The plants arent like people, the magic doesnt just happen to them. Can it be used to harm others or cause destruction? Or some effect it has on the world? Its a solid premise, and Im sure youll do amazing things with it. If Luke needs guidance to hit that exhaust port, the Force can guide him. Divine magic is often more powerful/useful, but isnt always reliable. The readers should, after reading a bit of the story, develop an understanding for how people do magic. Every action we take, even the most mundane has a profound effect on the Flow of Creation. I will say that I do enjoy thinking about all of these issues. Things holy magic can do include lighting incense, putting people to sleep, and pacifying demons. but humanity is creative and designs massive jammers that are able to disable the nanites that enter within X radius of them. In the last forty-eight hours, this generator has been used to construct 2069 worlds and 9.7 GB of images. Finally, there are magic uses who seem to draw magic from the earth itself. Now, of course, this is magic and doesnt have to follow real life but by the same token, as in real physics, it doesnt necessarily have to seem sensible to humans (think of how weird quantum mechanics is). Those who are consumed are called Specters (im going with an evil theme for this one). You could just, you know, move out of the way? Theres a reason why RPGs with team-based fight systems (I use those when playing around with the RPG Maker myself) are often based around the Tank/Damage Dealer/Buffer principle. But it also refers to the effects of the nanite plague. It does, although thats what I want to do. There are, of course, drawbacks. Likewise, its important to disabuse the audience of the notion that mood swings can decide key moments whenever its convenient. I forgot to mention the Towers :(. 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. In this guide I will cover the major aspects part of most magic systems, hopefully it'll help you create your own magic system and provide you with a checklist of sorts to make sure you're not forgetting an important part. Id classify it as being more rational than say Disneys Aladdin, but it is still in a category of high fantasy where the limits as to what is possible are still a bit fuzzy. Something as seemingly insignificant as a casting time thats five seconds longer has a huge impact on whether mages can handle unexpected problems. Fantasy name generators. Names for all your fantasy characters. There are two types of people in this world, Conduits and Interferers (though Inteferers prefer to be called Whisperers). The story is at a climax when emotions are always high? There are 391 different powers and variations in this generator, so you're bound to find one you like. Forms of magic include water magic, healing magic, potion making, and purification. Because soft magic is often used by characters other than the protagonist, you should think about who the wielders will be. Good luck! Lets say magic is generated by the vibration of continental plates, and each continental plate vibrates at its own frequency, creating different effects. When picking the powers and spells for your magic system you'll have to keep in mind a few things. Choose the right magic system for your fantasy novel without the headache. Im thinking at the beginning it requires some basic training to attune oneself to contact spirits, and from there its more a practice/strength of will thing. The Living Mother may hardly notice a tiny imbalance such as this. Moreover, the party must complete the quest without killing anyone. As far as the potions issue, again, these are based off historical ideas about magic and potions. Holy magic is more reliable, but hard to learn. (In this case, dispelling the Spiritual (Emotional) aspects associated with Fire in this case Anger/Passion. The differences come into play when various factions go to war. Remember the problem with any kind of existing lore: someone out there whos reading your stories is an expert in it and will be pretty annoyed if you just wing it and your version has next to nothing in common with reality. Ask yourself what kind of problems magic will cause your protagonists, and whether your antagonist will use magic to achieve their goals. Group B dont have magic at all. Make magic tricky and fickle. What obvious flaws are there? However, most people wont deviate from what they know to work to avoid wasting their time on a failed ritual or potentially hazardous consequences. 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. a conspiracy to hide everyone selected (difficult to justify how they manage this). Character Power Generator Perchance For more inspiration and guidance in creating your magic system, I recommend these articles and resources. 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. Soft magic is vague, undefined, and enigmatic. Most magic systems fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. The main exception is the avatar state, which isnt clearly linked to bending. To make an arbitrary assortment of abilities feel like they fit together, he gave them a strong theme. That means that divine intervention is a possibility (a deus ex machina in the true sense of the world), but theres no way your regular human MC can rely on it. GIVEN: obtained magic through an illegal potion or spell cast by a very powerful mage. This is the name list Tolkien draws from at least for a couple of the Dwarven characters in The Hobbit. mental enhancements, the nanites acting as auxiliary brains. 