Magic systems please!

[mr_clean]

hello everybody! I would like to see your magic systems, and receive feedback on my own, so I am requesting that anyone who is willing to share please show you magic systems below.
this is the magic system for a book I'm currently writing:

• The type of magic you possess is innate and typically manifests between the ages of 5 and 12, and it cannot be altered or removed. However, it is possible to partially or completely seal this magic using sealing magic or various magical items (see ‘Ring magic’), rendering it completely unusable. Nonetheless, there is always a method to reverse such sealing. In some instances, this can be accomplished with the magic item used to seal the magic. This is not universally applicable, as some of these magical items can only apply the seal and cannot be removed. In such cases, the magic can only be undone by a highly experienced user of sealing magic or by a rare practitioner of shattering magic.

• There are four kinds of magic, each with its strengths and weaknesses, each working differently.
• Blade Magic
• The most common type of magic (tied with ring)
• Offensive in nature
• Generally, elemental, exceptions are listed in ‘all magic abilities’
• Magic is only useable when the user is holding their bound weapon, which manifests when magic does, and is not chosen by the user, but is shaped by the user's core personality.
• A Bound weapon can be summoned by the user and is usable only by them. The summoning process takes exactly 10 seconds, which is when the user is entirely vulnerable.
• The kind of weapon you have affects how your magic works and the changes are split into three self-explanatory characteristics: speed, power, and range
• Sword: speed, power, and range are well balanced. However, this means that sword users are only most effective against other sword users, as well as in one-on-one combat, and are on less than equal ground with the other weapons.
• Spear/other polearm has good range and power but lacks somewhat in speed. It’s most effective against great weapon users, as well as large groups. It's the second most balanced weapon.
• Dagger/short spear: amazing speed, but lacking in both power and range most effective against spear users.
• Great weapon: excellent power, and average range, but suffers horribly in speed. Most effective against dagger users.
• Bow/other ranged weapon: excellent range and mid power and speed. On equal ground with all other blade users.
• Ring Magic
• The most common type of magic (tied with blade)
• Defensive/creative in nature
• No specific kind of magic.
• Similar to blade magic, an object is needed to perform magic, however, the object in this case is a ring.
• Ring cannot be summoned. The user can get a ‘hot or cold’ sense of where it is if they lose it.
• Ring magic users are the only users that create magic items, however, if they can, they have no abilities in battle. This particular kind of ring magic is as rare as eye magic
• Eye Magic
• The second rarest type of magic
• Supportive/utilitarian in nature
• The only type of magic capable of healing others
• Magic is tied to one of their eyes, so it's harder to lose. If the eye is taken out, it grows back over a week. During that time, magic is unusable.
• The linked eye is a distinct color
• All eye magic users have the ability ‘Observe’ which lets them see how powerful a magic user is, and what kind of magic they have generally, such as blade or soul (true magic is hidden)
• The color of your linked eye decides the type of magic
• Red: Healing
• Purple: utilitarian
• Yellow: supportive
• Soul Magic
• Rarest kind of magic
• Nature is dependent on bond
• This magic creates a bond with the soul of a deceased magic beast. The power of this beast can range from a pixie (not to be confused with a faerie) to a dragon
• The bond allows three abilities:
• Projection: the magic energy of the beast is projected in a suitable form, either as a ranged attack Ex: if bound to a storm giant, you could shoot a blast of lighting or a pulse of thunder
• Enhancement/imbuement: the strength, durability, or speed of the magical creature is used to enhance your own, or the energy of the beast (same energy as projection) is imbued into a melee attack. Ex: an ogre bound could make himself as strong as said ogre, or a summer fae bound could imbue a physical strike with radiant magic.
• Transformation: the physical body of the beast is pulled from the afterlife to temporarily replace the body of the user. This ability is much harder to master than the other two to master, as the focus needed to pull physical matter across from the realm of the dead takes an incredible amount of energy. Someone who has completely mastered soul magic could fully transform into their beast for about 3 minutes, and it would probably cause them to pass out afterward.
• The Twelve Sages
• The Twelve Sages were supposedly responsible for creating all magic, and are the only wielders of true magic, of which all other magic is a pale reflection. Every 5,000 years, their souls are reincarnated in new bodies, bringing their true magic with them.
• There are four kinds of true magic: true blade, true ring, true eye, and true soul. Within these, there are three of each, making a total of twelve.
• The true magics are as follows:
• True blade
• Twelve blades: similar to ‘steel’ but with the ability to control twelve weapons at once
• Five elements: can use all five of the basic elements through summoned weapon, and combine them for some devastating combo attacks
• Ghost master: similar to ‘spirit’ but with the ability to control up to 100 dead souls at once and can use an ability similar to ‘imbuement’ (see soul magic) using said souls.
• True ring
• Divine blacksmith: similar to ‘item crafter’ but can imbue made weapons with any of the ring magics.
• Eternal warden: similar to ‘sealing’ and ‘reflection’ but much more freedom, and longer-lasting seals.
• Unstoppable pacifist: similar to ‘defender’ but with the ability to use all three kinds of barriers, and can create more than usual.
• True eye
• Thankless angel: similar to ‘healer’ but with the ability to heal in an area, as well as much more potent healing, with it even being able to regrow limbs
• Inner strength: similar to ‘upgrade’ but with the ability to buff multiple targets (up to 12) at once without losing effectiveness, and give more strength, speed, and stamina.
• Dark transfer: similar to the leech, but instead of self-healing, can heal others as well.
• True soul
• Quick Note: The reason true soul magic works the way it does is that three of the sages were beasts themselves: Deovir the Dragonlord, Aratgar the mountain king, and the split-persona queen of all fae, who went by Mab in one persona, and Titania in the other. Usually soul magic works by having your soul bonded to that of a magic beast that has moved on, but because your reborn with the soul of one of the sages, if you are beast sage, you are technically a dragon
• Great dragon: similar to ‘dragon soul’ but instead of one element, you can use any. However, unlike some of the other multi-element powers, to gain a new element, you must fully master the one before it, starting with a ‘fire dragon.’ In addition, the ‘transformation’ ability is much easier to master and does not exhaust the user.
• Looming giant: similar to ‘giant soul,’ but instead of having just one power, you can utilize any power, following the same conditions as ‘Great dragon,’ starting with ‘hill giant.’ Additionally, the ‘transformation’ ability is much easier to master and does not deplete the user.
• Faerie queens: similar to ‘faerie soul’ but you can use the powers of both the winter and summer courts, but only one at a time. In addition, the ‘transformation’ ability is much easier to master and does not exhaust the user.

