Chapter 2 - OC Creation: Magic
Hopefully, for those of you that read Chapter 1, you now have a pretty good idea on building the appearance of your character. We will go over importance of appearance later, but for the most part, choosing an appearance for your OC is mainly to make them more memorable to the audience - and to yourself as well.
This piece will not be anywhere as long as the original Trope Discussions which somehow clocked in at over 109,000 words, Jesus Christ. That's more asspulling than Mashima-Senpai himself!
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Okay, so before I start with building and going through the mechanics of magic, I want to reiterate some of the stuff from last chapter.
First and foremost: There are ZERO requirements for writing an OC. You could basically just take some random image from google and just insert it if you want, and still manage to write a compelling story. However, writing stories is about the WHOLE package. Sure, a master baker can still make a delicious cake with shit ingredients, but he can damned well make something infinitely better with high-quality ingredients.
What I am saying is, even if you don't need to think of all the different attributes of the character, going above and beyond with your OC can really help immerse the story. Creating all the specifics and really diving deep into character creation is as much for you as it is for the story and reader.
Even IF you don't really reveal the details in the story, just having it as side notes could help in keeping the character in character, have them react the way their established personality would have them react, and have them accomplish things that they are previously established to be able to accomplish (or perhaps near their previous limits to show improvement).
This helps in avoiding plot holes, inconsistencies, and allows you to catch yourself making an OOC moment because you know your own character inside and out.
P.S. While not needing to do it for EVERY character, having a character sheet for every single character you plan on writing with a main role will do wonders for your story. Even doing it for side characters can really increase the quality of certain interactions.
It all depends just how much you are willing to put into your story. For the bare minimum though, I would suggest doing it for at least your main OC.
P.S.2 I will write a chapter on how I do my character data sheets for reference later on.
P.S.3 IF YOU ALREADY MAKE CHARACTER DATA SHEETS, MAKE SURE TO NOT POST THEM IN YOUR STORY.
SERIOUSLY GUYS, SHOW, DON'T TELL.
Anyways, let us begin!
Introduction to Magic: What am I talking about when it comes to magic? In this chapter, I will be covering the creation of certain magics, establishing headcanon, potential fighting styles with specific magics, and many more.
To start, let us take the definition of magic directly from the Fairy Tail Wiki.
'Magic is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the physical spirit of an organism connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of the connection. Only ten percent of the world's population is able to use Magic, which is noted to keep a balance between ordinary people and those with Magic. It takes an enormous amount of concentration and mental ability to use Magic. According to Zeref, ones strength of feelings places an important part in Magic.'
From the paragraph above, we can start building towards the magic for our OC.
Choosing a Magic: Before we start, one thing I would like to say, is that many OC authors tend to go straight towards the OC Dragon Slayer route. While not inherently bad (as in suddenly being a dragon slayer won't make your story straight doggo-trash); however, many authors who write Dragon Slayer OC's tend to follow a certain trend.
They would have a Natsu copy with one of the four elements (or little girl with Ice Dragon Slayer), have them use basically the same moves as Natsu except changed to fit the element, and then write the story in a way that does not change canon whatsoever (what a fatalist story is), and even have the OC take/join battles from the canon cast.
There are countless numbers of magics that you can use, and you (like thousands of others), chose some arbitrary slayer element. Again, this is not story breaking, but personally, chose something for a change. Not every OC needs to be some Ice Dragon Slayer named Fuyu Iciclus or whatever the fuck.
So, before choosing the magic, let's take a look at the example OC's.
The male OC dresses edgily and is basically covered in black. This does not mean he has to use some form of darkness magic. That's just straight up predictable and I would personally recommended against that. There are many magics that would be 'neutral' when it comes to fitting the appearance, and there would also be magics that would 'go against' the character's design.
Ex. The male OC using some sort of summoning magics but only summons bright pink ponies. While it isn't that story breaking, the sheer absurdity and how bad the magic fits could throw off some people.
For the male OC, I shall go with shift magic - the ability to switch the places of objects instantaneously.
Now, the female OC basically looks like an explorer/nerd hybrid. Just from the character design, I feel as if her magic wouldn't be that suited for combat. Considering she would be constantly studying sciences and perhaps going outdoors to collect 'samples,' I believe her magic will be able to help her achieve this in some way or form.
