6 Magic System Mistakes New Fantasy Writers Make

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⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Introduction
00:19 - Everything's a nail
01:39 - No consideration of limits
06:05 - Thinking you need a hard magic system
10:55 - Not integrating magic into the traingle of story
16:28 - The sloppy buffet
18:42 - Instant mastery
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[@CadeCraze]

You see, I don't actually have to make a magic system until book 3, because the protagonist is new to magic as well. No one explains it to him until way later, but don't worry I totally already planned it out and there will surely be no contradicting information once I reveal how it works.

[@VibingMeike]

Is there no magic in the first two books?

[@baitposter]

I'm guessing the joke is that the magic is soft in the first two books and the author is a Gardener

[@jellevanbreugel325]

hey, is this a personal attack or something!!! 😂

[@ZeroXSEED]

I feel this post in my bones lol

[@user-ey2om4qb9e]

Smart guy overe there

[@michaelhgravesjr9608]

I love hard-ish magic systems where there are definite rules and limitations, but where those aren't necessarily understood fully in-world, nevermind by the reader. This allows both for well-timed reveals and for SEEMING subversions of the established rules. It's really hard to get it right, because it's so easy to shred the suspension of disbelief, but when a writer gets it right... *chef kiss*

[@TheRezro]

Yeh. Hard and Soft Magic is not mutually exclusive. Not only they can coexist, they may be result of each other.

[@ianlindstrom2019]

Perhaps we can call those chewy magic systems. Not hard, not soft, but you best hope they made it right or it'll be kinda gross.

[@autisticbluesloth5244]

I think a good example of this would be the titans in attack on titan

[@Plaugus_Screenz]

​@@ianlindstrom2019time for my slightly undercooked spaghetti magic system

[@nicolassagrillo1442]

My favourite example is Virtuous Sons. Each culture does cultivation(the generic name of the magic system) differently, both in the perspective of their advancement as well as specific elements that they consider relevant, but there’s still a common thread of personal refinement and moral virtue and excellence being a good way to advance, even if no one can agree on what exactly that entails and what is the best virtue to follow.

[@Saint_Wolf_]

The cultural and legal one made me think "Harry Potter", I've always said "this probably doesn't happen in the US's magic school" they're probably like "as your first class or protection against the dark arts you'll learn the killer spell as such spell is protected by your first and second amendment rights as the basis to enforce your fourth amendment rights"

[@VukMujovic]

Would the 4th amendment protect you from the tracking spell without a court order? Would you be prevented from using scilent attack spells as that would be considered a "fully automatic wand"? Would you need to pay monthly insurance for your wand in case of litigation?

[@Saint_Wolf_]

@@VukMujovic I'm assuming the magic school, being secret and secluded, would have it's own jurisdiction and tradition, I doubt they are beholden to the NFA and it'd silly logic. But yeah, I feel like being found to have used a tracking spell would probably be a fourth amendment violation. Probably Dementors are heavily regulated for this very reason, as their ruthless and and relentless aggression would constitute some WMD or biological weapon of sorts.

[@highonquack6622]

@@Saint_Wolf_dementors are also certainly a cruel and unusual punishment. The founding fathers never intended soul suck as a punishment for murder

[@Saint_Wolf_]

@@highonquack6622 indeed, given the Specto Patronum doesn't take a toll on the user I bet not helping someone with a Dementor would constitute a crime.

[@manuelfriend4060]

This has me laughing my ass off at how accurate it is.

[@OrangeHand]

Your last point about showing Level 10 magic while the main character is Level 1 is really on-point, since one of my stories starts with an intense competition between the magic users showing how it can be used on an expert level before revealing a poor young girl in patched clothes watching from behind a fence, wishing she could be one of those people.

[@Manas_aka_Ciels]

Yo wait just from how this sounds I need to read it

[@GodRyan929]

I made it so that the main trio all have really powerful magic, but can't control it, or even use it to its fullest at will. Kind of like how Percy Jackson can hold back the sea, or choke someone with their own blood, but he doesn't because of mental restrictions. I wish I could explore your idea. A magic contest sounds so cool.

[@en4833]

@@GodRyan929 Percy Jackson can't choke someone with their own blood. That's pure headcanon. But he can choke someone with their own saliva, so that's something.

[@GodRyan929]

@@en4833 and their own poison

[@TheCheeseman1983]

A perfect example of this is the opening of Baldur's Gate 2. The antagonist archmage, Irenicus, demonstrates unassailable power right off the bat, exploding and disintegrating tons of opposing mages with high-level spells, before allowing himself to be captured. It makes it very apparent that the player's party stands no chance against this enemy, but by the end of the game, they have (potentially) mastered spells of similar power themselves, and can fight this mage on equal terms. It's a fabulous introduction to a truly iconic villain.

[@Stratelier]

"Everything's a nail" -- or in D&D terms, "I cast Fireball". "I didn't ask if we were fighting Fire Elementals. I said, _I cast Fireball."_ More on-topic, last year I did a Nanowrimo story where curses are literally the residual spirits of the one who died placing them (which is a hard rule), very soft-magicky (limited only by terms intuitive to each curse), and it starts with my main character getting cursed into being a monster (well, more a "magic animal" kind of "monster" but still). But what made it really challenging is that the first-person POV is _from the curse itself,_ who acts as a second voice in the main character's head that nobody else can perceive or knows about. Technically this means my POV gets more visibility into the setting's various soft-magic than the character should normally have, but this also doesn't suddenly turn it into a "hard magic" system either, because the curse more or less "used up" its soft-magic abilities on the main character, leaving it constrained in their new body.

[@vladyvhv9579]

Player: "I cast fireball!" Ancient Fire Dragon: "That ain't a fireball... THIS is a fireball..."

[@Magie-ug4jm]

there is no "I" in the team, however there are six "I's" in "fuck it, i don't care how big the room is "I cast a fireball"" :3

[@andano4055]

Wait that’s such an awesome concept???? Is the full thing available to read anywhere?

[@Stratelier]

@@andano4055 What, my story? No, I wrote it under the strict time limit that is Nanowrimo so I have no intention of posting the "full thing" as currently written. It has some neat moments to be sure but a completed plot or overall "story arc" is _not_ one of them. For example, late in the story they encounter a monstrous, chimeric beast and the narrator (i.e: the curse inside the main character) is able to detect that the monster is under its own curse -- so the two curses are able to sort of talk directly to each other, end result being the main character was able to befriend the monster, and by the end of the month that monster is now part of the party. For a creature that was intended to be a bit part for the party to fight (not necessarily _kill,_ but at minimum just escape from) this was a completely unexpected development, but it occurred too late in the month to really do much with.

[@andano4055]

@@Stratelier Thats understandable, sounds like an amazing story though! It seems like you’ve got a lot of unique perspective written into it, and I wish you the best with wherever you go with the rest of the story!

[@james.d.buffalo2469]

I am very autistic, and that may be a reason on why I love HARD magic systems, there is something special about a rule or condition going full circle, or stretching a law to its absolute limit, the how far can I take this… I love the idea of challenges not only the protagonist gets to solve, but also the reader as they go along, how some times the reader, based on the set up of the situation, and the rules, can come up with different solutions to problems, how something this are the same the main character chose, or been surprised by a way a ability was used since they weren’t expecting it, but it also makes sense. Idk why, it’s just so satisfying.

[@Purple_LoverXD]

I KNOW RIGHT

[@yurisei6732]

Same, hard magic is just so satisfying. Have you considered learning to program? Really scratches the autistic itch to see systems at work.

[@james.d.buffalo2469]

@@yurisei6732 Guess what carrier im following on college...

[@everynameimakeiscringe8641]

Same. Although I'm less down the spectrum.

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

Liking something complex doesn't mean you're autistic. Nor being autistic mean you automatically do. Don't make it your personality.

[@mecha-sheep7674]

There is another kind of limitation you can add to magic : danger from being detected. Think Gandalf saying that if he use fire magic, everybody (aka, Sauron and Saruman at least) will know that he is there. Or the way the paradox strikes Mages in the TTRP Mage : the awakening. It's not exactly a physical cost, because it's unpredictable. It's a threat : if the hero use magic, very bad things may happen, and he can't know what because those things have a will. Thus, such a limitation has another advantage, because it gaves more choices to the writer. It's a "deus ex machina" that is a consistent with the world.

