Heres how this system might break down: A long list of constraints will make it much easier to craft conflicts in your story. The cycle of plants harnessing sunlight and Mother taking it back everyday is no longer considered a mystery, but an accepted fact of life. 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. What about pine trees and the like, since they are always green what explanation could be given for why the mother does not retaliate against them? This allows for the reader to know what is or isnt possible. If you make all of your spells fit together, you'll need less foreshadowing. Whether with words, gestures, complicated rituals, or just pure thinking, the idea that someone can control reality with their mind is at the base of every magical system. All those rules are allow to create literally any classic spell, except teleportation/portals. If there are important mines in your world, for example, it might make sense for magic to come from metals. Its the same way you need to build your world logical for a novel. I see where you are coming from on a few of these points but perhaps since Ive read the series so many times I think they miss the mark. So far, the types of energy that can be manipulated in this way are: Air/wind (although due to its constant motion and near-intangibility, air cannot in most cases be held, but is almost always instantaneously redirected. Jinora does it at some point. I thought, What if energy isnt conserved after all? the primary topics discussed in a story). 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. Just because there are rules doesnt mean theyre rational. For instance, if you have chaotic magic, dark magic, and lawful magic, your audience will wonder where the light magic is. How might someone with an unusual background or extraordinary dedication take magic either a step further or a step in a new direction? Hey! There are, of course, drawbacks. The other is one of my own magic systems, as I want to hear what others think about it, especially in terms of this article. Also I like the fact that the Mages of the world are very politically influential feels so real because thats what would happen! I hope this is a reasonable explanation. Or you blame all psychic powers on quantum and be done with it, but I doubt you want to take that way out, otherwise you wouldnt have been plotting that much already. I forgot Theosophy! If so, why? Certainly using more types adds complexity that might be a burden in shorter stories, but I think you could start with the type of thread that is most prevalent, and explain more rare threads as the story progresses. Magical properties are randomly given to some creatures and elements (eg: Fire breathing dragons, Gem stones that arent affected by gravity)- this type of magic is Irational but still has rules (depending on each specific example), But the most common form of magic is the one humans can control- this is a rational hard magic that is all about Energy, our ability to create & manipulate it. Stars: Star magic draws power from the vast expanse of the cosmos, and is primarily psychic in nature. Heat 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. The only difference is Life energy contained in every living creature, and every creature has own Mind ball in place of real brain. Lets take a closer look at what these terms mean. I guess its similar in its outward effects to the Avatar magic system, but youll see that its actually quite different. Likewise, its important to disabuse the audience of the notion that mood swings can decide key moments whenever its convenient. For example, your magic is powered by emotions, which also means that your emotions, if they dont get a new power source (more emotion), will disappear over time. The differences come into play when various factions go to war. 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. And the whole thing about souls & vampires! The system makes no sense so I cant possibly reason that theres a reversal of this! That goes for magic as well as for everything else. Willpower is ultimately the deciding factor between to evenly matched opponents. Different fighters prefer different methods, so combining the ideas could lead to a larger variety and possibly a richer world. One of the things I noted in that comment is that what seems to make sense differs between individuals, cultures, and even species. Though a country can have a large number of a certain Primal (such as the Sun or Earth Primals) that doesnt mean that people of other Primals cannot be born in that area. 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. For this reason, it is particularly dangerous to withhold kinetic energy and should be redistributed as soon as possible else you risk dismemberment from energy escaping randomly). Ocean magic is strongest during winter. My magic system is based off of good and bad. Fortunately it's not that hard to create a magic system, so this guide will be relatively short, but the amount of work you'll have to put into the creation of your magic will depend entirely on how detailed you want to get. Interferers can make things happen because when they add energy to the system, it is concentrated in one place. Is there a cap on the users' magical abilities? Curses are basically magic diseases. You can get away with a strange assortment if you have mechanics that explain it. Im on my first crack of trying to writing and my magic system feels too simple to me and not sure if its good enough and would like a little insight. I would skip chemical energy though opens up too many things. Eco (plant life). First, the