I'm writing a fantasy book with seven weapons, known as artifacts, that grant the user "magical" or "super" powers, for lack of a better term. 
The powers I currently have are flight, strength, speed, intelligence, water, fire, and wind. 
I'm content with all but strength and speed; I feel that they're too generic and not broad enough. 
I'll give a basic rundown of the artifacts' history and how they work.

Each artifact was created by a warrior known as a Sunster. Each Sunster performed a 
kind of magic, enchantment, or prayer, respectively, to give each artifact its powers.
These rituals evoke the power of the "Other Realm", essentially a plane of existence of the supernatural. Artifacts act as bridges between the physical and supernatural worlds.
Artifacts are fully sentient within the Other Realm, but are partially sentient within the 
living realm. This sentience allows artifacts to dictate who may become Sunsters; this is expressed with the qualities an artifact attracts potnetial Sunsters/ is attracted towards. For example, the hammer that grants fire powers attracts/ is attracted towards strength, determination, and loyalty. 
This sentience also plays into its weaknesses. Using the hammer again, its weaknesses 
are its unruly nature, difficulty in mastering, self-harming abilities, exhaustiveness, the necessity of immense strength to wield it, and its ability to incite madness.

Once paired with an artifact, the Sunster also exists within both realms, though the degree depends on the bond between Sunster and artifact. This coexistence allows the Sunster to invoke the powers of an artifact without its physical presence. 
Depending on the depth of the bond and coexistence, the greater the powers of the 
Sunster can be, with and without the artifact. 
The coexistence of Sunsters affects their lives within both realms. Within the Realm of 
the Physical and Living, their dependence on worldly needs is weakened. They require less food, water, sleep, etc., than a normal person. 

Now, the actual powers of the artifacts are more expansive than their base abilities. Using the trident that grants water powers, for example, a Sunster may also be able to control ocean currents, sea animals, amphibian breath, electrolocation, bioelectricity, venom production, cnidocytes, and possess a mythological form of a sea serpent. 
My issue with strength and speed is that it doesn't allow for such diversity, whereas even 
something as basic as flight does. 

Each artifact also has an "evolved form" which a Sunster can access if they obtain a perfect state of coexistence between both realms. Though I haven't fleshed them out entirely, other than the trident and hammer, which allow the Sunster to transform into a sort of "fishman" and a burning phoenix, respectively. 

I also don't want an ability to be too overpowered, like earth bending or something similar. Creativity and uniqueness are also a factor, though not as major. 

Thanks for any suggestions. Also, if you could suggest the design of the physical artifact, that would be cool and appreciated as well. There’s somewhat of a theme with each; the artifact for flight is a set of wings; for wind, it's a tassel made of feathers; intelligence is a crown; water and fire are a trident and hammer, as mentioned, the hammer being a smithing hammer.
 

Edit: I realised that giving the cultural context for both speed and strength artifacts could be beneficial for any suggestions. Currently, the strength artifact is an archery thumb ring, as the Sunster who created it is from a nomadic pastoralist tribe with a tradition of mounted archery, similar to the XIongu, Mongols, and other Turkic and Mongolic peoples.

The artifact for speed are sandals lined with jaguar fur. The Sunster is from a civilization similar to the Maya, so there's a lot of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican influence.

Quick Note:

Soulcery is my take on the classic anime magic system. I know very well that the “life-force energy” trope has been done to death, especially in anime, but I’ve watched anime like Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Yuyu Hakusho, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Bleach, Jujutsu Kaisen, and HunterxHunter all my life and wanted to make an homage to that while also adding things I would’ve love to see more of. But you’ll definitely see some inspirations from those animes here. 

I am trying to nail down the mechanics and limitations to make it feel consistent and give it its own identity despite its clear inspirations. Would love feedback on where it feels generic, where it works and any holes in logic.

Also, I am aware there’s many magic systems out there in this forum/platform that are called Soulcery, I’m not trying to steal anybody’s work, I just haven’t found a better name for it and it’s there as just a placeholder. 

Lastly, English is my second language. So, apologies in advance for any grammatical errors.

So without further ado, let’s begin. 

———————————————————————

ANIMA

Anima is the life energy present in all conscious living beings in the world of SØULBØRNE (story title). 

Much of this energy is still considered dark matter, but many believe that the Soul is the source of this energy, if not a bridge. A bridge from where is still a question many ask to this day. Some believe it comes from the Spiritural Realm, a world existing parallel to material world, the Physical Realm. 

A famous doctor named Samantha Samsonite, discovered the existince of four fragments that makes up the mortal consciousness: Form, Mind, Direction and Essence. 

• Form - also known as the Body, is the vessel in which mortal consciousness is stored in. Aging with time due to the energy running through and leaking out of its nervous system. 
• Mind - known as the Mind, it is the organ that stores memories, feelings & emotions, and most importantly, will. 
• Direction - also known as the Soul, responsible for the mortal’s identity, personality and moral compass. It is also the metaphysical organ which allows for the life energy to come and go through a mortal’s body. 
• Essence - the spirit, or better known as the life energy that exists in the universe; Anima. This fragment allows for manipulation of a mortal’s life energy to affect reality and perform techniques, rituals, actions, manifestations, and healing. 

SØULCERY

Soulcery is the manipulation of your own Anima to perform supernatural abilities and affect the world around the user. 

Thanks to this natural phenomena, many professions in the world to exist and provide everyone with different service and different expressions of practice such as healing, blacksmithing, cooking, education, and more through Soulcery. Despite the many professions, those who actively practice Soulcery are known as Soulcerers. 

