Magic is one of my favorite things about a fantasy setting. You are not bound to the laws we know of and you can rewrite basic physics and reality to whatever you want. Also, building the world around it is extremely fun.

I like ping-pongs between harder and softer magic systems, but my favorite hard-leaning magic system has to be bending from Avatar. There are four elements, most people who can bend get one, and they can really stretch them out.

As for softer magic systems, I enjoy when it helps to make the world function. So far, I kind of enjoy the Owl House. Sure there are glyphs that harden it, but there are some branches like healing and construction that make it seem more like these magic covens are divided like labor guilds, rather than strictly element.

  • AFineWayToDie [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The Name of the Wind feels rather obvious, but it combines understandable rules and limits on how magic works, with enough metaphysics that it still feels mystical.

    For example, if you wanted to create a representation of a person and use it to inflict pain on them, you'd create a crude mommet of them out of wax, stick one of their hairs into it, and then use your mind to create a "link" between the mommet and the person. If you stuck a pin into the mommet, they'd feel a weak pinch, because the crude likeness and single hair mean that the connection is inefficient and thus loses energy.