Critique On My Sign Magic System
Keep in mind that this is still a WIP.
So Im reworking on my magic system and decided to make use of symbols in terms of how spells are cast.
Originally, I just had casters simply "mold the mana" into whatever spells they needed but felt that it was too vague. So inspired by the Witcher and later Owl House, I decided to go to symbols instead.
So how it works is that you have the main symbols currently called "Attributes," which represent aspects of one of 5 elements. Then you have smaller symbols called "marks" that act as commands to cast specific spells. Think of it as a sentence being written with the attribute as a subject, then going clockwise, you place certain marks in a certain order depending on their meanings.
How the marks are arranged also depends on the "Border," an imaginary circle that takes many shapes, except for circles ironically enough. The basic borders are triangle shapes, and you place the marks on the points of the borders called "Anchors". The more Anchers you have, the more structured and complex your spells can be cast. 3 to 8 Marks can be places into one spell.
So far, im planning on adding more attributes and crafting a chart for Marks to organize. Im also wanting to see what happens if I flip the borders to where it faces the opposite side. Example,, if a triangle Border were to flip and the two anchors were favong up, how will this affect the spell? I've yet to understand myself how that would work.
I also included mental imagery of the signs or drawing/etching them on any surface. Mental imagery will take time to master, but signs on a surface are easier to cast but often takes time to draw. Some folks would etch them onto stones and hang them on their belts.
This is what I have so far, and I'm open to any critiques and suggestions.