Art by Mitchell Malloy

Edit: I have had FURTHER THOUGHTS on this subject. Perhaps even more coherent ones.

A Problem

I have a problem, and I plan to solve it with rigor. First, the problem: I’ve always wanted a “universal” magic system for a game. I don’t mean “encompassing all possible effects” but more “encompassing all potential interactions between existing effects”. That is to say, answers to the following type of questions:

What happens if I mix these two potions together?

What potion do I get if I mix these ingredients?

Does this spell act differently if I cast it underwater? What about if I cast it at a water elemental? If so, how?

What happens if I cast this spell while channeling from a leyline of fire?

What happens if I cast this spell, while channeling from a leyline of fire, but I shoot it through this potion bottle, and then it hits that same water elemental.

So that’s the problem encompassed. Now for a solution. My ideal solution should:

Not be a pain in my ass to adjudicate

Use a system that encompasses all in game phenomenon

Be easy to apply to any new phenomenon

These synthesize into the following goal: It should use the same mechanics, regardless of phenomenon. An air elemental, a gust spell, a wand of a gust spell, a leyline of air magic, and a natural gust of wind should share a common mechanical element.

Related phenomenon should be similar. The spells gust, fly, create weather, and predict weather should share a common element. Some signifier that they are all Air related.

A Proposed Solution

This will be a bit of a rough draft solution. I’m looking for feedback, so feel free to spam my comment box. Also, does it let people without a wordpress account comment? I sure hope so, cause I crave that audience interaction.

The basic concept is to parse everything down to a set of elements. We need a set of basic components. Fire, Water, Air, and Earth seem like shoo-ins. Then we can add some spice with Life and Death. A spell will have some combination of those elements, defining it. For each spell we want in our game, we assign a unique combination. These will also take the place of mana. Want to cast a spell? Simply put the appropriate mana into a spell, and bang.

We’re going to have to get a little abstract to make this work. Each element also includes anything that’s philosophically related to it. Fire will include passion, energy, speed, etc. Each should also have a mechanical purview. Life, for example, will be required in all buff spells. This will help when adding new spells to the system.

Primary Elements

Element

Concepts Some Mechanics Fire 🔥 Passion, speed, energy Damage Water 💧 Cold, calm, planning Redirection, Control Earth 🌎 Patience, artifice, gravity Defense, Denial Air 🌪 Freedom, travel, weather Movement Life ❤ Light, communication, nature Buffs, healing, communication Death 💀 Darkness, stillness, knowledge Debuffs, wounds

Reduction

For simplicity, we’re going to want some way to reduce the number of elements in a spell. The biggest one, is we’re going to introduce the Power element. This element only makes things better, never changes the thing. Whenever you’d add a type of mana that’s already in a spell, it turns into Power. Plus wizards should be able to add generic Power to spells.

Power is also how we’ll differentiate between magic and other things. No power? Not a spell. A waterfall has a bunch of Water mana in it, that can be used or interacted with, but we don’t want waterfalls to spontaneously generate spells.

The next is opposed elements. Have two of them together? Both poof. This will also replace counter magic. You can destroy components of a spell by throwing opposing mana into it.

Secondary Elements

While this seems to give a lot of options, it is still quite limited by our little cancellation policy. You get 6 elements, 12 combinations of two, and 8 combos of three. Only 26 spells! And if we want a lot of cool and weird spells, there’s going to be a lot of competition for space.

Take two classics: Haste and Light. Both might ply for the Fire-Life space. One path would be to remove the clause where same elements collapse into power. This would allow us to have Fire-Fire-Life and Fire-Life-Life as two separate options. I did not choose this path, since I don’t want a spell to change radically by the addition of mana that’s already in the spell. Casting a fire mana spell while channeling extra power from a fire leyline shouldn’t give you a wildly different spell. It should give you a much better spell.

The solution instead is secondary elements. They have one major difference: They cannot be combined with one another, only with primary elements. This will make adding more spells super easy. We can write 26 basic/stock spells for the basic elements, and then we can add a big chunk of 26 new themed spells with each secondary element. It’s great for expansions, hacking, and added content.