 

[mr_clean]

here is the list of all magic abilities within each category. Keep in mind, the effectiveness, as well some of the specific abilities listed, are only achievable through training. What I'm listing are the capabilities of someone who has an average mastery of their powers

• Blade
  • Fire: increases power of, partially increases speed
  • Water: increases speed, partially increases range
  • Air: greatly increases range
  • Earth: greatly increases power
  • Lightning: greatly increases speed
  • Steel: instead of needing to hold the weapon, the user can control the blade’s movement and size (up to a point) with their mind.
  • Spirit: has the ability to summon up to 10 ghosts, and can use their power to perform attacks as well as control their actions
  • Shadow: can control shadows to attack, turn invisible while standing in shadows, and teleport between shadows. Imbuement is much harder to perform
• Ring
  • Force strategist: can create temporary unbreakable items of force, these can generally be pretty complex, but can’t be made too big. These can be transparent, translucent, or opaque. Can shape only as objects or smaller shapes.
  • Force Vanguard: can create temporary unbreakable barriers, which have to stay pretty simple, but can get pretty big. These can be transparent, translucent, or opaque. Can shape only as walls or smaller structures.
  • Repulsion Vanguard: can create directional “pushes”, a 10’x10’ repulsionary shape, similar a magnetic or gravitational push in a specific direction that are strong enough to move people with ease, can have up to three of these active at a time, can cancel one to activate another with relative ease. These pushes do no damage on their own, but can be used creatively to cause damage, like pushing someone into the air, then removing the source.
  • Sealing: can create magic seals that can hold something back. This can be used on people, objects, and even magic.
  • Reflecting: can reflect attacks
  • Shattering: can break things. This is limited by both scale, and the users imagination
  • Item crafter: can craft magic weapons/items with only one of the powers above, one of the four elements, or the ability “transfer” which allows them to pull the magic of someone else, ring or otherwise, into whatever they’re crafting. This does not steal someone's magic, merely replicates it.
• Eye
  • Healer: has the ability to heal people, though only up to a point. For example, a healer could mend a severed arm back onto someone, but couldn’t regrow said arm. In addition, they can only heal up to three people at a time, and to do so they sacrifice effectiveness.
  • Upgrade: can increase the physical capabilities of people. They can do this to any number of people. However, the more they buff, the less effective the buff becomes. Five is about maximum efficiency per person.
  • Leech: can steal the life force of a single target to both heal and buff themselves, and themselves only. To fully drain someone of life would take a full 24 hours. However, negative effects, such as fatigue and less effective magic would set in right away, making this more of a debuff than an actual threat. Negative effects are fully erased 48 hours after being drained.
  • Light: the only real offensive ability. Can manipulate light to attack, as well as move objects without touching them. Also allows flight.
• Soul
  • Direbeast soul: essentially have the power of a giant version of an animal, such as a wolf or eagle. The Projection ability generally manifests as ranged slashes or bludgens (some exceptions) if your direbeast is a bird that can fly, imbuement allows flight. Transformation is easier for them than any other.
  • Fae soul: split into two sets of power. The only soul that affects emotions
    • Summer court: projection is similar to a combination of light and fire known as “radiance” in addition, imbuement gives the user the ability to fly. All emotions are heightened, especially passion and love.
    • Winter court: projection can be used in two forms: ice or frostflame (fire that can freeze) imbuement also allows flight. All emotions are weakened, especially passion and love.
  • Giant soul: has multiple levels of power (cannot move through them)
    • Hill: projection/imbuement manifests as a pulling towards the user. transformation/enhancement most effects strength
    • Stone: projection/imbuement manifests as stone-based attacks, mostly spikes. transformation/enhancement most effects the ability to hide and stealth
    • Frost: projection/imbuement manifests as ice, transformation/enhancement most effects durability
    • Fire: projection/imbuement manifests as fire, transformation/enhancement most effects intelligence, specifically fast, creative problem solving
    • Cloud: projection/imbuement manifests as illusions, transformation/enhancement most effects intelligence, specifically trickery
    • Storm: projection/imbuement can manifest as both lightning and thunder. transformation/enhancement makes all aspects increase equally
  • Dragon soul: has multiple elements (Can only use one)
    • Red: projection/imbuement manifests as fire, transformation/enhancement makes all aspects increase equally.
    • White: projection/imbuement manifests as frostflame, transformation/enhancement most effects strength
    • Black: projection/imbuement manifests as acid, transformation/enhancement most effects the ability to hide and stealth
    • Blue: projection/imbuement manifests as lightning, transformation/enhancement most effects speed and physical reaction time
    • Green: projection manifests as poison, transformation/enhancement most effects intelligence, more specifically spur of the moment strategy and prediction of the moves of enemies.
    • Dracolich: projection has a similar effect as leech. However, it does not heal or buff the user. Users can only use their powers after intentionally wounding themselves, and the greater the wound, the more powerful the abilities are.
    • Shadow: projection manifests as a shadowy version of one of the elements, but instead of physical damage, it does mental damage. Users can only use their powers at night.

 

[pmmg]

Yours is way more detailed than mine.

My 'system' is kind of like the force, with dark and light side stuff, but also a decaying middle ground as well. It is also based on things like Ley Lines and source pools, and its mostly weak. Very few can use it to cause big things to happen. Most everyone in the story lives as if magic was a thing of the past, not available to any today.

There is no rule book, and no hard system. Just is what it is when needed.

 

[mr_clean]

Yours is way more detailed than mine.

My 'system' is kind of like the force, with dark and light side stuff, but also a decaying middle ground as well. It is also based on things like Ley Lines and source pools, and its mostly weak. Very few can use it to cause big things to happen. Most everyone in the story lives as if magic was a thing of the past, not available to any today.

There is no rule book, and no hard system. Just is what it is when needed.

This is always a fun concept to play with. Is skill based on natural talent or training?

 

[pmmg]

Neither really.

