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Working on a magic systems, how does it look.(Four pillars)


MountainKing

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  • 2 months later...

Hey, so this was posted a while ago and I figure you've made changes since then, but I'm new around here and I've been looking around and stumble across this.

I'm very much invested (no pun intended) in the exercise of creating magic systems. I'm also trying to build a number of magic systems for different projects and I've struggled to get any single one to be fully fleshed out like I wanted it to. I bring this up because one of the things I struggle with most is trying to avoid things seeming arbitrary; however, my first thoughts while reading your pdf was that although I don't know the basis for the magic or the world context around it, there were certain abilities that really worked together to create a cohesion that easily allowed me to suspend disbelief. I am specifically talking about Pathfinders, Gatekeeper, Locksmith. The theme of doorways, location, and paths is a very strong one. I'd say those are the standouts.

I was a little confused on what exactly where the Four Pillars. In my brain I started to group things together, which I've found is a great way to avoid arbitrariness. I started to think of the three systems formally mentioned as the Location Pillar, meanwhile Scavanger, Thief, and Manipulator where Energy (dealing with the powers and energy of other things), then Peerer, Seer, Perciever, Weakeners, and Forgetters all had to do with sight and perception of things. Then we had actually changing items with magic. 

You do a good job of grouping the systems in these internal subgroups, but I don't yet see an umbrella that pulls all the different abilities together. At first, I thought about location being the lynchpin. This works really well for the first three systems but doesn't include the powers dealing with other people's powers and energy. Some of the perception ones do align with the location lynchpin but also are able to alter people and things. Same deal with Transformation. 

Overall, my thoughts are that you have the right pieces, you just need to organize them differently. Perhaps even create more limitations surrounding a shared property, which all the magic interact with, or maybe just groups of them. Think Stormlight, the lynchpin for all the systems are (mostly) natural forces. But you can also pull a Mistborn and have multiple lynchpins in the organization (internal, external) and a series of categories. I think perhaps you're leaning more towards the Mistborn route but I think it could work both ways. 

You could even completely separate magic systems so there is less pressure to make certain powers work in cohesion with others.

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Thanks, I'm actually thinking about getting rid of the last two pillars just because they really don't work with the first two pillars or I might just change the mechanics of essence so that they do work, but then i will have to alter the pillars anyways. Right now the my working idea of how essence works is if a peerer looks at a sword the peerer would get ideas such as sharp or metal, and if it was a ceremonial blade, they would get things like the family's name or the family's religion, but if it was a blade used in a war then a peerer might get things like war, blood, and violence. But this causes so many problems for the last two pillars because how can you transform a sword used in a war into a knife if the concepts stored in either the sword or the knife's essence can both be sharp, cold, blood, and murder, but it also would allow forgetters and transformers to store fake concepts in items like a gun that was used to commit a massacre appear as if it was only used for hunting. So I will probably rework the last pillar and only allow transforming things in only extreme cases.

I'm also working on other magic systems, I'm designing one where if your focus(a crystal) touches another crystalline or reflective surface you can create a portal to somewhere near you, but if it touches non crystalline or not reflexives surface your pulled towards it.

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When I first read the first three systems I got a strong sense of ley lines, location-based magic which used preexisting paths. So I more interpreted the ability to "read" an object as the ability to see lines connecting that object to other things instead of concepts it is associated to in the manner of Shadesmar from Stormlight. This would make for a great detective tool, for example, a weapon as you described could link to a stain of blood in another room, or if its ceremonial, it could lead to another part of the regalia its part of (the scabbard) or even the family's house. In the same manner, a forgetter and transformer can alter these links, erase, or create new ones. In the same style as Emperor's Soul, the less probable the link is the harder the transformation. I guess I'm saying the essence of things could extend beyond them in these lines to places and things (even people) connected to other things.

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