Great examples of secondary elements are Time and Psychic. Very specific ones can work too. Need secret elf magic? Add the element Elf (Elf mana is naturally produced by elves) with 26 weird elven spells. Probably don’t call it Elf mana though. Maybe like, Elderan’s Gift or something elf-ey like that.

Secondary elements can also have more complex effects tacked on. We’ll use the hypothetical Lightning element. It could have an effect like, “Lightning mana turns any Water mana it shares a spell with into 2 Power mana”. Note that effects like these can cut down the number of spells you have to write for each secondary element.

Chaos

Do we have to write 26 spells for each secondary element? What if players combine elements in a way we didn’t predict (and we can’t improv something)? What if we don’t want them to combine Elf and Fire mana? What if they toy with forces beyond their control in pursuit of power? Meet our catch all element: Chaos. If the rules don’t cover a combo of elemental mana, it turns all of it into Chaos mana.

Chaos turns all mana it coexists with into Power. Naturally, there is only one Chaos spell. That is Induce Power.

Induce Power. All power in this spell is transferred to the target. If it is not a spell, it is transformed into one. Wizards hit with this spell instead must channel it all into casting a spell, and they must do so immediately.

Now you say, “Wow R.W., that sounds like a great way to boost the power of my spells!”. Well don’t act so fast. Too much power is not necessarily better power, which we’ll learn about in the next section. Only warlocks trade with Chaos magic intentionally.

“But R.W., if it’s so dangerous to wizards, wouldn’t it be a great anti-mage tool?” And this is how we get warlocks. Asking too many questions. See, before you can force another wizard to use all that power, you first have to channel it through yourself.

Spells

So, how does casting spells actually work? We’re going to take a few notes out of the G.L.O.G., since it has the most interesting magic. To cast a spell, use your action on your turn to add any mana you have into a spell, then choose a target for that spell. A spell must have at least 1 Power and 1 other element, but otherwise you may add as much or as little mana as you like.

When a spell hits its target, roll 1d6 for each power in the spell. The text of the spell will scale with [Dice] (the number of dice rolled) and [Sum] (the sum of the rolled dice).

But, if you roll doubles on the dice, a mishap occurs. If you roll triples, a calamity occurs. Both will depend on the type of mana in the spell. You will receive the mishap and calamity for all types of mana in the spell, making more complex spells more dangerous. Calamities often build, each time worse than the last.

“But wait, didn’t we skip a step earlier? ‘Put any mana I have into a spell’. Where the hell do I get mana?” For that, we must have characters.

Characters

At the basic level, a character in this system only needs rules for which mana they can get.

For the purposes of describing our system, a starting character will be able to spend one action to gain one primary Mana of any type from the environment. To draw mana, there must be a physical thing nearby which contains that element.

In addition, each character will have a specialty primary element, which they can draw once a turn as a free action. In turn, they can never draw mana of the type opposing that specialty.

Each character starts with a pool of 7 Power. They can draw one Power mana from that pool for free each turn, as well as the option of using their action to draw another.

Storing lots of mana can be dangerous. A character starts with a mana cap of 3. If a character starts a turn with more than 3 mana, they immediately use their action to cast a spell with all the mana they have.

The Environment

Objects. Objects in the world have elements too. A bonfire contains fire mana. The stones contain earth mana. Drawing this mana from the world doesn’t destroy objects, they contain a huge amount of mana in them. (Unless you’re hacking this for a dark sun esque setting, in which case it rips the object apart). Note, the ambient air does not count as an Air object, only things like weather and fog do.

You can accidentally or intentionally throw a spell through an object on its way to the target. If you do, roll 1d6

On a 1, the spell triggers on the object, affecting it if possible.

On a 2 or 3, it passes through the object, nothing happens.

On a 4 or 5, it absorbs 1 mana from the object

On a 6, it absorbs 2 mana from the object.

This can obviously change the spell effect and the power of the spell drastically. Spellcasting is a crazy and unpredictable world.

Art by Chase Stone

The Magic

Now lets bring it all together. The list of basic spells, plus one secondary element to showcase that system in practice.

