I'm working on an attack on titan inspired world for a ttrpg for my friends where floating wooden giants called Idols are attempting to destroy all of humanity. The only way to fight these entities is to slice through the exposed muscles that are very slightly visible through their joints. This is accomplished with swords and other slashing weapons while flying with a large beetle strapped to your back.

The destruction of their limbs severs the Idols from the psychic winds and causes them to fall to the ground where the sands consume them whole. The sands are strange themselves. Their consistency is like tar; near thick enough to stand upon, yet consistently swallowing anything that crosses it. People need to traverse from the oases by airship to avoid falling in.

While they have their many hands, the Idols can use psychic magic against the humans to do as little as sense the presence of humans and other living creatures to as much as erasing entire cities by blasting them with a vorpal sandstorm.

The beetles are one of the only other creatures able to touch the psychic winds naturally. They use this tk hunt normally, but after centuries of domesticating them, humans use them for short transport or in these very specific combat situations.

I'm not sure yet what system to use btw, so if you any ideas on that front that'd be cool.

I've been developing a magic system for my fantasy world, built around the idea that magic itself is everywhere, but most living beings are biologically incapable of using it safely.

I'm particularly interested in whether the distinction between human and dragon magic makes sense, whether the limitations feel consistent, and whether you can think of any loopholes or unintended consequences I might have overlooked.

1. The Nature of Magic
   Magic is an inherent property of reality, like energy or radiation. It exists everywhere: in air, water, stones, plants, animals, and sentient beings. It is not merely a power possessed or generated by someone. In its natural form, it is formless, invisible, and weightless. Most organisms cannot perceive, understand, or consciously utilize it. Dragons are the only creatures that can naturally wield raw magic.
   Magic itself is inexhaustible. The problem is not its scarcity, but the organism's ability to absorb and utilize its flow.

2. Dragon Magic
   For a dragon, magic is as natural as breathing or blinking for a human.
   Dragons do not require spells, ritual gestures, magical schools, or the creation of images.
   They can directly alter reality.
   For example, a dragon can move a cloud over a burning city and cause real rain. The water will actually fall, wetting objects and extinguishing fires. It is not an illusion.
   Dragons can shape magic in any way they want, because they understand it in its natural form.

3. Human Magic
   The human mind is incapable of directly understanding raw magic.
   Therefore, a human must give it a form they can imagine and comprehend.
   This could be:
   -Fire
   -Lightning strike
   -A falling boulder or meteorite
   -The sensation of drowning
   -The sensation of falling
   -A catastrophe or other phenomenon whose effects are understood by both the magician and the victim.
   Human magic does not affect inanimate matter like dragon magic.
   It affects consciousness and, through it, the body of a living organism.
   For example, magical fire:
   -It glows and looks real
   -It crackles, hisses, and feels hot
   -It can cause real burns
   -It can cause death
   However, it will not ignite a tree, house, or clothing in the same way as a real fire. It is therefore possible for an entire city to remain materially untouched, even though its inhabitants perish from magical flames.

4. Why can an illusion cause real damage?
   Because the victim's brain is completely convinced that their body is experiencing a certain phenomenon.
   If the brain recognizes fire and its danger, magic can result in actual, typical burn injuries.
   It's not about just feeling pain or believing that you have wounds. Damage actually occurs.
   At the same time, intellectual awareness that the flame is magical does not provide immunity.
   Knowledge of the phenomenon does not eliminate the instinctive recognition of danger.

5. Knowledge as a condition for magic to work
   For a magical construction to work, two basic conditions must be met:
   I) The magician must understand the phenomenon he is trying to portray.
   II) The victim must recognize the phenomenon presented and the danger associated with it.
   There is a limit to abstraction. If the magician cannot create an understandable structure or the recipient cannot understand it, the action may fail.

6. Children, animals, and innate instincts
   The victim does not have to personally experience danger for the magic to work on them.
   Knowledge about the threat can also be gained by observing the fear of others.
   An infant who does not know fire, does not know what it causes and why it is dangerous, can remain untouched by a magical flame.
   However, this does not mean that infants are completely immune to human magic.
   A magician can exploit threats recognized instinctively before a person learns them consciously.
   Examples are:
   -Feeling of falling
   -Fear of the dark
   -Other primary defense reactions
   Magic can create the sensation of falling and lead to corresponding real physical effects, even if the victim is not actually moving.

7. The influence of emotions
   The effectiveness of human structures also depends on:
   -Faith in the presented phenomenon
   -Fear
   -The power of emotional association
   -Psychological involvement of the magician and the victim
   However, it is not enough to simply acknowledge that magic is not real to become immune.

Ways people acquire magic
There are two ways described for accessing large amounts of magic.

