These systems usually adopt limitations from physics, even though physics is no longer a limiting factor. The key traits of a soft magic system are outlined in the graphic below. And if they can add energy to it, it sounds like they have to absorb that energy like a conduit. Because soft magic is often used by characters other than the protagonist, you should think about who the wielders will be. Reading this made me realize that while Ive got the source pretty nailed down, I dont actually have much else figured out yet! Some dimensions have a lot of energy and a lot of lines, others have few. Okay, now that thats our of the way Reversing entropy would be a matter of gestures as well as speeding it up. Thelema, Goetia, Gematria, Thaumaturgy, Alchemy, Hermeticism? Nature as a such comes in every now and then as well. Now, to those who contain their power. The farther an individual cause the needle to drift towards imbalance, the more force shall be exerted on that individual until the balance is restored through redistribution. Basically the spirits want more knowledge of the human world, to experience it through human eyes. And the Aether is born from our Thoughts and Actions, more specifically, our Souls. Does that all make sense? Dont feel discouraged by the problems of your first draft, remember that you will solve them later. If Luke needs guidance to hit that exhaust port, the Force can guide him. If you are the child of a Given and you are born with magic, you are called a Twisted mage, and have the same powers as your Given parent. So I know a few things. I disagree. This is one of the most exciting things about writing fantasy: getting to design your own magic system. Are there any natural elements which are home to magical powers or are there any which could house magical powers? You could just as well do the Magic The Gathering approach and use stuff like decay or nature as base for the magic (which would give you white magic based on life/nature and black magic based on death/decay). Human variation in magical ability is determined by how much excess soul they have, after running all of their brain activity. What do I do now? Every action we take, even the most mundane has a profound effect on the Flow of Creation. I guess its similar in its outward effects to the Avatar magic system, but youll see that its actually quite different. that you realize that the magic system in Tolkien is actually much more a spiritual and religious system based on the two fudamental pillars of his sincere Catholicism and his strong distaste for the worlds of contemporaries like C,S, Lewis where the Christian allegory was blatant or at best obvious enough to leave the writer open to the charge of being preachy. Obviously you can also combine both ideas, just because you can combine spells doesn't mean you have to. Some rituals are inherently harmful, like the ritual thats typically used to find missing persons. Korra did it but that was more so of Avatar state then an Airbending technique. Thank you for commenting! Ive since abandoned it and am working on something that, while in a similar vein, is quite different. Brought to you by Campfire Levi Johnson is a writer and content creator at Campfire. What about Time? Brandon Sanderson is fantastic at crafting magic systems. Dont be afraid to try something novel. However, a few benders can bend their element when its in a different form or less pure. But it technically isnt magic if you put yourself in the characters shoes. I think that is arguable, but fine I personally want to read hard magic systems anyway. The most well known curse is the Demons Mark. Im definitely not saying these problems are insurmountable, just that I do need to think a lot about them. The job is dangerous. If Rowling had, for instance, done more with the four houses, things might have been different. So a Mage might give as payment a concrete memory, like their first day of school or attending a particular play, or something more abstract like the taste of chocolate cake or the pain of stubbing ones toe (spirits are interested in all experiences, even if humans see them as negative). I thought, What if energy isnt conserved after all? If your mage has no limits to their powers, where would the conflict be? If so, what differentiates them? Mages connected to certain Primals are sometimes more common in parts of the world than others. The protagonist doesnt understand Naming well either, so we never expect him to solve major plot problems using soft magic. If I knew that I could kill every jerk i know unapologetically and without remorse, and be assured that someone would be returned to life as a result of that action then whats stopping me from just killing indiscriminately all the time? The audience must know the rules, because the heroes use magic during the story. Another way to look at it is evolution. You wouldnt add that fire is good for creative thinking, because that wouldnt fit. Following is a list of all the abilities that can be generated by the Abilities Generator. One of the things I noted in that comment is that what seems to make sense differs between individuals, cultures, and even species. Id especially suggest that, because your holy magic is used by priests, so it, too, is tied to the gods. SO, questions: where is the magic energy coming from in the environment? In your case, how exactly the will affects something: I think, some of the gods