Could you chip in? The plants arent like people, the magic doesnt just happen to them. However, certainly Interferers might be rewriting history to make themselves look better. Do people get to choose their side in this case or are they born with the ability to wield one side? Mana could be used right from surrounding world or produced from other types of energies. Thank you the idea about energy. First, the magical system is based off European history and mythology. To have the power of the Towers, one must have originated from them, or been taken to it by someone from the Towers. I would use something else than Gluttons. Technically, you could link influencing the elements (moving earth to create a wall for instance) to the way Avatar handles it. Maybe something with an eclipse? Certain effects that were considered: Some kind of energy tentacles, if you want a picture. Also, I have another magic system that sort of more on the traditional side that Ive been wrestling with for my story. All other alien races find our violent behavior disgusting and, honestly? One thing to keep in mind is how much power somebody can gain. I would start with some metaphysical idea about exactly what functions these threads are performing to hold the world together. In addition, exposure to sea water improves magical ability for humans slightly, especially childhood exposure, so the strongest spellcasters are all in coastal areas. They can do things with water, and also move farther away from their source (something other nymphs cannot physically do). Magic System Generator Perchance Magic System Generator This magic system focuses on manipulating luck. A mage activates the contract by speaking the spirits name, with the price being the spirit experiencing everything the mage does while using the spirits power. While its more difficult to tell whether a soft magic system is rational, I suspect Game of Thrones is using a rational magic system. Generate random magic shops with items from the d20 SRD. Mother wont take kindly to that. One might be cost, but only if your magic source is limited. Electronic telepathy, involving artificial devices that transfer neural information, could work, as scientists are already developing them. : 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. So, this sheet is meant to help fantasy world-builders (for any media, not just writing) create the magic systems for their worlds. Someone could gain double the magic in half the time. 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. Each time Harry, Ron, and Hermione find themselves in danger, they can only escape that danger using magic that weve already seen them learn. And that should be all, if anyone can help me with the names of the entire concept, please do. They're overall stregenth of that ability is average. You can take the time to practice it yourself, but youre better off finding a teacher. Another way of looking at sources is from a material point of view. Different kinds of people use magic in different ways. Combustial (fire) 7 Considerations for Writing Fantasy Magic and Magic Systems. Your powers will be just as draining as a Bornes magic. Alternatively, soft magic systems remain nebulous. Sometimes this is unavoidable, it happens a lot in games and long stories spanned over many seasons/novels, but for shorter stories it's best to think about what the power limit would be. However, then I realized a key problem: Could I make this a logically consistent system? This is where Im stuck for, to the moment. What about their views on the consumption of food and water? Like gods, you can ask spirits for help. Mages trained in a world with little power usually are very strong in one with more power, because they can make a lot out of a little. 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). If you eat after dark, shell take away the blessing. Readers know little, if anything, about the nature, origin, or limitations of the characters fantastical powers. You can also read his books to see his systems in action; personally I recommend Elantris. Human variation in magical ability is determined by how much excess soul they have, after running all of their brain activity. Could perhaps some or all of them be elements alongside the classic four? So this sentence: Are their any parts youre confused about? Vampires are electromagnetic, which is why they are hurt by sunlight (photoelectric effects), are solid but turn to dust when killed (they actually are dust, and their solid form is a magnetic shell), have superstrength (they can easily lift metal objects, and can use opposing magnetic forces to move their own body quite forcefully). With so many spec fic books, its not unusual to have such coincidences. powerful mages who control transportation but do not rule (again, difficult). I have three ways to get magic, and four types of magic, and several races of dragon. The reader needs to be able to understand the basics and rely on that understanding throughout the story. There are over 1400 name generators, as well as many description generators, guides and various tools you might find helpful. These are the 7 forms of energy this magic affects. Magic that powerful would leave a large fingerprint on the world, and if you dont avoid ultra-powerful characters, it can also break your plot. Sound. The spellbook kind of magic is more of a preference, like if they dont want to be apart if any of the fighting and just rather hang back. Many possibilities). Another rare one is magic transference, my idea of that one is gaining an ability that an extinct race