A new magic system

TotallyHuman

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Magic that is allowed by the world, is not magic, its just science of a different world. It's in the world supernatural. Super-natural, above natural.
So, magic therefore, has to be something coming from somewhere else, like otherworldly eldritch horrors and demons and gods et al.
Unless I write the characters that were originally some lifeform(in a very very generalized definition of life) that could already break the world, I'd always put some entity granting them power in exchange for something.
What would an entity so grand, it could literally defy laws of logic, want from a human? Nothing. So, it gives magic by virtue of being there, and warping reality with its presence. Would a convinient interface to magic be available? Things like conjuring things up with imagination or chanting? I doubt it. In fact, I doubt it would be possible to apply the scientific methods of research to magic, since reality is literally warped and logic may not be as strong of a tool as before.
Then, to get better at magic would depend on a person's affinity with how the world is warped. They may not understand what they are doing consciously, they may even do things against their will.
So, in this case the users of magic don't harness magic, they find ways to not harness it. Magic becomes anti-magic, a study of how to prevent effects of magic on the world.
Spells with magic aren't used, unless you are inclined to kamikaze your enemy.
A stronger mage has better anti-magic equipment and methods, as well as a good gun with magic-resistant effects or something
 
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darkpikacha

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People can’t use magic. In fact, no animal can use magic. But plants can. So all mages are actually botanists and gardeners. They take the plants they grow either to the battle field to fight for the mage or to a laboratory to turn the plant into a potion of some sort. The way to get op is obviously to get better plants or better potions. If there were a lot of practitioners running around there probably wouldn’t be many plants left, or maybe there would be too many because everyone is growing them.
Sounds like taking druids to the next level
 

Jemini

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So it is an elemental+spell magic system? what sets it apart from others?

The same thing that sets anything apart from anything else in fiction. Everything is a repeat of something else, it's all just a different take on the same subjects.

What sets mine apart from others is implementation, pure and simple. I could explain the intricacies of the implementation that really do give it a rather unique feel, but it's actually very involved with the setting and tone of the story. You've got to be ready to drink from the fire hose on this one if you want the long answer to your question. (I already gave the short answer in my first sentence of this paragraph.)

To put it plainly, if you boil it down to it's core attributes, it is elemental + spell level + cultivation elements. But, that simplistic explanation as accurate as it is does not paint a proper picture of how it looks in practice at all. In terms of the feel of the system in implementation, I promise it does not wind up feeling like all that many others.

I suppose another somewhat short answer I can give you is that I treat the magic system in my world relative to the plot elements with about the same regard that Mushoku Tensei gives to it's own magic system. It is a corner stone of the story, but at the same time it somehow feels like the magic system takes a back seat to the plot. Kind of like "Oh! This is happening, and this is happening, and oh no! People are out to kill us, and, uhhh.... oh yeah! There's also magic. I almost forgot about the magic because that's as boring as saying it rains sometimes."

So, yeah, magic is cool. My characters are good at it. But, the story is not ABOUT the magic even though it is kinda about the magic, if you know what I mean.
 

Snusmumriken

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A system where humans innately have a little mana, but can't do jack with it. They need special artifacts to draw it out and create effects. There's some basic stuff that can be done with any artifact, such as shooting fire, ice, and lightning, but every artifact also has a unique or damned near unique ability all its own that can do practically anything so long as you gain enough mana to use its unique effect. Which takes a lot. Also the only way to increase your innate mana is to literally eat artifacts. Thus, you have to sacrifice potentially infinite possibilities in multiple artifacts to gain the power to use one properly.
That's cool might be a hilarious source of hijinks since if every artefact is unique there is no way to tell what it would do until it is used for the first time. useless ones would be eaten and useful left behind, perhaps used as food in extreme crisis (or in story climax a hero sacrificing his trusty tool to get that tiny drop of power to push forward). Would also be fun trying to explore where the artefacts are coming from, or if they are finite.

Alright. Magic exists, wizards use it and make a show of it, but literally no one (including the wizards) understand how it really works. Wizards make symbols, do chants, and wave wands, but they're flying by the seat of their pants. Random people accidentally cast magic without meaning too, and sometimes those that do mean to completely fail for no discernable reason. You too can be a wizard if you can do slam poetry, act wizened beyond your years, dance around dramatically with sticks, and scribble nonsensical things all over walls. Don't need to describe a complex magic system if it's too obtuse for anyone to understand in the first place.

The most powerful wizard is a crazy gibbering old man living in the sewers.
That is fun too, albeit would be hard to use as a plot element to solve problems. As Sanderson said, and with what I do agree with myself, the magic ability to solve problems is directly related to how well its rules or limits are understood by the reader.

All the magic in the world comes from one god: Tod the Jerk. Unfortunately for everyone, Tod is very much a jerk. And if you want to do anything magical you have to pray to him for help and there's a small chance that he'll make something happen. But it's usually really random and generally unhelpful, and sometimes devastatingly dangerous.

So it's banned by most societies, especially within the confines of town's and cities. There are occasional groups of worshippers that pop up here and there but they rarely last long, due to freak floods, or the earth swallowing them whole, or creating plagues of locusts that rightfully engage the locals who then execute them.

Some people have tried to study the magic, but Tod doesn't really appreciate that, so he mostly ignores them, or occasionally murders them outright.

Only the desperate pray for Tod's help and that's where mc comes into the story. Utterly desperate as they lie at the bottom of a cliff with a shattered leg. They figure they're far enough from others that they won't get any help, nor will a prayer probably hurt anyone else. Tod, being a Jerk decides the best way to mess with mc isn't to just heal their leg, but to instead [insert bizarre, hilarious hijinks here, ex) grafting an entire black bear onto mc]
That would also work as a great story start too. a MC cursed by Tod is either working to undo his curse or actually solve the issue that he was trying to previously solve, but now with a curse attached.

