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. (As a side note, I mentioned teleportation because it would help get the various alien species in my universe together quickly so there could be stories based on interaction between them. Magic certain individuals acquire the ability to issue new instructions to existing nanites, whether in the environment or within others bodies. (Yellow is weakest, purple is strongest.) This has been extremely helpful! Hydro (water) Runes are one example which are used a lot, as are crystals and various (unique) artifacts. First off, Id like to say that your idea is amazing! Mana could be used right from surrounding world or produced from other types of energies. Perhaps, a ritual needs chants which will take most of the night. I have seen several people on StackExchange Worldbuilding, for instance, and commenters on the HPMOR fanfic, talk about how changing natural laws can cause problems and criticize many writers lack of thought about this. So this sentence: Muggles are not going to have much luck oppressing wizards. Have holy magic as something humans can gain through service to the gods, but have the gods as some random element that cannot be influenced at all. Your answer could have huge ramifications for your world. It would also bring a limit, because the ley lines dont exist everywhere. It happens as the tale sees fit. 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. Wizards arent included in this; as far as we know, you cant just simmer a wizard in a pot for a few days and end up with a magic potion. Using this site means trees will be planted. That cheapens the story and makes it less exciting to read. If a mage forms a contract with a water faerie, they can use water magic, even if their Primal isnt the Ocean. Maybe something with an eclipse? 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. How to Create a Rational Magic System - Mythcreants Or make your telepath one who can only read minds when touching someone else (Vulcans from Star Trek work telepathy that way). So, if we want to maintain conservation of energy, we need to assume another power source. But usually a person can only ever do one of those three (create, increase or decrease), and only do it for a certain energy type. I also want the systems to be distinct, but relatively balanced. ;). One way to get stronger is to give your paint a will creating a contractor. 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). If most people are one or the other, and Conduits are rare, then most Conduits will also be the children of Interferers. Another limit would be limited ability of the user, like Gummy Bear who uses magic, but half of the time cant remember the spell, doesnt find the right one, or just does it wrong. If youre still reading, thanks for letting me ramble. When picking the powers and spells for your magic system you'll have to keep in mind a few things. Electricity Who will use magic: the protagonist (hard magic), or the antagonist / side characters (soft magic)? You can negotiate with them about services and prices, that is, if they listen to you at all. The audience must know the rules, because the heroes use magic during the story. (Obviously, if character will try to use this energy, he probably will die). When an Interferer discovered their ability to pull power from a Conduit and affect the world, they were shunned for interfering. If anyone wants more detail and is interested to see the actual magic just comment and feel free to critique. But here is the problem since those energies are not strictly relates to the non-magical substances, Im not quite clear how exactly my energies will affect characters. Professor of Political Theory in Star Trek, contradicting something shes already invented, distill and concentrate the plant down to an elixir, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, heres a fun chart showing the details of magic systems in the most popular works, Building the Raksura: How Martha Wells Fell Into Toxic Tropes, Five Tips for Using an Arbitrary Magic System, Building Wings of Fire: How Sutherland Propped Up Her Plot, Building Hyperion: How Simmons Scattered His World, Building Roshar: How Sanderson Bungled Culture, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi_hcwB8i64, https://mythcreants.com/blog/how-to-create-an-eclectic-magic-system/. A substance can be traded on the market, gods can be prayed to, and individuals might be sensitive to magical energy or maybe everyone has machines that do it all for them. My magic system is based on the Netflix show, The Dragon Prince, because I really like how dynamic and diverse its magic system is. They dont lead sermons or pray for people. Some dimensions have a lot of energy and a lot of lines, others have few. Other magic that is extremely rare is healing lethal injuries or bring someone back that was just killed (only have a certain amount of time to do it). What do you think? What I was thinking but forgot to put it in my original comment was that it could be because of their bloodline, their ancestors used that kind of magic so it comes easier to them. You mentioned Mana, Life and Mind as the elements of your magic system. Martin or the show writers lean hard by revealing how it works, I think theyll reveal something thats logically consistent. One of the most common elements in these books is a magic system. I agree that a spell to dodge doesnt make much sense on first glance, but Ive also just realized that thats only true if we assume that the hostile spell were interested in dodging in the first place were as part of the basic nature of magical reality totally incapable of moving any faster than a theoretical average apprentice level user of magic can move without having recourse to their wizardry. I have recently, but have wrote before, in my world created a new magic systems. :-D. So the idea was born out