Chaos_Sinner777
Imprisoned Soul Seeking Isekai
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2019
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Magic is OP, how to nerf? Or at least limit its use? Welp, here's a magic system I thought up in the shower to give my two cents.
Miracles of Chaos
All living things are born with two special things within them. The soul, and life force. To the layman, the difference between the two is indistinct. But to the select few, they are two halves of a greater whole. A small percentage of sentient beings can shave off pieces of their soul and mingle them with equal portions of life force, then offer that mixture to the Goddess to be granted a miracle. The amount offered does seem to corelate to the extent of the effect, though such comparisons are difficult to make. This magic cannot be controlled, but the outcome is generally good for the caster, or at least aligned with their goals. (Similar to Dragon Magic in the Inheritance Cycle.)
As an example, if a Miracle Caster were seeking to defend a town, they could not simply decide to use magic to build a great wall around it. But their magic would follow their desire to protect it. Creating some monster aligned with the interests of the inhabitants, conjuring a storm around it, or shrouding it in an illusory fog that misleads would be invaders.
Now, to go further into the use of Life Force. Life force is energy that is born of the body, and supports it in turn. When expended, it is normally quick to recover. If one were to expend half of their life, they would recover within a few days. However, if they were to overexert, spending more than half within short order. . . They might permanently reduce their life force capacity or slow down its recovery rate. Burning over ninety percent is a death sentence. A slow, withering death where the body starts to fail over the course of weeks.
The Soul on the other hand, is the core of the being. It is not so fickle a thing as to fade away from overuse. As long as the slightest ember remains, one may eventually recover. However the less of the soul that remains, the fewer emotions the user can feel. Less motivation, decreased feelings of happiness, excitement, or love, and so on. Soul Depression normally starts to set in at forty percent of the soul's typical whole. Additionally, it is very slow to restore. A fragment of about five percent of the soul would only be regained after a month or more. If one were to expend the last spark, it would surely be the end. Not of their life, but of their humanity. A creature without a soul of its own would seek to fill the hole with the souls of others. But can never truly regain what it has lost.
It is important to find a balance in how you use magic. One cannot be frivolous with the soul, nor overextend the life force.
The Final Offering. If a caster were to give up everything to the Goddess, the result would be far greater than anything they could accomplish otherwise. The difference between offering ninety nine percent of both the soul and the life force, and giving up everything, is generally thought to be an entire order of magnitude. But giving up both entirely means certain death, and complete oblivion. (A bit inspired by Death Curses from the Dresden Files.)
Catastrophe. When opposing miracles collide, the outcome serves no one. In a battle of tens of thousands of common troops, there might be ten Miracle Casters on each side. If all twenty of these casters were to make a Final Offering at the same time, seeking to change the course of the battle for their own kingdom, the resulting Catastrophe could well cleave a continent in twain. Naturally, nothing on the battlefield would survive such an upheaval.
Divine Ritual. Through currently unknown means, but surely involving many casters working together, the Goddess can take great actions far beyond mortal power under any other means. As with other magic the exact results cannot be determined. She may gift the casters of a successful ritual special powers, or send them a mighty hero from another realm. Perhaps she could even rewrite the very fabric of reality to allow for new possibilities that we could scarcely guess at. It is thought that legendary monsters were all born from such rituals performed by misguided or evil men. . .
So, anybody else have interesting ideas for limiting magic's use? This one seemed interesting to me, but isn't exactly suitable to the type of LitRPG/GameLit stories I've been writing.
Miracles of Chaos
All living things are born with two special things within them. The soul, and life force. To the layman, the difference between the two is indistinct. But to the select few, they are two halves of a greater whole. A small percentage of sentient beings can shave off pieces of their soul and mingle them with equal portions of life force, then offer that mixture to the Goddess to be granted a miracle. The amount offered does seem to corelate to the extent of the effect, though such comparisons are difficult to make. This magic cannot be controlled, but the outcome is generally good for the caster, or at least aligned with their goals. (Similar to Dragon Magic in the Inheritance Cycle.)
As an example, if a Miracle Caster were seeking to defend a town, they could not simply decide to use magic to build a great wall around it. But their magic would follow their desire to protect it. Creating some monster aligned with the interests of the inhabitants, conjuring a storm around it, or shrouding it in an illusory fog that misleads would be invaders.
Now, to go further into the use of Life Force. Life force is energy that is born of the body, and supports it in turn. When expended, it is normally quick to recover. If one were to expend half of their life, they would recover within a few days. However, if they were to overexert, spending more than half within short order. . . They might permanently reduce their life force capacity or slow down its recovery rate. Burning over ninety percent is a death sentence. A slow, withering death where the body starts to fail over the course of weeks.
The Soul on the other hand, is the core of the being. It is not so fickle a thing as to fade away from overuse. As long as the slightest ember remains, one may eventually recover. However the less of the soul that remains, the fewer emotions the user can feel. Less motivation, decreased feelings of happiness, excitement, or love, and so on. Soul Depression normally starts to set in at forty percent of the soul's typical whole. Additionally, it is very slow to restore. A fragment of about five percent of the soul would only be regained after a month or more. If one were to expend the last spark, it would surely be the end. Not of their life, but of their humanity. A creature without a soul of its own would seek to fill the hole with the souls of others. But can never truly regain what it has lost.
It is important to find a balance in how you use magic. One cannot be frivolous with the soul, nor overextend the life force.
The Final Offering. If a caster were to give up everything to the Goddess, the result would be far greater than anything they could accomplish otherwise. The difference between offering ninety nine percent of both the soul and the life force, and giving up everything, is generally thought to be an entire order of magnitude. But giving up both entirely means certain death, and complete oblivion. (A bit inspired by Death Curses from the Dresden Files.)
Catastrophe. When opposing miracles collide, the outcome serves no one. In a battle of tens of thousands of common troops, there might be ten Miracle Casters on each side. If all twenty of these casters were to make a Final Offering at the same time, seeking to change the course of the battle for their own kingdom, the resulting Catastrophe could well cleave a continent in twain. Naturally, nothing on the battlefield would survive such an upheaval.
Divine Ritual. Through currently unknown means, but surely involving many casters working together, the Goddess can take great actions far beyond mortal power under any other means. As with other magic the exact results cannot be determined. She may gift the casters of a successful ritual special powers, or send them a mighty hero from another realm. Perhaps she could even rewrite the very fabric of reality to allow for new possibilities that we could scarcely guess at. It is thought that legendary monsters were all born from such rituals performed by misguided or evil men. . .
So, anybody else have interesting ideas for limiting magic's use? This one seemed interesting to me, but isn't exactly suitable to the type of LitRPG/GameLit stories I've been writing.