The Primary Elements

Element

Concepts Some Mechanics Mishap Calamity Fire 🔥 Passion, speed, aggression Damage Take [Sum] damage Everything in a 10 foot, then 100 foot, then mile radius takes [Sum] damage. The third time, you immolate to death. Water 💧 Cold, calm, planning Redirection, Control You become frigid. Find warmth or hypothermia will come. You lose 1 from all mental stats. Earth 🌎 Patience, artifice, gravity Defense, Denial ½ speed for [Sum] rounds Your left hand, then your left arm, then your heart turn to stone. Air 🌪 Freedom, travel, weather Movement Get thrown 5x[Sum] feet away from your target Teleport 1 mile, then 10 miles in a random direction. The third time, teleport far beyond hope of return Life ❤ Light, communication, nature Buffs, healing, talking Lose 1 from all stats until a night’s rest Mutate (Use your favorite, meanest table) Death 💀 Darkness, stillness, knowledge Debuffs, wounds Lose [Sum] max hp until your next night’s rest Lose [Sum] max hp permanently

Basic Spells

Mana Name Effect 🔥 Ignite Ignite the closest [Dice] flammable objects to the target 💧 Gush A gush of water springs from the hands and hits the target. It deals [Dice] damage, douses everything in water, and extinguishes fires 🌎 Wall Create a barrier with [Sum] HP 🌪 Gust Push a target [Sum] feet. For [Dice] rounds, ranged attacks can’t pass through the area they were in. ❤ Mend Target regains [Sum] HP but loses [Dice] max HP until the next night’s rest. 💀 Speak to Dead Ask a corpse’s spirit questions until it gives you [Dice] answers 🔥🌪 Pull If the target weighs less than 20x[Sum] pounds, pull the target to you. Otherwise, pull yourself to the target. 🔥❤ Inflame The target has their emotions heightened for an hour. If they are in combat, they take and deal [Dice] extra damage with each attack. Otherwise, they become extremely susceptible to emotional manipulation. 🔥🌎 Wall of Fire Create a wall of fire, 10 feet high and 50 feet long. Anyone passing through it takes [Sum] damage. 🔥💀 Explosion Everything in a 10x[Dice] foot radius takes [Sum] damage 🌪❤ Leap The next time the target moves, it moves an additional 5x[Sum] feet, flying through the air. 🌪💧 Fog Fill a 5x[Sum] foot radius sphere with fog that reduces visibility to 5 feet. It disperses after a round in heavy wind, a minute in light wind, or an hour otherwise 🌪💀 Silence In a 5x[Sum] foot radius sphere around the target, all wind stops for [Dice] rounds. No sound can be made in the sphere, or enter it. ❤💧 Message Send a message, up to [sum] words, to a target anywhere you’re familiar with. They may also respond with [sum] words. ❤🌎 Stoneskin The target takes [Dice] less damage from all sources for one hour 💧🌎 Telekinesis Lift the target, up to 10x[Sum] pounds. You can control its motions as an action for the next minute. 💧💀 Freeze Liquid in a 5x[Sum] radius sphere around the target freezes. It unfreezes naturally. 🌎💀 Entomb Target is trapped for [Dice] rounds in a stone prison. The prison has [Sum] HP 🔥🌪❤ Haste For [Dice] rounds, the target may move twice as far and take an extra action each turn. The turn after this ends, they are exhausted and can’t move or take any actions. 🔥🌪💀 Baleful Gate Open a hellmouth under the target. They take [Sum] damage. If this reduces them to 0 hp, they are dragged into the gate, never to be seen again. 🔥❤🌎 Battleform For one hour, the target deals [Dice] more damage with attacks and takes [Dice] less damage from all sources. 🔥🌎💀 Immolate Trap Choose a section of ground to lay the trap into. The first person to step on that section of ground takes 2x[Sum] damage. 🌪❤💧 Misty Step For one minute, the target gains the ability to teleport up to 5x[Sum] feet as an action. 🌪💧💀 Puppet For [Dice] rounds, you control the target on their turn. You can only move their body, not access magical skills they have. ❤💧🌎 Patience For up to [Dice] turns, if the target stays absolutely still, they can gather power. They can still draw mana, and their mana limit does not trigger at end of turn. At any point during the effect, they can use a reaction to cast a spell, ending the effect. 💧🌎💀 Stillness For [Sum] rounds, everything within 30 feet of the target moves at a snail’s pace. People cannot run, only walk. No moving object is fast enough to do damage.