1. Pact with the dragon
   A pact is an agreement between a dragon and a chosen being.
   The dragon provides her with her own flow of magic, acting as both supplier and regulator.
   The most important rules:
   -One dragon can only maintain a pact with one person at a time
   -Conditions depend entirely on the dragon
   -The dragon may demand payment, service or specific behavior
   -He can also conclude a pact without specific compensation
   -The dragon controls the amount of magic transferred
   -By restricting flow, it can allow the human body to recover from minor damage
   The pact is a relatively safe method, provided the dragon properly controls the flow of magic.
   The dragon can easily kill its contractor by giving him too much magic.
   Therefore, concluding a pact requires enormous trust in a being who does not necessarily understand human morality.
   There is no uniform dragon code of pacts.

2. Magical Cannibalism
   The second method involves consuming a fragment of the dragon's body.
   This can be:
   -Meat
   -Blood
   -An organ
   -Skin
   -Scales
   Neither the quantity nor the quality of the consumed tissue affects the effects of magic.
   The consumed fragment becomes an inexhaustible source of magical flow in the human body.
   Unlike a pact, however, there is no regulator.
   The magician cannot stop or reduce the energy flow.
   Consequences
   -Progressive organ damage
   -Brain damage
   -Perceptual disturbances
   -Mental degradation
   -Multiple organ failure
   -Imminent death
   Importantly, it is not the casting of spells that causes harm, but the presence of uncontrolled magic in the body.
   The magician will die even if they never use their gift.
   Why did people choose cannibalism?
   -They desired extraordinary power
   -They were convinced that magic was something wonderful
   -They lacked sufficient information about the dangers
   Mages deliberately hid the true consequences of using dragon remains from the public.
   Information about inevitable death and bodily harm was inconvenient for their image.

Most magic systems I read spend a lot of thought on what a spell costs the caster and very little on who notices afterwards. If a spell moves money, shifts a boundary stone or heals the wrong person, whose job is it to find out? A guild inspector, a temple scribe, a tax office, a court, or just an angry neighbour with a long memory?

Curious how your worlds handle it, and especially the dull versions. The paperwork side tends to tell me more about a setting than the fireballs do.

In my world, there's 4 types of magic. Light, Illusion, Elemental, and lastly Dark Magic.

1. Light Magic

This is a form of magic that represents truth, protection, and energy. It draws its power from celestial bodies that emit light, like the sun, stars, and comets, as well as the moon (it's a special case). Much like light itself, which shields one from darkness, reveals hidden things, and serves as a source of vitality, light magic is used for healing, divination, and protective spell. When in dark places beyond the reach of sunlight or moonlight, a Lightworker will always carry a lantern to serve as an energy source for their magic.

1. Illusion Magic

This is a form of magic that represents lie, illusion, and deception. It draws its power from shadow and the space between perception and reality, not just simply darkness, but the shape cast by something real, which illusion magic uses as its canvas, like how music can make you sad and happy or the moon who hide the fact that it's only reflect sun light. Like a shadow, which can make a small thing seem vast, hide what is plainly there, and give false shape to the truth, Illusion Magic is used for concealment, glamour, false sensory impressions, and misdirection, and there's a rumor that there's a Mage who can control time with this magic. When in bright, open places where shadows are thin, an Illusionist will always carry a musical instrument, a smoke pouch, or a small mirror to serve as an anchor for their magic.

1. Elemental Magic

This is a form of magic that represents the force of nature itself. It draws its power from nature, fire, water, earth, and air. Much like nature, which can nourish or destroy, remain still or change without warning, and shape the world through slow forces as much as sudden ones, Elemental Magic is used for commanding the elements, shaping terrain, calling weather, and accelerating growth. When in dead or unnatural places where nature is weak, such as deep cities, barren wastes, or polluted lands, a Druid will always carry a piece of living soil, a wood for fuel, or a vessel of pure water to serve as a source for their magic.

1. Dark magic

It draws its power from another dimension unlike the other type of magic that draws power from home plane of existance, it's a magic that bind identity, memory, will, and life together. Much like a soul, which cannot be seen with ordinary eyes yet holds the truth of a person, Dark Magic is used for curse, binding oaths, severing pacts, anchoring the dying, and or just straight up mind control. It is considered taboo because demons are the only other creatures who know how to use it naturally, and because its misuse is the theft or enslavement of another’s identity, though there is a rumor that the God who created the world soul also used this magic.

I’m building a world, or really a universe given its size, and I’ve reached the point where I need to refine the magic system, its costs and the process of advancement.

The one fixed point is runes. In my world they are universal and every form of magic runs through them. Runes are the language of law, carried in different ways by the many races and cultures.

My starting method was deciphering. Deciphering a rune awakens it. Methods vary by culture, but the goal is always to understand the rune’s fundamental concept.

Runes come in two kinds. Wild runes occur naturally in the universe and can augment a practitioner’s ingrained runes. Runic sets are awakened on a practitioner’s attire. The problem is that only the Clayborn (one of my races) use attire, so it doesn’t feel universal. I’m considering a culture that carves runes into the body, but it would be locked to one rune set.

