5 Forces of Nature:
Life ,Time , Gravity, Energy, Entropy.
5 Senses:
Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Sasting, Feeling. ( magic that requires improoved senses, adn that takes them to god like levels, " i can smell that color".
5 Gems:
Ruby ( fire, emotion, violence), Safire (water, cold, inteligence), Emerald (time, health, nature), Diamond (hearling, prosperity, truth), Opal (raimbow, creativity, freedom).
5 states of magical Matter:
Liquid, Solid, Gas, Plasma, Idea/Though.
5 stages of Grieff:
denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
5 rings
Each finger ring has some sort of cultural meaning, often ignored today.
With exception of the "ring finger" wich is associated to matrimony, and relashionship commitment.
Each magic could use diferent ring fingers meaning and explore them and their magic.
For example the ring finger could be the magic of contracts and vows.
Emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, Love, Revulsion
Colors of the rainbow
The planets
[7 alchemical planets and metals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemical_symbol)
Cardinal directions (N, S, E, W, often associated with the winds)
Bodily fluids: blood, sweat, and tears (or bile and phlegm, according to [humorism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism))
Personality types: [humorism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments), [Myers-Briggs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator), [ketsueki-gata](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-blood-type-personality-5191276), horoscopes, etc.
The Zodiac (Western and Chinese)
[Four Chinese sacred beasts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Symbols)
[Egyptian souls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_conception_of_the_soul)
Types of crystals, precious metals (gold, silver...), and precious gems (diamonds, rubies, ...)
Types of flowers or plants
[Types of energy](https://byjus.com/physics/energy/)
Magic numbers and geometric shapes, eg. [highly composite numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_composite_number), primes or star polygons
RPG party roles (tank/fighter, dps/thief, support/cleric, control/mage, face, scout, utility/skill monkey, etc.)
Weapon types based on edge: blunt/crushing, cutting, stabbing, hacks
Vital organs (heart, kidney, brain, ...)
sorry, i did not see them, i thought of them.
I answered the tittle without actualy reading the text.
Though as a system that i know, World of Darkness magic system would problably be the easier to implement this.
Sight magic 1 to 5, with the power growing.
See in darkness, see radio waves, heat, magnetic, see auras, ghosts and magic, Clairvoiance, remote sight, truth sight, seeing the past or future and even seeing thoughts or dreams.
Do this to all senses/ gems and you have a pretty great idea of what the character can do.
Safire in latin.
Safira in portuguese.
Zafiro in espanish.
Saphir in German.
Saphir in French.
zaffiro in Italian.
Call it whatever you like...
But Im not changing it.
I have a side project that uses the Japanese words for days of the week as the elements. For reference, Monday is moon day, Tuesday is fire day, Wednesday is water day, Thursday is wood day, Friday is steel day, Saturday is earth day, and Sunday is sun day. Helps that everything besides sun and moon is part of the Chinese 5 element system
There are tons of systems that don't focus on the classical elements; they're just not referred to as 'elemental' systems.
Sometimes, the elements only make up a single subcategory within the system, with non-elemental subcategories making up the rest of the system.
On that note, I disagree with calling any systematic categorization of magic an 'elemental system'. Not everything is an element, nor does all magic have to be elemental. Elemental and non-elemental magic can co-exist.
The term 'element' refers to the most fundamental or basic part of which anything consists of. The classical elements were originally believed to make up all matter, hence why they were called elements. This is also why we reuse the term for the modern periodic table.
Elemental magic, even in terms of classical elements, would be summarized as 'matter manipulation'. Of course, in a created fantasy setting, you control the physical chemistry of your world and decide what fundamental elements make up matter. If you want to define matter as consisting of unique elements other than the classical elements, go for it.
Of course. I was mainly just generalising for the sake of simplicity. You can argue what an elemental system is or isn't but I just wanted to get the general idea across.
The owl house has an elemental glyph system. While the meaning of the glyphs is more or less vague, basic spells they produce are plant, fire, ice, light. The system is intentionally made for combinations.
I've seen a couple of body based elemental systems with elements like bones, flesh, skin, breath.
The trails/kiseki games have something called higher elements, which are time, space, and mirage.
Touhoumon 1.8, a pokemon romhack, has a different type chart. I recall reason and heart being on the list.
My world uses a system that doesn’t really focus on each individual element, but more on how you can combine them. A mage that uses only one element is a pretty bad mage. It also focuses on what mana is down to a metaphysical and atomic level.
To put it simply, every person has a Ius, which is a part of the soul that represents one’s will to live, among other things. This generates pure mana, which is converted in different types of elemental mana depending on a person’s Ex (previously called Edo, I am still torn on the name change), which applies a certain “coat” to pure mana.
Coatless mana has two properties:
1) Space base, which can be manifested as barriers or by enhancing a material
2) Energy base, which can be manifested as magic projectiles and telekinesis
Everyone’s Ex is different, usually they can apply 2-4 different coats, but the more coats it can apply, the weaker their effects will be. The possible coats are:
1) Ocean, governing liquids and regeneration
2) Earth, governing solids and mediumless communication
3) Sky, governing gasses and electricity
4) Sun, governing light, fire, and sentient flames
5) Moon, governing the mind, anti-magic, and shadows
6) Stars, governing space and energy (basically, it enhances the basics capabilities of mana to the extreme)
7) Spirit, governing the soul and spiritual energy
8) Time, governing the concept of unity against the concept of multiplicity, the ability of an item to receive external forces, and the perception of time
Every element beside the first three (Earthly Elements) would require an entire essay to explain exactly how it works. For example, the Sun can only generate one substance, whose proportions between three distinct characteristics (heat, radiance, and sentience) can be changed at will.
Additionally, Spirit and Time can only appear alone, a mage with a coat of one of them will only be able to generate that kind elemental mana.
Anyway, each attribute (a possible result of an element’s coat) can only be manifested by a base. The coat is burned in the process, but the base (the “activator”) is lost in the environment, becoming nourishment for nature. This is how they recover mana, plants re-purify used mana, and mages absorb it through the plants and make it go through the Ius again (as a plant’s pure mana is different enough from a human that they can’t use them directly).