[@Magus_Union]

Good point. Another "limitation" I like is the "world of cardboard" effect. Essentially, a character with super strength or powerful elemental affect has to take great care when using such power. Otherwise, they could cause unspeakable, catastrophe damage with their power and unintentionally commit horrific acts.

[@sillythewanderer4221]

@@Magus_Unionthis connects back to lord of the rings quite well, the Valar could easily destroy Sauron, but not without destroying most of middle earth, so instead they send spirits like Gandalf and limit their powers a bit more than normal.

[@yurisei6732]

That doesn't really count as a limitation because nothing is ultimately stopping the character from doing the overpowered thing and the audience knows the writer just chooses whether or not the watcher shows up. If you use it as your limitation, you can never not have the watcher strike in response to excessive power level, or else the illusion of the limitation's existence is shattered.

[@raizors1331]

​@@yurisei6732 Eh no. Nothing stopping people from breaking the law either. Soft limits are still limits. You can even build an entire story about how the protagonist keeps challenging the limit and spends the rest of the time running away from the Warden that comes to get them. Actually that's just your average crime thriller storyline.

[@yurisei6732]

@@raizors1331 The difference is that people reading crime thrillers are already pretty familiar with how "the consequences of breaking the law" works. Crime thrillers depend on the reader having a pre-established assumption that the police investigate crime and try to lock up or kill the people who do it, and sometimes the assumption that "law enforcement" is morally good, too. This is how crime thrillers manage to get away with almost never actually arresting anyone, especially when from the perspective of the criminals. When you're writing a magical punishment system, you don't have any of that. You have to find a way to make the reader understand what it is and give them a way to believe that it's a significant threat. The only way to do that is to actually show it causing problems, and in a consistent way. Like, imagine what crime thriller would be like if there was no such thing as law or the police in the real world. You'd think any character with a gun was massively overpowered because the only limitation on who they could shoot would be the possibility that after shooting someone, a faceless armoured monster might show up and put you in a room. Except you write it so that that monster never actually shows up, the worst that ever happens is sometimes the characters hear the siren that indicates the monster is approaching. There's no way to believe the monster is a credible threat, and therefore it doesn't really act as a limitation. The reader doesn't think "Oh he can't shoot his way out of this problem because he doesn't want the monster to show up".

[@yipyipyipi]

The "Everything is a nail!" problem can also be the counterpoint to another, equally bad problem: "I've never seen a nail before in my life." In this variation, instead of using the same solution over and over, the character(s) constantly neglect to use previously proven solutions to problems. It is boring when a character uses the same solution over and over, but it's also extremely frustrating when the character DOESN'T do the thing we KNOW they can do that solved the same issue last time!

[@LoudWaffle]

Yes! Very important inversion to point out! Also described as the "idiot plot," because the only way the plot can keep happening is if everyone is too stupid to solve the problems through the very obvious solutions.

[@thomasfrye6335]

For your first example of anti gravity, MHA did a great job balancing their character. She needs to touch the target with the pads on her fingertips, gets severe nausea when she uses it on herself or exceeds the capacity of ~3 tons, and when she cancels the ability by tapping the pads of her fingers together, everything stops being affected

[@mihaleben6051]

Bro that is just physics...

[@FranciscoPetrucioJunior]

​@@mihaleben6051What? They described the characteristics of a fictional power, not gravity itself, what does physics have to do with it?

[@mihaleben6051]

@@FranciscoPetrucioJunior this is written like a physics problem.

[@thomasfrye6335]

⁠​⁠@@mihaleben6051no, it’s written as an ability with clear limitations and a clear actionable activation/deactivation mechanism. It only feels like a physics problem because of how defined it is, since when you learn a lot about a hard magic system the amount of known variables makes it similar. It isn’t physics, it’s just also got a lot of variables

[@mihaleben6051]

@@thomasfrye6335 stage 1; denial

[@PizzaMineKing]

About the "everything looks like a nail" - thing: it could be cool to have the protagonist use his one signature spell for everything, but his opponents getting wind of it so in the gravity example the 3rd time they find a way to tether themsekves to the ground - and then the protagonist has a problem cause he's used to gravity working...

[@Ammiad]

Just be careful with it, otherwise you'll have an entire page of how the villain counters every previous ability that the hero used, like "oh I have this tether to stop your gravity magic and this roof to stop your sun magic and this torch to stop your ice magic and this enchanted armour to stop your sword summoning magic and these enchanted boots to stop your spike summoning magic..." Etc. etc.

[@PizzaMineKing]

@@Ammiad of course, this is only interesting if the hero really is a specialist.

[@InTheSky521]

That sounds great though? ​@@Ammiad

[@NertNeverlander]

​@@Ammiadlooks like "no u" competition lol

[@mahapatrasohamm]

Another plausible situation for the “ everything looks like a nail” magic is when it is used as comedic relief. For example, a protagonist can for a very short span of time, temporarily remove all forms of friction on their target. It’s low cost, fast and no direct damage but can disarm or trouble opponents. It is a magic that can absolutely be abused but the writer only uses it sparingly and only for comedic effect. I think it is brilliant.

[@Daemonworks]

The superman thing reminds me... I've had some truly wild conversations with folks who just somehow entirely failed to notice the main conflict, or entire a-plot of a story because they couldn't imagine something like an internal conflict could possibly be the main point. I remember one guy who swore the main character in a movie had no character arc, and it was literally the entire focus of everything.

[@danthespaceman9747]

Reminds me of how battle shonen fans will equate power ups to character development. While the two can interact, you can have a character not grow in power and grow as a person.

[@LoveOlsson98]

​@@danthespaceman9747 This reminded me of some comments I saw under a video about how shonen manga/anime often isn't great at representing, or even giving narrative space to, women. The video brought up some good and bad examples etc and at some points mention "strong female characters". Fairy Tail is brought up as a not very good example. Like half the comments are just different variations of "actually, one of the women is a very powerful summoner and has much power and - yadda yadda yadda". To some a characters power and importance is strictly tied to their battle power I guess.

[@n00bplayer72]

For me, it's definitely when the system is trivialized by poor writing choices. ie: You have a magic caste system, but the protagonist is either good at them all, or has a unique skill that beats out all other types. Or, like in Harry Potter, you have all these spells and hexes and jinxes and curses had could be used in creative ways, but the enemy faction has the OHKO spell Avada Kedavra. You might as well have given them guns.

[@normalchannel2185]

The AK isnt really that OP. Harry potter is a pretty equal mix of hard magic and soft magic systems, and the AK has many drawbacks 1: It has a long incantation(AVADA KEDAVRA) compared to other spells like Stupefy, which would effectively do the same thing, or Bombarda. 2: It can't be cast non verbally, so you always get a warning 3: it can be blocked by physical things like cover 4: Most importantly, it needs PURE HATRED to work properly. if you don't HATE something from the bottom of your heart, at max it will give them a nosebleed. So other than people like Voldemort, who's been established to be a hateful litlle bitch, its not useable outside a few niche scenarios 5: it weakens/fractures your soul. 6: IDK the consequence of both eternal suffering in Limbo being stuck, not able to pass on when you die, and the consequence of being chucked in with the dementors no questions asked for life is a pretty big consequence

[@pinklights9712]

Some of my ocs are a 'jack of all trades' type. But one of them just recently discovered her powers and doesn't use much aside from simple levitation or similar things to make her life easier. Others have been practicing and studied magic for literal *centuries*. And a couple were trained (harshly, think what happened to the indoraptor) to be weapons of war. And then some have weak magic, or none at all. I try to balance out my cast.

[@nise6699]

Reincarnated as the 7th prince managed to explore the complex magic system while still being OP by just turning the mc as someone that's just curious about magic. I think the anime is just about the magic system itself with story in the background

[@qdLuke]

As someone who’s begun writing their first book in the past year, these videos are super helpful and informative. Keep up the videos dude

[@slevinchannel7589]

What about 'Terrible Writing Advice' and 'Hello Future Me'?

[@ivorv.783]

Great video as always. I would dissagre partially on the sloppy buffet part. I really like when magic is this huge thing that affects the world. So when there is many different sort of mini magic systems it gives feeling of diversity. Of course if done badly then it is just a jumbled mess.

