Eating Magic

[Queshire]

I'm thinking of givin my main character the ability to "eat magic" If the magic is realitively simple, weak, or trying to eat him instead, he can "swallow" it whole, he can then diggest the magic or spit the magic back up intact. For more complex / powerful magic, he has to chew up the magic into more managable chuncks first, and naturally he can't spit up the magic after chewing it up.

There's some limits, he's weak to traps and alarms, things which would specifically activate at being eaten. Also more powerful magic which he can't chew up in time can still get through. He can be affected by indirect uses of magic, though people used to relying on their magic might not think about that.

His passive defense is petty good, but he can handle a lot more powerful magic if he's aware of it.

The magic he eats is added to his magical reserves and he most often uses it to buff himself physically. He can also actually cast spells, but he's not good at it and doesn't like it, comparing the feeling to puking.

There's a risk of him getting sick from eating too much magic, resulting in him uncontrollably venting the excess magic in random effects, or at the highest level exploded from magic overload.

All this combined makes him a natural born mage killer.

The character with this ability is an ordinary high school student who knows nothing until his father sends him to either a summer camp designed to celebrate cultural unity or a boarding school designed to celebrate cultural unity.

In any case, the cultural unity celebrated is meant to be between the magica world and the human world. You have normal humans learning magic but also witches learning how to use the computer.

So, any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns with this idea?

 

[Penpilot]

Sounds pretty cool. I think there's a comic book out that has a character with a eating based ability. It's not like what you described but you might look into it to "borrow" some ideas from. It's called Chew.

 

[Ice Spider]

I think you're talking about MP, not magic, but I do think it's a cool idea.

 

[gerald.parson]

Sounds pretty interesting Q-man, keep me posted as it develops.

 

[shangrila]

It sounds interesting. It seems a little different to "traditional" magic though, and even the other magic in your world. As in, it's the opposite to everything magic is. A negating effect, maybe?

I like the idea of him getting sick. Personally, I would make that the constant drawback, i.e. he eats a small spell, gets a headache, a medium one, gets a stomach cramp, eats too big of one, is paralysed/goes blind/whatever.

 

[Kristina.Fugate]

This is such a cool idea. Very unique.

I especially like the idea of him getting sick and "uncontrollably venting the excess magic in random effects." That's just plain awesome. It could definitely lead to some very interesting scenarios.

 

[kadenaz]

"...uncontrollably venting the excess magic in random effects" this is called "Scourge" in "Mage" tabletop RPG.

I like this idea.

 

[Lorna]

Sounds very interesting. What I'm curious about is 1) the source of the magic 2) how does it look, smell, ultimately taste, I'm guessing this will be different for each type of magic and you'll have alot of fun with the descriptions 3) how will it work? Will it be like ingesting a drug?

 

[Renos]

Sounds like the manga Fairy Tail. The main protagonist is a dragonslayer where he can eat magic. In his case he is the fire dragon dragonslayer so he eats fire. Another dragonslayer is of the Iron dragon so he eats iron. The magic world is vast and the story makes it very interesting. Check it out, it may help you.

 

[Queshire]

sigh~~~ You know, eating magic is a metaphor... he doesn't actually physically eat it....
Also, I've read Fairy Tail, good stuff. He wouldn't be the same as a dragon slayer, in his case, the element / effect doesn't matter as much as the actual magic that powers it.

 

[Ankari]

I was thinking that he was actually eating the magic as well. The idea is interesting but you are correlating a physical reaction to a metaphysical system. If he is getting sick from eating too much magic then the magic in your world can take a physical form. If you wanted to avoid this then make the sickness mental instead of physical. It could lead to some very interesting twists. For example he recovers from a blackout only to find that he is in a tavern with burnt and twisted bodies flung around like rag dolls. It would give the character a different dimension and give you more flexibility in your writing.

Also think of the conversion of the magic to physical enhancements and how it would leave its mark on your character. I would think the raw power being converted to physical enhancements would leave your character exhausted after the enhancements wear off or while he is using the enhancements he is struggling to keep the magic from spilling out of him uncontrollably. Like holding back a storm of raw and devastating magic from escaping into the world.

As a side note, why is only one character able to do this? Is this ability genetic? if so, why did it just show up now? Is it a blessing from a higher power?

Keep up the development of this system, sounds good.