of the fact that in a lot of computer games, playing a Mage just doesnt feel very Magey. Forms of magic include water magic, healing magic, potion making, and purification. Limiting what magic can theoretically do will dramatically cut down the number of plot-breaking scenarios you might have to deal with. . Blood is messy and sticky and gets in the carpets and really why would anyone who doesnt consume it like a vampire want it as payment? If they need to gather energy beforehand, they cant just build a wall of ice without any preparation (which limits their powers). Magic systems can even serve as a vehicle for theme, exploring topics such as power, privilege, oppression, and greed. Its easy to get excited and bite off more than you can chew, but youll do better if you focus on fewer things. Advantages: you can summon a physical form of your paint to help fight with you, you can make deals with your contractor sacrificing parts of your power to gain special moves or stronger attacks, becoming closer to your contractor makes your flow stronger What I really dont like about this article is the formula on how to create a magic system. An explanation for the seasons has its roots here as well. Precursor aliens might do the job if they had certain motivations (such as wanting to set up a certain situation to see how it develops), but this raises questions of how such a large group made of many different individuals could all stay hidden for such a long time. The younger generation tend to favour unconventional weapons. If you havent seen it yet, I also recommend looking at my other post on magic systems: https://mythcreants.com/blog/how-to-create-an-eclectic-magic-system/ its better suited to creating effects that are varied and complex. It takes many years to master. Worldbuilding, Avatar, Magic Magic Systems Magic systems vary from colorful bears with tummy badges to ritual blood sacrifices. Technically, anyone can use holy magic, but it takes years to become proficient. (The amount of waste we produce is naturally less than the amount of food or liquid we consume, so again do they have a non-scientific explanation, or if they do have a scientific explanation, why do they not consider the same thing happening in plants? What are the interconnections between the ideas Ive come up with? What limitations does the magic put on the wielder? This is where your magic system will become unique, even if it shares elements with existing works of fiction. Your Favorite Fantasy Magic Systems, Rated - B&N Reads Avatar is, essentially, based on elemental magic which is the ability to control one or more elements. Once eaten, the magical substance builds up in their systems until they focus their will to cast magic. Eating it makes them very sick, but because of this immune reaction, they can cast more powerful spells. Do you guys have questions? Talking of the wedding feast: Though thou get this, there is yet that which thou wilt not get. But it also refers to the effects of the nanite plague. One type usually comes naturally to you (depending on your personality and familiarity) but through practice you can learn other types. Eventually, after many long and cold nights, Mother returns the sunlight and the heat, for even in just anger she cannot maintain an imbalance. Sandersons Second Law Character Power Generator Your character has the Illusions (Can create and destory illusions) ability! From this point onwards paint is incorporated into science and technology. Magicians draw on their inner energy, called mana, to cast spells and perform magical techniques. Furthermore, it is meant to be mysterious in-story and something that not everyone has. Im not sure if this will help ScWall any, but I experimented with something very similar a number of years ago. Magic can be taught and learned, but like the Arts or sciences, whether someone is good at magic or not depends on their inherent skill, talent, and dedication to their training. I was wondering if any of you could give your thoughts on it. Thats all I can think of at this very moment and I dont want to make this comment any longer. There are over 1400 name generators, as well as many description generators, guides and various tools you might find helpful. And after reading this article, Ive found there is one important question missing: How exactly magic affects the world? If you want to go with something necromantic (as spectre and ghoul suggest), you might be able to find something more fitting in that area. 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. And sorry about the length of this comment. Hell make it rain if your rain dance impresses him, but he wont strike someone with lightning no matter how impressive your dance is. Harry realizes what hes done and looks for a counter-spell, instead of just hopelessly thinking Oh no! I just finished the entire creation story because of these questions as well as creating a more refined system of magic in my book! And if you use an elemental magic system be creative, inform yourself what elements are overused already. Some feel cohesive; others feel random. There are 2 other different types of magic to do with Time/Space & Meta Magic of youd like to hear more about the magic from the novel I wrote. 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). Things holy magic can do include lighting incense, putting people to sleep, and pacifying demons. First, if its similar to someone elses that is purely coincidental. Each time Harry, Ron, and Hermione find themselves in danger, they can only escape that danger using magic that weve already seen them learn. The machines were built in centralized factories embedded with instructions for their specific purpose and packaged up and sent out around the globe. They can do things with water, and also move farther away from their source (something other nymphs cannot physically do). 