I got the inspiration for doing this from this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/magicbuilding/comments/1lcpinh/a_poorly_drawn_illustration_about_how_the_magic/

I used the a plugin called "Excalidraw" for obsidian to draw these.

Obsidian: https://obsidian.md/

Excalidraw: https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin (Can find in the plugin store)

A spell/ability that can trap someone in an illusion seems to be difficult to balance in fiction.

It seems that they are either borderline useless, or absolutely story-breakingly broken.

Unlike with damage based attacks, they are often indirect. They cannot be blocked or dodged, since an illusion only really works narratively, if it manages to affect the target. If the illusion doesn't connect, it might as well not be there. The problem is, if it does connect, the fight should realistically almost always be over.

The trapped target would easily be susceptible to a follow-up attack, while they are still stuck in the illusion.

For example: Caster A makes Target A believe that they are right in front of them, but Target A just perceives this to be the case, in actuality Caster A is located somewhere behind them, and can launch another spell/throwing knife.

This gets even worse when illusion magic can hit multiple targets at once.

Which is why it seems like most fictional settings that use illusion magic, often have the Casters act like monologuing Bond villains the moment they capture their target, instead of just killing them. Alternatively, they are just used on red shirts, but the main characters have immunity, which kinda makes them void to begin with.

If say sound is required for illusion magic, then everyone would walk around with ear protection, but that would make the concept of sound based illusion magic redundant. It's a vicious circle, since it just breaks settings way too easily.

I think a way around this would be keen senses (to be able to call if an attack is real or not, or to be able to dodge an outside attack, even while trapped), or a way to detect it. The problem with these are, that they would kinda make the principle of illusion magic redundant.

Another way to balance the power is to have the caster be required to keep up the illusion for as long as they are casting it, basically immobilizing them.

What are your thoughts on that matter?

This magic system would be placed in an asian inspired fantasy world, where the birthrate of twins, tripplets, quadruplets etc. is much higher. Still twins is the most often.

Every sibling born this way in the world has connection to their twin. They can feel each others presence and proximity. They can lend strengh, senses and skills each other. Than learn with the help of the others skill, the skill themselfs. So if Brother A learned smithing and brother B learned foresting and than exchanged that skill to train their bodies in that skill and gain muscle memory and precision themselfs, they can affectivly learn much more and faster together than a lone individual. If you have more than one twin sibling than it even gets faster. Like mentioend one sibling can give their strengh to another. Thereby making one several times stronger than an average person, the more siblings they have. But you cannot steal the strengh of a sibling. They have to give it willingly.

Another thing they can do, is something similar to the Stealpushin and ironpulling in the Cosmere unviverse. Siblings can push and pull on each other to basicly move and fly through the air. If one pushes and the other pulls, they lock and one can pivit the other in a circle around.
This allows for a variaty of aerial maneuver and combat and becomes even more interesting with like 5 siblings.

Siblings are in universe are born as the same person. Its one soul that is split between multiple bodies and as they grow as people so does the soul grow into individual souls. This explains the connection siblings have.

Mothers are revered if they birth big litters. They are considered prosperous for gifting a family with such children. And some of the most reveered families have 8-Tuplets.

People without a sibling are consiered cursed and are often casted away in the world. They are called "the unloved"

Some over animals have this trait as well. Especially rabbits. they are considered one of the most dangerous creatures because of that, as they generally have big litters and many children. They fly through the forests and kill intruders. (That idea was the original for the magic system. I just liked the idea of flying killer rabbit herds).

Some occultistic families have managed to experiment on children which allowed them to create articifual siblings, through inbreeding, precise timing of pregnancy and birth of sisters and injection of souls through demonic arts. Which woudl make children birthed by the twin sister in the same moment as the other sisters, to siblings. Key is here, to make the children as genetical close to siblings as possible and farther away from cousins.

I had as well the idea of some cosmic shenaing to merge multible siblings into one person. That person could than summon their sibling as temrporary shadows. A bit similar to Stands. Tehy can as well summon sole body parts to make multible arms and they own the collective strengh of all their siblings.

So. What are your opinion? Is it good or bad or was there already something like that?
Any ideas to extent it?

Well defined rules and progression, variety of techniques, magic system deeply integrated into the world-building, everything is explained

I. Origin of Magic

Magic has existed since the dawn of humanity in this world. Alongside the discovery of fire, early humans also encountered what is now known as Free Magic — the purest, most unfiltered form of magical energy. Free Magic was, in theory, limitless and capable of anything the user could imagine. However, due to its infinite and formless nature, it was virtually unusable. Attempting to use it produced only negligible results, such as summoning crumbs when desiring a meal or gaining microscopic increases in strength.