[@yurisei6732]

There's a very fine line between diverse and arbitrary though. Good diversity is variation that retains a feeling of connection and unity. A good diverse magic system still feels like one coherent magic system just with many intricacies. It's pretty much the same as in population dynamics: when you look at statistics, diverse societies and segregated societies are often indistinguishable in terms of things like number of people of each group within a certain area, but they function completely differently. The reason this is important is because if your buffet is too sloppy, you can't actually write interesting scenarios using it. You end up with a Marvel situation where the interior workings of any given person's ability is irrelevant because only the end results of powers interact with each other, and ultimately every fight devolves into punching and laser beams. When Iron Man fights Hulk, it doesn't matter that Iron Man's power is being a technological genius with a magic rocket-powered cybersuit and a sapient AI copilot, because all of those words are only used to generate punches, and Hulk has no way of interacting with any part of that power except the punches generated by it. If the magic system was a coherent "tech" system though, Iron Man's enemy could be a hacker who is able to disable parts of his power, and now he's in a fight that only him and this nemesis could ever have - Hulk can't be hacked and doesn't fight hackers on any different ground to anyone else - they all just die to punch.

[@_ductape_471]

Yeah, I think I understand what you mean, and I agree that worlds with multiple types of magic are super interesting. But I think the sloppy buffet still applies, actually it probably applies more. In order for that world to still be interesting, each different type of magic needs to have very distinct differences, which would lead to each one being very good at its one thing. It's like what he said, but multiplied by however many different magic systems you have. Think X-Men, where each character is very different, but has their own well defined strengths and weaknesses.

[@themadwarden6603]

One magic system I enjoy is in the skulduggery pleasant books. It's sort of a mix of hard and soft magic: There are some clear limits established in th beginning of the series, but on the occasions that those rules are broken, the readers don't feel cheated because of the way the breaking of these rules is explained. Additionally, neither the reader nor the characters ever seem to fully understand magic, due to just how vast of a group of forces, entities and abilities it covers.

[@yurisei6732]

Not read them so can't say for them specifically, but usually when a hard magic system is "breaking the rules but explaining how", it's not actually breaking the rules, it's just showing that the real rules are different to the rules initially presented. It's still fully hard, it's just maintaining the intrigue instead of loredumping the full explanation upfront.

[@MrVeps1]

​@@yurisei6732the way I see it, it's "breaking" the Newtonian laws of magic, but it's because Einstein didn't discover Special Magitivity yet, not because the author's a hack. That's an important distinction.

[@thecrispymaster]

Another trap that particularly (though not exclusively) authors of hard magic systems suffer from is when they make all magic follow the same rules, they interpret that as basically just giving everyone the same power set. This is kind of a variant of 2, as it sort of implies that the level of skill in all fields of magic scale together (rather than - say - one wizard being better at enchantments while another is more skilled at alchemy), and results in issue 1 where it means the solution to every problem is the same because every threat is essentially the same but of more or less intensity. To use a superhero example, one of the great things about Spiderman's rogue's gallery is that that they challenge his abilities in different ways. He can't fight Green Goblin the same way he'd fight Doc Oc. Mysterio is of "ordinary" power but master of illusion making Spidey's strength the less important factor in the battle but relying on his senses vital. Venom on the other hand doesn't trigger Peter's Spider Sense at all so can't be approached in at all the same way. These are all different villains that offer different challenges, ensuring that Peter can't just approach every fight in the same fashion.

[@uriel9777]

Funny i always thought the key to the dune magic system was genetics and not spice. I mean spice is needed for sure, but your genetics are more important. Like gebetics are the spells and spice is the mana.

[@quantummidget]

My (likely incorrect) understanding was that it was essentially an extension of Paul's mentat abilities, which let him do insane calculations very quickly. So he was basically doing calculations while tripping on mushrooms, which meant that he could fully visualise all of these possibilities he was calculating. No idea if that's correct though, just what I assumed.

[@WakenAngels]

In my book i have a cursed physically impaired protagonist who wants to learn magic that changes her reality. This magic is wielded by (what are functionally) guardian angels and wings are a symbol of experience, power, and freedom. In the end of book one, she overcomes a great adversary and earns her magic wings at a very young age, but afterwards she struggles to make them appear, much less control her flight. Many people told me to save the wings for the end of the trilogy, because when you get the power to fly you’re already godmode. And that’s a valid concern. I avoided giving anyone wings for a long time because it felt like it cheapened the difficulty of certain conflicts. But there's no reason to assume that flight becomes the solution to every conflict, when it's just another tool the protagonist needs to learn how to use and when to use it. A lot of games will give you a glide early on and then more advanced flight later. This opens up the world without cheapening the conflict. I don’t like stories featuring magic where the protagonist can’t do any magic until the finale and then they struggle to do magic for 2 more releases. It’s far more interesting to me to give them power and watch them struggle to control it or watch it corrupt them - rather than have them squeeze droplets out of a dry sponge. A good example of this is Lord of the Rings. Frodo has the ring in the beginning but it is only used in certain situations, and if it's overused it will alert the enemy to their presence and begin to corrupt him. A bad example from the same story is how Gandalf doesn't do magic until the fellowship needs him to, and then he conveniently disappears so he doesn't become overpowered to the story. But in these kinds of stories, these guardian type figures are very much forces of nature who guide heroes on their quest within the parameters they are permitted to rather than directly intervene. Another bad example of this is Rey in the Star Wars sequels: she magically uses the force to win every scenario and never struggles to wield it or control it, much less is she tempted or corrupted by it. The concept of a protagonist who is very powerful early on yet unable to control it would have been very compelling for Star Wars as a stark contrast to Luke who had to learn from the bottom and train. But they just repeated Luke's arc and took out all of his hard work and internal conflict.

[@Stratelier]

As an avid gamer, I agree: if the feedback is "flight seems too OP for this point in the story" then it sounds like they're assuming this ability is the solution to their central conflict, when (from your perspective as the writer) it's actually _not._ In many a Metroidvania, for example, you don't truly get an "OP" ability until the final areas, areas which no prior abilities will help you navigate. And, since you mentioned flight specifically, it reminds me of the movie _Rio,_ about a blue parrot who, due to a traumatic childhood incident, believes he's incapable of flying. Physically he's fine and flightworthy, but mentally, any time he's in the air he panics, flails, and falls.

[@ZeroXSEED]

Flight is OP? From the standpoint of military fiction fans, that's arguable. They even have a meme for it "What do you call flying soldiers? We call them skeets" Flight by itself is not OP. On the other hand, super fast flight tend to be. Flight by itself just give a new dimension to fight, aka, flexibility. A slow plane has to be forced to make very careful approach otherwise they're shot out of the sky.

[@Halliwell0Rain]

And there could be physiological limitations. How fast can she go before the forces acting upon her body maim or kill her? Think fighter pilots. Also it's cold up in the air. How would she stay warm? Have you ever ridden a motorcycle while there is frost on the grass? Your hands and face will hate you, plus any holes or vents will become very obvious. She will need to protect herself from projectiles if she flies fast and how will she stop herself becoming a slow moving target if she cannot fly very fast? I like that you have included it early enough that the reader can discover along with her how she will overcome the limitations.

[@Alpharis972]

About the flying concern: I also think it depends on the limitations, right? If the flying takes just as much ressources as running, it ain't THAT OP anymore, is it?

[@notproductiveproductions3504]

Cal Kestis on the other hand was done right. The man’s a legit Jedi from the old days, but his original training ended at Padawan lvl because of Order 66, and on top of that it’s taking him multiple games to reconnect with the Force after the trauma from his past severed it

[@dragon_slayer-xh5pt]

Hard vs. soft magic depends a lot on how much access and control the main characters have with it. Soft works well if it's something the main characters can't do, and mostly see done in the world around them (in which case it can be just as mysterious and magical for them as it is for us), or if it's something they don't have great control over (if they did, then either they know how it works, so we the audience should as well, or it looks like the characters are just pulling things out of their magic asses. Hard magic is kind of needed if it's something the main party's going to be relying on and using a lot. We need to know their abilities, restrictions and at least a bit about how it all works for their actions and tactics to make sense. Or at least a blended system where we have a hard understanding of our characters' magic, but not about the broader magic of the setting.

[@VukMujovic]

I'm actually trying to explore "innate ability" where my MC has genetic innate ability placing him leagues above most others, but has close to zero talent for learning spells. Because he didn't train and learn on time, he needs to use other skills to compensate, and rely on other people. Magic systems, in the end, are just allegories for real life and there are limits to everything and everyone, and we need to work around them.

