4 Things That Makes Soft Magic Systems Great
Everybody always praises hard magic systems, but what about the soft type? Where’s the love?
As someone who loves the unique aspects of soft magic and occasionally hates the rigid rules of hard magic, I’ll take up the task.
I think there are four things(technically seven but I combined most of them) that make soft magic systems unique and cool.
- Mystery & Horror
- Wonder & Growth
- Higher Powers
- Convenience & Chaos
Let’s start with the first one, the Mystery and Horror.
Mystery & Horror
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”
H.P Lovecraft
Soft magic systems are not bound by strict rules and aren’t always in the control of the user. This feature leads itself easily to mystery.
What is more mysterious than the unknown limits of magic and it’s effects?
It inspires investigation and theory crafting in the real world. We become scholars of the magic.
But this unknown can also be terrifying.
Within that void can be horrors beyond imagining. But more than that, a lack of control or hazardous experiment can backfire horribly.
In most hard magic systems, unless designed this way, spells don’t backfire and there is little experimentation.
It acts more like a superpower more so than an evolving field of study or a wondrous source of power. Speaking of…
Wonder & Growth
Hard magic systems, for the most part, are understood and rigid. This allows for thought out battles and tactical skirmishes.
However, unless you go the JOJO route where everyone has a unique power, there’s little room for growth. What you see is what you get.
But soft magic systems have more freedom to grow and experiment. This freedom allows the audience to feel wonder.
Once something is known for the most part, it become mundane. It’s now normal. Maybe at first it was wondrous to us but that quickly leaves once the rules are laid out.
Fullmetal Alchemist’s Alchemy is cool but I wouldn’t say it fills me with wonder or curiosity, for the most part. But Alchemy is connected to a soft magic system we have in our own world, science.
Yes, science is in fact a soft magic system. It’s only hard when you stay within the known realms. The same can apply to magic.
Staying on the cutting edge of the field allows for growth in unexpected ways. The best example I can give is the Elder Scrolls series.
A soft magic system categorized into something more hard.
Destruction does damage to the body using the three elements.
Restoration heals the body.
But when you really dive deep and explore the cutting edge of magic, the lines blur.
Restoration uses magic to force the body to regrow. Reverse the process to break it down. Not Restoration anymore.
Using careful Destruction magic to heal infection by burning it out. Might as well be a Restoration spell.
Then when you realize that the people of Elder Scrolls don’t have our knowledge of diseases or the fundamental elements of reality. There is so much more to learn.
For growth, think of a hidden skill tree with the design of a puzzle. For wonder, think of a festival.
But you know what provides you equal parts horror and wonder?
God.
Higher Powers
True gods can’t be fully understood by the human mind. So no god can use hard magic system, at least from our perspective.
What they do is too abstract and grand for hard magic systems to quantify. So if you’re writing gods or plan on having your characters ascend, soft magic is the way to go.
But there is one aspect of a god’s power that falls under hard magic and that’s their aspect. A fire god can only do things under the lens of fire.
Reality warping?
Melting the boundaries between concepts and controlling burnt the result.
Time stop?
Burning the concept of time away.
Confusing and nonsensical?
Maybe, but the arcanebabble can inspire wonder and interest.
That’s the wonder of soft magic systems. You can do something crazy like that and it still make enough sense.
Especially if a god does it, they’ll more easily get away with it. Because they’re god of course.
But you could forgo the pretense and just accept the preconception that soft magic is only good for being a convenient problem solver.
Good old Convenience & Chaos
You know, sometimes magic isn’t that important. Surprising coming from me, but your story doesn’t need any real focus on the magic.
There’s a lot of hate towards the concept of Deus ex Machina. The times where the plot is resolved by something out of left field. Little to no build up or satisfaction.
But that’s when major plot points are resolved. I think it’s fine for magic to solve minor inconveniences for plot or character reasons.
And to keep the audience on their toes, that same magic can lightly hinder the protagonists. This makes the magic unpredictable and interesting if you give it some mystery.
In this way, magic stays mostly as a meta tool to help inject some fun or chaos to the world and plot. Early Adventure Time is a good example.
I wouldn’t say that magic became hard as the series went on but we did learn more. Like the gods and sources of magic along with its affects on the mind.
It’s still fun, somewhat mysterious, but not quite as chaotic as before. Plus, thanks to magic being central to major plot lines, it can’t be used as casually anymore.
If this is the route you want to go, keep your story light and the magic in the background. An aspect of the world, not even a major part of it. By doing this, it makes your world seem bigger and more grand.
Comedy and action adventure benefit the most from this.
Conclusion
That’s all I wanted to say on the four things that make soft magic systems great. I hope this helps you see soft magic differently and maybe use it for your story.
I’m personally still learning how to make a satisfying soft magic system. I love soft magic, sometimes more than hard magic, but it’s not easy to do right.
So I’ll end off with this. If you haven’t made a magic system before, try hard first. I found it easier unless you’re doing horror or mystery.
With that, I’m done.