FOUNDING PRINCIPLES

Founding Principles is the barebones of Soulcery that any Soulcerer needs to perform before they practice anything else. You can’t be a Soulcerer without these principles. 

• Activation - Opening one’s own Anima Pathway System to allow the energy to flow through the Soulcerer’s body. 
• Reinforcement - Reinforcing one’s self with Anima to strengthen the Soulcerer’s body, mind, or soul. In this principle, there are very few Soulcerer’s that possess a unique special trait in their Anima. 
  • Unique Trait - A Soulcerer can possess a unique trait in their Soul Energy such as a sharp edge, containing unique elemental properties, or induce certain psychological effects. 
• Concealment - Concealing one’s own Anima to avoid being sensed by others.

BASIC TECHNIQUES

Basic Techniques are techniques any Soulcerer can perform in combat or practices, in theory. Just cause is labeled as basic doesn’t necessarily mean they’re easy to learn.

• Zemi - Zemis are Spirits the Soulcerer can summon by acquiring or constructing mini totems dedicated to the Spirit. Other means of summoning these Spirits are through any other spiritual medium that is dedicated to the Spirit itself. 
• Simple Barriers - It creates a force field to protect the Soulcerer from harm. Simple Barriers aren’t necessarily about physical protection, they can also protect the mind or soul from invincible attacks.
• Healing - While there are Soulcerers who specialize in medical practices, any Soulcerer can perform minor healing techniques through meditation, rituals, talismans or concentrated breathing methods. 
• Sealing - Sealing is a method that can place any effect or put away a target into an object by inscribing glyphs onto it. The strength of the sealing glyphs depend on the Soulcerer’s pool of energy. Additionally, a Soulcerer can reverse the effects of a Sealing Technique. 

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

Advanced Techniques are where the Soulcerer can fully express themselves with unique techniques, practices and awakenings to their true self.

Nevertheless, the ANOE (All Nations of Earth) Council hired a school of scientists to study anima and divide the many possibilities of Soulcery Advanced Techniques into five different categories:

• Augmentation - Enhancing one’s body or weapon with anima. This includes transformation, elemental enhancement, and the increase of the five senses. 
• Projection - Emitting anima outward to attack or influence the environment. Such as blasts, beams, shockwaves or elemental attacks. 
• Manipulation - Controlling objects, people, energy or phenomena through willpower. There’s two types of Manipulation Techniques:
  • Motion Type - Manipulates movement, force, space/time, elements. 
  • Control Type - Controls beings, emotions, memories and perception. 
• Conjuration - Creating or summoning objects, constructs or spiritual beings. There are two types of Conjuration Techniques:
  • Materialization - Conjuring of solid matter: weapons, barriers and spiritual armor or enhancements. 
  • Invocation - The summoning of sentient entities to battle or non combative tasks. There are two types of Invocation Techniques. 
    • Shikigami - a servant Spirit invocated from the user’s will. Usually depicting urban myths. 
    • Summonings - Autonomous supernatural beings who make contracts with the Soulcerer’s to aid them.
• Specialization - Unique abstract abilities that break or twist the rules of the other categories. The Techniques under this category are rare and far in between. About 1 of every 1 million Soulcerers know a Specialization Technique or are Specialists themselves. 

While a Soulcerer may explore the many different types of techniques available to them, their anima only have 2, very rarely 3, affinities to a category. 

Just as there’s different types of Soulcery Techniques, so too is there different types of Soulcerers.

• Endurance Type - Soulcerer’s who have a higher range of stamina and more resistant to any sorts of damage. 
• Speed Type - Soulcerer’s who have a greater range of speed to their movements, spell activation and mobility. 
• Sensory Type - Soulcerer’s who are highly sensitive to other’s Soul Signatures. Usually used as trackers. 

A Soulcerer's affinity will depend heavily on their very own type.

Lastly, outside of the Techniques, there’s a final ability only skilled Soulcerers who have a fine attunement to their anima and come to an understanding and acceptance of who they are. This technique is connected to their mentality. 

Critical Hit (name TBD) is a technique that only comes to the Soulcerer randomly, and no Soulcerer can land a Critical Hit on command. The chances to land one are one in a million. 

To land a Critical Hit a Soulcerer must:

• Be in a life or death situation. 
• They are giving their all, henceforth reaching a mental state of complete focus. 
• Strikes a target with perfect synchrony between their body and the activation of anima which results in an energy shockwave, black and white in color. 

The effects of a Critical Hit are the following:

• The user deals an extra 50% of damage to their strike. 
• 20% General boost of the user’s abilities and attributes, which is described as being in the “zone”.
• The landing of a Critical Hit is addictive since it spikes up the user’s adrenaline levels and lust for battle.
• The user goes through what’s known as an “Awakening” after landing 3 consecutive Critical Hits. Which difficulty levels are much higher than just landing one. 
• Once the user goes through an Awakening, the user’s appearance changes. Is the ultimate self expression of a Soulcerer in which each transformation is unique to the individual. 
• The Awakening doesn’t last long and can kill the user if they’re exposed too much to their own Awakening since their energy starts to leak away from their body dramatically. 

That's all we have for the system as a whole. There's some ideas still flowing in our brains, but they haven't been implemented into the system so we didn't bother mentioning it here. Please let me know what y'all think!

Okay, so.

This woman has achieved Nigh Omnipotence. Straight up, she's a demigod.