Laughs in overactive imagination.

I just shared this in another thread just now, but I can further elaborate here.

In an alternative world, magic used to be abundant. Almost everyone could use it. But this lead to devastating wars that destroyed so much that the world's population was in danger of being wiped out. That is why, eventually in their version of the 20th century, a world committee was formed to regulate magic and it was eventually decided that magic was now restricted to items. Nobody could openly use magic outside of sanctioned items known as batons. There were many baton designs made for different purposes but the all purpose baton is the ones shaped like a sword, thus you have a lot of people walking around with "swords" on their hips.

My story will take place in their version of the modern world. Magic is now exclusively used with batons. Only 1% of the population may use magic freely, but everyone else has to use a regulated baton. Also, the population of who can use magic went from 98% in the 15th century, to 75% in the 19th century, to 50% in the modern age. Scientist and magicologist (is that even a thing? well it is in my story) can't figure out why this declined happen. So for those who can't use magic, they have to use a special baton where you can insert something called an Elemental Capsule, which is a capsule with elemental magic. What constitutes "elemental" is based if they can actually capture said magic, which is most of them. The down side to this is that it can be expensive for some of the really good magic, so people are accusing those who use the very expensive magic as paying-to-win, in a sense. Though natural magic users are more powerful, a rule is in place that they can't use elemental capsules themselves to balance things out.

Now, as far as making this magic OP, the magic itself is dependent on the caster. Those with natural abilities have to exercise the magic like how you exercise your body. The more you exercise and body build, the stronger your muscles are. This is the same for magic. The more you train with it, the stronger it gets. But there is a limit to it. You can't become OP by training this magic. So in a bit of irony, what can make this magic OP are the artificial means. It is very possible to make a giant canon that infuses like a million tons of capsule worth of power and destroy the freaking moon or something. So in this case, what makes magic OP is not the magic itself, but the devices that can be created to use an extreme amount of it. In other words, this would be their equivalent to a weapon of mass destruction.
That sounds like a decent magical society setting premise, but the magic premise is mostly wand magic, right?

Here is an idea for a system. There are many different types of magic. They all have a very limited amount of spells. Often you can count the spells for one kind of magic on one hand. To cast a spell you morph your mana into the magic type of your choosing and then transfer it into a specific body parts that the specific magic is attuned to. Transfer to different body parts activates different spells. All spells have a windup time when activating which needs some concentration only, which can be noticed by others by the unique glow, sound and feeling the windup projects, and the spell used can be known and foreseen if you are knowledgable. If material for the magic is not found it, it conjures that material, but it costs slightly more mana and the material disappears after a while.
Mana capacity and regeneration is fairly limited. But capacity can be doubled from the average person with training by casting spells. A normal person recovers all mana when depleted in 4 hours. Depleting mana is of no consequence, but if it is depleted fast enough it makes you dizzy and can cause you to faint.
Spells are normally quite mediocre on their own, only really powerful against small monsters and lightly clad humans, unless you have an affinity. All humans can learn all different magics and spells. Though learning a magic takes a lot of effort and concentration, along with the spells, though spells require less effort overall. Magic power cannot be adjusted freely for most spells and is creased if you have affinity or if you are a really big monster. Mana has a capacity with a value, and different spells cost a specific amount of mana.

Here are the spells fire magic has: Throat = Dragon breath (While you breathe out from your mouth, you spew a big cone of flame like a dragon. Mana is rapidly depleted during use.)
Hand = Fire ball (A flame ball is conjured in front of the selected hand and shot out towards whatever it was facing.)
Leg = Flame wall (When you kick the ground, the spell is released, causing magic to surge along the ground, creating a wall of flames that hinders vision and burns things touching it. Costs a lot of mana. Only one can be deployed at a time.)
Stomach = Flame armor (Your skin is enveloped in a protecting fire, regulating your body temperature and giving high fire protection. Gives small protection against cold magic.)
Head = Flicker (Creates a small constant flickering flame in the air that you can freely manipulate. Useless as an attack spell.)
Index finger = Extinguish (Puts out fire you point at a medium speed.)

Here are the spells shadow hand magic has:
Hand = Creeping hand (You summon a dark hand on your hand. It listens to your every command. 5 at once maximum. Lasts for several minutes.)
Leg = Sprout hand (A huge shadow arm grows from the ground at the length of a grown human. It listens to your every command. Costs a huge amount of mana. Lasts for several minutes.)
Stomach = Hand caterpillar (Summon eight small shadow arms along your back. They listen to your every command. Slowly whittles away your mana when in use. Disappears when mana is depleted or Redeem is used.)
Pinky finger = Redeem (Disintegrates all shadow hand spells while also giving you back some of the mana used on them.)

Then there is fusion. It takes a lot of practice, but it allows you to combine magics you have trained on. It is not as flashy as it sounds, as the windup gets a bit longer and the resulting spell is not much stronger than a normal one. The individual powers of the separate magics are weakened in fusions, two halves create a whole, instead of a whole from the beginning. Here are the fusions of the magics mentioned before.

Hand = Creeping fire hand (You summon a sluggish dark hand that burns anything it touches.)
Leg = Sprout flame hand (A huge huge flaming dark hand sprouts from the ground that burns anything it touches. The flames obscures it slightly. It is not as strong as a regular dark hand.)
Stomach = Flickering hand caterpillar (You summon eight flickering shadow arms on your back. They are slightly weaker than normal, but slightly regulates your body temperature.

Then there is affinity. People sometimes awaken affinity towards a specific magic, either through extreme practice over a few years or sometime in their teenage years. About 30% of all people have an affinity. About maybe 1% have two affinities, while about 0.05% have three affinities. An affinity doubles the power of the magic it is associated with and makes the magic and it's spells quite a lot easier to learn. Affinities are less common for rarer, more enigmatic magics. Affinities and learned magic types can be sensed by people when they concentrate hard enough.