[@TurtleDudeProd]

So essentially how being a “gifted students” in elementary school, gets you absolutely no where as an adult most of the time? 😅👀

[@tangoto1209]

4:15 Like in Re: Zero when Subaru over uses his magic gate and he needs healing from the best healer maybe in the world, than he has to leave mid way through his treatment to save everyone from the witch cult, eventually destroying his magic gate beyond repair. Though he does inherit the authority of sloth from Petleguse. To those who don't know about Re: Zero it's basically a phycological horror story with an extremely weak main character that somehow manages to pull through most situations with minimal long term damage other than extreme PTSD. One of the best stories I've ever watched, though they do make it rather complicated to the point it's hard to follow sometimes with the shear amount of things that did and didn't happen to remember.

[@crash-testproductions9341]

The Re:Zero magic system is interesting, in the sense it isn't that Hard as a magic system, because there are PLENTY of different schools of magic. There's curses, witchcraft, spirit magic, classic elemental spells, blessings, martial techniques, weapons imbuing, and so on. But every character have his own personal limits, which make the magic system secondary to what can this or that character do with it. Subaru is a very poor mage, but it's proven afterward he's very gifted in witchcraft even if witchcraft have its limits, and he rely mostly on his contract with a spirit. You know what you can and can't expect from him. In the same way, Roswaal is a classic archmage, with powerful and destructive spells, but he can't use healing magic. It's the diversity of characters that make the magic system shine, not the intricacies of the magic system itself which is often loosely defined by how the people of this world use so many different techniques.

[@NertNeverlander]

> minimal long term damage other than extreme PTSD This sentence caught me off guard lol

[@xanderjames8682]

Whos rem?

[@nise6699]

You forgot about his death retry function, which is mostly the reason why he managed to pull through most situations

[@tangoto1209]

@@nise6699 I did that to avoid spoilers

[@LezbianLizard]

In a world building project I’m working on, the magic system revolves around some weird invisible matter which somehow interacts with the transmission of information in any living organism. Basically, when there is strong emotion or a strong wish or a defensive reflex in any living being magic can be triggered accidentally. So plants, fungi and animals have evolved to either have a more complex way of information transfer like a brain to have better control over their magic or specific behaviours to trigger useful magic reflexively. For humans that means, that they can cast magic with a specific goal in mind but never exactly know how that goal will be achieved but also that getting to know yourself better and having better control over your subconscious will directly correlate to better control over magic, not it’s strength tho, because that depends on the quantity of that magical matter stuff in your vicinity and your willpower. A simpler goal therefore usually creates stronger but less controllable magic than a more specific one.

[@spookyfirst9514]

Kevin Hearne's magic system in his Plague of Giants series was fascinating: to get a certain kind of magic you had to literally risk your life. If you over used that magic--it aged and eventually kill you. Great series.

[@stevenboers5119]

KH is my current favorite author. Nice shoutout!

[@Solarstormflare]

sounds interesting, thanks

[@Saint_Wolf_]

As a gamer writing a comic, I can only relate this video to the Every Frame a Painting video on Chuck Jones. Read/consume as much as you can (comics, videogames, books) and show discipline, since you can do everything, show everything, you'll be defined by what you don't do.

[@tabletbrothers3477]

Or you can turn your bad writing into good writing by making your characters flaw the fact that they treat everything like a nail and they have to overcome it 😂

[@Shade_Wanderer]

My thoughts exactly. In my story (that takes place more in my mind than paper) a “human” teenager becomes immortal and gets other powers, so you have a character who is trying to protect the world, while simultaneously trying to keep himself from going insane. Variety is something that makes a story great. :)

[@iantaakalla8180]

One could even use it intentionally to make it clear the allies of the person with the super-effective power are too reliant on that person, then take that person out.

[@rennakamura4889]

Yeah, but that one's more satirical in nature and is an exception to the norm

[@arnoldfossman1701]

I'm working on a story that doesn't exactly have magic, but the main character is a shape shifter based on genetics. He is a hybrid between a human and an alien and the accident that altered the parent's genes allowing the two characters to produce a child together also made the shape shifting possible. The shape shifting heals wounds, but the character's mass is lowered by the amount of mass loss that the wounding caused and he has to regain that mass to be fully healed. For example if he lost an arm he could heal the wound, but he would need to replace the lost mass before he could be as strong in that replacement arm. Also if he lost too much mass he could die from being diminished below a level that he can recover from. He had a brother with the same powers who died from trying to regenerate too many times without rebuilding body mass. His shape shifting does have the advantage of perfect regeneration which could allow him to live forever if he doesn't die from loss of body mass. Anyway, your talk on magic systems made me wonder if I in effect had some sort of magic system with this character.

[@Solarstormflare]

that's interesting.

[@TurtleDudeProd]

What ways can he use to regain mass? I assume chowing down on a shit ton of food to be a way to do so?

[@arnoldfossman1701]

@@TurtleDudeProd Mainly by eating, but it takes time and he has to work out to use the nutrients to rebuild mass within himself.

[@TurtleDudeProd]

@@arnoldfossman1701 Ahh, that makes sense!

[@this_guy_is_skull_emoji]

I've been playing some CAVE shmups. And I have interesting fight setups/boss battle concepts. One of which is a mimic who tricks the player into they're damaging them (the only way to truly make sure is by shining a flashlight made form very specific items.) One of which is a boss battle that repeatedly dives into the sand every one minute interval. And much more.

[@DrMcKayLordOfTime]

love that you don't just point out mistakes but also provide samples and solutions.

[@JMObyx]

All of this good advice, in my Sovereign Species story, there are multiple magic systems at work within the story, one plain to see for everyone that the main characters use, another more esoteric and soft one that the villains have at their disposal, that none of the heroes know the rules to. The two factions are so fundamentally anathema to eachother that even their magic systems are trying to destroy the other. For example, the Aldokk need to go through extremely specific rituals in order to sieze the Arek's power without dying, and even when they succeed, they only have access to a select few abilities, and even then, the weakest of them completely lose their cohesion, turning into living masses of fleshy paste without dying. Whilst the Arek seek to annihilate everything of the Aldokk, they literally exorcize objects that the Aldokk have imparted their own magical energy into, and embracing the Aldokk's magic, or even tolerating the existence of the Aldokk themselves, causes the Arek's own might to wane as their souls slowly erode from living amongst the Aldokk's presence for too long.

[@lamiafamily]

For „Magical Interference“, something from „The Dark Eye, Fifth Edition“ comes to my mind: In this edition mages can't wear metal on them, as it disrupts their Mana connection. In an Armory book, a mage commented how she tied up a Necromancer with the chainmail of her dwarven comrade, rendering him harmless

[@SentinalhMC]

This is a great video. I've always wanted to write a novel but can never get more than a few pages written before the fear of failure makes me quit. I have this idea for a magic system where mages channel residual magical essence in the air into their body then back out into the world to create effects but everyone has a limit to both the rate they can channel it at, and the capacity they can hold at one time. More powerful spells require higher capacity and high throughput is needed for maintaining continuous effects. Going over this limit can result in horrible injuries, dangerous accidents and death so mages must spend years training to increase their limit.

[@Solarstormflare]

go for it! the only failure is never writing anything, if its still something you want to write

[@randomdudewhoisuseless]

That's a very interesting magic system, I don't think I've seen before. For sure go for it! I'd love to read it.

[@bhargavibala2449]

I'm currently working on my 6 book fantasy series right now... so thanks for sharing great pointers for me to work upon to make my book better each day. You're really a great person for helping out the world of writers. Thank you, Jed. ❤

[@cymikgaming1266]

you have helped me through my writing soo much jed, your content never ceases to aid me

[@Miki_Naz]

My favorite magic system is the one in Light Novel Mushoku Tensei. At first it's described as generic mana based 4 elements + healing magic, you cast by shaping mana by chanting or drawing a magic circle. But later you realize that: 1. It can do anything as long as you have enough mana, understand the effect you wanna make and know how to shape mana to achieve it. 2. It's functionally simple elemental system because of a cultural framework around it, making it easier to understand and learn + magic is relatively new branch of science so it's still not fully developed.

[@ValetinoLovebird]

the best magic system for me so far.....JoJo, every stand is unique and the author made it extremely creative

[@Breakdowns04]

Always look forward to your stuff, Jed. You put out very helpful content!

