Help Needed: Magic System

[AnBe]

I'm designing a medieval fantasy RPG and everything is going GREAT except for the bloody magic system. I'm on the verge of scrapping the whole magic system altogether.
Literally any ideas for a magic system would help and be appreciated.
Designing a magic system is so tricky!
Oh heroes of the Playground, please help me!

[Knaight]

We need to see some of the system as it is to have any idea where to even start with a magic system for it.

[hifidelity2]

What other magic system do you know (D&D, GURPS, Fate, RQ, etc)

What sort of magic do you want
- active (aka most RPG)
- Pure ceremonial
- how common (RuneQuest has almost everyone have some magic)

if you can flesh out the magic level you want / feel of the game I am sure we can think of things

[Maglubiyet]

Literally any ideas for a magic system would help and be appreciated.


Um, use a dart board to measure how well a spell works. A bull's-eye means it's a critical success. If you hit another player with a dart it's a critical failure.

Seriously though, depending on how important magic is to your system, it should probably be fairly well thought out and integrated with the rest of your game.

How does the rest of your RPG work?

[johnbragg]

Some hopefully helpful questions.

1. How prevalent do you want magic to be in your campaign setting? Is it a Tippyverse with teleportation circles as the dominant form of transportation? STeampunk/magitek with elemental-driven airships and dragon-powered trains? STandard D&D verse with powerful casters in every tower but somehow the population is still farming mud and dying of plague? "Broad magic" setting where minor magic is most everywhere--the peasants' crops get magical protection and the roads give magical movement bonuses, but high-level magic is only available to corporate bodies, who spend a lot of their time and energy making sure that demons and dragons and giants stay on their side of the map and don't erupt in the middle of Kings' Town?

2. Why exactly are you reinventing the wheel? What is it you hope to do better than BECMI, AD&D 1st, 3X/PF, 3X using E6, 4E, 5E, OSR retroclones, MERP, GURPS, World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage: The Ascension), Traveller, some other D&D competitors that fell by the wayside but can be found now thanks to the magic of PDFs?

[NichG]

I like designing systems and there's always room for yet another magic system, but I need a lot more to go on than this. What do you want it to feel like?

[Mutazoia]

Maybe try cribbing a bit (or importing in entirety) True Sorcery (http://greenroninstore.com/products/true-sorcery-pdf) by Green Ronin.

[AnBe]

I don't have the time or space to post every detail about my system, but I am sorry that I didn't give more to go on than just "medieval fantasy rpg"
If it were up to me, honestly, there would be little to no magic in the world/system, but, I'm pretty sure my friends wouldn't want to play it if it were that way. To be honest, I'm tired of magic systems. It's a headache I no longer wish to endure and it makes things too "easy"
So definitely not going for high-magic tippyverse type of system but not entirely "low magic" either cuz my friends probably wouldn't go for that.
I'm thinking somewhere in between, like for example, most commoners wouldn't ever experience something magical in their whole lifetime.
There are 3 types of magic in the world: Elementalism, which is drawing the power from the planet itself. Those who specialize in this type of magic are usually called Druids or Elementalists.
There's also Necromancy, of course, drawing power from the grave and from the Abyss. It's considered an "evil" and taboo type of magic, and people always calling those who use it "vile necromancers"
Then, lastly, there's Psychomancy, all about the power of the mind and dreams. It's the weirdest type of magic, not able to do any healing or direct damage, but has a lot of control effects.
And there's Alchemy, which is basically just magical chemistry. I have the Alchemy system down, and it works quite well.
The problem is the basic questions for how magic works, system-wise. Do characters have to learn spells, or are they just inherited? How does one limit the number of spells a person may cast per day? Will there be a mana point system? Are spells cut and dry and specific and written out like in D&D, or are they more flexible and customizable? Hard to say, really.

[NichG]

Why not make a 'spells maintained' type of system, which should de-emphasize active use of magic and make it more of an augmentation for other character archetypes.

