You see, I don't actually have to make a magic system until book 3, because the protagonist is new to magic as well. No one explains it to him until way later, but don't worry I totally already planned it out and there will surely be no contradicting information once I reveal how it works.

Your last point about showing Level 10 magic while the main character is Level 1 is really on-point, since one of my stories starts with an intense competition between the magic users showing how it can be used on an expert level before revealing a poor young girl in patched clothes watching from behind a fence, wishing she could be one of those people.

"Everything's a nail" -- or in D&D terms, "I cast Fireball". "I didn't ask if we were fighting Fire Elementals. I said, _I cast Fireball."_ More on-topic, last year I did a Nanowrimo story where curses are literally the residual spirits of the one who died placing them (which is a hard rule), very soft-magicky (limited only by terms intuitive to each curse), and it starts with my main character getting cursed into being a monster (well, more a "magic animal" kind of "monster" but still). But what made it really challenging is that the first-person POV is _from the curse itself,_ who acts as a second voice in the main character's head that nobody else can perceive or knows about. Technically this means my POV gets more visibility into the setting's various soft-magic than the character should normally have, but this also doesn't suddenly turn it into a "hard magic" system either, because the curse more or less "used up" its soft-magic abilities on the main character, leaving it constrained in their new body.

I am very autistic, and that may be a reason on why I love HARD magic systems, there is something special about a rule or condition going full circle, or stretching a law to its absolute limit, the how far can I take this… I love the idea of challenges not only the protagonist gets to solve, but also the reader as they go along, how some times the reader, based on the set up of the situation, and the rules, can come up with different solutions to problems, how something this are the same the main character chose, or been surprised by a way a ability was used since they weren’t expecting it, but it also makes sense. Idk why, it’s just so satisfying.

There is another kind of limitation you can add to magic : danger from being detected. Think Gandalf saying that if he use fire magic, everybody (aka, Sauron and Saruman at least) will know that he is there. Or the way the paradox strikes Mages in the TTRP Mage : the awakening. It's not exactly a physical cost, because it's unpredictable. It's a threat : if the hero use magic, very bad things may happen, and he can't know what because those things have a will. Thus, such a limitation has another advantage, because it gaves more choices to the writer. It's a "deus ex machina" that is a consistent with the world.

The cultural and legal one made me think "Harry Potter", I've always said "this probably doesn't happen in the US's magic school" they're probably like "as your first class or protection against the dark arts you'll learn the killer spell as such spell is protected by your first and second amendment rights as the basis to enforce your fourth amendment rights"

As someone who’s begun writing their first book in the past year, these videos are super helpful and informative. Keep up the videos dude

In my book i have a cursed physically impaired protagonist who wants to learn magic that changes her reality. This magic is wielded by (what are functionally) guardian angels and wings are a symbol of experience, power, and freedom. In the end of book one, she overcomes a great adversary and earns her magic wings at a very young age, but afterwards she struggles to make them appear, much less control her flight. Many people told me to save the wings for the end of the trilogy, because when you get the power to fly you’re already godmode. And that’s a valid concern. I avoided giving anyone wings for a long time because it felt like it cheapened the difficulty of certain conflicts. But there's no reason to assume that flight becomes the solution to every conflict, when it's just another tool the protagonist needs to learn how to use and when to use it. A lot of games will give you a glide early on and then more advanced flight later. This opens up the world without cheapening the conflict. I don’t like stories featuring magic where the protagonist can’t do any magic until the finale and then they struggle to do magic for 2 more releases. It’s far more interesting to me to give them power and watch them struggle to control it or watch it corrupt them - rather than have them squeeze droplets out of a dry sponge. A good example of this is Lord of the Rings. Frodo has the ring in the beginning but it is only used in certain situations, and if it's overused it will alert the enemy to their presence and begin to corrupt him. A bad example from the same story is how Gandalf doesn't do magic until the fellowship needs him to, and then he conveniently disappears so he doesn't become overpowered to the story. But in these kinds of stories, these guardian type figures are very much forces of nature who guide heroes on their quest within the parameters they are permitted to rather than directly intervene. Another bad example of this is Rey in the Star Wars sequels: she magically uses the force to win every scenario and never struggles to wield it or control it, much less is she tempted or corrupted by it. The concept of a protagonist who is very powerful early on yet unable to control it would have been very compelling for Star Wars as a stark contrast to Luke who had to learn from the bottom and train. But they just repeated Luke's arc and took out all of his hard work and internal conflict.