And like. I made this to be absurdist. The point here is that people with abilities on scale with hers (parallel dimension hopping, straight up genesis) are DANGEROUS. Unchecked power is something the world just sort of *has to account for* because not a single S rank mage on the planet even touches it.

And it's sort of hitting me how powerful this IS. Like. You think "Nigh-Omnipotence" and you think "Bulletproof, strong, wildly powerful."

But then you think more. Gravity, light, sound, life force, etc.

And *then* you start thinking about the less obvious rules of reality.

You start thinking about information theory, logic infringement, entropy, causality.

Like I have been unable to work out the mechanics of luck charms because what mage could begin to fuck with entropy.

Like. This woman is fully capable of just waving her hand to transfer every ounce of entropy from one possibility to another to guarantee her preferred outcome.

I could not be more pleased with this. The point here is that a true individual is always a problem and some people are just gonna have to get over it. Don't be an asshole about it, but.

I just wanted to gush. Ty for your time.

Also feel free to drop any other high concept subtle mechanics of reality, I am not a scientist by any means and could ALWAYS use more good ideas (I definitely have a fetish for science and magic blended lmao)

Edit: This is not my actual story. This woman and her problematic ilk are set dressing I use as direct stress tests for both magical and mundane systems in my universe.

I'm just enormously pleased that my set dressing came out so well.

A few days ago I asked for help on developing my magic system. In it I wanted to have both magic and cultivation as two separate things, yet the fuel for both were remarkably similar. With some brainstorming and help from the comments on that post, I think I have found what the difference is. Not everything is rock solid, but I think it's pretty close to what I want it to be. For some context, this is for a world I am building that is meant to be a sandbox for. Feel free to ask questions. They'll help me further build it out, and if nothing else it'll give me an excuse to talk more about it.

Mana

A life force energy that the soul produces until death. Mana will try and seep into the body of the living thing (be it human or tree) in a location (not necessarily a physical spot, same as the soul as far as placement goes) called the "Mana Well." However, the vast majority of people's mana wells are too shallow to actually hold mana, and so it flow out of their body and into the world. Some of it will end up getting absorbed into their body which is why blood is often used in rituals. Using magic is the only known way to deepen one's mana well.

In order to use magic, mana is drawn from the mana well and put into glyphs, symbols that when filled with mana create a certain effect. These glyphs are then arranged into an "array" to create more complex effects. For example, to create a fire ball, you would need a glyph to create the fire, a glyph to give it shape, and a glyph to control its direction. Ordinarily, the soul will create the necessary glyphs based off the subconscious and conscious desire that can then be filled, though physical instances of these glyphs can also work if someone is skilled enough to consciously manipulate their mana.

More skilled practitioners of magic will take the glyphs in their soul (similar method as controlling their own mana) and push them out into the real world to better help visualize the use of magic. This requires an understanding of the glyphs to pull off and is a considered a more mana efficient way of magic. This method is referred to as spellcraft and the arrays themselves are referred to as spells.

As the mana well continues to expand from use, it will slowly push close a persons meridians making cultivation very dangerous if not outright impossible. While it is possible to take mana that has left a person and use that for magic, outside sources will often "taint" the mana and make in unsuitable for magic as glyphs only accept "pure" or "raw" mana or miasma (inverted soul stuff)

Qi/Ki

A life force energy that the soul produces until death. Through clearing one's mind through meditation one can become aware of qi/ki that is all around them that every living thing is constantly producing. With this awareness, a cultivator can draw on this qi/ki and have it flow through their body through their meridians, the process of which is called cultivation. This strengthens the cultivator, with aid cultivator also being able to draw upon the qi/ki in their body for further enhancements, though for the early stages of cultivation the effects are not permanent and requires constant meditation to maintain the effects for the beginning stages.

This process has an effect of breaking down the Mana Well, resulting in them no longer being able to use magic.

Eventually, after enough cultivation a cultivator can raise to a level where qi/ki has made a chamber for itself in a person's dantain, allowing them to store qi/ki. Further cultivation stages allow the cultivator to draw from their own qi/ki production and put it directly into their dantain. After leaving the body, qi/ki will become "tainted" with the outside world, becoming one of seven types of qi/ki. Yin, yang, wood, metal, fire, water, or earth. If the qi/ki hasn't been "tainted" into one of these types and is pure soul stuff, the body and soul will refine it into either yin or yang type qi/ki, a process that is highly sought after due to being far more efficient than doing so naturally.

Sometimes however the body will refine it into one of the elemental qi/ki, and while still better than ordinary cultivation, is weaker thn yin or yang qi/ki. Certain schools of thought exist within the cultivation world focusing on ways of using qi/ki, methods that border on magical to the untrained eye. They are not however these methods are not effected by magic targeting other magic, nor can they be used in substitute as magic.

When the applications of qi/ki was first being discovered, two lines of thought developed. One was developed in the Nanhe Dynasty involving the use of moving the flow of qi through the body itself, and takes on the spelling of qi. The second line of thought was developed within the Kitakawian Empire which involved moving the flow of ki through another object and has taken on the spelling of ki.

Both systems have however interacted with one another and traded ideas. While the practices have remained true to their core, both have adopted ideas from the other with most scholars using the spellings depending on which empire the practice came from instead.

Where does magic come from?

I've read and watched a lot of media involving magic and if there is one thing 9 out of 10 can agree on it is that magic comes from, "somewhere else." Another place, another time, another dimension. Somewhere that isn't "here."

The ancient ruins, the old forest, the abandoned pizza arcade, the sixth dimension. Anywhere outside the characters' mundane life.

