NEED IDEAS OF CREATIVE WAYS TO USE MAGIC

[New_Leaf]

So... I've been thinking... what are the things you could think of that's a magical ability that's not too overpowered and can be used in a different way or be used in a creative way to outsmart enemies? I'll give example; The portal kind of thing in dr. stone but without the ability to be able to cut people through closing it. If something disrupted its closing time, it can be widened by the one stopping it or forcefully opening the portal to another place. How can this be used in a creative way? well... maybe like using it as a way to save yourself from falling into a high place. Maybe it can be used to punch the person or something... if you get what I mean.

 

[TotallyHuman]

Magic is inherently illogical, or at least unnatural. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a way to abuse this illogicality even if it follows very strict rules as what it does by definition should not be possible in reality.

Let's try.

Ability: raise dead.
Description: allows to raise an undead given it has a complete corpse of a certain freshness. Undead follows simple commands to the best of its ability. Undead has no self-awareness.
Usage: computer. Since the undead is able to both recognise commands and interpret them, its mental facilities for processing information should not be too bad. Working it for making arithmetic calculations should be possible.

 

[vzymmer]

That one is also an over-used trope.

How about partial immortality?

The strength of the immortality is on the conceptual level but its size is only the size of your heart.
It can't affect its surrounding area but you can move the area where it can affect.

Note; the size of the area of effect cannot and will not be enhanced or altered.
You can train every other aspect of the immortality

 

[AiLovesToGrow]

The best magic systems use the One Thing rule. As in, any magic spell can break or circumvent logic and science, but only for one thing. Every other aspect of the magic has to be logical within the strictures of reality. Take for instance Cyclops from Xmen. He can shoot the physical manifestation of kinetic energy out of his eyes. If that is the case, he has another power that he doesn't talk about, which is that he has the strongest neck muscles in the Marvel Universe. Why? Energy has an equal and opposite reaction. By shooting kinetic energy out of his eyes, energy that is powerful enough to level a mountain, then to keep from snapping his neck from whiplash, the muscles need to exert equal force to keep his head upright.

Most hard magic systems follow this idea, which allows for more creative use of magical powers rather than less, because magic then becomes a tool, not a solution.

 

[NotaNuffian]

... Bards in DnD sing songs, the chinese scholars (a xianxia class, apparently) recite and write poems and draw epic paintings while merchants make deals, magical or otherwise.

To me, a creative way of magic might just be walking and breathing. In most works, breath techniques are used alot because it is an instinctive act that you can build up upon. Soul of Negary has Iron Breath which greatly increases bodily defense and hamon sun breathing that allows the user to shoot out sun rays and not do sick katana spins.

There is also walking, sleeping, sitting stances in Taoism, where going by a routine can improve one's constitution. So how about we go there, a promise to do mundane things for magic?

Walk 100,000 steps a day to gain buff in legs, further buffing can occur but the streak mustn't be broken otherwise the buff is weakened or even lost. Stare into a light source to gain the ability to absorb said light and release at will, more light absorbed equal to more energy stored and can be released as eye beams. This can be a simple logic in the world, where everyone just makes a small promise to do a menial task daily and gain respective quirks. If you want, you can have MC have something simple, like whistling until he can make an ear piercing noise. Also, to copy the power copying in most recent works, everyone in this world can do whatever the other person is doing to maybe gain their quirks, the issue is the amount necessary to clear the bar is different for all. MC can learn the promises of others in order to improve on himself but he must weigh his own promise to others'

 

[Corty]

I would invent a magic system that makes people fingers stink of monkey butt for days when deciding to type with full caps.

 

[Love4NovelGuy]

I think if you split the activation method and the ability itself at random, you can get some pretty interesting abilities.

For example: ‘Tag Copy’, you can only tag one person with each hand at a time to copy. The copied ability can only be held and not saved, so it has to be chosen wisely.

‘Portal Jump’, you can create portals only in the direction you jump.

Etc.

 

[Syringe]

Using magic for its unintended purpose.

Like an electric mage using electricity as a makeshift AED/Defib, therefore making them a medic/healer in a way, or a fire mage known to create explosions fearing water, but then sudden realizes that explosions work significantly better underwater. Likewise, a bard that's known to be useless due to their loud voice can weaponize it underwater, kind of like how sonars can shred people.