There is also fusion affinity, where fusion is made thrice as easy. 5% of those with affinity have it.

There is shield and toughness magic to make people survive better, along with body strengthening to make people stronger. Along with magic power boosting magic, though it is not very mana efficient. There are a lot more different magics and spells than those I have stated.

Last but not least, this system was made with synergy in mind, not power. By several people using their powers strategically, they can achieve incredible results. Even if you have affinity for and mastered the four elements and learned to fuse all of them together, going alone into a dungeon is still quite risky.

Magic items, armor and weapons should also be very limited in power. But the small effects they cause are still of great value when used strategically. People should still always carry strong weapons (such as spears and bows) and proper armor, as mana is limited. This is the system I will use if I decide to write a new story. Hope it will be of inspiration.

Magic items should come from dungeons. There should be a special kind of mana which can be used in contraptions to advance society into a kind of modern age. Maybe primordial mana which can be pumped like oil, used as a fuel source and to channel into inscripted monster cores when refined to cause spells to activate. With the side effect of occasionally summoning ancient monsters when pumped.
That's actually a cool premise - with parts of the body directly responsible for spells. It would make you wonder how the society in such a system would view amputations. or imagine new types of punishments where a mage that was too violent in throwing fire around has his index finger chopped off, which would literally lock him out of casting these exact spells.

Or intentional targeting of limbs in duels.

When there are vibrations, things happen. Why? I don't know, something quantum probably. It's probably not healthy for random souls to be able to just waltz into the universe, right?

Things commonly happen through voices or instruments. Doesn't that sound easy? Just sing a certain sound and shoot a fireball? Wrong. Singing is hard, if you aren't perfect then why even bother? Same thing for instruments. Only the highest class bards and singers can do good magic.

Another problem is that there are lots of similar frequencies. Want a healing spell? Hopefully you keep your pitch level if you don't want you friend to die from the blood explosion spell! Yeah, people can write down what does what, but translating sounds to words is kind of hard in a medieval world...

If only there was a spell that recorded audio. Let's do some research for tha-

Oops, looks like we found a spell that turns blood into cheese instead. Oh well, his sacrifice is not in vain!

Hm, what's that? The nerds made a machine that can vibrate, and thus cast magic?! While that is the breakthrough of the century, there could be so many more uses for a vibrating machine, but what?
I can see an extreme magotech society coming out of this. technology is unparalleled in creating precise results compared to humans. As soon as one created a fireball song and evocation speakers, the job of a firemage is gone. Or imagine hospitals constantly abuzz with healing noise, where you just have to walk in and be well in a matter of minutes.

Very powerful system that can make a very insulated society - they can easily achieve almost anything within their bubble.

One thing I always had trouble with when I'm writing modern fantasy is how normal people interact with magic? Like are they treated like trash, is it toxic to them, and etc. In the end, I decided that normal people can't PHYSICALLY/MENTALLY notice the energy that allows magic. Like how people can't see certain types of light, people in my stories who can't use magic also can't notice it.

This applies both ways, like how normal people can't interact with magic. Magic can't interact with normal people. Magic users are the result of a mutation/accident that allows them to interact with the energy that allows for magic. Which is a blessing and a curse, you can only use magic on other magic users, and you lose all immunity that comes from the ignorance of magic.

For example, someone uses magic to make a giant fire wave. It would burn all magical substances while ignoring all non-magical substances. A flood caused by magic would drown magic users, while normal people wouldn't even get wet. I magical monster would hunt and eat other magical creatures including magical people while being unable to even touch normal animals/people.

For making it op, well that's harder. This rule is more of a limit than a way to empower people. So if anyone can think of a way to use this rule for op reason, I would like to hear it.
Exclusivity can work in favour of mages too - for example, in terms of information shared. mages could communicate with spells unseen and unheard by normal people. Or make a hidden trap with a magical bridge on top of it. Mages can walk across while others would fall through.

Define unique.

My current System is different in that it's not granted by aliens, gods or some higher power. Rather, it's created using crystals that store memories and techniques of previous heroes. Human made.

Each class has a different method of leveling. Cultivation, faith, enchanted gear specialists, killing monsters, etc. Classes primarily boost attributes. Five tiers - apprentice / student, professional, master, grandmaster / archmage, divinity.

Skills require practice and are relatively unrelated to class levels. You can combine skills for new takes- sword skill plus fire skill makes a spellblade skill, for example.

The best way to become OP is to find two or more classes that synergizes with your personal styles and combine the leveling techniques. Preferably with some anti-aging effect. Aim for hitting progressively higher tiers. Find a few key skills that you can combine to cover most situations you'll encounter for leveling and focus on grinding them.
Unique as the one you have to describe yourself instead of saying it is based on this popular system. For example, the reliance on crystals made by other people could be seen as unique in my eyes. Especially if it imposes a new set of limitations and rules making it different from let's say grimoires or cultivation manuals.

Maybe crystals are the condensed experience of a single human, collected upon death, and thus extremely rare and hard to find. But one could try their luck in an extremely risky place where an old but powerful person is more likely to die. i.e. deep in the dungeon.

Or have political machinations with the most noteworthy people assassinated so that their crystal could be taken by a wealthy and influential figure.

I mixed a few things for my fantasy novel. pls forgiv poor english.

First, mana is a particle, all present in everything (like carbon, but much smaller). All kinds of individuals use it for a variety of purposes. There are levels like a litrpg, and people absorb this 'mana' when they kill things or absorb it from their surroundings. Most is absorbed by their bodies which increases stats, since nerves, muscles, bones, etc. strengthen with it. There is no such thing as 'experience' like in a game.

