#hard magic system

[i-am-gaywastaken]

Boy do I love designing new power systems

But how the fuck am I suppose to design truly conceptual outer gods, the only one I have fully fleshed out is chaos, and the next one I'm working on is parasite

[captain-ultimat-doggo]

Hard Magic don't exist

I don't care what Brandon Sanderson says. I think that magic always IS just an unexplainable source that can be harnessed in thousands of ways and is usually inconsistent; because I think Magic functions on belief. NOW you may be thinking. "Captain. What the fuck are you talking about? you can't decide how stuff works in other people's writing!" And to that I say, hear me out, because this is more fun.

Because Magic functions on belief. and everywhere there are people there is at least an attempt at a scientist. Some guys who look at magic and go "welp, there's gotta be a way to explain that!" and then they experiment, and their experiments get more consistent, because that is what experiments do, you put in the same inputs in the same scenario and you get the same result. That's what scientifically minded people believe- oh shit. Well, you're believing, so it's working. in this way. and since you don't trust it to work another way, it's not going to for you. and then that information spreads. and since more and more people come to this understanding, they can no longer function as they are supposed to. That's why Chosen Ones rarely know what the hell they're doing- they cant. because if you KNOW what's going on, and believe in all these rules that people made up, then that's the only thing that's gonna work!!

The best example of this I know of is The Grishaverse. specifically, the last series, King of Scars. Where they're always talking about "The small science" and how they can only manipulate certain things in certain ways. Until you meet the ancient powerful Grisha/Saints who are gods- because they don't know shit about "The small science" and "Only being able to manipulate certain areas of reality"- Nah man, I can turn into a swarm of bees AND bloodbend AND call the storm. why the hell wouldn't i be able to- "Small science?" "elements" Fuck that, break it down far enough and Are We Not All Things? and what happens when Zoya learns that? She denies it, but when she finally accepts it she becomes just as powerful and able to do the same shit- because the only thing that was working as a barrier was the limiters that people made up! That logic works in every hard magic system. I will die on this hill. Oh, You read a Brandon Sanderson book and it's way too complicated for people have made up to make something incomprehensible to make sense?? GUESS WHAT FUCKER, BRANDON MADE THAT UP ALL ON HIS OWN. Like if a bunch of powerful people are working to figure shit out and find loopholes in each others findings, OF COURSE it's going to get complicated. Games of make believe usually are- but in worlds with magic that can cause tangible effect? Then Make Believe turns Make Real. and adults are really shitty at being imaginative and accepting "Oh well the lavamonster cant get me because- because uh, i have purple on!" at surface level. no, it's not the color of that shirt, it's the fabric and the way that it's woven and the fact that your mother died on a tuesday, of course! people are so good at causing misinformation about real science, imagine how easy it would be when the part of reality you're misinforming people about is based entirely on what you believe will work!!!

It is one in the morning, i'm going to go pass out now! fuck you all and have a wonderful time of day!

[herdsworldbuilding]

So despite my own personal statements regarding my dislike for complex, multiverse like narratives. I am infact like most people, a hypocrite.

So let me talk about my multiverse narrative.

This is a project I started sometime in high school, and it keeps changing every year that I work on it. I think it may be the project where I have done the most overhauls on.

There is no garentee I will not overhaul it entirely again in the future. But that will be then, this is now.

So even though it is a constantly changing project, I will share the oldest remaining a (and most consistent part of this project) Witches.

Witches are rare, shapeshifting beings. Able to transform into many things. Though they all have a unique familiar.

This familiar is what they are named for… ie the wolf witch, the chameleon witch or the cat witch, gryphon witch So on and so forth.

Witches for this setting are not born they are made. Quite purposely mind you. As it would be difficult if not impossible to make a witch without all parties consenting to it.

A consensual deal with the devil per-say.

The reason for this is because of how magic naturally works.

There are three kinds of majics. Major majics, middle magics and minor magics.

Under normal circumstances stances major magics like the kind that witches perform are deadly to most beings so minor magics are instead used

See even with minor magic it is done by cooperating with several people at a time. Usually the safest minimum is three individuals. Two to cast one to keep watch. The safest large amount of individuals is somewhere around twelve as any more and it tends to be a too many cooks in the kitchen ordeal.

Magic can be performed alone, but it is difficult and likely to backfire. Especially with the more magic you are dealing with. Or in other words the closer to major majics one gets.

Crafting with magic is slightly less risky but not as potent when done alone, and there’s several ways to do this sort of crafting… but before I get off track.