The idea is basically, casting a spell is a big, involved thing that takes hours or even days. But once a spell is cast, it's basically permanent until the caster drops it or the spell is broken. A caster can only maintain a small number of spells (which might increase as they become more powerful). Most spell usage would take the form of passive benefits or special traits conferred to the target, but a caster could also use one of their maintain slots for some kind of contingent or triggered effect - at the cost of trading off against the sustained benefit. To make it interesting to play, the passive effects should be somewhat active/fun to use, which will require some careful design.

In a system like this, being a caster would have to be secondary to having normal abilities to fill the gaps when you aren't casting magic or changing around your spells. This could be social/influence abilities (people listen to the wizards because they're wise), martial abilities blended with their casting (so maybe a low damage but high mobility or tanky combat type), etc.

Various ideas for passive effects which can be used semi-actively:

- Modify the range at which a normal action can be taken (attack at a distance, manipulate objects at a distance)
- Allow different forms of movement (walk on water, 'jump' or 'skip' over vertical or horizontal spaces up to a certain size, stick to walls, pass through thin barriers, etc; doesn't have to be as extreme as flight)
- Allow access to difficult/dangerous environments (breathe underwater, survive a fire, etc)
- New sensory modes - see living creatures through walls, find things 'important to fate', hear emotions, detect enemies approaching, etc.
- Reactive or roving modifiers (apply a penalty to one enemy of your choice each round, apply a benefit to one ally of your choice each round, grant infrequent rerolls, move when attacked, etc)
- Weak environmental manipulation abilities that can be used creatively (control a small zephyr, cause flames to move as you will, etc)
- Alter timescales of common actions - read a book in a second, build a house in a minute, etc

Some example spells:

Aegis of Stone: The character can cause a patch of their skin to become as hard and durable as stone. This allows them to do stunts like catch a blade with their hand, pick up a red-hot object briefly, support a huge weight, etc. However, this area must be willfully controlled, meaning that they can't e.g. automatically apply it to every attack against them in a round (although perhaps they can make some kind of check of increasing difficulty to 'parry' with the stone patch).

Briar's Touch: The character can mobilize (non-sentient) plantlife they are in contact with as if it were an extension of their own body. They can use ground-cover to trip an enemy, for example, or use a vine to pick someone's pocket.

Heated Words: The character's empassioned words call to the heat and flames of the world. So long as they can summon up an appropriate emotion, they can speak a tale which staves off hypothermia, call a torch to flame (or shout it out), etc. Character can apply +/- 50% to existing fire effects, can start small fires on flammable materials, can warm or heat things (non-damaging).

Windstep: Character can move an extra 2 meters in any direction (including up) in addition to their normal movement, whenever they move.

Whispersteal: The character can hear sounds spoken in their vicinity with perfect clarity, and can freely alter the content of things spoken at a whisper.

[2D8HP]

If you really want to keep magic feeling "magical", you may just have only NPC's be able to cast spells, thus keeping magic mysterious.

An example of this "system" is the Pendragon Arthurian setting RPG, which essentially uses a list of tropes for magic