To 'cast spells' you need to study formulas that transform mana into phenomena, so a wizard or a cleric would need to be on stephen hawkins' level of intellect to learn 'magic', this limits who can learn it and such.

It's heavily scientific, since an individual would have to understand how atoms vibrate or collide to produce fire, for example. A cleric needs to study anatomy, a bard how to influence soundwaves with 'magic', etc.

People live hella long, so studies are advanced in this subject.

About balance of the world.
"Gods" are mentors and their growth is limited, but are regarded with enough respect that they aren't mobbed by the masses, since they taught people on how to survive in the world.
I pulled a species out of my ass to keep things from going absolutely nuts. Very powerful beings that have a very strong instinct to protect. Of course a few bad apples exist, but there are few individuals of said species, so it's not something that happens every century, more like once every twenty thousand years and such. The protagonist is reborn as this species. They were the frontline when Gods taught sentient beings when the world was at its wildest, making sure peace existed. The protagonists absolutely sucks in science fields, so no magic for her. (yet, kek)

To become OP an individual would have to completely understand how matter itself works on a very rational level, not just feelings or instinct. If you want to create black holes you'd first need to understand gravity, space, mass compression, all that jazz. Handling water would be easier and more useful than threatening the balance of the world and have the super powerful species chase your butt to the ends of creation.

This way, I got rid of 'handwavium' ways of explaining magic. After all, what's magic if not applied sciences? Want to cast a lightning bolt? Learn static and manipulate electrons or whatever. Want to become invisible? Learn how photons collide with matter and redirect it with your manipulation of mana.

What keeps you from being an absolute deity? You can't learn to manipulate things directly, you need a formula to do it. Think of stupidly complex equations to throw a fireball. Being a warrior or an archer is not so bad now, is it?
I can see an extremely pacifistic society coming out of this. Accumulation of knowledge is a long process, hotshots are simply weeded out due to their inability to keep up in effort. Not only that, but scientifically advanced society compounded by a magical multiplier is well into post-scarcity society. Food wealth and resources are plentiful with the only things in demand would be even more knowledge and art.

An interesting place but extremely hard to write. maybe if there are other civilizations to contrast it?

My magic system basically states that magic and aura using (yes I included for the warriors because fuck linear warrior quadruple mage) is reality warping through understanding how the laws of the universe interact with the occupants. Their capabilities are generally bound by bloodlines, knowledge and random dumb lucks for encounters, the more they can interact with the rules of the universe, the better they can warp the world around.

If mages affect the universe around them, aura users affect the universe within

For them all, it comes from:
A. Knowing what/ how to do/ cast.
B. Having enough energy to do so.
C. For those to reach a higher state, innate talent and bloodline is required.

Part A is the basically education and B is if you are rich enough to be a junky; a quote from MC's mentor, "for the initial stages, all you need is money."

The paths include but no limited to:
Caster, Pugilist, Crafter, Brewer, Imbuer

The first magic in the universe is not casted by mana, but rather ether, the source of all forms of energy in the universe. However, human and most animals are incapable of wielding its purest state due to being born from the fracking of such energy, a mixture of life, blood and mind energy (imagine yellow, red and blue), thus they can only utilize another form of energy that is mana (also blue, but acts more like blood instead of mind). The ultimate goal for all life is to evolve until they reach the source and gain the universe's control.

How it works for part A is basically understanding how the rule works eg. How to fireball via the fire triangle & How to Power Strike with a punch via Ki Induction, learning how to cast (for mages, chanting or hand movement is less of a prerequisite and more of a cue, for warriors, it is the same, just on punching and kicking and feeling the blood flow in the body).

There are at least 9 stages for the mages and warriors to pass and for the general populace, most people are in the first 3 stages. OPness can only be attained when passing the benchmark that is the 5th stage, Influencer, where the user, be it mage or warrior, manages to generate out their own AT field/ Infinity Atmosphere/Domain Expansion and totally mess with their surrounding rules.

Ps. I am totally planning to steal some ideas from here just like how I stole a lot from the previous novels I read.
Isn't that a normal magic system then? the casting is very common in the magical systems with most spells requiring knowledge to cast / power to cast / and affected by innate magical talents?

How do ether/mana and the whole fracking system throw a wrench into the standard system?

For a story I'm currently writing, I have a magic system based around music. Casting a spell takes the form of playing a melody. To each spell their own song, and if you know what you're doing, you can carefully modify the end result by changing a few notes around, or even come up with something entirely new. Despite this, it is rare to cast a spell on accident: you have to pour in magical energy, which is not something most people can naturally do without building up that skill, and on top of that not all songs have magical properties. Still, there have been instances of regular musicians accidentally launching a spell at a concert while in the zone.

Magic is seen as just another career choice, another major you can specialize in. Magical engineering, magical doctorate, magical you name it, if you're looking at expert level teams, chances are they include at least one magic specialist.
Still, it isn't like magic rendered other avenues of knowledge obsolete either. The existence of magic helped technology develop faster, and once computers arrived, the understanding of how to craft a spell also improved greatly. While the World Wars didn't happen, and therefore without them the need to develop plastics never came, the greater pace of technologic advancement still left the world saddled with an impending climate change doom. Not so different from our own after all.
Magicians are usually recognizable by them carrying a small portable instrument somewhere on their person. Most often, it takes the form of a wind instrument held on a necklace. An ocarina, a flute, hell, even melodicas of various sizes (some were developed to be positively tiny).

One of my favorite worldbuilding details is that skeuomorphism is everywhere. A lot of daily life's audio cues are lifted from musical magic. If your computer is running a diagnosis, chances are you'll hear the jingle associated with a spell of magic detection. If you're above capacity in an elevator, the electronic steward will let you know with the melody of enchanting an object with weight reduction. A lot of national anthems are designed to fire off custom fireworks when magicked up. Et caetera. I think it's neat!
A solid premise. I dunno if you are familiar with the Spellsong Cycle but it might give you some inspiration if you weren't.

