Power System Tips?

[Lilmonstart]

So I really love powers there are so many and they turn out useful in different situations your character is in but I kind of don´t like it when there´s no background or explanation of where they got those powers? or they were just born with them like I need to know Whyyyy
And I know it´s fantasy and all but there has to be some explanation behind it or origins about it xd

So what tips you got or know about to create a power system?

[cgiverny]

First off I feel you're on the right track. Asking yourself questions about the powers in your story is important.

My first tip however would be to open about something like google docs, Word (whatever you use to make notes). Next write out a short summary about your power system, first things that come to mind. Then read through your summary and ask questions about what you have written.

Some more questions you can ask:
- How do people gain these powers? Are they born with it, get awaken, train etc.
- After gaining their power, what happens next? Do they have to learn control, how to use their power, train with it and so on.
- How is the power system connected to your world?
- What are the limitation to their power? (Drawbacks are important because they give a realistic feel to the power system)
- What's the origin story to your power system? (This is optional but helps eg. gods gave the power)

You can ask more questions and such depending on what type of power system you're trying to build. This is more of a general outline but you can get more detailed.

Anyway, I hope this helps

[Kaisei]

I agree with cgiverny. Ask yourself all the power questions that you ask when you are reading a fantasy work. You may or may not need all these answers in your work, but jotting them down will help you decide what you need to include.

I would also consider:
- How prevalent are powers in this world? Is it just the one person, a select few, everyone?
- What types of power exist?
- Are there different levels of power? Is power level innate or can your character gain or unlock more power?
- Are there magic items that people without power can use?

Watch out for plot holes. It's easier to accidentally create a plot hole in a world that has magic (i.e. like having a character NOT use their power in a situation that obviously calls for it).

[TheLemmaLlama]

Hm ... I don't share your need to know the background behind all the powers involved in a story, so take my tips with a grain of salt

Don't get me wrong, I love a good, satisfying reveal of how the powers work that makes you go 'ah, everything just clicked into place!' But I'm not much of a fan of explanations for the sake of explanations, that serve no other purpose. So my favoured approach for creating (the lore behind) a power system is kind of similar to how you'd construct a murder mystery:

1) 'The Reveal'
For a murder mystery, that would be 'who was the culprit and why did they do it'; whereas for a power system this will be your 'ah, everything just clicked into place!' moment.

It could be the 'backstory' of how the power came to be (e.g. two gods fought and killed each other, and magic is their remains that got scattered to the winds), or the 'nature' of the power (e.g. it's the life force of your alternate universe selves), but you want this to be suitably epic/foundational and also clever/surprising for it to be a satisfying reveal. I wouldn't stress about it too much though; a good setup can make any reveal satisfying ...

2) 'The Clues'
For a murder mystery, the core circumstances behind the murder would dictate a lot of the clues left behind (location, murder weapon, who does/does not have an alibi etc).

Similarly, a core, foundational fact about your power system should carry some implications about how the powers actually work (e.g. if magic is the lifeforce of your alternate universe selves, maybe people whose birth was a very lucky coincidence would not have as much power as people whose birth was planned, anticipated and pretty much guaranteed). The nuts and bolts of what the powers can/can't do, what their costs are, etc.

I personally like to keep the foundational lore for an epic reveal, while revealing the more practical nuts and bolts of how the powers function as needed, when they are used in the story. Maybe you'd like to take a different approach on how you reveal stuff because your tastes differ from mine, but I still think it's good to have these practical facts about powers stem from a foundational 'theory' instead of being a laundry list of checkpoints, just so it feels more coherent

Then again, this approach might not be as workable if you already have the plot established and you already know what your power system needs to do, but you don't know what your powers actually are. Nailing down 'what the powers are' first may lead you to discover unintended implications/side effects than can lead to plot holes, where (like Kaisei mentioned) the plot needs a character to not use their power (because the power wasn't originally intended to be applicable in that situation) but due to the nature of their powers and the implications that carries, it should be applicable.

[HGohwell]

Echoing what a few people have said, and I always keep notes about what I've said about magic so I don't cross over with myself. I think it's also important to know that you don't have to ask questions. Sometimes, magic and powers just kinda are. Some of my favourite stories don't really explain their magic at all beyond things like you have to train your mind and soul or you can exchange things for magic, and that's enough. I don't know how much the author knows about the magic, but that's enough for me. Likewise, it doesn't really need an origin if it's just a natural part of the world. If it's as integral and natural as say a phone or even breathing, people won't explain it and the majority of normal people don't care how it's made so explaining it in story is awkward. Sometimes magic is just a thing.

I think one of the best pieces of advice I heard on power systems and magic is to know what role the power serves in your story. If it's going to save the day and fix problems, it needs rules because the satisfaction comes from figuring out how to save the day within those specific rules. If the power system is more world building and less impactful of the plot, it can be looser and fuzzier.

Hello Future Me has a great pair of videos on the two ends of the power system scale (and yes I consider powers fantasy, because they tend to play by the same rules) and a load of other videos on more detail in magic (honestly one of the best writing channels for more detail than the standard 10 Tips or 10 Worst Tropes type writing advice) that I'd definitely recommend if you haven't seen them already.

[system]

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