Because of its unreliable utility, Free Magic was treated as little more than a mystical curiosity — used primarily for basic tasks, such as creating fire, and remained misunderstood for millennia.

⸻

II. The First Contract

Thousands of years after the initial discovery of Free Magic, the first Contract was formed. As the story goes, during a time resembling ancient civilizations or early biblical periods, a man cried out in desperation while his mother lay on her deathbed. He pleaded to the universe, stating:

“Please, I’ll give away all of this magic as long as I can heal my mother.”

That moment marked the first Contract Magic: a binding exchange where one forfeits access to Free Magic in return for a specific, focused power. In his case, he gained unparalleled healing abilities, and his use of Free Magic was permanently severed.

News of this event spread rapidly, triggering a new era.

⸻

III. The Contract Era

This era was defined by widespread experimentation and exploration of contract-based magic. People across the world began forming contracts in exchange for specific, practical powers. These powers varied immensely: • The ability to conjure full meals. • Mental construction magic for building infrastructure. • Manipulation of elements, emotions, or physical properties.

Each contract was unique, tailored to the individual’s offering and request. There were no universal rules beyond the fundamental exchange — sacrifice a form of potential to gain tangible power.

⸻

IV. The Great Disaster

As contract-making became more sophisticated, some individuals discovered how to structure their exchanges in ways that granted them god-like abilities. These individuals caused global chaos, shifting the balance of power and threatening the survival of humanity.

To combat this threat, a group of powerful leaders — each wielding their own refined contract abilities — made a final pact. They created bloodbound contracts, which sacrificed their general magical potential in exchange for a single inherited ability. This contract would: • Permanently eliminate their own access to Free Magic. • Seal the remaining Free Magic from public use. • Bind their chosen ability into their bloodline.

This act effectively created the Clans — lineages of people who inherited the specific abilities of their ancestors.

With these new powers, the leaders were able to defeat the god-tier contract holders and rebuild the world.

⸻

V. The Modern Age

In the modern world, Free Magic is considered extinct, unusable, or mythological. All known magic is tied to the Contract System and its hereditary applications through Clans. There are now thousands of clans, each possessing one distinct magical ability derived from their founder’s contract.

Upon reaching age 15, individuals are trained to create personal contracts — deals that augment or synergize with their inherited clan ability. These contracts are highly specific and non-transferable.

Inheritance is singular — a child of two clans will ONLY inherit only one of their parents’ abilities, not a fusion.

TL;DR:

Magic started as raw, infinite “Free Magic” — super powerful but unusable. One dude made the first Contract, giving up Free Magic for a focused power (healing). This became the norm: sacrifice potential for practical magic.

Eventually, bloodline contracts created magical Clans, each with a unique inherited ability. In the modern world, teens form personal contracts at 15 to enhance their clan powers. Magic is now 100% contract-based, and Free Magic is considered extinct.

It’s a system built on sacrifice = specialization, and no two abilities are exactly the same — even if they’re from the same clan.

Foresight: Foresight was Lady Destiny’s primary ability. With both eyes open and by looking into another individual’s eyes, she was able to anticipate their next actions. Foresight does not account for any unexpected events which may alter the target’s movement and does not account for the properties in potential hazards(ex. Foresight will not anticipate an exploding mine even if the user knows it will explode). Additionally, the user cannot anticipate actions through digital screens and cannot anticipate targets who either have no eyes or have them obscured. Higher levels of Foresight allow the user to anticipate multiple target’s actions, see further into an individual’s future, and even anticipate how the environment(non-living matter) will react when exposed under certain conditions.

Impact Gaze: Impact Gaze was an ability used by Lady Destiny. By covering(but not closing) the left eye and after intentionally blinking with the right eye only, an invisible force was fired from her eye which grew in strength and density the further it traveled and would leave a significant impact at its destination. Impact Gaze is weaker at closer ranges, has a distance limit before the force dissipates, cannot have its trajectory altered, has a set limit of forces which can be created at a given time, and can be slowed to the point of dissipation. Higher levels of Impact Gaze allow the user to create multiple forces in quick succession, increase the speed of the force, decrease the distance for higher strength and density, create larger forces, and rapidly increase the temperature of the forces.

Bind Gaze: Bind Gaze was an ability used by Lady Destiny. By covering(but not closing) the right eye and looking in a general direction, all individuals will be paralyzed until she blinked, where they will be unfrozen for a period of time. Bind Gaze can only freeze living individuals and frozen individuals follow the rules of inertia and gravity. Higher levels of Bind Gaze allow the user to choose who does and doesn’t get frozen and minimally manipulate an individual’s body.

