How to Make Elemental Magic Fresh Again 

I made a magic system based on foods, where the elements are the flavor and each flavor represents one element, so different meals are like spells or potions, to cast magic you have to eat a specific flavor or meal. the more complex the meal the more specific the magic. This causes family recipes to be even more important.

When you started talking about elemental magic coming from the magic user themselves, I immediately thought of a system where the elements come from the human body. Imagine a world where the elements of magic are Blood, Bone, Skin, Muscle, Nerves... Hmm... I'll have to file that one away for later.

love the contributions from seamus, he provided a lot of useful insight and made me think about elemental magic in new ways

I love the idea of people having access to more then one element, and had the idea of someone who can use the elements but they connect to the energy of them, so they can easily create tsunamis and tornados and can cause earthquakes and Volcanos to erupt if they want to, but creating a gentle breeze or a causing a river to swell would be something that they would have difficulty with, while someone else might have no trouble with those things and be able to have the flowers around them bloom, but struggle with causing an entire field to bloom

I've tried running a game with magic based on other alchemical elements humans have posited in history, such as mercury and sulphur, which were once believed to explain why some things are metallic and why some things burn, respectively.

I'm curious how the dog is involved

I’m currently playing through Chrono Cross, and one of the things interesting me is the way elements are divided. Rather than an “element” being a specific substance, it is a color that has multiple substances under it (the reasoning being that the elements used are actually forces of nature more than substance). So Yellow has earth and electricity, Green has wind and plant, Black has shadow and space, etc. In terms of how I would make an Element System, I often think about it in terms of manifesting magic energy into a substance, rather than controlling the real thing. So an “earth mage” just creates solid mana constructs, while a “water made” would make a fluid mana construct. Each would have some additional power as well (like water allowing for shapeshifting). Though one time I made an element-esque system based on Seasons instead. Summer was associated with wind, water, and sailing, Fall was associated with decay and fire, Winter with ice and time, and Spring with plants and healing.

I am using an elemental system of four states of matter with fire, air, water and earth with four forces in between such as lightning, ice, bios, and magma. The subversion of this trope is so necessary! I love the idea of having a specific source. The elements in my story can be manipulated or summoned. I call them Casters and Sorcerers. Casters can manipulate a puddle of water in front of them into a variety of different shapes. A Sorcerer can only summoned from a source that they have cast a circle around ahead of time but they can then summon that anywhere they happened to be allowing only that element to pass through the portal so they can go to a lake which they have cast a circle and later drain into a desert.

What I quite enjoy doing is come up with creative applications for the usual types of elemental magic. Passive effects, especially when the user can swap between elements are a neat thing, for instance with added drawbacks. A protective coating of ice comes with the side effect of being uncomfortably cold. The permanent jitteriness of having electricity course through your systems may grant speed at the cost of being unable to sit still and so on. For active applications, stuff like the big old fireball may be pretty bland, considering how often it is used, but how many times have you seen somebody sleight of hand up a cluster of flashbang style firecracker embers, which may serve as a momentary distraction for an opportunity attack or a neat party trick? Similarly, one may put a subversive twist on fairly well known elemental effects like, say, a shield of ice. Let it act as a trap instead of just simple protection by detonating it in a flash freezing blast, as if it were frigid, reactive armor. This sort of ingenuity can best be achieved by just imaginarily sketching up a random character and put them in some sort of precarious situation, then figure out how each element may be able to help out in that situation. Sure, some will be better suited for the job than others, but generally none of them will turn out to be entirely useless, given enough thought.

I remember reading a book which contained the five elements of life(plants and animals, mostly) death, earth fire and water. Every mage has two elements, although unfortunately there was no mixing going on, at least not much. There's also light, but most people don't even know it exsists. The interesting part though, or at least one of them, was that the mages can't actually use the elements around them, nor produce their own, not without a lot of skill. Instead, they 'condense' a bit of that element into a cube, like a small blue cube of condensed water, or a red cube of fire, that kind of stuff. The process of making such a cube requires having a bit of that element on hand to draw the magic from, it takes a while and isn't viable in a fight. It doesn't conserve matter though, you can get infinite water cubes from a single bucket, what you're condensing is the magic. In order to cast spells in this system, you use a cube per spell, and 'expand' or 'uncondense' the cube to cast, unleashing a bunch of that element at once. The element you unleash isn't exactly under your control, at least not in the Avatar kind of sense where you can affect the trajectory of things, instead you can decide HOW it's unleashed, and there's a bit of leeway in what counts. So, the main character, with his affinity for water, could throw out blades of water or spikes of ice, or make ice walls. That kind of stuff. Anything you can think of that involves solely water (or any other element), no matter how complex, up to making illusions by bending light using water particles, or making tidal waves - although a single cube probably can't do that last one. The relation between the element and the effect doesn't even have to be entirely physical, it can be a mental connection, like how a life mage once made himself 'as light as a flower' which, in conjonction with a large conjured leaf, allowed him to float. Anyways, this system of using cubes creates an interesting dynamic, where a character who uses a lot of magic will eventually run out of cubes, so all the characters constantly have to pay attention to how many they have left, and in what way they can use their cubes to maximise the cost-effectiveness of their spells. Kind if like DnD spell slots. Another limitation of that magic, which is another neat concept, is that whenever you cast magic, the magic goes through you, and this can be harmful, on a mental level, which can break concentration, or even knock you out. For the main character, this mental effect manifests as feeling as if his lungs gradually filll with water the more he casts water magic, which, after too long, drown him. Although, that's hust a feeling, an entirely mental effect born from the fact that he's casting water magic specifically. Greater skill can alleviate the effect, in the form of achieving a specific mental state (since this is mostly mental) where you let the magic flow through you without harming you... Although that's probably a water mage thing, now that I think about it. A pyromancer might have to imagine themselves as though pleasantly warmed by a nearby hearth instead of burned to death, in order to alleviate the effect of overcasting. Another neat thing is that the fact that you don't actually need cubes. I said before highly skilled mages can forgo the cubes and use elements around them. The REALLY neat part, the one that could be the basis for a whole magic system on its own, is that while this is true, using the surrounding elements instead of cubes comes with its own kind of limitation, one so extreme that even experienced archmages will almost never use this ability : Whenever someone, say a life/plant mage, draws magic directly from the environment, say from the grass around them, the object or element they just drew magic from will instantly turn into a special kind of completely indestrucible and immovable stone. This rock isn't even affected by gravity, it's THAT immovable. So, locations where archmages fought to their fullest are littered with these little patches of petrified terrain; blades of indestructible grass that will harm you if you step on them, a cliffside that will simply ever move or be moved ever again, animals or even people turned into perfect, unicolored statues. That kind of thing. It's an incredibly cool concept, and very well exploited in the book. This aspect of magic, this frequent and irreversable alteration of the landscape, is actually the reason why mages were almost all killed in that world, but, if I went down that road I'd be sitting here talking about this incredible series or books all day. And well, while I do WANT to do that, you probably don't, so... Anyways, this was a great video. Thank you for making it, and also thank you for spending your time reading about me ramble for so many paragraphs. It is appreciated. Also, the book is in french, and I'm fairly certain it was never translated.

