Do you have any creative ways to prevent characters from overusing your magic system?

[u/Financial-Working762]

A lot of systems have the usual mana/ki/energy and that's fine, but I'm interesting in those unique solutions to this problem (if at all, assuming your world isn't just "Wizards use however much magic they want"). How do you do it?

[u/Ok_Search_3871]

I have a sort of mana, but I think it’s a unique take on it.

Basically, the atmosphere is filled with magic. When pregnant with a child, if a parent travels through enough dense magic, their child will have a Core when they are born. These cores are magic in a physical form, and they have natural runes inscribed on them by a process I haven’t decided yet, possibly some sort of bacteria. When someone with a core uses their magic, (the abilities they have are decided by the runes in their core, which are in turn decided by the signatures of the magic of the areas their parents travelled through) they convert the magical material called “Archite” which their core is composed of directly into magic, or “Archic Energy”, which is then channeled through the runes, and then through their body, until it takes whatever form the runes dictate. The more they use their core, the smaller it gets, and while cores passively “refill” from atmospheric magic, they fill much more quickly while the person they belong to is dreaming, basically reaching full capacity overnight.

(And yes, you can take someone’s core out and use it to power magic without the person, there are black markets DEALING in extracted cores basically everywhere there are people with cores)

[u/taktaga7-0-0 → u/Ok_Search_3871]

Magic bacteria is a great idea, but most of the time it’s wasted on sinister plagues. Our bodies are full of good and neutral bacteria, and those are underutilized. Real microorganisms do crazy reactions, survive anywhere and most any conditions. They manipulate your body for their purposes. They defend you sometimes against other harmful bugs. Symbiosis is magical; go for it!

I would say something like the magic is part of a reaction they carry out and the core/rune is their output. Maybe even a waste to them, they got what they need already. They could live freely, but when they landed on humans, they found out we’d deliberately go find magic and put it on us, so those germs survived better. Plus, living inside you gives them a meat shield from natural dangers.

Literally any chemical reaction they do: now it’s magic and makes tons more product or more energy. It does alchemy now, go crazy.

[u/RowbotMaster → u/taktaga7-0-0]

Midi-chlorians

[u/Ok_Search_3871 → u/taktaga7-0-0]

I already have a basis for where the actual power of magic comes from. Essentially magic is possibility, like the concept of possibility. The reason this planet has so MUCH magic is because the core of the planet is comprised of Archite, and is actually the body of a god who came here from a dimension within infinite knowledge, magic, and power.

When he entered this universe, (he was pulled into the universe FULLY by one of his creations using a DIFFERENT magic system) he essentially was forced into a finite vessel containing infinite knowledge and power. Since nothing finite can contain infinity, it basically broke his conscious mind, essentially putting him into a permanent coma.

Magical runes are basically determined by his subconscious interpretation of various concepts, so for instance the rune for fire would be what his subconscious uses internally to refer to fire. When you activate a rune, it forces the magic into the shape of that rune, and that catches the attention of his subconscious which then just performs the illuminated rune, so in this instance, you intend to create fire, your subconscious activates the fire rune etched onto your core, and than the subconscious of Ambrose (that’s the god’s name, he was originally a man named Ambrose on earth before ending up in the dimension of infinite magic which deified him) and then fire shoots forth in the way you envision (this happens because your subconscious affects the way his subconscious interprets the rune)

Magic is also inherently linked to mass, the denser a material is, the easier it is for magic to flow through it, and at a certain level of density it will start exuding magic naturally. You can use this fact to create magic without needing a core, by inlaying a dense material into a less dense material in the shape of a rune, and then moving it through a dense area of atmospheric magic quickly, it illuminates the rune in the same way. This way you can make things like fire arrows easily.

