This might just be a problem with the examples you gave, but my take is that your magic system is all costs with little benefit. To the point that I'm not sure anyone would bother. It just seems designed so much to be as inconvenient as possible and inconvenience is something that most people try to avoid. The clandest for example needs to be burned to use, but wouldn't the people you are spying on smell the burning wood. And immediately wonder if someone is spying on them. If you are far enough away that they couldn't smell it, you could probably spy just as effectively without the shape and so it doesn't seem to have any actual use. The shield of the meek might be useful, but without knowing just how dangerous some of these shapes could be, it's hard to say how good it is. Or on the other hand it might be too good. And effectively make most shapes obsolete as you never know who is burning a shield of the meek and canceling whatever you intend to do. Basically I feel like magic should either be cheap but limited in power or costly but very powerful. And based solely on the examples you've given it seems costly and limited.
Good point. It is my belief that most magic systems that exist are excessively overpowered. We have gotten spoiled by magic whose potential has barely been tapped into. Yes, clandest might be impractical (you can't smell it though). But someone with training and skill will benefit fairly off it. So I'm really trying to make lemonade out of lemons here - it's my duty to show the reader how these inconvenient powers can be used cleverly within a socioeconomic and technical context, and that's really the beauty of it. If you go from "yeah they're kinda useless" to "wow really cool how that worked", then I've accomplished my goal. Also, Idols get exponentially stronger as they are used in combination. For example, one Idol lets you permanently attain the power of others. This effect is almost useless in itself, as it only works for those that can be whittled extremely fast. But then you have an Idol that can make you whittle a little bit faster, and then an Idol that slightly buffs others, and these can compound to have tremendous emergent power - all with relatively weak individual properties.
Its seems as though you've hurt yourself by limiting the main driving mechanic of the story. Perhaps a more RPG like quality would be of help. Perhaps common use lifestyle tikis could be mass produced from low quality readily available materials from special machines. Intermediate and high level would require rarer materials and very experienced hands to properly make and therefore much harder to come by.
Well, I don't intend the fictional aspect of my story to be a main driving force, more like decorative context - that's precisely one of the reasons it can be cumbersome. And this is fantasy, so sorry no machines But this economical mechanic you're suggesting is a good idea and very much present. The material may not impact the Shape's power (at least so it seems...), but there does exist a market, where "lifestyle" Idols are sold in larger quantities and rarer Idols are not as easily accessible
I'm just here to weigh in on the fictional vernacular: I don't find 'shapemaker' to be unwieldly. It works fine. 'Idol' has etymological roots of 'form,' and 'shape' so don't worry about other connotations; context is everything.
Right, thanks. I've read lots of fictional terms in fantasy that grated with me at first but which I became used to, so at the very worst I'm ok with that happening to some.