In my world I'm working on, magic is applied mana, as in many others. The trick is that mana is both a byproduct of all life, and it mutates living beings, reducing their intelligence but strengthening/mutating the body if they get too much too quickly, or increasing intelligence if they get just a tiny bit too much. Combined with more complex life being impacted faster, you end up with humans being confined to nearly empty areas otherwise they mutate into mindless beasts, while some can slowly adjust to higher mana density and move to the outskirts, attempting to push back the wilderness. As a being produces mana, it also releases some of its stored mana into the atmosphere, and absorbs some as well, depending on its physical and mental status. Likewise, when a being dies, a large portion of its stored mana is trapped within the body, with the rest released into the atmosphere. This means that if you kill a monster, you have to destroy the body, otherwise other life might consume it and become monsters themselves.

Mages tend to try to expose themselves to just a tiny bit too much mana to improve their intelligence, but this means that though they are powerful with their magic, they are very easily killed. A very small subset of mages instead intentionally expose themselves to far too much magic, sacrificing their own intelligence in order for their bodies to be changed to stronger forms. The vast majority of mages consider these insane madmen, but for some odd reason, they tend to survive far longer anywhere outside of cities. This does however mean they are less potent at casting magic than those who focused purely on increasing their intelligence.

Additionally, skill reduces mana cost, but the same spell cast by a novice or archmage will do the same thing. It is merely that a novice will waste far more mana, which is released instead as 'magefire' around the mage. The more skilled a mage in the components their spell is composed of, the less magefire. So you don't fear a flashy mage as much as one that doesn't show any reaction. The exception to this is magical/mutant creations, who are always perfectly efficient at their innate skills - but mages can learn to replicate and improve on those skills, while the mutant creatures have no way to improve without becoming intelligent first.

These traits combined together also end up recreating the mages' familiar situation -- if a mage has a pet, the higher mana density around the mage results in the pet becoming intelligent over time, though they are also very hard to replace as the mage grows more powerful, as their mana density would mutate or kill most creatures without restricting it. For this reason, many mages intentionally waste mana to keep the local mana density low. Likewise, if a mage knows they will die, they will typically try to spend all their mana so they don't cause more monsters after death. This can be as simple as making a ton of enchanted objects if in a city, or more or less going nova if they were in combat.

Additionally, this system means even someone with no talent for magic can benefit greatly from mana. A number of rangers regularly go through cycles of light/heavy overload to increase their body's strength so they can successfully hunt monsters, for example, and warriors benefit from the same trick as well.

To become OP is rather simple in theory, but quite difficult due to how it messes with your mind: first you expose yourself to a small amount of mana overload to increase your intelligence, then high overload to reduce intelligence and increase body durability. While recovering (assuming you didn't go too far and end up mindless) you cast spells continually while trying to understand as much as possible about the process - this leads to less mana wasted, and thus you can add more power to the spells in the future for the same mana cost. Some mages focus on a single form of magic, such as light rays and bolts, and can pack dozens of times more power for the same mana as a novice, while others spread their focus and may only get double the efficiency of a novice. If you pick something you can easily reuse in many situations, such as pure force projection, body enhancement, or mental magic, you can focus on that, get insanely high efficiency, and then makeshift a ton of different uses of it.
I like your thought process. You really took that premise and went on exploring it, unafraid of unintended consequences. There might be interesting ways of assassinating mages because you can't just shank them in the middle of the city. Or quite the opposite - shaking a powerful mage in a populated area in order to intentionally causing mana flux.

A second magic system comes from weapons, in a world where most people can use magic instinctively and with some practice. These practices included breathing exercises, stances and having good imagination as what they can think of, they can cast it, provided if they have enough energy to it. If they lack the energy to cast, two things can happen, nothing happen and the cast is a dud or they might end up hurt or dead thanks the spell trying to form and it is draining their energy out.

This is where the weapons or come in. These weapons come in five grades in ascending order; Common, Rare, Unique, Legacy and Ego. For the record, the power level of user is highly dependent on the weapon, losing or destruction of such weapon and lacking a replacement can result in deterioration of power within the user.

Going down the ranking, Common refers to the standard weapon with no or little enchantment, the use of such weapon is often allowing apprentices to grasp the ebb flow generated by the world effectively and coupled with the weapon, to cast greater spells and maybe reinforce their own bodies as well.

Rare refers to the weapons, mostly swords, sabers and spears, with sharpness unparalleled to its peers and can aid its user in their training a lot better than Commons.

Unique weapons are most likely enchanted with an elemental or creature affinity or both, capable of letting the user to utilize the affinity the better they understand their weapons. Eg. A fire boar axe that is not just sharp, but has the ability to burn and grants its user the ability to charge. Take note that dual or more affinity is a sign of a high class Unique, as Uniques are often with only one affinity, while there can be mulitple elemental affinity, there is only maximum one creature affinity in one Unique weapon as the creature is most likely a sign of a birth of an ego. With the affinity granted, the user can better grasp and training in said affinity better than users of Common and Rare, though it is said that an unbalance of elemental affinities in the body is expected and can cause deterioration in utilizing the other elements.

Legacy weapons contains a young ego that is slowly maturing, an entire set of training manuals for the user to surpass all and allows the user to enter a trancelike state where they are one with the world and weapon and that means unlimited power, at a cost of course. These weapons are soul bound and removal of weapon away from user will often cripple the user or even death.

Ego weapons are weapons with a soul within them, while they are powerful, they also have the tendency to try and usurp their users.
So an artefact system? What sets it apart? the creation of weapons?