Secondary Elements

Here’s a small example of a secondary element. Each one will have a list of spells and a few unique rules. These make a sort of stand in for classes.



Element

Concepts Some Mechanics Mishap Catastrophe Lightning 🗲 Smiting, Blink of an Eye Reactions, Instantaneous For [Sum] rounds, you cannot make Reactions Gain shaky hands, then a stutter, and then vibrate out of existence

Lightning has the following special rules

When 🗲 and 💧 are in the same spell, the 💧 turns into 2 Power.

Characters can learn a skill: “You can combine one 🔥 and one 🌪 into one 🗲 as a free action”

If lightning is in a spell with 2 basic elements, it turns into Chaos

Mana Name Effect 🗲 Lightning Bolt The target is struck with a lightning bolt, taking [Sum] damage. This spell cannot be Reacted to. 🗲🔥 Beam Trace a line up to 30 feet long. The line explodes. Everyone in that line takes [Sum] damage and flammables are ignited. This spell cannot be Reacted to. 🗲🌎 Shield Cast as a Reaction to a target being attacked or physically damage. Reduce the damage by [Sum]. 🗲 🌪 Thunder Clap Teleport to the target. Deal [Sum] damage to all objects in a 10 foot radius, and half that much to all living things. 🗲 ❤ Death Ward Cast as a Reaction to a target being reduced to 0 HP or lower. If [Sum] is greater than the amount they’re below 0 HP, they are at 1 HP instead. 🗲 💀 Chain Lightning Cast as a Reaction to a creature dying. Lightning springs from the corpse, dealing [Sum] damage to the closest other creature. If they die, repeat this from the new corpse dealing 1 less damage, and so on until a target does not die.

Bonus Interactions

Here are some other related interactions bouncing around in my head. A system could use any or all of them to add depth.

Potions. Potions are spells in a bottle. The target is whoever drinks them or has it splashed on them. Some characters can have the ability to create potions. The main benefit of potions is not risking mishaps when using your spells. The downside is that they’re harder to produce.

To do so, you need magical ingredients aligned with the type of mana you’re using. The base (Holy water, alkahest, etc.) provides the power. The rarer the base, the more power. Then rare ingredients like nymph tears, giant’s grave dirt, etc. contain the mana. Secondary elements have much rarer ingredients.

If a potion gets a chaos element, it explodes immediately, casting Induce Power on whoever is holding it, usually the holder.

Elementals. There are beings made of pure elemental magic. Some are only a single element, but some have many more. They range from simple machines to animalistic to fully sapient. If you cast a spell targeting one, it adds all its elements to the spell upon impact.

Leylines. A leyline is a potent line of pure mana, coursing across the world. Great monuments are often built where two leylines cross. Leylines are both an opportunity and a danger to wizards. Each leyline has a listed mana, typically one element plus 0-3 power.

If you cast a spell while standing on a leyline, you automatically add all the mana listed in the leyline to the spell. In addition, every wizard can draw a single mana from the leyline as a free action on their turn (unless they are incapable of drawing that mana normally).

Celestial Events. The movement of the stars and other major events have a huge impact on spellcasting. Life mana can be drawn from the sun. Death mana can be drawn from the moon. During lunar eclipses, both Death and Water magic stop functioning. During solar eclipses, the same is true for Life and Fire. Comets, stars at zenith, and even major mortal events might function like worldwide leylines.

Dragons. Dragons are great beasts, each tied to an element. They can breathe gouts of their chosen elements, their hide is harder than plate, and of course they can fly. They’re smarter than most people as well. A dragon can be a terrible scourge on entire nations, or a great protector.

Even still, the promise of power has led many wizards to hunt these great creatures. Consuming the power of a dragon’s heart makes one extremely powerful. You can summon two mana of the dragon’s element from your blood as a free action on a turn. Your pool of power increases by 7. And your natural life span extends by 100 odd years.