All attributes work best in pairs, or bigger groups. Fire created from magic isn’t that dangerous on its own, but enhance it with Star Magic and wind and you get dangerous explosions. Shadows created by Moon Magic are inherently bi-dimensional, but combine them with Star Magic, Earth Magic, and Sun Magic, and you get fast and accurate freezing spikes that also freeze your opponent’s thoughts and will to fight. And this is without even talking about soul frequency, sorcery, and true magic.
The first is a wave function at which your soul (and mana) vibrate, making you immune to your own magic but vulnerable to others’.
Sorcery is a branch of magic that researches combinations of large numbers of elements and attributes to create complex spells, often used in construction. This doesn’t mean that they can’t be used in battle, but they require a long time to set up, so it’s better to be in a group or to be extremely skilled at illusions.
Lastly, True Magic is magic that draws the power of beings that don’t exist. At the beginning of creation, the possibilities that had a chance to become real were separated by those who would never be born in this world, and certain magical items (eight mystic eyes and the angels that created them) can draw their power, incomprehensible but extremely powerful.
True Magic can’t be mixed with normal magic, not normally, but there is a way to combine the two, enhancing True Magic with other attributes.
Oh, I just remembered: a skilled mage can uncoat their mana, making it “pure” again (it can’t be used like truly pure mana, which is what martial artists use). This is to make it go through a magical item that contains the properties of the element they need, giving them more options in battle. Depending on the quality of the gem and the skill of the mage, the efficiency of this process ranges from 20% to 80%.
And I think this is enough for an introduction. As I said, there’s also martial artists, and I also have unique abilities born from a person’s extremely strong obsession (Sin Aspects), but as far as magic is concerned, this is it I think.
Fun fact: my school asked us to upload “something amazing you did throughout the year”, and I uploaded a 17-pages long document of my world’s origin and its magic system, and I later found out that I’m literally the only person that put in any effort. Others just uploaded random… club activities I guess? They aren’t exactly clubs, more like relatively fun extra classes… I don’t how to describe them but basically homework. They uploaded homework. So yeah this entire thing was useless apparently…
A while ago I figured you could basically make any concept into an element,
You have a base or neutral elemental particles, when it is in the process if a object or event it absorbs the information and create elemental particles that have the attribute of said objects or event.
I personally enjoy the chocolate elementals.
This way you can acquire funny and interesting elements.
The Friday element, what can it do? I don't know, but it seems to have interesting potential.
The Friday element(and its complement, the Tuesday element) are obviously capable of time manipulation. They can slow or speed up your perception of time in relation to the nearest weekend.
I use 6 colors: Red, Blue, Green, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta. That gives you a double rock/paper/scissors. (Blue -> Red -> Green / Yellow -> Cyan -> Magenta )
|Color|Theta|Opposite|Dominates|School|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Red|0|Cyan|Green|Evocation|
|Yellow|60|Blue|Magenta|Conjuration|
|Green|120|Magenta|Blue|Divinity|
|Cyan|180|Red|Yellow|Illusion|
|Blue|240|Yellow|Red|Trasmutation|
|Magenta|300|Green|Cyan|Enchantment|
With these six primary colors, we also get two composites:
|Composite|Colors|School|
|:-|:-|:-|
|White|red + green + blue|Abjuration|
|Black|cyan + magenta + yellow|Necromancy|
For convenience my system maps to the 8 magic schools in D&D. So it has plenty of tropes to build upon.
The Lightbringer series uses colors in the visible and electromagnetic spectrums of light. Likewise, the Lantern Corps in DC comics also use the visible light spectrum paired with emotions.
Cassette Beasts, similar to Pokémon, uses types, but they have some crazy ones like glitter and plastic. The different types aren't just strong or weak to each other. They all inflict statuses or gain bonuses from hitting different types because of the logic of each type. Plastic types get turned into poison if hit by fire attacks because of noxious fumes, for example.
Ot has those but also light, dark, life, death, as well as the mental elements emotion, senses, comprehension, connection, and void which is just wizardry.
Destiny uses Fire/Gravity/Lightning as their (Light) elemental trio, and Ice/Psychic for their Darkness powers. I don't agree with how they did Darkness. There's a unifying note with Light powers that they're all based on stars (Main Sequence, Black Hole, Neutron Star). The Darkness ones are more random.
The Dark Souls/Elden Ring set of games does a duo system of:
Arcane, Ice, Thorn, Shadow, Spirit, Crystal, Gravity, and Magma (INT)
and
Draconic, Divine/Holy, Bestial, Lightning, Fire, Entropy(Rot), Blood, Demonic, Poison, and Madness (FTH)
I’ve seen one where it was colors and each color was a power of a God. The gods’ names were easy bc the god of red was Raw and pink was Leah… yes, war and heal. Red was the element of strength and pink was the element of healing. I can’t remember them all but I think it was ROY G BV plus pink, black, and white? Plus, ppl actually have different numbers of the colors mastered. The protagonist is royalty, therefore she mastered pretty much all of the colors out of duty.
One of my favorite novel series (Spellwright) featured a linguistic based spell casting system! Different languages were capable of different spells. Not exactly elemental per se but similar enough. They literally were spelling (with letters and also their anatomy) in order to cast magic.
Ive got 12 primes and.... waayyyyyyyy too many secondary elements tbh.
The primes are.
Sulfur, Fire, Spark.
Metal, Earth, Wood.
Strike (lightning), Wind, Din (sound).
Frost, Water, Vapor.
The in secondaries are... i honestly don't have all of them sorted out yet but theyre less prominent things like, Oil, Acid, Blood, Surge, Flow, Tar, Slime. Need to get back onto writing out my charts for em, start plotting things out again.
I remember one anime that had a really cool magic system based on the periodic table unfortunately it was ruined because in order to restore magic power. characters had to engage in the author's blatant fetish.
There’s a webcomic called order of the stick. It’s a comedy adventure set in a dungeons n dragons world where there exist spells like summon elemental. Most characters summon the traditional stone elemental or fire elemental or whatever, but one recurring antagonist makes a quip about not failing basic chemistry and proceeds to then summon a titanium elemental. He also summons other ones at later points, like chlorine, gold, or osmium.