once used, examp. Humans cant curse (or maybe they just didnt figure it out yet!) (A quiet lunch with my friend is much more repeated/repeatable than when I first met my best friend). Though some have tried since the beginning, it has been deemed impossible for a human to harness and redistribute sunlight. As the reader, you may never truly understand what can and cant be accomplished with magic, but thats okayyou dont feel you need to in order to enjoy the story. Extreme focus is needed for complicated attacks While your categories wouldnt be any fun if they were identical, they do need consistency. Dont be afraid to try something novel. Good luck with your universe. Those are the things I thought about, let me know if it helped you improve! On the other hand, it definitely sounds like Conduits could be oppressed now, because they cant cast magic to defend themselves, and Interferers have a strong incentive to control them. a disease caused by the nanites If a character casts spells with a combination of substances, dance moves, and symbols drawn in charcoal, assign a role to each component. Lets say magic is generated by the vibration of continental plates, and each continental plate vibrates at its own frequency, creating different effects. The power can be anything reasonable, but behind its use is an action that they used to love. Rewriting and revising is what turns the idea into something worth reading. Using this site means trees will be planted. 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. Why is it important for a hard magic system to have rules? 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. Oh wow that turned out to be a lot of text. Note that most, if not all, superpowers in this generator will belong . Ive currently got 11 tabs open that I need to look through. This is one of the most exciting things about writing fantasy: getting to design your own magic system. Gaining power can be done through a whole range of methods, you could train, gain power through an artifact, channel power into 1 person or spell, enhance a body through magic (or other means), simply study magic and how it works, siphon souls from other magical beings, gain a blessing (or curse) of a god or demon and much more. 2) Paper. I just thought of something related to teleportation, however. Can magic be used incorrectly or immorally? Ways to obtain magic: (Note- it is a lot easier to learn the Other Methods of Create, Increase & Decrease of the same energy type than it is to learn how to use other Energies- but if you work hard enough it can be done) As Sanderson explains, magic primarily exists to create conflict in fiction. The cosmic balance is set up to where the Aether and Souls rely on eachother, Aether creates and maintains the World and Aether flourished and continues to exist through our Actions. A water line would provide energy for a water mage, an earth line for an earth mage, and so on. It is the rarest of the Primals to be connected to. And the HPMOR fanfic mentioned above is about a Harry who does want to find out this why although I dont think it succeeds at conveying this particularly well in the story itself.). [end worldbuilding] Since the universe as a whole tends towards entropy, where this world uniquely tends towards balance, fire doesnt always behave as expected), Water in its various forms (liquid, gaseous, solid; in redistribution it will always revert to its most common form in nature, that of liquid. 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. Soft magic systems are the opposite of hard magic systems: they dont need to have a clearly defined set of rules. So, early on in our history, humanity was deemed too dangerous to stay in the greater multiverse. As far as your magic/psychic system goes, I can understand why you put so much thought into it. Some dimensions have a lot of energy and a lot of lines, others have few. I think your point is that in a story, there needs to be limits to magic, which I agree with. Humans access it by eating a special plant that bio-accumulates it. Origami, cutting, painting, burning. Novice mages are taught how to bring out their mana to create energy bolts, shields, weapons, and constructs. For example do you want evil spellcasters to raise undead? Since the protagonists are on this side, it would remove a lot of tension. However, you can mix pieces of magic plants and animals in a pot and get powerful effects. Is magic inherited, gifted, obtained, or learned? However, most people wont deviate from what they know to work to avoid wasting their time on a failed ritual or potentially hazardous consequences. 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. If you read up on no other system of supernatural beliefs, check out that one. You can make it mysterious just by hiding how it operates. With that said, I wonder why no one has replied to my previous comment on this article. Avatar works with four definite sources of power, which happen to be fire, water, air, and earth. Ive also seen your above comment. But magical things do have specific usesHarry writes essays on the uses of different plants in potion-making, for example. Magic source description generator This description generator will generate a fairly random description of a the way magic works in a random world. For instance, the Patronus Charm is a spell that is critical to the plot of multiple Harry Potter books. Magical creatures all have an innate connection to one of the forces, which they can use in ways dictated by the kind of creature that they are. In many worlds such as Star Wars, this force