If you want to create a soft magic system, I have some good news: you dont need to come up with a set of systematic rules, or even an underlying logic. On Way of Kings Shows Us the Damage Meta Mysteries Can Do. If youre at a loss, take a page from Brandon Sandersons Mistborn series. Brandon Sanderson has a knack for creating alluring, original magic systems that immerse the reader into the fictional universe. Anyway, the original inspiration came when I read an article about the philosophy of mind which claimed that interactionist dualism (the idea that the mind is immaterial and the body is material, yet they interact) couldnt be true, with one reason given being that such an interaction would violate conservation of energy. And sorry about the length of this comment. If you are the child of a Given and you are born with magic, you are called a Twisted mage, and have the same powers as your Given parent. Many soft magic systems include magical creatures: centaurs, mermaids, nine-tailed foxesthe possibilities here are endless. Slytherin still could breed dark wizards and witches perhaps they have a tendency towards dark magic. I will say that I do enjoy thinking about all of these issues. Harmony: how multiple different vibrations intermingle and interact, depending on the previous too, some Vibrations can overpower another one In the Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away, the entire spirit world operates under a soft magic system, from the magical bathhouse customers to the killer paper airplanes. For instance, if you have chaotic magic, dark magic, and lawful magic, your audience will wonder where the light magic is. Now, there is a scene in the Silmarillion where Luthien goes to rescue Beren, the mortal man she loves, from the dungeons of Sauron (who is a corrupted angelic spirit somewhere around the same level in the angelic hierarchy that her mother occupies on the good side); and in the process she engages in a duel of song with Sauron himself, since song/music is the primary metaphor Tolkien chose to express the use of this spiritual/magical energy in the writings which were collected into the Silmarillion. Its unclear whether there are any other self-casting old magic spells besides this one. Earth magic: Earth magic draws power from the energy of the land itself. If a mage has no limit to what they can do, why not simply find one who solves all the problems for your hero with the snap of a finger (or a well-conducted ritual)? Its a very complex mathematical theorem, but the really basic idea I understand is that conservation laws and symmetries are connected. PEELED him? I remember a HP fan-fiction where Harry developed two spells into some kind of magical arms he could call up at will to help with magic or protect himself by picking up half a dozen objects he could throw into the path of a spell or weapon. Sympathetic spirits will take pity, accepting minor payment (maybe even the painful memory of seeing said loved one get shot). Though I have some questions mainly concerning what allows some to manipulate this balance for a certain time? Maybe something with an eclipse? Like gods, you can ask spirits for help. In my example of magic that is acquired by consuming a plant, a clever alchemist might distill and concentrate the plant down to an elixir that is digested more quickly. Light The definitions for these are as follows: Im creating a story set in a dragon-people city, but humans do exists. There's a wide variety of ways to wield magic, ranging from staves, wands and tomes to scrolls, artifacts and created objects and even which body part you use and how many (1 hand, 2 hands, eyes, entire body, etc.). My magic system is based off of good and bad. Harry Potters magic is not irrational. All are well known for changing things theyre associated with into other things or even changing other women into one of them, so that can be fun. How does this constitute a magic system? Bewitchment Grenade-- This bomb emits a gas that causes hallucinations and lowered aggression in 99% of affected persons. Korra did it but that was more so of Avatar state then an Airbending technique. I havent even gotten to the actual magic yet. Alrighty, its late and Im tired. At least not on earth, as far as we can tell. The younger generation tend to favour unconventional weapons. That will keep your characters from going deus ex machina at you (meaning suddenly doing something they shouldnt be able to, just because you need them to). And I had trouble writing with what nature aspects nymphs, dryads, and naiads would relate to, so I went with that. For Light and Darkness, Shade will be their name. If only a portion of the population can wield magic it could also mean the magic wielders are either the elite or the lower class. It happens as the tale sees fit. Entire body effects:: 1. If by the end of your story the hero has reached twice or more times the power of the strongest person at the beginning of the story, how come nobody ever reached that same level? There are a few online articles about this: the ones I remember off the top of my head are Universal Fire and Universal Law, found on LessWrong. They are not related in any way. You can also use that fickleness, maybe, and some other things this answer mentioned, to weave in logical limitations on emotion-based magic that will make it perhaps more palatable to your readersin fact, in ways directly related to the example of exhaustion. Its not just about the energy needed to transform a body into energy and then back into mass, its also about controlling where the second transformation takes place (splicing would be a problem or manifesting through matter its what cost Heimlich from the Brian Helsing series his right lower arm). And if youre a goddamn god with a controller, it can pull a star destroyer into a planet