:Everyone in the world of Pendragon knows that magic exists, and all wise and good folk fear it. To knights, magic is unknown in every way. Its effects are known through story and rumor, but only a wizard or a witch knows how it is done. The magic of Britain is extremely potent, partially because of its very mystery. Magic is also dangerous because it is hidden and subtle: Your character knows that it is more likely to drive him mad or age him a century in a day than it is to roast him with a bolt of lightning.
Fate and luck are important components of magic, not just spells. Further, the fundamental laws of society, such as
loyalty and hospitality, are enforced by the decrees of fate, and thus enter into the realm of magic. People accept the world of magic as a normal part of the great unknowable
reality, and the wise among them know to live by its rules, not to tamper with them.
Magic in this game is for purposes of roleplaying, not for cartoon violence. Pendragon magic imitates the traditional magical effects found in Arthurian literature rather than comic-book explosions. Nonetheless, even without bursts of hellfire and bolts of eldritch energy, it is a factor of
great mystery, uncertainty, and danger.
Men will not be able to explain how Merlin marched an army over 165 miles in a few days, even if they remember being part of the army. Similarly, all people know that some druids can change their form, that magical ladies live beneath enchanted lakes, and that an invisible world exists with its own populace of frightful beings. They have heard about, and perhaps seen, magical objects like the sword Excalibur and the Holy Grail. But most honorable men do not hope to understand these things, and in fact tend to distrust magic immensely.
Magicians, like magic itself, are not to be trusted. Everyone knows reasons for this, though the reasons vary depending on the point of view of the observer. Some mistrust
them because they can alter reality, or because they talk to the dead, or because they can tell what the weather is going to be and change it if they don’t like it. Other people dislike magicians because they believe that all occult powers come from Satan. Most simply don’t like anyone who is
strange; magicians, by their very nature, have access to the unknowable, and what is not known cannot be trusted.

TYPES OF MAGIC

Different types of magic are recognized: In general, these are druidic magic, Christian miracles, native Old Heathen magic, and Saxon battle magic.
The primary types are the druidic (pagan) and Christian magics. The main difference between Christian and pagan magic is that the latter is immediate and demonstrative, while Christian magic is subtle and assertive. Curses, blessing and healing are common to both types of magic.
Spirits are acknowledged, and can be summoned, banished or exorcised by both types. Both, however, are still to be feared and avoided.
Pagan druidic magic stems from mastery of the power of glamour, which is the ability to create a temporary reality. Often this temporary magic has a permanent or long-
lasting effect, however. A fountain that was once blessed may last for generations. A healing potion fixes wounds and they stay healed.
Knowledge and wisdom are two of the best-known applications of Christian magic. Magical healing is done by the laying on of hands and channeling the power of God
rather than using physical components.
Old Heathen magic is the integral magic of the land that predates all humanity. It can be sensed in the rocks, in the earth and tides, and in the glimpses of the old gods’ minds that can be caught on unholy, moon-bright nights. It is the power of the forest, of the moor, or of the ever-changing river that exists with or without mankind.
Saxon magic makes its users mad in battle. It is gained from the blessing of Wotan, the Saxon war god. Practitioners of this magic can cut mystical runes into bone, wood, or stone to carry their unearthly powers against foes.
Demonic magic, the most difficult and thus least common type, uses magic which is gained from making deals with the truly evil forces of Satan, the Christian prince of evil.
The distribution of these different types of magic depends upon the different nations of people. Not everyone knows about the differences between these forces. For instance, among 6th-century Christians, the belief in Satan was not universal. Some or all of these forces, in the eyes of certain groups or individuals, may be totally false. Part of
the adventure is to figure out what scheme the Gamemaster has adopted for magic in his or her campaign.

TALENTS
Given below are ten basic magical abilities called “Talents.” Some of these may be available to users of magic from
any nationality, at the Gamemaster’s discretion. Though a variety of other effects certainly exist, only the most common found in the literature are given here.
Gamemasters may create whatever effect they need, even if it is not on this list.

Blessing: A blessing gives a positive effect or an advantage to someone, such as increasing their ability to resist a disease, or to do damage to a fell beast, or to have children.
It may be measurable as a game statistic, such as “a +2 modifier to Sword rolls when fighting Faerie creatures”; or it may just be part of narrative effect to give comfort to knights.

Curse: A curse gives a negative effect or a disadvantage to something or someone. It is the opposite of a blessing. Any negative magical effect is called a curse.

Enchantment: This kind of magic makes it possible to make a person feel an emotion (or an excess thereof). This is generally easier and more potent if they already subscribe to that feeling to some degree (such as through a directed passion or trait), which is then provoked or augmented with a game statistic bonus. The emotion created may also be a feeling not listed as a statistic, such as causing grief or hilarity in the target(s). It is also possible to simply confuse beings, so they are slow-witted for a short time or forget their immediate purpose.