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. Then I really thought about the setting and that would breakwell, everything. Creating a system from scratch can feel incredibly overwhelming. There are two types of magic systems: hard magic systems and soft magic systems. I definitely have more work to do. Ocean magic is strongest during winter. At least not on earth, as far as we can tell. Thats what I mean when I say Dumbledore and Voldemort should have paid for their enormous use of power at the ministry of magic in Harry Potter. Imagine if Harry Potter could vanquish Voldemort in the first chapter just by making up a spell called antagonist defeatium. They are infused with magic, its part of their genetic makeup. 2023 Mythcreants LLC, all articles, art, recordings, and stories are the copyright of their respective authors. It doesnt have to make sense in our world, but in the world of the story, it does. In Dune, those who are exposed to spice develop powers over time. Wind, or life, or just movement? I see the basis of a rational magic system there, and you have good limits. Astral Armor-- "Though spun from strands of glamor and mana, the protection it offers is no illusion." Magic Formula-- Yep. Very interesting system youre developing, I really like that it comes from a disease. There might be countless possibilities, but it will take countless years to figure it out. If everybody is capable of wielding magic they will likely use it for everything, from war to daily life, but if only a portion of the population can wield it it means magic will be handled differently by those who can and those who can't wield it. Olwens father told Kilhwch he wanted that comb, razor and scissors to dress his beard with on the day of the wedding, before he would allow him to marry his daughter. That guy was supposed to be a REAL nasty bugger in terms of, you know, nobody whos ever gone to hunt this creature has ever come back alive, and all that jazz? Another rare one is magic transference, my idea of that one is gaining an ability that an extinct race once used, examp. (plants take the water from the ground and transpire it at night, so its balanced in some sense) If thats not the case(scientific understanding of the world), how do they explain a fire dying out or lightning? You mentioned Mana, Life and Mind as the elements of your magic system. In the series Rowling shows that wands and spells channel the magic within an individual so witches and wizards are not without magic if they dont have a wand. And boy, rational magic systems arent new. Runes are one example which are used a lot, as are crystals and various (unique) artifacts. For your world, I take it the reason most people are magic users is that the common people were all killed. But those who have returned have never been inside the Tower. Not using items doesn't have to mean a magic wielder is always capable of wielding it though. Magic Type Generator - Generate a Random Magic Type Like something to do with the changing of the victims skin? Of course, I wasnt interested in my universe following all of the laws of physics in our universe. Can they simply stretch their arm, make a gesture with their hands and shoot out a ball of fire or do they need a wand do direct the magic? Limits then usually come from the strength of the effects (a limit to the area spells can target or the number of spells a mage can use before resting). Its a common trap that many authors using emotion-based powers fall into its tempting to create a sudden dramatic reversal of a seemingly hopeless situation with a method the fundamental rules of the story allows for at any time. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Become a patron and chat with us on Discord. Its just something to be careful about. Anyway, just to throw MY 2 cents in A while back, I was trying to design a magic system for a Skyrim Mod some friends of mine were attempting That ultimately went nowhere. Fire born and living in constant motion, generating heat that is eventually extinguished, restoring the balance. Im definitely not saying these problems are insurmountable, just that I do need to think a lot about them. Im going for rational semi-soft I hope I pull it off. In any scenario, the reader should have some sense of what magic can and cant do in the fictional world. Because there is no sunlight and no heat, the water is frozen and white, and blankets the ground. In Avatar, there is one person every generation who violates the rule that people can bend only one element. Once you examine all the implications of this change, youll discover their powers are different indeed. In this case, rational, soft, and hard come from Brandon Sanderson. To build this logic, start by thinking about three things: the effects, sources, and costs of magic. This creative freedom is exciting, but it also requires a lot of world building work to invent a fleshed out and textured fantasy world. but gods, spirits, and demons can. Your body can hold a fixed amount of paint (This is the same for everyone but full capacity is rarely reached). Heres a couple ways to mix it up while retaining a consistent feel. A grammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor in one package. Group A (Comment if you have a better name), They cant stop their emotion from changing surfacing and tend to be extra emotional. The way the magic of my world works so far goes as follows: Magic is based in blood, the eight types of magical blood found in fantastical creatures and humans (Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Mind, Body), and the way people gain magic is either by taking that blood from the creature or being born with it, so either a Linear or a Pureblood. In The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, the magical discipline of Naming is a soft magic system. But that doesnt mean all magic systems work equally well for stories. A Guide to Writing Magic Systems | The Fantasy Hive In addition, there are no boundaries on what magic could theoretically do in the Potterverse. This is the easiest part from technical point of view in my current design. Magic is one of the essential elements of any fantasy story. Im sorry. Old magics can occur without any intent. Once eaten, the magical substance builds up in their systems until they focus their will to cast magic. 