while at the same time swatting aside oodles of TIE-Fighters (still the only sore point in The Force Unleashed 1 for me). Can ones magical abilities be stolen or suppressed through fantastical or physical means? Maybe they are all for structural integrity, without them the world explodes outward into the vacuum of nothingness. It tries to convince the reader the newly defined rational magic system is what every fantasy writer should strive for. Specific effects include causing earthquakes, preventing earthquakes, and turning people to stone. For example, the Goddess of the Hunt will give a blessing that will increase the accuracy and strength of your bow, as long as you dont eat after dark. Forms of moon magic include illusion magic, shadow magic, and spirit magic. The story is at a climax when emotions are always high? Internal logic, that is, otherwise thered always be that magic doesnt exist bit to fight against. You need to think it through and you need to make it understandable for the reader, because otherwise they cant imagine your world and they cant dive into it which is why people read stories. Hope I did well! Hes also known as the God of Mischief. As the Wizard unravels the Great Mysteries, and gains understanding of the Universe, they unlock additional rune slots, allowing for more complex, refined spells. In essence, theme is nothing more than an answer to the question, What is this story about? Theres a good chance that your story already contains themes regardless of whether you consciously developed them. Does that all make sense? Hell make it rain if your rain dance impresses him, but he wont strike someone with lightning no matter how impressive your dance is. If magic is based on emotion, those Apaths could, perhaps, nullify it? However, you can also experiment with different techniques for accessing and directing the magic, each with upsides and downsides. SWAMP, kind of based off of iguanas in design, rare chance of getting magic. It may sound similar to Avatar but it is growing. Each of these works with each other and the level of each step determine how much oomph the next step has to produce an effect in our world. The tricky thing about powering magic with emotions is that it generally leads to magics power being as fickle and arbitrary as emotions, which often makes problems and solutions stemming from its use feel arbitrary. The only downside is that these systems require thought thought that will make your setting stronger. For example, your magic is powered by emotions, which also means that your emotions, if they dont get a new power source (more emotion), will disappear over time. The twist? You might need more development in the how magic is accessed and directed area. Now its time to decide why magic cant do anything and everything the spellcaster wants, whenever they want. One type usually comes naturally to you (depending on your personality and familiarity) but through practice you can learn other types. A genie grants three wisheswith a twist. ), Fire/heat (fire is a more fickle form of energy and as it is intangible, it is harder to hold on to, though not as hard as air. After all the Vibrations have finished their process, they Ripple and then whatever combination the Vibrations have will affect our world. Brandon Sanderson is fantastic at crafting magic systems. I think rule based magic is important for worldbuilding, not novel writing. was really misleading. The audience must know the rules, because the heroes use magic during the story. Divine magic is often more powerful/useful, but isnt always reliable. Below, Ive outlined six general steps you can follow to forge an effective magic system for your story. (Arguably, before the development of modern science, many people had similar attitudes towards technology! The size of those continental plates and their placement on the planet would be an arbitrary effect of nature, and so the magic they generate might reflect those arbitrary characteristics. (Find out more). Brought to you by Campfire Levi Johnson is a writer and content creator at Campfire. Project | Fire | Destroy | Item Lets say magic is generated by the vibration of continental plates, and each continental plate vibrates at its own frequency, creating different effects. You wouldnt add that fire is good for creative thinking, because that wouldnt fit. What are your favorite magic systems? Mother takes away the gift of sunlight and its heat and sends all of the water down upon the plants to punish them in their death. SWd6 System Generator. Oh! But fighting style isn't the only thing that could change when you decide whether or not powers can be combined. The other is one of my own magic systems, as I want to hear what others think about it, especially in terms of this article. If so, why? The issues with this idea are a) adding more complexity to my magic system and b) giving more power to the side of the war that directly contracts spirits. Perhaps, a ritual needs chants which will take most of the night. Feats of telekinesis should leave your characters a little exhausted the more energy needed, the higher the exhaustion. As mentioned, Im still working on the plot details, but I was thinking the decrease in magic availability from protagonist 1s time to protagonist 2s time had to do with spirits withdrawing from the human world and not dealing with mages. See the LessWrong articles Universal Fire and Universal Law for one explanation of how all physical laws are tied together. My character doesnt get him to throw lightning at foes, but he does send a giant bird to carry off my character to relative safety, but they end up getting separated from the rest of their group. Skill also plays a part, and is determined by both intelligence and creativity. There are, of course, drawbacks. In your case, how exactly the will affects