magical system is based off European history and mythology. Generate random names for characters, events, taverns, etc. Many systems treat magic as energy similar to heat, magnetism, electricity, or movement. Well, there is the Restricted Section, which includes books on the Dark Arts, I made a magical system right after I read this article and this is what I came up with: Magic is powered by emotion and certain emotions affect your environment in different ways. However, most societies dont have the resources to crank out wizards. Using the Harry Potter example, the rules of what magic can and cannot do are defined throughout the books new things are added throughout the series, but there is some structure in the form of spells, potions, etc., and a few laws that are hard limits (such as the no true resurrection one), yet the author of this post states it is not rational (although hard). However, you still need to put in the work to create a unique and compelling system that will serve the needs of your story. Generate random magic shops with items from the d20 SRD. It could make for some interesting stories devout priests who get power from their deities versus irreligious wizards who use their own will as magic, bio-mages who draw upon the weak but flexible power of living organisms versus geo-mages who draw upon the mighty yet unsubtle power of the land itself, Incidentally, all examples you have given, Cay Reet, are about how (most) magic-users cannot use all types of magic; do you think that a system in which magic-users could learn all possible magic (at least theoretically) but what is possible for magic in total is strictly limited could work? I definitely have more work to do. The houses are merely there to spark rivalry, they have no deeper meaning for the magic or the story. Im finding that my worldbuilding and plotting inform each other more in this story than others Ive worked on. Are there different types of magic, or did magic diversify over time? Theres things like creating food out of thin air, which means magic can add something to the world which wasnt there before (alternately, some people have all the rotten luck and their fridges are constantly empty and they dont know why). If I were you, I would make sure every complication you have is something thats important to you. thanks for the feedback! That means the stories cant foreshadow spells prior to their explicit introduction, and when a protagonist has to face a tough problem, they cant get out of it by inventing new spellwork. First, think through what magic is capable of doing in a theoretical best case scenario. Create a crater-sized hole in the earth to later redistribute the soil, though, and you might have some problems. Technically, the limitation is actually the minds belief that lifting huge objects is difficult. Thanks to this article I have been able to advance my magic system up from the basics and I just want to run this by someone who is not me: My magic system is called Paint. Using this site means trees will be planted. Gestures could be used to move molecules (that would be how Avatar does it). [The post scarcity podcast was also very helpful.]. The first and probably most important aspect of magic is its source. These small but significant changes in their functionality causes untold chaos; billions die and the climate is thrown off by the massive amount of metal particulates now in the upper atmosphere. 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. She holds a BA from Yale University and lives in Colorado. Obscuring the rules is easier if the cause and effect can be separated by space and time or the cause isnt directly observable. What do I do now? Theyre part of a task force to reweave the knots. Also, I have another magic system that sort of more on the traditional side that Ive been wrestling with for my story. Notes on the world: humans are at a hunter-gatherer to city-state level of development, gods are real but you can never talk with them, spirits are everywhere and run on fae logic, and demons are corrupted spirits that will ravage towns/cities and curse people. How does a user summon magic, and how does that magic manifest (i.e. Some people make a long-term contract with a particular spirit to channel its energy themselves, with the spirit becoming the casters familiar. Tolkien, we never find out exactly what Gandalf can and cant do with magic. If one side summons up a lot of spirits, they inadvertently give more available energy to those who channel it from the surrounding area. 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 Perhaps Mages can use all the magical abilities, but CHOOSE to specialize? 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. You mentioned Mana, Life and Mind as the elements of your magic system. Dispel | Spiritual | Fire | Creature Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, on the other hand, use soft magic. Can a magic user be identified by their clothing, appearance, or some other distinguishing physical factor? However, understanding how magic can operate in fiction is key to ensuring that your magic system serves your story rather than undermines it. This was implemented to further refine (/complicate?) Otherwise, how can the effect of the knot be decided? In the same way that you can learn to control your emotions, you can learn to control the magic that comes from those emotions. (A quiet lunch with my friend is much more repeated/repeatable than when I first met my best friend). Just because the system has volumes of lore and backstory to support it doesnt make it a rational system, though it does help to make