The superman thing reminds me... I've had some truly wild conversations with folks who just somehow entirely failed to notice the main conflict, or entire a-plot of a story because they couldn't imagine something like an internal conflict could possibly be the main point. I remember one guy who swore the main character in a movie had no character arc, and it was literally the entire focus of everything.

One magic system I enjoy is in the skulduggery pleasant books. It's sort of a mix of hard and soft magic: There are some clear limits established in th beginning of the series, but on the occasions that those rules are broken, the readers don't feel cheated because of the way the breaking of these rules is explained. Additionally, neither the reader nor the characters ever seem to fully understand magic, due to just how vast of a group of forces, entities and abilities it covers.

Great video as always. I would dissagre partially on the sloppy buffet part. I really like when magic is this huge thing that affects the world. So when there is many different sort of mini magic systems it gives feeling of diversity. Of course if done badly then it is just a jumbled mess.

About the "everything looks like a nail" - thing: it could be cool to have the protagonist use his one signature spell for everything, but his opponents getting wind of it so in the gravity example the 3rd time they find a way to tether themsekves to the ground - and then the protagonist has a problem cause he's used to gravity working...

4:15 Like in Re: Zero when Subaru over uses his magic gate and he needs healing from the best healer maybe in the world, than he has to leave mid way through his treatment to save everyone from the witch cult, eventually destroying his magic gate beyond repair. Though he does inherit the authority of sloth from Petleguse. To those who don't know about Re: Zero it's basically a phycological horror story with an extremely weak main character that somehow manages to pull through most situations with minimal long term damage other than extreme PTSD. One of the best stories I've ever watched, though they do make it rather complicated to the point it's hard to follow sometimes with the shear amount of things that did and didn't happen to remember.

Funny i always thought the key to the dune magic system was genetics and not spice. I mean spice is needed for sure, but your genetics are more important. Like gebetics are the spells and spice is the mana.

For me, it's definitely when the system is trivialized by poor writing choices. ie: You have a magic caste system, but the protagonist is either good at them all, or has a unique skill that beats out all other types. Or, like in Harry Potter, you have all these spells and hexes and jinxes and curses had could be used in creative ways, but the enemy faction has the OHKO spell Avada Kedavra. You might as well have given them guns.

Another trap that particularly (though not exclusively) authors of hard magic systems suffer from is when they make all magic follow the same rules, they interpret that as basically just giving everyone the same power set. This is kind of a variant of 2, as it sort of implies that the level of skill in all fields of magic scale together (rather than - say - one wizard being better at enchantments while another is more skilled at alchemy), and results in issue 1 where it means the solution to every problem is the same because every threat is essentially the same but of more or less intensity. To use a superhero example, one of the great things about Spiderman's rogue's gallery is that that they challenge his abilities in different ways. He can't fight Green Goblin the same way he'd fight Doc Oc. Mysterio is of "ordinary" power but master of illusion making Spidey's strength the less important factor in the battle but relying on his senses vital. Venom on the other hand doesn't trigger Peter's Spider Sense at all so can't be approached in at all the same way. These are all different villains that offer different challenges, ensuring that Peter can't just approach every fight in the same fashion.

As a gamer writing a comic, I can only relate this video to the Every Frame a Painting video on Chuck Jones. Read/consume as much as you can (comics, videogames, books) and show discipline, since you can do everything, show everything, you'll be defined by what you don't do.

Kevin Hearne's magic system in his Plague of Giants series was fascinating: to get a certain kind of magic you had to literally risk your life. If you over used that magic--it aged and eventually kill you. Great series.

I'm actually trying to explore "innate ability" where my MC has genetic innate ability placing him leagues above most others, but has close to zero talent for learning spells. Because he didn't train and learn on time, he needs to use other skills to compensate, and rely on other people. Magic systems, in the end, are just allegories for real life and there are limits to everything and everyone, and we need to work around them.

I'm working on a story that doesn't exactly have magic, but the main character is a shape shifter based on genetics. He is a hybrid between a human and an alien and the accident that altered the parent's genes allowing the two characters to produce a child together also made the shape shifting possible. The shape shifting heals wounds, but the character's mass is lowered by the amount of mass loss that the wounding caused and he has to regain that mass to be fully healed. For example if he lost an arm he could heal the wound, but he would need to replace the lost mass before he could be as strong in that replacement arm. Also if he lost too much mass he could die from being diminished below a level that he can recover from. He had a brother with the same powers who died from trying to regenerate too many times without rebuilding body mass. His shape shifting does have the advantage of perfect regeneration which could allow him to live forever if he doesn't die from loss of body mass. Anyway, your talk on magic systems made me wonder if I in effect had some sort of magic system with this character.