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). Ive been thinking about a system of magic that was born of 6 Tower, stationed at the poles and in each of the cardinal directions. . I think I mostly understand, but Im not exactly sure what Interferers cant an cant do. Powers are similar to Borne, but are not very draining. SWd6 System Generator. However, as we are all well aware humanity and its constructs are fragile things and some event happens that upsets the norm; war, a terrorist attack on these factories, solar flare, etc Regardless this event causes a change within these factories, the main computer systems get a little bit fried, perhaps even gain a modicum of self-awareness. 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. It has been decided that the human body is too impure of a vessel, being asynchronous with the rhythms of nature, to successfully accomplish this with sunlight. (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. Some feel cohesive; others feel random. I think that is arguable, but fine I personally want to read hard magic systems anyway. Magic systems vary from colorful bears with tummy badges to ritual blood sacrifices. Interferers can make things happen because when they add energy to the system, it is concentrated in one place. Is magic (or the source that fuels it) a limited resource in your story world? These symptoms will get worse over time. My magic system is based off of good and bad. Few ideas are original at this point. Our bills are paid by our wonderful patrons. The power can be anything reasonable, but behind its use is an action that they used to love. Eventually, after many long and cold nights, Mother returns the sunlight and the heat, for even in just anger she cannot maintain an imbalance. I was actually thinking of precursor aliens having set everything up, but that raises a lot more questions of motivation and the ability to remain undetected. 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? Perhaps people born with an innate power to do so or maybe they're chosen ones hand picked by a god. In the first book, Ron doesnt know any troll-slaying spells, so he uses the Levitating Spell to knock out a mountain troll instead. I would skip chemical energy though opens up too many things. If you think of the Sea of Energy as like the actual ocean, than the Planes of Existence can be compared to the different depths, and the deeper you go, the more pressure that exists. I think the easiest way to explain how magic (any kind, really) affects the world is through will. In a world where the entire population can wield magic you might not have this conflict, not unless some are worse at wielding magic than others. The purpose of soft magic is simply to create a feeling of adventure, and wonder. Hey! Now, if magic in Tolkien just went by power levels like a Pokemon duel, Sauron would have won this handily, being pure blood of an order of beings who if we looked at these things just on the power level dimension clearly outranked the mortal clay that was mixed into Luthiens veins. Fireball that damages a characters weapons/armor, while leaving the character unharmed. If youre doing the system well, you dont need to break a rule for the plot or you can make it shine through beforehand that under specific circumstances rules can be broken (or at any rate bent very far). However, a few fantastical powers can go a long way toward livening up many fantasy stories. Over time more Blacks appeared and White got lonely so they split their body into seven colours. To craft your framework, just answer these questions. The system I created is very similar, with some differences. I generally call the opposite of rational arbitrary, and that one I just chose arbitrarily, you might say. 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/. Avatar is, essentially, based on elemental magic which is the ability to control one or more elements. Hell make it rain if your rain dance impresses him, but he wont strike someone with lightning no matter how impressive your dance is. 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). There's a reason why I write about fantasy magic - magic is my most favourite thing! I think Ill go for having multiple types of thread that rule certain areas of magic. This sounds intriguingly cool, although if youre designing it for use in a computer game, might I ask how are you handling the problem that (I would imagine) youd have to assign EVERY object/environ in your game world a energy attribute/variable, dictating how much player the Player can draw upon, and what happens when the Player hits that limit? 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. That is, unless you have a good relationship with him. Gestures could be used to move molecules (that would be how Avatar does it). But because of Saurons _spiritual_ and _moral_ corruption, ADDED to the fact that dis werent no ordinary Elfk, Luthien was able not only to win handily but to pretty seriously humiliate Sauron before his boss (no other than Morgoth, the Satan figure in Tolkiens universe, Old Scratch himself) by the pathetic ease by which she shelled him? 7 Ways To Create A Magic System For Your Novel 1. 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 can use it, the power doesnt come from the gods, but you do have to follow a recipe. It doesnt take years of training. Mother wont take kindly to that. P.S. 