Subject: Ever heard of El Goonish Shive?
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Posted on: 2015-04-22 19:28:00 UTC
It's a pretty good webcomic (the it-gets-better-with-time kind) with an interesting system for magic. It's easy to mess up, though, so, if you're not familiar with it, I'd recommend Dresdenverse.
Here's the thing - one thing I wanna practice, before applying for a Permission, is making my agents. Now, in my imagination, I see a team of melee fighter + magician. But here's my question:
What magic continuum do you recommend?
I've been thinking about Warlocks from The Mortal Instruments, or Magic users from The Secrets of Immortal Nicolas Flamel, or Wizards from The Dresden Files. Although it's a classic, I won't do Harry Potter (simple 'point-and-click' magic is not enough for me) and, of course, my agent won't be an Istari.
Does anyone have an advice for me?
... a Magical Girl, a-la Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, or Puella Magi Madoka Magica...
Or a mage from Mahō Sensei Negima!...
Or one from any Final Fantasy continuum...
Or a Chi Wizard, like Uncle, from Jackie Chan Adeventures...
Or a Bender from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra...
Or a mage from Tamriel's Mage Guild or Skyrim's College of Winterhold from The Elder Scrolls...
...and there are all the options that can give you the Marvel and DC Universes...
In short, you have a lot of options from countless universes to choose from.
World One magic.
No, for serious, a stage magician kinda person would be an interesting agent, especially if their tricks somehow contrived to work. =]
I've seen lots and lots of that archetype since I read lots of fantasy. If you're willing to throw yourself headfirst into a new continuum, I'd recommend familiarising yourself with Dragonlance, then thinking about a Bozak Draconian - but only if you can be very careful, as the Bozaks' large amount of power requires careful management in order to avoid making your character a Sue or Stu.
The player characters basically draw power from one of eight elemental spirits in order to cast spells.
My favorite Let's Player helpfully provided a guide to the spells starting here, though he didn't know at the time what Evil Gate does (halves health).
In fact, I actually have an agent from this continuum: Chakkik. As a duplicate of the Mantis Ant, he's able to cast the most basic level of Gem Missile.
However, I did have one stipulation: Chakkik can only use magic in Square Enix continua. In any continuum that isn't Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, The World Ends with You or the Manaverse, Chakkik can't commune with Gnome (the earth elemental) to cast Gem Missile.
Of those three, I think that the Dresden Files one would be good. It's very expansive and has a lot of different niches for a character to fit in while still being well-defined and limited in a way that wouldn't make your characters Sueish.
However, it does tend to mess with technology, so a Dresden Files wizard would probably need special accommodations built into all their tech, and that's something that would need to be considered.
It's a pretty good webcomic (the it-gets-better-with-time kind) with an interesting system for magic. It's easy to mess up, though, so, if you're not familiar with it, I'd recommend Dresdenverse.
My main advice is to pick a continuum you know really well. Magic rules are frequently complex, and a poor grasp on them (especially their limitations) can make a character come off as Sueish, or just poorly developed. Another thing to keep in mind is that unless they're doing a mission in their home continuum, your character probably won't be able to access their powers. This can make for some interesting characterization moments.
I can't really comment on the other two you mentioned, but if you want a Dresdenverse wizard, I'd recommend checking out the RPG. It's got a lot of good setting information, as well as rules for creating a balanced character. Remember, the majority of magic-users in the setting aren't good enough to qualify as wizards; if you don't want to get into the techbane aspects, lesser talents generally don't have them so much. Also, don't just make your character a Harry clone (unless, of course, that's literally what he is!).
Other continuums to look at:
RPGs in general are a good choice because they typically feature a large range of options. Pathfinder, in particular has some interesting variants that could make for a good agent - I can see a lot of interaction between a Haunted Oracle and the Laws of Narrative Comedy, for instance. Either Mage: the Ascension or Mage: the Awakening has some interesting thematic parallels with the PPC, but remember, their partner will probably count as a Sleeper.
Personally, I'm a Fate/Stay Night fan, and a Nasuverse magus would be an interesting character, but the setting in general tends to be very complicated. I'd only go for it if you feel very comfortable with it, but if you are, it'd be a good choice. Or maybe I just think Waver would make a good agent...
I think you might be thinking about this in the wrong order. It seems like you're looking at the combat effectiveness of your agents first, rather than who they actually are. You'll have a much more well-rounded character if you figure out who they are and what they stand for before thinking about how they'll fare against a Sue. Remember, agents typically aren't warriors; they're normal people put into abnormal conditions and given a difficult task.