Magic that is allowed by the world, is not magic, its just science of a different world. It's in the world supernatural. Super-natural, above natural.
So, magic therefore, has to be something coming from somewhere else, like otherworldly eldritch horrors and demons and gods et al.
Unless I write the characters that were originally some lifeform(in a very very generalized definition of life) that could already break the world, I'd always put some entity granting them power in exchange for something.
What would an entity so grand, it could literally defy laws of logic, want from a human? Nothing. So, it gives magic by virtue of being there, and warping reality with its presence. Would a convinient interface to magic be available? Things like conjuring things up with imagination or chanting? I doubt it. In fact, I doubt it would be possible to apply the scientific methods of research to magic, since reality is literally warped and logic may not be as strong of a tool as before.
Then, to get better at magic would depend on a person's affinity with how the world is warped. They may not understand what they are doing consciously, they may even do things against their will.
So, in this case the users of magic don't harness magic, they find ways to not harness it. Magic becomes anti-magic, a study of how to prevent effects of magic on the world.
Spells with magic aren't used, unless you are inclined to kamikaze your enemy.
A stronger mage has better anti-magic equipment and methods, as well as a good gun with magic-resistant effects or something
Magic like that feels more at ease as the tool of a villain for MC to overcome, or power in the horror story. Adversarial approach indeed, but not likely to be wielded by the MC

The same thing that sets anything apart from anything else in fiction. Everything is a repeat of something else, it's all just a different take on the same subjects.

What sets mine apart from others is implementation, pure and simple. I could explain the intricacies of the implementation that really do give it a rather unique feel, but it's actually very involved with the setting and tone of the story. You've got to be ready to drink from the fire hose on this one if you want the long answer to your question. (I already gave the short answer in my first sentence of this paragraph.)

To put it plainly, if you boil it down to it's core attributes, it is elemental + spell level + cultivation elements. But, that simplistic explanation as accurate as it is does not paint a proper picture of how it looks in practice at all. In terms of the feel of the system in implementation, I promise it does not wind up feeling like all that many others.

I suppose another somewhat short answer I can give you is that I treat the magic system in my world relative to the plot elements with about the same regard that Mushoku Tensei gives to it's own magic system. It is a corner stone of the story, but at the same time it somehow feels like the magic system takes a back seat to the plot. Kind of like "Oh! This is happening, and this is happening, and oh no! People are out to kill us, and, uhhh.... oh yeah! There's also magic. I almost forgot about the magic because that's as boring as saying it rains sometimes."

So, yeah, magic is cool. My characters are good at it. But, the story is not ABOUT the magic even though it is kinda about the magic, if you know what I mean.
I disagree, the stories reflect the world we live in and the world is constantly evolving with new technology and knowledge. Writing is bound to pick up on that. Hell litRPG genre as a whole didn't exist a century ago.

I don't want to imply that your story isn't cool or the setting is weird. Far from it. But this thread is a writing prompt for new systems, ones that are made on the spot to get the creative juices flowing. I am not asking you to describe your current novel - I am challenging you to create a new magic system. Not extensively, but at least an early what-if idea.
 

LoliGent

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That sounds like a decent magical society setting premise, but the magic premise is mostly wand magic, right?

Yes but only because of regulations. But because it's been implemented for so long, most people don't know how to use magic without a device. Very few actually can conjure their magic without a baton.
 

Mechaphobic

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I want to see a developed systems like shadowrun, where it is entirely based on how much money you spend. I have never seen a developed world were everything has a price tag. Especially if you had augmentations and soul.

I would separate magic and break it away from being inherent, and instead you have different devices you activate for the effects. Make it fun and magic has always existed, but humanity can't use it naturally. I would go for a sci-fi premise like we discovered it in the future, and then there would be restrictions to the amount of spells or devices a person could carry on them. You could even say something like implanting magic stones, and you are using the monsters ability that had it.


I like combining science and technology. A system like this could breed a lot of interesting things, especially if you went further and added gene modification. I am imaging very naruto like powers, and they would be restricted almost into a class, but with all the modern and sci-fi weaponry. You could add LitRPG elements like a cooldown system, overuse would damage the device.
 

HURGMCGURG

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That is fun too, albeit would be hard to use as a plot element to solve problems. As Sanderson said, and with what I do agree with myself, the magic ability to solve problems is directly related to how well its rules or limits are understood by the reader.
You seem to have made a faulty assumption. Magic is not a plot element to solve problems. Magic would be used for comedic purposes. If it were to be used as a plot element, the story would have to be a comedy. Luck would be a heavy factor.
 

NotaNuffian

This does spark joy.
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Isn't that a normal magic system then? the casting is very common in the magical systems with most spells requiring knowledge to cast / power to cast / and affected by innate magical talents?



So an artefact system? What sets it apart? the creation of weapons?
1. Yes, I just deleted a chunk of BS. The ultimate goal, if any, is to gain the ability to manipulate the world's properties freely as one who cast and chant and punch would notice that they are merely coding the world with the system created by their predecessors, meaning that they are still not out of their shadows and hence never to be able to excel them. The goal is to create a method for themselves, best suited for themselves, to mess with the world.

2. Well, the creation of Legacy and Ego is not by common man, but rather by the world itself.

If I understand correctly what your artefact system means, for my system is actually the same to of Harry Potter's, no wand, spell casting is moot.
 
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Jemini

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I disagree, the stories reflect the world we live in and the world is constantly evolving with new technology and knowledge. Writing is bound to pick up on that. Hell litRPG genre as a whole didn't exist a century ago.

You say that as though you have never heard the term "history repeats." If you want to know the memetic lineage of the liteRPG genre, I can trace it back for you.

litRPG is an imitation of "trapped in a game-world" plots, most well known being SAO, but the form we see is far more reminiscent of Log Horizon.

