I hope this is a reasonable explanation. A rational magic system is one where every spell is guided by the same metaphysical laws. Light I also like the conspiracy, theres not many like that in high fantasy which makes it cool. My major problem is that the subtypes dont connect with the main types of magic (demonic and angelic). P.S. Like something to do with the changing of the victims skin? An explanation for the seasons has its roots here as well. If youre working with leylines and the fabric of reality you should model the whole earth as a living thing(as it is)but not necessarily conscious, although that could add tension and the leylines and threads could be like vains in an interconnected system that gets clogged from the knots relating to all manner of natural and unnatural disasters/phenomenon and just like any living thing this system would naturally resemble a circulatory/lymphatic system with currents and nodes to regulate and cleanse said currents. For example, if you need a magic source which is unlimited a good choice would be a magical power given by the gods or magical energies within the air. Many systems treat magic as energy similar to heat, magnetism, electricity, or movement. Since the main character of the series starts as a member of a gang of thieves, the choice of theme is very appropriate. Random Magic Shop Generator. Being a priest (a magic user in service to their village/town) is a full time job; but sometimes you need a hunter, not a demon slayer. There are hints throughout the story that its actually sci-fi. dragon glass can kill them and both weapons were forged by dragon flame. Theyre part of a task force to reweave the knots. In The Last Airbender storyline, Waterbending, Firebending, and Earthbending all have elite applications that not all benders can achieve, while air doesnt. Bestselling Author Joanna Penn Compares, How to Write a Book: The Best Creative Writing Courses Online, Self-Publishing 101: A Step-by-Step Guide to Sharing Your Idea With the World, ProWritingAid Presents: Crime Writer's Week, Free Giveaway: The Ultimate Crime Writer's Toolkit, The 25 Best Fantasy Books & Novels of All Time: Our Top Picks, Omnipotent Characters: Why Marvel Sidelined Thor, Vision, and Captain Marvel, Six Tried and Tested Methods for Writing a Novel, How to Outline Your Novel With Scrivener's Outliner and Corkboard, Fantasy Writers' Week Premium Hub: Presented by ProWritingAid, Hear from bestselling authors and educators like, Learn from bestselling authors and educators in live sessions, Master outlining, writing, editing, publishing and more, Meet like-minded fantasy writers in networking events. While your categories wouldnt be any fun if they were identical, they do need consistency. Magical creatures all have an innate connection to one of the forces, which they can use in ways dictated by the kind of creature that they are. The differences come into play when various factions go to war. Limits then usually come from the strength of the effects (a limit to the area spells can target or the number of spells a mage can use before resting). Making sense in case of magic means being constant. Visit her new website . That was exactly what i thought! This is really good! E.g., player can only use some energy from the environment, depending on available amount and the players skills. Mages connected to certain Primals are sometimes more common in parts of the world than others. However, most people wont deviate from what they know to work to avoid wasting their time on a failed ritual or potentially hazardous consequences. In the Shadow and Bone series by Leigh Bardugo, all Grisha have to serve the King. Magic, though commonplace, isnt an essential element in fantasy fiction. You should ensure that the conflict and resolutions in your story arent as fickle as the magic. As I said, I was also inspired by depictions of psychic powers in fiction, so I used this idea to explain telepathy (immaterial minds were the same substance, so they could have a way to directly communicate with each other) and telekinesis (if thoughts could generate energy, then maybe they could create enough energy to affect outside objects as well). In the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, necromancers can control the dead using bells and music. All of nature is in motion and all of natures motion serves to restore its own balance. Magical effects will make a bigger impact on your readers if you use all five senses. If you think about it, youll realize theres no reason not to have a rational system. But that doesn't mean all magic systems work equally well for stories. Interferers can make things happen because when they add energy to the system, it is concentrated in one place. No, the water is surely a curse and warning from the mother, who draws the water from the plants themselves as a punishment for stealing the most precious of energy, sunlight itself. None of those energies could be stored by characters themselves, so they can only use energies from environment. There are two types of people in this world, Conduits and Interferers (though Inteferers prefer to be called Whisperers). For instance, if speaking is an essential part of spellcasting, then characters cant cast spells if they cant speak. The Towers radiate an energy that interferes with circuit boards, so the only expeditions have been with primitive tools. The system I created is very similar, with some differences. Each ability corresponds with role in a gang of thieves. Those that survive the process emerge as a member of the Exalted (believed to have been chosen by a higher power) those that dont die screaming, bodies horribly twisted and in extreme cases, even dissolving into silvery, grey goop. For instance, in Lois McMaster Bujolds Chalion Series, the divine cannot directly influence the world with their magic. Some theorize, that the Sephirot is an aspect of God, but our understanding of God is just one aspect of it, you could say the projection of its Will, in simpler terms. However, set guidelines for how people react to exposure. In Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, magic comes from specific metals, like copper, tin, or aluminum. Relocating energy (in telekinesis or telepathy) is, however, less of a problem than dissolving a body and recreating it at another place, to its not the same as full teleportation. I know this is an old article, but it inspired me to create my magic system. Now that youve brainstormed the effects, sources, and causes of magic, you can put all three together! The thread is being used up at such a rate that the next generation may have none at all. I wouldnt use categories of magic to add structure thats just adding more complexity. Hey Ryan R Im still plugging away at it (when Life lets me anyway! (plants take the water from the ground and transpire it at night, so its balanced in some sense) If thats not the case(scientific understanding of the world), how do they explain a fire dying out or lightning? If you only specify one source of magic, you cant suddenly drop someone into the story who uses something different. How could a magic user be defeated? Too Trope-ish?? Everyone has their own power level amount of energy they can produce in one go. For example: Your mum had speed enhancing paint you will have