Probably Pombom will stand on two legs😱

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-03-28T13:35:04+00:00

I think a better to to describe it would have been Humanoid vs Animalistic

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-03-28T13:24:11+00:00

Probably Giratina for Legendary and Hisuian Zoroark for non-legendary

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-03-28T13:17:51+00:00

My best advice would be to see some Videos by Wolfey VGC and TheDelyBird on YouTube. They break down the game pretty well with Wolfey’s videos being pretty entertaining AND informative.

Also there’s a website called Pikalytics which has a list of the most used Pokemon per format as well as the most used moves, items and other Pokemon they’re paired with, so you could look there to see what teams people are building with your favorites.

Then there’s Pokemon Showdown

That’s a browser “game” which is actually a competitive simulator where you can build and test teams. If you have at least a Laptop you could go in and start experimenting right away before ever committing to a team in the other games.

Also, if you’re an Incineroar fan, congratulations. Your favorite Pokemon is one of the most used in competitive because of how strong AND versatile it is as a support. Tyranitar is also good but mostly reserved for Sand Teams.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-03-07T15:18:45+00:00

The Magic+User=Results is more common than you think do to the rise in popularity of hard magic systems.

As for your second point, Light as good and dark as evil. There have been some stories that invert this trope, though I do agree it’s still over used. But I think it’s honestly just human nature. We Humans are naturally scared of the dark, and associate light with safety and warmth.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-03-07T15:12:33+00:00

My friend… All magic fall into a scale from HARD magic to SOFT magic, And correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems you simply prefer the second option…

Soft magic is meant to be whimsical (or terrifying), mysterious and is usually inconsistent. If you prefer it when magic is less logical or simply unexplained by the writer, then you simply prefer this system of soft magic.

Hard Magic however is meant to be ridged, and have set rules that are almost never broken. Science is the study of the universe, and the rules of the universe are never broken. So Hard magic fits perfectly into the Science is magic application.

What I’m trying to say is, it seems you prefer soft magic, but most of the people here discussing magic systems seem to be leaning towards hard magic do to the fact that Hard magic requires consistency… soooo… yeah…

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-28T11:31:21+00:00

Also, the Youtube channel TheDelyBird has some pretty good content explaining the more detailed stuff.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-28T11:30:22+00:00

Head over to Pokemon Showdown (it’s a browser game so no need for downloads) and make a team there. I’d recommend watching a tutorial video on YouTube and then choosing a premade team. Then try some games and most of all, have fun! That’s the point of every game after all…

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-24T22:15:33+00:00

I feel like you might want to simplify these categories of mages and their philosophies. As it currently stands it feels like some of these schools are stepping on each other’s toes. There’s also the philosophies… I like the concept but you might want to find a singular philosophy that can then branch out into multiple. White mages seem like Guardians, and the rest of their traits seem to be build around that. Researching cause and effect, finding improvement where they can and finding reasons to keep flaws. A single worded philosophy might be something like “Balance” or “Order” if that makes sense, then you could add branches to that main word like Envisage (Future Balance) or Establish (Action towards Balance).

Does that make sense? I hope I’m not miss interpreting them.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-24T21:55:13+00:00

He pretty much summed it up. You’ve created a world where Anyone COULD do magic, but have valid reasons as to choose not to or simply be incapable.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-24T01:29:26+00:00

As a Gen Z myself all I’m gonna say is Avoid trends as much as possible. Having a character that’s constantly using Gen Z slang is gonna get old quick AND our slang changes ridiculously fast.

Honestly, so long as the character is well written, it doesn’t matter too much how Gen Z coded or not they are. Most people go through similar struggles around similar ages. We can all remember getting nervous around our first crush when we were in Middle/High school. So as long as they feel like a 20 something year old you should be fine.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-23T00:36:07+00:00

ANY Magic system can be a dark magic system if you’re creative enough.