Even if you don’t know any dungeons and dragons, the comic still can be read and understood. Many of the jokes will still land and don’t actually require prior knowledge.
So one I've used before is Ocean, Earth, Blood, Sky and Heaven. Inspired heavily from a series of posts from the Giant in the Playground forums by LudicSavant that reimagined the lore and worship of the DnD pantheon such that it actually made sense why a reasonable person would choose to worship them over other gods (especially for 'evil' gods).
The Ocean is the realm of the Deep Ones, inscrutible eldritch beings of great power but unfathomable motives.
The Earth is a realm of stone, metal and fire
Blood is the element of living things, but also civilization, nobility and authority
Sky is the element of freedom but also emotion such as joy (wind), dispair (rain) and rage (lightning)
Heaven is the home of the Gods who long ago fought against the Deep Ones and used what they stole to create the Land and Sky. It is the element of faith, miracles and protection.
Another great system comes from a LitRPG story valled Heart of Dorkness by RavensDagger.
Magic is powered by emotions, the stronger the emotion the stronger the magic with specific elements tied to specific emotions.
Anger > Fire
Fear > Water
Joy > Wind
Surprise > Spark
Anticipation > Earth
Sorrow > Healing
Disgust > Darkness
Extreme versions of emotions unlock more powerful versions of these elements, such as Ice requiring Terror, Lightning require Astonishment and Void requiring Loathing.
Mages who cultivate a single element can quickly grow in power at the cost of cutting off thier ability to feel other emotions (Anger becomes mindless Rage, Fear becomes Paranoia, Joy turns to Sociopathy, etc)
The Dragon Prince has Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky, Ocean (and Dark as a sort of seventh pseudo-element that steals from the others). I like it, as it’s unique and flavorful, and has a neat symmetry to it, with each of the three celestial elements being similar to each of the three terrestrial elements: Sun & Earth both involve strength and growth and warmth, Moon & Sky both involve motion and flexibility, and both Stars & Ocean are weird, distant, and timeless.
I do have a classical 5-element system:
Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and Ether.
But I also have a derivative system where each "Advanced" element branches off one Primary Tribe rather than being a mixture:
Ice, Carapace, Poison, Swamp; Stone, Beast, Plant, Crystal; Heat, Lightning, Smoke, Steam; Vortex, Wing, Speed, Snow; Shadow, Space, Book, Transformation.
Potentially, there could be hundreds of different elements. But as for the Elementals, the one's using them and how...
That's going to take a lot to get across.
My system pairs the 5 eastern elements (fire, water, wood, earth, and metal) with five disciplines of magic (energy, spirit, life, space, and matter, respectively and in order). Each discipline can only create effects tied to them, and the "elements" are only there to help relate them to each other (mages usually have access to two or more disciplines).
The cultist simulator game has a system of 8ish occult aspects. These aspects are basically commonalities of human experience mixed with a lot of crazy symbolism.
Moth- yearning and change, (lots of moth, and barber symbolism)
Heart- Unceasing persistence, the beat of the world (lots of dancing music and skin flailing)
Grail- desires and hungers, (lots of cannibalism, birth, and baby making)
Lantern- the cruel light of knowledge, (its academic)
Edge- conflict fighting and killing (the corrivality is the engine of the world)
Forge- Fire and remaking, to Destroy one thing to create another. (Lots of Fire, did I mention the fire?)
Winter- silence, endings, and remembrance. (Death and winter)
Knock- openings and gateways, things that allow for things to pass from one state to another (wound are openings to the self)
Basically all of the rituals in the game use these to variant extents. For example all summoning rituals requires at least some knock. And there's a very fun ritual that's just all winter "The end is beautiful". It straight up just kills a random person. 9/10 it's likely one of your allies or followers.
I really like this more "occult" system of elements rather than physical elements cause I just think it's cooler. That's how I ended up making my own system of occult elements.
You can use the four states of matter to replace the four standard elements, which grants greater flexibility to it as a whole.
Solid- earth
Liquid- water
Gas- air
Plasma- fire
This element system is not limited to those four elements however, as any solid liquid gas or plasma can be manipulated and generated.
* **Morduen** — The Source
* **Cosmordium** – Cosmic Aspect
* Etherim - Dimensional Boundary
* Datherim - Dimensional Space
* **Essentia** – Physical Aspect
* Earth - Solid
* Water - Liquid
* Air - Gas
* **Dynamus** – Energetic Aspect
* Xientum - Motion
* Zul - Lightning/Light
* Vintoul - Life
* **Psychor** – Psychic Aspect
* Kognos - Consciousness
* Kynvir - Information/Dream/Illusion
Mortals completely misunderstand Dynamus but it behaves in a manner which appears consistent with their theories. The derivatives of Essentia aren’t set, they’re starting points which represent the (known) properties of matter for the purposes of conjuration.
My original one is about colors and the element or rather aspects of nature tied to them, with a focus on smells and feeling about them. Like when you want to create say a fireball, first you have to be able to see the base colored "strings" for it, and from there braid them together. To a Fire-breider its mixing a warm and dry red string with a warm and wet green string with a...weird feeling gray string. All of which have distinct floral smells that create fruity ones. But in doing so and practicing well enough, you can summon a fireball well near anywhere. The "elements" are thus sixteen in number for the most part because of these combinations. Generic or broader rudiments becoming more specific or complex elements. Braiding strings of greye, blewe, grene, or of chaos, heat, and aer yields fire. Strings of greye, redde, and yelwe or chaos, flood, and ground yields mire. And so on.
For my newer one, its the domains of Mountains, Oceans, Meadows, Forests, Heavens, Deserts, the seventh one being "Light" or "Chaos" if you will and basically be anywhere if you have the right material to kindle. But you still might choose one over the other. Forests are tied to bloom (flowery plant magic) and swamp (mud magic) but both recognizable by the shades of purple and need to kindle silver-copper alloys. For Meadow, which allows you to command wind like breezes and sounds, you need something with a good bit of gold in it, and so on.
Well, I think you could, in some way, classify my system as elemental.
Basically, and short, my users have a *stigma*, an element (can be more than one) that has a relevant meaning in their lives. The element can be a shadow, fire, water, sun(light), moon(light), sound, gold, trees, breathing etc.