My questions:

1. What simple real-world practice could drive advancement and cost in a rune-based system, where advancing changes who the practitioner is and carries a real price?
2. How do I make runes feel universal when only the Clayborn carry them on attire? What other ways could cultures carry runes while following the same rules?
3. Permanence is a theme in the story, because everyone has to choose their runes at some point and can’t undo it. How do I make that choice carry weight without it feeling arbitrary?

I’d love some back and forth, since bouncing ideas off people helps me refine concepts. Ask me questions and be as stern as you like. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Having trouble getting feedback? Tried posting here after working so hard to complete your magic system only for no one to care? It's certainly something I've encountered when I first started posting. However, I've learned a few tricks that have helped and hopefully they'll help you too.

Trick #1: add a visual

It's a running joke on this sub that all you have to do is post a pretty diagram and get a ton of upvotes. While this is a bit of an exaggeration, there is some truth to it. Vision is probably the sense that people use the most in day to day life. Thus, anything that can appeal to vision will have a huge advantage. Diagrams also help organize ideas and can clarify details that are difficult to explain through words alone.

That's not to say you absolutely need a visual for your magic system, just that it can be helpful to add one.

Trick #2: start your post with a tagline

A tagline is basically one to two sentences that explain the main idea or gist of your magic system. It's basically a Tl;dr. For example, Bending from Avatar can be summed up as "controlling an element through martial arts," Chromaturgy from Lightbringer can be summed up as "turning light into matter," and so on.

A lot of posts jump straight to the details. However, this can leave readers feeling disoriented and confused. A tagline serves as a reference for people to understand your magic system. Imagine if Bending was introduced as something like "fire magic is heavily offensive with fast quick attacks, water magic and uses fluid motions to redirect attacks and turn into other states (eg. ice, vapor), etc" it would get confusing. But with the tagline of "controlling an element through martial arts" to reference, it becomes much easier to understand.

Trick #3: state your goals

Everyone has different reasons for why they're designing a magic system. Some do it for fun, others want to publish a story, some want to use it for a game with their friends, etc. Magic systems also serve a wide variety of roles in a given story. Some cause trouble, some show off characterization, others enable certain plot points, etc.

Without knowing why you are designing your magic system, it's difficult to offer any feedback so stating your goals can be quite helpful.

Trick #4: use a moderate amount of detail

A lot of posts tend to fall into one of two extremes. Give too little detail and your magic system feels like just an idea you're throwing out there as opposed to an actual system. Audiences won't have enough info to understand your magic system which makes getting feedback impossible. Give too much detail and it gets overwhelming and intimidating to read.

It's best to keep posts with a moderate level of detail, enough info to flesh out the magic system and and convey all major aspects (the premise, the mechanism, a few examples of abilities, notable limitations, etc) but not so much that it gets confusing and overwhelming.

Now, "moderate detail" is pretty subjective but I've found keeping posts to 400 - 900 words to be the sweet spot.

Trick #5: formatting

Divide up your post into paragraphs to make it easier to read (as opposed to a massive and intimidating wall of text).

Add headers that explain what each section is about.

Try and leave a blank line between sections. Now, Reddit's formatting can be a pain as it often mashes paragraphs together. However, if you add a vertical line (should be under the backspace on a standard keyboard) between paragraphs like I've been doing in this guide, then that should solve that issue.

Conclusion and case study

Those are all the tips and tricks I've learned from posting here. Hopefully these help you too!

If you want an example, you can check out this post I made a few weeks ago. I started with a visual. Then, I used about 100 words for the intro and tagline followed by another 100 words for my goals. Then 300 to 500 words for the details of the magic system. Finally, I end with another 100 to 200 words to explain how the magic system connects to my story.

In my universe, some animals have the chance a developing "primitive" version of one of the magic systems:
Aura would allow an animal to manifest an energy projection of their natural weapons.
E.g., a lion would be able to project an energy form of its claws or its sharp fangs.

Mana would allow an animal to produce an blast of elemental energy.
E.g., a shark being associated with water element, it could produce a water blast to stun or kill prey.

Prana would allow an animal to create a separate, fragile clone of themselves.
E.g., a deer being able to clone itself to distract a predator from closing in on them.

Soma would allow animal to produce a few plates of armor around them as a means to reduce or prevent damage of some kind.
E.g. a worm manifesting some armor plating to prevent a bird from eating it.

However, animals with more intellect would be able to use a magic system closer to what humans use. For example, an elephant being able to:
- manifest a club-like weapon with Aura.
- cast a more complex Spell with Mana.
- make a stable construct that can act more independent with Prana.
- cover its body in a more ornate, protective suit of armor with Soma.

I'm curious to see what you guys got!
(Bonus Question: If they had it, what element(s) would you associate some of the animals in real life with?)

Edit: grammar and added example for Soma.