Glamour: Glamour is the creation of a temporary reality, and is the most common form of Arthurian magic. It can be used on the magician, or on someone or something else. It can be used to raise a wall of flames, for example, or to change the color of cattle, to turn leaves into food or mice into horses, or to make a king look like someone else.
It might magically augment protection (granting armor reduction bonuses) or cause something to be unnaturally heavy. However, the effect is short-lived, generally about an hour or so at the most.

Healing: Magic, usually in the form of salves, bandages, or potions, can be used to hasten the healing process.
The deadly nature of combat may tempt Gamemasters to use this often, but such temptations should be ignored. Magical healing is very rare in the literature, and overuse will reduce its wonder and cause players to have false hopes.

Miracle: A miracle is an extremely powerful supernatural effect that comes directly from God (or a god) to change the conditions of the world. It could be a miraculous healing, an enemy abruptly turning away, or the finding of an object beyond the limits of natural chance. In effect, due to its divine source, a miracle can cause any effect from any other type of magic to occur.

Necromancy: Speaking with the dead is possible and occurs several times in the literature, in order to obtain information from the deceased. This kind of magic is so dangerous that it almost always has a terrible effect upon the user and often on the spectators as well.

Summoning: Sometimes creatures other than the dead may be summoned, including devils or other unearthly beings, Faeries, or monsters. Such magic is dangerous, as the beings almost always resent the summoning. It provokes great terror among observers (perhaps instilling a Fear passion) and often taints everyone involved with curses afterwards.

Travel: It is possible to hasten movement through magic. Large tracts of territory can be covered in short period of time, generally without the beneficiaries even realizing what they have done. Merlin is a great one for this type of spell.

Weather Control: Magicians can often draw clouds to make it rain, summon a snowfall out of season, or bring warmth to comfort freezing soldiers in the field.

MAGIC IN THE GAME

The following guidelines are very general since magic is not the point of a Pendragon game; nonetheless, these rules will be expanded upon in forthcoming supplements.
For now, when magic is used, the Gamemaster should describe the effects in non-specific times, like saying, “Fire breaks out in a circle around the knight,” or make simple statements such as, “You have been blessed.” There is no need to describe precisely how magic works — or even to state that it is being used! Let the characters speculate on it. Since many Faerie creatures have magical effects as
natural traits, what a knight considers “magic” is perfectly mundane to them.
To make magic work, the Gamemaster simply says that it works. There is no way for knights to defend against it.
This is extremely powerful, and Gamemasters are urged to use magic sparingly, not corrupting the genre by tainting it with magic at every turn. Magic ought to be used as a special effect, not a major plot device. Establish a mood with magic: Let Faerie palaces glow from a warm internal light, serve exotic and intoxicating wines from Cathay, mark trails through the forest with glowing stones.
Magic is also sometimes an essential plot device for Gamemasters. A magical event or curse can form the basis for an adventure. Magic can be used to save villains or player knights. But never should the plot rely upon a magician to do something or not do something magical — this is an example of the Gamemaster working against his or her own devices, which occurs only at the players’ expense.It is common in the literature that casters of magic must pay for their powers by sleeping afterwards. Thus, if a magician has been active for a time, he is likely to be absent for a longer time afterwards while recuperating.

MAGICIANS

Some accomplished individuals pursue magic for its own sake, others for personal gain. They may profess to be pagan or Christian, but the powers used are invariably pagan.
Enchanter/Enchantress: This is a generic term that indicates someone who uses magical powers. Priests, druids, and witches are all referred to in this way, especially if they use the power of Glamour. Recently, the term enchanter has come to refer specifically to the British druidic organization, which is separate from its Irish counterpart.
Sorcerer: A sorcerer is a general term for a magician who gains his magical power via knowledge gained from books, not from the sacred knowledge of a deity passed down through generations of practitioners. The type of book can vary widely, perhaps being a tome of ceremonial holy magic, an exposition of mystical philosophy, an alchemical dissertation, or a vile book of black magic.
Necromancer: Necromancers gain their magical power from dealing with the dead. They usually summon spirits and question them to gain lore normally hidden from mortals. These spirits are usually hostile and may volunteer additional bad news or advice that the necromancers (or their employers) would rather not know.