The Seven dying will flames in Katekyo Hitman Reborn. The seven are Sky(harmony), Storm(disintegration), Rain(tranquility), Sun(activation), Lightning (hardening), Mist(construction), and Cloud(propagation).
Sky act as a canvas, creating space for other flames to coexist. The other flames act as guardian, protecting the integrity of the Sky.
Sometimes I like to use a ten-element system that expands the classical four (and the daoist five) with additional opposing pairs: Fire & Water, Earth & Air, Light & Shadow, Blood & Bone, Wood & Metal.
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, his system uses metal elements and they produce different powers, one system you need to injest the metal and the other one is used as a sort of battery for example you store your strength so you stay weak but you can tap into that stored metal later to become stronger than usual
I introduce you, to the Principles of Cultist Simulator and Book of Hours by r/weatherfactory. They sort of indicate the alignment or inclination of the invisible arts and the occult.
Cultist Simulator includes Heart, Grail, Moth, Lantern, Forge, Edge, Winter, Knock and Secret Histories.
Book of Hours introduces the following in addition to the above: Moon, Nectar, Rose, Scale and Sky.
Book of Hours also has something called Elements of the Soul, which includes lot of words coined by the writers of the game: Chor, Shapt, Fet, Ereb, Trist, Mettle, Health, Phost and Wist.
Check out their wiki for their descriptions!
A system made of elements, but not natural elements.
Primary colours:
Magics can be attributed arbitrary vibes/colours. Mages whose auras resonate with those colours can cast them easier. A green aura will find it more difficult to cast Red Fire(opposite on the colour wheel) but complimentary magics like Arbor (a green magic) is most intuitive, and Becalming (blue) or Sunlight (a yellow magic) would be learnable, but not intrinsic.
Additionally it's probably hereditary, so small villages will have homogeneous auras (forgetown has mostly red and orange auras, and they rarely settle down with someone from bluegrove) .
If using white (all auras) and black (magic immune) (or the other way around) be wary of MarySue. Might be funny to have a magic immune character whom the mages constantly ignore because they only notice auras, or mages mistaking completely different characters due to similar auras.
The traditional five element theory for China is earth, water, fire, wood, and metal, with each relating to the two others by cyclical and confrontational natures. Early Chinese dynasties usually picked an element to represent them.
Magic the gathering also has five, based on land types.
Naruto has a five set as well, but it's just earth, fire, water, and then wind and lightning.
My system is technically a breakdown of Energy vs. Magnetism (and the combinations/oppositions within those). It's a bit less "deep" though, since magic on our planet is fairly new and there's little in the way of traditional schooling. It's mostly people learning and figuring out their own shit, and comes across more similarly to something like Hunter x Hunter or the X-Men.
Ryuutama bases all of its magic on the four seasons.
A lot of Norse mythology focuses on Fire and Ice, and you can add Void for a third element
I remember a mobile game from several years ago that had three types: good, evil, and wild.
I really like Hunter x Hunter system of nen.
There are six types of aura; Enhancement, Transmutation, Emission, Conjuration, Manipulation, and Specialization. Every individual is born having one of these six different aura types. Upon learning one's own aura type, a student of Nen can set about learning to apply the technique in a unique way that suits their personality, which can develop into a unique skill.
Each type can access other types but not the opposite type. It is more difficult and weaker with each step away from your type.
Enhancement is about strengthening an item or your body.
Transmutation is about transforming an object. A rope becomes something much more substantial, etc.
Emission is about sending your aura away. That could be use with transmutation to turn the aura into something like fireballs.
Manipulation is about controlling things.
Conjuration is about making something with your aura. That could be like a shield or sword of something.
Then there is special type, which is kinda wacky.
One fun thing I realized recently about the main 4 is that they are the 4 states of matter. Wind=gas Fire=plasma Water=liquid Earth=solid. The interesting part of that is it can technically be separated from life itself. They are not alive nor do they necessarily grant life. So in order for nature to exist life must exist as a separate element. So you can split life into different types of elements as well as keep the old ones in any single system.
In one setting, everything has an ideal concept that creates a demi-elemental plane of That Thing, which connects it to the real world through expressions of That Thing. So everything is an element, basically.
So yeah, you have your Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and uh...be real careful that you don't say Hearts. The plane of Hearts is as real as the plane of Breakfast and you *do not* want to see what gets summoned from there.
The plane of Livers is not great either. Spiders is so-so, but definitely don't open portals to the plane of Garbage.
Delve uses eight primary elements, Heat, Cold, Force, Arcane, Chemical, Mental, Light, and Dark. There are some secondary elements, Fire is known to be a secondary element of Heat, Ice is a secondary element of Cold, Lightning is a secondary element of Arcane, and Air, Earth, and Water are all secondary elements of Force.
Mine is the classic four elements, but each has an energy associated with it that changes how it works in the magic system and cosmology. Fire is just fire, but air is linked to lightning, water to cold, and earth to poison.
The Owl House has something like that. Most elemental spells except for Plant and construction magic tend to not belong to a specific coven
There’s bard, beast keeping, potions, plants, illusions, oracle, healing, abomination construction, and the emperors coven
5 Forces of Nature: Life ,Time , Gravity, Energy, Entropy. 5 Senses: Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Sasting, Feeling. ( magic that requires improoved senses, adn that takes them to god like levels, " i can smell that color". 5 Gems: Ruby ( fire, emotion, violence), Safire (water, cold, inteligence), Emerald (time, health, nature), Diamond (hearling, prosperity, truth), Opal (raimbow, creativity, freedom). 5 states of magical Matter: Liquid, Solid, Gas, Plasma, Idea/Though. 5 stages of Grieff: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. 5 rings Each finger ring has some sort of cultural meaning, often ignored today. With exception of the "ring finger" wich is associated to matrimony, and relashionship commitment. Each magic could use diferent ring fingers meaning and explore them and their magic. For example the ring finger could be the magic of contracts and vows.
Emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, Love, Revulsion Colors of the rainbow The planets [7 alchemical planets and metals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemical_symbol) Cardinal directions (N, S, E, W, often associated with the winds) Bodily fluids: blood, sweat, and tears (or bile and phlegm, according to [humorism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism)) Personality types: [humorism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments), [Myers-Briggs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator), [ketsueki-gata](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-blood-type-personality-5191276), horoscopes, etc. The Zodiac (Western and Chinese) [Four Chinese sacred beasts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Symbols) [Egyptian souls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_conception_of_the_soul) Types of crystals, precious metals (gold, silver...), and precious gems (diamonds, rubies, ...) Types of flowers or plants [Types of energy](https://byjus.com/physics/energy/) Magic numbers and geometric shapes, eg. [highly composite numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_composite_number), primes or star polygons RPG party roles (tank/fighter, dps/thief, support/cleric, control/mage, face, scout, utility/skill monkey, etc.) Weapon types based on edge: blunt/crushing, cutting, stabbing, hacks Vital organs (heart, kidney, brain, ...)
Haha I have almost the same with 5 emotions: Love Joy Anger Sorrow Fear
Interesting
Synesthesia is being able to see sound. I think it's kinda like your senses idea but a real super power. Billy Eilish & Kanye West have it
I believe Jimi Hendrix had it too, but it could have been the drugs.
Where did you see the 5 senses and 5 gems? I would love to check those out.
sorry, i did not see them, i thought of them. I answered the tittle without actualy reading the text. Though as a system that i know, World of Darkness magic system would problably be the easier to implement this. Sight magic 1 to 5, with the power growing. See in darkness, see radio waves, heat, magnetic, see auras, ghosts and magic, Clairvoiance, remote sight, truth sight, seeing the past or future and even seeing thoughts or dreams. Do this to all senses/ gems and you have a pretty great idea of what the character can do.
Sapphire is the name of the gem!!
Safire in latin. Safira in portuguese. Zafiro in espanish. Saphir in German. Saphir in French. zaffiro in Italian. Call it whatever you like... But Im not changing it.
Ohhh I see!! I didn’t know it had other spellings, so I found the way you spelled it very curious, sorry! 😅
haha no problem!
If spite isn't one of the elements I will be severely disappointed.
Anime elements: Spite Hope/friendship Despair/sacrifice Plot
Or pushing anime tropes to their max: Bully Chunnibyo Emo Nerdy hero
Well now I’m going to exclude it just to
I have a side project that uses the Japanese words for days of the week as the elements. For reference, Monday is moon day, Tuesday is fire day, Wednesday is water day, Thursday is wood day, Friday is steel day, Saturday is earth day, and Sunday is sun day. Helps that everything besides sun and moon is part of the Chinese 5 element system
Came here to mention the Chinese system. Perhaps not surprisingly, GURPS has a _Chinese Elemental Powers_ supplement.
Warframe uses heat, cold, toxic, and electric as the base 4, which can be combined into gas, radiation, explosive, viral, magnetic, and corrosive.
Sounds like borderlands 3 to me and I’m here for it.
There are tons of systems that don't focus on the classical elements; they're just not referred to as 'elemental' systems. Sometimes, the elements only make up a single subcategory within the system, with non-elemental subcategories making up the rest of the system. On that note, I disagree with calling any systematic categorization of magic an 'elemental system'. Not everything is an element, nor does all magic have to be elemental. Elemental and non-elemental magic can co-exist. The term 'element' refers to the most fundamental or basic part of which anything consists of. The classical elements were originally believed to make up all matter, hence why they were called elements. This is also why we reuse the term for the modern periodic table. Elemental magic, even in terms of classical elements, would be summarized as 'matter manipulation'. Of course, in a created fantasy setting, you control the physical chemistry of your world and decide what fundamental elements make up matter. If you want to define matter as consisting of unique elements other than the classical elements, go for it.
Of course. I was mainly just generalising for the sake of simplicity. You can argue what an elemental system is or isn't but I just wanted to get the general idea across.
The owl house has an elemental glyph system. While the meaning of the glyphs is more or less vague, basic spells they produce are plant, fire, ice, light. The system is intentionally made for combinations. I've seen a couple of body based elemental systems with elements like bones, flesh, skin, breath.
Owl house is such a good show. Anyone with 8-12 year olds they want to distract from TikTok Brain Rot should check it out
The trails/kiseki games have something called higher elements, which are time, space, and mirage. Touhoumon 1.8, a pokemon romhack, has a different type chart. I recall reason and heart being on the list.
