Let me know your favorite magic systems!!

I never thought of this before, but it now makes so much more sense why Gandalf relatively rarely uses magic. If power corrupts, and magic is power then the only way for him to remain uncorrupted is to not rely on magic.

HxH’s Nen is probably the most interesting hard magic system I’ve ever seen; more like an art from or a martial art than magic. It has extremely strict rules but if one manages to understand them then it feels so rewarding.

Love the inclusion of the Last Airbender! The magic system is so simple but also very fascinating!

So glad someone gave some attention to the Earthsea series. It is a wondrous read and underrated by the modern audience, I think.

I'll be honest, I don't have a preference between hard or soft magic systems. They both have their advantages. Hard magic, like Name/Wind and Mistborn, is fun to learn -- usually along with the character as they're learning. So it makes the story interesting. Soft magic is more whimsical, and keep the reader guessing as to what will happen next. As long as it's done well, I enjoy a well written soft magic

I like the two magics in Robin Hobb’s books: the Wit (connection to animals and all living things around you), and the Skill (a telepathic connection with people) and how the main character Fitz learns to combine the two.

I love Sanderson’s magic systems in Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, The Emperor’s Soul, Warbreaker, Tress of the Emerald Sea… but there is nothing quite like Pat Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle. The contrast between a very hard system like Sympathy and a loose and soft magic like Naming is particularly awesome, as Kvothe easily learns one but fumbles with the other because of his stupidity and arrogance. The thing is, talking about this remembers me that we still don’t have a date for book 3. Why, god, why? 😂😅😢

I recommend the system used in the manga Atelier of Witch Hat (or Witch Hat Atelier), where the mages limit themselves to only use magic throught magic item created via very precise and detailed magic circle drawn on them. The magic sistem is on the hard magic spectrum with all the wonders of a soft magic, so you have underwater city and soft bad made of cloud. Also the art is wonderful

I love the Old Kingdom's magic system. I read Sabriel in high school and it is the book I can pin point that made me fall in love with Fantasy. Its magic system is so unique and interesting. Also the world starts as Urban Fantasy and goes into traditional fantasy. A system that is very interesting and unique that I just finished is Witch Hat Atelier. This manga's magic system is so unique. It is based on writing symbols. I highly recommend reading it!

I love the magic system in the inheritance cycle by Christopher Paolini. It isn’t overly complicated, but I loved thinking of the flexibility of it.

For me elemental magic will never be overdone lol, i eat it up every time. There is something about it man idk. I think my favorite has to be Stormlight, because i just LOVE the idea of bonding spren, getting your powers through a bond with a cute lil creature by your side is just the best thing ever and i want a cryptic by my side so bad.

This video is seriously amazing! Not only made me want to read straight away The Earthsea chronicles, but also overall made me remember why I love fantasy so so much! Uhhh so inspired right now! One of my favorite magic systems would be the bone shard magic used in the Drowning Empire, creepy but seriously cool

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is hands down my all time favorite anime. So good job of including it on the list!

Another fascinating magic system is in Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory's Obsidian Universe, which consists of three trilogies. The first is the Obsidian Trilogy (also called the Obsidian Mountain Trilogy), then there's the Enduring Flame Trilogy (set 1000 years later) and the Dragon Prophecy Trilogy (set 1000 years before). What's fun is there are three types of magic with their own rules, but they work really well together and it's fun to watch them interact with each other!

Very fine video man! The content, the editing... Amazing! My favorite magic systems are the ones from Mistborn, Wheel of Time and Kingkiller Chronicles.

What a great communicator. Loved the voice, pace, intonation... great job!

This is such a good video. These are some great magic systems. I love how Patrick Rothfuss uses both hard and soft magic systems in the Name of the Wind. My favourite magic system is Beyond redemption. It's a combination of soft and hard. What I love most about it is that it's weaved into the world building and also the essential components that make up that characters themselves.