I once made a elemental system with Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and "Void". How it worked is all Mana is attuned to an element in the process of a spell being cast with the rare exception of Void users. What a spell does is based on 3 factors. The shape of the Mana, The Volume of Mana, and the Element of the Mana. Anyone can change the Shape with enough skill and Volume with enough Mana but people were born with one Element and that is all they can use. On top of that there is an interaction where combining Elements will cause spells of different Elements to occur. I brought up Void users as an exception earlier due to the fact they don't attune their magic to an Element and are thus able to artificially attune their Mana to other Elements but the most powerful thing about Void users is the lack of element gives access to very powerful and strange abilities. Please note that what you can do with this magic system is more inspired by JRPGs as that is what I wanted the story I made this system for to be in. Not that I made it in the 6+ years it has been rattling around in my head.

The magic system I'm working on for my story uses the elemental system as its core. The magic users are not limited in just controlling the element nor their assigned element. Each caster has one element that they are most powerful with (though power level varies) but they are still able to use spells of other elements (but they are weakest with the one opposite their most powerful). Which is how the magic system works; each spell corresponds to one of the four elements (though, I'm considering breaking some up) and thus, different casters excels with different areas of magic. For example, earth and fire elements may both excel at metallurgy whereas water elements excel with brewing. Some will overlap while one element might be the best for a type of magic. This doesn't mean that another elementals can't perform that magic, they can, it's even possible for them to excel at it but they are at a disadvantage compared to other elements (ie fire elementals won't have the easiest time performing necromancy compared to an earth or air elemental). That part of the system I have worked out really well but there are still areas with holes. One of those is working the religion into the magic system. Well, the multiple religious practices that exist in the magic society (most of them are based around the patronage of different gods).

A cool retake could be using the fundamental forces of particles in leu of traditional elements (Gravity, Strong particle interactions, electromagnetism, and weak particle interactions).

A way this could go is that the starting elements are: Earth Water Air Fire Metal Wood Light Darkness Aether Nether And Void And all other elements are just combined, refined or altered forms of the starter elements, an example could be that plastic and glass are just altered forms of earth. Some people would even be able to do things not others can do if they're smart enough and maybe even manipulate things that aren't elements using elements. An example is that lightning can be air and fire combined, normally people can only control the lightning by itself but people that are smart enough can control technology by manipulating the electricity in the circuits to do stuff such as telepathically speaking through electronics using Bluetooth or using cameras to extend the field or eyesight. Or someone could manipulate air to carry sound to talk otherwise impossible distances or cause massive destruction with sound.

I thought of an elemental magic system that that has the core 4 elements gotten from the gods of order and 3 sets of powers from the gods of chaos, represented as the God of Life, God of Death and God of Mind. And the way people’s powers manifest and the types of abilities they have come from are based on their individual personality types and experiences. So for example someone who is very crafty and sneaky but is a fire type would be able create things like mines while an introvert fire type may increase their internal temperature to increase their physical capabilities

I use five elements when writing elemental magic: ice/water, fire, air, earth and electricity. While electricity and fire are both plasma, they are just different enough to be considered different elements. (Leading to some unique ways to use electricity)

Somehow I come up with a system after watching your video, so thanks in more than one way, haha. Mine is not so much changing the elements or the source, though, but more...the inspiration for the system, maybe? Not sure how to put it honestly. So, my elemental magic system is like languages. As a baby, everyone has the potential to learn any elements. But, the environment they're in, the social interactions they have, and other factors caused them to have an affinity to just one of it. For example, beach-dwellers will have an affinity to water and someone from a carpenter family will have an affinity to wood. And of course, as with languages, everyone's eloquency with their elements is different based on their training and natural talent. Not all people can alter the state of their water or control the heat of their flame, for example. I used affinity to describe people's connection with their elements because, again as with languages, anyone can learn any elemental magic if they want to. Obviously the closer an element with someone's native element is, the higher the chance that they will be able to use that element. I still have to figure out the details of the element's relation with each other, but one obvious example is Water-native will have a hard time learning fire magic, and vice versa. Learning elements will be harder than learning languages, though, as it is more abstract. Yes, someone can lose their affinity if they don't use it in an extended period of time (as in language, but maybe faster), and they have to relearn it to be able to use that again. Most polyelementalist also can't use two different elements at the same time as they have to first tune their affinity to the element they're going to use. Having said that, the majority of people don't bother to try learning another element as it's said that it's mentally taxing. Well, there are still a lot to do with this system as I'm still mostly in the idea generation process, but overall I'm quite excited with this system myself. I think likening an elemental magic to language like this can create a lot of interesting settings, like what if someone is born to two different natives? Will there be discrimination if someone have an unusual affinity in their area? How their idiosyncrasies reflect in their magic? How about different dialects? and so on.