is generated by living things. Though this is all tentative, Id probably categorize it into two types: warp threads (like the structural threads you mentioned) for physical spells and weft threads for nonphysical spells. Wind, or life, or just movement? For example: Your mum had speed enhancing paint you will have some form of it or Your mum had paint that could carry poison within it, your dad had paint that could take the physical appearance of slime and your grandma had paint that floats you now have floating poisonous slime paint. Now its time to decide why magic cant do anything and everything the spellcaster wants, whenever they want. Its the subtle way magic leans toward fire or ice. I love the way this discussion has blossomed! But, with the power of enough minds, things and beings could be transported to nearly any location instantly, as long as that location was also in the proximity of many minds (Minds were always at least somewhat tied to the physical world during life, so there would still be a range limit, but a vastly larger one for this teleportation, spanning many light-years). Water was taken and later give back. Stoking fires sounds like a natural fit. I think rule based magic is important for worldbuilding, not novel writing. was really misleading. magic system. An explanation for the seasons has its roots here as well. In my world, priests arent like Catholic priests and all that. For Time and Space, Keeper will be the name. Because people tend to be put off when your story changes rules in the middle. Here, you would have to add something else, perhaps a boost a telepath receives (again, remember the unused potential of muscles, if you want to), which allows for them to reach out and tap into another brain. EASTERN THUNDERER, based off of Eastern dragons in design, likely chance of getting weak to strong Shocker magic, rare-ish to moderate chance of getting magic of another Type as well, Learns magic a bit more slowly than other races. In a rational system, their powers would have come from somewhere and they would have been close to or even broken through their limit, which would have consequences. To me, it seemed like I had everything figured out and I could write a story now. Those rules shouldnt be arbitrary, like fire magic doesnt work on Tuesdays or you cant cast an illusion spell in months without an R in their name. The rules need to make sense within the system. I suspect it might be possible; after all, there are plenty of mathematically worked out theories involving new particles and forces, but Ill have to do quite a bit of research. It is divided into two domains: the stone, minerals, and metals of the land, and the flora and fauna of the natural world. The water creatures, dryads and naiads, are rarer and more powerful (because water has been around for much longer). 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. However, we can only identify that its missing because the system is logically consistent as a whole, even if it isnt perfect in every depiction. None of those energies could be stored by characters themselves, so they can only use energies from environment. You can have several sources of magic, but you need to bring them together in a way that makes sense at least in the novel. Absorb Project Summon Dispel Protect Destroy Restore. And the One became Two, Two became Three, and Three became All Things, (Actions) This is what making sense means when it comes to magic. Summoning rituals or teleportation spells for example, they too could change. Is magic (or the source that fuels it) a limited resource in your story world? Whether you use the force, a principle like Yin and Yang, some nano-bots, the aether, or something different, is up to your kind of story and what you like most. Very interesting system youre developing, I really like that it comes from a disease. The only downside is that these systems require thought thought that will make your setting stronger. dragon glass can kill them and both weapons were forged by dragon flame. I was literally thinking How can I make a magic system thats as good as Avatar? and this article answered that question nicely. Telekinesis was also handy (pun intended) for explaining nonhumanoid creatures without hands or similar developing and using technology, because I am interested in the possibility of aliens very different from humans. Combining powers for a summoning could mean larger creatures could be summoned and a teleportation spell could be able to teleport far more people, or even entire cities. It requires words of power, and a magical energy called Deathlight, which is obtained by killing ghosts. Eventually, after many long and cold nights, Mother returns the sunlight and the heat, for even in just anger she cannot maintain an imbalance. For example, a tree nymph can make a leaf tornado appear, but cant work with other materials. some sort of selection criteria the nanites have Random Treasure Generator. But to elaborate a bit further The name Grey Death was inspired by the Bubonic Plague pandemic of the 1300s, known as the Black Death because, lets face it, thats a kickass name! Both have always existed since the beginning of time and revolve around each other in order to exist. If one person grows wings and another teleports, your system will feel arbitrary. They dont lead sermons or pray for people. It would foreshadow his powers at the end of the story, when he faces off against Voldemort controlling all types of magic. Also I like the fact that the Mages of the world are very politically influential feels so real because thats