What's your favorite magic system? How would your MC fit in?

Ohhhh this is really cool! I definitely have to experience Worm at some point after hearing this.

The way the "powers" work in it kind of reminds me of both Mistborn and Darker than Black. Mistborn because in those novels you can also only gain your powers by "breaking", AKA receiving an emotional/mental wound so grave that it cracks your spirit in a way that lets power seep into it. And Darker than Black because the power themselves aren't always useful and can be more often than not a huge problem.

I'm also a really big fan of the power you thought of for your own MC, that's very detailed and it seems like it'd be fun to write. The theme of "flood" not only referring to water is pretty clever and it ties very well with most negative emotions, I think. It also reminds me a bit of Neptune's devil form in "We Know the Devil". In the game's words: "She is a flood of every wicked thought, and they are pouring out of her mouth."

Anyway yeah I gotta add Worm to the list of stuff to watch.

Thank you! I love Worm’s setting, since there are so many ways to play around with it. If you do decide to read it, I hope you enjoy. Link’s here btw, since I didn’t put it into my previous post.

I’ve read Mistborn, actually, and some of Sanderson’s other novels (including Stormlight Archives). He’s an interesting writer because his worlds are so intricate mechanically, like video games or tabletop roleplaying settings. They’re like little puzzles for the reader to solve, where everything ties together.

Never heard of Darker Than Black or We Know the Devil, but they look interesting. The Contractor/Obesiance thing from Darker Than Black, especially. So you have these super-rational murderers, who also like painting landscapes or folding origami because they need to pay that price for using their powers?

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures I’ve heard of (though never read). Stands are cool. They're each based on a song, right? Also, I’m really curious as to what kind of person would have a murderous oil liner as their Stand.

_



Madoka Magica is a magical girl series, but it subverts expectations by being an unexpectedly dark deconstruction of magical girl shows. (Yeah, I’m fond of that kinda thing.)

Magical girls in Madoka get approached by a cute animal mascot named Kyubey, who promises to grant them one wish (within reason) if they become a magical girl and fight surreal eldritch abominations known as witches and familiars. A fair exchange, right? You get one wish on almost anything you want, and in exchange, you get magical powers to save people!

But there are some strange caveats. For instance, every magical girl has a soul gem that fills with "grief" over time. Extra grief is generated by using powers, or experiencing negative emotions. The only way to cleanse grief is to defeat witches, and you’re warned to never let your gem fill up completely. What happens if you do? Kyubey doesn’t quite say…

And that’s only the start. (Warning: mega spoilers ahead. I think you can still enjoy the show while knowing these spoilers, and I personally watched it while knowing the secrets behind the system—but if you want to watch Madoka without spoilers, stop now. You really should, because this show is heavy on the reveals.)


_

Madoka is really good. Watch it, if that sounded the least bit interesting to you. The show isn’t just about the system and its secrets. It has a cast of awesome characters, stunning animation, cool plot twists etc. etc. It’s only twelve episodes, and you can watch it online for free.

_

Anyway, enough about the show. Let’s focus on the magic system!

Each girl gets a power, based on their wish, and a weapon + costume, based on their personality. For example: Mami, from the show, wished to connect to life. Her power is controlling ribbons, and her weapon is an elegant musket that suits her graceful but showy personality. Her costume’s spiffy, too. Look up pictures or something.

(Mami gets revealed in the first/second episode, so I don’t think it counts as spoilers?)

The power and weapon require magic. As for the wish, that depends on what it is. Some wishes might activate automatically, while others might be tied to the power and require magic in the same way.

The system is a lot less rigid than Worm's. Powers don’t have hard limits on what they can and can’t do. Generally, as long as something is related to your powers, you can pull it off—but the more magic you use, the more grief accumulates in your soul gem. The amount of grief your soul gem can hold is pretty much the hard limit on how much magic you can use and how powerful you’ll be.

People’s wishes often backfire. Kyubey isn’t an evil genie or anything—wishes are granted exactly as specified. The problem is magical girls are generally approached around ages ten to thirteen, or even younger, and ten-year-olds aren’t exaaactly that mature. Imagine being defined permanently by the desires of your ten-year-old self.

_

Main character time. I’ll just go with Kelly again lol. Poor Kelly, she goes through so much.