SAO and Log Horizon were both in turn beaten to the punch by .hack//sign, whether the authors knew it or not. However, all three have the common origin of IRL MMO RPGs. This MMO RPG genre inspiration is also the origin of the adventurer's guilds that appear in almost every story of the genre.

MMO RPGs are in-turn inspired by and imitate single player counsel RPGs. These, in turn, are inspired by D&D. D&D, in-turn was inspired by the same war games that were used to train generals for centuries. These games would use dice to determine the outcomes of battles, while unit size also played a factor by giving the general-in-training more rolls of the dice to work with. These old war games also managed to inspire a board game called RISK which still possesses a lot of the form of how these old games used to work.

Those war-games were played and passed down for literally thousands of years.

So, as I said, everything out there is an imitation of something that existed before. I just traced back the liteRPG genre to well over a millennium into the past by following back the lineage of inspirations and things that were imitating other things. This chain of imitations does generate something very different as the line is followed down, but there is nothing truly original in this world. Even the ideas that were thought up in here are imitations of something else and I can probably point them all out if I were to look through this thread and get serious about it.

As I said, everything is about implementation. That doesn't mean it's pointless to think up your own new spin on these old ideas. That's exactly how you come up with a new implementation for those ideas. There really is nothing new under the sun though.

I also disagree with your implied message that my statement that everything is imitation somehow stifles the creativity of new writers. If anything, this gives them direction and perspective. If you can think in proper terms about how writing actually works, then you know a lot better how you're supposed to approach it. If anything, you're the one limiting people's creativity by hemming them into a thought process of trying to come up with something that hasn't been done before. It's impossible, and frankly none of them have managed to come up with anything truly original yet. I can confidently say that without even checking because I know how this works.

A writer can improve themselves far more from studying history and knowing the roots of various concepts than they can by pushing themselves to come up with new ideas. Things like the Epic of Gilgamesh which was the first known hero story and the inspirations to Hercules who is more or less a reverse parallel figure for Gilgamesh's story and the Ring Saga which was the inspiration for Lord of the Rings and even inspired Bugs Bunny with it's Loki character have a lot in them that are very worth learning about. Studying into either one of these classics will greatly improve your ability to write. The Ring Saga for being an absolute master work of the modern day and the Epic of Gilgamesh for how many echoes of this story you will start to see in everything you look at from that point forward.

(Or, if you want a good redeemable villain for your story, Gilgamesh is probably a pretty good model to follow for that one too. Although, I think most people in the modern day would disagree about the redeemable part if you were to look at the Gilgamesh from the beginning of the story. Oh yes, in addition to being the original hero epic, it's also the first case of casting the villain as the main character. All the way back at the earliest writings in history this was happening.)
 

ZynGrand

The Winds Of Change Will Erode All Things.
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I can see an extreme magotech society coming out of this. technology is unparalleled in creating precise results compared to humans. As soon as one created a fireball song and evocation speakers, the job of a firemage is gone. Or imagine hospitals constantly abuzz with healing noise, where you just have to walk in and be well in a matter of minutes.

Very powerful system that can make a very insulated society - they can easily achieve almost anything within their bubble.
When I imagined it I wasn't think of magitech. I was thinking of a society where magic is for the elite due to difficulty to pass on information. Let's say vibrators were not invented in this world. The only way for someone to learn magic is to train under someone. But not only is experimentation incredibly dangerous, even teaching can be due to the precision needed to hold a pitch. With a small mistake you could cause your fireball to become a magic missile.

Singing is hard, and it ain't easy to learn.

Oh, another thing I just thought of now is gendered spells. Females have high voices, and men low. As children learning magic grow older, they become unable to use magic they could use before, but gain the ability to use new magic. I think that would make most singing mages female since their voices don't drop as much during puberty. Maybe teenagers just aren't trained for magic, and only young children and young adults are.
 

NotaNuffian

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When I imagined it I wasn't think of magitech. I was thinking of a society where magic is for the elite due to difficulty to pass on information. Let's say vibrators were not invented in this world. The only way for someone to learn magic is to train under someone. But not only is experimentation incredibly dangerous, even teaching can be due to the precision needed to hold a pitch. With a small mistake you could cause your fireball to become a magic missile.

Singing is hard, and it ain't easy to learn.

Oh, another thing I just thought of now is gendered spells. Females have high voices, and men low. As children learning magic grow older, they become unable to use magic they could use before, but gain the ability to use new magic. I think that would make most singing mages female since their voices don't drop as much during puberty. Maybe teenagers just aren't trained for magic, and only young children and young adults are.
Dammit, now you remind me of Karl Ruprect Kroenen, the dude got kicked out of choir as he matured and he went through mutilations and ended up a bit batshit mad. Hey, now you have wannabe villains who used to be good male aria and got doused in napalm as they got old and bitter about losing their method of casting.
 

morhamza

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I've been waiting for a post like this!
So I've created an open shared universe with multiple energy systems,

In my world there is an unknown energy known as "Origin" it's the source of all the other energy that make up my power system. Origin flows out of a plane of existent known as "Xenthious" and when it enters Urbis(Mortal Realm) their are multiple filters that change Origin into different types of energy which have been categorised into different energy systems, like, Magic, Fantasia, Fus, Ki, Chaos Energy, Grace, and countless more.

Click the link to see, the Magic System iv created from scratch, it's the system I use for all my writing. It's not yet truly completed but it's what I have so far

Magic System
Permission to use this, please?
 

Pontan

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That's actually a cool premise - with parts of the body directly responsible for spells. It would make you wonder how the society in such a system would view amputations. or imagine new types of punishments where a mage that was too violent in throwing fire around has his index finger chopped off, which would literally lock him out of casting these exact spells.

