Making Magic Systems: The Only FOUR Types of Magic

"I don't want to give you rules necessarily, I want to give you inspiration, because that's where magic systems are born." is an amazing line.

The sole purpose of this comment is to get the algorithm to push this video to more people :)

I had a similar conversation last month. I classified them in a differrent way. - Magic as Discipline - Magic as Science - Magic as Mystery - Magic as Emotion Magic as Science is when the magic is completely understood and is based primarily on knowledge. Obtaining new powers comes from learning secrets, or having them taught to you. Training often does very little to make your magic stronger, if you want to become a more powerful wizard, you need to discover more secrets, find more synergies, learn things that others do not know, or do not dare to know. In these worlds, Magic is almost never intrinsically good or evil, it is just a tool. Basic example would be Harry Potter. Magic as Discipline is when knowledge is not enough, you have to train, you have to practice. The more you train your supernatural powers, the stronger they become, merely understanding how they work is not enough, it takes effort and commitment. And this training often come with rewards, a wizard who has strong discipline and practices regularly, will manage more powerful spells than another who might have a better understanding of magic, but does not train it hard. Examples would be Avatar, Star Wars and My Hero Academia. Magic as Mystery is when magic is not only unknown, it is unknowable. Magic powers cannot be well understood, you cannot train them, you cannot reproduce them, and study often provides very little understanding. Wizards have rote rituals for the small parts that they can reproduce and understand, but there is a vast iceberg of 'true magic' under the small parts that are understood, and most people with magical powers have obtained them by accident or being gifted by a powerful/divine being. Curses that cannot be broken unless specific conditions apply, or are created by the magic of the world itself as punishment are examples. Most divine interventions fall into this group, because the magic user simply doesn't know if the divinity will answer, it is not predictable. Magic items that may or may not work. The magic of The Elder Scrolls, or the Ctulhu Mythos or the Blasphemous game series, are examples of magic which cannot be understood. Magic as Emotion is when the key feature is emotion. The magic only works when the user is emotionally attuned, either from being true to their feelings, or being attuned to their anger, or zen detachment. A wizard with all the training and knowledge will be unable to use this type of magic, if they are somehow cynical or not genuine in their attempts to use magic. This is the realm of Magical Girls, and most kinds of Divine Intervention, since the Divinity can typically judge if the user is being truthful when they beseech for a miracle. This differs from magic as Mystery because it can be understood, even if you cannot train to be more truthful to your emotions, another magic user can correctly explain that your magic didn't work because you didn't truly believe in your friends. Examples would be... almost every magical girl show ever, and a lot of Disney/Pixar magic. Some worlds fall very solidly into one category, while others are kind of in between. For example, in Dragon Ball Z, characters power is affected by their emotional attunement, but discipline and training are the primary factor. Any Saiyan can get angry, but getting angry and channeling that anger correctly can lead you to a super Saiyan transformation. Goku's Ultra Instinct requires a state of zen-like empty mind, but this is not something that can be reached without a lot of discipline and training. In the world of Harry Potter, almost all spells are a matter of knowledge, if you want a potion to do a specific thing, just research the proper materials, but no amount of knowledge and training can significantly change your Expecto Patronum. Understanding which type of magical world you are dealing with is important, because certain genres have certain expectations for the audience, and switching them can lead to betraying those expectations. For example, one of the big beefs people had with the Star Wars sequels is that they changed the genre of magic. In the previous movies the Force had been solidly Discipline magic, because the force was eastern-inspired supernatural martial arts, but in the sequels it became a mix of Emotion and Mystery, with force users being able to perform unpredictable magical feats that made no logical sense, characters emotional attunement becoming more important than their discipline, and the force itself seeming to make conscious choices like a divinity at some points.

One of my favorite is Fake Magic. Where a supposed stage magician is doing his parlor tricks but they're beyond what normal earth physics would normally allow. I don't see that too often as an actual magic system, probably since people don't want to pin that with actual magic but it could definitely follow the same rules and be intriguing.

I like when authors think about how the magic in their world was first discovered. Most of the time it's just "it just exists" or "the gods did it that way."

Seems to work in Pokémon: Moves - spells Abilities -enhancements Legendaries - Divine intervention (until you catch them) Held items - magical items

I remember in high-school I read a book about what was essentially Dream Magicians- they lived in a dream world, creating dreams for mortals to visit in their sleep and they could visit the mortal world in their own dreams. The cool thing I remember was the main character spent his time in lecture halls and university classes to learn and understand physics and chemistry- the idea being that the more he understood how our world worked, the more realistic and believable the dream worlds he could create. I loved that idea, a magic system based on verisimilitude- where believing the dream made it more real, where the more specific the effect, the more powerful the effect.

Another common division is Right-Hand, Left-Hand, and Middle-Path sources of magick. Right Hand path earns power. You get it through meditation or through service to a divine being. Left Hand path takes power. It usually, but not always, involves harming someone else. Middle Path shares power. The user makes connections, usually to natural forces, that the user channels. Left Hand vs Right Hand is much more common since it sets up a conflict between benevolent/malevolent people. The conflict with Middle Path magick is that it normally erodes the humanity of the user - the magick gets to shape the user for its purposes.