it more believable. Another option is that there is a background magic field (see the TVTropes article) present everywhere that psychics draw on. In the last forty-eight hours, this generator has been used to construct 2069 worlds and 9.7 GB of images. Accio and depulso, for example, are taught one-after-another: pretty straightforward. That might work as well, but its a completely different kind of image in peoples minds. I think rule based magic is important for worldbuilding, not novel writing. was really misleading. Even with a teacher it takes years to become proficient. Oreads are nymphs of Mountains. Using magic is physically draining. The power can be anything reasonable, but behind its use is an action that they used to love. I checked it out, and indeed it seems to just be another name for obsidian. How could a magic user be defeated? If an elemental mage can only use elements which are not opposite, they have to choose between the four elements when they start training. Remember that energy doesnt dispense when its used it only takes on a different shape. Sandersons Third Law. However, a few fantastical powers can go a long way toward livening up many fantasy stories. Havent figured out the second point quite yet. All of nature is in motion and all of natures motion serves to restore its own balance. 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! The law of magic that makes it so you cant summon food out of thin air feels like something invented by JK Rowling for plot purposes, not the logical result of a different set of physics like in Avatar the last Air bender. This system was mostly me being annoyed that magic usually violates the Law of Conservation of Energy, so I made a system built around that principal (until it spiraled out of control) Occasionally you may want an arbitrary system it adds humor and entertainment to Harry Potter. An alchemist transmutes lead into gold. There is no formula; you are just fueling the clichs. Paint can be collected from the surrounding area into your body and be channelled through your bloodstream. Our physical universe is merely the extent that we can see with our mortal Perceptions limits. The pulp could be made of something special that allows for different effects when treated differently. If a person can wield both kinds of magic, do they influence the person? 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. Water was taken and later give back. weft threads could determine the properties of the warp threads, i.e. Basically, the magic in my world all comes from spirits, which exist in a dimension parallel to our own. Thank you! It worked well, but it had to be named before it became important to the plot. 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. I just wanted to run a few things past eyes that arent mine any feedback/critique/comments would be hugely appreciated!! This is true even if weve never seen anyone craft a tunnel before. Worldbuilding, Avatar, Magic Magic Systems Magic systems vary from colorful bears with tummy badges to ritual blood sacrifices. The Chinese traditional elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, a different classification scheme that is equally arbitrary. For instance, the Patronus Charm is a spell that is critical to the plot of multiple Harry Potter books. Become a patron. Movement demands energy and that I deliver, either with my hands, with a machine, or with telekinesis. I transfer energy into the boulder or to the air around it to move that boulder. You can have that, too, while still retaining rationality. Ill be talking more about it in another post, if someone wants to here it, of course. Spells that affect another persons soul are the strongest and are pretty much all purple level. From the other side, putting lot of fire energy into single point will produce real fire, moving air energies will make air blows. So, basically it will be a portal (or teleportation, in case if anyone makes the bond from surrounding air blob, for example). In a way you can see it as choosing between having 2 (or more) people using normal weapons to fight an enemy together. And those explanations would make sense within the storys universe and would always be true. Those rules are established within the story (unlike underlying rules with Rowling might have for her magic or Lucas might have had for the Force), so at least one character must know them or learn about them as the plot develops. In essence, theme is nothing more than an answer to the question, What is this story about? Theres a good chance that your story already contains themes regardless of whether you consciously developed them. The flavor might be of magic based on communication with spirits, although these spirits do have to obey at least some physical laws. Actually, one of the principles of old-time portions-making was that a plant which looks like a certain body part is good for curing that body part (actual results may vary). Not sure what I mean? This same punishment theory may explain why humans are killed for trying to harness and redistribute sunlight. I want to encourage writers and worldbuilders to stray from this formula. To avoid adding a sense of arbitrariness, your choice of categories must feel natural. Once eaten, the magical substance builds up in their systems until they focus their will to cast magic. The old magic is, of course, pretty coincidental, and used in specific ways that drive the plot. For just one example, Magoroh Maruyama describes several different possible paradigms of science, which Robert A. Freitas Jr. mentions in the book Xenology in relation to extraterrestrial minds. She might exchange one persons hand for anothers, but she might not deem two lives equal. Magic systems can even serve as a vehicle for theme, exploring topics such as power, privilege, oppression, and greed. Fireball that damages a characters weapons/armor, while leaving the character unharmed. Im going to have to find my Physical Science notes my goodness, that class was boring. Why you should create a rational magic system as a writer? 