Combat based magic system???

Just some questions to think about:

Can only certain people give tattoos that enable magic? What if someone makes a mistake will the spells come out all wonky? Is a special kind of ink needed? If your going elemental with the magic, consider tying the ritual of the inking into the environment, i.e A fire marking can only be given inside of a volcano, a Dark (assuming you have Dark because you mentioned Light) marking might given in an eerie swamp. Good Luck!

 

The idea sounds intriguing and I would roll with it.

As much as it sounds like you want to keep it bare-bones, keep in mind that fantasy/sci-fi readers like to pick this stuff apart. With that in mind, I'm not sure that random selection would be accepted. In cases where the magic can't be learned, traditional selection is usually tied to the user's personality, or "tribe". Maybe it seems random to the people, but you drop a few hints to the reader that the ability is really almost predetermined?

 

I like the system you're going with, but there are still some things to add on.

I think that only masters in the magics can teach the magic and upon "graduating", the markings are carved into your body by the master during the ritual that "Awakens" your powers so you can perform the magic on your own and unlocks more magical options. For example, if one is studying fire magic, they could summon heat waves or embers as a student, but upon graduating, hey could summon firestorms and such and they have the ability to learn other spells.

I also think that the markings could be called "Runes" since they tie into the source of the magical energies and also are not "pure" magic and could basically play as background. You could carve them into the characters' bodies making them permanent, our you could copy from Mortal Instruments and make them Henna drawings on the skin that can be erased and changed if needed.

It all depends. It's a good start, though.

 

I remember a novel that was actually very very similar, actually it was a trilogy.
They were called The magicians guild, The Novice And the High Lord. Written by trudy Canavan. It was a few years ago i read them, but i remember they were Pretty decent.

 

I like the idea of it, it sounds kind of similar to far cry 3 and the tattaeo(not sure on the spelling)
When the mc would gain a skill, a tattoo would appear. There wasn't any magic in that game though.
Or the Night Angel trilogy and the Vir.
I would write up a good explanation for it. But the idea seems nice.

 

Also sounds a bit like the game Dishonored, where the MC is given a tattoo by the Outsider (sort of god) and then can use different kinds of magic.

 

i like it!

 

I like this idea system you've created but what if it backfires and the ritual goes bad?

Personally I'd have included a system that makes it so that if the ritual goes eerie than the effects harm the user more than the effects. Let's say someone is marked with Fire but than the ritual didn't go well, I'd have the user's flesh burn (than regenerate after use) as they us the element, and the more a user overgives, the most likely they are to self destruct.

That's just my two cents though.

 

In order to avoid have anyone being able to just go through the motions and obtain the abilities, you could make it so that only certain people know how to conduct the ritual that bestows the powers. It could be a well-kept secret amongst those who know how to do it.

 

Makes sense.

Especially, how rare are the materials that make the tattoos' ink? How delicate is the process of mixing and applying it just right, so that performing the ritual takes a rare level of skill? (Worse, to even learn that precision, how many "failed experiments" do you have to go through, and what's the cost to your test subjects?) Tattoos could easily be made a very rare and exotic power indeed.

 

For any type of special abilities, whether you call it magic, super powers or something else, it is important to know which characters can obtain the powers, how they get them, can the powers be taken away, what are the limitations of the magic/powers and what can other characters do to defeat the people with these abilities.
Know what you want your characters to be able to do and their goals. Consider the obstacles you want them to face. The more powerful you make the magic/powers the more important the ways to counter them. It is all about being able to defeat people with powers. Whether they are being used for good or evil, otherwise the person with them always wins, which means a boring story.
I would suggest you determine ahead of time what a person is capable of doing if they have 1, 2, or 3 tattoos of one type of element. Then work out the abilities that are possible for each combination. Some combinations can be different and some may only increase the strength of a power or length of time it can be used. If you have a system in place then whatever situation you place your characters in it becomes easier to determine what they could do.