I came to the video doubting that it's possible to categorize magic systems into just four types in a way that wouldn't be meaningless because of the oversimplification -- but I am so glad I started watching anyway, because this classification is very good and useful! It certainly did make me think about my own magic system from a new perspective

I read a book once that the magic was based on reading and writing, and the protagonist was dyslexic Edit: wish I could remember the title

So wizards, artificers, warlocks, and sorcerers from D&D.

Okay, let me guess from the thumbnail: 1: Crafted magic, which comes from powerful materials the magician makes into objects which can then be used by anyone. 2: Cast magic, which comes from specific actions on the part of the magician which activate laws inherent in the world’s reality. May or may not be used by anyone aware of the correct actions. 3: Self-powered magic, wherein the power comes from and is limited by the magician themselves. Obviously can’t be used by just anyone. 4: God-powered magic, which is given, taken, and ultimately controlled by a force outside of the magician’s power.

Regarding Sanderson's laws, I'd go a step further and say they primarily apply to Brandon Sanderson personally. The man has a very specific approach to writing hard magic systems because he's kinda obsessed with them (I'm not sure but I think he once said he wrote a book because he thought of a magic system and needed a story to go with it) and that's fine because it's obviously working for him. It makes sense he'd establish rules for his own very particular method, and they may be useful if you write magic in a similar way, but may less useful if you aren't into very specific hard systems. To put it in more general terms: When writers dole out writing advice, they're typically describing their own personal style which will have been shaped by their preferences, habits, experiences and philosophy. And the more specific they are - especially when they start talking about "rules" - the more likely this is to be true. Thus, you have to always consider if a piece of advice makes sense to you and suits the way you tend to do things. Ultimately, you can't become a good writer simply by following instructions. Writing stories is a matter of self-expression, and you have to really think about what you're doing. Regarding prophesies and Chosen Ones, I think it's worth keeping in mind that traditionally a prophet was not a fortune teller or soothsayer, at least not exactly: Prophets were people who received divine messages. It wasn't them seeing visions of the future so much as it was their god giving them a head's up because he's planning to, say, drown the whole world so building a giant boat might be a good idea. Of course, depending on what the god is capable of, the prophesy may as well be an accurate prediction of the future. (For example, in the Judaeo-Christian tradition it works this way because God is omniscient and literally can't be wrong.) Still, I prefer to think of them as plans that the powers that be intend to put into action. That way, the Chosen One hero isn't guaranteed to win regardless of what choices are made, but it is how events have been set up to work out. Speaking of which, to me the term "chosen one" implies that the character was actually chosen by someone or something to serve a specific purpose for a specific reason. That is to say, the hero isn't just arbitrarily the most important person in the world simply due to random chance or "because the prophesy says so." They were actively chosen because they possess certain qualities that make them the best one for the job. Of course, predictions of the future can still be part of all this, but I think I really like it when there's some sort of great plan at work and you can sorta tell how and why the hero fits into it.

Like any other aspects of your world building, I think the most important aspect of your magic system is internal consistency. Nothing can break your immersion more than inconsistencies throughout your experience. (Sure there can be exception here and there as long as they are justified in a way)

For those wondering there is in fact a pretty decently big difference from a power system and a magic system : Magic system is normally focus on the OG spells and magical techniques from elden stories, they're also mostly techniques and spells which everyone can use, a lot of magic systems nowadays are normally just : "this person can shoot a fireball." Because they have enough 'energy' or whatever it is inside of the verse, keep in mind that magic systems naturally look and feel supernatural so they can be 'completely ridiculous!' like stated. Power systems : Power systems are basically magic systems but can be more focused around reality and feel less supernatural, Power systems a lot of the time are also about having a unique power which only you can use, an example of this would be nen abilities from hxh or quirks from mha DC or MCU comics are actually REALLY Great examples of a power system, specifically because of your unique abilities could come from a species/race, supernatural event, cultivation, etc ( In this case it's kind of like multiple power / magic systems jumbled up to create a mostly power system ).

I like magic systems a ton, it’s always interesting to see what new stories can come from a well made magic system

The golem is an interesting example since it has elements of a spell, magical item, and divine intervention. The golem is created and destroyed through a spell. But while it exists, it's like a magical item. But since it can have something of a will of its own, it has an element of divine intervention.

This video actually inspired a thought, although this has probably been done before. Context: I am building a world for a D&D campaign but was thinking of expanding it beyond that in the future. The inspiration: A system of magic where everyone is innately magical, but magic can only be used by those within which it has ‘awoken’. Each user of magic has a unique way of controlling their magic based upon the circumstances of their ‘awakening’. Example: if a persons magic awoke to save them from a deadly fire, their power is drawn from runes and other symbols drawn in charcoal. This system would likely draw heavily from the spells part of your video, although magic items would likely also be present. Edit: Awesome video

I love talking about Magic Systems, and Atla has one of my favorite magic systems of all time.

I got a lot of the inspiration for the magic systems in my book (yes multiple magic systems in one book, I hate myself apparently) from anime. I actually have a magic system that could fall in all four categories you named here. Now I just need to hope the book ends up actually good.