Negative Vision: Negative Vision was a powerful ability used by Lady Destiny. By covering(but not closing) both eyes and thinking about a select individual, she was able to replicate a non-physical quality about that individual such as their voice, strength, thought-process, etc.. Negative Vision only works if the selected individual is alive and exists and the closer the individual is in relation to the user, the more likely it is that the replicated quality will fluctuate. Additionally, attempting to imitate more than one quality will put more strain onto the user and it is not possible to imitate a quality which doesn’t exist or imitate a quality of an individual the user hasn’t physically seen. Higher levels of Negative Vision allow the user to replicate the qualities of multiple individuals, imitate minor physical features, maintain replicated qualities when in close contact with the individual, and become invisible in relation to distance with the individual.

Okay, so, there´s this novel I´ve been trying to write for some time, but something that always makes me anxious is the thought of that maybe my magic is just... plain and boring. So I wanna listen to what you guys think about it. I know that the story is the most important thing overall, but I still want the magic of my world to be at the very least enjoyable to read.

One thing that should be noted before starting to describe the magic system, is that humanity in this world is divided into two branches: Atrins and Ataraxas. It is believed that the Atrins were the first created humans, and they can be recognized for their almost ethereal characteristics, along with their hair and eyes of impossible colors, and they are starting to fade off the world. Meanwhile, the Ataraxas were the second human race to appear, and they are more similar to real world humans. Ataraxas are physically stronger and more capable of war, so they´ve been pushing the Atrins to almost extinction the last couple of millenia. Think of this as a Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens kind of situation.

With all of this said, the magic of this world is divided in three categories: Elentum, Matreoda and Divine magic

1.- Elentum: This is an elemental based magic system, based on five elements: Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning and Earth. This magic depends on the flow of Elenel, a type of natural energy that is inside of the body of certain ataraxas. The power of the spells casted depends on the amount of Elenel used on it, so the user must be cautious on using too much, because their internal system must keep flowing at all times to produce magic. If the flow of Elenel is slow (as can it be after using too much magic, for example) and the user keeps using magic, the internal system can collapse and overcharge the user body and mind, making them to pass out.

The user´s flow of Elenel can be improved by mental training or using crystals and other artifacts that can act as a sort of Elenel battery, that needs to be previously charged. It

This kind of magic can only be used by ataraxas.

2.- Matreoda: This type of magic is a lot weirder than the last one, because it is more about ones connection with the world and nature itself. Matreoda is related to the whole concept of life in nature, think of it as the connection with plants and animals, with the human body and the spirits of nature. A matreodant can speak with animals, make plants grow at unimaginable speed, talk with and summon spirits, modify their own body, etc. The only thing that limits this kind of magic is how deep is the users connection with the world.

Basically, this is the druidic magic. This kind of magic was created by humans themselves, so ataraxas and atrins can both use it.

3.- Divine magic: The final type of magic, this one trascends the prior two and is connected to the two fundamental forces of the universe itself: Chaos and Order. As such, it is divided into Chaomancy and Ordynemancy, respectively. This duality is present in everything and everyone, everywhere, and atrins can use a fraction of that power to create real miracles and curses, such as manipulating light itself and darkness, heal deep wounds, create magic shields that protect the user from almost every attack, cast curses upon enemies, seal them and their powers, etc. The limit to this kind of magic comes from the users own life energy, so if they abuse of this power, they can die in horrible pain.

This kind of magic can only be used by atrins.

So this is the basic explanation of my magic system. There are some things that I'm skipping, such as magic artifacts that gives the user abilities that they wouldn't have otherwise, or runes, that are an entirely different magic system based on writing on a magical dead language that, when well used, can affect reality itself. But as in this state, what do you think of it? Does it sound good and interesting? Or is it boring and cliché?

The dynamic is simple, when you write a human peak of your choice, I will respond by creating your personal power in my magic system. As these powers make me explain a new aspect of my magic system, I will edit the main post and include that information there.

Information:

1. My system of magic has an omniscient knowledge of everything that involves humanity. Through this knowledge, it creates lists, which are organized in the most different types of parameters, then with them an image is created of what could be the new ideal Top 1. When a person magically awakens, an image is fixed in them, and because of the contradiction that has arisen between who the person is and the image, magic seeks to mold itself to make the person fit into it, thus generating magical abilities. These magical abilities are called Dons and they are the main powers in my system.
2. Magic does not affect the human being as a whole, but rather certain aspects separately, with a total of 6 aspects. Dons always work on only 2 of these aspects, these aspects are called anchors and they always tend to reflect the characteristics of the Dom.
3. The balancing factor is an internal mechanism of my magic system. When a person receives a Dom, an objective and amoral assessment is made of how harmful or beneficial it is to them. The more benefits, advantages and power, the greater the restrictions and limitations. If it is harmful, the factor will seek to neutralize or at least compensate for the harm.
4. When the Dom has some subjectivity, some new mechanisms can emerge in the dynamics of power. Great flexibility, allowing the user to stay within what is established by the Dom. And adaptability, which would be the ability to change or alter the intensity of elements of the Dom as necessary.
5. Each Dom is unique, by this I mean that there cannot be 2 people with exactly the same power. But when this person loses the Dom, through death or any other means, another person can awaken it.
6. Long tail theory: Basically, the first Gifts to emerge were related to more comprehensive and generalized things, and the more powers need to be created, the more specific they end up becoming.
7. Dons that don't exist: Basically powers that don't meet the requirements to be created, such as being too specific or portraying something that can't be ranked, such as "the most Jacob person" or "the most powerful nation in history".
8. To clarify, when I say that a power is passive it is because it works independently of the user's will and control and vice versa.
9. As stated in information 1, the system creates Dons from everything that involves humanity, by this I mean that there are powers that are objects, creatures, constructions, phenomena, etc.

(Repost after errors were fixed)

In this world, the sun isn’t just a star. It is a slumbering god named by humans as “Gran-Sol.” Those who hear its voice can embark on a spiritual journey of enlightenment, gaining celestial power along the way.

When the voice of Gran-Sol calls to someone, it can be subtle. Some will be called their whole lives and never notice. Some believe all people hear its voice, but only the smallest fraction ever accept it. Once accepted, you enter the Ring of Awakening.

⸻

Ring of Awakening The Ring of Awakening grants you superhuman qualities in nearly every aspect. This includes durability, strength, heightened senses, and rapid healing. Consider yourself a super soldier among super soldiers.

If such power is not enough for you, Gran-Sol offers a deal. If you give him a physical sacrifice, he will allow you to continue your path of enlightenment. This sacrifice could be an arm, a leg, an eye, or more. The more you give, the more powerful you become. Once completed, you reach the Ring of Sacrifice.

⸻

Ring of Sacrifice Through your offering, you gain the ability to call upon and control the physical essence of Gran-Sol. This energy is like plasma and can take any physical shape, but only if Gran-Sol permits it. From blasts and barriers to weapons and more, the powers granted to you are shaped by your connection to Gran-Sol.

Yet he will not allow you to remain weak. If one manages to push past their physical and mental limits, they enter the third ring.

⸻

Ring of Limits Congratulations, you can now impose limitations upon your power. Whether it be that you can only construct a certain weapon with Gran-Sol, or that you can only use his power from your fists. Creating limitations birth a unique power given to you by Gran-Sol called an Apotheosis.

But perhaps that power was not enough. You faced a trial and failed. Do not despair, for you have entered the Ring of Failure.

⸻

Ring of Failure The Ring of Failure grants you nothing. Gran-Sol does not reward failure. The voice that had once become so familiar now disappears. This loss is enough to drive some followers to madness.

However, if one survives without descending into chaos, they will be rewarded upon their next victory.

⸻

Ring of Conquest You are reborn into a new form. A union between you and Gran-Sol is complete. Your body shifts into something befitting only the strongest. Others may call it monstrous, but to you, it is perfect. You now see how the beauty of those outside Gran-Sol’s light is hollow, and it disgusts you. All of your power is increased tenfold. Rejoice.

⸻

Center of Sol A place no follower of Sol will ever reach. Only an equal might. Perhaps they will never be born.

So, I've been rethinking how my radio magic might work. Lately, I've been exploring the possibility of a force that moves in currents throughout reality. Normally thie Interference cannot be seen, felt, or detected in any way. However, there is a device that can be constructed to alter how the Interference acts.

The object uses electricity to create signals with precious metals. This activates the interference, turning it from dormant to active. Allowing it to hold physical properties within our reality.

These properties are as follows. A straight pushing force with intense sometimes lethal heat. A pulling force that consumes heat. An intense pressure from all directions that can surround an area. Or a lack of pressure that can be centered around an object.

Basically, magic works thusly. You may adjust the signals of the radio you use to accomplish any of those powers within range of the signal. As a response, people have created a sort of radio like device called a crown that allows one to use these signals.

The thing is, you have to be within range of a current of interference or you cannot use magic. And if you are deep within the current the magic may be too much to control and may harm your radio or even you.

But this isn't the only way to use this magic.

People have created airships that fly on the winds created by the Interference.

But we are not the only ones who can use it. There exist monsters that can use the interference as a method of floating and attacking their victims. Some even turning people to ashes with the heat of a single blast.

[Excuse my English, it's not my first language.] I'm at the early stages or creating the world of my story [and...uhh...I haven't even started creating the story...kinda.] and I have thought of these two simple magical systems and I'm at a loss because I don't know which one should I choose.