you have helped me through my writing soo much jed, your content never ceases to aid me

Hard vs. soft magic depends a lot on how much access and control the main characters have with it. Soft works well if it's something the main characters can't do, and mostly see done in the world around them (in which case it can be just as mysterious and magical for them as it is for us), or if it's something they don't have great control over (if they did, then either they know how it works, so we the audience should as well, or it looks like the characters are just pulling things out of their magic asses. Hard magic is kind of needed if it's something the main party's going to be relying on and using a lot. We need to know their abilities, restrictions and at least a bit about how it all works for their actions and tactics to make sense. Or at least a blended system where we have a hard understanding of our characters' magic, but not about the broader magic of the setting.

Always look forward to your stuff, Jed. You put out very helpful content!

This is a great video. I've always wanted to write a novel but can never get more than a few pages written before the fear of failure makes me quit. I have this idea for a magic system where mages channel residual magical essence in the air into their body then back out into the world to create effects but everyone has a limit to both the rate they can channel it at, and the capacity they can hold at one time. More powerful spells require higher capacity and high throughput is needed for maintaining continuous effects. Going over this limit can result in horrible injuries, dangerous accidents and death so mages must spend years training to increase their limit.

Reminds me of a story I tossed out when the MC gained godlike power in the first few pages.. all his statistics were literally infinite, infinite strength, health, magic.. one of the first things he did was create a sort of heaven for himself to live in, bring his dead parents back to life and give them near infinite power and look into the future to all the fights he'd win one day.. all this in the first few pages of the story. There was no struggle, no growth, and his future was set in stone with him as the perpetual victor. Even his backstory of pain and suffering was thrown out. I still can't shake my head at that. So I say, never give the MC too much power or an ability that solves every problem.

All of this good advice, in my Sovereign Species story, there are multiple magic systems at work within the story, one plain to see for everyone that the main characters use, another more esoteric and soft one that the villains have at their disposal, that none of the heroes know the rules to. The two factions are so fundamentally anathema to eachother that even their magic systems are trying to destroy the other. For example, the Aldokk need to go through extremely specific rituals in order to sieze the Arek's power without dying, and even when they succeed, they only have access to a select few abilities, and even then, the weakest of them completely lose their cohesion, turning into living masses of fleshy paste without dying. Whilst the Arek seek to annihilate everything of the Aldokk, they literally exorcize objects that the Aldokk have imparted their own magical energy into, and embracing the Aldokk's magic, or even tolerating the existence of the Aldokk themselves, causes the Arek's own might to wane as their souls slowly erode from living amongst the Aldokk's presence for too long.

I love hard-ish magic systems where there are definite rules and limitations, but where those aren't necessarily understood fully in-world, nevermind by the reader. This allows both for well-timed reveals and for SEEMING subversions of the established rules. It's really hard to get it right, because it's so easy to shred the suspension of disbelief, but when a writer gets it right... *chef kiss*

Great video. I always look forward to watching. 😊

i was literally working on this right this second, you couldnt have uploaded at a better time haha

I'm currently working on my 6 book fantasy series right now... so thanks for sharing great pointers for me to work upon to make my book better each day. You're really a great person for helping out the world of writers. Thank you, Jed. ❤

Good advice, it helped me with my current fantasy book.

I feel like there were a hundred tips crammed into this video. In a good way!

Loved the sneaky Stormlight reference at the start as well as the Mistborn reference. Both fabulous series

OMG, sir! You are back!!🎉🎉

Great channel and video as always. Been using your videos for months to help me in writing my book series, and their overall great (That's what my friends, family, and small fandom say).

In a world building project I’m working on, the magic system revolves around some weird invisible matter which somehow interacts with the transmission of information in any living organism. Basically, when there is strong emotion or a strong wish or a defensive reflex in any living being magic can be triggered accidentally. So plants, fungi and animals have evolved to either have a more complex way of information transfer like a brain to have better control over their magic or specific behaviours to trigger useful magic reflexively. For humans that means, that they can cast magic with a specific goal in mind but never exactly know how that goal will be achieved but also that getting to know yourself better and having better control over your subconscious will directly correlate to better control over magic, not it’s strength tho, because that depends on the quantity of that magical matter stuff in your vicinity and your willpower. A simpler goal therefore usually creates stronger but less controllable magic than a more specific one.

I've watched a lot of your videos and they're always well-done! Thanks for all the tips! The accent is nice too!