will be more random and chaotic than others. The audience isnt sure if burning the leaches actually caused these deaths, making it mysterious despite having witnessed the magic ritual first-hand. Tension and payoff are reduced if the reader feels like a solution to something is as simple as a character just ratcheting up their feelings. If your mage has a limit on their powers (and having a human with unlimited powers is probably going to break a story, at least with that human being the hero), the limit must always be the same or you need to give a reason why it is different (the character is exhausted and thus cant muster as much magic or the character took a specific potion which boosted their powers, for instance). Since the protagonists are on this side, it would remove a lot of tension. Its just something to be careful about. Practically everyone uses it in their daily life. Our Plane falls on the 3rd Dimension, being far away from perceiving the World. Im now looking for consistency. Here are some examples of magical effects: In The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.J. Jemisin, orogenes can manipulate the earth. Sandersons Third Law. Its mysterious. Or you blame all psychic powers on quantum and be done with it, but I doubt you want to take that way out, otherwise you wouldnt have been plotting that much already. Do you think the metaphor works when stretched so far? Mages trained in a world with little power usually are very strong in one with more power, because they can make a lot out of a little. However, some fear that all is unraveling. Theres no balance, nothing to sacrifice for the use of magic. Earth magic is strongest during Spring. And for Mind and Body, Distorter will be their name. In the HP books, the only reason why Harry cant do everything is that hes still learning. A curse rang out as he knew he should of just got up instead of trying to weave when he was too tired to focus. Bodily energies wouldn't make for a great choice as the body runs out of all types of energy, at least in real life and most works of fiction. Strength no longer depends on physical brute force but many new factors make it so much more complex. For instance, the Patronus Charm is a spell that is critical to the plot of multiple Harry Potter books. Some of them, such as the Breath Weapons have been condenced a little bit for shortnesses sake. The way the magic of my world works so far goes as follows: Magic is based in blood, the eight types of magical blood found in fantastical creatures and humans (Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Mind, Body), and the way people gain magic is either by taking that blood from the creature or being born with it, so either a Linear or a Pureblood. In the fourth book, Harry doesnt know any flying spells, so he uses the Summoning Spell to call his broomstick. However, they seem to require non-biological properties, so they probably wouldnt evolve naturally. Forms of magic include fire magic, light magic, healing magic, and transformation magic. Real transformation would be something like lead to gold, influencing the molecules to give up their bonds and settle into a new configuration (gods, it has been ages since my last chemistry lesson). When the spell is done, the deactivated knots simply float around, unattended. Everyone has their own power level amount of energy they can produce in one go. I would take a step back from good and bad, first of all. Some kind of energy tentacles, if you want a picture. In the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, magic (called bending) is embodied by the four elements of air, water, fire, and earth, plus spiritual energy. Im only using that as a place holder name because mostly priests use it but priest carries its own connotation thats probably also misleading. If you were to grab a stranger off the street and ask them what magic was, well first they'd probably mention someone like Penn and Teller, but once you clarified and said you meant magic in fiction, you'd very likely hear at least a few of these words: spell, wizard, fireball, enchantment, wand, curse, potion, witch, fairy, monster . All magic is fueled by mana, a form of energy found in all living organisms. 7 Considerations for Writing Fantasy Magic and Magic Systems. Aurai are wind nymphs. (Arguably, before the development of modern science, many people had similar attitudes towards technology! To make an arbitrary assortment of abilities feel like they fit together, he gave them a strong theme. Ask yourself what sources will work well for the magical effects you want to use, and what sources will work well within the world you have created. What are your favorite magic systems? But, in general, all those energies are more-less equally distributed everywhere. Each of these works with each other and the level of each step determine how much oomph the next step has to produce an effect in our world. Others get a bit more pleasing mutations; sensory enhancements, enhanced reflexes, strength, bone density, accelerated healing. Anyone who uses the magic of these Towers will have a name that corresponds to the pair, not just the Tower they draw from. Your approach may vary wildly from other fantasy authors, and thats okay. I like your idea about the gods randomly interacting with the world. It would foreshadow his powers at the end of the story, when he faces off against Voldemort controlling all