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. Before learning magic, a mage must first learn how to control their mana until they are capable of creating energy bolts and forming energy constructs. This was, oh, maybe sixth on the list of fourteen or fifteen legendary impossibilities he demanded, all in the essentially same format. If youre curious about setting/technological era, itll take place in two time periods; one in what would be Victorian times in our world, one in WWII time period. A system where the only users of this magic are at first the cultists until the Heroes learn it out of necessity and self-defence, and accepting the price that it separates them farther from the group consensus of reality which is the measure by which society defines sanity, and that in fact belonging to a species of animal as social as humans are means that diverging too far from your species in the way you perceive and experience reality carries certain risks and costs to it, more or less well understood to tradition and to the majority of systems of magic because what most of these theories agree on is that the more minds believe that something is So, the more difficult it is for one individual Mind to impose a different understanding than what the Many agree on EVEN IN THE PERSONAL REALITY the putative magician themselves inhabits, and CERTAINLY if they have to use the force of their personality, belief and magic to convince other individuals that what THE MAGICIAN believes as fact is in actual good and honest coin Really So in the shared consense reality they all co-inhabit by reason of their shared belief that they do in fact have at least some things in common in their universes, enough to make a Reality of and enforce/defend it by the power of your shared beliefs. That source has to be available to a spellcaster, and that spellcaster needs to direct it to accomplish specific goals. Furthermore, it is meant to be mysterious in-story and something that not everyone has. 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. I think Ill go for having multiple types of thread that rule certain areas of magic. And theres nothing less exciting than a story where the protagonists can escape from any danger just by wishing it away. All magic can be learned by anyone, its just that the magic they didnt inherit will be harder to learn. Those that dont meet the selection criteria die screaming, but in a chosen few, the nanites alter and enhance their hosts, granting abilities that are perceived as mystical by the ignorant population which includes the majority of the Order of Mages themselves as generations of information suppression have led to them buying into their own lies, the truth being known only to the mysterious Council of Nine. So, for instance, lets say you decide water spirits are more powerful than plant spirits because their aspect is more basic and elemental, whereas plants are more complex organisms that feed off of water. Life is responsible for, well, life and health. After all the Vibrations have finished their process, they Ripple and then whatever combination the Vibrations have will affect our world. Others say that this is blasphemy; for a gift of water, if not taken from somewhere, would disrupt the balance, however little, and Mother would never stand for it. Some plants and animals have magic inherently inside them, creating a variety of results. Once you've figured out who can wield it it's time to figure out how they can wield it. Each ability corresponds with role in a gang of thieves. Hard magic systems feature a strict set of parameters explained within the story to ensure that readers understand what characters fantastical powers can and cannot do. Magic systems vary from colorful bears with tummy badges to ritual blood sacrifices. They can only work through people that do their will voluntarily. . ): magical technology (uses the "uses of a spell casting focus/item" cost in addition to any others) fiendish/evil divine the far realm a mutation that is part of the users spirit-related natural limbo/the elemental planes unknown If anyone interested, here is description of my magic system: Magicians summon magical spirits, like djinni, and command them to do their bidding. In Avatar, there is one person every generation who violates the rule that people can bend only one element. Plus, itll make the villain look rightfully confident and in control, rather than stupidly arrogant for powering up his adversary, and itll build up their threat level when the hero at seemingly full power wasnt a match for him. 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. 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? mental enhancements, the nanites acting as auxiliary brains. If youd like additional guidance as you build your storys magic system and other facets of your fictional world, then be sure to check out World-Building Warrior, a workbook that will walk you through the world-building process step by step. For Time and Space, Keeper will be the name. Nullify and boost it? Also I think the name Grey Death is cool, especially if theres some in world reason?

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