Think of how things interact. Water and fire? You'll create steam. Do that in an enclosed area and you've got yourself an explosive, kind of like how if you super heat a giant container and chuck water inside, but on a larger scale. All that steam has to go somewhere, and violently too.

 

[HelloHound]

all the magic comes out the mouth

 

[Daitengu]

Well let's take healing magic. People seem to have forgotten that a couple decades ago, healing undead to kill them was a thing.

Another rare use is to overheal to cause tumors. It's not cancer, cause that's essentially injured DNA. Kinda nice to be a healer if you can overheal an enemy's hands so that they become mitts that can't hold a weapon. Or a wizard's tongue so the can't chant anymore. Or eyelids so you blind them.

Deaging should be a thing healers can do, but people don't like the idea of technical immortality brought upon by fixing the DNA of people. Probably why healers tend to be missing in modern settings.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

MC using magic with code language.

Use javascript or C++ on magic scroll and magic cirle, and writing code from mana ink in the air.

But MC has to build the entire library of C++, Java, and put them inside a whole library filled with book that contains every code for each function.

Then MC is forced to bring a book that became a Link/the entire library of either C++ magic/Java magic he's using for this day.

And there's some heretic using Phyton magic or even HTML / CSS magic because apparently HTML & CSS book is lightweight since it has less function.

And There's also some hidden character, a madlad bringing the entire thick book of Assembly language before entering magic battle.

 

[FoxxieFox]

MC using magic with code language.

Use javascript or C++ on magic scroll and magic cirle, and writing code from mana ink in the air.

But MC has to build the entire library of C++, Java, and put them inside a whole library filled with book that contains every code for each function.

Then MC is forced to bring a book that became a Link/the entire library of either C++ magic/Java magic he's using for this day.

And there's some heretic using Phyton magic or even HTML / CSS magic because apparently HTML & CSS book is lightweight since it has less function.

And There's also some hidden character, a madlad bringing the entire thick book of Assembly language before entering magic battle.

HERRSY!

 

[Echimera]

Place portal one at the bottom of the sea, open portal 2 pointing at the enemy. Ideally a very small portal 2.
Open portal 1 beneath big rock, open portal 2 as high up as possible above the enemy. Or use a second set to properly aim at close range after your projectile is underway gathering speed.
Also, use portals or teleportation (that conserves momentum) to catch yourself from falls or gather speed for devastating hits.

Use fire magic to reduce the available oxygen in a sealed area (if it uses oxygen under the right conditions), ideally in a way that the enemy doesn't notice.

Combine water, ice and fire magic to rapidly age stone, be it a wall you want to break down or a boulder you want to drop on someone.

Generally, if there is a neat quirk of science you can abuse, you can do the same with magic.

Magic is inherently illogical, or at least unnatural. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a way to abuse this illogicality even if it follows very strict rules as what it does by definition should not be possible in reality.

Let's try.

Ability: raise dead.
Description: allows to raise an undead given it has a complete corpse of a certain freshness. Undead follows simple commands to the best of its ability. Undead has no self-awareness.
Usage: computer. Since the undead is able to both recognise commands and interpret them, its mental facilities for processing information should not be too bad. Working it for making arithmetic calculations should be possible.

So, basically 40k Servitors and Cogitators with pure magic.

 

[NotaNuffian]

all the magic comes out the mouth

...

Moving on, sign language is a thing, so fast fingers can do magic.

Grid's sword dance is also a thing, so having epic moves can also invoke magic.

Well let's take healing magic. People seem to have forgotten that a couple decades ago, healing undead to kill them was a thing.

Another rare use is to overheal to cause tumors. It's not cancer, cause that's essentially injured DNA. Kinda nice to be a healer if you can overheal an enemy's hands so that they become mitts that can't hold a weapon. Or a wizard's tongue so the can't chant anymore. Or eyelids so you blind them.

Deaging should be a thing healers can do, but people don't like the idea of technical immortality brought upon by fixing the DNA of people. Probably why healers tend to be missing in modern settings.

Huh? I like the notion that overhealing is a thing, but I never thought that it can't be cancer since cancer is literally the cells inability to die on its own. So if you pump too much lifeforce into the cells, tumor (overgrowth) can form, but wouldn't the next progressive step be cancer or at the very least, cell mutation?

