Most unique magic system

[Zenomew]

What are some of the most unique never-seen before magic systems you have read

I’ve noticed in a lot of novels,
The mechanism of magic or what fuels magic. There are usually three routes for this:- ambient mana: mana is present everywhere, and magic users just influencing it

- internal mana/magic: I've seen different things from cirlces around heart to bloodstream to mana organ to generally mana brain/heart.

I am looking for something new something unique and special form the standard systems mentioned above

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I don't care about magic system.

 

[Zenomew]

I don't care about magic system.

Why not? A good magic system is an important aspect of any fantasy story

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Why not? A good magic system is an important aspect of any fantasy story

It's a good bonus for those who like them, otherwise no. Also low fantasy. Low fantasy barely has any magic in it. How can you create a good magic system, if at most people can cast one big fireball, and that's it. Think of a fancy way to summon this one big fireball? Ehh... I would rather spend my time on thinking about good characters, interesting plot, and an interesting setting.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Mine.

 

[Corty]

Every time someone uses a spell, they need to offer an equivalent price in sacrifice. Based on the importance of the sacrifice to the caster, it may not even work or be OP. Offer your favorite baseball card? Your fireball will be, at best, like a torch being thrown at the enemy. Sacrifice your child's life? You will nuke the whole city. Of course, it can't be played. If you don't even feel any attachment to your kid, the fireball will be weak AF.

If any mage tries to play the system, the backlash turns them into screaming flesh statues.

 

[Zenomew]

It's a good bonus for those who like them, otherwise no. Also low fantasy. Low fantasy barely has any magic in it. How can you create a good magic system, if at most people can cast one big fireball, and that's it. Think of a fancy way to summon this one big fireball? Ehh... I would rather spend my time on thinking about good characters, interesting plot, and an interesting setting.there'

Not necessarily I mean in low fantasy there is some vague explanation given on how it works that can also be considered as a system what I am looking for is not a complete detailed magic system but a unique one

For example In Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion magic is not really explained properly but the reader can figure out that the power of magic is via songs and a sort of song which allows them to reshape the world

It's not necessarily a detailed system but it plays a major role in both storys

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Not necessarily I mean in low fantasy there is some vague explanation given on how it works that can also be considered as a system what I am looking for is not a complete detailed magic system but a unique one

If I understood you correctly, it's the same as "good" worldbuilding vs unique worldbuilding, right? Good is rather abstract, but majority think of it as having a lot of details, and basically making a whole wiki for your story. While unique is self-explanatory. Did I understand you correctly, or not?

 

[Zenomew]

If I understood you correctly, it's the same as "good" worldbuilding vs unique worldbuilding, right? Good is rather abstract, but majority think of it as having a lot of details, and basically making a whole wiki for your story. While unique is self-explanatory. Did I understand you correctly, or not?

Yes

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Yes

Still not important, a nice bonus at most. Answering your initial question, Toriko's system. It's nothing special, rather barebones, but you won't find anything like it.

 

[expentio]

"A Practical Guide to Sorcery" is pretty great in this aspect. Magic is basically alchemy with equal exchange, mixed with science, so almost any effect can be created by the knowledgeable "scientist". You can create cold by sacrificing heat, while still charging another effect. The limit is how much mental power the sorcerer brings to the table and the only way to increase it is casting, while casting wrong, too much, or with false focus can either kill you or turn you into an aberrant, a creature that is basically a mindless husk based on certain magic effects, but at the same time a great calamity.

There's also the manga "witchhat atelier" in which magic is cast through writing circles which is to be kept as a secret from the populace. Mages there use basic instructions for complex effects and do shenanigans like varying scale or intentionally keep almost completed circles with them.

"Vacant Throne" has a system that is based on spell cards that are super complex to write and even harder to cast, especially with a tier system going that theoretically goes up to 10, but for humans 3 is already a feat. MC is a cheat in this respect. (The first 5 arcs were great, but then it went a bit too epic too fast for me)

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

I like FMA's system.

 

[RepresentingSilence]

Industrial strength magic over on Royle Road

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Wait, technically it's not magic system but a power system. Forget what I wrote about Toriko.

 

[Syringe]

Probably the way the Fate universe and Shin Megami Tensei's magic system works in relation to mythologies and Abrahamic stuff.

 

[Plantorsomething]

What are some of the most unique never-seen before magic systems you have read

I’ve noticed in a lot of novels,
The mechanism of magic or what fuels magic. There are usually three routes for this:- ambient mana: mana is present everywhere, and magic users just influencing it

- internal mana/magic: I've seen different things from cirlces around heart to bloodstream to mana organ to generally mana brain/heart.

I am looking for something new something unique and special form the standard systems mentioned above

Pokémon

 

[ElijahRyne]

What are some of the most unique never-seen before magic systems you have read

I’ve noticed in a lot of novels,
The mechanism of magic or what fuels magic. There are usually three routes for this:- ambient mana: mana is present everywhere, and magic users just influencing it

- internal mana/magic: I've seen different things from cirlces around heart to bloodstream to mana organ to generally mana brain/heart.

I am looking for something new something unique and special form the standard systems mentioned above

Maybe the Lovecraft mythos…?

 

[J_Chemist]

Dick magic.

 

[GlassRose]

I once read a series where reciting poetry worked magic based on the contents of the poem. 'A Wizard In Rhyme'. It's kinda old and has a religious bent to it I really don't like now, but the magic was neat, and it might be one of the reasons I didn't hate poetry in school, unlike basically everyone else.

And it might be a bit stereotypical to bring him up in a conversation about magic systems, but basically anything Brandon Sanderson. Cosmere, at least, but his other stuff has neat magic too.

For specific examples, Allomancy where power comes from ingesting metals, Feruchemy where power comes from temporarily weakening yourself in some way and storing that in a metal to draw on later for a buff to however you were awakening yourself, I-don't-know-what-it's-called where you carve a seal that can trick whatever it's placed on into becoming something else depending on the believability (which requires understanding the history of it to do well, and it slowly reverts back to it's original self over time, faster the less believable), there's whatever the Stormlight Archive's magic is called where there's a bunch of different powers, but they're all powered by Stormlight, which gathers in gemstones exposed to a special kind of unending storm that is traversing the world, and more.