Witches are the exception to casting magic on thier own, they can just throw it around whillynilly all they want. This is because of one simple fact:

A witch is never alone.

That is because witches make themselves. when they fuse their bodies and consciousness together with others. This horrific process results in a single individual and an offshoot (the familiar)

This individual, with multiple consciousness, two to cast one to watch. Can perform magic as they wish.

Witches like this draw magic from the worlds around them and from themselves, and that is where this whole multiverse thing comes in.

Magic is everywhere and in everything there is life.

And the majority of witches come from and live in the place where dead universes combined. To be melted together and reused until the end of magic. This place. The place where dreams are made and go to die. As it has always been, and never will be. Is connected to everything. The cosmic ocean if you will. The roots of the world tree. The brackish world. The home of the many gates.

So it’s from here that a witch can fulfill their greatest purpose.

See when a witch create themselves they also creat a magic system (middle majics). A way to easily harness that energy so normally inaccessible to most.

Normally a magic system will be used by the witch themselves.

For example the Chameleon Witch upholds a magic system that relies on color, change the color of a thing and change the way that thing fundamentally interacts with life.

The chameleon witch uses their system when they perform magic.

But others can also buy into a witche’s system. Usually the inhabitants of the brackish worlds may buy into a witches system in order to perform magic in an easier way.

But that’s the less interesting option.

The more interesting system occurs when a real world, floating out in the spiderwebs of the cosmos decided to try magic.

If there is enough magic around (at least a 1.7 on my scale) and individuals start to pull on magic. There is a high chance that instead of pulling on nothing they find a witch’s path that’s already been thread. As it is easier to walk the path already taken than bushwhack a new one.

Some systems are more popular to buy into than others. Like the dragon witches elemental system. Or the black witches deal making system.

A magic planet can buy into multiple systems at a time, usually having them fuse into something unique. But they can stay separate too or expand in ways unknown to the witch themselves until they learn of this new idea.

The old sort of magic the kind that sings universes into being, still exists and could in theory be used by anyone in a world with enough magic to notice the fabric of order and chaos that the witches use to create themselves. But why do that when your system lets you throw fire balls? Or even find the mysteries of the universe in the equally impressive minor magics? (I mean the name is deceptive, this magic can be used to revive the dead, grant wishes and control entire worlds of used in the right place by the right “people”, it’s the magic of gods and “soft magic systems”)

The thing about witches (and magic system as an extension) is that they are mortal. Majic is an immortal force of existence. To exist is to be just a bit of majic.

But witches are mortal and so they can die. And with them the system they upheld dies too. In some cases a similar system belonging to another witch may fill the void, but otherwise the system dies.

The likelihood of a witch dying is slim though. They are mortal, but they are also ageless, as by the rules of the chaos at the ends of existence. Where things like time and scale and gravity don’t behave as they should. From where you can watch the countless ends and existences die and begin again in universes uncountable. As gods and giants and cosmic dragons forge worlds and multiverses of their own volition. And elder things play games and battle over the scraps and threads of thier own universes that they wish to forge into new existences. Doing anything they can to prevent existences from falling into the place that witches live.

Speaking of dragons and elder things: witches follow dragons, because cosmic dragons are especially good at destruction and creation. (Chaos incarnate, along with their siblings who are Order incarnate) So if a witch wishes to place her magic system in a particular place she will give it to a dragon who will go to a world and from there spread life and magic that they carry to that world.

Elder things know, they tend to have lived through the birth and rebirth of several universes. So they are especially good at learning and unknowning. They are usually the ones responsible for changing the ways a system interacts with the world around it.

A Witches counterpart is a Muse, witches write the rules of magic, Muses write the paths of things.

[thehollowprince]

what type of magic system do you like?

hard magic

soft magic

Voting ended onJan 26, 2025

[chubbs-the-fish]

Headcanon time! Hollow Knight's entire magic system and specifically Seals are my victim today!

Soul is the natural energy that exists in the world. It animates living creatures. Only some beings have the capabilities to actually harness Soul to cast spells. Higher beings naturally generate and store vast quantities of Soul (with notable exceptions like void beings that can absorb and store but do not generate it). Some beings have an aptitude for generating Soul in excess, to the point they can cast spells easily (snails, moths, and weavers are all species with a natural aptitude). Some beings (Soulmaster and his acolytes) and artifacts (Soul totems) are good at drawing ambient Soul from surroundings or people and can use it to cast basic spells.