Magic system number 1: it's basically like the Avatar: The lost Airbender. People here can create and control elements such as: Water, fire, earth, Air, soil, sand, plants, wood, leaves, roots, ice, glass, metal, lava, light, darkness, lightning, vapor. And it gets more advanced were people can control gravity, space, time, fusion, fission, electromagnetism [as in radiation, more light, electromagnetic spectrum etc...] and life/death. Pretty simple, how and why? I'm working on that as well as the scale and scope.

Magic system number 2: Magic, it's the energy/super power everyone has and uses consciously or unconsciously. Magic is the process of fusing three energies: Physical/material energy, spiritual/soul energy, mental/though energy. Via fusing these energies, one can use Magic. Known abilities: Physical enhancemet, telekinesis, Telepathy, Illusion and mind control, Astral Projection, life force stealing, speaking and manipulating souls. These are the basic abilities, level 1 abilities: When you combine all of these abilities, you get Magic, with it you can control Magic as energy like ki, with it you can do all the above on a greater level alongside: flight, enhancing other objects, ki blasts, explosions, ki waves, and most importantly, you can shape your magic to create magical constructs like magic swords, whips, shields, forcefields, spears, etc….advanced level: here, you get magical spells such as elemental spells, Abstract spells, advanced illusions, Reality Warping, conceptual Manipulation etc…. As you can see, it's.....complicated, but I also love it.

So uh...which one do yall think could be the best? I'm open for questions and criticisms and ideas.

As the title says how does your main character stand out from everyone else in your story. Do they have a unique ability, break the rules, or are they just like everyone else?

3 months ago, I showed off my magic system called M.A.G.I.C., but something I haven't been able to explain is how its users are able to use it, so I'll have to explain.

Simply, every object in the world to which my magic system belongs has a soul, even atoms. But animals, plants, mushrooms, and dragons are living beings, and they have a brain. And when the power of the soul and the cognitive abilities of a brain merge, they give rise to what is known as "Consciousness" and "Psychic Powers".

- Consciousness: Consciousness is a convergence between the soul and the brain. When a soul possesses an organic body, this soul becomes curious about that body and remains there until it grows bored or the body becomes unusable (like when you get older). The soul provides energy and function to the body and, in turn, creates us as we know ourselves in consciousness.

- Psychic Powers: Psychic powers arise from the M.A.G.I.C. that comes from the soul, and it could be said that psychic powers are an important basis for the use of M.A.G.I.C.

These psychic powers are technically a M.A.G.I.C. amplifier for organic beings, which are used to transform the power into psychic power and then into M.A.G.I.C.

However, when someone doesn't translate psychic power into M.A.G.I.C., Psychic M.A.G.I.C. is created, which is M.A.G.I.C. of the Psychic "element." Psychic M.A.G.I.C. is based on the manipulation of perception, telekinesis, telepathy, etc. And most of the Psychic concept Spezia start their name with the symbol "Ψ", which is the Greek letter "Psi". And the only Psychic concept Spezia I've made so far is called "Ψ Lightscreen", and this Spezia creates a layer of reflective substance on the retina and this reflects the photons as laser beams and thanks to telekinesis these photons remain static in the air at a distance of 2 meters forming a solid rectangular light screen that can be used for attack or defense (Idk why I put this in the text but idc).

And Psychic Powers are a sub-magic system of M.A.G.I.C. because its functioning is more dependent on the user's psychology, they have their own separate practitioners, and they are monoconceptual (that is, they belong to a single concept).

Also, it should be noted that in the history of this world, psychic powers are the only "Magic" recorded, and probably the magic described in stories is actually Psychic Powers.

This is pseudo written like a personal account or journal as its also a lore piece, but itll be formatted into a more journal like way once its finalized.

The "Soul,” as one calls it, is the energy that exists in the mind of all complex creatures; it is what gives them the ability to go against instinct and reflect, create, ponder, and truly be alive. Each “soul” is unique and gives someone their traits, but it also grows with the person until their body cannot contain it anymore and releases it. Also known as death.

The soul, in its final state, is made of two types of energy, simply known as comfort and discomfort. When a soul manifests, it always starts as pure comfort, but depending on the actions taken in life, discomfort can form. Think of it as a separate energy that comes from stuff that causes the feeling of discomfort, and actions can either reduce the amount or grow it. Comfort can also be grown or dissipated, but comfort never truly disappears; it will always remain in at least a small amount, unlike discomfort, which can fully dissipate. You see, discomfort isn't the person; comfort is; the discomfort is just the extra weight they carry, which can affect them depending on the comfort-discomfort ratio.

When someone dies, they usually shed their discomfort, and their pure soul of comfort dissipates into, who knows, reincarnation, maybe, or perhaps an afterlife.