First video of yours I have ever seen… I gotta say I really liked it. Thank you for sharing, I’ll definitely be watching more.

Very great insight my guy, I was struggling for a bit with my magic system and this gave me some great inspiration and actually gave me the answer to one of my probs so big thanks for that.

I have to say that I'm extremely happy to have found this channel because I never feel discouraged or ashamed for anything I write and if there's something I need to change I get motivated to do it, and these videos always stick to how you can improve without it being ridiculing and discouraging. I find there's a huge difference between people who are actually established writers and editors and the fandoms giving advice on what they like and dislike to the writers. They're so condescending and discouraging and seem to expect the writer to write for them and they're confusing because everyone is so focused on what they hate and eventually it's like - is there even a chance to write a good fantasy story since everything is hated after listening to so many opinions? I know you won't be able to write anything which everyone love but the part of handling the hate (because it's not constructive critique) after publishing a book is so scary to me.

i'm always amazed at how you manage to make learning fun!

Really glad I watched this. There is a fantasy story I plan on writing, but when I started thinking about adding a magic system to it, nothing really clicked. Now I realize that is because anything I could come up with wouldn't fit into my Triangle I have planned, or rather it would only check Setting, and not Plot or Character. But there is a plot device I have integral to the story that I can label as a kind of magic, just not a flashy one, since it entirely deals with strictly knowledge and memory. So there is no need for me to add a magic system, since I kinda already have one. It would just be a Buffet situation, as you put it. Thanks for the video! It really helped me sort out some thoughts I had.

Ah, Mistborn, great series. Really loved the magic system in that one.

excellent video. You have earned your self a new subscriber! (also amazing how successful you are for a man so young!) Im a tabletop RPG person(35+years GMing), incuding making my own systems - but now Im actually the chief code monkey of a startup game development company. Ill be passing on a link to this channel to the rest of the team and we will be discussing your content in our lore meetups. For what its worth our setting is one that no longer has magic, it was lost in a disaster - all that remains is alchemy, though there are elements that do not exist IRL which leads to 'magic' like properties of certain minerals. were hoping to get a table top rules book out before any computer games, but it really is amazing how much work there is to something like this when you sit down and actually DO it.

Props to mentioning Brent Weeks!! One of my absolute favorite authors!!

I missed you and your videos😂❤

Great stuff Jed! I love how you talk about Character-Plot-Setting --> Theme. The theme of my book, The Secret of the Maegi, is a class Divide between the very few people who can use magic and the rest. I explore this through... Character - It's a love story, and the protagonist is a hyu who is thrust into the wilderness with a mage. Plot - It's a mystery in that the inciting incident surrounds the possibility that the Divide is contrived by the maegi. Setting - The two classes are physically divided in their city, and outside their borders, other creatures struggle to survive with even less in the blight. The first book focuses on the "forbidden romance" and the discovery that it's all contrived, the system designed for those with power to maintain it. The next book will delve into a deeper, "softer," form of the same magic, relating its absence from the maegi's world to their obsession with control and centralization of power. What do ya'll think?!

Hi Jed! Well sadly I write in secret from my family, I cant tell them I like to write cause I know they wont see Writing as a real job. So I cant really pay for your classes but I just wanted to tell how greatfull I was to you and your youtube videos. My writing has gotten way better from the first time I started and your videos have helped me so much. I fixed lots of things in my WIP´s and you cant imagine how happy I am. I cant thank you enough. Thank you so much for being there by my side while I go after my secret dream even tho you dont know you are doing it. Thank you

Great video ❤

surprisingly informative over boosting creativity in a general context

First point springs to mind the existence of "Avadra Kadavra" Instant kill spell from Harry Potter with barely any consequence besides being "Evil" This comment has been brought to you by _The Best Fight in Harry Potter and why Avada Kedavra is a Stupid Spell. ukposts.info/have/v-deo/qaGol22CnqWfkp8.html

Frieren. I would enjoy your take on the pacing, magic system, and the “Beyond Journey’s End” approach to telling this high-fantasy story.