types of magic. to be a Mind, whose role is to Think; and the Magic comes when it is possible to use that Thinking to affect what Is and what is possible to Be. Mana manipulation is a basic form of magic (though anyone can learn this ability through time and training without doing magic at all. This has been extremely helpful! Mystical Paths A slightly humorous generator that produces new mystical practices for characters. Or you go back to the idea that words shape the world, which is why we have the word enchantment which comes from chanting. A cunning ex-adventurer named Wlfrilda seeks a company of adventurers to explore the Pikawas Jungle. You can certainly use that, even though information might sometimes not be easy to find. This curse infects at random, leaving those infected without the memories of their past selves. To the Avatar thing: the point is not using a scientific system for your magic. A few generations later, some of them did discover the truth, but kept it secret for fear of being blamed by association for the fall, and of people fearing a magical plague happening again. Just a drop in, but your explanation of the plant use in relation to magic should be credited to Robin McKinleys use of it in the Hero and the Crown when the MC eats the Surka plant.. it almost seems like this is your reference base. I would suggest that you make it so your gods just randomly interact with the world. Some prices for their cooperation can even be steep, such as sacrificing something precious or offering up ones soul. If youre new to the genre, its easy to fall back on tropes youve seen before. Water constantly replenished in its cycle, rising up as vapor and plummeting down as rain. This is a pretty nice article, and it has inspired me to think more about the magic systems I create. What I dont agree with is the idea that there is somehow an objective way to determine whether the rules of magic make sense or not, as magic isnt real and what is considered natural is culture-dependent. You mentioned Mana, Life and Mind as the elements of your magic system. Too Trope-ish?? Some well-known examples of hard magic systems: In Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, magic is like chemistry. There are 4 main types of magic systems in fantasy. Does it just move objects/parts of object? Either way, the recipients of the power lose whatever memories gained before or during their stay at the Towers. Hey! Kristen now works as a creative wellness coach and offers new resources through her personal website at kristenkieffer.co. Or just feel ridiculous. Origami, cutting, painting, burning. Or just think up what you want to have be things that good and evil magic can do, put them in categories, and decide which good magic categories are opposites to evil magic categories, and create new areas to fill holes. Nanite clustering effects::kind of dangerous though, theyre a lot like tumors, and have a tendency to grow. Sandersons Mistborn series and Stormlight Archive both contain excellent examples of hard magic systems. Instead, I would work on getting the rational rules for how this nanite magic work nailed down really well, and make sure you have lots of limits, and ways in general for that magic to stop working. Magic wielders might be shunned for being different, perhaps even dangerous, or they could be praised for their abilities. Magic can be taught and learned, but like the Arts or sciences, whether someone is good at magic or not depends on their inherent skill, talent, and dedication to their training. Maybe death magic is evil and life magic is good, and both fit the theme of controlling peoples lives. They have to learn magic to use it. He focused his will and the energy that boiled in his mind, letting it out like smoothly flowing water into the air. Everything in Tolkiens world is carefully designed to avoid being preachy; but most of it also has a carefully thought out moral and spiritual basis, and certain elements (like whether orcs have free will, and are therefore capable of redemption, and the implications of what that means in terms of how the good characters treat them and the conflict with the literary need for a clearly identifiable group of bad guys) troubled him to the end of his life and which he was never able to resolve to his own satisfaction. Very interesting system youre developing, I really like that it comes from a disease. also just a thought, you also could have mentioned the Eragon series which uses language as the limitation for casting, and physical energy for fueling spells. And good guys to heal people? Hannah is a speculative fiction writer who loves all things strange and surreal. Its not uncommon for people to have phantom sensations or memories weeks later. Your success depends on your knowledge of the gods, your relationship with the god, and your ability to make an appeal. Incantations are used, and using the magic is mentally draining. My magic system is based on the Netflix show, The Dragon Prince, because I really like how dynamic and diverse its magic system is. Telekinesis and teleportation require an explanation as to how you direct your power outside of the body. I was actually thinking of precursor aliens having set everything up, but that raises a lot more questions of motivation and the ability to remain undetected. The flickering flame casting irregular patches of shadows against the wall was the evidence. Its at its