My Scuffed New Magic System

[The Aspiring Archivist any]

Recently I made up this weird magic system that /i call Tilting, and I wanted to get you opinion about it. Basically, Tilters have access to 8 specific powers. 4 of them fall into the Light category, while the other for go in Dark. The main quirk is that Light and Dark spells form a balance. If they cast a Light spell, the balance shifts to the right, and vice versa. If you go to 16 on either side, an explosion of the related power type occurs and the Tilter is killed instantly. A Tilter being killed by over-tilting (Leaning) upsets the Total Balance. The same rules apply to the total balance, except 1) there are 32 levels of balance on each side and 2) the tilter who over0titls the total balance gets [insert increased power thingy] for 64 days, before dying in an even more spectacular burst of power.

So that's the gist. If you're interested, go ahead and look at the full list of abilities below. I would appreciate any feedback. If you think the whole thing is garbage, that's fine. I hope you don't but I did make this whole thing in like an hour so I'm not very emotionally attached. Also, let me know if you have any questions, this is pretty scuffed.

Spoiler

Based in Powers of Two

1 Person (Tilter)

2 Sides (Light, Dark)

4 Casts (per day, max)

8 Spells (C: Generate, Heal, Push, Light, D: Destroy, Hurt, Pull, Dark)

16 Tilts (Light/Dark balance, both kill the Tilter and release a huge wave of respective spells)

32 Leans (If a Tilter Leans, the Total Balance is shifted. On the 32nd Lean, the Tilter ascends.)

64 Days of Ascendancy (??)

Tilting is a rare power (hereditary, maybe just random?). Most who receive it only are able to cast once per day, although rarely they can do so twice. Very, very few people have ever been recorded to cast 3 times per day. Quadruple-casters are legends.

Each spell has four tiers, which can be achieved by casting once, twice, thrice, or four times at once (thus, higher tiers of spells are uncommon to witness). Tier 4 spells have major consequences if used improperly (such as awakening a conscious person, doubling a rupulsion spell).

 

Generate:

Manipulate existing objects to create something

Manipulate existing materials to create something

Compound elements

Create new matter (stretch existing matter)

 

Heal:

Heal minor bumps and bruises

Mend tissue, relieve pain, slow bleeding

Heal illness, major injuries, infections

Awaken (cause manic state)

 

Push (physics apply):

Light push on object

Hard push on object

Decrease weight

Create stationary repelling force (If doubled, no objects are exempt and repel is permanent)

 

 Light:

Create Light

Create Heat

Cause Fire (Excessive heat)

Dialate time (Cause heavy irradiation)

 

Destroy:

Deconstruct complex objects

Seperate materials of objects

Seperate elements from compounds

Entirely destroy matter (compress matter around a point)

 

Hurt:

Cause a minor bump or bruise, as if from an impact

Cause a cut, increase pain

Cause serious illness or a major injury

Knock out (Comatose)

 

Pull (physics applies):

Light pull

Hard pull

Increase weight

Stationary attraction force (same doubling rules)

 

Dark:

Dim light

Remove heat

Freeze

Compress time (Cause heavy irradiation)

 

Leans:

L: Flash of light, jumble, excessive heat, overgrowth and deformation

D: Dark bubble, disintegration (kind of), super cold, injury and damage

 

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

This is interesting and I find it kind of funny, because I have been tinkering with a balanced based magic system in my head, though it has some major differences.

[Luckspren she/her]

Does the Total Balance reset when the 32nd Leaner dies?

[The Aspiring Archivist any]

1 hour ago, Luckspren said:

Does the Total Balance reset when the 32nd Leaner dies?

Yes, sorry I must have forgotten to put that down.

[Lord Gregorio he/him]

This is pretty cool. I like it. It's a power that (Obviously) is balanced. Do they do the magic just by willing it to happen or would there be like hand gestures? 

[The Aspiring Archivist any]

6 minutes ago, Gregorio said:

This is pretty cool. I like it. It's a power that (Obviously) is balanced. Do they do the magic just by willing it to happen or would there be like hand gestures? 

The idea was that it would be pretty much instinctual, although there is some skill involved, similarly to Allomancy or Feruchemy.

[Lord Gregorio he/him]

7 minutes ago, The Aspiring Archivist said:

The idea was that it would be pretty much instinctual, although there is some skill involved, similarly to Allomancy or Feruchemy.

Ah. Okay. Makes sense. It takes practice but it was made a part of their nature. I will keep looking for any other questions.

[The Aspiring Archivist any]

AIf anyome has any ideas, I'm interested in discussing how this could be more limited. Right now, someone who works as, say, a Healer could rectify the unbalance by casting a simple Darkness spell on a days off. Even if they ended up getting close to overtilting because of how rare and needed their ability is, in-universe Tilter staff would undoubtedly be given breaks to replenish the balance so they could keep working safely. It could make for a nice dramatic moment in a story to have that type of sacrifice be made, although being in the presence of a Lean on either side is just a bad idea, so that probably couldn't work. Idk.

[Lego Mistborn he/him]

I would have all users of the magic system able to cast 4x a day, to preserve the powers of 2 better.

[The Aspiring Archivist any]

58 minutes ago, Ta'veren Kaladin said:

I would have all users of the magic system able to cast 4x a day, to preserve the powers of 2 better.

That was originally going to be how I did it, but given the insane power of 4x casting, I thought that that would be particularly unbalanced. I guess it could just be much rarer that I was thinking originally, but then you're pretty much going to have deity-adjacent magic beings, whereas I was thinking of a more minor system that could be incorporated into society in various ways.

[Lego Mistborn he/him]

You could make the rarity of the system to be 1/64^2 tie in with the theme.