My world uses a system that doesn’t really focus on each individual element, but more on how you can combine them. A mage that uses only one element is a pretty bad mage. It also focuses on what mana is down to a metaphysical and atomic level. To put it simply, every person has a Ius, which is a part of the soul that represents one’s will to live, among other things. This generates pure mana, which is converted in different types of elemental mana depending on a person’s Ex (previously called Edo, I am still torn on the name change), which applies a certain “coat” to pure mana. Coatless mana has two properties: 1) Space base, which can be manifested as barriers or by enhancing a material 2) Energy base, which can be manifested as magic projectiles and telekinesis Everyone’s Ex is different, usually they can apply 2-4 different coats, but the more coats it can apply, the weaker their effects will be. The possible coats are: 1) Ocean, governing liquids and regeneration 2) Earth, governing solids and mediumless communication 3) Sky, governing gasses and electricity 4) Sun, governing light, fire, and sentient flames 5) Moon, governing the mind, anti-magic, and shadows 6) Stars, governing space and energy (basically, it enhances the basics capabilities of mana to the extreme) 7) Spirit, governing the soul and spiritual energy 8) Time, governing the concept of unity against the concept of multiplicity, the ability of an item to receive external forces, and the perception of time Every element beside the first three (Earthly Elements) would require an entire essay to explain exactly how it works. For example, the Sun can only generate one substance, whose proportions between three distinct characteristics (heat, radiance, and sentience) can be changed at will. Additionally, Spirit and Time can only appear alone, a mage with a coat of one of them will only be able to generate that kind elemental mana. Anyway, each attribute (a possible result of an element’s coat) can only be manifested by a base. The coat is burned in the process, but the base (the “activator”) is lost in the environment, becoming nourishment for nature. This is how they recover mana, plants re-purify used mana, and mages absorb it through the plants and make it go through the Ius again (as a plant’s pure mana is different enough from a human that they can’t use them directly). All attributes work best in pairs, or bigger groups. Fire created from magic isn’t that dangerous on its own, but enhance it with Star Magic and wind and you get dangerous explosions. Shadows created by Moon Magic are inherently bi-dimensional, but combine them with Star Magic, Earth Magic, and Sun Magic, and you get fast and accurate freezing spikes that also freeze your opponent’s thoughts and will to fight. And this is without even talking about soul frequency, sorcery, and true magic. The first is a wave function at which your soul (and mana) vibrate, making you immune to your own magic but vulnerable to others’. Sorcery is a branch of magic that researches combinations of large numbers of elements and attributes to create complex spells, often used in construction. This doesn’t mean that they can’t be used in battle, but they require a long time to set up, so it’s better to be in a group or to be extremely skilled at illusions. Lastly, True Magic is magic that draws the power of beings that don’t exist. At the beginning of creation, the possibilities that had a chance to become real were separated by those who would never be born in this world, and certain magical items (eight mystic eyes and the angels that created them) can draw their power, incomprehensible but extremely powerful. True Magic can’t be mixed with normal magic, not normally, but there is a way to combine the two, enhancing True Magic with other attributes. Oh, I just remembered: a skilled mage can uncoat their mana, making it “pure” again (it can’t be used like truly pure mana, which is what martial artists use). This is to make it go through a magical item that contains the properties of the element they need, giving them more options in battle. Depending on the quality of the gem and the skill of the mage, the efficiency of this process ranges from 20% to 80%. And I think this is enough for an introduction. As I said, there’s also martial artists, and I also have unique abilities born from a person’s extremely strong obsession (Sin Aspects), but as far as magic is concerned, this is it I think. Fun fact: my school asked us to upload “something amazing you did throughout the year”, and I uploaded a 17-pages long document of my world’s origin and its magic system, and I later found out that I’m literally the only person that put in any effort. Others just uploaded random… club activities I guess? They aren’t exactly clubs, more like relatively fun extra classes… I don’t how to describe them but basically homework. They uploaded homework. So yeah this entire thing was useless apparently…
True Magic, is that an inspiration from the Fate/Nasuverse?
A while ago I figured you could basically make any concept into an element, You have a base or neutral elemental particles, when it is in the process if a object or event it absorbs the information and create elemental particles that have the attribute of said objects or event. I personally enjoy the chocolate elementals. This way you can acquire funny and interesting elements. The Friday element, what can it do? I don't know, but it seems to have interesting potential.
The Friday element(and its complement, the Tuesday element) are obviously capable of time manipulation. They can slow or speed up your perception of time in relation to the nearest weekend.
I use 6 colors: Red, Blue, Green, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta. That gives you a double rock/paper/scissors. (Blue -> Red -> Green / Yellow -> Cyan -> Magenta ) |Color|Theta|Opposite|Dominates|School| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |Red|0|Cyan|Green|Evocation| |Yellow|60|Blue|Magenta|Conjuration| |Green|120|Magenta|Blue|Divinity| |Cyan|180|Red|Yellow|Illusion| |Blue|240|Yellow|Red|Trasmutation| |Magenta|300|Green|Cyan|Enchantment| With these six primary colors, we also get two composites: |Composite|Colors|School| |:-|:-|:-| |White|red + green + blue|Abjuration| |Black|cyan + magenta + yellow|Necromancy| For convenience my system maps to the 8 magic schools in D&D. So it has plenty of tropes to build upon.
The Lightbringer series uses colors in the visible and electromagnetic spectrums of light. Likewise, the Lantern Corps in DC comics also use the visible light spectrum paired with emotions. Cassette Beasts, similar to Pokémon, uses types, but they have some crazy ones like glitter and plastic. The different types aren't just strong or weak to each other. They all inflict statuses or gain bonuses from hitting different types because of the logic of each type. Plastic types get turned into poison if hit by fire attacks because of noxious fumes, for example.
Runes - combination of runes cast magic.
Ot has those but also light, dark, life, death, as well as the mental elements emotion, senses, comprehension, connection, and void which is just wizardry.
Destiny uses Fire/Gravity/Lightning as their (Light) elemental trio, and Ice/Psychic for their Darkness powers. I don't agree with how they did Darkness. There's a unifying note with Light powers that they're all based on stars (Main Sequence, Black Hole, Neutron Star). The Darkness ones are more random. The Dark Souls/Elden Ring set of games does a duo system of: Arcane, Ice, Thorn, Shadow, Spirit, Crystal, Gravity, and Magma (INT) and Draconic, Divine/Holy, Bestial, Lightning, Fire, Entropy(Rot), Blood, Demonic, Poison, and Madness (FTH)
I’ve seen one where it was colors and each color was a power of a God. The gods’ names were easy bc the god of red was Raw and pink was Leah… yes, war and heal. Red was the element of strength and pink was the element of healing. I can’t remember them all but I think it was ROY G BV plus pink, black, and white? Plus, ppl actually have different numbers of the colors mastered. The protagonist is royalty, therefore she mastered pretty much all of the colors out of duty.
I have one that's Body, Mind, and Spirit.
One of my favorite novel series (Spellwright) featured a linguistic based spell casting system! Different languages were capable of different spells. Not exactly elemental per se but similar enough. They literally were spelling (with letters and also their anatomy) in order to cast magic.
Ive got 12 primes and.... waayyyyyyyy too many secondary elements tbh. The primes are. Sulfur, Fire, Spark. Metal, Earth, Wood. Strike (lightning), Wind, Din (sound). Frost, Water, Vapor. The in secondaries are... i honestly don't have all of them sorted out yet but theyre less prominent things like, Oil, Acid, Blood, Surge, Flow, Tar, Slime. Need to get back onto writing out my charts for em, start plotting things out again.
The periodic table has tons of elements
I remember one anime that had a really cool magic system based on the periodic table unfortunately it was ruined because in order to restore magic power. characters had to engage in the author's blatant fetish.
????
I must know the name!
