, and everyone else is kind of like "uh that is... not a normal horse...?" but then Shen Qingqiu gets impatient and snaps at them to get a move on, and fear of their mercurial shizun overrides everything else to the point where Binghe just clambers desperately onto this mystical saddle-free horse.

Airplane borrowed kelpies for his demon beasts at some point and they are pretty common, so it occurs to Luo Binghe only after he's climbed onto the strange and definitely not normal Horse SY that he might be on the verge of getting carried off and drowned. But SY just kind of rolls with it, and falls into line with the other horses.

Hey, it's an excuse to leave the sect! And practice doing horse stuff! And also, he's not going to buck Luo Binghe off of his back!

Of course as it happens, the specific kind of magical horse that Shen Yuan is comes with a specially bred-for trait where they only bond to one rider. They're usually bred for like, kings and emperors and other highly important figures as status symbols, like magical companion animals but ones with perfectly mundane utilities. He's also got Shadowfax-like stamina and speed, meaning that Airplane can treat this kind of horse as interchangeable with a motorbike, and of course the capacity to cultivate. Which means that when the party finally arrives at their destination, everyone suddenly realizes that Luo Binghe has unwittingly bonded with a horse that's worth a fortune and won't ever let anyone else ride it now.

Shen Qingqiu flips his shit, Shen Yuan bites Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe hyperventilates, Ning Yingying gets kidnapped, and the situation basically resolves with Shen Yuan kicking the shit out of the skinner demon in defense of his new BFF the baby protagonist.

Well if he's going to end up letting anyone ride him for the rest of his life, Luo Binghe would be his first choice.

Anyway they get back and Shen Qingqiu is still spitting mad and offers Luo Binghe's head on a platter to the lord of the beast peak, but Beast Peak's people are actually kind of pleased. Like sure it's a little inconvenient, because Luo Binghe is a Qing Jing disciple and not one of theirs, but they were honestly beginning to worry that this stallion wouldn't bond with anyone! It's really hard to manage them when they don't! And SY in particular comes from a long and illustrious lineage that has nearly died out a few times, so they were never planning to sell him off even for a high price anyway. With a rider chosen, the odds of them getting him to cooperate for breeding purposes are a lot higher, plus it will be much easier to take care of him now! Though they will be taking Shen Qingqiu up on his offer of Luo Binghe's time, since "punishment" for this transgression will involve splitting his time between the peaks in order to help take care of SY (all the beast peak disciples are super relieved, apparently before Shen Yuan transmigrated, the horsey original goods was extremely prone to biting and kicking...)

Shen Qingqiu basically tells Luo Binghe not to bother coming back, which fills Binghe with despair, but he gets over it eventually. The beast peak is nice! They give him a cultivation manual as well, in order to help him understand what they do, and it seems that Binghe can understand it a lot better than his QJP one. The peak lord gives him permission to use the dorms as well, since there will probably be times when he has to stay overnight, and no one says much about it when Binghe basically moves in full time. On the books he's still a Qing Jing disciple, but functionally he's a transfer student now. He even sits in on classes and lectures, and a lot of the peak are just under the impression that he was transferred over to their peak in full.

Shen Yuan considers this a big improvement, and expects Luo Binghe to enjoy running around with all the pretty girls on the peak. But Binghe mostly seems to spend his time with him, in fact, asking questions upon questions not only about Shen Yuan's breed, but about his specific background and lineage. The beast peak is overall pretty nice, although sadly it's not full of cool monsters and companion animals as Shen Yuan would have hoped. Mostly the peak specializes in the cultivation world's equivalent of livestock and work animals, training beasts like spirit eagles and horses like himself, and raising animals prized for their meat, organs, bones, or other parts for medicinal, alchemical, or culinary ingredients, or sometimes components for weapons or other spiritual tools. They work the most closely with Qian Cao, Wan Jian, and An Ding.

Being a horse is honestly kind of boring for Shen Yuan, although running is fun, and he at least gets plenty of time to work on his cultivation.

By the time Sha Hualing's invasion happens, he's gotten pretty comfortable in his new state of affairs. Binghe has even figured out that he likes being read to, and has started reading aloud to him from various texts in the evenings! So far no good novels, or even bad trashy novels, but it's better than nothing!

Binghe also takes him for a lot of rides around the peaks (not Qing Jing) which is how they end up caught on Qiong Ding when the rainbow bridge goes down. When Shen Qingqiu tells Luo Binghe to fight, Binghe doesn't even have a weapon at hand.

Actually, he doesn't have a sword at hand.

Turns out having your magical horse kick a demon to death is still pretty effective!