some form of it or Your mum had paint that could carry poison within it, your dad had paint that could take the physical appearance of slime and your grandma had paint that floats you now have floating poisonous slime paint. This is because an all-powerful antagonist makes the story more exciting and perilous, while an all-powerful protagonist achieves the opposite effect. A puddle could be vaporized at will, only to have the water redistributed at a later time, again at the will of the one controlling the exchange. That also means that magic is an entity of its own, hence experimenting with it can be highly dangerous. The Living Mother dreads chaos and wants balance. I think rule based magic is important for worldbuilding, not novel writing. was really misleading. (A quiet lunch with my friend is much more repeated/repeatable than when I first met my best friend). Its not enough to have a source of magic. In Brandon Sandersons Warbreaker, magic is powered by a life force known as breath. Sanderson could have made breath do anything, but instead its mostly limited to animating objects and improving the casters senses. If you want spells, you shouldnt work with elements, but work on the premise that magic is real and a power like light or sound which can be guided with the voice. You can have that, too, while still retaining rationality. That more than one type of magic exists in a generally complex way not thoroughly understood by anyone feels very real, very much in fact like science. Thanks again for the advice! What dangers does magic pose to the user, whether directly or because the use of magic is scorned or envied by society? Really sorry about the length but Im really happy with this magic system and am wondering what other people might think of it- and the people here seem like they know what theyre talking about and are enthusiastic to hear more. As far as the potions issue, again, these are based off historical ideas about magic and potions. You make good points about the gap between different kinds of magic. The protagonist doesnt understand Naming well either, so we never expect him to solve major plot problems using soft magic. Humanity loses control of the system, the factories start belching out nanites into the atmosphere, these new nanites containing instructions that are corrupted, missing a few bytes here and or even having added a few. The magic system in my current work-in-progress, Lady Legacy, serves as an allegory for ambition and the dangerous pursuit of glory, with magic exacting a heavy emotional toll on the user. It is dual-natured-representing the life-giving light of the sun that all life relies on, but also the destructive and fiery nature of its power. (As a side note, I mentioned teleportation because it would help get the various alien species in my universe together quickly so there could be stories based on interaction between them. Dont feel discouraged by the problems of your first draft, remember that you will solve them later. Here are some examples of magical sources: In Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan, magic comes from the gods. A lot of magical effects can only affect creatures that are magic, or affect them much more strongly. The fantasy genre is one of the fastest-growing genres in fiction, and this also applies to science fiction/fantasy novels. Other than that your spells can be pretty much anything, from destructive to healing spells, elemental to demonic spells and from conjurations to enchantments. For just one example, Magoroh Maruyama describes several different possible paradigms of science, which Robert A. Freitas Jr. mentions in the book Xenology in relation to extraterrestrial minds. Likewise, its important to disabuse the audience of the notion that mood swings can decide key moments whenever its convenient. It does, although thats what I want to do. One thing to keep in mind is how much power somebody can gain. SWd6 System Generator. Spectres might do for those who are consumed and become ghosts connected to that energy. I made myself wait until morning to reply It would also bring a limit, because the ley lines dont exist everywhere. Honestly, I cant think of a reasonable or cohesive cap on what it can do so I hope the limitations will balance it out. To build this logic, start by thinking about three things: the effects, sources, and costs of magic. You have the damage dealer, usually a mage, who can deal out a lot of damage, but has weak health and often limited choices in armour, making them vulnerable in a battle. Our physical universe is merely the extent that we can see with our mortal Perceptions limits. On top of this, theres teleportation I still need to consider, which comes with its own host of issues. Check out my other generators Because the setting is divided into nations that correspond with the elements, the Avatar is the only person who symbolically belongs to all the nations. Creating a rational magic system allows you to add realism and depth to your world while still leaving room for new and interesting changes. Now the magic is tied directly to ones own life force, the more magic they use the weaker their magic becomes and the weaker they become, with rest their strength will come back but their magic will not and if they run out means they used up their entire life force so they die and the only known way to regain all their magic and life force is to take the life of another completely consuming their victims life force\magic. Cant help but feel its lacking in creativity and complexity, but thats for another day. Skill also plays a part, and is determined by both intelligence and creativity. I was literally thinking How can I make a magic system thats as good as Avatar? and this article answered that question nicely. Mother wont take kindly to that. Group A (yet to be named) uses magic as soon as they feel it, even if they dont want to and are by far the rarest. Usually you can figure out if theyre alive, where they are, and how theyre doing; but its hard on your brain to process information for two people at once. Mother takes away the gift of sunlight and its heat and sends all of the water down upon the plants to punish them in their death. As such, a being of the Physical Plane cannot exist in a Higher Plane, as their Consiousness isnt on a high enough leven to be able to sustain itself, you wouldnt even be able to think of yourself as an actual being, and so you just, cease to exists. The nanites of this future continue their work, though they are many generations after the initial outbreak and the AIs have calmed them. Its mysterious. Maybe each thought produces a tiny amount of energy that allows for sending a nerve signal to, say, cause a body part to move. I dont think that interactionist dualism (or psychic powers existing) is likely to be true in real life, but if I were creating fictionI could include that. Whether you're a writer, game developer, or just someone with a creative mind, the Magic Type Generator will help you create random content quickly and easily. Hey everyone! Note that most, if not all, superpowers in this generator will belong . Once youve figured out what kind of system you need, its time to start building! There are hundreds or even thousands of magical techniques and spells that a magician can learn.