I have branching elements. Ether is the origin of all elements; Aether represents Natural Forces and Nether represents Unnatural Forces. Of course I have the four elements, but I also have Metal, Ice, Light, and Darkness. Each with their own Nether counterpart. Each element have their own meaning attached to them, such as: Water, the element that represents regeneration and healing, it’s Nether counterpart is Decay, it is the antithesis of Water as it represents degeneration and rot. Yes, canonically, Decay is an Unnatural Force. Death is supposed to represent the return to nature, Decay delays that process and causes issues if not handled properly. But in relation to fellow Aether elements, one example is that Water represents calm and passivity and Fire represents passion and activity. in terms of how to manifest the elements, spell casting is a Hard and Logical system. But the elements themselves are Soft and Neutral Logic. If the core is Water, by saying the spell word for Water and then saying “Fire”, you are telling the magic to flow heavily, to flow (Water) with passion (Fire), increasing the lethality of the spell. By uttering the spell word for “Air”, you are asking it to be widespread, to be free like the wind. By saying “Ice” you are asking the magic to target, extinguishing any “heat”. So on and so on, until you finish the spell. I have more to say but I don’t want to do a whole exposition on my way to work hahah That’s what I have. I have 19 elements, which is a lot, but each element is very limited in their scope of potential actions and I’ve set boundaries in their interaction to each other. I hope that all makes sense, if not, then I can’t claim it as a Logical system haha

I got 11 elements but kinda dropped the Rock Paper Scissors thing and just have them all just be equally as effective at each other (more or less) like yeah ice is weak to fire but a big block of ice would put out a match and a small glass of water wouldn’t stop a bon fire if you dont get what that means i mean it as whatever is stronger/more of would win, with the elemental strengths and weaknesses as a secondary effect for if its evenly matched in power level

How bout the 4 humors? Blood, black bile, yellow bile, phlegm. (Basically bio magic that gives a boost to certain physical attributes)

I have an idea for an elemental system that has 4 basic rules: 1) the amount of substance you can control is based on your weight, age, and mental acuity. 2) Everyone can only control 1 element. 3) every element requires a source, or in other words users can't conjure their Element. 4) the more you manipulate a particular source, the "smarter" it gets. If you carry around a bottle of water like Katara does and use it repeatedly, over the course of the day that source of water will grow into a sentient life form that can move freely, and it won't be too happy about being controlled while it was "sleeping."

My elements in my elemental magic system are more like "classes of elements". My idea revoles on a simplified periodic table, where atoms are elemental particles, and can have unique properties of their own instead of solely relying on the laws of physics. For example, salt is of Earth class, thus manipulated by Earth magic, but has the unique properties of absorbing starlight from the classical planets to make magic crystals that dissolve in water, forming elixirs. Salt also has properties similar to Salt in Alchemy, it gives "body" to ethereal things like starlight or essences, so these can be dissolved by water or shaped into solids. Meanwhile Mercury is on the Metal class, thus manipulated by Air magic. It too absorbs starlight from the classical planets, and each different light transmutes it into one of the classical metals. Mercury is also like "metallic water" and dissolves all metals into an amalgam. It is a type of Air because underground, Mercury is an exhalation which permeates the rocks, like in the Sulfur-Mercury theory of metals in medieval times. It becomes solid by being inoculated with starlight, freezing into the veins inside rocks. Metal Magic and Air magic uses pretty much the same "logic" in my setting, but on a different manner. Metal magic is like moving the "electron gas" inside metals that give pretty much all unique physical and chemical properties of metals. It's not electricity magic, since there is no electrons in my setting, but it's just an analogy in how Metal and Air magic operate by similar principles, and thus, are in the same class. Most elements in my story work pretty much like how the ancients thought how the elements worked, just like how Salt and Merucyry works like their alchemical instead of chemical counterparts. Another good example is Fire, which is like the Caloric Fluid or Phlogiston and Oxygen. The idea is that Fire is fluid that is permeating things just like how "electron gas" permeate metal lattices instead of fire being a chemical reaction with lots of kinetic energy. Material wise, pure Fire behaves like Oxygen or Sulfur or heat itself. When a matter becomes hot, it "breathes" Fire inside, just like how charcoal smoulders when "breathing" Oxygen, until it becomes yellow-hot, then red-hot, as if there's an inner fire inside that material. Flames are just air with an excess of Fire particles Dissolved into it. Acid is Fire in Liquid form, which is when water, which is an universal solvent that can copy the properties of things dissolved into it, dissolves Fire. Sulfur is Pure, Solid Fire that when mixed with metals, form ores, as if it burned that metal. So Sulfur, Oxygen and Heat itself are all on the Fire Class.