Nice list. For me, Alchemy from FMA and Nen from HXH are two of my favorites. Alchemy works so well in that you have equivalent exchange but from the getgo we have two exceptions: the Philosopher stone and the Gate of truth. Both are powerful, but have immense costs which tie into the story and themes associated with it. Nen from Hunter X Hunter is like an RPG player's dreams. You have basic Aura powers, Ren, Ten, Hatsu, and Zetsu and within those categories you have more specific categories, like Hatsu which have their own capabilities and limitations.

So happy to see Mistborn in a list like this. I simply adore the magic system that Brandon Sanderson created for that world.

I’d have to go with HxH’s Nen system. I mean, it’s really the gold standard for not only anime power/magic systems, but for power/magic systems in fiction as a whole. I mean, it’s the best of both worlds, on one hand mysterious and esoteric, and on the other hand so precise the majority of the series fights can be reduced down to a series of math equations if you were so inclined. Further, it’s rules are really well defined and laid out, with its system of self imposed conditions which give it a lot of interesting conditions and strategies Ultimately,I’d say HxH has one of the best power systems of all time

The quality of your videos is absolutely incredible!!!

Another informative video, Jay. I'm a mixed bag when it comes to what magic system type I prefer and usually go with how it was used in the story. I will say I tend to like magic that has limitations and rules so do probably tend to fall on the hard side of the magic spectrum. Cheers!

One magic system I love is in "Shadow of the Conquer" by Shad M Brooks. Basically, different physical aspects or skills of a person, such as speed, strength, weight, etc, are amplified by binding light. Hard rules bound by real physics principles. My only complaint is that Shad has only published one book in this series so far.

My two most favorite magic systems are Cosmere and One piece...You have already talked about cosmere...with regards to one piece...you majorly have 2 types of magic systems...one is wrt devil fruits which when consumed takes away your ability to swim but gives you some power in return...the other is haki which in turn is divided into 3 different types [and sub types or rather variations of each]...it has a specific set of rules without any exceptions (as of now)...there is also awakening of devil fruits which acts differently for different category of devil fruits...

I was so happy when you mentioned Brent Week's Lightbringer series! I adored that magic system and it gets better with each book. I'd also like to recommend his Nightangel trilogy - the magic system here is quite different but it's brilliant. Also another sidenote on Brent Weeks - he has a fantastic way of writing politics without it getting boring. Saying that, my all-time favourite is Kingkiller by Patrick Rothfuss. It's so well explained and easy to digest but also so complex.

I'm a fan of hard magic, in general. I'm excited you're digging into Malazan, my FAVE FAVE FAVE series ever. The magic there is pretty esoteric and it will likely be quite a while before you feel like you are grasping it - and even then, it is still purposely rather vague - but I suspect you will respect, if not love, the magic system there.

I always come back to the basic, simple magic rules that were the first that I ever read - the Belgariad by David Eddings. Seems very simple at first, but if you actually delve into it, it is extremely complex and deals with 4 separate and distinct sources of power, which are unrelated, but linked and interconnected when applied in the "real world." The delineation between "Sorcery," "Magic," "Witchcraft" and an unnamed prevalent power that exists is only touched upon here and there - with the exception of "Sorcery," as it applies to the protagonist, and is more fleshed out.

You should take a look at the Death Gate Cycle by Weis and Hickman. 2 distinct yet similar systems between the Sartan and the Patryn races. It's my personal favorite.

woah, you really covered all bases. Another 10/10 video mate

In terms of Elemental Magic, I really like how it is used in Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. It has the classic four elements, plus Metal and Wood, manipulated through the use of spirits called Furies. Each element has effects that go beyond just manipulating the element. For example, Watercrafters have healing and a degree of shapeshifting. Firecrafters can enflame emotions like agitation. Metalcrafters are naturally good at using swords. And so on. Nearly everyone (at least among the Alerans/humans; other races have their own magic systems) can use it, meaning everything from construction to cleaning dishes relies on it. And for the first half of the series, we follow someone who is unable to use his society’s magic and has to compensate. There are a few things I wish were a bit more fleshed out (like to what degree a personal Fury is needed, since someone who only had Earth and Wood managed to use Watercrafting to change his appearance, albeit over a long period of time), but overall I enjoy it.