Seals are a very specific use for Soul. A Seal uses Soul to make a lasting change rather than a momentary cast. Seals require a Soul energy source to keep functioning. Some will tie a Seal to their own Soul source, but that can kill the user if they’re not careful. Most of these types of Seals have built in protection for their users (as long as whoever set it up knows to implement one). The more complex the Seal, the more likely it will be tied to a different source than the original maker to protect their life, eg having the Seal fail or break instead of killing the implementer. Weavers are a species that specialize in designing more complex Seals, knowledge that is passed down in their own communities and rarely shared with outsiders. Their particular form of Seal making is called Weaving.

Many smaller permanent Seals like those that run the tram system are tied to beings like lumaflies, which are odd beings that predate the Pale King’s rule of Hallownest and carry with them a surprising amount of Soul.

The Seal on the Black Egg Temple was tied to the Dreamers, who all naturally produced Soul in excess, who in turn had individual Seals on them protecting them and sneakily drawing Soul from the Dream Realm (basically from the Radiance herself, meaning that should the Radiance have died as the Pale King’s plan originally intended the Dreamers had the potential to wake up one day. This is also why the Dreamnail is required to break through their Seals).

The Seals protecting the edges of Hallownest are tied to the Pale King, but with his death he is no longer producing Soul to keep them running, and his vast reserves are finally starting to run out.

[kayathedeer]

Struggle is real. lmao. Hard Magic systems

So I decided to work on something a little bigger.

I'm Trying to come up with a magic system. A hard magic system (>>>>:3c) Hard Magic systems always seemed enticing to me, not to mention that the characters i've made have been born in a system that contained a Hard magic system. And if i want to write longer stories with them i need to be Legally and conceptually distinct from DND5e, yet familiar enough to the established idea of Kinds of magic, to ensure that my characters wont stray too far from the idea they emerged from. I wanted to split a magic system, not only by what effects you can achieve, but also how does the magic user understand the concept and inner workings of magic itself. So what i have right now is this Cathegory distinction:

Deific Caster (ex Cleric, Paladin, Devout, Cultist) - A Caster whose ability to wield magic is given by A deity. Said Caster does not understand magic in any significant way. Characteristics of Deific Casters: -Consistent: Deific magic will always produce the same result. Every Magical action X produces magical effect Y. Spell cannot be sculpted. -Given: As soon as the caster acts against the will of the deity, or offends it in any way, the power can be immediately revoked, even permanently. -Simple: Doesn't give the caster any Insight to the works of magic.

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Learned/Aquired caster (Wizard, Scholar, Arcanist) - A Caster who's ability to wield magic is learned over years of hard study. Be it a dusty old tome, or a Mage academy. Learned Caster Understands magic in a pragmatic way, as a set of rules, symbols, gestures, equations and components. Characteristics of Learned Casters: -Ruled by rules: The rules to magic are rigid. Breaking them is ill-advised, But a skilled Scholar can bend the rules, exploit them, to make sure the spells he weaves fit his needs. -Art of Science: As the form, flow and shape of magical essences was beaten into the mind. It is Easier for them to distinguish indivitual spells as they're being cast, which is especially magnified when observing other Learned Mages. -Speciality: Learned Mages usually will Master one of the Cathegories of magic to an incredible degree, Impossible to most other mages.

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Natural Caster (Sorcerer, Dragonblood, Witch, Warlock) - A caster who has been born with the ability to wield magic. Be it by the presence of dark spirits at birth, Demonic influence, Draconic ancestry or High condensation of magic. Natural Caster Undestands Magic in a way noone else can, as if a sixth sense. Characteristics of Natural Casters: -As water filling a jar - Magic Is flowing for Natural casters, able to be shifted, sculpted to their whims. Nearly all features of any spell can be adjusted dependent on need. -As wind midst the crown of leaves - Natural casters can feel the winds of magic, drawing towards the palms of the enemy before the spell is even cast. -As oil spilled into fire - The magic is so intrinsic to the caster, that the Caster's mental and phisical state affects the power and effectiveness of the spells they cast. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now i gotta figure out, how to sort magic by Effect, Like 5e's school of magic. this shit's hard man ;3;

[riggedbones]

seeing a post on ur dash u completely disagree with is so funny sometimes

[tarafox]

Cosmere/Rythm of War Spoilers

So the amount of information in Part 1 of Rythm of War about the cosmere is astounding.

Mraize discussing the demand for Storm light on Nalthis and Scadrial??

Vasher discussing the details about type 2 invested entities, and it's implications beyond the Returned to the Heralds, the Fused, and even Kelsier!!

Navani revealing that the properties of metal interacting with investiture are universal across the cosmere and how fabrials work!?

Even Hoid being involved in a real conversation!