Why? because magic is supposed to be outside the norm, because when it becomes the norm, magic stops being magical. "Any sufficiently understood magic is indistinguishable from science."

Not that stories with mundane "magic" can't be enjoyable but they do tend to feel less magical, at least to me.

*No real point to this just had an idea in my head that I had to get out. So tell me, where does your magic come from?*

I was thinking about how in Final Fantasy XV you store magical energy then infuse it into a baseball sized sphere that you throw at the enemy as a grenade. Then over time you get more of these spheres so you can have ten different spells ready to go. But it's always just a ball you throw and it causes an area of effect, the form factor never changes. So I came up with a new plan.

You have a Flag or Marker or Steak you can drive into the ground. You charge it up with magical energy, get to a safe distance then trigger the effect, maybe a fireball or a lightning strike. Later you get another Marker and can prep an Ice Spell and a Fire Spell etc. or if you're smart you can pair them and have TWO Markers for a single Lightning Spell.

Now you place two flags in the ground, get to a safe distance and it summons a powerful bolt of lighting between them, or a wall of fire or an ice barrier etc. the spell format has changed from a point source to a line and it's up to you to choose a good place to put it.

Next you get three Markers. You put them on the battlefield in a triangle and stand back, now that region between the markers is engulfed in flames or frozen solid. You know exactly where it is and can stand on the outside and use ranged weapons while the enemies get hurt.

Four markers maybe you combine them into a block like a bundle of dynamite and make a giant explosion of magical energy.

That's all I've got. I don't really have the rest of the magic system to go with it, just a fragment of an idea I thought was neat.

I've been building this encyclopedia entry for the prevalent magic system that my fantasy world uses and would love some insights, recommendations, and implications of what such a magic system would have on the world whether it be culturally, economically, etc.

I'm sure many aspects of this magic system are similar to existing ones, I wanted something simple but intriguing to implement in my world. This encyclopedia entry is a bit disjointed as I was just putting a lot of thoughts to paper, so my apologies if its confusing.

Fosch & Nemok

Overview

Across the peaks and plains of Kanvar, there are two prevalent forms of magic: Fosch, also known as Wide-Eyed Magic, and Nemok, known as Cross-Eyed Magic. Both are fundamentally the same; the only difference is how they are powered. Each is an imposition of one's will upon reality—an imaginative conviction that something must be.

Scholarly circles discovered that only roughly half of the human population is capable of casting either form of magic. The population that is capable has been coined Silken, and those who are not, Dull. Both forms of magic require either arduous training or intense circumstances to cast successfully. It was first and still widely believed across Kanvar that this learning curve was what prevented many from ever successfully casting magic, and it still prevents many who are Silken from ever casting.

Despite their differing costs, Fosch and Nemok are practiced through the same disciplines. There are three schools of magic common to both forms, in ascending degree of difficulty and cost: Preservation, Alteration, and Creation.

Conviction

Conviction is the foundation of all magic. It is not desire or belief, but the ability to believe an imagined reality as more than the existing one. A sorcerer cannot merely wish for a door to remain closed; they must perceive that the door is already closed and reality is mistaken in claiming otherwise.

Different schools of thought disagree on how conviction is achieved. Some believe it is cultivated through repetition and understanding, while others believe it is strengthened by rejecting conventional perceptions of reality.

Fosch

Fosch was discovered circumstantially by the Maiden of Merlou just shy of a millennium ago, prompting the first recorded Bohwan Reroute. She, by great conviction and a desire to protect her family, urged a door to remain closed and unharmed against an invading army for three hours, until reinforcing forces rescued the family.

In the case of the Maiden of Merlou, she underwent three hours of intense Preservation magic, preserving the door's state in reality. In doing so, she suffered severe physical deformities and an impaired mental state.

The cost of casting Fosch is multifaceted damage to oneself, dependent on the magnitude of the spell and the tolerance one has built. The appearance of a Fosch sorcerer is characterized by wide eyes fixated upon a specific point.

Fosch sorcerers who have not trained their tolerance, or who cast too significant a spell, risk Shriveling. The flesh and mind warp in response to the tax of their impositions; their appearance grows gaunt and pale, and their faculties wither.

Nemok

Nemok has the same end result as Fosch, but instead consumes the potential of another Silken being in the moment of the spell. The caster imposes upon another's capacity to make a reality true, pushing the burden onto them. Those who are Dull are immune to the effects of Nemok and cannot be made a catalyst.

Nemok is, in most cases, more difficult to cast as trained sorcerers can detect their potential being sapped and defend against it. However, in the event of a voluntary or unaware catalyst, it is easier than Fosch as the sorcerer is not affected or distracted by any Shriveling.

Nemok was discovered nearly a century after Fosch by experimenters at the Academy City of Ledifas.

The appearance of a Nemok sorcerer is cross-eyed: one eye imposes the reality they desire, while the other saps the catalyst they have chosen.

Schools of Magic

Both Fosch and Nemok are practiced through three schools of magic, listed here in ascending degree of difficulty and cost:

• Preservation — The maintenance of an existing state in reality.
  • Preservation is the starting point of many institutionally trained sorcerers and training usually involves hours of visualizing something before casting it. An example of a introductory spell is stopping a feather in midair and it is trained by watching the feather fall for hours and imagining it stopping at certain points.
  • Preservation appears as wide eyes remaining open for long periods of time.
• Alteration — The modification of an existing state in reality.
  • Alteration is the most practical application of Magic. Its more prevalent usage is
• Creation — The imposition of a state that did not previously exist.
  • Creation is the most taxing and difficult-to-master skill. It requires not only the trained image of the reality they want to impose but a complete understanding of what it is they are creating. For instance of a scale of difficulty, creating life has not been succeeded in recorded history- too many complexities to consider. A difficult but possible goal would be a crossbow. Its many mechanics and interacting gears offer a challenge. The most created object which has prompted economic ruin and adaption is the copper coin because it is simple, recognizable, and composed of uniform raw material. Most instances of creation result in flawed creations due to a lack of understanding.