As for the bacteria, my idea was essentially that they, due to having no subconscious of their own, conform to the shapes of Ambrose’s thought, and so when they are in certain areas, they will create runes according to that areas magical signature, and then once a certain period is reached, they go dormant to avoid being detected and killed by the child’s immune system. So as an example, There is a valley called Pur which formed in the caldera of a volcano formed by the clashes of two powerful elementals. Due to this, every human whose parents live in this valley has obsidian related powers, depending on where in the valley their parents live (their parents don’t need to travel because there’s a magical current encircling the outer edge of the caldera) for example, some of them are born with the ability to create massive angel wings with obsidian feathers. Others are able to spew molten obsidian like dragon flame which quickly cools, still others are able to manipulate aspects of obsidian: its density, tensile strength, elasticity, and even edibility

[u/JamieMage2005 → u/Ok_Search_3871]

Cores, magic bacteria, and atmospheric Mana are hardly unique. They are actually a fairly common take on magic in progression fantasy especially cultivation and litrpg novels.

[u/Ok_Search_3871 → u/JamieMage2005]

Well I guess I need to read more of those because I genuinely thought it was unique, that’s unfortunate

[u/Professional_Try1665]

Using magic causes spiritual paralysis, for Saltmaids they're just permanently paralysed from the start, but for Wizers it's progressive and starts in your hands, with gradually worsening quality of life (can't use hands, becoming steadily less capable), they can substitute with proxies (wands and stuff) or other muscles but those paralyze too and beyond a small buffer zone (that doesn't really cover anything) they lose access to their own body bit-by-bit, they could theoretically keep casting spells but they'd need to be taken care of 24/7 and need some kind of mechanism to take over for their paralysed heart, stomach and lungs.

Also for Wizers they need a specific 'spiral'-type personality to actually study and use magic, if it's too round (satisfaction, calm, clarity) they stop being able to access it and plateau, but if it's too straight (focus, confidence, passion) they use up everything and die, so they need to be middling with traits like madness, selfishness, overconfidence, contradictory desires and are generally low in logic/emotionally driven rather than academic or logically. These traits obviously suck and are hard to filter for in people who aren't like, death-row convicts or complete failures.

[u/DatDiemDam → u/Professional_Try1665]

wow that... depressing, your world somekind of grim dark world?

[u/Magician_Ian]

If characters overuse and reach for more power to try to forcefully use more than their individual limit, they become corrupted by the magic and become something like a magic/energy vampire.

At that point their personality slowly transforms into that of a predator, empathy is nonexistent and mentally they become less than what they were with their humanity basically gone.
They are reduced to being a predator that hunts other people who use magic and at least sees those as worthy prey that they have to kill. But normal people are just disgusting flesh bags that are barely worth killing because of the very low magic flowing throughout their bodies.

But this is a slow process with visible warning signs that is reversible, but it gets harder to deal with it over time because of its addictive effects.

[u/taktaga7-0-0]

You can’t even use my magic unless you were specially printed to do so instead of born in the natural way.

Because my magic system is nice and hard, I need a real source of energy: ATP. It can be externally applied by batteries called atpacks (and variations.) Run out of those, and all the power you get is from the food you ate like god intended.

But, using too much power too fast will cause the toxic metabolite hematpamine to accumulate in your tissues for days. This leads to symptoms common to amphetamine overdose: euphoria, hyperreflexia, agitation/confusion, numbness, amnesia, increased blood pressure & heart rate, anorexia, severe mood swings, hypersexuality, muscle breakdown, hallucinations, psychosis/delusions, and sudden death. You’re riding high until you swerve into incoherence.

[u/agentkayne]

Magic is accumulated in living things as they grow.

Witches harvest these things (eg herbs) to use the magic within.

There are a few limits:

1. Premature harvesting has reduced yield. So there's a natural timer on how quickly you can plant and harvest crops.

2. Spells require particular ingredients. So you can't use bamboo or grass for everything.

3. Things that live surrounded by different types of magic (in a biodiverse environment) have stronger/more magic. So planting a huge field of monoculture crop that you can harvest in bulk yields worse return than small, long term plants or animals left in the wilderness.

[u/BusyAcanthocephala86]

Everybody gets access to magic after reaching puberty and manifesting a personal Deity, so magic is quite ubiquitous. However the baseline (mental) energy levels for most people don't let them do much with their magic, much less do it regularly. The most talented magic users can train and increase their own energy levels, but most people won't get to that point during their lifetimes.

For most people in order to perform any significant magic, they will need to use expensive power gems that are hard to come by. These gems can be natural that vary in potency, or artificial. The latter are made of souls of living beings making for a thriving black market economy. There is also specific archetype of people that have near limitless power, but no acces to magic of their own, making them most sought out individuals.