something: If the story needs someone to tell Luke and the others on the Falcon something terrible happened at the other end of the galaxy, the Force can provide Obi-Wan with the necessary information through a vision of sorts. Do you guys have questions? The best frameworks have limitations inherent to the way they operate. When you suddenly decide to change the way magic works or it looks like it, because youre winging it with the system readers get unhappy. I hope this is a reasonable explanation. Spell lists ala D&D can be fun, but spell creation in a limited system can be very flavorful. For a similar reason, simple exhaustion, without any other defined limits, is generally a weak way to limit an ability in the story. As fun as fantastical powers can be to write, crafting your magic system with care is key. It doesnt have to make sense in our world, but in the world of the story, it does. One thing to keep in mind is how much power somebody can gain. That way, it would mean using that energy to influence an element. Earth and earthy minerals/materials (Since earth is firm, solid and tangible, and since man walks and sleeps on the ground, eats what the ground produces, and has a beneficial relationship with the earth, earth is easy to hold on to for longer periods of time, assuming you dont try to control too much of it at a time). Water constantly replenished in its cycle, rising up as vapor and plummeting down as rain. some sort of selection criteria the nanites have They each have powers, but only relative to what they are. And good guys to heal people? Hi there, I really like the sound of your magics (especially the high fantasy one)- I like the idea about the colours representing the power levels. Wand movements and spells serve to direct the magic, to tell it what to do. These are the 7 forms of energy this magic affects. Or you go back to the idea that words shape the world, which is why we have the word enchantment which comes from chanting. ^.^ However, it had similar things to our universe, stars and planets and lifeforms that could look somewhat like ours, so it needed to follow most of them, at least, the ones that allowed for these things. The audience has no idea what they can do other than what theyve been directly told, so if they do anything new in a crisis, it will look like a deus ex machina. Its not uncommon for people to have phantom sensations or memories weeks later. In a way you can see it as choosing between having 2 (or more) people using normal weapons to fight an enemy together. Because soft magic is often used by characters other than the protagonist, you should think about who the wielders will be. Im now looking for consistency. If your mage has a limit on their powers (and having a human with unlimited powers is probably going to break a story, at least with that human being the hero), the limit must always be the same or you need to give a reason why it is different (the character is exhausted and thus cant muster as much magic or the character took a specific potion which boosted their powers, for instance). Water was taken and later give back. Also, how is this energy directed to a specific object and not blocked by everything in the way (including air?) Students learn all of the spells by memorization, because theres no logic underpinning how they operate. I generally call the opposite of rational arbitrary, and that one I just chose arbitrarily, you might say. I also thought about adding elementals (People that impersonate a specific emotion and can change when overloaded with emotion) and some lore. Relocating energy (in telekinesis or telepathy) is, however, less of a problem than dissolving a body and recreating it at another place, to its not the same as full teleportation. The way it goes is that the universe of our perception is just a projection, an illusion if you will, of the real World, the Sea of Energy. A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. The magic system in my current work-in-progress, Lady Legacy, serves as an allegory for ambition and the dangerous pursuit of glory, with magic exacting a heavy emotional toll on the user. While characters can invent some potions, it appears they only do it by trial and error, not through a formula that guides what goes into a potion to create specific effects. Now the fall is a far more distant memory, and one less likely to be associated with mages, but the habit has become too ingrained to change. Nullify and boost it? This person, the Avatar, bends all four plus spirit energy. But it technically isnt magic if you put yourself in the characters shoes. For a small redistribution of energy or matter, this is hardly a large price to pay. Cool system, sounds like it has great story possibilities. These energies are not strictly bound to non-magical air, water, fire and so on, but definitely could affect each other: real fire produces fire energy, in water there are lot of water energy and so on. A rational magic system follows rules, thats what makes it a rational system. Ill be checking this site for updates everyday, so thank you in advance of letting me share my crazy idea with you all. They arent all knowing like gods so you have to talk to them directly. And the other main faction (dont have a name for them yet) use mainly defensive magic like using a shield just strong enough to protect them from immediate danger and phasing (though still thinking about what that would entail) and others I cant think of at the moment and still trying to think of more. Update/thoughts soon. You could use a rock-paper-scissors relationship where earth beats air, but air beats water, water beats fire, and fire beats earth. For instance: a person who has long hair could pluck a strand and send paint through it causing it to straiten making a weapon hard to see or maybe if you can use paint