Really great video thank you so much. I definitely enjoy the hard magic systems. There's an old classic which is the magic system in Rodger zelazny the Amber series.

I really liked the system in the Lightbringer series. I felt like the series kinda got out of hand towards it's end, but the magic is very creative and fantastical. I also liked the magic system in Sanderson's The Emporer's Soul.

I was always fascinated by the magic in the First Law world. It's very similar to what you mean about Gandalf where some of it is explained, but a lot of what the Magi are about is left to the imagination. Great video!

The magic system in the web serial Worm. At its fundamental level is techinally hard sci-fi, but functions under soft magic principles. Essentially superpowers, but the minute details of the systems inner workings, and especially how the worlds society deals with the system, is truly fascinating. It makes you ask not what it can do, but why.

Kathryn Kurtz’ Deryni setting had an interesting magic system in that it was genetic and resembled psychic abilities with a few exceptions like summoning things.

What a fantastic video, Jay! My faves are in Mistborn and Wheel of Time.

So happy to see Powdermage here. I got introduced to them by picking up his other book, In the shadow of lightning. That magic system is centered around different types of glass and it feels like a more fleshed out version of Jade in the Jade city books.

Very interesting video! Never thought about the difference between soft and hard magic systems! Love it!

I also like Clamp manga universe magic. It's so vast, diverse, and full of mythologies.Especially the idea of Dreams as different realm that can also connect minds.

Both Hamon and Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are excellent magic systems in manga/anime, and much better explained/implemented than exchange in FMA. Exchange is mostly just invoked to explain why you can't do crazy things like bring people back from the dead or make talking animals; it doesn't really explain how they do alchemy on the regular.

my favorite magic system is the one I designed for my story. in a nutshell. there is a universal energy source that permiates throughout all life. if you open your 7 chakras, and connect them to the star charka and the Earth charka. then you can start to channel this energy through your charkas, and condense it into mana. once you have mana, you can use it to fuel any spells you have learned. the system itself is broken into 5 crafts, which are each further divided into 4 arts. example. magecraft deals with arcane powers and is divided into the four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. whereas druidcraft deals more with nature and is divided into teramancy (manipulating the sentient world around you.) shape shifting (manipulating you own body.) alchemy (manipulating the inanimated world around you) and manufacturing (manipulating magic itself, and changing how spells are cast.) each art has it's own rules for how the spells are cast, but in general, spells are cast through intention. you can use wands, or staffs, or hand gestures to help focus that intention; but it ultimately your own intention that casts the spell. the entire premise of the book(s) is following the journey of the students at an academy that teaches them to harness mana and learn spells. but it's only a 5 year academy. so you have to chose which path you want to take. do you have to specialize and focus on 1 craft, and it's 4 arts? do you want to generalize and learn the basics of all 5 crafts? or do you want to mix and match. the academy is really only the start of your journey through magic, even as a specialist. and there are school that you can go to after graduation to learn the arts you didn't get to learn. but you can only attend the school for the craft you took the introductory course for, and achieve the apprentice rank.

Great overview! I definitely prefer hard magic systems, especially if they aren't fully explained right away in the narrative. It's so fun trying to figure them out!

I love creative magic systems the ones where you have a simple power but it has a verity of applications depending on the users creativity, like fire brigade of flame before the ending and a multitude of uses for fire and heat with just reasiloning and logic and I loved it so much

Great video. My favourite magic system? "Elemental Mana Cultivation" from Beginning After the End. The best system ever written.❤

Great to see you mentione runelords series. It deserves more love in booktube

I really enjoy this type of videos from you Jake 🔥 keep it up I read the first book of rune lords a month ago and it was fun. Raj Ahten is an entertaining villain. Now I’m starting The Hunger of the Gods, the second book off the Bloodsworn trilogy by John Gwynne and it is 🔥🔥🔥 totally recommend that saga

Great video! I read the first two Malazan books and I really liked the magic system. That was my favorite part. (I stopped for other reasons, but it's a great series, just subjective reasons)

The Will and the Word that David Eddings used is most excellent. Highly recommend!

