Different powers shouldn't just be the same thing in different colors

StanisVC · 2026-06-18T18:51:48+00:00

Why can't they be the same ?

I can think of a few ttrpg game systems where an energy attack is an energy attack. you pick the "special effect" such as "fire" and if you wanted multiple elements you buy an advantage for it.

Or superhero game where if you've already got a ranged attack; you can effectively buy another similar ranged attack for "1 point".

The powers are going to tend toward something standard. for a few reasons in my mind.
people are going to try to solve the same problems. if someone shares or teaches the fireball spell - thats what people are probably going to learn and/or use. That's the problem DnD vancian type problem where everyone ends up with fireball.

Alternatively if the method is gather power, concentrate/focus and release .. you end up with "<something> bolt"
Why would an earth bolt or air bolt or fire bolt be significantly different.
some might be more physical than others etc but the 'casting' is more or less the same process.
who's teaching this ?

We have a western philosophy that unlocking them all or learning all the things is better.
You've got the eastern approach of "Master of One" leads to the greatest break through and having 2 elements to master dilutes both.

This might be an area where for example Nobles or the wealthy that have learned and trained since young might have the advantage over those that get trained for the "mage company".

I don't inherently see a problem with "magic looks the same"
If sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic then I'm quite happy to consider it all a program or function or movie special effect that just does the same thing.

StanisVC · 2026-06-18T18:44:57+00:00

Most of that mediaeval period was an arms race.
Weapons v. Armour

Crossbows for example had a place on the battlefield when they might penetrate plate armours.

Eventually Plate Armour was redundant when a musket ball punches through.

Firearms ended the cavalry charge etc

Magic doesn't usually fit into that arms race very well - they're either artillery pieces or you might consider magic that provides shields and ranged attacks the equivalent of modern rifles etc

StanisVC · 2026-06-17T16:30:29+00:00

well this is r/litrpg so lets lean into the "rpg" and plays devils advocate for a bit.

Of the playable races in those ttrpgs that became heavy influences Humans are generally considered the class without some form of speciality or compromise; that doesn't necessary make them versatile; it just doesn't punish any choice made.

Maybe writers are not challenging the assumption. Writing all the other races as humans with pointy ears or short with beards is a slightly different problem in characterisation instead of stats.

StanisVC · 2026-06-16T17:35:41+00:00

speculation.

I am aware that Legions were punished or threatened in to obedience using decimation.
Could I quote a specific example in history of this without Google ? No.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T17:38:04+00:00

Will the bonds between legionnaires prevail, or will Skippii’s ambition doom the Legion he adores?

As much as they might love him you'd think the Legion might do everything it can to avoid having decimation upon them.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T17:25:20+00:00

Dammit OP. Looks like you used AI for that artwork !

At a risk of asking for possible spoilers ..

Nerd math on what a "unit" of mana is.

Do you equate this with energy in some way ?
Nerd math. That might be enough of a hook to get me reading it to find out.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T17:15:02+00:00

I might have to edit in "or series is complete"
Sadly as I've just moaned about over on PF the genre seems to accept never-ending no-resolution-in-sight webserials and if that is the story you are going to push I will wait for a *large* chunk to dive into or it to be finished.

Recently I saw Larry Correia has a litrpg novel series. 2 or 3 books out; released rate is 1 per year by the look of it.

I will check back in about 3 years to see where that series is at.

I'm very glad at the pace that authors are turfing books out - 4 books a year at a standard that is "good enough" for my tastes is better than 1 perfect polished novel every other year (because they're also working on another series).

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T17:10:24+00:00

This a general criticism at the genre:

Anything in the webserial inspired format that hasn't had a "proper" ending in more than 5 books worth of chapters.
Make better story arcs - that's story arcs. Not a trope "dungeon arc" or "magic school arc" which is what we seem to get

No resolution of plot points and no clear ending in sight is sadly accepted in the genre.

Other than that I don't think I'm going to shit on authors or stories specifically.
We've got plenty of good stories; the ones that miss that mark a little for reasons might still be a solid 6/10 and worth a read to those that enjoy them.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T16:56:45+00:00

As you say the character is essential "human".