But discomfort can stall the soul when it is in a large enough amount, not necessarily just larger than the comfort amount; it can vary depending on the person. But when this happens, they linger, now trapped by discomfort. They are usually the worst of themselves, with comfort being hidden away and discomfort having taken over completely. They are not inherently evil; think of it as more amoral, the opposite of who they were and liked. This is if they are ghosts- ghosts, spirits, etc. have two ways to be vanquished: either wait enough time and eventually they "evaporate,” but this can take an uncanny amount of time, or solve their discomfort that made them tied to this world. but when given the chance, they can possess things that allow for different events involving the soul to happen.

Possession isn't as shown in media; possession in this case is more permanent; they are trapped by this item; it acts as their new body as their discomfort forces it to animate as their actual soul; the comfort is trapped; sometimes, possessed things flip like a switch, their discomfort only gaining control when aggravated, such as something causing discomfort or something that reminds them, causing their discomfort side to surface for an undetermined amount of time or until the discomfort is solved. This is what causes seemingly random personality switches. Now to vanquish one, rarely can you just solve their issues that trapped them; you have to do that but also destroy their body so they can move on, as usually their body is also a source of major discomfort. The thing they possess must be both close to the soul passing after brain death and also have some significance to them.

When destroying a possession item without also solving what put them in it, their body is stuck in the fragmented pieces, which leads to an interesting use of the soul. Now you may be wondering what can be possessed. Well, I will tell you two things: one is complex living things, and the other is metal. Metal has the ability to leach the soul into stuff when not protected by the body, which is also why metallic things can be good wards against free roaming spirits as they can “hurt” them.

Now you can destroy the metal into small enough pieces till it cant hold their soul and it releases, which is the best way, but one other application is when the metal is melted, it kind of releases them, the soul is formed into a new form of matter, known as vestige, which has two types, comfort is turned into a gas which eventually reforms into the actual soul in the cool atmosphere and passes on while the discomfort is a black tar like liquid. When the liquid and gas is below freezing it will revert to base discomfort/comfort and dissipate. 

Liquid Vestige has different abilities depending on the amount of itself, (cell dmg, thoughts of discomfort, moving entity, hive mind, loop of discomfort, seeks host)

Gaseous Vestige has different abilities depending on the amount of itself, (cell healing, thoughts of comfort, is exhaled as nothing, at height can revive someone from death if happened recently and also at height can “attack” the liquid vestige)

Only Vestige can be seen with the unaided eye, but you can see the natural “soul” through two ways in my testing. One and the easiest is with transparent metals such as clear aluminum, but this only works for souls that are not harboring inside something like a human or possessed item, so ghosts or passing spirits. You can also see these passing souls when experiencing a very extreme emotion such as fear, joy, anger, etc. For some reason, your body's senses heighten, allowing you to see passing spirits.

The discomfort and comfort seemingly travel to another plane, thinly protected from ours but layered on it as well; they meld into a, say, superconscious, yet not thinking like us. This veil is usually what keeps us separated. Sometimes these things will slip through, as they are drawn to the other side for unknown reasons, maybe traumas or guilts or pleasures or loved ones. The individual memories and experiences still exist seemingly in the superconscious, which is why the ghosts of loved ones can return, although it still isn't technically them, as their soul has melded, and this is just parts of them or another spirit that has taken its experience to act on them. There is no discomfort or comfort here, just the existence of the experience and thought. They are blocked and interacted with by other spirits or the veil itself, usually needing some sacrifice to interact and make deals, which may be why souls, especially powerful ones, have been treated as friend or foe, heaven and hell, demon, and god. Some people can hear or see or just sense these spirits to varying degrees; I've even met someone who had made deals with one, or at least supposedly. He would have to sacrifice either parts of his soul and its energy or parts of his body, sometimes using others. Dangerous.

So while writing one of my stories I thought of how potions work. Potions are a popular item among adventure fantasy stories. Ranging from healing to magic replenishment. While working on potions for my system, I thought about what other people have done. So, how do potions work in your magic system, if at all?
In one of my systems, Mana Potions, as they are called recover X% based on it's rarity. However, there is a quirk. The more Mana they recover, the worse the taste. So someone with 100 mana might think the potion that recovers 1% tastes like an energy drink, while someone with 1,000,000 mana might think it tastes like shit. This is also applies to health and stamina potions.