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. Mana manipulation is a basic form of magic (though anyone can learn this ability through time and training without doing magic at all. Conduits take magic energy from their surroundings, and Interferers take energy from Conduits to do magic by adding a bit of energy to the system (making a gust blow harder than it would, for example). Most often, your audience should see the effects of magic but not the cause. Its mysterious. All magic can be learned by anyone, its just that the magic they didnt inherit will be harder to learn. Harry Potters magic is not irrational. Paint is a very volatile substance that if held can burn off skin I think rule based magic is important for worldbuilding, not novel writing. Even though there are no physical costs to using magic, being Grisha means losing their freedom to pursue the life they wanted. How to Write Mind-Blowing Fantasy Fiction - Reedsy In the Norse pantheon, Loki is sometimes also referred to as the god of fire despite the fact that hes a frost giant. However, in most cases a rational magic system works better. 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). moving more slowly, using other abilities less effectively, taking more hits), and the hero tries and fails to use the ability when theyre already at their limit, then we come to understand exhaustion as a real limitation that doesnt just go away as needed. 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. If there are intelligent creatures with thought processes different from humans in your story, it would seem especially weird that magic must follow rules that conform to human divisions precisely. As an example, look at the Force the way its used in the first few Star Wars movies (episodes 4-6 nowadays). Second, look through all the essential pieces of spell creation and casting, and think how the casting process might fail at each step. We've covered the source, the wielders and they way they wield power, but we still need to cover one of the biggest factors of magic, which is the power itself. 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. Reading this made me realize that while Ive got the source pretty nailed down, I dont actually have much else figured out yet! Thats all I can think of at this very moment and I dont want to make this comment any longer. Either way, the recipients of the power lose whatever memories gained before or during their stay at the Towers. Then the fight between Voldemort and Dumbledore (both of which also have that trait) would be a glance into the future of Harry himself. Though I have some questions mainly concerning what allows some to manipulate this balance for a certain time? Ive found this post while looking any information about making own magic system for an cRPG. It may sound similar to Avatar but it is growing. Random Treasure Generator. Some are carefully planned; others contradict themselves and lead to plot holes. Internal logic, that is, otherwise thered always be that magic doesnt exist bit to fight against. 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. Four Ways to Limit Magic & Technology Those limits are important! A dwarf named Keti seeks a company of adventurers to steal a powerful arcane device from a rival. In addition, exposure to sea water improves magical ability for humans slightly, especially childhood exposure, so the strongest spellcasters are all in coastal areas. Now we go back to the Beginning. Once youve figured out what kind of system you need, its time to start building! Imagine your body is a magnet and the paint in your body is evenly spread out making it weaker, well stimulating your power can make your magnet stronger resulting in a finer concentration of paint. 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. 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). It takes decades to master a Type of magic, and some mages (any magic user, human, dragon person, whatever) spend their whole lives perfecting one spell. Talking of the wedding feast: Though thou get this, there is yet that which thou wilt not get. :-), Thanks! 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? And the way they fight has to do in part what magic they use. Spells are also incredibly varied, which makes adding randomized details a . 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). Maybe incorporate the Lawful Chaotic axis, too? If you make all of your spells fit together, you'll need less foreshadowing. Like gods, you can ask spirits for help. Fantasy Name Generator. 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. But it technically isnt magic if you put yourself in the characters shoes. Most of the time, this yearning leads them to the Towers, where they are never seen again. However, not understanding Gandalfs magic doesnt detract from the story, because the protagonists have to undergo most of their journey without Gandalfs help. 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. Now, its VERY early days for me with this thing, but Im wondering: 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. In general, creating a system that is more limited in effect and creates more problems with casting makes for better stories. But these machines are still not quite able to understand what it means to better humanity; many still die, while those that survive have varying effects placed upon them (perhaps theres some genetic basis, idk). If one side summons up a lot of spirits, they inadvertently give more available energy to those who channel it from the surrounding area. Telekinesis, telepathy, and teleportation are not something people can really use in everyday life, so you will find it hard to justify their existence through science alone. If you fail to understand the role that . Those that survive the process emerge as a member of the Exalted (believed to have been chosen by a higher power) those that dont die screaming, bodies horribly twisted and in extreme cases, even dissolving into silvery, grey goop.
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