[@tonyaspencer3090]

Great video. I always look forward to watching. 😊

[@andeeharry]

5:26 This is interesting, because yes, there are limitations to my world. Magic only works for a few hours at certain times, it doesn't work during the summer because of the heat/fire restriction. It does tend to tire a person out if they use too much of it too soon. Magic exists for a short time. They gain it around 12, and lose it around 40 when they go through the Phase.

[@TheCreativeLeoo]

This is super valuable! thank you!! I haven't started on my Magic System (s) but I will get there there!!!

[@RonaldLeeBunch]

Good advice, it helped me with my current fantasy book.

[@owenspears3114]

I feel like there were a hundred tips crammed into this video. In a good way!

[@rezokam3496]

Loved the sneaky Stormlight reference at the start as well as the Mistborn reference. Both fabulous series

[@samanthaparedes2701]

I've watched a lot of your videos and they're always well-done! Thanks for all the tips! The accent is nice too!

[@GGtheArt1st]

im currently just struggling to stay motivated and intrested in writing my story, after a moment of writing it i get bored and want to play video games instead :(

[@azekrai]

i was literally working on this right this second, you couldnt have uploaded at a better time haha

[@captainroyalty904]

Great channel and video as always. Been using your videos for months to help me in writing my book series, and their overall great (That's what my friends, family, and small fandom say).

[@justinwalker7418]

Very great insight my guy, I was struggling for a bit with my magic system and this gave me some great inspiration and actually gave me the answer to one of my probs so big thanks for that.

[@joshavenia253]

I’m currently working on a 5 book series, and my protagonist has one of my favorite powers: Atom Manipulation. Basically, they can rearrange the atoms of anything, and reform it into a material or state of matter they choose. But the biggest drawback they have, is that they can only manipulate what they can touch. Throughout the series, i want him to learn his power from the very beginning, but improve as time moves on. Like in the beginning, he’ll only be able to manipulate things that he directly touches, but by the end, he’ll be able to manipulate an object several yards away. If it’s touching the ground that his feet are standing on, he can control it.

[@Fushur7]

Hey Sounds cool, for claritys sake, do you mean Manipulation of Atomic bonds? So rearranging of the Atoms in an existing Molecule, or the Manipulation of Proton count, basically turning one Element into a different one, for example turning O2 into Fe (Oxygen into Iron)? Or a combination of both. How Spicy do you intend to go? I mean after all just turning some Water into Hydrogen and Oxygen would be enough to blow a Building Sky High and turning the Nitrogen in the Air into Chlorine Gas would basically make your MC a walking War Chrime. (Not necessarily a Protagonist Move, but maybe?) Would probably require some proper Control since MC would have to change the Air he breathes back or leave unaffected. The Ground thing is due to Visualization? Since Air is also full of Atoms I mean, or is it the higher Density of Atoms? In any case seems to be an Interesting Power with quite a lot of Applications, even peaceful just changing Dirt to Gold would make you an instant Millionaire, and Money is Power after all.

[@user-qh2ir7nb4o]

@@Fushur7 Behold! *turns dirt into gold* I call this spell... THE Inflation And this is how entire world economy was shredded in a matter of months, kickstarting new dark age of war and struggle Jokes aside, neat ability. Only concern is how powerful it can be without any kind of regulation

[@Audienc4u]

Reminds me of a story I tossed out when the MC gained godlike power in the first few pages.. all his statistics were literally infinite, infinite strength, health, magic.. one of the first things he did was create a sort of heaven for himself to live in, bring his dead parents back to life and give them near infinite power and look into the future to all the fights he'd win one day.. all this in the first few pages of the story. There was no struggle, no growth, and his future was set in stone with him as the perpetual victor. Even his backstory of pain and suffering was thrown out. I still can't shake my head at that. So I say, never give the MC too much power or an ability that solves every problem.

[@lukeroberson2115]

Infinite power stories can work if you're going for an emotional story rather than an adventure/action story. What does being infinitly powerful do to them? How do others react? That sort of thing.

[@yurisei6732]

Not a bad idea though, you just have to make a magic system that makes "infinite something" bad. For example, maybe "infinite health" within the context of the magic system means your cells are incapable of changing, meaning your body is always that of an infant with all the limitations that brings.

[@jasonbrown5131]

First video of yours I have ever seen… I gotta say I really liked it. Thank you for sharing, I’ll definitely be watching more.

[@Hushakal]

i'm always amazed at how you manage to make learning fun!

[@KevinRothert]

I clicked on this just to see if your advice was "write hard magic". Glad it wasn't. Great advice! Specifically the triangle was on point 👌🏼

[@maxa-gy2xq]

When my characters are too strong I just make villains that are stronger.

[@user-eu6gw4lo6k]

This will lead to a new problem called the ladder villains where you'll have to always make the next bad guy stronger than the last in the long run this will make you first villains look like shit

[@speedforce117]

I just make their abilities drive them mad or make them mentally unstable.

[@andrewcarmichael2371]

The magic system I’m using is based on one’s own personal ideology. I have four people who have different fire magic. One is a person wants to be joyful and bring joy and happiness to people so his fire magic is basically fireworks that can bring different effects to empower himself or others. Another saw fire as pure destruction so it will always burn you even if you have protection or just near it. A third saw it as comforting and a tool people use so she can heal people with it. And the last saw fire as ever changing force similar to people so it allow themselves to transform themselves and others.

[@carlosdeandres4774]

In the story I'm writting magic is a bit of everything, how it works, depends on the source: 1. Elemental magic users (those that are more like avatar benders) are only able to use magic where there's of that element, but in exchange, they have a way more intuitive controll and can complement their own skills with it (a arabic style swordsman that used fire to turn himself into a firey sandstorm) 2. Most magic (dnd caster style) reqjires fisical effort, but some types of magic also come with consecuences that make it unviable for most people. 3. One of the main characters (and a bunch more secondaries), alongside other types of magic he learned or was given, has special variations of existing magic cause of him having a dragon ancestry for example. 4. Most magic requires a skill learned through learning, like the main character had to do first with one of his magics (the one that later got ancestry buff) or one of the other main characters, who knows most magics to a basic level through study. 5. One of the main characters is unable to use light magic cause of a wierd born magic defect, also, one of the magics she uses is really illegal. 6. Magic can be interfered most of the time. 7. One of the main characters (there are 4 btw), only has a few magic skills, but is limited to use them only when certain condition is acomplished. 8. One of the main characters is bounded to a god as their earthly servant/warrior (gods are unable to directly interfere with the "material plane" in this world) I love the idea of basically buying a bunch of different puzzles and playing and trying until everything works, but with power/magic systems

[@garbageknights]

First-time watcher. Two rules of thumb I like to keep in mind; Soft Magic can be hard magic from a different perspective. Hard magic is good at solving issues. Soft magic is good at making them. When I make a setting I like to tell a lot of different stories in that setting, and even if in one story I explained how the magic works, it doesn't mean I need to in the next, especially if the characters don't actually use it at all.

[@noobypotato1435]

I like how he references Brandon Sanderson's magic system as a example for each part.

[@WalkerSunriseChannel]

I love The Name of the Wind and super glad to see someone bring up that magic system

[@DashtheBard]

Really glad I watched this. There is a fantasy story I plan on writing, but when I started thinking about adding a magic system to it, nothing really clicked. Now I realize that is because anything I could come up with wouldn't fit into my Triangle I have planned, or rather it would only check Setting, and not Plot or Character. But there is a plot device I have integral to the story that I can label as a kind of magic, just not a flashy one, since it entirely deals with strictly knowledge and memory. So there is no need for me to add a magic system, since I kinda already have one. It would just be a Buffet situation, as you put it. Thanks for the video! It really helped me sort out some thoughts I had.

[@iiisaac1312]

Another issue is making the magic system a dependency for resolving the theme. This is similar to how some sci-fi stories will resolve by whoever has the best technology, or how in a super hero story will rely on super powers to resolve the theme. The issue with this is that it it removes universality from the moral argument. We really shouldn't be telling our audiences morality is only reserved for those who have magic/technology/superpowers, it should be solvable for anyone (the theme is universal). This is why I can't stand most sci-fi and super hero stuff. Fantasy has a better track record but I feel it is falling down the sci-fi path of people just wanting to show off how smart they are by making the most contrived magic system known to man.