This’ll be super useful for assisting me in building the common magic of my world as much of it is very elemental. People have the ability to learn whatever they want but as a result of the culture, environment, and schooling they have growing up, most people who learn some magic only learn a few spells of 1 element. Commoners don’t typically learn any and soldiers are often taught a single spell as part of their training because magic training takes time and individual attention, something the armies cannot give to each soldier, but can to knights

Lol why do I feel like this video was made specifically for me 😂

I’ve recently been starting so make one, it’s basically just powers I’ve searched up online however elemental magic is on there. The elemental magic is split into 6 or 8 categories instead of 4. Fire, water, air, earth, electricity, light, dark, and maybe ice I dunno yet though. I was thinking to cast fire you needed a heat source, to cast water you needed or wet/liquid source, to cast earth magic you needed particles or dirt/stone etc, to cast air well basically you just needed air particles, to cast light you needed a light like a lamp or even the sun, dark magic you need to be somewhere dark like a dark tunnel or at midnight, electricity magic you would need to be near electrical wires or anything electric like technology, and finally ice magic you would need to be somewhere cold like an icy pond or something, I just thought of this like 10 minutes ago though, so I’m not that sure if it will work.

in my system, elemental magic is just one of 4 different magic styles, and it's not called elemental magic but rather natural magic, it's way more broad than just controlling elements, you can go from lighting a candle or making a flower grow, to making a thunderstorm or provoking an earthquake

I just finished writing a novel with an elemental 'magic system' so I figured it's worth checking around to see what others do. This is a good breakdown of the classics/tropes regarding them. Turns out, as I expected, instead of writing an elemental magic system, I've written some completely different structure and it's simply 'textured' with elements. That might be something worth exploring/a video idea. The aesthetics-to-functions relationship of magic. But yeah, elements are cool!

I'm on my idle time, like car rides and subway rides and such, brainstorming an elemental magic system where all the elements are related to a color and have complimentary-opposites that are more mirrors of them than completely opposed (with the ones next to the mirrors being more akin to complete opposition but still not quite) it goes: red/fire, yellow/earth, green/wood, cyan/wind, blue/water, magenta/metal I maaaay add white/light and black/darkness; but not sure, might even be more of a secondary thing each one gets to help with their element; dunno if a grey/??? would even be a thing if those were a thing but yea; each element would have a looot of symbolism attatched to it, and each character can manifest their element in widely different ways; all the element have combat/utility/healing/infogathering/etc applications; fire could burn away impurities, water can purify and heal, wind can purify, wood could heal and support growth, earth can support growth, metal can cure ailments; etc I am considering the elements all having sort of, different levels of active/passive dispositions (maybe represented in light/dark) so for example earth and water are a passive pair and between them earth is more passive, fire and wind are an active pair and between them fire is more active, and metal and wood are a neutral pair and I'm not sure which one but one would be more active and one more passive but lets say metal active for now haha so they'd go from passive to active: earth-water-wood-metal-wind-fire or perhaps: earth-water and wood-metal and wind-fire I could also do different ditchonomies for them than just passive/active like phisical/notional; but this is just the very nitty gritty of it and wouldnt be of the more instantly aparent aspects of it

I am going to be honest. I didn't hear a single word you said. I just saw the good boy and that's about it.

Great video! I think Elemental Magic Systems become so much more interesting if you can make them more complex and have more interconnectivity than the very overused "Earth, Water, Fire, and Air" system. Instead of "this counters that", I'd prefer if every "Sorcerer" was unique in their utilization of Magic. Making matchups not so predictable. The idea of each character having several Elemental Affinities is also very cool and something I myself have been working on designing.

If you're on the fence about reaching out to Clark, I urge you to do it. I had a brilliant session and together we clarified my thinking and a way forward which I never would have reached by myself.

Nice video! And I definitely with you about elemental magic systems being great-they’re one of my favorites, even if I kind of feel like the typical “Fire, Water, Earth, Air” version is a little worn down. It’s actually funny you mentioned combining elements to form new ones-that was done in a system-neutral RPG supplement called the Eight Essences. Basically, there are these eight essences (which are basically Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Plant, Metal, Light, and Darkness) with each being associated with not just an element, but certain related characteristics (heat, “hot” emotions, and speed for fire, animals, physical bodies, and flesh for earth, and so on). One thing that can happen is that if you know two or more essences, you can combine them to make more complex spells, like combining air and fire to create a fireball. Moreover, depending on which (if either) essence is dominant will determine what the spell is like-so a fireball spell that is fire-dominant will be bigger and more destructive, but will be slower and won’t travel far, while air-dominant fireball will be smaller and less damaging, but can go faster and further. As for how I would change an elemental system: while I have brainstormed this, and am trying to figure out some things, I think two ways would be a) to make an elemental magic system based on the seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter) and b) make a system where actual parts of the natural world are the elements, like how The Dragon Prince had the Primal Sources of the Sun, Moon, Stars, Sky, Earth, and Ocean.

I thought of a magic system where magic used tru focus points in every humanoid creature (aka humans elves ect.) . Both magic and non magic users have focus points (side note the densest concentration of focus points is in the hands mostly in the fingers) and an aura is emanated from all focus points .The aura can be felt better if more basic Mana(or elemental Mana) is released. No one is limited to just one element and can convert the basic Mana into elemental Mana . Beginner Mages are trained to manipulate the Mana inside their body and cast directly a element ball from their hands (fireball, waterball , earth shot, wind spike, etc) and an barrage of smaller element balls from their fingers (fire flares, water drops, stone bullets, wind streams ) the single shot cast type is more intense on the user's body than the barrage , because they have to draw way more basic Mana and then convert it to the desired element. Everyone who uses magic has a drawing limit on their Mana and reaching it usually for the average beginner mage will lead to them exploding the receiver focus points or at least damaging them. Eventually that limit can be broken by concentrating and releasing more extreme amounts of Mana, but still less than the current limit. This exercise is for the extension of the safe drawing limit and the draw limit at a lesser scale . There is also an indirect version of these cast types where the user utilizes their aura to decrease the pressure to the primary focus points ,but it requires a really great skill in energy control. There are also beam casts , laser casts, laser barrages and sub-elements like electricity, ice, metal etc.