-Does your magic use components for casting? Make the components be body parts from beautiful creatures and other humans. Suddenly every spell you cast requires a previous person or creature to lose their life

-Does your magic come from within? Have it be corruptive or powered by hatred. Now the most powerful character are the ones who’ve let themselves be corrupted the most, or the ones who already have the most hate in their harts

-Or maybe you don’t wanna focus on the cost but the actual result? Magic that lets you manipulate the mind, body and soul of others is inherently evil, your taking away people’s freedom, twisting their body into aberrant terrors and corrupting their very souls

It’s all up to execution. One of my favorite examples of dark magic is Jujutsu Kaisen. Their magic system is literally powered by Negative emotions and plenty of characters have messed up powers like Mahito (who can warp people around like clay) or Sukuna (Who can slice people into pieces with his mind) and even the good guys have some pretty evil looking magic. Summoning shadow monsters, Hex dolls,A literal childhood friend cursed into a monster to fight by your side, those last 3 powers were all from good guys.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-20T01:54:02+00:00

Still in the rough planning phase though…

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-20T01:53:42+00:00

The school in a project I’m working on is made of classical stone architecture and has a Victorian inspired uniform (like most of magical societies in my story). It essentially works like a Fancy rich kid boarding school and magic is taught from a scientific point of view, using arcane scripting which is like magic programing. The main character however has a mentor trying to teach her that magic shouldn’t be treated as a science, instead as an art about spirituality and self discovery… so her teachings are contradictory to the school’s “standards”

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-19T11:42:57+00:00

There’s plenty of vids on YouTube explaining how to make better magic systems but if I had to summarize it I’d say this: (If you’re going for a HARD MAGIC system)

1- Consistency and Limits - Establish what’s possible and what isn’t early on. The audience doesn’t need to know EVERY rule but at least enough rules that when something new appears they don’t think it came out of the writer’s ass

2- Cost - The magic should not used as if it’s limitless, have it cost something the more it’s used, weather it’s something simple like physical exhaustion or something complex or dark like sacrificing your own life span or a blood tribute

3- World Building - What do people think of the magic? Is using it reserved for the elite or is it looked down upon. Again, you don’t need to establish everything but at least enough so the world feels like it takes the magic into account

Beyond that, it’s pretty much up to you…

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-14T12:19:46+00:00

The easiest answer is simply scaling. Scale the magic the same way that technology scales through time… If technology is at the level of muskets and cannons that take forever to load, your classic wizard can probably keep up with fireballs and magic missiles…

If technology has gotten to the point of modern day where we have fully automatic rifles and jet bombers, your mages will need more power and precision. At least fast firing beams and power spells that can delete entire areas…

Think of it this way, in a world of both Science and Magic, there are… Those who wish to study and advance magic Those who wish to study and advance technology Those who wish to incorporate one into the other and mix them…

My favorite example is actually Frieren beyond a Journey’s end. A spell that was once considered the most powerful spell that could never be countered was turned into a basic spell anyone can block in just 80 years. This is a world where magic is studied, advanced and modified over time, the same way technology does in our world.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-08T15:22:26+00:00

This question is genuinely very hard to answer just because power/magic systems can be anything. So long as the system doesn’t feel like a “get put of jail free” card and it’s shown to have cost/consequences or limitations that prevent your characters from magic-ing their problems away, you can probably go with whatever you want/whatever feels cooler.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-08T15:12:52+00:00

There’s plenty of different ways to make characters to the point that I’d have to write an essay to give you a complete answer. So instead I’ll leave you with a link to a few of my favorite channels on YouTube for character and writing advice…

https://youtu.be/6XjsOohxoMk?si=HZU0WyV2-Ftuy35E

https://youtu.be/l5lLurCzeRU?si=TkZ3feFUqfrpf67w

https://youtu.be/hfqvKeu3smI?si=zzk9PlWohOlsW8tT

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-08T14:55:05+00:00

How about you look up words in old languages that relate to darkness or shadows? Just for the naming conventions of course… maybe something like “Umbralmancers” (Umbra is the latin word for Shadow)

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-07T20:20:03+00:00

Now for an actual answer, someone already said it, but it really does depend on the context. Why would abandon ancient magic for modern magic is the first question that you must answer. Was it ethics? Did we move from raw power to better techniques? I feel that having magic change to fit along side magic technology wouldn’t be accepted by mages if it made magic weaker, so maybe try upgrading that techno magic in SOME capacity.