Shen Yuan even manages to avoid getting poisoned too. Rather, Elder Hammer threatens to poison him and Luo Binghe charges at him shouting "stay away from my horse! I'll kill you!" and etc, and does get nicked by the thorns, but only Binghe and Shen Yuan notice and of course the poison doesn't work on Binghe, congrats for unlocking a new hint as to Luo Binghe's mysterious origins!

Yes, Horse SY shows up to help Binghe in the Dream Demon event. He still looks like a horse for it, but it also marks the first time he's able to speak to Luo Binghe, which successfully distracts Luo Binghe from a lot of the tormenting visions of his past because talking magic horse friend has a way of doing that.

So the Dream Demon is like, that's not a normal horse, and Luo Binghe is all "stay away from my horse! I'll kill you!" and Shen Yuan gets knocked out of the dream as usual. Wakes up to Luo Binghe rushing to his stall to check on him and prepare him some nice warm congee and double-check that he can't talk for reals (only in dreams for now, alas).

Anyway Luo Binghe has no reason to hide his demonic cultivation practice from his horse, so Shen Yuan gets to sit in on it as Binghe tries to put Meng Mo's teachings into practice, which he finds super cool. Binghe's normal cultivation also progresses quite a bit, but he's still very much disadvantaged there because the beat peak is only giving him like, half-assed guest disciple status lessons, no personal one-and-one tutelage, and he's unofficially banned from Qing Jing and wouldn't get any help there anyway (apart from Ning Yingying). The beast peak lord isn't really his shizun and Shen Qingqiu isn't going to take Binghe to do things like claim a sword from Wan Jian, either.

Luckily, Binghe can now confer with his horse in his dreams! Shen Yuan has such helpful ideas as compelling various hall masters and combat teachers to dream about their lessons, so that Binghe can insert himself into the form of their students and supplement his tutelage with nighttime training from all around the sect. And also stealing some blank documents from An Ding and forging paperwork to turn over to Wan Jian to make it look like Binghe has permission to claim a spiritual sword without Shen Qingqiu's approval.

What a way to pass the time before the Immortal Alliance Conference!

Horse Shen Yuan would like very much to just carry Luo Binghe away in the opposite direction, thank you, but he does have a system and it is still holding a metaphorical gun to his head about this. Still, there's no force in the world that could keep Shen Yuan in his stable when shit starts to go down, or that could stop him from kicking the snot out of Shen Qingqiu when he tries to throw Binghe into the Abyss. (Binghe's thoughts on the fight: "stay away from my horse! I'll kill you!")

However, Binghe does still get thrown down, and Horse SY runs off whilst weeping crystalline tears of dismay as his mane whips in the wind, imagining a future where a blackened Luo Binghe returns for his revenge arc and symbolically sends his beloved horsie companion away forever to go frolic or some shit, which Shen Yuan is not interested in!

But what can he do? By the time Binghe gets out of the Abyss, his need for a horse will be decidedly minimal. It already went down a bunch when he finally got Zheng Yang (that Binghe somehow almost never flew anywhere on, surely for reasons unrelated to his bond with SY), and with Xin Mo and all his OP talents, even if he did keep Shen Yuan, wouldn't he become as much of a useless background character as countless auxiliary wives in his harem?

No! He won't stand for it! There has to be a way for him to convince even blackened Binghe that Shen Yuan is still the best ride in town!

Luckily, Shen Yuan knows where there are some power-ups that might be able to help him. While he won't touch anything that would be vital for the protagonist, he's more flexible on screwing over random future harem members or side characters, especially when it wouldn't even really harm them all that much. So while Binghe is going through his gauntlet of horrors in the Abyss, Shen Yuan embarks on his own level-up quest to dramatically increase his cultivation, and become more capable of keeping up with Binghe.

When this leads to Shen Yuan being able to take on a human form, he gets really excited, but that's mostly for personal comfort reasons. He can finally hold books again! And talk to people! Who cares if he looks like someone's ponysona gijinka, he can walk over to a stall and order meat buns!

Unicorn form is next, and it's... meh? Mostly it's a boost in his cultivation. The horn looks fun but doesn't really do much.

When he upgrades to being able to take on a pegasus form, now that's really cool. He can fly now! Not only is it crazy good fun, but it also increases his mobility exponentially. Surely riding a flying horse would be more comfortable than balancing on a sword, too?

But that's not enough for his actual goal, he needs to keep going until he finally finds the right bullshit mythical item that will do what he hopes:

Turn him into a dragon!

Unfortunately said bullshit item is in the demon realms, which are a fairly difficult place to navigate as either a horse or a human. Beefing up for the trip takes Shen Yuan just about two years, and requires all of his other upgrades. But he does it, he gets to the demon realms, eats the creatively named Dragon Fruit Plant, and... gets... stuck???

In his new dragon form???