[@Saint_Wolf_]

It seems to sound like you attribute agency to the magic system, I think that even if a character needs to use magic to solve the problem, the conflict is still fathomable and within the realm of morality and that's what the audience can understand. I can understand it from a different angle like power-scaling like "who's more powerful" and not using magic and its systems with brains like how a fire magic user might defeat a water magic user (in the most simple rock-paper-scissors logic I can imagine) if the fire user is smart and play his cards right. Also there is a virtue ethic side to the moral argument, and that is that, sure you won't have magic and powers, but strong people, mighty people, people with power can solve problems more easily and it's harder to give them a shake-down without retaliation from them, while weak people will fall in line more easily and audience they can if not understand it, they can at least internalize it.

[@iiisaac1312]

​@@Saint_Wolf_ Disagree. While the morality of something might be comprehensible for the audience, acting with virtue is universal and should not be locked away for the select few with magic/powers/whatever. This is the theme that lead to the near decade of trash known as "Marvel Movies." For your other point, it's essentially "Might makes right" which isn't a virtue. I should clarify the magic system my issue applies to the most is the type where it is unearned, such as Harry Potter or Luke Skywalker. If magic is like physics and everyone in the setting can understand and interact with it and gain skills over time, I have much less of an issue with that. However that type still seems to be used for the "Might makes right," for the most part.

[@Saint_Wolf_]

@@iiisaac1312 But the scale of the threat is also ridiculous, it's not some story where some almighty powerful hero is fighting everyday hurdles, it's super powered threats and super powered heroes. And I know, but you need might and strength to encounter, discourage and stop a person who might try to use the logic of "might maketh right" following some consequentialist set of ethics. And doesn't Harry Potter have enough qualified mages to meet your standard? They literally all go to a school, the thing is that Harry is a piece of Voldemort's puzzle unlike the other mages. Sure there are "special people" with innate abilities but there are enough of the special people where it's kinda irrelevant that not 100% of the population can't use the magic, but in Hogwarts it is 100% of the people who can use magic, then comes to skill, knowledge and tactics which seems to be what you prefer out of a magic system. I know I sound combative but I actually find this conversation kinda fun.

[@iiisaac1312]

​@@Saint_Wolf_ Action and Might = Right I still hold as not part of virtue. They are ultimately both violence at the end of the day, and violence isn't a virtue. There are many ways to create suspense, tension, and drama without the use of either, and books are better suited for this. 1984 is good at this and it isn't a book filled with action or might = right. While Action and Might = Right might make good spectacles for film (But are still poor moral themes), books aren't the same as film and action can get exhausting to read. Most written action takes too much inspiration from the visuals of film and winds up not advancing plot or character. Strength only applying to consequntialist ethics really only proves its lack of universality. Outside of the morality, there are ways to solve issues while not being in a position of any power that are probably more tense and interesting than a typical power vs power conflict. For instance, a slave might have a violent master that likes to drink a lot of alcohol. All the slave would need to do is just make sure his master's shot glass is always filled and let him suffer the consequences of his own gluttony in the form of liver failure and not get caught in the process. This would make a more dramatic scene compared to a fight scene between a super hero and a super villain because there is a much greater power imbalance between the master and the slave. The hero/villain scene is like bringing a gun to a gunfight, while the master/slave scene is more like bringing nothing to a gun fight. One of these will just be more tense than the other. Harry Potter did not earn his magic. While he might have had to go to school (an exclusive club btw) to practice it, it was something he never had to earn. He was just lucky enough to not be born a muggle. Being born with the right characteristics is not a moral achievement. One of the themes that can be observed in Harry Potter is: You can achieve excellence without doing anything, just wait for an owl to tell you you're special.

[@Saint_Wolf_]

@@iiisaac1312 No, violence isn't a virtue, but violence is autistic, what are you using violence for is the determining factor, nuanced apply, is it to rob someone? Compel them to divulge a secret, moderate their behavior? Or is it to stop a robbery? protect an innocent? Punish a wrong doing? It's like the argument you'd give to a twig shaped "pacifist": can you be a pacifist if you're weak to defend yourself or others from aggression? It reminds me of Starship Troopers "Violence is the sole authority from which all other authority is derived". Coercion, to compel a man to act, it all comes from someone twisting someone else's arm. Now I'll divulge I'm a visual storyteller so we might find some misalignment as I'm less of the written format, but I still hold true that conflict in essence requires the seeking leverage and underlying beneath that will always be a threat of violence, not necessarily explicit, but implicit. And I think on your slave tension example compared to a fight scene is where one can draw certain points of friction, mainly because given a visual media people wanna see spectacle, now one of the better movies of last year was men walking, talking in close up and arguing… and then there was like a bomb or something, idk, but I liked Einstein. Jokes aside though I do think there is a form of aggression involved in the slave example, it's just a matter of outlets. But there's also an angle of real politik that applies to it. Let me explain, and not to mock your example, but what service does the slave offer? Does he just pour drinks? Is him alone the sole servant? Are there other slaves with him? Is the master violent in spite of it compelling no good behaviors? Are the slaves tools of a plantation or servants? Is he violent when sober becuase he's got sadists whims or is it just a matter of alcohol? Becuase just badgering and battering your "tools" if I may use such crude language yields subpar results. Sure he can slowly poison his master but then what? Who takes over after that? If the master blinds himself with drink does he have others overseeing his operation and for his slaves to not run away? There is no way the slave can cozy up to his master to detir the punishment? And I see where you're coming from, but I think you're reading it a little too literally, like one cannot expect the reader to separate fact from fiction and understand that a owl or many owls swarming your house with letters doesn't literally happen, when I think most people, even children as old as 7 can understand that, they may daydream and fantasize about it, but they understand it doesn't happen like that. But many people have innate abilities, sure in western societies and even in Oriental societies, it may seem like we only value intelligence, becoming doctor, engineer, surgeon, but there are skills one can develop with hard work that aren't that. Not to saying the like that "everyone is special" but that everyone can develop a skill and improve it, painting Warhammer figures, writing, doing marketing campaigns, doing comedy, teaching math, cooking, translating texts, doing sign language. If anything one can read the metaphor that sometimes people who don't share what make you special will dismiss you and try to bring you down (muggles), but with some help, from teachers, from a school, from a different environment, and specially with hard work, with a good circle, and work ethic you can thrive, bring forward and develop what makes you special. Sure it sometimes feels like Harry doesn't have anything to prove, while Hermione really became a bookworm to prove to herself and others she's a good witch, but on that end sometimes it feels Ron doesn't have anything to prove either. Then there is the life and death aspect to Harry Potter to drive conflict. I really hope the slavery words don't get this comment sent to the shadow realm, that would suck.

[@user-KNP13]

First point springs to mind the existence of "Avadra Kadavra" Instant kill spell from Harry Potter with barely any consequence besides being "Evil" This comment has been brought to you by _The Best Fight in Harry Potter and why Avada Kedavra is a Stupid Spell. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6LalGqBnNShZ80

[@0o0eM]

Avada Kedavra has always bothered me. Fine, it kills you but how? What does it do? You can easily kill a person by flooding their lungs, freezing their brain, shattering their heart. With your mind set to ending someone, anything can become a weapon. So why do we need a spell that does nothing else but kills? IMO, that was some sloppy writing. On the other hand, I guess no magic system is bulletproof

[@normalchannel2185]

No? Well, Harry potter is a pretty equal mix of hard magic and soft magic systems, and the AK has many drawbacks 1: It has a long incantation(AVADA KEDAVRA) compared to other spells like Stupefy, which would effectively do the same thing, or Bombarda. 2: It can't be cast non verbally, so you always get a warning 3: it can be blocked by physical things like cover 4: Most importantly, it needs PURE HATRED to work properly. if you don't HATE something from the bottom of your heart, at max it will give them a nosebleed. So other than people like Voldemort, who's been established to be a hateful litlle bitch, its not useable outside a few niche scenarios 5: it weakens/fractures your soul. 6: IDK the consequence of both eternal suffering in Limbo being stuck, not able to pass on when you die, and the consequence of being chucked in with the dementors no questions asked for life is a pretty big consequence.

[@user-KNP13]

@user-gt7vi9jm9m Only hints?

[@user-KNP13]

@@normalchannel2185 1. 2. That requires a certain level of experience to dodge even after the warning. 3. They can cast it again. 4. I meant consequence and requirement of being evil. 5. 6. This does not impact a fight these only matter if they are dead. If there are so many drawbacks, name at least three ways to beat this spell when they start casting it.