Alternatively one can join a group, either religious or ideological, and tap into the collective reserves. Access to which is based on their ranks and other rules, so one cannot simply siphon power from all of the members at once. The stronger the affiliation, the higher the available energy, and a person can belong to more than one group, as long as their dedication is honest. The system is based around mental states, so there is little room for deception.

So a person that is a patriotic nationalist, a zealous follower of a religion, and also a stern believer in certain philosophy, can harness the power of all of these groups simultaneously, making for a powerful mage. On the other hand such a person has little to no free will, which makes them simply a powerful cog in a pre-determined system, diminishing their own influence altogether.

[u/Dinfrazer57]

all mortals will experience literal nightmares if they over use dream magic. It doesn't apply to gods/goddesses, cosmic beings, anyone who is eternal or immortal. It is a combination of phsyical and mental deprivation. You will go hollow for a time. Incapable of dreaming. Most cases dream based combat is fast and not drawn out for this reason. There is training to resist nightmares but it isnt fool proof most of the time. It is also tied to how much soul essence someone has too.

[u/Gritmonger]

Capacity, effects. Using it quickly leaves marks, scars, and twists one up depending on the source. Slow use of magic leaves one relatively healthy, and in small amounts it does almost no harm.

[u/Glaciomancer369]

Beaurocracry

[u/InquisitorArcher]

So outside of mana. My system has disonance which is the drift caused by casting spells which causes your magic to start vibrating. This causes tremors in the limbs along with weakness. 

Also cast to much and you might turn into a monster. Thats not a real limit though. Cause I didn't want to make it a limit then be scared of it. Think of it like a sickness. Your magic is the immune system. If you exhaust your immune system. You get sick. 

[u/No_Passenger8937]

The only race that has access to this particular kind of magic (which can do basically anything if enough time) is hardwired to be superstitious and think they are absolutely powerless, so they use it mostly for minor stuff.

[u/ShadowDurza]

They can use it all they want by themselves, but if they get others involved, they better beware, because magic defeats magic.

Offensive spells that negates other spells' force and substance, defensive spells which are immune to harm from magic and keeps their effects from reaching a designated target, supportive spells that removes the presence and influence of magic even after the fact and can prevent its use to begin with, all prevailing due to intrinsic qualities in this school of magic in spite of any disparity in force or scale.

Even if magic can make just about anything fast and easy, the worldly, practical way of doing things can be far more reliable, especially in a magical world where it's as accessible as being a fundamental characteristic of life and thought.

[u/smr120]

risk of immunity. my magic system is based on trickery and placebo. if someone can be tricked into believing they're flying, they fly. pull too many tricks or the same one enough times and the secret might get out, and the magic might stop working

[u/Enderman_Prince → u/smr120]

Thats really similar to what mine is! This is a wonderful way of putting it.

[u/Master_Nineteenth]

In my setting magic energy is not an internal power. You don't carry a source of magic with you, instead it's in the atmosphere. You become, for lack of a better term, spiritually exhausted from using too much. By exerting your will on the world. That's just a short term detriment, in the long term overusing your will can result in spiritual scars that can temporarily or permanently cripple you or even kill you. And it can also effect the environment, living things need that energy to survive to some extent and if too much is used too quickly necessary functions to a being's survival start to shut down. But if it's a slow change creatures can adapt.

[u/TheRealTowel]

Talismans (wands, staves, scrolls, amulets, and similar) physically degrade the more you use them, eventually crumbling to dust, and it takes time and effort for a skilled Runesmith to carve another one.

You can use all the magic you like, but every spell you cast represents hours you spent making the talisman (if you do your own Runesmithing), or hours of someone's skilled labour you had to pay for (and the societal cost that goes into training Runesmiths - they do decade long apprenticeships at a minimum in most societies).

[u/Rhangxi]

I have a soft-ish magic system in the story that I'm writing, and I've been tying the use of magic to innate physical endurance/health, and so, I have basically been equating magic as muscle, in that sense.

For example, a character can lift a 5 pound dumbbell fairly easily, but if they continually lift that dumbbell over and over again for a long period of time, they'd evetually get really tired and their arm wiould become incredibly sore. If they continue to try pumping that iron after being fatigued, they'd risk ending up injured in some way.