what would happen! Fantasy worldbuilding Magic systems Scifi worldbuilding Make Full-Time Passive Income From Book Sales FREE Creative Writer Class: How to Write & Publish a Fiction Book Taught by a Bestselling Author with YEARS of experience doing JUST THIS! Few ideas are original at this point. Now, to those who contain their power. A rational magic system is supposed to be understandable. Perhaps, a ritual needs chants which will take most of the night. Wizards cast spells by waving wands and saying incantations. There are 4 main types of magic systems in fantasy. Vindictive/less scrupulous ones will take the opportunity to ask for more than youd normally give. So if you think multiple types would be cool, go for it, if you want to keep it simple, dont. Some plants and animals have magic inherently inside them, creating a variety of results. Anyway, before I get onto the reply for this comment, Ill briefly reply to your other comment (the one which mentioned an alternate magic system for Harry Potter at the end, which I couldnt reply to in that comment thread). Im sure there are phenomena of nature that are plot holes in this magic system. Why are some people spell book readers but not others? Re: hollow mages this is the fate of the previous mage who had the protagonists familiar she traded away bits of her life in order to extend it, until she ends up functionally immortal but with very little of her original self left, (she breaks the bond with her familiar in the process in order to make deals with more powerful spirits). Life is movement and if part of nature isnt moving (even the earth) then it resembles death and not life. 2015 2022 Kristen Kieffer | All rights reserved. Electricity Hell make it rain if your rain dance impresses him, but he wont strike someone with lightning no matter how impressive your dance is. In this world, soon to be named, certain people have access to an energy that is the personification of nature. That source has to be available to a spellcaster, and that spellcaster needs to direct it to accomplish specific goals. The only ones that blur this line are possessed ie theyre two organisms in a symbiotic or parasitic relationship with each other. We make up terms when we think there isnt an existing one that will do, but we do try to use existing terms when we can. If they need hand gestures to do magic, they cant do it while tied up. I know this comment was published a long time ago But oh my God, this idea Id fantastic. For example my magic is about energy- but you cant control energy like Motion in the traditional telokinies way (you think & point and it moves anywhere)- instead you can only increase the speed of a moving object or decrease its speed (to a full stop if your skilled enough) or create movement in a static object (only in one direction as if you hit it- and only that single inital pow of motion), So if youd like your magic to be one of the driving forces in the conflict of your story then itll be great to know what you can and cant do with it and understand if there are any limitation to the magic which may make it more rememberable, interesting and unique- plus create a challange for your protagonist who has to use their wits to work around the limitation and solve a problem. Their technology and motivations could be very different from human ideas. Water constantly replenished in its cycle, rising up as vapor and plummeting down as rain. Occasionally you may want an arbitrary system it adds humor and entertainment to Harry Potter. See the LessWrong articles Universal Fire and Universal Law for one explanation of how all physical laws are tied together. Sorcerers tend to specialize in offensive magic except the temptresses, necromancers and spell book readers. Theyre both perfectly legitimate forms of doing magic in a story IF DONE RIGHT. Or make your telepath one who can only read minds when touching someone else (Vulcans from Star Trek work telepathy that way). Another thing you have to keep in mind is how strong the spells are and if they're overpowered. : The key thing to remember when creating a soft magic system is that it should create problems for your protagonists, rather than solving problems for them. Even without understanding the details, it feels like it all fits together. Different fighters prefer different methods, so combining the ideas could lead to a larger variety and possibly a richer world. Otherwise, your categories will feel contrived. Some kind of mana system (where mana is the energy the mage uses to cast spells) will make the system rational in that case, because it will give natural limits a mage can only cast as long as they have mana left and they need to regain it afterwards (through rest, rituals, or whatever pleases you). Do you need sage, or can you use oak leaves instead? WESTERN VOLCANO, based off of western dragons in design, very likely chance of getting weak to strong Combustial magic, very rare chance of getting another type of magic as well. Motion/kinetic energy: you stop an object in its tracks. Lets delve further into this topic together. Finally, there are magic uses who seem to draw magic from the earth itself. Thats why in emergencies, people have moved cars by pure muscle power to save someone. Some well-known examples of soft magic systems: In The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Its implied humans discovered the thread and abandoned technology altogether, becoming more and more dependent on magic over the next few hundred years. The Living Mother dreads chaos and wants balance. Its crazy long but definitely adds