WTF this didn't happen to the random ox that Luo Binghe fed the fruit to in order to create a suitable beast of burden to impress the husband of Wife No.666! Although, thinking about it, maybe it did because it wasn't like the ox ever turned back into an ox afterwards. But Shen Yuan just figured that was because it was a simple beast of burden and saw becoming a dragon as an overall upgrade, why go back? He honestly hadn't really thought about it!

Cue Luo Binghe getting out of the Abyss only to shortly find that a random dragon is following him around. Maybe that just happens here? It doesn't attack him, at least, and he has no time to deal with it (or to sleep) because his first order of business is establishing enough of a foothold in the demon realms to regain access to the human ones, and find out what happened to his horse. And then kill Shen Qingqiu. In that order.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Magic Systems

Magic - change wrought through unnatural means

Most fantasy can be placed along a spectrum where there are 3 main points: soft magic at one end, hard magic at the other, and a middle ground between the two.

Soft Magic

Magic that is not well-defined for the reader.

Generally, we don’t understand where the magic comes from, who can use it, or what its limitations are.

Readers can see this type of magic being used.

But they can never anticipate when magic will be used in the plot because they can’t begin to guess how it works.

You can’t break a rule if the rules don’t exist!

Most stories that feature this system will have the magic users be secondary characters, allowing them to avoid explaining exactly how the magic works.

It’s also argued that without knowing everything about the magic, it tends to hold more wonder and excitement for readers.

Hard Magic

Has very rigid boundaries.

Readers know where the magic comes from, how it’s used, who uses it, and what its boundaries and limitations are.

We know the limitations of the characters and can understand why they can’t simply magic themselves out of any particular challenge.

Stories with hard magic systems do not need to avoid the main character being a magic-wielder, as they have the capacity to explain to the reader what is going on.

A lot of writers this system because it gives them very explicit guidelines to follow in their plot and creates some more satisfying pay-offs for readers.

The Middle Ground

The meeting point between the soft and hard systems.

We might understand a bit about the way the magic works, but not all our questions are answered.

While most of the content adheres to rules, these rules aren’t fully explored.

This system relies on the reader’s suspension of disbelief.

The main character can be a magic-wielder or not, and it’s up to the writer to determine when magic will be used in terms of plot.

How to Choose a System

You can and should use these guiding principles to build your magic system. Remember that you don’t have to choose one or the other. Your system can draw from aspects of both. Just stay aware of the weaknesses of the path you choose, and ensure you utilize its strengths.

Use a hard magic system if:

You are going to use magic to solve problems

Your audience is accustomed to the tropes of hard magic

You are okay with jumping through hoops to expand your system

Your magic doesn’t convey a theme

Use a soft magic system if:

You want to convey a theme through magic

You want to create a sense of wonder

You want the ability to expand easily

You want to be accessible to a broader audience

Your magic won’t regularly be used to solve problems

Branches of Magic

Like most writing processes, there isn’t really a correct place to begin designing a magic system. A common, and efficient, place to start, however, is by choosing what type of magic system(s) you wish to employ, such as:

Nature-based magic: water, earth, fire, air, and everything in between

Divination magic: see beyond sight and peer through time and space

Conjuring magic: move objects through space over any distance

Psychic magic: master the world of the mind

Life and death magic: tap into the very forces of life, death, and un-death with this surprisingly versatile collection

Animal- or creature-exclusive magic: some creatures just do it better

Magitech systems: the blurring lines of sorcery and science give magic a next-gen, high-tech flair

Eclectic magic: it doesn’t have to be “real” magic to have a real effect

Uncommon magic systems: the unsung heroes of fantasy magic

AALC Method

How to create your own magic system using the AALC (Appearance, Abilities, Limits & Cost) Method

Appearance

What the magic looks like

Makes the world feel more exotic

Can cause problems for characters but cannot solve them

Usually tied to a character arc

Abilities

What the magic does

Points calculated based on magical effect, range, number of people affected, and duration

Characters have a finite amount of fuel (mana) to use abilities

More powerful abilities require more fuel

The fuel does not have to be overt for the audience to understand

If points not overt, cannot solve conflicts unless a cost system is added

Limits

Unlimited uses of magical abilities

Abilities stratified in codified levels defined by their limits

The more the levels' abilities and limits are known by the audience, the more they can be used to solve conflicts

Focused on clever uses of abilities against stronger foes

Cost system can be added to enhance dramatic moments

Cost

Costs must be greater than or equal to abilities to make them dramatically satisfying

Costs can include time, exhaustion, materials, sanity, morality, etc.

Adds dilemma to magic by forcing characters to make choices

The greater the character's sacrifice, the more audience satisfaction at conflict resolution

Each system builds on the previous ones, so that Cost Systems use all four, while Point Systems only care about Abilities and Appearance.