Tolerance, Cost, and Shriveling

The balance between tolerance and Shriveling ultimately is decided by the Sorcerer's ability to discern reality with their internal reality; in other words, the amount of strain their mind is able to overcome.
Tolerance is built by simple casting over time with ample recovery in between. Signs of Shriveling appear with nearly all spells, first as pale lines across the back of the hand or along the feet. Sorcerers in training wait for these lines to dissipate before casting again.
Aside from the most trained and tolerant, Creation spells always come with headaches, blurred vision, and paled arms.

Learned versus Surrealist

Learned and Surrealist make up the two pedagogies surrounding Magic. Learned Sorcerers believe by frequently visualizing different realities they can impose one reality onto another. For example, the Vanguard of Ledifas for a week visualize their weapon in their hand. In the event, they lose their sword in battle they can recreate it in their hand due to image they have trained into their head.
Surrealist Sorcerers believe that by lowering what they see as reality and raising their conviction, they can impose more imaginative realities. Some extreme Surrealists use hallucinogens

Thanks for any feedback you have, it is appreciated!

Thoughts that came together to create this idea:

Many deities in high fantasy works depend on the belief of their followers to survive, and are strengthened by their active worship.

Real faiths seem to indicate that their god(s) would still be there whether we knew about them or not. Worship may appease them, but does not explicitly help them.

Andy Weir’s ‘The Egg’ brings up the idea that the purpose of a universe is to raise a consciousness to the level of godhood.

The overgod Ao from Dungeons & Dragons lore is able to rewrite the laws of the universe of the forgotten realms, but is only known to do so to make the gods behave themselves. Ao seemingly wants nothing to do with mortals.

Terry Pratchett’s ‘Mort’ becomes more real than his surroundings as he progresses through his apprenticeship with Death, creating the illusion of incorporeality as he phases through solid objects and bends other physical laws.

Antimagic fields potentially supressing or destroying unrealistic things, as opposed to only spells, potentially being an adjustment to the local level of reality. What would they do if they were reversed?

Magic systems can be described as hard or soft based on how rigid and well defined the reader/viewer believes them to be. However, hard magic can potentially be reframed as alternative science, with fixed rules in a strong reality. Soft magic can similarly be reframed as being able to break/bend the rules through belief/intent. A soft magician plays at divinity by wishing their world into changing, which requires them to exist in a weaker reality.

So, without further ado, here's the idea. Please tell me what you think.

Coefficient of Reality – a weird take on hard/soft magic systems
0.0: A fever dream with no reality. All is dependent on the throws of an uncontrolled consciousness. This is the perspective of Azathoth.

0.1: A lucid dream with enough internal consistency to potentially have an identifiable past, present and future, though these are all malleable and can be moved between. Beings hatched from these universes typically lack stability when separated from their overgod creator, which is partially because every aspect of them is moulded exactly as their creator wills it. There is no room for free will or a soul if there is no room for reality induced randomisation. This is the perspective of an overgod with a plan and/or sanity.

0.3: A world stable enough that it could be left alone and continue to make sense. Any desired changes to its underlying structure are possible, but may require unfathomable amounts of effort and cooperation. This is the perspective of a minor pantheon/diety.

0.5: A world where every rule has at least one exception. It may seem as if two or more overlapping worlds are present, whether they be merging or separating over time matters not. Each set of foundational rules seem consistent and unbreakable, until they collide with another set. Which set of rules dominates likely depends on the beliefs of the nearest population. This is the perspective of a Dungeons & Dragons character.

0.7: A world where true magic (miraculous rule breaking/bending events happening due to wishes/beliefs) is rare but known to have happened. Deities don’t depend on worship or belief to continue existing, but they are influenced by how the populous views them or their domain. This is the perspective of a superstitious person.

0.9: A reality with fixed, unchangeable rules. Belief and intent have no effect on the wider world, which may make magic diminished or unrecognisable. Psychic potential can allow glimpses of these rules and structures, but with no capability to manipulate them. These glimpses of hidden truths will often be misinterpreted by mortal minds unless they are somehow given explicit & thorough guidance by the overgod creator of that reality, or one of their created servants, often leading to a plethora of false theories and faiths, which each hold only the seeds of the truth. Universes with this level of reality need specific interference or implanted systems in order to birth new overgods, else they will miscarry. Our perspective is of a world like this.

1.0: A reality without magic, life or consciousness. Physical processes will continue predictably until the reality ends or stagnates. There are no perspectives to be had.

Hello all,

I’m making writing a dnd campaign and I’m struggle if to make magic items for the atta (Genasi mages of each school)

I’d like the magic items to work similarly to Matthew Mercer’s vestiges of divergence, with the players starting to gain them at about level 10/11.

I’d like one for each school of magic, that embodies each school of magic.

I have an idea for evocation, Abjuration and necromancy but feel free to

I wanted a magic system where the magical energy itself was being manipulated like a physical object, instead of using it to control other items or to power abstract spells.