I suppose practice and longevity. The idea is all magic is creative magic, thus residual dust left over from the creation. Like the Greeks had several iterations of man, Iron men, bronze men, clay men... I similar period happened on my story world as well. The earlier races sharing more in the creative energy that fashioned everything. Since much of their bodies was made with the same stuff, they had easier access to it. But...they grew corrupt, angered greater powers than themselves and mostly died off. Over time the creative energy was used up, and less and less of it remains. It also split into Light and Dark due to some events of the past. The current dominant iteration, the Morkind (humans) don't have as much access as its not in the blood in the same way.

So, those that are powerful tend to have a well established blood line, but there are many who probably can, but don't know they can. The older one is, and more practiced at using it, the more confident they will become. But...if they happen to be far removed from a source, their powers will be weaker due to less supply.

It hardly matters. Not much of that is understood in the story.

Some understand that using their powers in certain way lend themselves more to light or dark magic. And some few use the original magic, which is stronger, but in shorter supply. Its kind of a mess really.

No one would ever think, I use blade magic, therefore I can do X, Y and Z, but not A, B and C.

 

[mr_clean]

Neither really.

I suppose practice and longevity. The idea is all magic is creative magic, thus residual dust left over from the creation. Like the Greeks had several iterations of man, Iron men, bronze men, clay men... I similar period happened on my story world as well. The earlier races sharing more in the creative energy that fashioned everything. Since much of their bodies was made with the same stuff, they had easier access to it. But...they grew corrupt, angered greater powers than themselves and mostly died off. Over time the creative energy was used up, and less and less of it remains. It also split into Light and Dark due to some events of the past. The current dominant iteration, the Morkind (humans) don't have as much access as its not in the blood in the same way.

So, those that are powerful tend to have a well established blood line, but there are many who probably can, but don't know they can. The older one is, and more practiced at using it, the more confident they will become. But...if they happen to be far removed from a source, their powers will be weaker due to less supply.

It hardly matters. Not much of that is understood in the story.

Some understand that using their powers in certain way lend themselves more to light or dark magic. And some few use the original magic, which is stronger, but in shorter supply. Its kind of a mess really.

No one would ever think, I use blade magic, therefore I can do X, Y and Z, but not A, B and C.

I like the lore, very interesting, andi do appreciate magic that is more about can you outimagine your opponent instead of outpower them. I tend to lean toward making systems like the later though.

 

[pmmg]

Well...My system is not full of a lot of detail. It got made up as I needed to fill space in the story You know...organically. Yours has much more detail. I am not a system wonk. But many are. Yours is much more laid out then many that have appeared here.

I question blade magic though. Like, why blades? why not broom magic, or coffee mug magic, if its just magic around an object?

 

[mr_clean]

Well...My system is not full of a lot of detail. It got made up as I needed to fill space in the story You know...organically. Yours has much more detail. I am not a system wonk. But many are. Yours is much more laid out then many that have appeared here.

I question blade magic though. Like, why blades? why not broom magic, or coffee mug magic, if its just magic around an object?

Well because the magic was designed for fighting, because the sages were created by the god of magic to fight the corrupted gods, and most other magics are basically a cheap copy of one of those twelve (a few aren't). it was also meant to be offense, ring is defence, eye is support, and soul fills in the gaps.

 

[Karlin]

I just listen carefully, then look the victim in the eye,and tell them.what will happen. It's the look that is critical. Afterwards, I may laugh,and brush it off, but that moment of Truth remains.

 

[mr_clean]

I just listen carefully, then look the victim in the eye,and tell them.what will happen. It's the look that is critical. Afterwards, I may laugh,and brush it off, but that moment of Truth remains.

i have no clue what that means, but you got it.

 

[ThinkerX]

The 'magic' in my worlds is 'enhanced PSI ability' genetically imbued into favored humans and select members of other races thousands of years ago by the 'ancient aliens,' who imported groups of these peoples as servants and test subjects. These utterly inhuman aliens had high natural PSI ability, and much of their tech required significant PSI ability to operate. The imbued people were a tech caste for the aliens after they began declining in numbers. Eventually, the alien civilizations completely imploded, and their PSI-enhanced subjects came to be regarded as 'wizards.' Anymore, the aliens are little more than myth.

The aliens 'enhanced' only those they brought to their worlds. Folks with greater-than-normal PSI do exist on Earth, but they are flukes. Likewise, flukes occasionally pop up on the other worlds.

As to types of PSI ability...