[@normalchannel2185]

OK. You see a dude casting Avada Kedavara. By the time he speaks AVADA. (avada and the gap you must have to start saying kedavara), you can get out a STUPEFY, since both have 3 syllables, BUT stupefy's syllables follow each other(as in the end of stu forms the start of pe, so you dont have to waste time moving from one syllable's ending state to another's starting one.) You can test this by just trying to say Avada and Stupefy. Both roughly equal out(the avada and the gap and stupefy) Now if spells travel instantly, then you either force them to abort the AK and defend themselves, or you hit them and they are out of the fight. You can use Bombarda, or really any other quick spell(i think Duro is one that turns you to stone, and its the fastest too) If spells don't travel instantly, then you can dodge the AK. And most importantly, in order to effectively use the AK, you must HATE SOMEONE with the BOTTOM of your heart, and it takes time to summon that hatred. Thats why the Death Eaters, in the OOtP chase scene did not use AKs, it was too difficult.

[@Fushur7]

I personally like the 3rd Point the most. I enjoy hard Magic Systems, but sometimes I feel people go to far. Magic is, at least in my eyes a Force of Wonder, but some Hard Magic Systems basically turn it into Sience Class with extra steps. If your Magic can't surprise your Readers at all and make them feel Wonder it isn't Magic. Which isn't necessarily Bad, after all the Valid Excuse, in a World with Magic, Magic probably would be a Science exists. But sometimes it's just taken to far. If I want to read a bunch of thesis papers on convoluted Rules and Laws to explain weird Stuff I can read Science Fiction after all ;)

[@Xeno_Solarus]

To each their own. I personally enjoy Magic Science myself.

[@paigeepler]

Science does not make you experience wonder??

[@Xorkuss]

Just found out your channel and love your videos! Really helps me out! ... I might be watching too much of them, though, I'm procrastinating in my writing.

[@ThetaTuner]

Props to mentioning Brent Weeks!! One of my absolute favorite authors!!

[@bigolbearthejammydodger6527]

excellent video. You have earned your self a new subscriber! (also amazing how successful you are for a man so young!) Im a tabletop RPG person(35+years GMing), incuding making my own systems - but now Im actually the chief code monkey of a startup game development company. Ill be passing on a link to this channel to the rest of the team and we will be discussing your content in our lore meetups. For what its worth our setting is one that no longer has magic, it was lost in a disaster - all that remains is alchemy, though there are elements that do not exist IRL which leads to 'magic' like properties of certain minerals. were hoping to get a table top rules book out before any computer games, but it really is amazing how much work there is to something like this when you sit down and actually DO it.

[@devonharrell1699]

surprisingly informative over boosting creativity in a general context

[@FlidaisPeridotEyes]

I have to say that I'm extremely happy to have found this channel because I never feel discouraged or ashamed for anything I write and if there's something I need to change I get motivated to do it, and these videos always stick to how you can improve without it being ridiculing and discouraging. I find there's a huge difference between people who are actually established writers and editors and the fandoms giving advice on what they like and dislike to the writers. They're so condescending and discouraging and seem to expect the writer to write for them and they're confusing because everyone is so focused on what they hate and eventually it's like - is there even a chance to write a good fantasy story since everything is hated after listening to so many opinions? I know you won't be able to write anything which everyone love but the part of handling the hate (because it's not constructive critique) after publishing a book is so scary to me.

[@icemotion6932]

Stumbled upon this video and it mostly made me relate to why I love the Wheel of Time so much. The magic system there has so many interesting hooks and rules that all feel part of the world. (Also currently on a reread of that series). But the video also gave me a few ideas for my LARP character that I'm partially rewriting. I will need to follow some rules because of the game rules. But I have some freedom in how to play them out. So thanks for some insights!

[@glaciergirlv2265]

You know you have no idea how happy it makes me to see you reference, Mistborn. Sanderson is my favorite living author!

[@RezaQin]

Ah, Mistborn, great series. Really loved the magic system in that one.

[@sleepingyonko-3820]

Not going to lie, this video alone helped me reach the point where I'm ready to start writing. After years of visualizing and trying to think of how to start, where this is going to go... this pushed me over the edge Thank you

[@thislink1519]

Love the reference to Brandon Sanderson & the book recommends!

[@brutusmagnuson315]

My favorite is when it’s a martial arts-like discipline like the Force from Star Wars or bending from Avatar

[@user-kf2hr8zw9v]

OMG, sir! You are back!!🎉🎉

[@Codexionyx101]

I've long thought that magic/sci-fi systems where the scope of their capabilities is commensurate with the scope of their requirements are vastly grander, more satisfying, and more impactful compared to those that don't follow that principle. Certainly one can make a brilliant magic system without it, but it's still often a massive help. That's how I ended up with the system that I have: Its core tenets are that neither power nor ability come from nowhere, and no amount of nobility or goodwill replaces either. The demigods, unfathomably powerful as they are, witness this firsthand as they reflect on the monumental efforts that created them and the monumental efforts they must destroy to safeguard reality.

[@TBladestorm]

Frieren. I would enjoy your take on the pacing, magic system, and the “Beyond Journey’s End” approach to telling this high-fantasy story.

[@henryboleszny359]

I love your example of bonding with an element in order to utilise its energy. My own magic system is a more traditional 'pact with the devil' type, with limitations made clear in the early chapters. I never thought of a physical bond with an element, though. Very clever. My idea was a technomancy extension of D&D's clerics getting their powers through faith in their god. I've just been struggling with avoiding the "Terminator" vibe.

[@ThetaTuner]

The 5 questions at the end are very good!! Vague enough for other themes of magic but I was curious if you have other recommendations for a more science fiction themed story. Where magic can almost be explained through science, with inspiration like Star Trek and Star Wars. Kinda in a creative rut rn and looking for more resources around similar themes if anyone can lend a hand and link 🧡📺 Keep creating!! ✨

[@ritobreadie]

I have a magic system which instead of manipulating the elements themselves, you manipulate the natural laws and mechanisms associated with them. For example, Fire deals with redox reactions, Ice deals with the lowering of kinetic energy, etc. However, methods of fighting aren’t limited to just the obvious as for example, a character fights using exploding ice blossoms or how same element users have wildly different fighting styles (one focuses on manipulating atmospheric pressure while the other focuses on controlling the speed of a battle). Some people even choose to use their resonances as a tool instead of their weapon such as a character who fights using multi-elemental paints. Magic is an energy produced by the world, one that bends the rules but cannot break them as it cannot create, cannot destroy and only convert. If magic goes in a mechanism, the same amount will go out, whether or not it’s split between different forms. How much a person can bend the natural laws is proportional to how much magic is supplied (a little can cause static, a lot can form a ball of electricity). If a ‘natural’ reaction or outcome isn’t possible or takes too long, magic is the trigger and catalyst whose entropy bends physical laws in a way that exceeds comprehension. Everyone resonates with an ‘element’ at birth, but can switch around and even add a resonance through really complicated ways. However, people can only hold up to two resonances at a time or else their body and soul can’t handle it, no exceptions. A person’s mastery of their resonance depends on their understanding of these natural laws and mechanisms. A lot of the time, modern users are more powerful than past ones because people have managed to discover what truly causes these phenomena to occur, instead of blindly attributing everything to magic. Past Fire users perhaps only melted metal, but modern ones can cause it to rust instead due to a better understanding of fire as a whole.

[@kryzzan7039]

I personally love how Tolkien's LOTR handles magic, and that a lot of it is centered around words and singing, and that "flashy" magic isn't shown too much, most of the magic seems to be much more subtle and quite easily unnoticeable if you're not paying attention.

[@ikergonzalez4222]

I plan on writting a story in the future, I thought of making a game, but I find more attractive the idea of making a series. So I try to learn how to write correctly and may do some trial error stories to improve on abiltiy once I put it at test

[@PhoenixCrown]

Great stuff Jed! I love how you talk about Character-Plot-Setting --> Theme. The theme of my book, The Secret of the Maegi, is a class Divide between the very few people who can use magic and the rest. I explore this through... Character - It's a love story, and the protagonist is a hyu who is thrust into the wilderness with a mage. Plot - It's a mystery in that the inciting incident surrounds the possibility that the Divide is contrived by the maegi. Setting - The two classes are physically divided in their city, and outside their borders, other creatures struggle to survive with even less in the blight. The first book focuses on the "forbidden romance" and the discovery that it's all contrived, the system designed for those with power to maintain it. The next book will delve into a deeper, "softer," form of the same magic, relating its absence from the maegi's world to their obsession with control and centralization of power. What do ya'll think?!