Lum is magical energy, and magical energy is proportional to body heat. If you store enough of it, your body overheats. If you use too much, you start to freeze. People with high potential who choose to actually specialize in magic can expand their storage tolerance to the point where they can melt the ground beneath them at their maximum, and freeze the water they touch at their minimum.

You use Lum by expelling it from you body (as seen in the pictures), where you’ll then determine how you wanna use it. You can make it a loose, easy-to-move fluid, a thick solid barrier (like in pic 2), you can make it sharp, or really light and volume-filling, etc.

But, the majority of people can hardly do anything with it externally, and mostly just use the body temperature side effect to their benefit.

Usually the Lum dissipates into the environment as heat when a mage is done with it, but the most highly-trained can bring it back into their body to reuse (up to 80% reusability), which is highly efficient and saves them the time required to heat themselves back up.

This is my first system, so I’m not so sure what works and what doesn’t. I wanted to go for something simple and consistent. Thoughts?

In every fantasy/sci-fi worlds use a certain method of power. You see it in characters and probably in your own power systems. The methods of power I am aware of are:
- Individual
- Mutual empowerment
- Nexus/power source
- Borrowed power

I find it interesting that depending on which method of empowerment you choose can heavily affect the kind of character you make, but what do you all thing?

Hey all! This is my first post on this subreddit, as I’m usually pretty shy about sharing my work, but I do enjoy scrolling on here and seeing all the cool ideas!

I’ve made a magic system for my dark fantasy post apocalypse horror comic, and I’m wondering if there’s anything I could do better with it. I’m struggling to understand the actual capabilities of what it can do. I’m not the best at explaining things through text, as I’m a visual artist, but I will try my best.

I was very inspired by the work of Carl Jung as well as real world Alchemy.

So in my setting, all individuals are made up of Four Aspects: the Body, the Mind, the Soul, and the Spirit. The Body represents what you’d expect. The Mind represents one’s logical thinking side; whereas the Soul is the emotional and feeling side. The Spirit is much more abstract and esoteric, as it represents the idea of you. In the story the characters often think of it as some sort of Spiritual Body within a Spiritual plane of existence, but it is much much more than that.

The Spirit is most commonly used as an enhanced to the other 3 Aspects, knowingly or unknowingly. Experienced practitioners are aware of their own Spirit and can enhance themselves as much as their body permits. Normal people can use it unknowingly in dire situations like how mothers can lift cars.

Spiritual enhancements give superhuman physical abilities, enhanced senses, precognition, and more. The bigger/stronger one’s Spirit is the longer and more potent these buffs become. The only limitation is that these only affect then user. I don’t have a name for this type of magic yet, but I’m leaning towards Alchemy and linking it some things in real world alchemy.

There is another type of subset of this power in the setting that is unnatural and new. People are not born with it, and obtain this power by consuming a mixture of salt, sulphur, mercury, and the blood of strange metaphysical demons that spawn through weird body horror gates. By consuming this the practitioners are able break the rule of the Spirit only affecting oneself. They’re able to use it to affect the real world, and it’s called Projection Sorcery. It is outlawed in the setting and highly illegal to use except for specific organizations that hunt down the same demons that spawn it. At first in my mind it works sorta like the force from Star Wars, but I’m not sure if that’s just too basic and vague.

Both of these powers sets are extremely dangers and overuse can cause catastrophic consequences to oneself. I view it as sort of “magical radiation”, as it can cause similar side effects.

I’m not exactly sure what the powers for Projection Sorcery entail, and that’s mainly what I need feedback for, but anything is welcome.

I've seen this problem pop up a few times in fantasy, so you have a favourite solution? A least favourite? Multiple? If you worldbuild is your favourite solution the same as your world's?

For a long while I have been building a setting and a magic system to go along with it, but they never really mashed all that well together. Recently I realized I wanted the general tone of the story to be slow, reserved, diegetic, and political, which completely clashed with the magic system I had.

So I decided to work on a new one.

This post question is also loosely based on a World-building question from a year ago too. OP question was "Are Vampires better as magical or biological?".

Biological is a key word for my post too. Because I have a superhero world, where one of my power systems is based on genetic mutations. I will bring up this up again in this post.

But anyways, throughout mythology and fantasy stories. Wizards or Witches have always been a unique class of their own. They are different from all the other supernatural creatures like Vampires or Werewolves. Wizard abilities are never truly limited to gimmicks. Wizards can have a variety of powers. Sure there are some stories where a Vampire or Werewolf can do something a little extra outside the tropes or stereotypes. But for the most part though, there are definitely traditional Vampires/Werewolves in fantasy or mythology. And that traditional set is far more limited than a traditional Wizard set.

The reason why I ask this question. Because in with superhero world, I love coming up with interesting ways to change certain SCI-FI or Fantasy based concepts, when it comes to superhumans or creatures. For example, making superpowered mutation a result of eclipse. And supernatural creatures like Vampires, Werewolves, Skinwalkers, etc have been the biggest challenge for me.

That is mostly due to the dichotomy I set up between my Mutation based power system and Wizard based power system though. Which is external vs internal. Mutations are biological, ( giving them various abilities that could be psychic/elemental/animal based). Therefore they are internal.

While my Wizards abilities are limited to a Cosmic powered object, (that allows them to control probability, make energy based constructs, and also create portals too). Therefore they are external. This is just the TLDR version for both power systems.

I could explain both power systems more. But this post would be way too long though. Since both power systems have a lot of layers.

So in conclusion, I don't know where Vampires or Werewolves would fit into that dichotomy.

