There are two types of magic systems: hard magic systems and soft magic systems. He shrugged and complained, feeling too tired to trudge away from comfort. There are 7 types of energy that all link with one another (the first two I made up as a pseudo science which explains the workings of Life & Sentience in a pre-modern scientific age), Sentience (The more kinetic energy in the object, the harder it is to stop, as remember, you are the cork and you are the one who must withstand the energy that you are withholding from the tendency towards balance. There are others who feel this way as well. Now the magic is tied directly to ones own life force, the more magic they use the weaker their magic becomes and the weaker they become, with rest their strength will come back but their magic will not and if they run out means they used up their entire life force so they die and the only known way to regain all their magic and life force is to take the life of another completely consuming their victims life force\magic. Late to the party, but I wonder what is your take on the magic system in Type-Moon franchises such as the Fate series and Tsukihime? Let the dragon ride again on the winds of time. There is a certain logic to the magic in Harry Potter, too, but its never completely explained, because the magic only serves the purposes of the story. 2. The dryads control water? This has been extremely helpful! And of course, if magic is viewed as an alternate system of physics theres no reason why physics has to match the naive categories of intelligent beings; think of how weird quantum physics seems, for instance. If you fail to understand the role that . For some systems it could be obvious: for example, as I understand, in the Avatar those guys can control existing non-magical things (water, air, fire, earth). Feats of telekinesis should leave your characters a little exhausted the more energy needed, the higher the exhaustion. Some well-known examples of soft magic systems: In The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Sandersons First Law But once characters learn about the spell to disarm and the spell to block, they cant extrapolate that theres also a spell to dodge. Dryads are usually depicted as tree spirits, or tree nymphs. Basically the spirits want more knowledge of the human world, to experience it through human eyes. Really sorry about the length but Im really happy with this magic system and am wondering what other people might think of it- and the people here seem like they know what theyre talking about and are enthusiastic to hear more. Were he an adult already, thered be hardly a limit for him, apart from morals. Some ideas are more fleshed out than other, if thats saying much. If spellcasters can run out of magic, itll be easy to put them in a tight spot when you need to. Magic, though commonplace, isnt an essential element in fantasy fiction. I also had the idea that there would be some very powerful, old spirits who have long-standing contracts with humanity as a whole. Conduits gather energy but dont cast spells with it, Interferers cant gather but they can cast, so the two types of magic users have to work together to cast spells. To the audience it will feel like every part fits together, even if theyre not precisely sure how. Also Im thinking about the idea when none of characters can store those energy. She holds a BA from Yale University and lives in Colorado. Project | Fire | Destroy | Item Its the same with a story. One world I thought of involves magic based around Life, Metal (mostly magical machinery), Water, Mind, Soil, and Dragons (the rarest), and many in-universe cultures consider these natural divisions, but I suspect Chris Winkle would consider this system non-rational. A strong starting point in order to define your world as "other" to our own is selecting your world's name. This proposition sounds like a video game ideauseful in an environment where youre controlling an avatar with a remote/keys and dont have a quick reaction time. First, the magical system is based off European history and mythology. Most of the time, magic hurts the protagonist rather than helping her, so the fact that we never understand the rules makes it even easier to empathize with her. A dwarf named Keti seeks a company of adventurers to steal a powerful arcane device from a rival. You can also read his books to see his systems in action; personally I recommend Elantris. Your approach may vary wildly from other fantasy authors, and thats okay. Its not uncommon for people to have phantom sensations or memories weeks later. Remember that specific effects are better than broad effects. The second Twist to my setting is that the magic in my world is in fact technological in origin, Yep, Im doing the whole forgotten tech trope :-), The Grey Death is in fact a invasive form of Nanotechnology, accidentally released into the public. Anyone who uses the magic of these Towers will have a name that corresponds to the pair, not just the Tower they draw from. With that said, lava could still count as fire, so the point about magic being based on fire vs. ice might still stand. Whether you're a writer, game developer, or just someone with a creative mind, the Magic Type Generator will help you create random content quickly and easily. 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. And after all of this, there are still problems of how the signals dont get mixed up when a lot of beings are around and why organisms havent already evolved impenetrable defenses against mind-readers and how the information is processed and how the telepath knows what to find. Its been a tremendous influence on pop culture, especially conceptions of ghosts. Limited power creates struggle and conflict, the main hero might be strong, but what happens when an army of thousands have cost him all his powers before he could even reach the main villain? The only limit is your imagination. Note that this does NOT prove energy is conserved (at least I dont think so), it means that if energy is not conserved, the laws of physics must change over time this applies even if magic is involved. The only way around this that i can see is if killing Voldermort brought Hitler back to life. Ask yourself what kind of problems magic will cause your protagonists, and whether your antagonist will use magic to achieve their goals. Ive been working on a magic system in my head, but would like help on a few things. The twist? Paint can be placed on any object and 1 in 15 people can use paint on something they arent touching. However, set guidelines for how people react to exposure. It happens as the tale sees fit. 2023 Mythcreants LLC, all articles, art, recordings, and stories are the copyright of their respective authors. Reversing entropy would be a matter of gestures as well as speeding it up. Further into the future two young men of solitude manage to unlock the greatest fighting potential by breaking mental barriers making them the strongest people to exist since Black and White but they have a fight on morality causing a great war. This isnt a formula for magic systems, but a guide for those not sure where to start or what exactly is a magic system. The younger generation tend to favour unconventional weapons. 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. The Force can do precisely what is needed. The main exception is the avatar state, which isnt clearly linked to bending. 