Looking for feedback on the magic system i'm writing for a setting agnostic game
In a setting-agnostic roleplaying game I made and usually play with friends, I realized it doesn’t have properly written rules for magic. Most of the time, whenever we want to play with magic, we end up improvising the rules on the fly (which doesn’t happen often, because adventures where magic doesn’t exist or isn’t available to the players can be really fun).
That’s why I came up with this magic system, so we can test it, and also share it with anyone who might be interested.
When a character becomes a magic user (that’s what characters capable of using magic are called) during character creation, they gain two new things: mana points and magic slots.
Magic slots are blank spaces on the character sheet, each one used to record a Resonance or a School of Magic the character possesses. By default, the character starts with 2: one for a Resonance and one for a School of Magic. The Resonances and Schools of Magic the player chooses for their magic slots must be compatible, so they won’t end up with “useless magic slots.” The GM may grant up to 2 additional magic slots that are free (meaning they can be used for any Resonance or School of Magic the player wants).
When casting magical powers, Resonance determines the “what,” and the School of Magic determines the “how.”
Resonances can be almost anything: physical things, abstract concepts, phenomena, or even entities (such as creatures or objects). Because of this, there will be a list of Resonances and their compatibilities with the Schools of Magic.
There are four Schools of Magic: Summoning, Manipulation, Transmutation, and Reconfiguration.
Summoning: brings whatever the magic user has Resonance with into a designated area (it only brings it there and leaves it there).
Manipulation: allows the user to move, shape, and alter the behavior of whatever they have Resonance with inside a designated area, but that thing must already be present in the area first.
Transmutation: changes the state (solid, liquid, gas, and small particles such as dust, sand, or shavings) and basic properties (hardness, transparency, light refraction, viscosity, etc.) of whatever the user has Resonance with.
Reconfiguration: if whatever the user has Resonance with can have patterns, it allows the user to change one pattern into another. For example, one mental state into another, one movement trajectory into another, or one shape into another.
The game uses the passus (Roman pace) as the standard measurement on the grid, since it is equivalent to 1.5 meters or 5 feet (ignoring minor measurement differences that become irrelevant in the long run). A player character who is a magic user can cast a basic magical power at no cost (the equivalent of a cantrip or minor spell in different RPGs). This basic power affects a 1 by 1 area on the grid, up to a distance of 1 passus adjacent to the character, and with an instant duration or lasting up to 6 seconds (the equivalent of one round in turn-based gameplay).
Player characters who are magic users gain a total of 10 mana points, which are restored once per day after a rest of at least 1 hour. If any magical power remains active during the rest period, mana is not restored until no magical powers are active.
When a magic user casts a magical power, they may choose for its effects to activate immediately or to place it “on hold.” They may also choose to enhance the area, range, duration, and hold time (if applicable) of the magical power by spending mana points.
If a magical power is placed on hold, the magic user must set a condition for the power to activate. By default, a magical power can remain on hold for up to 10 minutes. If after those 10 minutes the magical power has not activated, it is automatically canceled.
While a magical power remains on hold or while its duration persists, it counts as “active.” In order for it to stop being active, the magic user who cast the power may choose to cancel it early.
A magical power can have up to 5 enhancements. Applying one enhancement consumes 1 mana point, meaning a fully enhanced magical power will cost 5 mana points. Enhancements have ranks, meaning that enhancing the same aspect twice makes it rank 2 in that aspect (for example, range rank 2).
The enhancements are the following:
Area enhancement: increases the affected area to 2 by 2, 3 by 3, and so on up to 6 by 6 (maximum rank: 5).
Range enhancement: increases the distance to 6, 12, 24, 48, and 96 passus (maximum rank: 5).
Duration enhancement: increases the duration to 1 minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, and 12 hours (maximum rank: 5).
Hold-time enhancement: increases the time a magical power can remain “on hold” to 1 hour, 6 hours, and 12 hours (maximum rank: 3).
Regarding the area and range of magical powers: the maximum distance is defined by the closest edge of the power’s total area to the magic user (as long as the area is at least 1 cubic passus), and the affected area can take multiple shapes, such as a sphere, a cone, a cube, or any shape you can come up with as long as it can be represented on the grid.
What do you think so far? I’m open to any criticism that helps me improve what I’m working on.