Yes please, with the Avatar reviews haha I'd love to hear more of your take on it.

I love this! And all the graphics were awesome!

You have such great picks that it is difficult to add somethign here. Foundryside has a great magic system reminiscent of real life programming. It really reminds me of Sanderson (specifically Emperor's Soul). Another good one is in Ink and Sigil, where the protagonists has to write the spell with special ink.

I love hard magic systems! I’m just getting into the mistborn series but I’m wrapping up Lies of Locke Lamora thanks to your wonderful suggestion!

I'm so glad you mentioned sabriel!!! I love how bells are used in that magic system.

LE Modesitt Order/Chaos is also a very in depth magic system

I'm 6 books into Malazan and I'm not sure I have a great grasp on how the magic system works at a detailed level. Sometimes some characters do some stuff and it's cool. I really liked Wheel of Time, because I feel like the magic is a key component to much of the plot but also how it varies between men and women.

Raymond E. Feist’s magic systems are cool too, especially the grandness of them, they are kind of a soft magic because you don’t really get too much explanation other than it takes great skill, practice and patience to perform the amazing feats or perhaps let’s just say there is no magic just 'tricks'. Magical rifts portals between worlds, creatures like dragons, serpents and demons. Not only does it have magic but also sneaky thieves and assassin type underbelly characters to go along with it. In master of furies from the Firemane Saga series Feist explains his magic system as the user the last of a royal bloodline (that was betrayed), who becomes the master of furies, needing to be able to visualise from a distance the multiple threads (furies kinda like matter) of people, environments and things in the world so they can be observed and manipulated in different ways sometimes intentionally and others not. Magic like farsight to observe people who are personally close (friends, family and love interests) to see if they are in danger, helping others by taking down the sides of cliffs, teleporting objects or people and burning 🔥 an enemy ship by accident when the user’s emotions got out of control due to being put in such danger and lack of training. Usually the children of this bloodline would have been trained at a young age but the last of the line was secreted away after the slaughter of his family and hidden on an island run by thieves and assassins and schooled in their arts. But they were closely watched and waited upon to re-emerge, unfortunately at an age though where without proper training in how to control their magical abilities the user became a dangerous threat to their world of which they were the rightful ruler. To hide them their fire red hair had to be dyed a darker colour or the would be found by those wanting them dead to end the Firemane line. Feist has always created such a focus on magic and the student mentorship process and education from his very first book the Magician to his latest book Master of Furies and it would be remiss not to mention it here in the comments I am a huge fan of him and all of his books.

I definitely love hard magic systems more but I haven't seen anyone mention the magic system in the world of Osten Ard.. I would say it's soft magic and it's a lot of fun! I haven't read the Last King Of Osten Ard series yet but the first generation Memory Sorrow And Thorn was really, really good!

YES, WE NEED AVATAR CONTENT

I loved the honorable mention for the Greenbone Saga by Fonda Lee! I think you'll enjoy it a lot once you do read it.

Surprisingly I really liked the magic in a Magic the Gathering book called Arena. Its a really good story with lots of intrigue. The characters use sachets of land as a source of mana, and spells have physical components that can be claimed after taking someone down, or betted on in street fights. Its been ages since I read it but it was such a fun way to handle spells that I really wished I could translate it to DnD or pathfinder.

Fantastic video Jay. Really enjoyed it.