For the female OC, I will be going with Enchanting magic (like Irene), and the mechanics/limitations can be ironed out later.
All in all, choosing a magic should be one of the most fun parts of making an OC. It really doesn't what magic you choose, because with enough world building, you can make anything work. One thing I would recommend though, is choosing something that would fit your OC in some way or form. As in, something in their backstory that would make them more inclined to go with that particular magic, certain personality traits that would lead them towards a certain magic, or even having a particular talent towards an aspect of life that would make them learn a supplementary magic.
Ex. Levy being a bookworm so she learned Solid Script.
Ex2. A master carpenter learning wood magic.
Do try to deviate from the 'random dragon dead village' trope. Again, not inherently bad, but to me, it just seems like lazy writing.
Establishing Headcanon: What does 'establishing headcanon' mean? For some of you, this might be an unfamiliar term, but headcanon basically means the details about canon characters or magic in YOUR story.
Ex. Natsu and Lisanna being a couple in your story despite Natsu went with Lucy in the canon story would be your specific headcanon.
Headcanon doesn't have to be different from canon, headcanon simply refers to the details, mechanics, and generally how your specific story universe is.
Knowing that, how do we establish our headcanon? This particular area is going to require a lot of world building, but for now, we will just be focusing on the magic.
Note: Everyone's headcanon will be different; how one person handles magic (dragon slayer magic for example), could be different from how someone else handles it. This means, there could be different mechanics to activating dragon force, a story could even remove the dual elemental magic shown in canon, or even go absolutely nuts and go triple or even quad elemental.
For this particular OC-verse, I will be establishing some of the more general things - what I am stating is also the same as my own headcanon.
Magic is difficult to learn, which means OC's that are 12-year-old would not be able to use ten different magics after 1-2 years of training.
Many mages have some sort of affinity to certain types of magic, making that specific type easier to learn.
Subcategories of the same magic can be learned with significantly greater ease. For example, someone learning fire magic would be able to master ember magic, or even lava magic relatively quicker than someone starting from scratch.
There are general magics that anyone can learn without much difficult, including: basic requip/storage, martial magic (using magic to boost physical capabilities), basic telekinesis, basic seal magic.
Strength of will can impact the responsiveness of magic, someone filled with anger would be able to put more magic in a spell that they are normally able to - but they cannot restore their magic containers if their reserves are running low.
Ex. Natsu would be able to use Nakama power because his will allows him to pump out more magic, but if he is completely out of magic, no amount of Nakama power will allow him to use a spell.
Dragon Slayers can use dragon force by forcibly pumping mass amounts of their own magic into their body, forcing the transformation. Doing so without ingesting their element is taxing to their reserves, even if it greatly boosts all combat capabilities for a short time.
This headcanon is just a few of the rules I established in my own story. ALL characters will be bound by these rules. However, if you create an OC with an affinity with everything JUST to circumvent those already established rules, then it's basically a Mary Sue.
Mechanics: Building on the headcanon, we will move on to mechanics. So, what are mechanics? Easy. They are the numbers, the specifications, the limits, the how's, fighting techniques, and the science behind what makes magic works. We can go truly in-depth on how magic exists but unless you are writing a story centering on the Bureau of Magical Development, then there is really no need.
Before we move onto the OC examples, I will give a give a few canon examples on how we can get define or create certain mechanics.
Let's say for Natsu, we can add more specifics to his magic, rather than just him punching harder with more fire.
Let's say Natsu is capable of dragon force. Following the headcanon section, if he were to flood his body with his dragon slayer magic, then he will be able to manually induce the enhanced state. However, if Natsu eats a massive amount of high-quality flames, then the magic he gains will be too much for his container to handle, instead entering his body, forcing him into dragon force.
Remember when Natsu was able to use his fire to grab things during the Eisenwald arc? If Natsu was able to use his flames as a tangible arm, then he could technically swing himself around like Tarzan to close in the gap between him and his enemy. He can also use this particular ability to grab his enemies, burning them at the same time, then reel them in for another strike.
It was never specified in canon if Natsu was capable of controlling the heat of his fire. However, if we follow the science of real life and assume it's roughly the same in canon, then we can say the majority of Natsu's fire (being orange and red), would be 525C to 1,000C - although I think it is the low side. I plan on adding temperature control in my own story, where the heat goes from red, to orange, to blue, then to white. Perhaps it might be possible for Natsu to learn how to generate plasma later in the story, although this would be unlikely as plasma is 30,000C.