strongest during a thunderstorm and is the most dynamic of the Primals, as the mage is always connected to the Primal at a given time. Here are some examples of magical sources: In Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan, magic comes from the gods. Who knows! ;). New ideas in how my magic works have given me plot ideas, but I think Ill need to develop the plot more to refine how my magic system works within it. . Those are just considerations, however, when it comes to flaws I only really see one. The thing is, I believe that what seems natural in these cases can depend on culture and perhaps even species. suggestions? Creating a Magic System for Superpowers If the magic youre creating varies from person to person, this article is for you. There are many assumptions in this article, it only focused on a small, known part of magic. Note that this does NOT prove energy is conserved (at least I dont think so), it means that if energy is not conserved, the laws of physics must change over time this applies even if magic is involved. Sorry, Im not quite understand this Could you please describe some spell example with such system? In a rational system, there would be an explanation for how magic works where it comes from, what limits there are, how it is used. Harry realizes what hes done and looks for a counter-spell, instead of just hopelessly thinking Oh no! If were told that a heros ability tires them out, but they can always push through their exhaustion when they need to most in the story, then we stop considering their exhaustion when considering whether we should be worried about them. Hell make it rain if your rain dance impresses him, but he wont strike someone with lightning no matter how impressive your dance is. As you can see there's a lot to explore, but if you're looking for names you're at the right place. Because magic is a form of power, it often explores related themes such as greed, privilege, and oppression. In this world i was playing with humanity had long ago developed nanotechnology as a means of improving quality of life; whether that meant cleaning up the environment, being used for medical purposes, or for body augmentation didnt really matter. Can a magic user be identified by their clothing, appearance, or some other distinguishing physical factor? Ive also seen your above comment. Of course, I wholeheartedly believe that considering each element of your story is the surest way to craft an engaging novel. Nonhumans might think in ways that make little sense to humans. Gandalf didnt use his powers to destroy the One Ring, so readers didnt need to know how his magic worked to find the ending of The Lord of the Rings to be believable. Old magics can occur without any intent. If you figure out exactly what each type of thread is doing to hold the world together, you can not only extrapolate what magic they can do when woven, but also predict the damage that the world will suffer when too many of them are used. That means that divine intervention is a possibility (a deus ex machina in the true sense of the world), but theres no way your regular human MC can rely on it. Im currently working on subtypes to it but I am miserably failing. Alrighty, its late and Im tired. If I can find a way to make it work, it would be cool if sound can be harnessed and redistributed as well. Mind energies are bit different: they could be bonded with any type of energy. The cycle of plants harnessing sunlight and Mother taking it back everyday is no longer considered a mystery, but an accepted fact of life. I really hope you go through with it! I generally call the opposite of rational arbitrary, and that one I just chose arbitrarily, you might say. ), Fire/heat (fire is a more fickle form of energy and as it is intangible, it is harder to hold on to, though not as hard as air. If rational magic systems only had a basic framework, they might get dull. Just dipping my toes into this whole writing thing for the 1st time, and as Im sure most of you have experienced, I started out vibrant and full of ideas but am quickly beginning to feel overwhelmed. If most people are one or the other, and Conduits are rare, then most Conduits will also be the children of Interferers. The primary purpose of a soft magic system is to contribute to the atmosphere of your story. This generator will give you 10 random super powers, which can range from many different types of powers, including magic and superhuman powers. There are medieval books detailing how to pluck a mandrake from the ground because it was thought that they screamed when unearthed and could kill everyone who heard the scream. The twist? I made myself wait until morning to reply While I have thought of several different magic systems, Ill present the one I conceived of first. Hard vs. soft magic is a spectrum, not a binary. 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. Oh, and the fantasy series Im cooking up is called Fantasia. 7 Ways To Create A Magic System For Your Novel 1. Avatar works with four definite sources of power, which happen to be fire, water, air, and earth. Feats of telekinesis should leave your characters a little exhausted the more energy needed, the higher the exhaustion. Each blob of energy could be bound to the other blob of the same type of energy and it will result in kind of quantum entanglement from real physics everything what happens with on blob will happens with other blob.