Great vid as always! For me, I explicitly want to avoid writing magical solutions to the problems and conflicts characters face. So I created a system with a few rules: 1. Your magic comes from the gods as a blessing of you following in their footsteps - each god has a different ability that they can grant, to those who follow their teachings. 2. You cannot use your magic as a weapon. If you violate this rule, you WILL lose your magic and will have to add that to everything else you have to account for after you die. 3. The magic enhances your abilities beyond what is naturally possible, but it is not absolute, nor is everyone granted the same level of power. As a result, only one type of magic is your traditional physical magic (telekinesis, elemental magic, etc.) and that got taken away from everyone for abusing it too much. So instead, the magic that remains enhances one's ability to achieve their personal goals, whether that involve knowledge, self-actualization, or the ability to physically handle the world around them. There's also medicinal magic and the ability for some to form a bond with an animal - wild or domestic - and have that animal become sapient, for lack of a better term. But as a result, the magic doesn't actually solve people's problems - it gives them what they need to solve them themselves.

the best magic system for me so far.....JoJo, every stand is unique and the author made it extremely creative

5:26 This is interesting, because yes, there are limitations to my world. Magic only works for a few hours at certain times, it doesn't work during the summer because of the heat/fire restriction. It does tend to tire a person out if they use too much of it too soon. Magic exists for a short time. They gain it around 12, and lose it around 40 when they go through the Phase.

I love your example of bonding with an element in order to utilise its energy. My own magic system is a more traditional 'pact with the devil' type, with limitations made clear in the early chapters. I never thought of a physical bond with an element, though. Very clever. My idea was a technomancy extension of D&D's clerics getting their powers through faith in their god. I've just been struggling with avoiding the "Terminator" vibe.

this video reminded me of another video about magic systems and how even the most mundane things could be turned into a magic system. i had a discussion with a friend afterwards and ended up having to turn baking bread into a magic system... it was actually surprisingly easy. i made an alchemy/summoning system. based on real world breads, the types of bread decide the types of beings summoned and their overall characteristics. certain types of ingredients affect behavior while others potency or add extra abilities. so a gingerbread man turns into a loyal servant, while a melon bread turns into a hungry monster that tries to eat everything. different alchemical salt types change aggressiveness, while sugar types their energeticness and overall spell duration, and so on. it took me not even an hour to get that far, showing just how easy it is to make a creative and unique magic system. and how much fun it is to bounce stupid ideas with a friend until it works!

For your first example of anti gravity, MHA did a great job balancing their character. She needs to touch the target with the pads on her fingertips, gets severe nausea when she uses it on herself or exceeds the capacity of ~3 tons, and when she cancels the ability by tapping the pads of her fingers together, everything stops being affected

NEW DROPP

Stumbled upon this video and it mostly made me relate to why I love the Wheel of Time so much. The magic system there has so many interesting hooks and rules that all feel part of the world. (Also currently on a reread of that series). But the video also gave me a few ideas for my LARP character that I'm partially rewriting. I will need to follow some rules because of the game rules. But I have some freedom in how to play them out. So thanks for some insights!

I plan on writting a story in the future, I thought of making a game, but I find more attractive the idea of making a series. So I try to learn how to write correctly and may do some trial error stories to improve on abiltiy once I put it at test

Or you can turn your bad writing into good writing by making your characters flaw the fact that they treat everything like a nail and they have to overcome it 😂

Babe, wake up! A new Jed Herne video 🤩

I really like the magic in lord of the mysteries. The more you use them, the closer you get to madness, and mastery of your abilities comes more with dealing with the side effects rather than using the powers themselves

I made a magic crystal that when used grants powers linked to that crystal (e.g. fire) but also has a chance to weaken the crystal slightly to give the user a perk (positive or neutral or negative) also related to that element. (E.g. fire crystal could give orange hair, heat resistance but also maybe a raise in body temperature)

I started watching these videos and got inspired to write my own fantasy novel, and have decided to combine a few elements between hard and soft magic systems. The system isn't really explained to the reader, but an object is required to project the magic. Using too much magic can burn, melt, or even vaporize the object and could even burn or kill the user. The most powerful magic is also not controlled, controlling the magic makes it substantially weaker and the strongest is simply guided in a general direction or use by the user's thoughts but can be unpredictable and may even make the situation worse. Certain objects can also withstand more magic than others, and the magic is purely elemental (aside from healing). There are some other uses and variations to the system that are not explained specifically for plot twists/ better character development later on when they are explained based off of character choice to use or not to use the variations.

I just started writing a new book somewhat based on fairytale, so the magic system is softer than what I’ve written before. It’s definitely a challenge, as I don’t like working without super specific rules. Nobody really understands how or why magic works in the world, and it manifests itself in different ways for each person. Difficult to do, but fun

WONDERFUL ❤!!!

im currently just struggling to stay motivated and intrested in writing my story, after a moment of writing it i get bored and want to play video games instead :(

I love blends of Hard magic and Soft magic. it is the best way (in my opinion) to have a "chosen one" character, you create a "hard system with rigid rules" and then break the shell occasionally letting the reader know that the rules don't necessarily work exactly how you or the people in the story believed, but also keeping things that happened possible with the change in the system. Like peeling a shell off a hard boiled egg.