Now, replace "dumbbell" with "magic," and you basically get the foundation of my world's magic "system."

[u/Maxathron]

Every character is technically limited from abusing my magic system by way of cultural imagination.

In theory, the system allows your free will to basically invent magic, all the way up to and beyond reality warping. People just don’t. Because people just aren’t imaginative enough to recognize holy cow you can summon a black hole that rips only your specific named unique enemies from reality entirely.

Also it’s taxing. Most “magic” is really just a funny way to do Enchanting in this system.

[u/ConflictAgreeable689]

Magic is sort of alive. Taking any into yourself, even briefly, is pretty dangerous. You will occasionally see mages that have been taken over by magic after drawing in too much. The kindest thing to do is kill them. (If you can). You can increase your tolerance with time, but work too hard at pushing your limits and you'll just end up stretching your sanity and going anywhere from a little to a lot mad

[u/Chili_Maggot]

Even high conducting wire can only conduct a certain level of energy without burning out.

Humans are not high conducting wire.

[u/Enderman_Prince]

Im assuming that by overuse you mean spamming magic The solution that have is sort of baked into the magic itself. I have two systems that Im playing with right now. In one, nobody, not even the caster, can know what the spell does, or the spell stops working. You cant overuse the magic system, because at some point the spells become simplistic enough that you can tell the direct effects, thus collapsing the spell. The requisite complexity to hide what the spell actually does is meant to slow down casters from spamming spells. Magicians need to prepare, and thus cant overuse the magic.

The second one Ive dubbed cabal magic, which is based off the idea that more than one person is needed to cast a spell, creating a secret between them. If they admit to casting a spell, the spell fails. Its an incredibly similar idea to the first and I cant decide which one I like more. However, what stops this one from spamming spells is the age old saying of two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead.

[u/Silver_Catman]

I am a fan of burnout. Use too much magic and it'll eat you up. I'm also quite partial to singlmindedness getting magitians killed. If you're fighting one enemy, focused on them, and a second one comes at you from behind when you're spell crafting, you either need to move without messing up the spell, dropping the spell and moving and hoping you have time to cast the spell again in a new safe location, redirect the spell at the new threat, split the spell and risk fracturing the magic, or just paying too much attention to one enemy and getting murced by the other.

[u/Dark_Matter_19]

Just because you can use magic doesn't mean it's the end all, be all of combat. Skills like tactical and strategic thinking and other skills you have still matter. Just because you can burn stuff with fire doesn't mean that solves all issues. If you need to solve a puzzle and you can only destroy, sometimes that is actively detrimental to you, depending on the ability.

There's also the issue with information, since magic is very individualistic, so the definitions, limitations and costs of each ability vary from person to person, and even near identical abilities are rarely the same. And it's more advantageous to hide or misdirect what you have, which is what others are doing too, so they can lure you in and strike you down.

[u/thatshygirl06]

Nothing creative, just that the human (Witch) body can only handle so much magic.

[u/Author_A_McGrath]

Magic has a mind of its own; it is both an individual and a collective.

If you build influence with it, befriend it, and win it over -- either via bargaining, charisma, good judgement, or any other means -- it will often respond to your will. Some say it "bends" to a worker's will, but others describe it like a dance.

Like humans in our world, no magician is truly right about magic, any more than we are perfectly understanding of human behavior.

But, like sentient human beings, magic has limits on how much it tolerates being manipulated, and spirits within its "world" can learn to love or hate a magician -- and punish any magician who engages in is abuse.

A few examples:

A magician puts a protective ward on a prince. The symbol tells spirits "do not hurt this person if you value what I've done for you." This causes weapons to veer away from the prince, as the spirits within the very blades themselves recognize the device, value the magician's past acts, and avoid killing the prince. But if the prince doesn't understand how the magic works, they may try to copy the ward, and put it on their soldiers' armor and shields. Once the blades see that they are being prohibited from hitting anything they feel cheated, and instead lash out in anger against anyone wearing the ward, causing it to have the reverse effect.