LIVING MAGICIANS

Here are listed some of the best-known magicians and enchanters living during the reign of Uther Pendragon.
Blaise: This ancient teacher is a recluse living hidden in the wilderness. He has taught many students, though Merlin is undoubtedly the most famous.
Brisen: This young woman at Castle Carbonek will become “one of the greatest enchantresses… in the world
living.” She works for the dynasty of the Grail Kings, hidden away someplace in Listeneisse. She does not indulge in the ways of the world, except to aid her lord to fulfill the prophecies of the Grail.
Camille: The Saxon enchantress lives in the Castle La Roche and aids the Saxons in their wars against the Britons.
Merlin: Merlin is the greatest practitioner of magic alive, and also the Archdruid of Britain. Though aging, he is still vigorous and works for the good of the land. He helped Aurelius Ambrosius, is helping Uther, and will help the Pendragon line in the future as well.
Nineve: The current High Priestess of the Ladies of the Lake, Nineve lives at Avalon, training the sisterhood of priestesses and enchantresses there. She travels about the country relatively often, though, and visits courts as needed
.

[LibraryOgre]

Since you're looking for a less active magic system, I'd suggest something like 4e's rituals... every spell cast takes time, money, and skill. It heavily reduces the tactical aspect of magic, while keeping it part of the game.

Make spells themselves rare. Those who know spells guard them jealously, and your character who can cast spells likely only knows one or two. Seeking out new magics might be a major character goal, and the magics available should be minor. Casting times should be measured in minutes, and failures should potentially have consequences beyond "You wasted time and money"... something like Dark Side points from Star Wars.

So, without knowing much about your system, let's create one. We're going to parse it in terms of d20, since that's the lcoal lingua franca, but you can adapt it how you need.

Characters who want to cast spells need the Sorcery skill... that's for actually casting spells. They're also going to need the Arcane Lore skill... that's for figuring out spells and magical stuff. You can learn Arcane Lore without learning Sorcery, but Sorcery without Arcane Lore and you know the dance without being able to hear music. Sorcery is difficult to learn... expensive, with few teachers. Choosing Sorcery means you have to work that explicitly into your background. Make Sorcery and Arcane Lore dependent on different attributes, so someone who is going to be a spellcaster HAS to have several good stats. And make parts of sorcery dependent on some other stat(s), so you want to be nigh-godlike to consider using magic. You might go with AL needing Int, Sorcery needing Cha, and Wisdom helping to reduce the bad effects of casting a little bit. Really long spells need Constitution to cast, and you might throw in the occasional Dexterity check for complex motions.

Spells are cast using the Sorcery skill, but it's not easy. Set DCs high, so beginning characters are LIKELY to fail. Don't shy away from DCs in the 25 range, where a low-level caster MIGHT be able to pull it off if they get VERY lucky. All spells fail if you roll a 1-4, and fail with some dire consequence if you roll a 1, or fail by more than 5 points. if you allow group castings (and you should), there should be a nice bonus to having several actual spellcasters working together... but risks, too, like "Everyone gets a +2 for every caster involved, but for every person that fails, there's increasingly dire consequences."

So, dire consequences. If you have the old Ravenloft material, you might use something like a powers check... fail and you turn more into a monster. You might also go with something similar to Dark Sun, where casting spells makes other people uncomfortable... like an aura of horribleness that everyone can sense. Or progressive penalties to all actions, as reality tries to correct itself.

Also, remember that the idea of magic as a manipulatable, impersonal, force is relatively new. You might have demons or spirits doing the actual magic, but the sorcery skill lets you control them.