Awesome ! Can't wait :)

ive been looking for a way to incentivise party forming and the reaction system is perfect thanks

I love this, thank you! I’ve often imagined my magic and skills for characters as attached to the places they’re from. I’m working on systems right now. I have your book, but need to really dig in as I continue outlining. I think I need the workbook 😉😁

ngl in my own magic system i have "natural affinities" dependant on personality that affects elemental leaning but it's more about one's state of mind, disposition, and how they interpret the elements themselves, like two fire mages would both have intense personalities but one would be more of a physical fighter who views fire as "uncontrolled strength" while the other is more of a healer viewing fire as a "force of creation and new life", a person must discover their spiritual element but one can choose to reject it entirely cause that's not who they want to be. not to mention people having a natural leaning towards things that don't entirely align with the classic elements like someone with a natural affinity for plant based magic (Earth + Water) or Beasts (Blood + Fire)

Thanks so much!

I am working on a elemental magic magic story and this helps thousands. I've been looking at 3 of your videos when I choice to finally subscribe. I than went to your channel and boom elemental magic video lol.

I think an idea is to make the system combine two elements a user has learned into one, but they no longer are able to use the elements they able to use before

My magic revolves around storage stonets. The stones can store only one material at a time and most people in my world have the ability to pull it out. So combat is based on on how many stones the person has. And if lets say a fire stone is empty then you could use it as a sheild to absorb an enemies fireball

Por fin lo que buscaba en mi historia la gente puede tanto generar magia elemental como controlarla. Aparte de que meti combinaciónes y interracciones. Y también hice al fuego no calor como algo debil ya que el agua lo apaga,el viento lo disipa,otro fuego no pasa nada,la tierra lo apaga y los rayos lo ignoran Y lo que me gusta es el viento. Para la vida cotidiana te permite volar a altas velocidades y para las batallas te permite crear tornados

I am building an elemental magic system, that is based on the being one with the planet. So, Mahgy are synchronizing and ordering salts, of which planet is covered with. There are 4 winds, and each create various effects throughout the terrain of planet. Tuners synchronize with planet and winds to manifest different effects in the sands (it happens when sand takes specific shape because of the exact sound frequencies, on which the written scrypt of languages are based on). Catch is that when you synchronize or unite with the planet or the wind the salt or elements in you also manifest somewhat similar effects in you, so it can get very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. There is one people who can manifest all 32 effects (8 for each wind) with only their yogis and voice, and another culture that does similar thing but with whistle, so there is nothing supernaturally magical going on with them. Other cultures manifest sand effects through different rhythms such as flutes, drums and metalic sounds

As always, youtube reads my mind, just when I'm creating the lore of my ttrpg's magic system. So, thank you!! In my case, magic comes from a veil over everything in the universe that spellcasters can manipulate. The veil consists of several winds of magic (I look at you warhammer fantasy), 25 in total (the universe is centralized on the symbol 5, considered the number of magic). To make a long story short, the currents come from an extremely deadly realm where magic is continually generated and is also the source of time, thus outside any timeline. However, the realm continually moves near several other elemental realms (or alchemical planes), 24 in total, and when it approaches one it generates a wind of magic. Because it is outside of time, the winds are generated all at once (uh because magic). Then the winds flow through the universe, moving as a real wind would. Spellcasters use these winds to cast magic. Usually just one, but they can also learn the others more relevant to the original one. For example, they might start with the wind of blood and be able to learn the wind of water and icore as well. Each wind create whirlwinds and flows with different intensity, and can affect mortals with a specific emotion. For example, the icore wind masters the emotion of suffering or the water wind of patience. Enchanters therefore use not only the power of the element, but also that of its philosophy and emotion. For example, a salt wind enchanter, Almyra, influences hope and meditation.

Very cool video. I think another area of change is making the magic source external. For eg, in Captain Planet, they come from special rings. Or maybe you can summon an animal-familiar or a spirit which has that natural elements' powers (Pokemon). I also never thought of Wifi as a superpower, but I am beginning to think it will be the most useful one for an adventuring party.

I've been spending some time reading the comments on this video, it's hands down one of the best comment threads, great community of people here :)

Also, instead of the magic of the elements, you can use the magic of aspects.

I was planning to make a sun, moon, earth, and stars, based elemental magic system. Each primal element had dominions, which are branch offs of the primal element (example: the sun has dominion over plants, fire, and explosions). Dominions are easier to master and use, while primal elements are more powerful, but are incredibly difficult and dangerous to use.

Two ideas i have are "fusing" elements in some "scientific" ways (I don't exactly know how to put it) and tiers (as in "rank up") E.g: Plant + Air = Oxygen Ice + Air = Blizzard Fire + Light = Nova Another thing about the "elemental fusion" idea is naming the fusion, naming the fusion can come in either common things like Fire + Earth = Magma, however, if you were to make a fusion that seems odd-sounding, you can name it after something else that has a "connection" with the obscure fusion. Electric + Water = Jellyfish Metal + Wood = Chainsaw Fire + Water = Vapor Also, fusions can only work when both elements are of the same tier, it will not work if one is a lower tier than the other and when naming the fusion, it must be one word. Doesn't matter if it's a compound word, a long word, words from different languages, or a combination of two words put into a single, as long as it remains one word, it will succeed because something like "Lava Burst" or "Storm Striker" would not work. Lastly, tiers, basically take a word that has a sort of a synergy with the first tier Fire -> Blaze -> Pyro Water -> Ice -> Snow Earth -> Quake -> Crystal Air -> Typhoon -> Tempest Leaf -> Thorn -> Nature Light -> Solar -> Laser Lightning -> Thunder -> Voltage Also if the element branches of into a new form (Quake -> Crystal) you just need to think of a "bigger/stronger" word for a branched fusion Crystal + Pyro = Volcano (Tier 2 is magma) These aren't actually apart of my magic system, I'm just sharing ideas on my alteration of elemental magic.

the downside to elemental magic systems is taking them too realistically. you quickly begin to realize that certain elements are OP and others are severely lacking if you're applying any kind of advantage over another element. An example would be a Grass/Wood type which could be REALLY COOL ends up getting destroyed by fire, water, lightning, and wind users. Depending on how you apply those advantages of course. But if you have a water slice that can cut stone then why wouldn't it also be able to cut wood? Actually an interesting story would be about a main character who is a grass/wood user struggling in a world of other types that are simply usually stronger or better.