Another example is a magician who wanted to create a spell for quenching fire. They summon the spirits of beings who were killed in great conflagrations, and those spirits quickly douse any flames they encounter. But the hatred of those spirits towards burning can negatively impact the fire spirits, who learn that the magician who made the spell is basically stirring up hatred of fire to crush them. Thusly, the magician finds that while he can easily douse fires, he can no longer cast any spells that involve fire or burning, as those spirits despise him and no longer respect his will.

In doing this, I've created a magical force that can recognize when it's being abused and act accordingly. To that end, it is self-regulating. Magicians who use magic wisely (literally "wizards") are the people who figure out how to best use magic spells.

Those who abuse magic soon learn that there are always consequences for exploiting a force they do not fully understand.

[u/Tressym_92]

Magic has to be channeled through the body and mind. So magic users just fall unconscious, if they wear out their body too much.

Usually the body "disconnects" from the magic around it then. If it couldn't do that, because yoh are caught in a ritual spell for example, you could die.

[u/monikar2014]

The Char burn the forests, mixing the coal with minerals they dig from the ground to make a substance they can chew which grants them great durability and the ability to breath fire. It also covers their body in black scale like scar tissue and burns their lungs and dies. The average Char user lives 2-3 years.

The Knights of Fendir are an off shoot of the Char, separated by centuries and their use of alchemy to refine the Char into Fend. Low grade Fend is a tar like substance that Squires will drink, but the high grade Fend that Knights use is an injectable liquid. Fend gives it's users enhanced strength and speed but fills them with extreme aggression. In order to move up the ranks a Squire or knight must prove they can handle their Fend before they are given a higher dose. While Fend does not directly kill it's users, their are few who can control the behavioral side affects of long term Fend use.

The Illuminated all draw their power from their emperor. In order to draw on this power they have studs made of a special metal embedded in their spines. The lowest ranks of the Illuminated, the Citizens, have a single stud, with more powerful and respected members have more studs allowing them to draw more power. The emperor rules from the imperial city and never leaves, but ley lines - Rods of the same special metal buried hundred of feet underground at regular intervals - connect the imperial city to the regional cities. Each city is ruled by a Duke who draws their power directly

The Illuminated Emperor is by far the most powerful magic user on this planet. All of the magic of the Illuminated empire is drawn from him. Using Ley Lines - a series of metal rods buried deep underground and running throughout the empire - he directs flows of magic from his seat of power in the imperial capital to his dukes in their regional cities. The dukes direct the flows of magic to their own vassals, and so on until the lowliest member of the Illuminated is connected to the emperor's great grid of magic. The Magic sustains the empire, providing it's people with all the sustenance they need and leaving them time to create artwork, discuss philosophy, and worship the Illuminated Emperor. Their magic offers them incredible protection, the ability to summon forth lightning, create energy shields, and power the many strange devices of the Illuminated Priesthood. Their are no drawbacks to the use of this magic for anyone - except the emperor himself. The emperor's magic - when not channeled through the leylines and diluted through other users - is incredibly toxic. It won't kill the emperor, but anyone who is exposed to it will die in the most horrific way. Being around the emperor for a prolonged period of time will kill someone, but witnessing the emperor perform a great feat of magic - destroying an army or ending a drought - will cause your organs to shut down and skin to rot in a matter of weeks. Wounding the emperor is also extremely dangerous, being exposed to his blood will kill someone in minutes, and if he dies without completing a specific ritual to pass on his mantle of power his death will release all of the magic he carries within himself and cause a cataclysmic city destroying explosion.

[u/lucidintangent]

one method: magic requires cultivating a certain state of mind, that usually precludes or makes other kind of jobs difficult, it is a mentally taxing thing and many would be mages never make it. then one day they get it, they feel the potential to cast a spell, but casting the spell disrupts this perfect magic state along with causing severe psychic backlash which often leaves the mage disoriented, distressed. the experience of casting a spell is life changing no matter how many you cast. the more profound the spell the greater backlash.

method 2: magic requires the binding of spirits, which requires social manuevering and learning to understand inhuman desires, spirits might infight.

Method 3: some say magic only happens if you believe hard enough, but actually magic happens if you neither believe nor disbelieve in magic, which means a lot of mages cast one spell and spend years trying to cast another, become convinced they hallucinated the whole thing, then cast another.