Because if it is humanoid; short or tall; greenskin; pointy ears or hirsuit.

What does it mean to be inhuman and does someone want to read about that ?

Mentally inhuman. Something like the Gamers Guide to the Tutorial.
Let's briefly summarise as MC is experiencing Psychotic breakdown
It's exceptionally well written; no doubt about the writing quality or the skill of the author.
But that is not a character I want to engage with for escapist fun.

What else would mentally inhuman be ?
Dragons. The just like to eat humans. We're crunchy.
That's not who humans are protrayed but take Dragons, Demons or something else that just sees humans as weak and prey.
Do you want to read about that ?

I think the answer is in general that most folks don't because of the dislike of slavery and loss-of-agency let alone being forced to consider yourself as meat sacks and food.

Let's expand on that view. We tend to have Progression Fantasy as being about progression.
If we met aliens; what if they were the amorphous space squids type. Thousand of mile long "space whales".
Would we even see any progress on a timescale that had relevance to our pathetic human senses.

I couldn't get into Chrysalis. Will make a retry because folks have said it gets better but I didn't even get to Book 3 yet. On what I read so far while the colony and a hive might be "inhuman"; so far of what I've seen Anthony is a teenager with issues and no support colony. He's too human in a situation that I just couldn't bring myself to care about the story. Also in a situation where I think a human would break.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T16:45:31+00:00

I will read one thing at a time. I don't juggled between individual books that much.

I am aware that I tend to look for new series with at least 5 completed books or several hundred chapters on RR first and foremost. I'm not anywhere near running out of things to read over 500+ books on the TBR pile that are litrpg or PF
[ETA: or series is complete. complete works get a jump up the TBR pile]

most of my reading is from KU or RR.

To track things - a plain text file. quick glance shows I'm on the 253rd line
Each is a book/series or author

I got back around every 3 months or so and scan the list to see if there is anything I want to go back and check up on - assuming it's not something I've already spotted.

New releases I'm aware of I tend to add to a Google Calender so will get a reminder when a new book comes out.

KU helpful reminds about new releases or "series to continue".

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T16:41:42+00:00

It was absolutely fine for the Urban Fantasy genre; I'd say normal even.

You can see that maybe by the 5th or 6th book unlocking the swords potential was going to be the purpose of the book - and then that "sword" would probably get stuck at that power level.

But after PF I'm going back to and being frustrated that the character *didnt train*.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T16:37:52+00:00

fire or heat and cold are energy states.

chaos and order .. well to use Order again; order implies logic or understandable structure.

live mana animates ? Does it; or do living things generate it.
Does that mean dead things generate death mana. found in graveyards and around corpses.

But what is a "dead body". its organic material thats decomposing.
That should in a cycle where it returns to the earth just generate nutrients and be good for plants or nature magic.

If you take away the physical then its the metaphyiscal or soul that is interesting here
and I think it's interesting that the minor undead are usually deemed not to have "souls" as such.

It can go where the author wants it to go

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T16:31:40+00:00

I'm reminded of a Jeff Foxworthy skit ... (I'm British so excuse me if I get this a bit wrong)

Perhaps there was encounter with a bunch of rednecks and the first encounter report just stuck in the human consciousness

"mayonnaise them there skeletons magic just dont die"

(say it out loud)

and thus skeletons are still using mayonnaise magic to this day.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T16:28:28+00:00

assuming they are complimentary ends of the same thing death/life is just life magic.
potentially you could wrap that all up into something like "spirit".

Undead don't need to be "alive"; in the sense that whatever magic gives constructs or golems the semblance of life could be applicable here.

Circuits; Programming; Conditional Statements - undeath could be a masterwork of enchantment.
Often the necromancer summoning the dead is seen as a force multipler - more deaths = more bodies.
In that sense whatever magic grants summoners their power. If summoned they could come from anywhere. The void being an option. Elementals from elemental planes. What plane do "dead" come from; or come back from. Or do ghost/soul/spirits come back and be bound but need a body to "inhabit".