I would argue that The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon Series) has a really unique and interesting magic system, tying the use of magic to knowledge of a language, mental fortitude and physical energy. It makes magic feel much more grounded and real by having its use bring consequences and it explores how the mental aspect of using magic is used in duels (magic duels rarely use any spells until a mental battle is won in order to cripple the opponent’s mind). I feel like it’s really unique and well-explored and deserves more respect than it gets

One key factor in Runelord magic is that the Endowments only last while the donor lives. Those vulnerable donors is a pivotal concept that changes everything. It's a stunning premise. It would be interesting to have a better writer do some novels in his universe. I'd be curious what they would do with it.

I love that you mentioned chromaturgy from the lightbringer series but I also like the light magic system of the oath breaker duology by S.R. Caught & J.B Redmond. I am also intrigued by the magic system of the kingmaker, kingbreaker series by Karen Miller which I haven't actually been able to figure out.

Fantastic Video, I would really love to watch a book review of the AtlA series! Though the Mistborn magic system is probably my favorite one of all the books I've read, I also really enjoyed the one from Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle. I don't know if you ever read the series, but you might want to look into it one day!:)

My top 10 favourite magic systems: 10. Classes - Homestuck 9. Naming magic - Earthsea 8. Schrifts and Zanpakutou - Bleach 7. Shinsu - Tower of God 6. Stands and Golden Rotation - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure 5. Cursed energy - Jujutsu Kaisen 4. Magic - Umineko No Naku Koro Ni 3. Personas - Persona 2. Allomancy and Feruchemy - Mistborn 1. Nen - Hunter X Hunter

FMA did its magic system near perfectly. It's even a great example of what I call soft limitations. Soft limitations are in place by the society or culture and are intended to be subverted or even broken.

Great video! Very instructive and inspiring. Keep up the great work : )

I like your list a lot! I'll have to check some the ones I don't know. Well, some magic systems that could be fun to explore, in my opinion, are: Hellboy (the Comic world), The Force, from Star Wars... and the classic lovecraftian mythos

Great video! I would love to see your reviews of the Avatar seasons

World of Darkness magic systems - Mage the Ascension, Vampire the Masquerade's Blood Magic etc.

Something that stuck out to me in one story was magic getting experimented on to study it and watching the characters' slowly growing horror as they realize they have a soft magic system, as the results keep contradicting each other, or energy output seemingly spikes without any increase in energy input, as though the magic spontaneously decided to bypass the entire setup.

I've made a fairly good magic system if I say so myself, but I am always drawn to videos like this to see if there's room for improvement or just to see if in general my magic system might be in good taste. Nice video, great examples!

Fantastic video Jay! I also Love Sanderson's magic. He's the reason I want to make my own had magic.

Glad to see some Garth nix love on a list. I loved all his stuff as a kid and the old kingdom series definitely feels like his magnum opus.

I definitely prefer hard magic systems which is a contributing factor to my intense love of Sanderson's universes. Mistborn and the Stormlight Archives have some of the most satisfying and creative fight scenes that I have read which is a large part due to their magic systems and the fact that I have not read nearly enough books. Personally I am working on a runic magic system for my own fantasy world and am drawing a lot of inspiration for its limitations from authors like Sanderson.

Agreed! There are too many books and too little time to know the exact perfect order in which to read them! All we can do is the best we can to read what we want when we want to. And then I think it's simply polite to let other people know when they should or should not give a book or series a chance in one's own opinion since it might help them spend their time as they most would like.

As for cool and interesting magic systems that you didn't mention, there's the reality bending of Roger Zelazny's Amber series, with the Pattern and the Logrus. There's also the absolutely horrifying Fae in C. S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy. I am also very fond of Patricia MacKillip's Riddlemaster series, which has an awesome magic system that sits in that gray area between hard and soft. L. Sprague DeCamp's Complete Enchanter is awesome. L.E. Modesitt's Soprano Sorcerous series uses a magic system inspired by his wife, a noted soprano opera singer. Probably one of my favorites is Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy (5 hard magic systems). There are a lot of others. I've been collecting fantasy novels for decades now.