I have a fun one for my fantasy setting. Light and Seed Sorcery. Light is the resource for the magic. Little pinpoints of light within the body of the user that augments their physical abilities when focused in parts of the body, such as focusing it into your ears to enhance hearing or balance. They're also connected by threads of light. The threads of light are the actual resource as the pinpoints can be put into a cycle, forming a circle as the threads build up around the pinpoints spinning. This is called a seed. The seed builds up these threads slowly and can be sped up, but you speed it up too much, and the seed will crack (will get to that in a sec). Every user has lenses that can be used to color the seed towards specific effects, usually linked to a single word. Most users have between two and four lenses with specific races in setting (sapphire goblins in particular) having more. Additionally, there is mist (foundation for a second magic system but linked to the first one), which can be used as a lens by encircling it in a seed. Once a seed is formed, it can be cracked to cause the built-up energy to become usable. Then, the mage can use the imbued qualities from the lenses or the mist used in it to create Magix effects. A blank seed, one untouched by a lens or mist, instead supercharges the physical effects of light.

My characters have innate magical abilities but they need extensive training, and depending on how much magic they can maintain in their bodies using magic could drain or kill them. It’s like every magic user is a container, or a valve and if too much magic fills or flows through them they can burst. Their are also laws about how magic can be used, restricting those who haven’t finished their training/earned the right to use magic and restricting certain kinds of magic users. Some of it is based on safety concerns and some of it is fear based and to control certain groups. Also their are certain places where magic can’t be used (different dimensions/out of body experiences).

Wildermyth has a really neat magic system. You can "interfuse" with an object, which connects your spirit to it. What you can do with the object depends on the object in question. Wooden bookshelves can splinter apart and be launched at people, metal rods can shackle people in place and things like cloth can constrict people.

The "no limitation"-aspect is so true and I had the same superman-example in my head. It gets so boring, when there's nothing at stake and/or limiting the power one of one character. And it is so interesting to play with limitations or what happens when someone steps over their own limits. Maybe it's a part of power growth or it has a negative impact.

The 5 questions at the end are very good!! Vague enough for other themes of magic but I was curious if you have other recommendations for a more science fiction themed story. Where magic can almost be explained through science, with inspiration like Star Trek and Star Wars. Kinda in a creative rut rn and looking for more resources around similar themes if anyone can lend a hand and link 🧡📺 Keep creating!! ✨

My favorite kind of magic system is one a mix. A hard system that is mysterious so you think it’s soft until to later find out it did actually follow rules. Not sure why, but I love the mystery and love hard systems that appear soft.

One of the most unique "magic systems" I enjoyed in fantasy books was how Piers Anthony did it in his Xanth series. He did it right, always making it creative... and *always* serving the story about the characters involved, as well as the overarching worldbuilding.

I think establishing where your magic system has to be on the soft/hard spectrum is the first step to take when it stands to creating it. It's so easy to get carried away by the prospect of a cool, hard magic system and realize afterward that it simply doesn't make sense in the world you've created (or straight-up undermines your story). In fact, I've experienced that situation myself. When I wrote the first version of my current book, I opted for a reasonably hard magic system because I had quite a few ideas in that regard. But then, I realized it was a mistake. Basically, the only characters, in my book, who have access to magic are those extremely rare witches who typically occupy high places in society, none of which are part of my circle of protagonists. As such, I established that it was more interesting to shroud them and their power in mystery, build them as that looming threat that could change the course of the story (and affect my characters) in ways few, in the world I've created, understand.

Love the reference to Brandon Sanderson & the book recommends!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Light Bringer setting// magic system, by Brent Weeks It’s based on absorbing light through your eyes, then expelling it outwards, green lantern style, with different people being limited to a couple colors (only 3 Omni-colors I think in the whole series) The drawback, is that you have a set amount you can use over your life, as your eyes fill up with that color. If you push past the limit, you “shatter your iris” and go insane. Different colors along spectrum are different textures and physical properties (blue = like glass, green = wood, yellow = plastic or clay, etc) If you’re in the dark / at night, it becomes way harder to cast anything, unless you use a colored flare and absorb that light

