Game My magic system please.

[Logos&Eidos]

I've been working for quite some time to come up with a magic system that was both power and flexible while at the same time cause as few headaches as possible. That quest has lead me to "Ether-Craft!" a form of magic inspired by Psy and Ki abilities.

This is the basis of Ether-craft, ether is force that is both generated by living things and found in almost everywhere in nature. Ether-crafter through birth or training can learn to tap into this energy and use it for a verity of purposes.

Going with my sources the first ability developed is sensory, Crafters can feel the ether given off by all things. They have a general sense of a being's physical and emotional state.

Personal augmentations: Crafters can greatly augment their physical capabilities. the degree to which this can be done is determined by raw power,tolerance and skill. it's also possible to perform selective augmentation.

Psychically Aspected Ether waves:Crafters can broadcast ether waves that serve as medium for mental communication.

Physically Aspected Ether waves: Ether waves of this sort behave most like kinetic energy out of all the mundane energies. These vibratory-waves are conducted best by liquids, second by solids and third by vapor; only on certain high frequencies can vapors be used as an effective medium. Ether can be used to manipulate matter,as though one had an extra set of clumsy hands; practice results in finer control. Matter can be made to tense or relax, effecting it's strength and flexibility as long as ether is channeled through it. Force can be channels into matter to, acclerate it, increase it's destructive potential; see Gambit from X-men for example, or to rip it a apart in a manner resembling the phenomenon of destructive-resonance.

These abilities are the more esoteric

Sublimation: the ability to partialy or wholly shift matter into a "higher" and more malleable state/plane of existence. Intangiblility,Invisibility, Teleportation,Storage by "dematerialization" and the transfiguration of matter.

Eidolons/ apparitions: create subordinate psychic entities.

I haven't worked out all the details of what the last ability Eidolon creation could do, however the simply Eidolon is a scry-eye that let's one observe far off locations.

What i asks of you is what could be done with these powers, how could they be applied creatively to daily life and combat?

 

[Terry Greer]

Sounds ok - but what are the limits and energy requirements? There's no such thing as a free lunch so any use of powers like this has to have a 'cost' associated with them otherwise these powers are used for everything. How do you intend to balance it?

 

[Logos&Eidos]

Sounds ok - but what are the limits and energy requirements? There's no such thing as a free lunch so any use of powers like this has to have a 'cost' associated with them otherwise these powers are used for everything. How do you intend to balance it?

Well the limits are pretty much the standards for a Force based magic system...push to far and you die. specifically you begin to disintegrate like your being consumed from within by an invisible and smokeless flame. While the soul has vast power the body and minds are imperfect conduits, and can quickly be destroyed by the very power that sustains them. In fact it's a major plot point that the Peoples or Tribes are not that good at using ether...when compared to their enemies.

Aside from some interesting fight moves I'm at a loss as to how far thing in this system can be taken.

 

[Saigonnus]

Like a drug, perhaps Ether might be addictive. Perhaps, since ether comes from living things, as a side-effect of the casting, it leaches some from the caster as well as from the world around him; perhaps he has to use his own ether to bend the ether taken in to his will. A slight overworking might cause a headache or chills, while pushing more might fatigue the ethercaster to the point he collapses. In worst case scenario, complete systemic collapse.

Also like a drug, it might be the ethercaster might become more tolerant to its effects, increasing slowly how much of it they can handle. Perhaps you should; at least for behind the scenes knowledge figure out a scale of how much ether it takes for the abilities you want them to have. A simple candle flame used to start fires might take 1 ether point, relatively simple once you get a bit of training. A gout of flames might be 10 ether points, more challenging; and enough that an apprentice will burn himself up trying to bring it to life so to speak. Maybe a fireball is 50 ether points, assuming you prescribe to the cliche of having it. I think if you have a background system you will soon be able to weigh how much ether it would take and what effect that would have on the caster.

 

[Logos&Eidos]

Like a drug, perhaps Ether might be addictive. Perhaps, since ether comes from living things, as a side-effect of the casting, it leaches some from the caster as well as from the world around him; perhaps he has to use his own ether to bend the ether taken in to his will. A slight overworking might cause a headache or chills, while pushing more might fatigue the ethercaster to the point he collapses. In worst case scenario, complete systemic collapse.

Also like a drug, it might be the ethercaster might become more tolerant to its effects, increasing slowly how much of it they can handle. Perhaps you should; at least for behind the scenes knowledge figure out a scale of how much ether it takes for the abilities you want them to have. A simple candle flame used to start fires might take 1 ether point, relatively simple once you get a bit of training. A gout of flames might be 10 ether points, more challenging; and enough that an apprentice will burn himself up trying to bring it to life so to speak. Maybe a fireball is 50 ether points, assuming you prescribe to the cliche of having it. I think if you have a background system you will soon be able to weigh how much ether it would take and what effect that would have on the caster.

I'm certain that the lurid sensation of wielding ether is addictive to some,I hadn't thought about ether inherently having a narcotic effect on it's users. I'm on board with you about the more minor effects of exceeding ones ether tolerance. The whole being consumed from inside out as if by invisible flame,is only supposed to happen in cases of of a users having a meltdown. The absorbtion of ambient ether from one's environment, that is supposed to be a very valuable skill. Perhaps sucking up ambinat ether is less demanding on the soul being made to produce more.

After I made the thread I came up with a better name for it"the social and military applications and implications of Ether-craft", what the magic system can do will influence how it impacts it's world.

The first big social effect that i puzzled out was the development of war. Massed armies rarely saw use in my setting. Be of Ether-crafts surveillance and artillery capabilities, the conditions under which war happened were similar to the once that we have on earth. So war for these people has always been about small highly mobile bands going after vital enemy assets.