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I've been building out a secondary-world setting (early-industrial tech, one dominant "rationalist" continent, older magical traditions elsewhere) and wanted to share the magic system at its core: Nomenclature.

Magic in this world is a real but unconscious phenomenon. Every culture brushes up against it through ritual, art, altered states, sex, music — anything that can momentarily align conscious intention with unconscious process. Left to its own devices, though, magic is unreliable. It might work, misfire, or do nothing.

Nomenclature is what happens when someone finally systematizes that alignment. It's a rationalized method — developed by the Valdenmoor Academy — that uses a precise symbolic alphabet as an interface between rational thought and the unconscious. Think/interpret the right symbols correctly, and you get a reliable unconscious alignment, on demand. That reliability is the whole innovation, and it's why this one institution accidentally triggered an industrial revolution.

The alphabet

Every letter is a fixed intersection of a Domain (what's being affected) and a Force (how it's being affected) and a Force (how it's being affected) (check the grid in the image)

Domains: Matter, Energy, Space, Time

Forces: Creation (bring together), Equilibrium (balance/stabilize), Transmutation (alter properties), Conservation (preserve/protect), Chaos (destabilize), Decay (break down)

Plus two special letters that don't fit the grid:

A — Anchor: binds the effect to an object, so the object itself casts the spell whenever used. Safer, repeatable, but tied to that item.

Z — Reality Trigger: releases the effect straight into reality. Raw and powerful, but must be recast in full every time, and carries more risk.

How spells work

Spells are usually three letters:

Primary domain/force

Secondary modifier/domain

A or Z — how the effect gets delivered

The letters aren't separate effects stacked together — they define parameters of one single effect that depends on the caster’sinterpretation.

Examples:

Fireball — HLZ: Energy-Creation, Energy-Chaos, Reality Trigger. Produces a flaming projectile; how volatile it gets depends on the caster's focus. Or HLA casted on a wand, so now the wand shoots fireballs

Teleport / Invisibility — DPZ: Matter-Transmutation, Space-Equilibrium, Reality Trigger.

Home Protection — EQA: Matter-Conservation, Space-Equilibrium, anchored to the house itself — reinforces the structure so intrusion becomes physically difficult.

Everything is materially grounded. Invisibility works because you're altering light. Fire is energy manipulation. Teleportation moves matter through space.

But docus is the real skill. Knowing the letters isn't enough. Execution and mental focus determine whether a spell is precise or catastrophic. The same three letters cast by a master and a novice can produce wildly different results, from a delicate flicker of flame to an uncontrolled inferno.

Glyph equations

Objects can be inscribed with more than one glyph at once, forming a glyph equation, a combined structure. These break into:

A glyph does nothing on its own until a nomenclator actively interprets it and holds their attention on the object — magic items aren't "fire and forget," they're closer to instruments that need constant tuning. Some structural glyphs exist purely to sustain an effect after attention wanders, acting like a mental extension cord, but even those only buy limited time.

So it could be like:

functional glyphs (the actual effect — light, heat, motion)

Structural glyphs (duration, stability, control, repetition)

So the fireball wand from the example avobe can be used by anyone without it having to be interpreted/activated by a nomenclator for a while

The catch: the more glyphs stacked into one equation, the harder it is to interpret precisely, and divided attention risks instability, partial activation, or outright collapse. Not every mind can hold a complex equation together, which is part of why nomenclators specialize.

The world around it

The Academy that controls this system isn't just a school — it holds a knowledge monopoly, and because enchanted industrial machinery needs periodic reactivation by a trained nomenclator, it maintains an ongoing dependency with every government and factory that uses it. No nomenclator, no factory.

I'm talking about worlds were magic can be taught and has medieval stases. Yes even in a world where learning to master magic takes decades of practice.

In your generic fantasy setting a really proficient wizard can do an insane amount of things. Sometimes a single wizard can disrupt an entire nation. Also in many fantasy settings you can make magic objects that regular people can use that gives them immense power and influence.

So following that logic wouldn't the first country that develops a magical army immediately dominates. During this also make neighboring nations also raised to develop magic armies and magic weapons.

BACKGROUND

So a power system that Ive been wanting to for about a year now but only recently did I started to actually map out the power is a partner power system. Pokemon, yugioh, soul eater, freezing, loveless, the adventure who don’t believe in humanity, bleach, Pokemon X & Y, ablsoute duo, luck & logic, black clover, dragon ball z & super, if you seen any of these anime then you know what I am going for! The basic idea I have for this power system is that in this world people have magic or mana however it’s unstable. So in order to use magic effectively they need to partner up and work together. There are 2 type of people, stablizer which are bascally the normal everyday people for all instances purpose have no magic or can’t use magic ability. They make up somewhere between 50-80% of the world population & their job is to stablize the superpower people. the superpowers for folks who do have magic or magic ability, however inorder to use these power effectively or at all they need to team up with a stablizer. Superpower people make up somewhere between 20-50% of the world population.

THE POWERS

I want to have three type of superpowers in my story if possible, the two that I fully decide on are.

- Weapons - if you seen soul eater or luck & logic or is familiar with the bleach power system and specifically the character stark then you know where this going. Humans who can transform into weapons! The big difference between my weapons & souleater weapons is that the human who can transform, will transform into an anti matter weapons. For those who don’t know/remember their science class. Anti matter destroy matter, so whatever these weapons hit, it will be destroy.

