Which game has your favorite magic system?

[DeviousQuail]

Kids on Brooms, specifically for settings that have a Harry Potter-esque approach to magic. Effectively infinite magic use, emotions/attributes affect your magic, go to school to learn, etc. It doesn't have any set spells. Instead you create them as you go or on the fly. You have to roll to see if you succeed in casting the spell. Distance, magnitude, duration, AoE, etc all increase the difficulty of success. Rolling well above or below the DC can lead to crazy results.

It's not my favorite system overall, but it's better than most for what it sets out to achieve.

My overall favorite is my homebrew system, but that feels like cheating. I'd say Cypher has my favorite mechanics for magic (which are the same mechanics for everything else in the game). It's not a game that will wow you with its selection of spells or in universe descriptions for effects. But things like Edge, Effort, and pools of points to power abilities really does it for me.

 

[Tonguez]

Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures - spells are safe (cast 1 spell/level), cantrips can be cast whenever based on attribute roll - failure means you choose between a bad thing happening, or not being able to cast the rest of the day; rituals - castings that take an hour per level of the ritual, and they get progressively more powerful the higher level you go.

got to agree, only discovered it this year but it very much capture my favourite flavorsof magic

also like the Elements of Magic system, Verb-noun + enhancements

 

[CleverNickName]

Dungeons & Dragons, with the optional Spell Points system in the 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide.
It's the best magic system that nobody has ever tried.

 

[Pedantic]

It's been years, but I remember being very impressed with True Sorcery from Green Ronin. I should dig that book back out.

 

[payn]

I'm actually a big fan of Vancian, but if I cant pick that, ill go with DCC. I love that you can just cast until you burn your spell or lose favor with your God. Its very flavorful in action.

 

[Crusadius]

I really liked the Shadowrun system when it came out, and when Earthdawn was announced I was hoping a "fantasy" version of the Shadowrun rules.

I like Ars Magica because of its flexible system, and out of White Wolf's modern versions of Ars Magica prefer Dark Ages Mage system over Mage: The Ascension's (mainly because you roll more dice).

For a more bog standard fantasy game though, give me the magic system of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4E. I like having to, when necessary, channel to build enough power (successes) to be able to cast spells, and cast as many spells as you like (until you get a bad case of intestinal rebellion).

 

[Parmandur]

I'm actually a big fan of Vancian, but if I cant pick that, ill go with DCC. I love that you can just cast until you burn your spell or lose favor with your God. Its very flavorful in action.

Came into the thread to say this: treating Apells the same as attack or ability checks works great, and making failure, like, pretty dangerous gives a good reason that a Mage might refrain from too much magic.

I do also like Vancian and NeoVancian just fine, though.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

HERO. I can model whatever magic system I want, including having different styles for each character. Hell, if I wanted to, I could design a character who is proficient in multiple kinds of magic, each operating under its own rules.

 

[Parmandur]

I also read the magic of the Wheel of Time RPG (d20, based on 3e maybe?), and I really liked how it was structured and followed the books fairly well, as I remembered.

Yup, it was a d20 game from WotC themselves. A bit of a precursor to the 5E system, in a lot of ways.

 

[Divine2021]

Ars Magica, because it makes me feel like a real life wizard.