[@TheHolgu]

Great video ❤

[@weebmaskman]

Me and a friend have created a ttrpg system. And when it came to me making the magic system, apart from the basic mana requirements. The magic also had restrictions in the form of levels, starting at 1st level and going up to 6th level. With each level being a different sized magic circle as every time someone uses magic, it causes a circle to form which is used as a channelling point, so the bigger the circle the more mana is used. And their is one level above 6th which is transcendent. And those spells are incredibly powerful and will always consume insane amounts of mana, but one expectation is a spell i made called "clear sky" which allows for the resurrection of a person, however the requirements are that the target for the resurrection can't have began to decay, their entire body must be together (as in connected) and their internal organs can't be to greatly damaged. Then the cost isn't mana but instead the users lifespan as they are giving their own lifespan to the target. And this magic system does also have other requirements for one the magic to be used effectively. As their is an affinity where everyone has a specific affinity which is water, fire, earth, wind, dark and light. And each one can be used in any way, so lights first spell is a basic heal, but you could also make a light javelin too. The only purpose for the affinity system is to see what kind of magic that character will have an easier time using. But with enough effort, they could learn how to use a different element, so long as they don't have a racial restriction. Such as elves being unable to learn dark, and demons being unable to use light. Then theres also two magic types of magic outside of those 6 which is blood (exclusive to vampires) and summoning (exclusive to marionettes). There is another thing, which allows for anyone to create a new spell (within reason). But in order to create a new spell, they have to either have the required affinity for that spell and the required amount of skill in manipulating mana. Or have enough experience in using that affinity type alongside the mana requirement. This is just for the purpose of the players of having more control over what their spells can do and what mages can do as well

[@petersmythe6462]

One limitation of magic in my system is that the main thing it does is catalyze rare physical and chemical processes, which in turn activate the magic further. Messing with magic or magical items you don't know how to use and control, especially anything super densely packed with magic, can very easily lead to aging rapidly, being set on fire, exploding, or in extreme cases even unwanted nuclear reactions. Some creatures use magic as an innate part of their biology to get advantages over what pure chemistry can achieve, but these creatures need to be careful about how they deal with it or it can harm them too.

[@danielwhitman2255]

That sounds epic

[@Cat-dq1zp]

I always write the worldbuilding first. But that usualy ends up with me going way too in-depth, and coming up with historical events and mythical creatures/places/things that end up never actualy making it into the story 😅

[@jbear3478]

I love learning about and creating the worlds and characters but I’ve never done a magic system!!

[@r1t4a44]

Hi Jed! Well sadly I write in secret from my family, I cant tell them I like to write cause I know they wont see Writing as a real job. So I cant really pay for your classes but I just wanted to tell how greatfull I was to you and your youtube videos. My writing has gotten way better from the first time I started and your videos have helped me so much. I fixed lots of things in my WIP´s and you cant imagine how happy I am. I cant thank you enough. Thank you so much for being there by my side while I go after my secret dream even tho you dont know you are doing it. Thank you

[@DragonsandIcicles]

In my writing and my universe, i bring immense power to the table with scale to match. When it comes to antagonistic encounters, for the most part, i abide by the mantra "creativity and strategy" to keep things interesting with the HUGE magickal power scaling i deal with. Unconventionality breeds interest and intrigue

[@StardustCorvid]

Regarding limits, my personal favourite (and the main thing I use with my magic system) is a type of physical cost, in which extensive use of the magic can start to have side effects related to the magic used Take for example, one of my main characters (the one in my pfp, actually). She has, put simply, ice magic. But if she uses it too much, things like ice crystals forming inside of her hands or appendages becoming frostbitten will start to occur. The magic is volatile, and can damage the user just as easily as it can damage the person who the magic is pointed at.

[@yanderegabby_18]

Two of the limitations I added to my magic system is that everyone's inherent strength comes from genetics and if you use your power for far too long or use your magic beyond its capabilities it literally starts to kill you inside out. For example, ice magic overused slowly freezes you to death, electricity causes an overactivity with your internal organs and systems which causes a bodily shutdown (or pressure builds from the electricity and you might explode lol), with plant magic your entire body gets covered in vines until you're rendered lifeless, fire magic raises your body temperature and burns you to death, water magic basically gives you deadly pneumonia, etc etc The genetics part determines your initial strength and how far your magic can go as you gain experience and very rarely do people win the genetic lottery and have double the strength of your average magic user, which comes with its own limitations and downsides. Like your magic being directly tied to your emotional state and the risk of magical instability (especially if your emotions aren't in check). It's basically the magical equivalent to being neurodivergent, but it's pretty rare and only occurs when both parents share the same magic type (egg determines child's magical ability (like how sperm determines gender) and it gets confused when both parents have the same type of magic so both genes get passed down making an overpowered child basically lol) Infodump over, I needed a place to word vomit

[@tsukasa-no-douji5089]

My favorite method of avoiding the "everythings a nail" problem is making a magic system that is restrictive, but wide in scale and using it in creative ways. As an example, lets say my character has pyromancy. Sure he can throw fireballs and make explosions, but you can use it in other ways as well. Using pyromancy, i can heal cuts via cauterizing the wound, disarming people by heating up steel to a melting point, sucking all the oxygen out of an inclosed room ect. You also use enemy magics to your advantage, such as using a aquamancers water magic to create a steam cloud to obscure your actions, make a super heated terain with a geomancers magic, ect. It makes me so excited when a character with a very basic power with underwelming strength uses his power in a smart way to punch above his weight class.

[@happyhafer1403]

this video reminded me of another video about magic systems and how even the most mundane things could be turned into a magic system. i had a discussion with a friend afterwards and ended up having to turn baking bread into a magic system... it was actually surprisingly easy. i made an alchemy/summoning system. based on real world breads, the types of bread decide the types of beings summoned and their overall characteristics. certain types of ingredients affect behavior while others potency or add extra abilities. so a gingerbread man turns into a loyal servant, while a melon bread turns into a hungry monster that tries to eat everything. different alchemical salt types change aggressiveness, while sugar types their energeticness and overall spell duration, and so on. it took me not even an hour to get that far, showing just how easy it is to make a creative and unique magic system. and how much fun it is to bounce stupid ideas with a friend until it works!

[@ayannawatts3446]

My characters have innate magical abilities but they need extensive training, and depending on how much magic they can maintain in their bodies using magic could drain or kill them. It’s like every magic user is a container, or a valve and if too much magic fills or flows through them they can burst. Their are also laws about how magic can be used, restricting those who haven’t finished their training/earned the right to use magic and restricting certain kinds of magic users. Some of it is based on safety concerns and some of it is fear based and to control certain groups. Also their are certain places where magic can’t be used (different dimensions/out of body experiences).

[@The_Trident_Master]

I just started writing a new book somewhat based on fairytale, so the magic system is softer than what I’ve written before. It’s definitely a challenge, as I don’t like working without super specific rules. Nobody really understands how or why magic works in the world, and it manifests itself in different ways for each person. Difficult to do, but fun

[@infernodragon587]

From all the books that I have read 'my vampire system' has been my favourite magic system novel

[@garvat2246]

I love blends of Hard magic and Soft magic. it is the best way (in my opinion) to have a "chosen one" character, you create a "hard system with rigid rules" and then break the shell occasionally letting the reader know that the rules don't necessarily work exactly how you or the people in the story believed, but also keeping things that happened possible with the change in the system. Like peeling a shell off a hard boiled egg.

[@Alyrael]

For interesting magic systems, if I remember correctly, the manga/anime Darker than Black has a fun magic system where a person is granted a very specific but powerful ability, but upon using it, they're blasted with a very specific, random form of OCD like requiring themselves to assort blocks correctly or recite a mantra in a specific way a number of times before they can use their ability again.

[@Foxlover781]

I made a magic crystal that when used grants powers linked to that crystal (e.g. fire) but also has a chance to weaken the crystal slightly to give the user a perk (positive or neutral or negative) also related to that element. (E.g. fire crystal could give orange hair, heat resistance but also maybe a raise in body temperature)

[@salmi2luccio]

5:44 the atla element bending sistem follows almost all of these perfectly, the last is difficult, but you could talk about lion turtles