Wow, this is really helpful advice for elemental magic systems! Gives good insight on how to remold elemental based magic systems into something "new" and I can potentially use so.e of these advices as more general guidelines for other types of magic systems. I'd like to suggest one thing from you, though: While not overused to the point of deseving a "Make It Fresh Again" video, could you please make one and give advice for creating and making _color_ based magic systems? I see this one being talked about very little out there and it is the one type of magic system I am actually working with. But not only that, I feel like it has some of the most potential to explore how to build upon it since there is such a VAST range of ways you can go with a color based magic system, much more vast than elemental based magic systems, because colors can be interpreted and viewed in many different ways depending on the individual or the author and you can incorporate it into many, many different types of magic systems overall. I feel like it would render a very good subject to talk about. -Also, please, I am really stuck with mine and I have no idea of what to do with most individual colors aside from the common basic powers shared throughout users of all the spectrum. Help! Need guidance!-

[apologies in advance for the length of this comment, I got a little carried away] One of the (so far) 4 magic systems in my RPG world is pure elemental system. Actually, they all use it, but Elementalists use it in a more classical way. The magic in my world was once ordered, kept under control by leylines and arcane circuits put in place by the old ruling species. that species attempted to ascend to godhood, lifting their nation city out of its place at the centre of the worlds civilisation. for reasons i won't go into here, it failed, the leyline chains broke, the arcane circuits died, and their nation was torn apart, scattered into the void along with most of the planet. what remains is a single continent floating in the void, with settlements dotted around, and dangerous chaotic elemental power raging beyond the wardstones (usually arcane charged chunks of masonry from the old empire) of each settlement. There are 4 ways of manipulating Elemental power, 4 schools of magic if you will - Celestial, Abyssal, Elemental and Reliquary. - Celestial magic reaches out to the souls waiting in the Havens for rebirth - often relates to memory, ancestry, that kind of thing. - Reliquary magic uses relics of an ancient ruling kingdom to calm the raging elemental magic and shape it in particular ways (so a bit like Numenera or Ter'Angreal, an artefact will have either a specific effect, or can calm the elements for a time). - Elemental magic is the direct manipulation of the elements, with your own soul as a calming or anchoring point. - Abyssal magic reaches down to the Abyss, to burdened and penitent souls working their way out of the Abyss to return to the Havens and await rebirth, channeling the chaotic power through them - this is secrets, necromancy, domination etc, and can have dark side effects as the souls can effect the result depending on how burdened they are (and how deep in the abyss they currently reside. Reliquary magic is the only way a normal soul can touch magic 'safely' and even then it's risky. It's a 5 element system with the 4 classic western elements, with wood at the centre as an element that focuses on connections and cycles (wood connects the 4. A tree is rooted in the earth, nourished by the sun (fire) and the rain (water) and the winds carry its seeds to new places). My system also takes into account metaphorical aspects of the elements, so fire is passion, warmth, destruction, rage - as well as the actual physical element. Water is adaptability, strength, patience etc. At present, it's a fairly soft system, it depends on the attitude, emotion and intention of the user as to what each element does. This system is being written for an RPG rather than a story, so I've left it open to emergent complexity by players using their imaginations; after all each of the elements can be used for different purposes, it's just down to how you go about it. It's been somewhat inspired by the way characters (Particularly Nynaeve) in the Wheel of Time improvise or use magic differently to the way the Aes Sedai teach it. E.g. Nynaeve uses Fire in her healing weaves, using a previously forgotten form of healing - the way Aes Sedai teach healing now uses Spirit, maybe Spirit and Water - Nynaeve uses all 5 elements. And how martial arts work in certain I haven't decided if multiple elements are available or not, if they are, you won't be able to raise your ability with them all to the same level. Factors like your heritage, place, and time of birth will potentially effect how deep your affinity for the elements will go. erm, that was rather a lot. If i don't stop myself now I will write out my entire world-building here lol. hope this is interesting - sorry if I rambled on :)

I am working on a 4 part story where each protagonist has different elemental power. Story 1: Water Story 2: Metal (Instead of earth) Story 3: Fire Story 4: Air I am thinking the protagonist of the fifth part would have power of Void or something.

Something else you could do is actually go backwards, instead of thinking about elements in the classical ways, think, "What is this element, really?" This sort of thinking is how for instance Poseidon is the god of the sea, but also earthquakes and horses - you might think, "What do all of these have in common?" and you could say that rather than Poseidon's "element" being "Water" it's actually a more esoteric sort of element that represents things that flow. Or how Athena's domains seem to be a bunch of disconnected things that are related to wisdom, warfare, or crafting which seem vaguely related but without a clear connector until you can piece together, "Her 'element' is 'Civilization.'" On the subject of Poseidon, I've even seen a video game that put "aquatic" themed spells in a "wave" element that also included things like sound and distortions of space - water was just one aspect of this "wave" element, and characters even point out how the element's not really straightforward and tricky to describe but it does make sense in what it is. You could probably figure out ways to include a lot of variety in classical elements by instead of saying "it is this element" to find a more "conceptual" element and pull back the element to that, which makes a system inherently more versatile and also makes the elements feel more distinct. For instance if instead of making "fire" and "ice" two separate elements, make them under the singular element of "heat." In this paradigm, anyone who uses heat-based magic inherently has their unique bias towards making things "hotter" or "colder" is showing an aspect of the character. You could still have the "fire mage" and "ice mage" but their decision to devote themselves to one half of a school that gives them two simultaneous skills would be something worth exploring - maybe they have a serious reason for it, maybe they think that dedicating themselves to pushing the bounds of one half of the element will be more effective, or maybe they just like the cold more than the heat. It also opens more room for unique problem solving since anyone who uses fire magic would still be able to use ice magic and vice-versa. It also would make it so that when you run across magic in a specific setting it can interchangeably collude or contrast the environment it's placed in.