Lots of ways to make magic suck, but still be attractive enough to use.

[awa]

if you use the skill example i suggest you include partial success were you cast the spell but with consequences.

[Pex]

I'm fond of Ars Magica's system. I think it allows for a "botch" (a fail with consequences) too easily, but the mechanics are fun to develop.

[Vitruviansquid]

The problem is the basic questions for how magic works, system-wise. Do characters have to learn spells, or are they just inherited? How does one limit the number of spells a person may cast per day? Will there be a mana point system? Are spells cut and dry and specific and written out like in D&D, or are they more flexible and customizable? Hard to say, really.

The answer here depends a lot on how the rest of your system looks.

1. Simplicity is good by default. If the rest of your system is all about rolling D20s and trying to get higher numbers, your magic system should also be about rolling D20's and trying to get higher numbers. If your system means you get a larger die type when you are better at the skill, then your magic should include getting larger die types when you are better at the skill. Only make exceptions to your system's basic rule if you have a separate reason to justify it, such as it as creating fun mechanics, or you are envisioning a mechanic that cannot accurately be represented otherwise.

2. Your system should mechanically represent the *feel* you want your magic to have. Is Elementalist magic supposed to feel explosive and powerful? Have people roll a ton of dice for it or a really huge die compared to what most others are rolling (a d100 instead of a d20, for instance). Are magic users supposed to be wiser and smarter than other types of characters? Then don't be afraid to make your magic system fairly complex.

3. Ensure niche protection. Before you start making up numbers and writing effects, sit down and think about the unique role every type of magic user should do to separate them from the other types of magic users, and from the people who are not magic users.

[Shoreward]

While I only have passing experience with homebrewing (mechanics were never my strong suit, I'm more into fluff than crunch) I can say that the most important thing to think about when designing anything for a system is what you want the players to do with it.

I don't just mean things like "I want them to shoot fireballs," because that's still too focused on fluff. Let's get down to the brass tacks of the system usage itself. "I want them to be able to damage opponents in combat" or "I want them to be able to use magic for crowd control". Or both. Or neither. Just figure out how you want it to be used and what sorts of problems the players should be able to solve with it. What role can a magic-user be expected to play in a group, both in and out of combat? Worry about what the spells are called later.

You say you are sick of magic systems because they make things too easy - well that's only true of broad and powerful ones, not ones which are broad but weak or limited but strong. Once you've decided what someone can do with magic, figure out where the limits are. Maybe you can use magic to buff the party and debuff enemies, but your spells are of limited or zero effectiveness on yourself, necessitating companions? Maybe an elementalist can shape and manipulate a specific classic element, but only to the extent of what is available? That's more broadly applicable, but clever use is up to the players.

In short: What can they do with it in play, what are the limits, and as other people have said, how do you want the user to feel when using it? Figure out how to use your system to encourage those things!

[GorinichSerpant]

So the issue is that you don't want magic and your players want magic, then it would make sense to work it out with said players what kind of magic they want and what kind of magic your willing to include.

[hifidelity2]

The problem is the basic questions for how magic works, system-wise.
Do characters have to learn spells, or are they just inherited?
How does one limit the number of spells a person may cast per day?
Will there be a mana point system?
Are spells cut and dry and specific and written out like in D&D, or are they more flexible and customizable?

Hard to say, really.
I would look at the GURPS system and set the world as a low mana world

Have the ability to cast magic as something you are born with but can improve (In GURPS you have Magery levels - in my game you have to take it if you want to be a spell caster - although I allow a 5 point advantage "Born with Magery" that you can then improve to full level 1

Spells are learnt and generally have prerequisites (this can include levels of Magery) and are in schools so you can just assign spells to your schools

There is also the Ulimited Mana variation which I use for "Clerics"

[Berenger]

Maybe try cribbing a bit (or importing in entirety) True Sorcery (http://greenroninstore.com/products/true-sorcery-pdf) by Green Ronin.

