Games with unique magic systems

In Graceling , Katsa's Grace is believed to be the power to kill, which is used to commit political assassinations for the king. What if you could read anything from a book, and it would just come out? Hines features a world where select individuals can conjure magic by reading books. And they exercise this to sometimes remarkable results. Want vampires? Got them. Curvy dryads? Got them too. Jim C.

Hines creates the ultimate Kitchen Sink fantasy series by finding a way to incorporate anything ever written into his world, leading to predictably insane results. Starting with the award-winning Sabriel , Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series features a world where magic is controlled by harnessing the powers of Death. The series features necromancy in a positive light, as the balance between the worlds of death and life need to be carefully balanced.

Most notable of all is the use of bells, used to traverse deeper into the world of Death. However, go too far, and something truly abhorrent may come back with you.

The Lightbringer series, starting with The Black Prism , is a series of novels where magic is dictated by shades of light. Governments and magical law are influenced by the concept of the light spectrum. Chromaturgy is a concept that allows people to channel the light into magic. While most individuals can use only one spectrum, there are a select number who can use all the colors, known as Prisms.

To elaborate, light creates a material called Luxin, which can be a solid or liquid, and is used for magical spells. Individuals sometimes attempt to channel Luxin into their bodies, often to grotesque results.

Enchanted verses appear to be a favorite in the world of fantasy novels. The written word holds so much power. However, in Daniel Abraham's world, words can be used to entrance the Gods themselves under the influence of select individuals. Poets can create poetry so compelling it draws influence or even dominance over the Gods and their powers.

If not then that may be the sort of thing you're looking for and I think it's still available as a free pdf. Crimson Empire - create your own spells Dear readers, Crimson Empire allows Mages and Sorcerers to create an infinite amount of spells either derived from the existing spell lists or created from scratch. Spell creation is based on a special form of grammar using runic magic.

Whatsmore the Rune Deck tm allows players to bluff their spell casting as well as cast spells in real time, i. Vitriol said:. Nero's Boot said:. Ok, tell me more. What makes the magic system truly unique and off-the-wall? Seeing as how I'm not a big Mage: The Ascension fan, this does not bode well towards me purchasing the game. I prefer having the actual books, as opposed to shit I can print up, even if it's free NB. Vitriol, it sounds very much like the Sphere system out of Mage.

If so, not interested. Yeah, the magic system in Ars is nothing like Mage. There's also the fairly obscure World Tree , which has an Ars Magica-like magic system that's been expanded. Spells can have separate Power and Difficulty ratings, the various "Nouns" and "Verbs" are each controlled by a specific deity and at least one of them, I think mind magic, is more limited than it should be because its deity has been slacking , etc.. Swordbearer had two cute systems You had to gather naturally occuring elemental "nodes", you could only store multiple nodes together if they were "chained" according to the circle of what element dominates what, etc.

There was also a Spirit Magic system that worked in a somewhat similar method, but you captured spells by trapping part of the spirit of a recently deceased person it was easier if they voluntarily "willed" you their nodes as they died, but you could get them without it. Oh, and classic Stormbringer much like Sorcerer had a system where pretty much all magic involved summoning demons and binding them to your will.

James Ojaste Oblivious Validated User. The following post is on the philosophy of the Empire and how that influences the use of magic. View all posts by darkmedallion. So the class tree for magical units is divided by the Four Forms of magic as described by Ilasir in an earlier post. Similarly, the class tree for physical combat units is divided into eight branches for each of […]. Like Like. You are commenting using your WordPress.

You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. In the Kopik Empire, magic is divided into four basic systems, known as the Four Forms Academic Magic is based on direct understanding of the physical and metaphysical laws of the universe, and is subdivided into several categories resembling the fields of natural science on Earth.

In fact, it functions as the Kopik equivalent of Earthly science. Academic Magic utilizes a specific physical law or combination of laws to achieve its effect, and is perhaps the most arcane of the Forms of magic.

Perhaps you use the law of momentum to increase the weight or kinetic energy of an object, say. It concerns itself foremost with the finding and manipulating of patterns for its own obscure purposes. Natural Magic utilizes the elements to cast spells, such as turning water to ice, or trapping an opponent in vines, to give a combat example. Personal Magic revolves around the force of personality of the caster.