Once again, I've missed the point...
Here's the point ------------------> o
And here am I
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Hi...
*goes to sit in a dark corner with a bunch of mini-Aragogs*
My apologies if that came off as harsh. So... you'd like a character to be a magic user? That's cool - we can work with that! So, first step is to figure what the continua - you've named a few, which is great. I'm not too familiar with the ones you've named, so unfortunately I can't really help with that. However, I can help with making the character itself. Here's some questions to answer about the potential character:
- What level of mastery in magic has this person attained? How and where did they gain their expertise? Do they have a specialty?
- What kind of person are they? What are their strengths and shortcomings? Do they have any issues?
- How did they get to the PPC, and how would they react to things like technology?
- Morality. Are they willing to or have they already taken a life before? DMS agents in particular will be doing quite a lot of that.
- Backstory. Do they have any family or friends to go back to? Being a part of the PPC would mean that they effectively disappeared to those back home. What would happen because of that?
These are just a few aspects to look at. Remember, discover who they are, then build off of that!
I am not familiar with the specific continua you mentioned, so my advice will also be a bit more general. But one thing that has been mentioned a few times, I will mention again. RPG's are great for using as a base. By their nature they typically have fairly clear and well defined rules on magic. If you do not want to go that route, here are some of my recommended approaches to the magic in general.
1. Fullmetal Alchemist. The alchemy is, in my opinion, a grey semi-magic-science thing. But Arakawa (the mangaka) leaves the basics of alchemy pretty basic to understand. There are some interesting facets with alchemy that would make it interesting to work with.
2. Dragon Age: Clear rules, that are fairly easy to understand, also has some interesting story lines you could work with.
3. Based on you fandoms you mentioned in your introduction, you might also want to consider Bleach. You would need to restrain them a bit, but that is beside the point for now. But you could consider Kido, though I do not recall how well Kubo actually explains the inner workings of it.
Just my two cents.
Yes, I am quite familiar with FMA, and using their Alchemy could be an interesting challenge. I have never played any Dragon Age games, so this would require a lot more research from me.
If I remember correctly, all you need to perform Kido is an incantation and enough amount of Spirit Energy. Anyway, I do have some experience in creating magic users, so I can give you a short description about the continua I've mentioned:
Warlocks from The Mortal Instruments are usually the offspring of a mortal and a demon from Hell. They are not the only magic users in their continuum (the other species practicing magic openly are faeries), but they are probably the most numerous. They have characteristic markings on their body, which indicates their heritage (usually something connecting them to their demon parent - additional finger, horns, different skin colour, etc.). Warlocks are also immortal - but NOT unkillable. At a certain point, they just stop aging. There can be born warlocks with no magic powers (similar to Squibs from HP). The only problem with their magic is, it is too versatile - the Author didn't explain it enough, nor focused on its limitations.
Magic in The Secrets of Immortal Nicolas Flamel comes from an energy source called Aura - every human has a certain amount of it, in their bodies. The Aura can be activated through the ritual known as the Awakening - it can only be done by a selected few member of the Elder race (sort of god-like figures of the continuum). After the Awakening (which doesn't always work), the human is capable of learning magic. The most basic form is the Elemental Manipulation, which divides into well-known RPG categories: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth Magic. More advanced techniques involve Necromancy, Scrying, Shapeshifting, or - in extreme cases - Time Magic. The weakness I see here: Aura is used quite quickly, and there is a variety of creatures immune to it, or able to absorb it. Replenishing the Aura also takes quite some time, usually one day.
So, yeah - that's as far as I can tell you on spot. Which one seems better?
I think the Nicolas Flamel is the better way to go. The Warlocks seem like it is a bit too powerful, not saying it cannot be done, I would be wary of going that route. Flamel seems like it can get a good balanced character, and especially if Aura is limited, it will allow a character that is defined by more than just their ability. That's why I like the FMA approach, it is clearly defined, there are clear limits, and typical restrictions. And I see a lot of interesting stories. And that's the crux of it. Ultimately it comes down to what ever will make the best story. The only thing I will say is that the Warlocks look like they could be easily turned into a Sue, and Soul Reaper/Kido fall in the same place.
Ultimately go with whatever you think will make the most interesting character. Or what ever you, as the author, want.
Then I've already got those things covered. For both of my agents, as a matter of fact! :D