I think you run into problems at both extremes. If the magic is too soft, then you get Harry Potter where there's a magical deus ex machine every book that needs to be reconned two books later. If you have too hard a magic system then it isn't magic so much as a different set of physics.

If you have included anime and manga then hunter hunter(hard magic)and berserk(soft magic) definitely deserves a place on this list, malazan is also a great example of the middle between soft and hard.

Brent Weeks is my favorite author and his magic system is amazing. I was captivated by his writing, magic system, and the character arcs. He’s the reason I started writing.

Hardly anyone ever seems to mention/include Trudi Canavan. Especially the Age of the Five trilogy is brilliant in it's simplicity, while always staying interesting. Ps. Love your way of explaining things and inspiring me to read more!

If you like hard magic systems, you might want to take a look at Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy series. These are detective fiction of the whodunnit variety, so it's critical that you know what the rules are and that the characters follow those rules. Garrett did an excellent job. Also, Lyndon Hardy's series beginning with "Master of the Five Magics" has five (surprise!) different magic systems each with its own hard rules. It's been a very long time since I read those books, but they were quite good at the time.

The DarkSword trilogy has my favorite magic system. There's a chaste system based upon power of mages of each of the elements but my favorite part is that the Light Mages act as Catalysts to fuel the other mages. Basically Magic is a force in nature but only the Catalysts can draw it out and give it to the other mages. Probably my favorite hard magic system.

Wow, great Video. What about the narrative Power in Terry Pratchetts Discworld? I love the concept that things happen or come to be because the narrative wants it. It's such a funny twist. Greetings from Berlin, Germany.

I’m here for each book of The Last Airbender! Side story- Im in my 30s and I got ALL THREE books of Avatar on DVD a few years ago at a garage sale…and the dad was selling them because his teenage son had “outgrown” them 😂😑

Omg yess do a review on every season of the avatar!

im a hard magic guy myself, so all of sanderson's stuff is amazing- i particularly like how twinborns work in era 2 mistborn

Hi there, I'm personally a huge fan of Melissa Caruso, and I find her magic system really interesting. I won't go into details, but there are mages who use an overall simple, elemental magic, but then it depends on the kingdom you're in because cultural bias in different countries have changed the way the magic is used. Also non-mages can still use artifice, which is, to put it simply, a technical form of magic and a source of energy. It's so interesting how well it's ingrained in the world and I love it.

I’m still in the planning stages of my book, and every now and then I think about the magic system. For now, it’s about the standard Four Classical Elements, but it’s tied to a spiritual realm. Characters in the physical realm are able to access the elements via technology. The good guys use the tech as a kind of bridge/partnership with the elements, while the villains abuse it. Right now I’m just trying to figure out how I could portray the contrasting methods between the heroes and villains.

I think having a little of both is the most fun, but I think you can write a great story with either

Micheal J. Sullivan's theft of swords! My favorite magic system ever! He calls it the art and its a hybrid mix of soft and hard magic. It's masterfully written and so satisfying

The magic systems of David Eddings. The Will and the Word, The Prayer Magic of the Thousand. He had a way to use a malleable system with its hard aspects but was also soft.

For me, it's Nen from Hunter x Hunter. It is probably the most diverse and versatile system that can pretty much recreate any other ability you can think of within its rules, while also remaining balanced and integral to the world as well as its characters. It is genius in its applications, thought provoking in its mechanisms and interactions, and above all, super fucking cool!

There is a book series by Larry Corriea titled HARD MAGIC that is hands down my favorite system and series.

The magic in Trudy Canavan books is great as well.

Of my two favorite magic systems, you mentioned one of them. Chromaturgy from the Lightbringer series. I would submit as an equal to it would be Fury-craft from the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher.

The fact that we compare everything to Sanderson just exemplifies how revolutionary he is. I LOVE hard magic systems with set rules like the ones he creates, if anyone has any examples of other such systems please lmk.

There is one more magic system in Kingkiller, it goes even deeper then Naming, another level down but we learn very little of it. Auri is the only character described we kind of see doing it.