Multiple systems can exist within the same story, and systems can harden over the course of the story.

The Force, for instance, has been a Soft, Point, Level, and Cost System depending on who wrote it at the time.

SOFT SYSTEMS (Appearance Only)

Window Dressing - magic for secondary characters; can instigate conflict but cannot solve it; e.g., Gandalf

Soft Villain - No explanation or upper limits needed; makes villains more powerful to make heroes greater underdogs; e.g., The Emperor

Chosen One - Unknown power keeps hero safe throughout story; can be considered plot armor unless earned through character arc

Sort Hero Incomplete - Curse or positive ability the character cannot control; hero still learning limits of ability at story's end; powers and arc continued in next adventure

Soft Hero Complete - Hero embraces ability to complete arc and solve main conflict; magic must become harder in subsequent adventures

POINT SYSTEMS (Appearance + Abilities)

Points Opaque - Non-explicit reservoir of energy fuels powers; cannot solve main problems without cost option because characters finding hidden energy reserve feels like deus ex machina

Points Hard - Both abiliites and points system must be explicit like in video games; becomes about resource management; easy to understand but takes sense of wonder out of magic

LEVEL SYSTEMS (Appearance + Abilities + Limits)

Soft Level Static - Unchanging power without upper limits; cannot solve conflicts because feels repetitive; power must be used cleverly; e.g., Wolverine's healing factor

Soft Level Advancing - Increased powers or new powers with unknown limits; cannot solve conflicts unless tied to a character arc like Soft Hero Complete, at which point "unlocks" new abilities

Hard Level Static - Unchanging abilities with clear-cut limits; can solve conflicts so long as setup is properly seeded, usually resulting in sacrifice; e.g., Genie

Hard Level Advancing - Well-established abilities with limits; can solve conflicts based upon clever uses of abilities, usually against stronger foes; e.g., Airbender

COST SYSTEMS (Appearance + Abilities + Limits + Cost)

Static Cost - Well-established cost remains consistent for each use of ability; can solve conflicts since based on personal sacrifice

Cost Fluctuating - Costs change based upon dramatic need; costs must be greater than or equal to ability; possible costs include lost time, money, sanity, health, memory, life, morality, etc.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 ⚜ Writing Notes ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs Writing Notes: Magic System ⚜ Fictional Items; Poisons ⚜ Fantasy

[cepheusgalaxy]

IDs:

1. A painting of a person with an Illuminati head wielding a staff. The image is captioned: "Don't listen to the bad wizard books. Male witches are called witches. Female wizards are called wizards. It's your job not your gender."

2. A 2x2 alignment chart with two vertical categories and two horizontal categories. The vertical categories are titled, "You use magic by:" and are split into "Letting it do its own thing" and "Controlling it". The horizontal categories are titles, "Your magic comes from:" and are split into "Inside you" and "Outside you". The terms occuping the squares are as following:

You use magic by letting it do its own thing + Your magic comes from inside you: Sorcerer

You use magic by letting it do its own thing + Your magic comes from outside you: Witch

You use magic by controlling it + Your magic comes from inside you: Wizard

You use magic by letting it do its own thing + Your magic comes from outside you: Warlock. /end ID.

[cepheusgalaxy]

Fantasy idea: You have a fairly hard magic system with set rules, perhaps a bit flexible, but nobody in your setting understands them so they treat it like soft magic

[rarepears]

Twins Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan except that Shen Yuan “accidentally” eats a plant that causes his body to age 20 years over night so now Shen Jiu has Shen Yuan pretending to be his and Yue Qi’ dad as they run away from the slavers and start a new life in a quaint little town 3 hours away from Cang Qiong mountain sect.

[fairsweetlonging]

just thinking about how binghe had no idea that without-a-cure even had a cure and he spent all his years as a disciple thinking his shizun would at best be disabled for the rest of his life and at worst die a slow and painful death, and it was to save him.

[cepheusgalaxy]

[Image description: A picture of a black and white book cover, showing multiple woman working in a textile factoruly. The title is pink and says: "Textiles". Below, in white, the subtitle: "The Whole History". It is also written "uses", "meanings" and "significance" near the subtitle. The author's name, Beverly Gordon, is writte on the top left corner of the cover. /end ID.]

Y'all ever open a book on a new subject, read a little bit, and have to put it back so you can process the way in which your mind was just expanded?

[fireballazalea]

[gorgynei]

throws this person at you. and what if i said the tattoo is actually a deeply important part of the magic system of the world theyre from. hmm?

[clockworkreapers]

the idea of sburb happening Aleph Null and then it goes up the chain of command to be like: "Um so... one of our inner empire planet colonies has just been destroyed in a matter of hours and we have no explanation as to why"

"What."