Or intentional targeting of limbs in duels.
I like the ideas you have presented. Hmm. Then if a limb is hurt, the mana would leak from the would, causing spells casted from the limb to be weaker and cost much more mana. This allows greater strategic depth. I really did make a pretty cool magic system.
My thoughts about magic in this system is that it will be dual purpose. A tool/utility and a weapon.
In society, people will use magic to further generate food, build grand castles at a unprecedented scale and much more. It is a blessing. A massive advantage. There is even magic that can heal limbs. But the opposing forces which will be demons and monsters are a curse. Because of this outside threat, people rarely fight each other, and while there are wars, they are quite uncommon, as everyone is busy protecting their towns and villages from getting wrecked by whatever horrifying abominations that come from the dungeons and gods know where to live in the wilderness.
 
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In this world, Magic is basically gacha.

Everyday, you can get a chance to roll a specific spell, that can either be beneficial, harmless, weird (like growing a third nipple) or destroy the entire world.
 

KingMusa

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Permission to use this, please?
I'm sorry for the SUPER late reply, I totally forgot about this!

To answer your question, ummmm the system is only meant for my shared universe, your story would have to be part of that universe if you want to use it
So how is it different? I've looked it up but it sounds like a standard system no? just with a different terminology/origin
Sorry for the late reply, Well.....actually I didn't read your entire post till after I posted my system, I've just been wanting to sure it for so long

Buttttttttttt!!! I do have another energy system that runs in my shared universe, it's not magic its called "Phantasia" I've written about it, but it's incomplete, but essentially it's a buddy system, the user gains powers and abilities based on the creatures they bond with. It's a leveling up system, the stronger the bond becomes with it's creature the more abilities the tamer unlocks which in exchange makes the creature stronger.

It also works with these godly entities known as "Avatars" who are essentially demi gods of the Phantasia Realm. It's a little more complicated then that, but once I finish it or satisfied with it, and if I remember I'll post it here!
 
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Snusmumriken

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I'm sorry for the SUPER late reply, I totally forgot about this!

To answer your question, ummmm the system is only meant for my shared universe, your story would have to be part of that universe if you want to use it

Sorry for the late reply, Well.....actually I didn't read your entire post till after I posted my system, I've just been wanting to sure it for so long

Buttttttttttt!!! I do have another energy system that runs in my shared universe, it's not magic its called "Phantasia" I've written about it, but it's incomplete, but essentially it's a buddy system, the user gains powers and abilities based on the creatures they bond with. It's a leveling up system, the stronger the bond becomes with it's creature the more abilities the tamer unlocks which in exchange makes the creature stronger.

It also works with these godly entities known as "Avatars" who are essentially demi gods of the Phantasia Realm. It's a little more complicated then that, but once I finish it or satisfied with it, and if I remember I'll post it here!

A familiar system with a twist? that's fine. As soon as you started writing I actually assumed you were talking about a buddy mage system, where you have to develop magic power in conjunction with another person (not necessarily a love interest too)
 

Ai-chan

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Considering that this part of the worldbuilding usually kicks me while I am rolling on the ground, I will let you all suffer as well.

Come up with a unique premise on a new magic system, and then tell us how can it get OP and how will it affect the world if there were a ton of practitioners running around.
You don't cast magic using mana. You cast magic using the semen you have accumulated. That means normally only men can cast magic and men who are virgins cast more powerful magic. But girls can also cast magic by taking semen by any means possible. While this means girls have to have sex or give blowjobs to men, it is also possible that girls will end up kidnapping men and milking their prostates for magic like semen cows.

A world truly covered in cum.
 

BenJepheneT

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People can’t use magic. In fact, no animal can use magic. But plants can. So all mages are actually botanists and gardeners. They take the plants they grow either to the battle field to fight for the mage or to a laboratory to turn the plant into a potion of some sort. The way to get op is obviously to get better plants or better potions. If there were a lot of practitioners running around there probably wouldn’t be many plants left, or maybe there would be too many because everyone is growing them.
Ah yes, the all powerful WEED MAGE
 

Snusmumriken

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You don't cast magic using mana. You cast magic using the semen you have accumulated. That means normally only men can cast magic and men who are virgins cast more powerful magic. But girls can also cast magic by taking semen by any means possible. While this means girls have to have sex or give blowjobs to men, it is also possible that girls will end up kidnapping men and milking their prostates for magic like semen cows.

A world truly covered in cum.
That can go in all kinds of lewd and specifically dark and sexist too. An obvious gender disbalance like that exacerbated by the fact it could be taken could lead in drastically different societies even on the same planet. With male mages ruling one country, that is at war with female 'artificers' country, that came to be from the milking of their populace.
 

Ai-chan

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That can go in all kinds of lewd and specifically dark and sexist too. An obvious gender disbalance like that exacerbated by the fact it could be taken could lead in drastically different societies even on the same planet. With male mages ruling one country, that is at war with female 'artificers' country, that came to be from the milking of their populace.
Indeed, in this way, the very usage of magic creates all kinds of conflicts. Gender segregation, sexual mistreatment, scarcity and who knows what else. Even dried cum could be treated as a resource. There could be several different templates of countries which subscribe to the more or less similar ideology regarding magic.

Template A could be a male-dominated mage country that treats its powerless female subjects no different from trash.

Template B could be completely opposite, in that the ruling females treat males as slaves, not allowing them to use magic and only live to breed and have their magic extracted.

Template C could be a sexually open libertarian country where magic is shared willingly and orgies happen on the streets.

Template D could be a socialist country where magic is given to those who need them and it is the citizens duty to donate their magic regularly.

Template E could be a country that consider magic as unethical and decide to forgo magic altogether and focus solely on science and technology.

Template F could be a fascist country who build their military might and civilization on magic, where men are expected to give their semen for the country and men and women both have equal rights to magic as long as they're high up in the military or have specialized job description, such as a spy, pilot or doctor.
 
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