logic to the system :D and its a nerdy heaven. Many soft magic systems include magical creatures: centaurs, mermaids, nine-tailed foxesthe possibilities here are endless. What obvious flaws are there? Hard vs. soft magic is a spectrum, not a binary. As far as the potions are concerned specific plants have always been said to possess magical properties, which is why they are used in the potions. A damned if you do, damned if you dont scenario. Will have to give it some thought. By the time of my story, the nanites have taken up residence pretty much EVERYWHERE. They will seek their own openings and create them for the other, distract the enemy when needed and surround him at all times. A rational magic system is one where every spell is guided by the same metaphysical laws. Each blob of energy could be bound to the other blob of the same type of energy and it will result in kind of quantum entanglement from real physics everything what happens with on blob will happens with other blob. Get into religion and the systems of magical belief and practices really explodes. There are many assumptions in this article, it only focused on a small, known part of magic. In my mind, rituals are the middle ground between divine magic and holy magic. BORNE: obtain magic through genetics. Angelic and demonic can stay, but dont over-simplify things. If anyone interested, here is description of my magic system: My train of thought was a bit of a runaway train. Your success depends on your knowledge of the gods, your relationship with the god, and your ability to make an appeal. Many horror movies use soft magic systems to create a sense of fear and dread, while childrens books might use soft magic systems to create a sense of excitement and adventure. If youll allow my humble but informed opinion. I have recently, but have wrote before, in my world created a new magic systems. 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. Stuff falls down, not up, for instance. Furthermore, nervous systems and brains have different structures and encodings, even merely among humans how could someone understand all the different people? But I dont necessarily want to read about rational magic systems. They have averge control over their ability. If thats not true and given the types of energies most classical magic systems are throwing around I consider it IMHO to be HIGHLY unlikely then its just splitting hairs whether we call it dodging, blocking or something else, youre REALLY gonna need something magical of your own to make sure that when that nasty spell gets to wherever its target may presently be, that YOU AINT THERE when it arrives! Im creating a story set in a dragon-people city, but humans do exists. Spirits that become familiars dont affect ambient energy levels, making casters bound to them potential weapons, but also wild cards (whether theyll help you depends on both their own desires and their familiars). I feel that doing so, would provide some much needed structure as I go through the worldbuilding process but Im worried that it could make my Mages feel less wizardy, and more like X-men? How could a magic user be defeated? You should ensure that the conflict and resolutions in your story arent as fickle as the magic. 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). First of all, you need to figure out what both types of magic can do. They instead study the laws of nature and learn to manipulate them. Cant help but feel its lacking in creativity and complexity, but thats for another day. If you make all of your spells fit together, you'll need less foreshadowing. Magic should be limited when its used by humans or other mortal beings as opposed to being used by divine or other immortal beings. Where does it source its power? Witches and wizards need to learn each spell individually and practice speaking their enchantments in exactly the right way in order to achieve the intended results. If you want spells, you shouldnt work with elements, but work on the premise that magic is real and a power like light or sound which can be guided with the voice. Most of the time, this yearning leads them to the Towers, where they are never seen again. Though there is an international standard for magic spells, certain cultures practice magic in different ways pertaining to either their culture, beliefs or lifestyles. If spellcasters can run out of magic, itll be easy to put them in a tight spot when you need to. Dark, but if it works for the story however, I would say that rather than the Interferes having been oppressed and retaliating, it seems a lot more likely that they were the oppressors and committed genocide. More so they come out on the other side changed About the Avatar thing, what you are saying makes more sense to me now. No matter what magic they practice, it all centers on the manipulation of their mana to connect to the natural forces they want to control. Energy-based magic is easy to use because it comes with limitations. All three should work together to create the magic system. A lot of magical effects can only affect creatures that are magic, or affect them much more strongly. how would you define the users magical abilities)? Then they could connect to the energy of the other brain. These individualized magic systems can be a great way to make characters stand out, but they also come with their own challenges. You have the damage dealer, usually a mage, who can deal out a lot of damage, but has weak health and often limited choices in armour, making them vulnerable in a battle.
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