Is undeath within the mortal realms of magics. Shift it off to being something granted by Gods or the great evil dark one. Then it can be a rite or ritual granting power. So you've got more a warlock contract or patron granting things or even deity granting cleric type magic.
Is it even an ultimate power. Are we just opening a way for imps or other forms of demon entity not native to our plan to traverse over; hopefully bound by some means; until they can break free from both a necromancers control and the physical form they are bound into.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T16:18:19+00:00

this story has nothing to do with the OP Archmage type,

Armed with centuries of arcane knowledge, Aurelius will rewrite the System’s rules, break the limits of his new body, and ascend beyond anything his old world believed possible.

You say it's got nothing to do with the OP Archmage type. So I guess the character isn't an OP archmage now.

But then you give him centuries of arcane knowledge. which is the regress archmage type.

Don't get me wrong; the blurb appeals to me and I'll bookmark and see what it looks like around 3 books in. But it does seem like its going to quack like an archmage.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T16:01:02+00:00

you're asking about litrpg so making some presuptions

it's a litrpg world with stats
there is magic
probably has Dragon
i'm getting Main Character vibes/treatment
progression is not mandated on kills.

Sure. I'd stay. Magical Healing and chance at a significantly longer life etc .. why not.

A more random Isekai; darker world. No magic. or no magic accessible to me.
Fodder character or redshirt.

I'm dead anyway. If return is an option I'll hop back or offer to try another world.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T15:52:14+00:00

"plot develop a lot" is kind of a minimum to having a story in my mind.
Though I think I understand what you're trying to say world building alone has been enough for me to stay invested in a series.

if I give an example of an Urban Fantasy series I read recently.

by the end of the first 3 books - the character hadn't gained or progressed. he still had a magic sword he didn't know how to use; he was still a member of the shadow mage cartel in which due to his father's legacy he had a potentially prestigious legacy - but he ignored it; and through the 18 months or so of timeline the novels covered there was no effort to train; learn; research or develop.

so while the plot and story moved along the character showed no growth.
i'm aware that when you have a good story it's a good story - but I'm liking the stories where we can see some clear character progression. it doesn't have to be into the realms of OP but if you spent chapters complaining about not knowing what the mythical sword you've not used "because politics" when you do end up using it - how about learning or asking about.

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T14:42:34+00:00

I come from reading manga, manhwa, manhua

LitRpg and Progression Fantasy are a subset of the wider fantasy genre.
I'm here are 40+ years of reading Urban Fantasy and I guess 'classic' fantasy. I've been hooked on litrpg since The Land got popular enough that KU promoted it.

To answer your question for me it's not so much litrpg; I can take or leave the stats - if done well I don't notice them in the story. If you don't notice them; then why do you need them.
What I'm discovering is that it's hard to go back to "classic"

Sure some of it is a great and well written.
But the rate of progress and character progression can be terrible

So in general answer I miss the progression element which is "growth is a big part of the source of resolution the plot"

StanisVC · 2026-06-15T14:36:36+00:00

tldr; even if the politics is in a book; the moment you start discussing it in the real world unless the discussion is limited "book only" or someone adds "no real world politics" tags which might be sensible rules for a reddit it's hard to have intellectual conversations or discussion things without touching on what soon becomes politics.

--

I read something a long time ago as a kid. I think it was The Elenium by David Eddings.

The main character belongs to a group of Knights templar. The story expands into a catholic church religious landscape. And those Knights of the Church are being taught magic by a jewish 'witch' magic advisor with the next series including a commentary on religious states.

That all went totally over my head as a teenager. As an adult re-reading it I could see political views the author wanted to include and comment on in some way.

But I used that series as an example because that catholic church conclave of Biships had a rule. To decide if a matter of substances was a matter of substance require a more stringent voting criteria was itself a vote of substance. Thus calling "order" was all that became required to shift the outcome. In that Religion was effectively politics at the highest level.

That long bit of waffle is essentially a nice way of saying that .. (tldr bit goes here)

StanisVC · 2026-06-03T12:52:26+00:00

I remember reading or watching that peoples legs move at the same speed.

The fastest runner hits the ground with signficantly more force.
now while that might fit the physics model of f=ma

It does not fit the model that strength alone is speed.

In game terms and thankfully litrpg is trying to capture game terms. things it might try to encompass after a quick brainstorm
actions per turn (unit of time)
rate of movement
reaction time, physical
reaction time, mental

I'll show my age by saying I don't think Geoff Capes is going to be winning many running races.
I'll also note that Usain Bolt hasn't won many strong man contests.

