Creating Classes Within a Magic System

[nardken]

This is my first forum post so please forgive me if this is all over the place.

I’ve created a magic system based around the 3 types of learning (VAK -Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Learning). For those who don’t know about VAK Learning, it’s a theory saying we are natural learner in one of the three ways.
Visual- learning by images, graphs, charts
Auditory- learning by listening, and speaking
Kinesthetic- learning by hands on activities

Without getting too heavy into the lore, most humans are born with magic. There are 3 components to using this magic; Mind (visual), Spirit (auditory), and Body (kinesthetic). Some spells require more spiritual energy than body/spirit, some require more body than spirit/mind, ect.
For example if you wanted to create a copy of your body you’d have to use around 50% Mind (to create a clean copy of your own body) 30% Body (to bring the visual into physical form) and 20% Spirit (to bind the spell and make it strong. [keep in mind this is only a quick example.

Getting to my point, I wanted to divide the types of magicians into 3 categories based on what type of learning they are strongest in. So say if you’re a Visual magician you’ll be able to cast illusion spells, possible have visions of the future, image projecting. And if being visual you might be a little weaker in the spiritual department so those spells won’t be as long.

Am I making these categories too broad to the point where it’ll be too hard to place certain people/spells underneath?

Would it be better to only use VAK as an organizer to what type of spells can be done?

If you need to ask any questions about the world/magic system to understand me better. Feel free to ask.

 

[Devor]

I want to make sure I've got this down.

So a wizard in your system would have three mana bars, so to speak: Mind, Spirit, and Body. And any spells you cast might cost a little from each, like: 1 Mind, 2 Spirit, 1 Body. That's a good spell to cast if you have a lot of spirit, not so much if you don't. Now you could stop it there, and let characters develop on their own. But it's getting complicated and classes would help that. For instance, if this were a game it'd be easier to map out the system around having two mana bars: One for your main trait, and one that combines the other two, which only makes a kind of sense if you look at the training that's implied to come with a class. This all suggests four classes: One favoring Mind, Spirit, Body, and "Jack-of-All."

To me that sounds fine. You're writing a novel, not a video game, so the complexity doesn't matter so long as it comes across well for a character. As for whether they're too broad, that's going to become more clear when you figure out the "classes," so to speak, that represent the ways people can specialize. That'll give you a better idea of how magic takes on an identity in the world.

 

[Nirak]

I don't think it's too broad. Look at the Aes Sedai from Wheel of Time, who also have certain elements/schools that they are stronger or weaker in. And they have more than three! What will help clarify maybe is deciding what can and can't be done in your world. Like, how far can they go, how powerful can they be? If you don't have any limits, you may find it hard to find challenges that can't just be answered with magic. For example, if you say it's possible to bring people back from the dead, it makes the threat of death a lot less scary. So I think it's a good idea to have weaknesses and know what the limits are. I like your idea! And I agree it would be cool to see classes that were primarily one school or the other and how they hone in on their specialties.