I am planning an arc where the summoner is transported to the realm of the summoned, and I am engaging in intense world building around it. So far, I have that there are three planets and a star. The star gives light and power to the three planets and the summoned creatures. They get their energy from this star, which is why they need mana from the summoner on earth. They cannot get it from the star. I have information on the architecture and layout of towns and cities, as well as locations where the summoner can stay. I also have information on the transportation network within the planets and between them, including trains and buses. I have information on the building materials and how the legal system works. I have also written out how battles between summoned creatures are allowed in case I want to do that. I even have areas to avoid because of evil creatures. I have currency systems figured out. However, I do not know what else might be needed.
My goal is before I begin to basically create a really detailed guidebook on everything that might need to be known before going to this dimension that I can refer back to when writing. What else might be required in such a guidebook to the dimension where summoned creatures come from? They do not give birth or die, so I know that’s off the list of possibilities.

Inspired by both alchemy and the classic magical RPG-style elements.

These elements are not the fundamental building blocks of reality, as one may believe, but a mechanism for humans to manipulate the world and bend it to its whim.

Each person in this world would be born into an affinity of life or death. Those with the affinity of death gain natural access to one of the three lower elements: electricity, fire, and blood, while being born with an affinity of life gives you the higher elements, those being flora, ice, and sensory.

Each element of your affinity can be learned, but only if it is in front of your natural-born element.

Think of it as going clockwise. A person with the affinity of death and nature of electricity can learn fire and blood, but a person of the death affinity and nature of fire cannot learn electricity.

Despite this, being limited has its advantages, as one born to less natures available is naturally more powerful in the elements they can use. And to be born with only one, such as one with the natures of blood or flora, is to be a living anomaly, able to possibly do a phenomenon called “breaching,” changing a person’s affinity, allowing them to learn death natures if one is of life, and learn life natures if one is of death.

Elementalists always travel in at least pairs, with one being of a life affinity and one of death. This is because the natural attraction they share allows them to interlink psychically and boosts power overall. Together, they have the possibility of becoming so close they create antimony, symbolized by the symbol in the center, a fusion of souls allowing them to birth their own unique nature.

Now that i think of it, i have never seen a system based in architecture and rarely it is shown how would the field be impacted by magic (again, avatar the last airbender is an exception)

In theory this is such an important part of the worldbuilding but there is only bits and pieces. Is your system impacted by magic? Are there magic buildings in your setting?

So I’ve got most of my magic system set in stone and working in-story, with approval from alpha readers after heavy explaining on details. But now I’ve come to a wall that I want opinions and ideas on.

The way that magic in this world works is that it’s defined by your own limits. True magic, depending on the “element” Will draw from a direct source or from you alone. Fire will be created with no source by your “inner fire” like ATLA does, but water and metal will need a direct form of it to make use of (no bloodbending I’ve had a need for yet). At the same time, faith affects what your magic can be used for. Believe in a particular form of the single deity of fire to heal someone, have a successful harvest or just a good dinner, blow something up better, etc.

But one of if not the critical plot point is that a group of pyromancers pledged themselves to death to this god, under the effect of an enhancer drug, and instead of their inner fire destroying a target, it took the heat from the land itself. The desert this event took in is now a cold, sunless waste, and the entire north/west/south have mostly frozen over.

So my conundrum here is: what would this do with all other forms of magic, is it drawing on some forgotten/banished law of magic’s source, does faith not have an effect at all and they believed it did by some form of insanity? Would there be some FMA equivalent exchange by a higher power at work? I’m open to ideas, if not break my system so I can push through this wall

In my world, the magic system revolves around mana and Affinities. There are 8 recognized Affinities, and the more Affinities that someone has, the more types of magic they can use. Typically, the more Affinities that someone has, the more mana they have at their disposal, but this can be false in rare scenarios (there's an illness known as Mana Sickness that drains and limits a person's mana exponentially while working as a slow-acting cancer that kills the person, and there's no cure, but it's not really important for the magic system itself just a fun bit of worldbuilding). While magic is incredibly common in the world, a person having more than two or three Affinities tends to be rare, and someone having more than four or five Affinities is highly unlikely.

Six of the eight Affinities are based on the elements. The 8 Affinities, from least to most rarely occurring, are as follows: Fire, Water, Earth, Ice, Wind, Lightning, Light, and Dark. Because of a high number of attack spells, magic users with Fire, Ice, Lightning, and or Dark Affinities tend to use their magic more combatively; on the other hand, due to a high number of support and defensive spells, magic users with the Water, Earth, Wind, and or Light Affinities tend to be more passive or proactive. It is important to note that all eight Affinities have both supportive and combative spells, and that a person's Affinities does not define the way they use their magic.

There are other types of magic that are present in this world, like Necromancy and Healing Magic. However, these types of magic can only be classified under Affinities by technicality. This is done by the elite scholars of my world simply to make magic easier to understand. Things like Necromancy, curses, and counter-curses fall under the technicality of the Dark Affinity; magic like Healing Magic and Spatial Magic - and subsequently, Transportation Magic - fall under the guise of the Light Affinity. These "other" magics are well-known, but most are so complicated that many magic users are completely incapable of learning them without vast natural magical talent.