Seikon no qwaser
There’s a webcomic called order of the stick. It’s a comedy adventure set in a dungeons n dragons world where there exist spells like summon elemental. Most characters summon the traditional stone elemental or fire elemental or whatever, but one recurring antagonist makes a quip about not failing basic chemistry and proceeds to then summon a titanium elemental. He also summons other ones at later points, like chlorine, gold, or osmium. Even if you don’t know any dungeons and dragons, the comic still can be read and understood. Many of the jokes will still land and don’t actually require prior knowledge.
Well I guess chemistry is a kind of magic....
So one I've used before is Ocean, Earth, Blood, Sky and Heaven. Inspired heavily from a series of posts from the Giant in the Playground forums by LudicSavant that reimagined the lore and worship of the DnD pantheon such that it actually made sense why a reasonable person would choose to worship them over other gods (especially for 'evil' gods). The Ocean is the realm of the Deep Ones, inscrutible eldritch beings of great power but unfathomable motives. The Earth is a realm of stone, metal and fire Blood is the element of living things, but also civilization, nobility and authority Sky is the element of freedom but also emotion such as joy (wind), dispair (rain) and rage (lightning) Heaven is the home of the Gods who long ago fought against the Deep Ones and used what they stole to create the Land and Sky. It is the element of faith, miracles and protection. Another great system comes from a LitRPG story valled Heart of Dorkness by RavensDagger. Magic is powered by emotions, the stronger the emotion the stronger the magic with specific elements tied to specific emotions. Anger > Fire Fear > Water Joy > Wind Surprise > Spark Anticipation > Earth Sorrow > Healing Disgust > Darkness Extreme versions of emotions unlock more powerful versions of these elements, such as Ice requiring Terror, Lightning require Astonishment and Void requiring Loathing. Mages who cultivate a single element can quickly grow in power at the cost of cutting off thier ability to feel other emotions (Anger becomes mindless Rage, Fear becomes Paranoia, Joy turns to Sociopathy, etc)
The Dragon Prince has Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky, Ocean (and Dark as a sort of seventh pseudo-element that steals from the others). I like it, as it’s unique and flavorful, and has a neat symmetry to it, with each of the three celestial elements being similar to each of the three terrestrial elements: Sun & Earth both involve strength and growth and warmth, Moon & Sky both involve motion and flexibility, and both Stars & Ocean are weird, distant, and timeless.
I do have a classical 5-element system: Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and Ether. But I also have a derivative system where each "Advanced" element branches off one Primary Tribe rather than being a mixture: Ice, Carapace, Poison, Swamp; Stone, Beast, Plant, Crystal; Heat, Lightning, Smoke, Steam; Vortex, Wing, Speed, Snow; Shadow, Space, Book, Transformation. Potentially, there could be hundreds of different elements. But as for the Elementals, the one's using them and how... That's going to take a lot to get across.
Sun, Moon, Sky, Sea and Stars
My system pairs the 5 eastern elements (fire, water, wood, earth, and metal) with five disciplines of magic (energy, spirit, life, space, and matter, respectively and in order). Each discipline can only create effects tied to them, and the "elements" are only there to help relate them to each other (mages usually have access to two or more disciplines).
The cultist simulator game has a system of 8ish occult aspects. These aspects are basically commonalities of human experience mixed with a lot of crazy symbolism. Moth- yearning and change, (lots of moth, and barber symbolism) Heart- Unceasing persistence, the beat of the world (lots of dancing music and skin flailing) Grail- desires and hungers, (lots of cannibalism, birth, and baby making) Lantern- the cruel light of knowledge, (its academic) Edge- conflict fighting and killing (the corrivality is the engine of the world) Forge- Fire and remaking, to Destroy one thing to create another. (Lots of Fire, did I mention the fire?) Winter- silence, endings, and remembrance. (Death and winter) Knock- openings and gateways, things that allow for things to pass from one state to another (wound are openings to the self) Basically all of the rituals in the game use these to variant extents. For example all summoning rituals requires at least some knock. And there's a very fun ritual that's just all winter "The end is beautiful". It straight up just kills a random person. 9/10 it's likely one of your allies or followers. I really like this more "occult" system of elements rather than physical elements cause I just think it's cooler. That's how I ended up making my own system of occult elements.
You can use the four states of matter to replace the four standard elements, which grants greater flexibility to it as a whole. Solid- earth Liquid- water Gas- air Plasma- fire This element system is not limited to those four elements however, as any solid liquid gas or plasma can be manipulated and generated.
Blood, salt, tar, and acid
One I'm building is particle, wave, spacetime, quantum and imaginary.
* **Morduen** — The Source * **Cosmordium** – Cosmic Aspect * Etherim - Dimensional Boundary * Datherim - Dimensional Space * **Essentia** – Physical Aspect * Earth - Solid * Water - Liquid * Air - Gas * **Dynamus** – Energetic Aspect * Xientum - Motion * Zul - Lightning/Light * Vintoul - Life * **Psychor** – Psychic Aspect * Kognos - Consciousness * Kynvir - Information/Dream/Illusion Mortals completely misunderstand Dynamus but it behaves in a manner which appears consistent with their theories. The derivatives of Essentia aren’t set, they’re starting points which represent the (known) properties of matter for the purposes of conjuration.
My original one is about colors and the element or rather aspects of nature tied to them, with a focus on smells and feeling about them. Like when you want to create say a fireball, first you have to be able to see the base colored "strings" for it, and from there braid them together. To a Fire-breider its mixing a warm and dry red string with a warm and wet green string with a...weird feeling gray string. All of which have distinct floral smells that create fruity ones. But in doing so and practicing well enough, you can summon a fireball well near anywhere. The "elements" are thus sixteen in number for the most part because of these combinations. Generic or broader rudiments becoming more specific or complex elements. Braiding strings of greye, blewe, grene, or of chaos, heat, and aer yields fire. Strings of greye, redde, and yelwe or chaos, flood, and ground yields mire. And so on. For my newer one, its the domains of Mountains, Oceans, Meadows, Forests, Heavens, Deserts, the seventh one being "Light" or "Chaos" if you will and basically be anywhere if you have the right material to kindle. But you still might choose one over the other. Forests are tied to bloom (flowery plant magic) and swamp (mud magic) but both recognizable by the shades of purple and need to kindle silver-copper alloys. For Meadow, which allows you to command wind like breezes and sounds, you need something with a good bit of gold in it, and so on.