Let’s say kid Kelly is sitting in her bedroom in something when, ooh, cute animal mascot approaches! Get one wish granted + magical superpowers + be a hero! Kyubey says. Kelly figuratively dies from excitement. "Oh my gosh, magic is real, I’m a Chosen One! Next thing you know there’s gonna be a prophecy and everything! I am READY to start saving lives!"

(She hasn’t yet learned about "too good to be true".)

Wish: Kelly’d probably wish to live a meaningful life, because when you’re ten, it seems like adults do all the important work and kids have to do boring homework instead of saving the world, which would be way more fulfilling.

Her wish would have a horrible effect on her life. When Kelly says "meaningful", she’s thinking about Saturday morning cartoons where the heroes get to fight villains and save the day. As a result, her wish would pull her into dangerous situations at the worst times. She’d get more chances to help people, but it would exhaust her.

Power: It’s kind of hard to tie "meaningful life" to a power, so let’s look at the underlying motivation behind the wish. Kelly’s bored with normalcy and wants an exciting life of heroism, like the main characters from her cartoons and video games.

So, Kelly’s power could be based on cartoons or video games. Maybe she can summon items and power-ups from the franchises she knows, or use attacks based on characters she knows. If she’s fighting a witch with an ice theme, she could pull a Fire Flower straight out of Mario (or maybe a Charizard, lol) and burn it up. There are less limitations here, because magic has looser rules, but I imagine she couldn’t summon anything too broken or it would exhaust all her magic reserves and take her out instantly. (No Arceus.)

Weapon: Hmm. Girls with Lawful Good personalities, who are all gung-ho for justice and heroism, usually get swords. But Kelly has a bent towards nerdy video game stuff, and an association with technology and modern life, so a medieval-style sword doesn’t fit her. I think she’d get a lightsaber and a laser theme. Maybe everything she summons has a laser theme, so if she uses a Fire Flower, the fireballs would be made of neon glowing light.

Costume: Her costume would be mostly black, but it would have a ton of glowy bits she could turn on or off at will. She’s shy, but also desperate to be admired, so she can switch between a really dark "stealth mode" and a flashing "hero mode" that makes her look like a walking Christmas tree.

_

Kelly would burn out. You can only save lives for so long before you run out of motivation. At that point, there wouldn’t be much hope left for her.

(If you didn’t read the spoilers above, don’t read the ones below.)

_

Anyway, I think that’s all. This is even longer than my last post. I feel like I’ve spent way too long on it. But if you read the whole thing, thank you and good job!

So the thread doesn’t die: would your characters contract/what would they wish for/what would their weapons/powers be, etc. (And if they’re male… pretend they’re female??? I don’t know.) And are there other cool magic systems you think I should check out?

Again, thanks for reading the whole thing! (Unless you just skipped to the end lol.)

Edit: formatting. Those spoilers are tripping me up.

Thanks again! Haven't read Homestuck, so I can't comment on Classpects. I tried the first couple hundred pages and it didn't keep my attention, for whatever reason, so I stopped. It's a shame, because so many people love it and I want to get what it's about. Heard the later parts are mixed quality, though?

I read Stormlight Archives a long time ago, but from what I can remember about Surgebinding (and a brief look at the wiki), Kelly would probably end up a Lightweaver. She's a free spirit, and like Shallan, she has... issues. Plus, the light association works well with her character. Lightweavers create illusions and transform objects, right?

Magical girl Inyssa would be terrifying. I can see her claiming a large territory without anyone to challenge her, because her power makes her nigh-invincible in a straight battle. At least until someone decides to surprise assassinate her from a distance. Or she gets tired of fighting and

I can't really think of another magic system that would be easy to fit a character into. I love the necromantic bells from the Old Kingdom trilogy, but I think only Abhorsens get to use them. LitRPG systems are kind of interesting, and The Wandering Inn does a nice job with them.

Been a while since I read it, but from what I can remember: you pick up jobs by doing something related to them (e.g. cooking -> [Cook] job, delivering messages -> [Courier] job), and by challenging yourself in a way related to a job, you level up in it and can get helpful Skills (e.g. cook without all the necessary ingredients, or boost your speed to deliver messages faster). Unlike some LitRPG stories, The Wandering Inn has no stats. It's all about your jobs.

Jobs can change into better jobs, that give you better skills, at certain levels. You can also combine jobs when they're advanced enough.

_

I have no idea how my main character would tie into that. Because jobs are so connected to your livelihood, the jobs you get are very dependent on what you end up doing for a living.