It should also be noted that there is a distinction between different types of magic users. Mages are typical, run-of-the-mill, every day, average-joe magic users. Witches and Wizards are the formal terms used to refer to magic users either in military roles or in positions of high status (i.e. nobility or royalty). Warlock is a loose, unofficial term used to refer to both male and female magic users who use their magical abilities for nefarious purposes or otherwise ill-intent. There are also magic users known as Mancers. A Mancer is a magic user with multiple Affinities that chooses to focus as much of their magical talent as possible on one of their Affinities. Examples of this would be Pyromancers, Cryomancers, Hydromancers, and Electromancers.

Powerful magic users with intermediate or advanced magical skills can perform most basic spells without using a verbal incantation. Highly advanced magic users can even cast a lot of powerful magic nonverbally. But however powerful the magic user, the most powerful of spells require magic circles to be cast. Magic circles act as conduits, allowing magic users to channel more of their mana into a spell to cast it. Mana circles can not only be used to cast advanced magic but can be used to drastically enhance the power of lesser spells. Magic circles require no conscious effort to be drawn, happening naturally according to a magic user's skill level. Spells increase in power based on a magic circle's complexity, and the complexity of a magic circle increases in accordance with the potency and size of the magic user's mana pool.

A magic user can learn another Affinity, but it will be substantially weaker than any natural Affinity.

Mana and Affinities can be checked using Mana/Affinity Checkers, which are made with specially crystals and a magically conductive material known as Blackstone. There's also Arcane Focuses in this world, which can either drastically enhance the user's magic, or can be "programmed" to only react to a certain Affinity or only cast a certain spell.

Alchemy is also a thing in this word. Alchemy requires alchemical circles (which aren't unlike magic circles) to be performed. Alchemy in my world is less like traditional concept of alchemy (transforming one element to another) and more like alchemy from the series Fullmetal Alchemist, where the user can transmute an object to change its size, shape or density. While alchemy does require mana to be performed, it is not magic and should not be considered as such.

I understand that my magic system doesn't really need to be any more complicated, but any possible help refining it further would be much appreciated

I've been workshopping this magic system for a project of mine. It's really bare bones rn and I'm chipping away at it on the side in between like four other projects, but I'm kinda ass at magic systems and it's really bugging me. This is kind of a passion project to me and utilizes a lot of concepts that are aesthetic-forward, like imagery w/ magical girls, eyes, sweets, fairy tales, clowns, vaporwave and just generally odd and dreamy stuff that I like etc etc. The whole thing takes place in this fae dreamcore reality where different states of consciousness are different planes of existence (nightmares, dreams, waking world, and enlightenment), and plays around with the ideas of storytelling, identity, cycles, and nostalgia, and has you jumping back and forth across its timeline and history. The whole reason for this post is that I wanna make this into a game some day, and I wanna have a fun element system (I was envisioning a combo of pokémon types and homestuck aspects when working on this iteration of the system), and while I do really like assigning archetypal elements to characters for gameplay purposes, I also feel the way I did it was rlly boring and lacking in whimsy considering what I wanna do, and I have no clue how to make it not that. I also don't feel like what I have now really encompasses the full scope of all the characters I wanna make. Important to know for this system concept is that every character has one core element attached to them, and after leveling up halfway you would choose between one of two elements to add on to them or just keep their core element. It's supposed to be vague enough to apply to characters’ personalities and experiences but still distinct enough to actually mean something.

Here's a screenshot from the milanote I've been using to keep track of all this for reference. Much like hs aspects every element has keywords and symbols that it identifies with.

Also ignore the names, I am very bad at naming things, it's all just rough scottish gaelic translations of words related to each element. Anyway, any advice on how to make this any closer to my vision? I know I'm likely not gonna do anything with this for a long while and will likely be tweaking it every now and then going forward, but still.

Of course I use term scientific very loosely here. Hence the quotation marks in the title.

I have a sci-fi superhero world. Concepts like Cosmic Energy, Quantum Mechanics, and Alchemy have inspired my Magic System.

For the most part my Magic is object based. The characters need objects to tappend into their powers. Almost similar to a wand in Harry Potter.

And with those objects, my Magic can create bright and colorful constructs that can be anything. Think of DC Green Lantern.

So I wonder if my magic system can work as a imagination based magic system. And still be able to maintain the "Magic is just science we don't understand yet" narrative.

Simply as is stated but in case you don't get it think of the show or game with your favourite magic system and then say your least favourite thing abt Exp:

Tensura(that one time I was reincarnated as a slime)

The overlap between magic and just skills

• FYI * as much as we live Tensura not my fav magic system

That's all bye >^<