Just found your channel. Sub'd. Looks like you have a dozen past videos like this one (or more) I need to binge on! I am making a TT RPG from "scratch" and presently wrestling with the magic system. I've got a zillion ideas and some are good, some feel off. There are Elementalists in this world (one of many, many magic users though). The Elementalists can "ascend" to a specialty at some point and it is your expected Aeromancer, Pyromancer, Hydromancer, and Geomancer. However I'm both running a rock-paper-scissors around that circle (ex: Water beats Earth, Earth beats Fire, Fire beats Air, etc), but also allowing a caster that is say a Geomancer to have minor abilities in neighboring elements (in this case Fire and Water, while Air is "opposite" and unusable). This allows advanced "mixing" in the magic (sort of like the combos you are talking about). For example in a high level Quake spell, the Geomancer can add in a Fire element (expending more Essence) such that it has lava running in the cracks to apply a Heat critical on top of the Quake itself. And the combos kind of go off the rails from there. I am trying to make the mixing scheme be somewhat arbitrary and up to the player's imagination, but there are still "hard" rules for the mechanics of gameplay. The issue is coming up with a World Setting that allows for this type of magic along with the many other caster types. I think I have an idea but it needs fleshing out. I am much more of a Sanderson-ish hard magic system person. Flexibility and creativity, but bounded.

Solid liquid gaseous plasma

Buddhist elements are really cool and are more like energy

Fire, Ice, Slime, Candy

I'm currently designing a system based on the actual fundamental forces of the universe like electromagnetism, entropy, gravity, etc. I have no idea how it works yet however 😆

Hello, just found this video and I'm glad I did. I'm trying to fix some problems with my elemental system. So for my system there are usually the for elements, but instead of just throwing the literal elements around they are rather the source of energy for spells and each element cast different spells and have different results. Not only that but each element is also philosophical for self wellness and harmonical balance. For example: the element of fire represents changes and transitioning like how people go through changes in their lives so spell are often related to altering something. Earth is the element of growth, patience, and loving care which is vital for all living things to prosper in life so spells from this element involves healing and understanding ones nature. I was also thinking of elemental combos like in the video, like they would require more training and experience than with basic training. The problems I'm facing is numerous. 1) I haven't 100% figured out Air and water but have good ideas for them 2) weather or not to limit one element per race in my story or have everyone being able to use it (with some limitations) 3) what spell can relate to an element and it's meaning. Any advice would be awesome and I would be eternally grateful

Aether is the fifth element in Western practice.

I'd cation: don't have too many and don't have the relationships too complex (Pokemon violates both but it works). 0:53 It comes from Greek. 1:11 I like the Japanese days of the week (Sunday to Sat): sun, moon, fire, water, wood, gold, earth.

Air is not the danger nor fire the wand the wand was born as a branch in the air and thus air. The dagger was born in fire and thus is of fire as is the with the sword which through the fire of the soul is also to Spirit The French version of the wand or blasting rod was a branch made into a Roman candle and shot balls of fire thus they associated not for its birth from a tree but from the chemicals that it shot out as fire.

Soooo cute❤❤❤❤

Fun fact:- Hindu elemental system is also same as Japenese consisting of Land, Fire, Water, Air and space.

I know I will get attacked for this but if you want a bit of inspiration on elemental magic/techniques go check the Naruto wiki and check the diagram on elemental jutsu, you don't have to read the manga just read the page on wiki and you should be good to go

Is it possible to buy your books directly through you or from local book stores? I am boycotting Amazon.

my elemental magic system has 7 different elements of course the core is water, air, fire, and earth and the additional ones are lightning, Light, and lastly Dark/shadow elementals everyone is made of their element so earth elementals are made of rocks dirt sand, and even ores and so on so forth they the earth elementals cand abosord any metal passively or on command from the periodic table as you cansee the earth elementals are the most fleshed out of all of others how element that they bend is just like you said if very hot fire hit a metal shield of an earth elemental it melts or rocks it turns into lava water and earth depending on what the earth elemental is using as a shield it can be washed away I think this is getting to long now I hope you see this :)

Can you talk about marvel, or superhero genre, or urban fantasy?

Ok. See you in 3 weeks.

What about the standard magic system but the world is modern. People already know that fire magic is just the control of heat and sometimes plasma, earth magic is the control of gravity and sometimes magnetic forces, water magic is just the matter manipulation where the user can force the state of matter of some things(if heat isn't applied more magic is needed), air is just telekenesis(the stronger the user gets, they can manipulate more than small air particles), plant magic is manipulation of life(of course everyone is resistant to this so depending on how strong the user is, they can only manipulate plants) and they tend to be empaths, lightning magic is manipulation of, wel, electricity and other energy. This setup is a bit janky. Every element can be a healer but of course plant magic is going to be the best healer, same with attack and support, every element can be one but specific elements are best at specific situations. . Then there's the light and dark magic. Dark magic is space-time magic. While light magic is pure magic manipulation, it can do what other elements can except dark magic but with more difficulty and less efectiveness, it can also negate or strengthen other people's magic. . . .

