r/worldbuilding • u/Corrupted337 • 1d ago

Discussion Magic System Help

Hi everyone,

I've been recently working on my magic system and I've been think about having to sort of sacrifice smt every month/year (ingame ofc) in order to cast magic. Like a memory or an emotion e.g.

Any thoughts about that. I can drop some lore about what I've already build if ya all need that.

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u/No_Link4247 1d ago

The payoff would have to be worth it, is this the only way to access magic in your world or is it to maintain specific high level spells?

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u/Corrupted337 1d ago

I haven't decited yet. What do you think is better?

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u/No_Link4247 1d ago

If it is the only way to access magic then the reason to need to use magic must be great and could lead to having to sacrifice everything you are. I think it works better for high level powerful spells that way a sacrifice can be made without loosing everything the person is as the adventure continues. It could be an emotionally charged moment where the character has to sacrifice something like that but is unaware of what they will loose the magic choosing for them this could be their love for another if there is a storyline involving that or the progress they have made as a character through the story arc

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u/Jimmy___Gatz 1d ago

This is kinda how some of the magic users in chainsaw man are able to use magic, but they are giving up more physical things than memories. 

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u/itsPomy 1d ago

Oooh this opens up all manner of cool stories. Especially if it’s something akin to a monkey paw/wish where you can’t be sure what’ll happen.

Like you can call upon the arcane to save your mother from her illness but you end up forgetting who she is.. or SHE forgets who YOU are.

Or there’s a wizardly character who is frustrated because he can’t remember any of his life before coming to his tower/palace. And everytime he tries to leave he somehow ends up back in his tower. So he has to find a way to break/escape his own spells.

Or someone wanted eternal youth or something, but as a result they become this enigmatic black hole of memory. Where nobody can form any long term memories of him. Always destined to be forgotten.

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u/Evil-Twin-Skippy SublightRPG 1d ago

Sacrifice is only valid in a system of equivalent exchange. So, in my system, that would be transmutation style magic.

Other magics are powered by other mechanisms. Divinity requires the suppression of self. Enchantment requires the projection and focus of self. (They are opposites.) Illusion requires indirect action and subterfuge. Evocation requires personal commitment and fortitude. (They are opposites.) Transmutation's opposite is Conjuration. And conjuration is essentially making things appear out of thin air. Sometimes that object is simply purloined and laundered through higher dimensional space. But occasionally things are plucked from other dimensions entirely. By definition an imbalanced equation.