source.
Character Creation – Magic and Abilities
If you are
creating a character for the fantasy genre, more often than not, they
have some kind of magic. There are all kinds of magic, but some planning
has to go into it.
How did they get it?
There
are many ways your character could get their magic. It could be given to
them by some higher power, it could be genetics, or they could use a
magical item and have no real power of their own.
I'll start with
genetics. If this is how your character got their power then somebody
else in their family tree somewhere should have the same power. It
wouldn't have to be in their immediate family since it could be
recessive (just like I am a red head with green eyes whereas everyone
else in my immediate family has brown hair and blue eyes, I take after
my great-grandparents), it could skip a few generations before showing
up again. Also, since magic is basically part of your character's genes
in this type, they cannot gain both of their parent's abilities, genes
don't mix in humans. They can in plants, however, like when you put a
red snapdragon and a white snapdragon together, you can eventually get a
pink one. If this is the way your character has gotten their powers
(the plant-like way) then, say their parents have the powers of fire and
water, your character could end up being able to control steam or
something like that. It probably won't always work though. If biology
isn't your strength then you shouldn't choose this type.
The
second way your character could gain their abilities is to have them
given to your character by a higher power. This one would mean that
people in the same family don't need to have the same powers, and if
they did it would have nothing to do with genetics. The higher power
could be royalty, a priest, the gods – you have to think of something. I
commonly use this way of giving my characters their abilities (if they
have them).
Example: The characters in the book I am
currently writing are blessed by different gods and goddesses. Shafiq
was blessed by the sun god, Flora was blessed by the flower goddess,
Edward was blessed by the god of the night and Faunus was blessed by the
god of animals.
Of course, if you want some sort of deity to
give magic to your character, you'll need to either make up your own
gods or research some from world mythology. Even then, gods will have
personalities (so they could be selfish) or they have powers that are
too dangerous to give to anyone (e.g. time or death) so those powers
could be extremely rare or non-existent.
The third type is to
have a magical item such as a talisman which allows your character, who
has no magic of their own, to use some. There would be many limits to
this though, maybe the magic doesn't last long and has to be recharged
somehow, or it could be extremely difficult to use. This type is fairly
uncommon, but it could be interesting to try and use.
Ways to Use Magic
Your
character could cast spells, or use their own energy to use their
magic. Remember that both have their strengths and their weaknesses.
Spells don't necessarily need to use up the caster's magic but they
could be difficult to cast in the first place, especially in a battle
situation. They have to say all of the words (unless they've figured out
how to cast the spell in their head), and that can take a very long
time to do.
In the second type, using their own energy to use
their magic, they can only fight with magic until their energy runs out.
However, they don't have the disadvantage of having to say words to
make their magic work. Of course, many things could affect this type of
magic. If they haven't had much to eat, haven't had enough sleep or are
sick then their energy levels, and in turn, their magic, are affected.
Types of Magic
If
your character casts spells then they probably aren't that restricted,
although they could specialise in a particular type of magic. Using
energy, on the other hand, will probably restrict their magic a little
bit more. They may only use one element or type of magic.
Example:
(Using my characters from before – I should point out that they use
their energy to use their magic). Because he was blessed by the god of
the sun, Shafiq has the power to control both fire and light – although,
not both at once. Flora can control plants and anything made from them –
but she has great difficulty moving large pieces of wood (or any heavy
plant material), even if she is using magic. Edward can control the
winds and is developing a power over darkness – but this power scares
him so he doesn't like using it. Faunus can understand the language of
beasts and develops an ability to transform into animals – however, he
keeps forgetting that he isn't insane when an animal shows up and starts
talking to him and he can hardly control his new power.
Things
like fire, water, earth and air are very common to use as magical
powers. They aren't the only things you could use though. You could use
light, darkness, wood, metal, animals, magnets, electricity, sound,
sand, ice, fog, glass, pressure, time, death, and more. Of course, for
any strength, there has to be a weakness, especially for magic. Someone
who controls fire should be weakened by water and light and dark will be
strong against each other, just to point out a few.
Whatever you
do, don't give your character every imaginable power. Having a horribly
over powered character isn't a good thing. It isn't realistic and it is
easy to forget which powers you gave them in the first place. Also, for
every weakness, they have a strength. So technically speaking, they
have no weaknesses. Just don't do it.
Note: One to two
powers are good, three powers are okay, four to five is starting to push
it, six powers is starting to cross the line and any more than that is
unrealistic.
Abilities
As well as their magic, a
character may have some special abilities. Most of the time, these
abilities are connected to the character's magic in some way.
Example:
Shafiq has a quick mind and body, has a high tolerance for heat and can
stand in a fire for a limited amount of time without getting burnt.
Flora has a natural knowledge of plants and is flexible. Edward has weak
psychic abilities, can see in the dark and often notices things other
people miss. Faunus has exceptional hearing.
Usually there are
one or two abilities that come with each magical power. Maybe with the
power of water there come abilities to heal and to breathe underwater.
Someone who has sound magic could have a good ear for music. Earth magic
might bring great strength. There are still weaknesses to these
abilities, maybe having hearing better than a human would mean that
extremely high pitched sounds would incapacitate them.
Just like magic, don't give your character loads of abilities. One or two abilities per power is probably enough.
Conclusion
Your
character now has their magical abilities. They probably aren't
completely finished, but some of the little things (like fears and
dreams) aren't hard to figure out. Hopefully this has been helpful.
