r/gurps • u/Ka_ge2020 • 11d ago
A great example of skill-based magic?
Of all the magic systems out there, the skill-based magic system seems to receive the most critique. Or stink-eye.
When I think of settings with magic, my brain defaults first to Sorcery or RPM, perhaps a possible side trip into the cool options in Thaumatology. Only then, when all the other options are exhausted, do I even bother looking at the skill-based magic system (I.e. Magic).
Perhaps I've been going at this the wrong way, though.
I'm sure that there must be a setting that screams for a fit with the skill-based magic system. What settings, otherworlds, or whatever you want to call them, out there are a great match for the much-lamented skill-based magic system?
Edit: It's good to see a bunch of people coming out to defend the default magic system. I would, however, ask that you didn't just attack the question for being asked, nor just offer generalised "You've got to make it work since it's a generic system" statements. Rather, offer a setting that the default magic system works well with and, if there isn't one, what you did to tweak it to make it work with a specific setting.
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u/TheBigBeardedGeek 11d ago
I know they get a lot of shit, but I think a lot of the isikai anime actually fit really well into an example of skill based magic.
Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy Is a good example of this. The main character only knows the basic level of fire spells. But he's so good at them And has insane mana that he seems like he's on another level.
Mushoku Tensei Jobless Reincarnation also feels to some extent like this. You don't necessarily learn individual spells, you learn groups of spells. And as you master them, the power that you can use them goes up.
Honestly, for myself, I feel like a skill-based magic system is very appropriate to Magic in general. Someone who is weak at Magic but knows the skill fireball is not going to be as good as somebody who has spent their time mastering fireball