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by Sench on Wed May 25, 2011 3:46 pm
A magic system. Where to begin? First of all, you have to ask yourself this question: do you want (and need) a strictly defined system of magic?
The thing is, it's extremely hard to create clear borders when it comes to the effects of various spells. Some examples:
1) Healing/resurrection spells. You can easily attribute healing to any of the following "elements": water, light/holy, life, nature, body. But isn't fire/heat also an important part of a person's life? What about the earth that sustains all life? As for resurrection, is it a manipulation of the body, of the soul, of the mind? All three? Then again, it seems like a divine magic, so it should be light/holy. But then we have phoenixes, who are reborn through fire.
2) Summoning/enchantment. A separate school of magic, a supplementary skill to be used in conjunction with others, or simply a term given to spells of various elements with a common effect?
Unless you have a very specific set of ideas of what magic should and should not be able to do, you will never be able to put it within the borders of a defined system.
That's not much of an advice, is it. XD Well, here's a system I designed (after reading Gramarye, I see they have a lot of similarities, but mine is simpler and was designed for a free-form rp).
The system separates the nature of a spell (Elements) and its purpose (Style). Spells are made by combining various elements and styles depending on their level of skill. Even with the same combination of elements and styles, spells can have a vast difference in their execution/behavior/use.
The three styles are Destruction, Conjuration and Alteration. The first one is self-explanatory. Conjuration deals with creating or restoring something - summoning, illusion and healing spells would fall under here. Alteration deals with altering existing objects - enchantments belong here, but some healing spells are also part of this style rather than conjuration, and some belong to both styles at the same time.
Elemental School consists of fire, water, earth and wind and is pretty self-explanatory. "Advanced elements" like steam, ice and lightning are products of the basic ones.
Clerical School consists of body, mind and spirit. Body is sort of a non-elemental physical manipulation magic, but it also has elements of "life" and "death" magics (such as healing or a curse that affects one's body). Mind magic deals with the minds of living creatures. Spirit magic deals with the spiritual, supernatural, ethereal and the emotional part of a sentient being.
Then there's the Arcane School, the countless elements of which are less elements in their own right and more specific combinations of other elements from the previous schools, created to achieve effects you couldn't otherwise. For example, nature magic is meant to manipulate plants and animals (or other non-intelligent creatures), which means its spells may contain any of the seven basic elements (though mostly water, earth and body).
Finally, there's the Sorcery School, which only has the "element" of Sorcery. This deals with pure manifestations of magic and opens pretty much unlimited possibilities of effects. Though this is a heavily restricted element that only a few can harness at all, not to mention use proficiently.
That is the basic set up of the system, at least.
Irony is lost on those whose behavior is ironic. Isn't that... ironic?
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