I have a level system interwoven in the magic system of my novel. Before Tate Publishing went belly up, both ghostwriters loved it as a unique idea. Now before you bash it allow me to explain. The in-story reason for a level system is wizards were dying from storing too much magic in their bodies at once. In the euphoria of doing magic they ignored or missed the warning signs and would go out in a flashy implosion. It got so bad that wizards quit doing powerful magic for fear of death. One prominent wizard lobbied for a warning system to prevent death. He suggested using some of the extra magic in a flashy sizzle of magical sparks that no one can ignore. The idea caught like wildfire, a circle was formed and the level system was born. Levels one through fourteen has nothing to identify it, for magic is not as dangerous. From fifteen onward there is the leveling display, for example multicolored (if that's what the wizard is) sparks sizzle around the feet then spiral up around them in a single chain. At sixteen there is two, ect until level twenty where there is a fireworks display and a ring of sparks. It goes on and on in different styles of display with fireworks at every #0. Most wizards only reach around thirty as their natural born limit. Some are more powerful with a rare few going beyond forty. My level system is not "Oh you did this enough time here is a level up!" It's more of the "magic muscle" becoming stronger to allow the use of more magic without straining the magic muscle from overuse. Much like a body builder hitting their wall, they cannot store more magic once they reach their level wall. There are techniques wizards can learn to compress their magic storage but that is phsically demanding and only used to cast powerful spells they can't cast normally. It takes time and effort so it's only used in extreme cases. In magic battles wizards who level up tell their oponet how powerful they are and if they've settled in their level yet. For example, if a settled twenty challenges an unsettled level twenty-two and they evel to twenty-three then the twenty will often bow out and admit defeat. Or they bow out and turn the battle over to a demon, but that's a unicorn of a different color. That's basically it in a nut shell. Tell me what you think about my level system. Be gentle, I bruise easy.
I don't really understand what you're asking. I assumed this was going to have some kind of direct affect on the reader, in a CYOA type of way, but from reading your post it appears to be nothing more than a plot line. It sounds like it will read more like a computer RPG novelization than a regular novel, but if that's what you're going for...
I think your title to the thread is misleading because your title makes me thinking like RPG level system but you directly said that it isn't like that. I think your idea is fine. Like, so fine not worth asking if it is fine. Because your magic system is just that a magic system. Correct me if I am wrong but the core aspect is. -Magic is dangerous - To help magic be less dangerous people do something that is visually identifiable - As a result, people often can skip fighting based on understanding the opponent is stronger based on previous visual identifable trait of magic. That's a fine system! In the sense that if those are the rules you want to use. I see nothing wrong with them.
But the magic system is just part of your plot, so of course it's plot. I read the thread because I thought you were pitching some type of game book, in which a level system could somehow be controlled or influenced by the reader, but this isn't the case, it's just an element of your story. As I've said, it sounds like your book is going to be aimed squarely at RP gamers and fantasy nuts, so any kind of magic system is going to appeal to them. I'm failing to understand why the levelling system is relevant.
well, no it's supposed to appeal to everyone, not RP and fantasy nuts perhaps I should have thought just as hard on my title that I did on my post. I'll work harder on my titles from now on.
personally. I think your fine I may not be an expert on where threads go but I certainly wasn't upset to find it in the fantasy section. Your title was a bit misleading but the post explained it I think. So don't be so hard on yourself.
It's pretty cool, here are a few questions I'm wondering about. Are there a lot of spells or abilities to be used per level? I can imagine logically seen there will be the most spells at "max" natural level (level 30 I believe)? Do anyone can invent spells as they seem fit, and how would that work? How do you quantify magic, is there standard logic with the bigger the higher the cost) or is there no logic to it? Heavily exaggerated example, level 2 you can completely obliterate someone, level 50 you can boil water
I'm not quite clear on how the levels are determined... Since you're using a "muscle" analogy it's tempting to look at this like weight lifting - stronger people can lift a 300lb weight/use level 30 magic, weaker people can't. That more-or-less makes sense to me. But I wonder if that's an oversimplification of magic? Obviously I have no idea of how you want your magic to work, but I feel like there might be a sort of mystical element to magic that I'm not seeing in something this concrete. It sounds like you're looking at having a lot of levels of magic, which would mean there'd have to be noticeable difference between all of them, which feels--yeah, it feels over-simplified, to me. I could see something with colours, maybe? A magician getting darker or lighter or greener or whatever as her power developed? It seems less concrete to me, more organic. But that's a quibble. In general, the idea of a visual representation of more powerful magical abilities seems reasonable to me. (Note, though: Tate Publishing was a vanity press. I'm sure they got lots of great stories sent to them, but don't use their interest as your only indicator of whether or not your story is working. They were in the business of scamming writers out of their money; their opinions can't be trusted.)
The levels sound too vague and there are just too many levels for the difference between levels to seem noticeable. It's too D&D to appeal to most I think. Also, people are in credibly vain and tons would overdo their powers to seem like a higher level than they are for status reasons. Your magic muscle is what needs way more work, usually magic is simply an arcane study one dedicates their life to and not necessarily influenced by physicality. Is magic drawn from the earth here? Or a deity? Why does it need storing?
Each level has spells they can use, and people normally max out in their twenties so there are lots and lots of twenties spells. Invented spells are fine, they either work or they don't. Most of the time the invented spells are similar to "standard" spells or a combination of standard spells cast at once. For example, Aden uses a Seeker spell, a find spell and a summon/capture spell combined to collect a bunch of dangerous items. Spells have ranges. The higher the level the more you can do. To boil water a wizard must be a fire wizard or a water wizard, both which uses different techniques to do so. Fire heats its up to boil it while Water changes its state. A water wizard can do it much faster than a fire wizard, which is limited to the laws of nature. That's why I started this thread to get this wonderful feedback. I might take out the whole leveling concept like my one friend suggests. It seems too "oh another of these levels, I wonder why it's here" feeling I'm begining to feel the same way about Tate myself. Any thoughts on Yorkshire Publishing? Perhaps they are too vague to be practical, which is why I started this thread, to get feedback from a lot of people and see if my idea is actually doable. I like the level system but since getting feedback I might expand more on the magic muscle theory instead and drop the level system for the good of the book. I now have a test reader so I will go by what they say. The reason people store magic is to have it on hand, much like having a tumbler of water on hand to quench your thirst. It's far easier and quicker to reach for your tumbler to get a sip than it is to get up, go to the sink and fill a cup to quench your thirst. Wizards work the same way. It's easier to store the magic than it is to summon it from the air, although quite often low level wizards must do that very thing because they cannot store much at once.
I'm going to start a separate thread on this - it seems like a topic that might interest more than just you.
Now I feel bad that my reply wasn't as useful as others. I felt like I replied poorly after I did. Oh well. Mainly replying now at the mention of a magical muscle cuz my system uses a concept like that. Gives me the warm and fuzziest to see others that delvop that I did. Ignore me I am weird. Best of luck with the system!
I admit that it was actually my alpha writer who coined that for me but the analogy fits with my leveling system. Although now I am working on taking out the level system based on the feedback I have received. I still have a copy of my original Scrivner file with the levels but I'm trying it without the levels to see if it's much better.
I don’t think you should throw levelig system completely out though, but to keep it easier you could use maybe level 1-5, and more generalise. With this you’ll just have a more rough estimate to it’s power level instead having an exact science behind it.
yeah but that's more dragonball z-ish how they have super whatzit 5. I watched it when it first came out and dubbed it....welll....I wasn't impressed.