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. This description generator will generate a short random description of a spell, including its effect, appearance and inventor. 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. The dryads control water? Is magic (or the source that fuels it) a limited resource in your story world? Another possibility is that some kind of complex structure is involved that can navigate to a desired destination. Sounds right to me). Lich could do for those who contain the energy, as liches go on living long after they should be gone, so essentially containing life energy past their due date. Check out the Magic Generator Pack . All those rules are allow to create literally any classic spell, except teleportation/portals. Alrighty, its late and Im tired. I love your blog a lot, but Im annoyed with your bashing of the Harry Potter series in almost every article. Limits can come in all sorts of varieties, the ones we've covered are: how to wield it (being disarmed), how to gain power, power limit, limited power source, cost of powers, the ability to combine powers or not, racial differences and whether or not you're born with a specific amount of power and talent or not. In general, hard magic should solve problems for your protagonists, while soft magic should cause problems for your protagonists. That Interferer found others like them and went around killing the common people in revenge for shunning them and taking Conduits prisoner (to use them for power). Anyone can use it, the power doesnt come from the gods, but you do have to follow a recipe. It doesnt take years of training. Casting also generates colors based on how much power you drew upon to cast it. Its important to define what the magic user can manipulate and how/why. Even within one category, theres no way to extrapolate new spells because the rules are so eclectic. The most common form of magic is to make a contract with a specific spirit for a specific outcome, and then the spirit uses its power to reach that outcome (level of cooperation varies). In Avatar, there is one person every generation who violates the rule that people can bend only one element. This generator will give you 10 random super powers, which can range from many different types of powers, including magic and superhuman powers. The steps of rituals are based on hearsay, so its hard to know whats actually necessary. Is it light and full of wonder? Fire, transformation and order are strongly associated with this system of magic. In a rational system, there would be an explanation for how magic works where it comes from, what limits there are, how it is used. In my mind, rituals are the middle ground between divine magic and holy magic. If spellcasters can run out of magic, itll be easy to put them in a tight spot when you need to. The only difference is Life energy contained in every living creature, and every creature has own Mind ball in place of real brain. But once characters learn about the spell to disarm and the spell to block, they cant extrapolate that theres also a spell to dodge. 1. The Goddess of Exchanges would be less random, but you wouldnt be able to reliably make exchanges with her. Prime / Mana worked a little differently, in that each rune slot had a certain number of Mana-Points that could be applied, up to a value equal to the Players skill/level. Maybe each thought produces a tiny amount of energy that allows for sending a nerve signal to, say, cause a body part to move. I dont think that interactionist dualism (or psychic powers existing) is likely to be true in real life, but if I were creating fictionI could include that. It sounds like youre going the scientific route with energy. It doesnt have to make sense in our world, but in the world of the story, it does. In Brandon Sandersons Warbreaker, magic is powered by a life force known as breath. Sanderson could have made breath do anything, but instead its mostly limited to animating objects and improving the casters senses. Like species in our world evolved so did the magic in their world, with their ancestors using a specific type of magic and pased it down it just became a part of them. In this world, soon to be named, certain people have access to an energy that is the personification of nature. A being of a higher Plane has the opposite effect, their presence and consciousness being far too much for the Universe to handle, and so it would just collapse on itself wherever the being would go. Your patronage keeps this site running. How big or small a role it plays in that story is completely up to you - but no matter what kind of magic system you're devising, you need to know it inside and out. Occasionally you may want an arbitrary system it adds humor and entertainment to Harry Potter. Absorb Project Summon Dispel Protect Destroy Restore. Maybe its impossible, and I dont know, although Ive tried to figure out. Each house is limited to one type of magic and students are not sorted by their character at the age of 11, but by what magic they have an affinity for. Do note that sharing elements with other works of fiction is near impossible to avoid, magic has been used in so many stories so the chances of whichever power you think of not being used already are very slim and those which haven't been used might not even be worth using in the first place. Meanwhile, most people selected for magic by the nanites didnt know what was happening they might have been able to make better guesses than people now, but next to surviving the end of their world didnt devote a lot of thought to it. Balance being an essential figure in most fantasy pieces, this works on many levels! 