Mind. This includes ESP, 'Charm/Persuasion' type effects, focusing techniques, Clairvoyance, Location ability, Invisibility, Dream travel and influence, and enhanced language ability. It can also be used to summon nearby animals.

Body. Mind and Body are linked, so influencing one affects the other. Healing convinces the body to mend itself in creative and accelerated ways. Metabolic 'spells' can grant bursts of strength and speed - at a cost. Other uses can make people sleep, vomit, or cause other irritating effects. Metabolic magic is often used to enhance plant growth...or use plants to entrap people.

Telekinetic: the ability to remotely manipulate objects. This includes the likes of Pyrokinesis (fire through friction), Levitation, 'Lubricate' (make a surface extremely slick), Mend ('gluing items together at the microscopic level), Shatter (increasing minute flaws to break an object), and a few other tricks.

Illusion is Mental Magic plus props and trickery. Fooling people into thinking a crude tent is a cottage, a thrown rag is a bird, and whatnot.

Teleportation is a mix of mental magic and Telekinesis.

Protective talismans and marks are usually mixes of mental magic and Telekinesis.

There are other oddities like dangerous Blood Magic (Metabolic root), Runes (mangled ancient alien lore), and Ritual magic.

Then there is Summoning: using Names and rituals to conjure mostly malevolent entities to do the wizard's bidding. This usually results in the wizard becoming a pawn of the entity, with large numbers of dead bodies.

The typical trained wizard will have strong 'knacks' for up to half a dozen individual 'spells, and weak skills for several others.

Used improperly, PSI ability can fade from even the most powerful wizards.

'White Wizards' are do-gooders, healers, and workers of protective magics. Their ethos mostly prohibits directly selling spells for money, unless it is for a good cause. Instead, they take consulting work that may or may not involve magic. They will not use killing magic unless absolutely necessary.

'Grey Mages' are dedicated scholars, the classic 'wizard in a tower.' They can sell spells or use killing magic...if it benefits their research.

'Black Wizards' seek power over others without regard for consequences. They use their followers as a source of psychic energy.

'Dedicated' are usually military mages who can use killing spells for a specific purpose, like defending the country.

'Dabblers' are folks with an uncertain grasp of a handful of spells that might or might not work. Bards usually fall into this category.

 

[Queshire]

My protagonist is initially from an urban fantasy version of modern day earth. Her form of magic involves pulling in magic from the environment, shaping it like clay and releasing it as spell. Instead of just drawing in general magic she can be more specific than that like drawing thunder from the wires running through a building's walls to zap someone or mixing together some fire drawn from her own body heat with air drawn from her lungs to create a burst of flame. This can go even further. The protagonist lacks the skill to do so, but a master of her particular tradition can do witch-y stuff like taking and pocketing the blue of someone's eyes or the fate of someone's firstborn (thus ensuring said firstborn is never actually born.)

Finally, instead of clay to shape spells the magic can be used almost like ink to enchant objects or craft wards around locations.

However all that is just to provide a frame of reference when she winds up on an entirely different world.

The world is positively drowning in magic to the point that it makes the Earth she comes from seem like a wasteland in comparison.

It is also.... caged? Protected? Guided by? A vast enchantment far beyond anything she can conceive of in the form of an impossible System.

To the locals the kind of magic she uses with drawing in and manually shaping magic are only cantrips. Of course with a lifetime of experience working to make the most out of only having a fraction of the magic available to her that the locals are used to she can still do things with cantrips that the locals consider impossible, but its still seen as the lowest form of magic.

Instead the locals use the aid of the system overseeing their world to refine and augment both their bodies and spirits.

Spoiler: Wall of Text

First is condensing and establishing a mana pool so they're not forced to draw magic from their surroundings for every spell. They can also aspect their mana pool though not everyone sees the need to do so. Generally its aspected to either a single element or perhaps a mix of a couple elements. I've got your standard elements of course, but really any concept can form the basis of an aspect. Sword, destruction, chaos, order, joy, etc. My take on elements is like colors of paint. You've got your reds & greens of course, but also countless other shades in between.

You're not limited to just using magic that matches the aspect of your mana pool, but the more contradictions and unbalance you have the worst you'll do. A fire mage can use smoke magic or even metal magic pretty easily so long as the metal is red hot, but might struggle with creating a mirror based illusion.