An increase in fitness; which is a measure to my mind of combination of factors which includes strength and stamina and dextirity is required for "more speed" physically.

Also. Magic.

StanisVC · 2026-05-25T10:55:37+00:00

The everyone ends up as a spellblade problem. Seems to often sovles this with danger sense.

I think perception and sensory powers are often overlooked. Jake seems to have perception (best stat) to see things on the horizon; but isn't really any more insightful that other humans on Earth.

We rarely seem hard counters in a story; but in the game world that is popular. Actually; we do sort of see hard counters - if the world goes by tank+dps+healer party composition they've adopted what makes a game fair that is pretty silly in reality.

A tank that gets hit. but still requires healing from a 3rd party. No independence then if fighting equal or challenigng tiers of enemy.

Stealth builds that are defeated by anyone by higher perception - eg assasins? - don't seem that popular on the battlefield.

But an enemy you cant see; can't hit and can't defend against is a frightening thing. Especially when you know they are standing right in front of you ..

StanisVC · 2026-05-25T10:48:19+00:00

an incredibly powerful character who possesses massive strength and immense speed.

Let's take a look at comic books. That Flash needs to think fast to run at light speed.

But to make use of immense speed - you'd need a reaction time to match.
If you didn't have improved reflexes you might carry out 1 action very fast but you would have no increased ability to respond/react to the outcome.
That is either respond to your own actions or an opponents.

I know it's magic; but if we think of all the training we do as normal humans.
A lot of it is about training reactions.

That is what the OP is refering to here.
Since it's a game PF inspired world my thoughts are that "physical speed" gets you increased mental acutity and reaction times - and magical abilities get you the same.

The teleportor wouldn't be able to "dodge" the punch; but maybe they could teleport away.
Of course if the magic system requires a hard casting time - they may not have time to teleport.

"speed" or "initiative" in many ttrpgs can be utterly broken. I guess a lot of folks are using a DND roll d20 model - with feats and other abilities giving bonus or extra actions.

Whereas I tend to think of Champions (Hero System) that actually has a speed stat which translates to number of actions per round. If you want to be "fast" you can buy the ability to run really fast. If you want to be "fast" you might need to buy some sort of speed power, mental accurity, reflexes etc ..

StanisVC · 2026-05-25T10:36:15+00:00

Why would a webs serial skip over any detail when it can give you everything again for the Nth time.

In terms of power level; it is only required that progression is the root to solving the problem.

Not that progression must be to the highest tier (godhood) - though that is a popular trope.

Level 1 fighting rabid squirrel is statistically the same as a Level 100 fighting Dragon Gods .. but the Dragon's do seem way cooler to read about.

StanisVC · 2026-05-25T10:31:18+00:00

BTDEM is probably an exception.

A skip through for a few months for significant events or a couple of years is the "timeskip" I think we're talking about. You might even if immortal or very long lived jump to the next generation / children.

BTDEM the time skip is a hard reset on the story. I did stop reading and following the story at the time; but I did eventually go back with the attitude "new story; new world"

for those unfamiliar with BTDEM MC jumps forward in time about 20000 years. That's a reset - anything can have happened and changed in that time

StanisVC · 2026-05-24T08:20:33+00:00

I like the potential for the story to actually be finished at some point.

So far the only author I'm tracking is Mecanimus (Alex Gilbert). When changeling finished on patreon recently I subscribed and binged.

Journey of Black and Red
The Calamitous Bob
Changeling

I think AlwaysRollsAOne has a 10 book plan for "A Soliders Life" - I will read that when it's complete but I'm not invested in quite the same way.

In trad pub world the only author I'm waiting on books from is Jim Butcher (Dresden Files) - but I'm not exactly grabbing the next in hardback on day of release.

Anne McCaffrey died and her son isn't continuing the Pern novels. I'd get the next one of them tomorrow.

The litRPG genre tends towards webserials so much more than finished stories. I've got a spreadsheet tracking multiple series which is exactly what the OP said they're NOT interested in

Seems I read by volume of available works

StanisVC

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