on something you arent touching you could carry a bag of sand around and channel paint into it giving you the power to manipulate it a will. But you can use pretty much anything you wish, whether it's a magic absorbing rock, special water or perhaps a type of wood. I do hope that this comment will help you understand the angle Im coming from. Motion/kinetic energy: you stop an object in its tracks. (In this case, dispelling the Spiritual (Emotional) aspects associated with Fire in this case Anger/Passion. If your characters will use magic to resolve that conflict, then establishing a clear set of rules for your magic system is necessary to avoid cheapening tension via contrived magical solutions. If you actually have light magic and youre just not telling them until later, then great; youve foreshadowed without even trying. While both of these magic systems have mysterious aspects, in general they dont invoke wonder because they are understood. VINE DWELLER, based off of forest nymphs from folklore in design, moderate chance of getting medium to strong Eco magic, extremely rare chance to get weak magic of another Type as well. You neednt appropriate any that have extant adherents, of course, but looking at what people believe can be a touchstone for how an invented system of magic could work. Jinora does it at some point. First of all, why would there be a spell to dodge? If a character casts spells with a combination of substances, dance moves, and symbols drawn in charcoal, assign a role to each component. Ive found this post while looking any information about making own magic system for an cRPG. Limitations mean there will be tension in your story, without limitations anything and everything can happen, but generally not in a good way. Sometimes you just get turned into a chicken. That is, unless you have a good relationship with him. Your patronage keeps this site running. Im not a novel writer, but I am a worldbuilder. In the Norse pantheon, Loki is sometimes also referred to as the god of fire despite the fact that hes a frost giant. Once again, grab a sheet of paperthis time to brainstorm magical sources. Fifty years after the war ends the younger generation make massive breakthroughs. Magicians have no power of their own except through the spirits they command. While your categories wouldnt be any fun if they were identical, they do need consistency. When an earthbender is blocked by a mountain, we know that with enough effort, they could create a tunnel through it. Because magic is a form of power, it often explores related themes such as greed, privilege, and oppression. If youre curious about the source My protagonist would be one of the paranoid who wants to conserve the thread. The jammers are slowly getting weaker, and the nanites, while the have mostly settled in these past centuries, slowly encroach upon the population. The Force can do precisely what is needed. We also have a step-by-step guide to building magic systems if you want to review the components of a magic system. Create a crater-sized hole in the earth to later redistribute the soil, though, and you might have some problems. If you do, how will you split the elements between the two sides? You just need a set of guidelines that all of your spirits/nymphs follow. These effects all involve either draining, manipulating or sensing magical forces, including the stuff that runs the internal workings of magical creatures. Thats why we have a character (in the Silmarillion, and referenced in passing in the songs and stories Aragorn tells the hobbits on Weathertop and they later hear much more about in Rivendell: a character like Luthien Tinuviel, who inherited her power from her connection to both the mortal (in the sense of not being a divinely descended spirit who chose to take bodily form; Tolkiens equivalent of greater and lesser angels whom he sees as having a role in the world; her father was a powerful Elf king but still in that sense mortal) and angelic (her mother, who was a lesser angel who fell in love with her father and chose to take on bodily form enough to bear his child but still remained of divine race) lines in her ahcestry. Hope I dont sound like a rabid Potterhead but I dont think its irrational! And for Mind and Body, Distorter will be their name. If there are no downsides to using magic, your protagonists might soon become overpowered, able to solve any problem with the wave of a wand. What themes will your magic system discuss? In real life, cold is not a thing but just the absence of heat, and ice and fire dont seem to be fundamental opposites. Decide on its tone. I want to make it rational, just didnt thought about it from this point. I love your idea Madden, however if i may point out one significant flaw that you will very quickly need to address. For instance, the Patronus Charm is a spell that is critical to the plot of multiple Harry Potter books. A cunning ex-adventurer named Wlfrilda seeks a company of adventurers to explore the Pikawas Jungle. There are hints throughout the story that its actually sci-fi. More so they come out on the other side changed However, even if we have energy available, there is still always the problem of directing it. You can also read his books to see his systems in action; personally I recommend Elantris. Humans access it by eating a special plant that bio-accumulates it. Here are some examples of magical sources: In Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan, magic comes from the gods. The Interferer group split apart eventually and the two factions warred and almost killed all of the Conduits, but reached a treaty saying that they wouldnt kill anymore Conduits (Interferers need Conduits to do anything), but Conduits are still rare and fought over.
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fantasy magic system generator