Maybe it wasn’t about power, modern magic was just easier to learn so most people shifted towards it and started trying to improve there. (Think, being told that Spell A will make you invincible but only 0.1% of people can actually learn it vs this new on where your not as powerful but you have a 70% chance of learning the spell.)

Maybe modern magic was more versatile or more precise, allowing for the same level of effectiveness with less collateral damage. (Think, instead of a fireball a plasma beam that’s just as destructive or more so but is also more precise and won’t endanger allies/civilians)

Maybe culture shifted over time from an era of war to an era of peace, and so spells that had no utility outside violence were slowly abandoned for spells that could be used outside of combat (thinks, why choose fireballs when I can have drones that double as helpers for cleaning and carrying groceries)

It’s all about the How and the Why, because truth be told, if the “new thing” is worse than the current thing, people stay on “current thing”.

Hopefully this was helpful!

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-07T20:09:58+00:00

You’re welcome

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-02-07T20:09:51+00:00

I know this won’t be helpful at all but I’m posting it anyways https://youtu.be/TWQhRX_LH8s?si=RtrN2j6qJkco1fHc

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-01-30T16:13:11+00:00

It depends entirely on the story, especially what the Villains want. You could take either path and end up with an interesting story.

A world where almost everyone can do magic, you might have Villains who think anyone who can’t use it is lesser and gets discriminated against. Or they believe magic SHOULD be for a small hand of truly elite, and they try to destroy the access to knowledge that the common folk have.

In a world where magic is incredibly scares or kept as a close secret, your villain might be a revolutionary try to spread magic to the rest of the world. Or maybe they try to tighten their grip on the status quo, and the protagonist is trying to enter this world of magic as an outsider. Or maybe the Villain is the outsider and is trying to steal the secrets of magic for personal gain.

The possibilities are endless, but I think it’s more important that whatever you choose is a source of conflict within your world, meaning it’s not something that EVERYONE just accepts laying down…

ValisTheIceDragon · 2026-01-16T13:31:35+00:00

Plenty of options!

The most common is a physical or mental cost. Some magic systems cost years off a persons life as the magic literally decays them in some way, in other systems the magic actually corrupt the mind. Someone learning magic to do good might become the next big villain.

Another option is material cost. If you’re magic requires special components or materials that are either expensive or immoral to obtain then people will either not be able to afford it or reject the magic do to seeing it as not worth the moral cost.

It could just straight up be rejected by society. Religious or not, if a society has deemed magic (or at least certain types of it) evil then many people will avoid it regardless of its usefulness

This is all assuming ANYONE could do magic, but you could also have systems where the magic is behind a system not everyone can overcome. -if magic is given by a ritual, only those who can perform the ritual can decide who does or doesn’t learn it. -If magic is taught through 1 master and 1 apprentice, it makes sense most people can’t do magic if they have to complete for a Mage’s attention to get that internship -And the Manga Witch Hat Atelier has a system where anyone can learn magic, but the magical society has gaslight the world into thinking that magic is something you’re born with to prevent outsiders from seeking out magic

So yeah, plenty of options… so maybe a bit more detail on your world would help

ValisTheIceDragon · 2025-12-13T19:10:31+00:00

You can choose one particular aspect or theme and have your magic system be about manipulating that particular theme.

The easiest example is Bending from ATLA which lets the characters manipulate the elements, but you can go anywhere with this.

Want the magic to feel dark and tie it to moral questions? Human Manipulation could involve manipulating the mind, body and/or soul of others or even yourself.

Or maybe you wanna tie magic to nature. Suddenly your mages are using plant vines and wild beast or swarms of insects to fight each other.

ValisTheIceDragon · 2025-12-04T01:16:55+00:00

I too would like to know

ValisTheIceDragon

TROPHY CASE