One magic system I really appreciate is from the Eragon series. With the exception of innately magical being like dragons, the entire magic system is based around the language of magic. You could just say "fire" to make your arrow explode into flames, or you could make figurative connections in your mind to do something like saying "water"->shimmering blue surface-> create a blue gem. A character's skill with magic is just as dependent on how much magic vocabulary they know than their actual magic pools. And while there is a lot of creativity to how magic can be shaped, it does still follow certain rules distance weakens magic (whence why a flaming arrow is better than just snapping a fireball onto your target), the magic needs to be done with intent and planning to not backfire (the protag almost kills himself the first time he casts magic because he didn't know how to shut off the magic and nearly drained himself to death), and more complex spells and enchantments needing to be step by step like programs to run properly. Even beyond casting, magic still is part of the world. While less than a quarter of the population seem to be casters, anyone can be trained to block their minds from mental probing, for instance. And because the language of magic is the language of power, no one can lie when speaking it. While you can find some flaws in characterization or developments in the books, the magic system remains the most fascinating for me almost 20 years later.

First-time watcher. Two rules of thumb I like to keep in mind; Soft Magic can be hard magic from a different perspective. Hard magic is good at solving issues. Soft magic is good at making them. When I make a setting I like to tell a lot of different stories in that setting, and even if in one story I explained how the magic works, it doesn't mean I need to in the next, especially if the characters don't actually use it at all.

My magic of choice has always been a free control elemental style. Mages can summon and manipulate their element as freely as they want as long as their skill and aptitude is good enough. Makes it fun to come up with combos like using earth and lighting to create a pseudo railgun or covering weapons in magic and using wind to make yourself lighter and more agile.

One of my favorite magic systems is from Mage Errent. The first book is pretty generic, but all the rest have amazing world building and really creative ways of using magic such as incorporating real life physics and chemistry

I’m currently working on a 5 book series, and my protagonist has one of my favorite powers: Atom Manipulation. Basically, they can rearrange the atoms of anything, and reform it into a material or state of matter they choose. But the biggest drawback they have, is that they can only manipulate what they can touch. Throughout the series, i want him to learn his power from the very beginning, but improve as time moves on. Like in the beginning, he’ll only be able to manipulate things that he directly touches, but by the end, he’ll be able to manipulate an object several yards away. If it’s touching the ground that his feet are standing on, he can control it.

I love the hard magics in Name of the Wind, as well, and how they look to us readers in our world of science. Sympathy magic, for example, where the arcanist makes bonds between similar objects to cause some effect. The magic is often powered by a nearby fire or other energy source, but if one isn’t available, you can use your own body as the source. Do that too much however, and you get the Binder’s Chills, which can become debilitating or even fatal. We look at it and say “Yeah, you’re using your body heat, and causing hypothermia if you aren’t careful.”

Also for your everything’s a nail example the gravity person could turn the opponent sideways so he flies out of a window and now there’s glass on them

I'm currently in the beginning stages of making a story with a magic system partially inspired by My Hero Acadamia. The sloppy buffet problem definitally stood out to me and I should be careful to avoid that due to my world having many different magic types.

The "No consideration of limits" hits home for me. I am currently building a bit of a complex system. Wont go into it too much but generally speaking there is one way of magic (as there are multiple) that is practically OP. It is on purpose that way as it is also the source of the main story conflict. Magic so powerful that it should not be used. And the main character straight up refuses to use it for that very reason but ends up having to in order to go up against the beings that do wish to use it, having to ultimately destroy the source of this kind of magic as it is far too powerful in the hands of people. That being said however, general magic in my story is also quite powerful but the MC has internal conflicts with it as they find it too "easy" to just get things done and with such an easy way of doing things they feel that it can also lead to mistakes being done far easier. For instance at the start of the story they wish to treat an Elven girl that has escaped slavery. Their companion asks why they dont just use healing magic to not only find out whats wrong but also to heal the Elven girl. The MC straight up says that its too easy to mistake one signal for another, what could be interpreted as a tumor might just be a false signal and by the end she could end up lobotomized. So they instead use potions and other remedies in order to help her.

The Name of the Wind magic system is very similar to a book that I remember reading in the past called Eragon. There is this ancient language where there is a word for everything and knowing that word gives the power to manipulate it. But there is also potential for it to go wrong if the grammar is incorrect or if the meaning of the word is vague.

The power system I made actually revolve around these class things just like nen from HxH but are way different from it. One of those class things is called 'Archon' or 'Knowledge' basically using spells relying on your knowledge. I also created ranks from each class and having the person with the highest rank have a weapons especially created for the power itself and when they are defeated they the next one get the weapon.