Next major mana channels carved through the spirit help shape how mana is used overall. Depending on the pattern used and its complexity this can vary a lot. One pattern might focus mana primarily into the body in order to strengthen it, another might focus on slicing off fragments of the user's spirit and using those fragments to create pseudo-living spells while a third altera the composition of the mana pool so that it can house a contracted spirit that the mage summons forth as needed.

Third, small thin threads of mana, essentially the mana equivalent of capillary veins weave through the body & spirit. These threads directly augment and reinforce the person. Depending on the composition and density of the threads they vary, but they can make a person stronger, faster, have increased perceptions or a strengthened will.

In-between the major mana channels and the small capillary channels specific spells or skills are inscribed into the spirit. This can be achieved just through enough practice & training, but the locals have developed the practice of magic well enough that they can store the channels for a specific spell in a solidified crystal of mana and graft them onto a spirit. For the most common spells & skills you can just buy them.

Now, most peope just stop right there. They focus on increasing the density of the mana in their pools, developing their channels and just living their life. A farmer might have a handful of spells incribed into his spirit, one to notice disease in his crops, another to draw upon the earth's strength, etc, plus any cantrips he might use. Otherwise he's just a farmer.

Spoiler: Nested spoilers are fun.

It's a LitRPG setting so things are put in video game terms.

The capillary channels provide a reason people have attributes.

The major mana channels all together form the structure for a person's class.

Mana pool aspects are basically pokemon types and having spells or skills inscribed in your spirit are the kind of spells someone in an rpg would have.

There's even levels, but I don't go into detail about them.

The equivalents of knights go a step further, a step away from humanity (or elf-manity, dwarf-manity, etc and so on.)

Beyond just the capillary channels they directly infuse mana into the body & spirit to transmute it. This results in various changes depending on the magic they use and can be unique to the individual. One might have their fingernails and teeth turn to iron, another might gain a ring of runes in their eyes. Others can be even more extreme like gaining a pair of "wings" in the form of two swords formed from solid mana that constantly hover behind their back. Now, just jabbing mana in your body like this is naturally dangerous. You need a clear idea of just who you are and your relationship to magic.

A step beyond that, lords and other nobility increase the density of the mana in their mana pool until it forms a core. Without the augmentation of the previous step the energy contained within their core would rip their body apart. The density of the core is enough that it produces a sort of gravity that allows the lord to manipulate the mana around them without spending any of their own. This allows all sorts of minor effects like flight, telekinesis or telepathy by manipulating ambient mana. A lord flying by manipulating ambient mana won't be as good as it as a lord with an actual flight spell or who specializes in flying, but it does make a difference. Refining your core at this stage means refining your mana. It means using reflecting on the nature of the world and using that to form an image for your mana. It's not enough to just be a fire mage. You need to give your mana the image of a dragon, a sun, a desert, a burning battlefield. Give it depth & meaning even if that means discarding spells that don't fit.

After that you get your archmages, your liches, your legendary generals, etc. Basically your elders. Similiar to the other stages there's another round of refinement, but the refinement is unique to the individual. It requires understanding your desires and your path in life without any falsehoods and requires that there's no contradictions with your view of the world and your view of yourself gained in the previous steps. For writing convenience I also have people at this stage develop a signature spell or ability that embodies their path.

Past this point you become a demigod. Everything up to this point fuses together into a single divine domain even as soul, spirit and body fuse together.

Then, of course, there's gods after demigods, but that's far in the future.

One of my goals is to set things up so that I can more or less do whatever I want in this setting.

To this end, ancient magic isn't technically better than modern magic. Technically it's often horribly inefficient, but older magic benefits from being carved deeper into reality. Some cultures prefer this, especially those led by demigods who were around with the old magic was new. As a result you might have viking style barbarians using ancient rune magic in one part of the world while another is a magitech cyberpunk land with mecha and artificial spirits.

Magic as a whole is connected to the management of information.

Arcane magic uses direct commands and instructions. It's the computer code & enginnering of magic. Occult magic is softer. It's story and mystery shaping magic much like how hills and valleys shape the course of a river. Divine magic either uses the impossibly strong souls of those with divinity to directly color mana or else the steady faith of the masses. Finally primal magic comes from the information of instincts or by studying how natural events shape ambient mana and recreating the procees in order to recreate the effect.