There’s almost no way to come up with a system that somehow excludes the majority of society from casting spells without appealing to some racist or classist bullshit
I find appealing the chi system similar to DBZ, minus the races/aliens stuff. I suppose it makes sense that elves would have a slightly higher propensity to do magic than humans, but that's an option I'm not about to talk about.
Of course, nothing particularly interesting would stop the world builder from deciding that some people are genetically more likely to do magic, in the same way that some people are just taller.
Drop from DBZ the concept that everybody is ripped and punches and that chi is mostly used for punching/defending punches, if you want.
There is a bit of a skill ceiling in using chi. IDK how you would explain that, depends on how much you want to gate keep it. After all, nothing really stops you all from becoming programmers and contributing to hexbear's rust backend, AFAIK.
Once you've gate-kept, have a second skill ceiling. Some people can shoot fireballs out of their hands, fly, etc., whatever. But some people can create advanced chi procedures and store them inside objects or people. For example, create a scroll that shoots fireball when read, or plant in a person's brain/soul the ability to use a fireball technique without the formal chi training it would normally require.
Decide how rare the scroll-makers are, if they are alive, etc..
I find appealing the chi system similar to DBZ, minus the races/aliens stuff. I suppose it makes sense that elves would have a slightly higher propensity to do magic than humans, but that's an option I'm not about to talk about.
Of course, nothing particularly interesting would stop the world builder from deciding that some people are genetically more likely to do magic, in the same way that some people are just taller.
Drop from DBZ the concept that everybody is ripped and punches and that chi is mostly used for punching/defending punches, if you want.
There is a bit of a skill ceiling in using chi. IDK how you would explain that, depends on how much you want to gate keep it. After all, nothing really stops you all from becoming programmers and contributing to hexbear's rust backend, AFAIK.
Once you've gate-kept, have a second skill ceiling. Some people can shoot fireballs out of their hands, fly, etc., whatever. But some people can create advanced chi procedures and store them inside objects or people. For example, create a scroll that shoots fireball when read, or plant in a person's brain/soul the ability to use a fireball technique without the formal chi training it would normally require.
Decide how rare the scroll-makers are, if they are alive, etc..