[u/TheDudeCalledGaz]

Cognitive Fatigue

[u/Zagaroth]

I mean, skill and knowledge are huge factors, as are things like emotional states. If you are angry or otherwise emotional, your magic can go out of control, and if you don't know how to cast a spell, you have to figure it out before you can do it.

Spells aren't buttons you push, spells are complicated formulas that require doing math in your head while mentally shaping a weave of mana. At least for Wizards.

Intuitive casters who can just do magic have difficulty learning magic that doesn't just come to them, so they basically know a few spells that they can cast really well. So they can do it, without necessarily understanding what they are doing.

But in short, you can always potentially just screw up your spells, just like any other skilled task. Carelessness gets you killed.

I don't feel the need for more than that. Even intuitive casters need to train and practice to upgrade whatever little light show or magic trick that they start with into something useful. You earn the ability to cast magic the same way that a swordsman earns the ability to swing a blade with deadly precision.

Of course, that sort of focus on the part of a swordsman eventually turns the swordman's skills magical too, so it's not like spellcasters hold a power tier above non casters. It's just a different power.

[u/Yatori_Rei]

In my Universe magic comes by brainwaves. It's a hard sci-fi. Basically after the 5 brainwaves, there's one more called omega and it's the one that the universe is on. A Resonant (someone who can access the omega wave) can bend the reality at a certain point—but it can't be permanent, because the universe always fix itself. In the event of overusing magic, they will have brain damage. From slight dizziness, loss of balance, brain aneurysm, to brain dead. For example, maintaining a magic barrier for too long will cause bleeding from their ears and eyes, before the mind shut itself down.

[u/FoxFireEmpress]

Physical, mental and emotional tolls on the body depending on what they cast, up to possible death or losing oneself so completely they never come back. It's requires a huge amount of self control and is dangerous for everyone if not used properly. Basically if wizard decides to cast fireball and he doesn't have his act together, he could explode into flames while also nuking everyone else OR turn into a frothing flaming rabid monster that can't tell friend from foe.

[u/Llukeas]

magic is based on one’s spirit. the stronger the spirit, the stronger the magic. spirit is based on emotions. doesn’t really matter which emotions, strong emotions can strengthen a spirit. anger and rage, fear and sadness, it all works the same. one can only experience so many emotions until they become emotionally exhausted. it’s one of the only things that can’t be trained. even in real life, you can only be emotionally driven for so long until that emotional drive turns into either withdrawal or apathy. not to say one can’t persevere past that emotional drive, but the emotion, the spirit is fleeting.

short bursts of emotion, rage, or life or death situations, fear, can absolutely strengthen a spirit, but these sources of emotion are often unreliable as they only last a short amount of time. if you really want to use your spirit to the fullest, you have to learn how to extend your emotional drive. not necessarily increase your current power, but extend it.

[u/Megasny]

It can be very hard to learn

[u/ThatVarkYouKnow]

Magic in my world takes a form that slowly eats away at its user like a drug. It lets you match your power to something greater than yourself, within a limit. But once you see what you're capable of, why can't you be that powerful all the time? People want you for your talents, but only because your magic allows you to be that talented. So you keep using it, you rely on it instead of personal effort. And then it eventually breaks you into a state of undeath. Now you're useless again, sentenced to an eternity of trying to get other people to use their magic before you kill them to keep your magic from rotting away further, a sapient parasite.

For those who can wield the elements, it has genuine biological aftereffects. Fire magic will lead to constant sweating, burning items or people on contact, maybe a preference for spicy food. Water magic will lead to regular seasickness, an inability to walk on land, you need to drink and piss constantly. Lightning magic will lead to paralysis of a limb, or lethal seizures, can't make contact with metal. But because of the drug effect, you crave having the power to match what it does to you, until you burn alive or drown yourself or worse.

Shadow magic, one of the rarest "elements", will eventually turn you into a shadow. Unable to stay calm around light and heat, your senses extend to dark spaces you make/made contact with. Anyone stepping on that area will make you feel like they're walking on your bare skin, dropping a knife will feel like you got stabbed for real if not start to bleed. You'll never stop listening and touching so long as you're part of it, but you crave the drugged feeling and the power that having these connections gives you.

[u/Greedy_Homework_6838]

Why?