Or Chronicle of Sorcery (http://greenronin.com/blog/2014/10/01/chronicle_of_sorcery_pdf_now_a/), which is literally a guide for the creation of magic traditions for low-magic medieval fantasy worlds.

[2D8HP]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CUGACO3WRXE/To5KSQ7_8_I/AAAAAAAAguo/aLnlf1ehXgg/s400/rpg-Stormbringer.jpg

Chaosium's old Stormbringer! (http://siskoid.blogspot.com/2011/10/rpgs-that-time-forgot-stormbringer.html?m=1) game had a "magic system" based on summoning and attempting to control demons and elementals. It was completely BADASS! and I thought it was truer to Swords and Sorcery than D&D.
The main flaw as a game was that it's random character typically generated made PC's with very wide power-levels (more so than D&D) so you'd wind up with a party of one mighty sorcerer and four drooling begger "sidekicks".

I believe that Chaosium's latest version of
Basic Roleplaying (http://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying/)
has a point buy option that you can drop in.

They were quite a few "editions" of Stormbringer (including one called "Elric")

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51GQAQQ723L._SY400_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61RZwWwirxL._SY400_.jpg

[AnBe]

Thank you all for the posts. Many good ideas here.

SO I decided to do it this way:
There are 3 magic skills now: Elementalism, Necromancy, and Psychomancy.
If you create your character with at least 1 point in one of those skills, you start the game knowing a number of spells equal to your starting level plus 4, and I have a spells list, each spell with a written description of what it does.
There's no limit to how many spells you can know, but you can only learn them by studying scrolls and magical books.
Each spell on the list has a different DL, or Difficulty Level, that you must meet with your skill check. Each spell has one type: Elementalism, Necromancy, or Psychomancy. If you fail the check, the spell fizzles and nothing happens and you have just wasted your action in combat. There's no limit to how many spells you can cast per day and there are no "mana points" however, certain spells have cooldowns on them, especially the healing ones.
Elementalism is the most versatile, involving direct damage, healing, buffs, and control effects.
Necromancy is also quite versatile, involving direct damage, healing (but only to steal HP from enemies), curses, and control effects.
Psychomancy has no direct damage or healing, but is a great type of magic for support and can also shut enemies down with control effects.
So far I have put a lot of emphasis on combat for the spells. I want to get combat down first before I start adding in the utility and miscellaneous stuff.
Spells in combat, the way they are now, I am not too worried about them breaking the game, because there is a Magic Barrier system in place to stop mages from being too OP.
It's the non-combat spells, I feel, that are at the greatest risk of breaking the game. Spells like flight can make many adventures trivial, and so I have not included that. Or spells that allow you to detect or locate hidden or faraway things can also be dangerous. If I don't rein it in somewhat, players could be marching around the globe with armies of magical creatures doing their bidding and completely wrecking any challenges I had in mind for them. It's just hard, and I've been playing this type of game with my friends long enough to know how crappy it can get, both for player and GM (but mostly for GM)

[Segev]

Sounds like you've made your decision, but I'll give you the "starting" advice I was planning when I read your opening post, anyway:

You have clearly determined some of the nature of the magic you want. I think you will be best served not by thinking in game mechanics terms first, but in thinking about what magic is in your setting. Or, rather, how each of the four kinds work.

Not in system terms, but in storytelling terms. Or "physics" terms. If you were writing fiction about it, how would the Elementalists of your world do their magic? What can they do? What can't they do? What is the means by which they do what they do?

Same for the others.

Brandon Sanderson has well-detailed magic systems in his novels, as an example.

The Wheel of Time has a less well-detailed one, but a clear paradigm of what is going on, with knowledge of where strength and talent comes in and where skill comes in, and an idea of what makes a particular effect.

When you have a good idea of what "doing magic" entails for each kind of mage in your setting, you can try to make rules that fit with your system in order to model it.