My version of magic allows elemental magic, but it's not actually elemental in nature. There's ten circles, described as the sephiroth, each of which lists different concepts at each level of existence. The most powerful is basically God, and is reality itself. Almost no one can use it, and any who can do so by sacrificing their body and spirit to cast it, as it directs all the energy of your entire being towards your intention. You become a miniature God for a moment and then are no more. It is a transcendent magic that requires letting go of this world. Above that is being and non-being. Again, rare. Once in 10,000 years is someone able to directly manipulate this. Being allows the ability to bring the conceptual into actual reality, independent of the caster, rather than just as a magical construct. This power can create life from nothingness. Non-being is the opposite. It allows the complete erasure and nullification of a thing from existence. Creation, destruction, preservation are one circle above that, having to do with how things that don't yet exist are manifest in the world, how things that are remain so, and how things which are de-manifest and return back to potential. Once in several centuries does a person manage to wield these forces, as they're too abstract. Wielding preservation basically lets you nullify magic of any form. Creation allows you to take your own energy and the energy of another object and transmute them into anything you want. It is capable of creating life and raising the dead to full life. Destruction would allow you to break down anything that exists into energy and releasing it back into potential. Then there's the circle of substance, which is the division of things into matter, spirit, concept/thought, and force. Very few extremely talented mages get to this circle. Mastering any one of these four lets you have almost perfect control of them. A master of spirit would be able to completely control spirits and change them at will. A master of matter would be able to freely control all matter and change it at will. A master of mind would be able to control all concepts and knowledge, see all possibilities, and basically control thought. A master of force would be able to mess with fate itself and change the laws of nature in their presence. God-like powers. The fifth circle is about interactions between things. Repulsion, attraction, cohesion, time (cause and effect), and polarity (positive, negative, neutral). This circle is considered the upper limit of even the most talented magic users. While all magic depends on understanding these laws, directly manipulating them as opposed to simply using them via the elements is extremely hard. A mage that can manipulate attractive forces- as opposed to merely generating them- can make objects weightless by reducing the object's attraction to the earth, or make a thing even heavier. A mage capable of manipulating the flow of time could slow their aging or rapidly speed up aging for other things- as opposed to just, say, making themselves faster or an opponent slower by pulling on the fabric of space-time. A mage able to control cohesion within things would be the ultimate alchemist, able to make anything from anything else. Turning lead to gold, for example. A mage that could freely manipulate repulsive forces would have the ultimate defense and would be capable of turning any object into a bomb by making all their constituent parts insanely repulsive to each other. And permanently so. Sixth is the flow of things, which are tied to the chakras. Root at the center, the other six around it. Seventh has to do with life, types of living things, and death: flora, fauna, pestilence, plague, growth, mutation, and Death. Shamans and necromancers tend to be at this circle. Eighth is where we get to elements: Solid, liquid, gas, energy, mind, space-time, light, darkness, and nature (the sum of all elements and considered to be life itself, basically. You'd invoke nature to manipulate a living thing). This is the circle most mages, alchemists, etc. are at Ninth circle is the circle of order which describes rules. Think of them sort of like the operations of mathematics or formal logic. They are magnification, reduction, transmutation, division, fusion, conservation (of energy), homogeneity (everything is in fact part of one thing), balance (actions have consequences), and vitalism (the understanding that life and spirit permeates all things, which is important because the spirits within things can help or hinder you depending on your compatibility with them). And ten is the circle of fate. Justice/vengeance in the center, with mercy, suffering, formation, decay, harmony/wisdom, loss/forgetfulness, order, conflict, power/loyalty, and betrayal. They're very abstract, but describe possible paths of the spirit. Everyone has a particular path through this tree of life. Three factors are particularly important in determining what kinds of magic you'll be good at: Your dominant chakra (based on aura color), your dominant element (based on aura behavior), and your polarity (creation, destruction, preservation. The lighter your aura, the more you align with creation. The darker, the more you align with destruction. Neutral is preservation). Let's say we have a guy who has a dominant root chakra, destruction aligned, and his element is fire. Being fire elemental actually means he has an affinity for gas, light, and energy manipulation, as fire is basically just super heated air that gives off light and heat. It's controlled in the same way one controls air, but you also have to keep control of thermal energy and generate light from it or it stops being fire. So this guy would have the easiest time manipulating fire, but would also be good at lightning, explosions, light magic, momentum manipulation, wind magic, and also, paradoxically, frost magic (but not ice. He would struggle to manipulate ice once formed. That requires solid manipulation, the exact opposite of his elements), as he can suck all the heat out of things to create extreme cold. He would also be better at attacks requiring raw power, such as fire blasts, as opposed to complex and careful control, such as creating swords out of fire, due to him having a dominant root chakra. His uses would also be more destructive, as opposed to using these elements to create constructs (walls, armor, weapons, etc), due to his alignment with destruction. His aura would be a dark red and burn around him like fire. The man would struggle to manipulate solid objects, use darkness magic, or manipulate liquids (due to their properties being too close to solids). It wouldn't be impossible, but it would be difficult for him to learn. However, if he does, he would be capable of combining opposite elements to make even more powerful magics. For example, literally making nuclear blasts by converting the mass energy of solid objects into kinetic and thermal energy or being able to rip solid objects apart at a molecular level (similar to particle style from Naruto). It can be a very complicated magic system, but I think it's a better way of understanding elements. I tend to think of them more as meta-elements, in that while you might have a particular affinity for water, let's say, there is no reason you shouldn't be able to manipulate other liquids too. Basically, the closer you get to the God circle, the more godlike the magic, and the harder it will be to learn true mastery of. A competent mage gets to the eighth circle. Everything beyond that is considered exceptional.

Of course is distracting 😏😏 Don't you see how cute 💝💝💝 it is 😉😉😉😉😉😉

Never heard of the Japanese elements. The hell is void?

damn i want to get into writing and stuff but it gets boring after 1 or 2 pages