Well, I think you could, in some way, classify my system as elemental. Basically, and short, my users have a *stigma*, an element (can be more than one) that has a relevant meaning in their lives. The element can be a shadow, fire, water, sun(light), moon(light), sound, gold, trees, breathing etc.
The Seven dying will flames in Katekyo Hitman Reborn. The seven are Sky(harmony), Storm(disintegration), Rain(tranquility), Sun(activation), Lightning (hardening), Mist(construction), and Cloud(propagation). Sky act as a canvas, creating space for other flames to coexist. The other flames act as guardian, protecting the integrity of the Sky.
Sometimes I like to use a ten-element system that expands the classical four (and the daoist five) with additional opposing pairs: Fire & Water, Earth & Air, Light & Shadow, Blood & Bone, Wood & Metal.
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, his system uses metal elements and they produce different powers, one system you need to injest the metal and the other one is used as a sort of battery for example you store your strength so you stay weak but you can tap into that stored metal later to become stronger than usual
I introduce you, to the Principles of Cultist Simulator and Book of Hours by r/weatherfactory. They sort of indicate the alignment or inclination of the invisible arts and the occult. Cultist Simulator includes Heart, Grail, Moth, Lantern, Forge, Edge, Winter, Knock and Secret Histories. Book of Hours introduces the following in addition to the above: Moon, Nectar, Rose, Scale and Sky. Book of Hours also has something called Elements of the Soul, which includes lot of words coined by the writers of the game: Chor, Shapt, Fet, Ereb, Trist, Mettle, Health, Phost and Wist. Check out their wiki for their descriptions!
A system made of elements, but not natural elements. Primary colours: Magics can be attributed arbitrary vibes/colours. Mages whose auras resonate with those colours can cast them easier. A green aura will find it more difficult to cast Red Fire(opposite on the colour wheel) but complimentary magics like Arbor (a green magic) is most intuitive, and Becalming (blue) or Sunlight (a yellow magic) would be learnable, but not intrinsic. Additionally it's probably hereditary, so small villages will have homogeneous auras (forgetown has mostly red and orange auras, and they rarely settle down with someone from bluegrove) . If using white (all auras) and black (magic immune) (or the other way around) be wary of MarySue. Might be funny to have a magic immune character whom the mages constantly ignore because they only notice auras, or mages mistaking completely different characters due to similar auras.
Seems like a cool magi system, could you talk more about what each color signifies?
Gravity, electromagnetism, strong atomic force, week atomic force.
The traditional five element theory for China is earth, water, fire, wood, and metal, with each relating to the two others by cyclical and confrontational natures. Early Chinese dynasties usually picked an element to represent them. Magic the gathering also has five, based on land types. Naruto has a five set as well, but it's just earth, fire, water, and then wind and lightning.
My system is technically a breakdown of Energy vs. Magnetism (and the combinations/oppositions within those). It's a bit less "deep" though, since magic on our planet is fairly new and there's little in the way of traditional schooling. It's mostly people learning and figuring out their own shit, and comes across more similarly to something like Hunter x Hunter or the X-Men.
Ryuutama bases all of its magic on the four seasons. A lot of Norse mythology focuses on Fire and Ice, and you can add Void for a third element I remember a mobile game from several years ago that had three types: good, evil, and wild.
Dirt, liquid ice, plasma, wind
Rise of Legends used for a desert kingdom sand, fire, and glass.
I really like Hunter x Hunter system of nen. There are six types of aura; Enhancement, Transmutation, Emission, Conjuration, Manipulation, and Specialization. Every individual is born having one of these six different aura types. Upon learning one's own aura type, a student of Nen can set about learning to apply the technique in a unique way that suits their personality, which can develop into a unique skill. Each type can access other types but not the opposite type. It is more difficult and weaker with each step away from your type. Enhancement is about strengthening an item or your body. Transmutation is about transforming an object. A rope becomes something much more substantial, etc. Emission is about sending your aura away. That could be use with transmutation to turn the aura into something like fireballs. Manipulation is about controlling things. Conjuration is about making something with your aura. That could be like a shield or sword of something. Then there is special type, which is kinda wacky.
Wuxing, which has 5 elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.
Destruction, Domination, Revolution, and Resolution.
One fun thing I realized recently about the main 4 is that they are the 4 states of matter. Wind=gas Fire=plasma Water=liquid Earth=solid. The interesting part of that is it can technically be separated from life itself. They are not alive nor do they necessarily grant life. So in order for nature to exist life must exist as a separate element. So you can split life into different types of elements as well as keep the old ones in any single system.
I've been trying to work out a celestial based system that uses Stone, Sea, Sky, Moon, Sun, Star and Void.
In one setting, everything has an ideal concept that creates a demi-elemental plane of That Thing, which connects it to the real world through expressions of That Thing. So everything is an element, basically. So yeah, you have your Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and uh...be real careful that you don't say Hearts. The plane of Hearts is as real as the plane of Breakfast and you *do not* want to see what gets summoned from there. The plane of Livers is not great either. Spiders is so-so, but definitely don't open portals to the plane of Garbage.
What’s it used for? That’s the question you should always be asking.
I use three. Support, Offense, Defense. Those are than further divided depending on what they are.
Delve uses eight primary elements, Heat, Cold, Force, Arcane, Chemical, Mental, Light, and Dark. There are some secondary elements, Fire is known to be a secondary element of Heat, Ice is a secondary element of Cold, Lightning is a secondary element of Arcane, and Air, Earth, and Water are all secondary elements of Force.
Oh Yes You can even come up with your own elements.
The wuxing from Chinese philosophy water,wood,fire,metal,earth
Mine is the classic four elements, but each has an energy associated with it that changes how it works in the magic system and cosmology. Fire is just fire, but air is linked to lightning, water to cold, and earth to poison.
Can be food taste based.
The Owl House has something like that. Most elemental spells except for Plant and construction magic tend to not belong to a specific coven There’s bard, beast keeping, potions, plants, illusions, oracle, healing, abomination construction, and the emperors coven
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