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. You make good points about the gap between different kinds of magic. Maybe as a counterpart to motion? The story is at a climax when emotions are always high? In that, I will agree with what Chris Winkle said that putting thought into your magic system is a good idea. If you think about it, youll realize theres no reason not to have a rational system. These symptoms will get worse over time. Magic is part of an enormous range of stories, but finding 2 stories which use the same magic system isn't as easy as it may sound. In actual weaving, warp threads keep tension during weaving and are the main structure of the fabric. 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. Magicians are taught to learn about the natural forces within magic if they want to better control them. Harrys mother inadvertently casts a protective spell on him by dying for him. If a villain is gloating about killing the heros friend, the hero gets really angry, they attack with powers drawn from their newfound fury, and then the villain *still* crushes them before mocking them for their pathetic temper tantrum, then the audience isnt going to establish a connection between sudden emotional outbursts and conflict resolution. Unless obsidian in Westeros is formed by dragonfire instead of volcanoes (or volcanoes are tied to dragons somehow, which I dont think was ever even hinted at), it wasnt actually forged by dragons. In the fourth book, Harry doesnt know any flying spells, so he uses the Summoning Spell to call his broomstick. 7 Considerations for Writing Fantasy Magic and Magic Systems - JD Stanley Weve seen them move and break rock, so it follows that they could make a hole through a mountain. Decay would be speeding up entropy, life would be slowing it down or trying to instill some kind of anti-entropy into the world. Being able to gain power is generally an often picked choice for story telling, first the hero is unable to defeat the villain, but after training or some other form of power gain the hero becomes stronger than the villain. I definitely have more work to do. 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. Group B dont have magic at all. Though some have tried since the beginning, it has been deemed impossible for a human to harness and redistribute sunlight. Because water is more tangible than air and fire, it is likewise easier to hold on to. Follow her work on hannahyang.com or on Twitter at @hannahxyang. Disadvantages: it makes your paint harder to control, if your will is weak your contractor could go against you, your contractor gets to present you with the deals and if you dont like them there is nothing you can do about it, harm to your contractor results in harm to your soul. You might want to read them. If a character casts spells with a combination of substances, dance moves, and symbols drawn in charcoal, assign a role to each component. The protagonists wording must be airtight, because the djinni will look for loopholes. They should be able to deduce, if they want to, what a magic user (or a psychic) can or cant do and you shouldnt suddenly throw someone in who can do something that should be impossible by the rules you set down and showed before. How much of it might people attribute to the magic, and how much might they attribute to simply becoming blas in the face of so much death? That source has to be available to a spellcaster, and that spellcaster needs to direct it to accomplish specific goals. And this is why I post my ideas on places like this someone will ask the really obvious questions I forgot to ask myself. Or just feel ridiculous. It tries to convince the reader the newly defined rational magic system is what every fantasy writer should strive for. How was magic created? This is only my second serious piece of writing, so its really encouraging to hear stuff like that from someone like you. There might be countless possibilities, but it will take countless years to figure it out. 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. And the whole thing about souls & vampires! Drop us a line or let's stay in touch via : Subscribe for writing hacks, special offers and free stuff, 2023 - Orpheus Technology, prowritingaid.com, How to Build an Amazing Magic System for Your Fantasy Novel, Hard Magic Systems vs. Soft Magic Systems, How to Self-Edit Your Manuscript Like a Pro, How to Craft an Engaging Arc for Your Story, How to Use Deus Ex Machina like Stephen King, ProWritingAid or Grammarly? 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. Generally that means their strengths and weaknesses will be roughly equivalent. Other than that, most answers are really just what do you want? However, I will say that if magic uses up energy in the environment putting out fires and stopping movement for instance that would probably create some interesting scenes. Get into religion and the systems of magical belief and practices really explodes. Humans have no idea. Most priests wouldnt be any more concerned with gods than the average person. High Magic and Low Magic. Hey! From the other side, putting lot of fire energy into single point will produce real fire, moving air energies will make air blows. Harmony: how multiple different vibrations intermingle and interact, depending on the previous too, some Vibrations can overpower another one When the spell is done, the deactivated knots simply float around, unattended. Fantasy Random Generator. Its a very complex mathematical theorem, but the really basic idea I understand is that conservation laws and symmetries are connected. 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. A rational magic system is supposed to be understandable. If you are not creating a game, where you want a firemage be as powerful as a dark wizard for balancing sake, your magic doesnt need to be symmetrical. Water was taken and later give back. In another world (a fantasy high-magic setting), I havent fleshed out quite as much, but I do know that magic is powered by your soul, which is also needed to run all brain activity.
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