One of the most powerful spells I've ever thought of is 'Energy Redirection.' It gives the user the ability to redirect the flow of energy, such as altering its currents, dispersing it, or even condensing it. That may not sound like much, until you take into account how extremely versatile such a power would actually be.

I've long thought that magic/sci-fi systems where the scope of their capabilities is commensurate with the scope of their requirements are vastly grander, more satisfying, and more impactful compared to those that don't follow that principle. Certainly one can make a brilliant magic system without it, but it's still often a massive help. That's how I ended up with the system that I have: Its core tenets are that neither power nor ability come from nowhere, and no amount of nobility or goodwill replaces either. The demigods, unfathomably powerful as they are, witness this firsthand as they reflect on the monumental efforts that created them and the monumental efforts they must destroy to safeguard reality.

One of the most thought-provoking takes on magic I've come across is in Uprooted by Naomi Novik. "The Dragon" tries to teach spells to the main character in an academic way, and she makes little progress. But then, she looks into some notebooks he thinks worthless, which outline a more intuitive form of magic, and this works for her. This started me thinking... what if magic is like music? You can approach music through theory (a hard system), or you can play by ear (a soft system), or you can bring the two together. And what if casting a spell is like a musical performance, where you being your learning, your years of practice, your raw ability, together in the moment? "Stage fright" might cause the spell to fail. A virtuoso might cast the same spell as a novice, with vastly greater effect, but a very few might work great magic by instinct. Some might be able to improvise spells hitherto unknown, while others spend years creating them.

Please make a video exploring the force in star wars. I know its a sloppy buffet, and some of its aspecs are very clearly defined, while others less so, and i know it's a huge request, but id really appreciate it

This reminded me of this one story draft I wrote back in highschool, it mainly took place in a magic academy and actually had a character who was known for being special, some high ranking officials in the story's church believed her to be a reincarnation of one of the three Fallen (the three dead sisters of the Goddess they worship) so at the start she's known to be pretty powerful. The story had a ranking system, where 0-30 was poor ranking and where most mages were at aka the average and 90-100 were Saint class, needless to say this one character she was 100 at the age of 12 which got her a free ride. Well it is revealed in a sort of competition/exam arc that the Magic Obeservance Number Ranking only means pure talent and not how powerful a person is. She gets grouped up with the MC, his buddy, and the MC's sister. She goes off on her own and gets stuck because her brute strength with magic isn't enough to defeat a huge monster and has to be rescued by the MC who shows her another facet of magic: creativity She later went on to become obsessed in destroying the MC and prove how the rankings in their world were real and not just for sure. So obsessed she ended up becoming fractured in her mind and joined the local Terrorist/Apocalypse cult that was trying to revive a great evil wizard who died in battle against MC's great grandmother

When you This video has given me ideas for my own world I am planning on building

1:51 This can be seen as how a lot of authorities in the LOTM power system work, but despite that it's a great magic system that's also heavily lore and history based. If you want to read a novel that's good and if you have enough patience to read all the way up to volume two then you should definitely try out Lord of the mysteries ( web novel series )

I thought up a magic system with a combination of limitations. 3,4,5 and 8 come in prominently. Some parts of the system are forbidden from it's users, and the system itself is sort of sentient. It does choose wether you get to use it or not, but after that its free to leave you at any time. And even if you're chosen, you need to train for years to grasp it, and depending on which tribe you were born in, you can only use certain aspects of it. It's very closely tied to the tribes of that world. I haven't written it out into a book but its nice to fantasize

I actually have a way to counterbalance the 'instant' mastery in my magic system. I put instant in parentheses because it is not truly instant mastery. The system goes like this: There several elements that one can have an affinity with. The best examples being Fire, Ice or Water. If someone picks up a spell there is usually an average time period that someone will learn that spell. However, that is only true if they do not have the affinity with the element of that spell. The other exception is when it is involving the opposite element, think Fire verses Ice. With the elemental affinity the time definitely becomes faster making it seem like instant mastery. While the one that has an opposing element could take weeks, months or even years longer than the average time. To further explain I will put forth an example. On the same day a Fire elemental, Water Elemental and Ice Elemental pick up a level 1 fire spell, something like lighting a candle. The average time for most to master it is roughly a week. Two days later the Fire Elemental has fully mastered the spell and is probably ready to go onto learning next level of the spell. After some minor issues the Water Elemental learns the spell after eight days, within the acceptable margin of error. However, due it ice being cold and fire being warm/hot it takes the Ice Elemental a little over three weeks to master. So this is how I have my way of doing magic is balanced.