Technical immortality will always be a thing, just look at the modern medicine where the rich can even change blood to live longer. If they can change their brains without a personality swap to remove alzheimer's, they will do it. So rather than talking about the phyiscal, how about the authors/ DMs can try to talk about the death of the mind, ie the flesh is fixed but the will/ soul is dead. Having to live for so long, even the sharpest mind might go dull if untrained and slowly it reflects onto their physical body. A young body with age spots, salt and pepper hair and wrinkles, throw in dead eyes and we are good.

 

[Daitengu]

...

Moving on, sign language is a thing, so fast fingers can do magic.

Grid's sword dance is also a thing, so having epic moves can also invoke magic.

Huh? I like the notion that overhealing is a thing, but I never thought that it can't be cancer since cancer is literally the cells inability to die on its own. So if you pump too much lifeforce into the cells, tumor (overgrowth) can form, but wouldn't the next progressive step be cancer or at the very least, cell mutation?

Yeah, a tumor can be noncancerous. A tumor is just an abnormal growth. In overhealing, as soon as the magic power is spent the tumors should stop growing. Magical cancer would require more corruptive magic types to alter the DNA.

Just imagine a healer assassin giving people brain/heart tumors that blocks blood flow. Scary yo!

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Here:

The RRD - For M:TA

Every Rote for the M:tA game system. Since MtA is built on the 9 spheres system, basically, you can come up with anything. So just about every whacky combo of the 9 spheres is in here. Take a gander.

Lets see...
Ah. Complete Faerie Cantrips for Changling: The Gathering

Grimore Of Glamour

Thats got some strange stuff in it.

Uhh... everything from D&D 3.0/3.5 just skip to the spells or psionics section.

The EVD
Yeah, if that doesn't cover some sort of magic spell or invocation, I don't know what will.

 

[Echimera]

Yeah, a tumor can be noncancerous. A tumor is just an abnormal growth. In overhealing, as soon as the magic power is spent the tumors should stop growing. Magical cancer would require more corruptive magic types to alter the DNA.

Just imagine a healer assassin giving people brain/heart tumors that blocks blood flow. Scary yo!

The body has to deal with cells going awry and not self-terminating as inted basically all the time. Fine-tuned healing could potentially target these cells directly and counter-heal the immune system or even buff their growth.
It all depends on how the magic system is set up.

 

[New_Leaf]

The best magic systems use the One Thing rule. As in, any magic spell can break or circumvent logic and science, but only for one thing. Every other aspect of the magic has to be logical within the strictures of reality. Take for instance Cyclops from Xmen. He can shoot the physical manifestation of kinetic energy out of his eyes. If that is the case, he has another power that he doesn't talk about, which is that he has the strongest neck muscles in the Marvel Universe. Why? Energy has an equal and opposite reaction. By shooting kinetic energy out of his eyes, energy that is powerful enough to level a mountain, then to keep from snapping his neck from whiplash, the muscles need to exert equal force to keep his head upright.

Most hard magic systems follow this idea, which allows for more creative use of magical powers rather than less, because magic then becomes a tool, not a solution.

OwO this is really good might as well keep this in mind
Thanks for the replies~ I now got a lot of ideas <3

 

[Shard]

Also fun: the human body is mostly water. And depending on how you do it, you might be able to move water continually with magic, so just put a small bubble of water over someone's nose and mouth, then hold it there as they suffocate. To be even more brutal, suck the moisture out of their eyes to get that bubble of water.

Fire magic also means magical steam engines. Good training for apprentice mages, and can change how the world functions due to technological revolution happening. And depending on how your magic works... Fire is just heat and chemical reaction, so why wouldn't a fire mage be able to work with ice too? Instead of adding heat, remove heat.

Teleportation? Try sticking a pebble in someone's bloodstream. Portals? Looped magnet falling through copper coil to produce infinite electricity.

There are all kinds of neat tricks, just think of what magic can do, then consider problems it can solve. Example: illusions could be used for video or audio to be replayed without the issue of possible misunderstanding from what a middleman says. Wind magic to suck the air out of a room for preservation, or carrying sound to a specific spot for private communications.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Also fun: the human body is mostly water. And depending on how you do it, you might be able to move water continually with magic, so just put a small bubble of water over someone's nose and mouth, then hold it there as they suffocate. To be even more brutal, suck the moisture out of their eyes to get that bubble of water.

iirc in one of the Goblin Slayer books the Priest Girl character uses the purify food and water spell on someone’s blood to turn it into water and instantly kill them.