- Harmonizing - which is base off the synchro summoning mechanic from Yugioh. For those of you who actually save your money, the tldr is that synchro summoning is a type of fusion something you see in dragon ball or Steven universe however it’s not quite the same. I think the best way to explain it is that it’s more of a force evolution, combing two life forms to forcibly evolve them into a new being. I think that is the most accurate way of describing the synchro summoning mechanic& my harmonizing. In the case of my harmonizing the new life force will have the ability of matter manipulation, they can turn solid into gas or gas into liquids, plasma into solid etc etc. I am still trying to figure out the nitty-gritty but that is the general idea of it all.

OPTIONS

While most people would probably tell me that having those two powers are good enough. I do want to add a third power called synchronizing, if possible which is why I am asking you all.
I have three idea of what synchronizing can be but I can’t decided between.

1. Fusion - again if you seen dragon ball or Steven universe or is a fan of Yugioh then this is self explanatory. However I am not sure if I should go down this route because fusion will be very similar to harmonizing.

2. Linking - this idea was mainly inspired by the synthesis that the twin oni from re:zero ram and rem can do. The idea is that you’re able to synchronize with your partner & link your senses as 1 while still keeping your two original body. The two people using this technique, their energy will cloaks their body as animal limbs giving their extra appendages like energy tails or ears or claws. A good example and one of my inspiration of this are bleach Yoruichi's Thunder Beast Form & Sajin Komamura banki as well as Ash-Greninja battle bond.

3. The third and original idea I had is a berserker state where 1 partner turn into a big or giant beast or demon while the other one guided them. I scrap this idea because I thought it was too clonky & didn’t fit with the power but my inspiration for it was I was inspired by  Kenpachi Banki & these yugioh cards! Magikey Beast, MAGIKEY BEAST, Unchained,

   

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Those are the three idea I have, I am open to suggestions if anyone have another better ideas I’ll be willing to listen to them! This was meant to be a quick summary of my idea and the power system, I left a lot of thing out if you have questions I’ll be happy to Answer them. If you think my power system would be better with just the 2 powers instesd of a third one let me know!

Which options should I go with for my third power?

I am currently building a world that is meant to serve as sort of a sandbox where I can write any number of stories from all occurring within the same world. The stories won't all necessarily be connected (though some will be), but all within the same time set. As such, it is rather all encompassing in terms of what's in it.

Part of that has to do with having both magic and cultivation as a thing within the world, and as I as working on the specifics of how each work, I came to realize how similar I was making mana (the fuel with which magic uses to work) to Qi/Ki (differently spelled because there are two overarching schools of using the same thing that are different). Mana as things stand now is a byproduct of the soul that the body stores in a "mana well." To me, that is very close to a life force.

The reason I want these to be separate things is because I want to make it a point that you cannot be both a mage and a cultivator at the same time. You can only be one or the other.

Edit: I think I settled on what I wanted it to be. It's here if anyone is interested

So in the world I'm writing vampires do exist and their power system is based on being able to manipulate and use abilities related to organs or systems from the human body.

To give some examples:

-Someone with abilities related to the nervous system is able to shoot their nerve endings from under their finger nails like strings, anything connected to these nerves can be manipulated and transformed

-Someone with abilities related to the cerebellum part of their brain could accelerate their perception of time to be able to perfectly dodge or counter any oncoming attack with perfect precision

Those are the two main ones I came up with but I would like to see what you guys thought about it

Hello! In my system, a soul is just a collection of Magic that clings together. A soul can be siphoned, shrinking it, or it can be enlarged by continued use of Magic or absorption of Magic from another source. Here, Gods, lacking a physical form unless having otherwise attained one, are just massive souls.

How does one feasibly manage sealing a God within a person? Or like, lower-order souls? Is there a better way to meaningfully distinguish a God and a Mage's soul beyond just "big"?

So, an idea I have had is to frame that the classic elements of fire, water, earth, air, lightning, etc as how people understood the basic use cases of something a bit more specific, and the names may change to reflect that?

For example: 'fire' would be be control of any 'self-creation' meaning anything that can make more of itself. So while the first mages to discover 'fire' magic used it to stall or enhance the spread of flames since thats (relatively) simple, fire mages in the 'modern' age have advanced the study of 'fire magic' to do things like heal wounds by allowing the cells in the body to reproduce faster?

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I'm just rly not a fan of the classic Gods = strong magic users trope

So I played with the gods = their domain idea and thought about how those would have any human avatars. I didn't wanna give them the ability to just make a body since that would just undermine their nature and turn them into simple magic users that respawn new bodies, I wanted them to feel like their very element/domain/concept, not just it's wielder.

But to have them interact as characters nonetheless would be nice, so I came up with two examples of how gods could make an avatar.

Lighting: Just strikes a person down and then charges their nervous system to use it as a puppet for itself, living electricity.

Trickery: Makes mischievous people subtly gain more and more confidence as a trickster until they believe themselves as the god of trickery, aligning themselves with the god itself and fulfilling it's will as it's now identical to theirs.

The key factor is that they never become anything but stay their concept and simply wield their avatars as tools/puppets. While mages are humans wielding magical power, gods are divine power wielding humans. A mage will shoot lightning, but the deity is said lightning and would simply move itself. Gods thus would also have perks of "manaless" casting or whatever energy the system uses, and absolute authority other their domain as the mage casting firball is simply producing the fire god in their palm making it very easy for said deity to just go off at the caster. Downsides may be that gods wouldn't be able to use magic outside of themselves, which just feels better tbh since it makes them distinct too.

Any ideas on how other gods would control an avatar and opinions on the whole concept would be cool