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 teleport, you have to control that energy while your whole body is nothing more than energy, too. This generator gives you names for their various alliances, covens, and clubs. Does that all make sense? sheer warp threads create plain physical structures such as a ball and weft webs can add fire and velocity to that ball. Balance being an essential figure in most fantasy pieces, this works on many levels! Harmony: how multiple different vibrations intermingle and interact, depending on the previous too, some Vibrations can overpower another one In the TV show Im writing, there are dryads, nymphs, and naiads, which are all parts of nature. They instead study the laws of nature and learn to manipulate them. If you only specify one source of magic, you cant suddenly drop someone into the story who uses something different. * When Jon Snow kills a white walker with Valyrian steel, it makes sense even though we havent been told that could happen. Like the Force in the first Star Wars Trilogy, which I used as an example, magic in HP is pretty malleable. Of course, there had to be some in-world lore and stuff to go with the system, but the system / idea in a nutshell, The idea, when broken down is comprised of: Forms of Star magic include telepathy, telekinesis, mind control, astral projection, and precognition. Just watch out for the unaffected 1%. 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 your case, how exactly the will affects something: 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). Givens get the Twisted magic Type, parallel to the caster The main question becomes who set this up, and why? That source has to be available to a spellcaster, and that spellcaster needs to direct it to accomplish specific goals. Eminently true and a tension-building moment to remind your readers that your heros magic depends on this very emotional energy that is at this point of crisis so much more likely to be BURNED OUT or at the very least, already at their maximum ability to deal with well, EMOTIONALLY even without the added stress of having to consciously Tap Into Them EVEN MORE to get them to the point of directed personal connection to the whole of your entire current being which is necessary to actually use them magically. The villain in S3 of A:LoK achieves it. That might work as well, but its a completely different kind of image in peoples minds. In some magic systems, gods or other powerful beings are the source of all magic. 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. And finally, I was thinking about a story involving space travel, so FTL would be convenient to explain how the aliens managed to meet each other in a relatively short amount of time. This suggests that telepathy and telekinesis (at least if I go with something like your suggestion) imply some form of teleportation. The most well known curse is the Demons Mark. The protagonists wording must be airtight, because the djinni will look for loopholes. First, think through what magic is capable of doing in a theoretical best case scenario. (For the record, though, strong emotion results in power use isnt actually a element I like in a system.). Someone else is needed. I would also like to point out that alchemy is not a religion, but an admittedly partially superstitious precursor to chemistry. Some feel cohesive; others feel random. I wouldnt use categories of magic to add structure thats just adding more complexity. Kristen Kieffer is a fantasy fiction writer and the author of Build Your Best Writing Life and Self-Publishing Simplified. There's a reason why I write about fantasy magic - magic is my most favourite thing! Because the setting is divided into nations that correspond with the elements, the Avatar is the only person who symbolically belongs to all the nations. For your world, I take it the reason most people are magic users is that the common people were all killed. As fun as fantastical powers can be to write, crafting your magic system with care is key. 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. When it comes to telepathy have you considered that connecting to another mind might simply mean making changes in their neural system (which runs on small amounts of electricity created by the body)? Different for the TV series, of course. Figured out the important themes and used them to craft something that fits more within the setting. About the two types of fantasy magic systems Which POVs will best suit your story All about your publishing options There will also be practical tips that you can apply to your story straight away. I think that Ill change the names to be about the Towers, instead of what I have now. In The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, practitioners of the Skill can communicate to each other telepathically. 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! Theyre part of a task force to reweave the knots. All magic can be learned by anyone, its just that the magic they didnt inherit will be harder to learn. It wasnt meant to be a rational system (although the EU developed it into one and, no, Im not going into the midichlorian desaster), it was simple old-fashioned fairy-tale magic, the kind which does exactly what the heroes need it to do. Light? Character Power Generator Your character has the Illusions (Can create and destory illusions) ability! At first thanks a lot for this article, it helps to organize some things in my head. Im sure there are phenomena of nature that are plot holes in this magic system. Teleportation is hardest to work out, because it includes the idea that you can pull a body apart and put it back together without any consequences. Its really creative and for the most part completely logical (and since the people in the story are acolytes, there is no scientific explanation needed since it all seems to fit within your model). However, a few fantastical powers can go a long way toward livening up many fantasy stories. Summoning rituals or teleportation spells for example, they too could change. Old Magic might easily just be a reference to magic used on a more instinctive or subconscious level hence Lilys sacrifice can create a protection for her son, because she wanted with all her heart to keep him protected. That also means that magic is an entity of its own, hence experimenting with it can be highly dangerous. I think, some of the gods will be more random and chaotic than others. Why do I need spellcasters? 2015 2022 Kristen Kieffer | All rights reserved. There could be just one type your system is already very interesting or more than one. A glove that gradually eats away at their flesh, or every spell they cast they have to pay a price to a demon, or something. That boar, the Twrch Trwyth? Unlimited power allows for enormous epic battles, but you'll have to create tension by adding other forms of limitations, perhaps skill based or type based. That would make Harrys choice important in two ways: hed be the odd one out who can control all powers (like the Avatar controlling all elements) and he would be limited in what he learns to control by the house he chooses. Visit her new website . Using this site means trees will be planted. Heres what you need to think about. About the Avatar thing, what you are saying makes more sense to me now. ), revising, scrapping, re-revising, Because I never seem to do anything by halves, my original idea for my book has spiraled out of control into a series, set in a Sanderson-esque system of loosely connected worlds. Some prices for their cooperation can even be steep, such as sacrificing something precious or offering up ones soul. Both are checked on periodically by officials after. The magic of Avatar feels like the natural result of a different set of physics, whereas the magic of Harry Potter feels like the arbitrary inventions of an author. First of all, you need to figure out what both types of magic can do. We'll also throw some brainstorming questions your way to help get those magical creative juices flowing!