Anyways, if Natsu having temperature control is in the headcanon, then the mechanics of him doing it would be something as follows: Natsu uses more magic, compressing it to force more energy into the flames, but having the same volume. Basically, for Natsu to raise the temperature of his flames, he will need enough control to be able to compress his flames near-instantaneously.
For another example, let's look at Gray's magic.
In canon, Gray was always using Static Ice-Make magic. After the Tartaros Arc, he would use Ice Devil Slayer magic to boost his original magic when he eventually received it from his father. What if for our headcanon, Gray was capable of using dynamic as well, but with less skill than Lyon - who would have less skill in static compared to Gray.
So, if you would to combine static and dynamic, then Gray could technically do something like: Ice-Make: Car! Basically, he would make a sentient car that could roadkill his enemies. He might also be able to create similar animal creations as Lyon, but make Ice Weapons for his creations to wield to make them more deadly.
If Gray was able to do this, then what would the specific requirements be for him to do so? Let's say, Ice-Make (like other maker magics), is to focus magic at a focal point, have a clear image in your head, and then expel the magic out. Then, the magic will do its work, and create whatever you were thinking. Of course, being distracted would either change the creation itself or nothing would come out.
For dynamic Ice-make magic, let's say the caster has to imprint a bit of their magic inside the spell after the creation process. Which means, they need to expend the magic to create whatever spell they were using (let's say Ice-Make: Snow Ape), then put in a bit of their magic to make it move on its own - the physical strength of their creations would depend on the proportional magic they receive. Basically, if barely any magic was put in after the creation process, then they would be no different then static sculptures of living beings.
Remember how Ur said one-handed creations were unstable? We could add in mechanics to explain why that is. Let's say, when an Ice-Make mage uses two hands to create the magic, the Ethernano in the mage's body flows in tandem, equally to both arms, thus making the spell complete AND stable. Someone using just one hand could throw off this flow of magic, making the creations far less balanced.
The explanation of this could be the magical bonds keeping the spell together is extremely still when done with two hands, while doing it with one hand causes those same bonds to move and grind against each other because of the creation process, decreasing stability.
Keep in mind, I basically pulled all of the shit regarding Gray out of my ass within minutes. So, if I can make something that could pass off as believable, then you can easily do the same thing with the time it takes you to write an author's note. However, if that author's note telling your readers how you were sick or had finals is more important than writing a compelling story, well, then you do you.
Anyways, let's move on.
Shift Magic - Male OC
Okay, first and foremost, we have to define things that this magic CANNOT do. Not what the OC using it can't do, but what is actually impossible with this magic alone.
Unpassable Limits: 1) Users of this magic CANNOT switch places with atoms, or things they cannot directly see. This means, if a caster has particularly good vision, they would be able to trade places with a speck of dust.
Building on the previous rule, users of this magic CANNOT teleport themselves across the continent. At most, they would be able to switch with something at the horizon, but it will have to be something they can SEE. This cannot be bypassed by 'sensing' an object with anything other than sight.
Casters of this magic CANNOT switch things that are greater mass then their own body. Which means, if the OC tried to switch places with Gildarts, nothing will happen. Due to this rule, they would not be able to switch with mountains or trees in the distance.
The three rules above is something that NO caster can bypass under ANY circumstances using this magic. If they end up creating a more advanced form to do so, then they are no longer using the original magic - therefore the rules weren't broken. The first rule, is also a cross between unpassable and passable limits. While the caster cannot switch with anything they cannot see, someone learning magic to enhance their vision could potentially switch between far smaller things than normal.
Now that we have established things the OC CANNOT do under any circumstance, unless they learn another magic which would have a new set of rules, then we can now move on to limits that depend on the caster.
Passable Limits: 1) Switch speed: The speed of the switch itself determines on the caster, while the movement is instantaneous, the factors of speed actually comes from cast time. From the beginning of the switch to the actual switch could take seconds for a novice, while an expert user in the magic can switch multiple times a second, and in succession.
Switch distance: Despite the absolute rule being sight and the distance to the horizon, not every caster could have the expertise to switch over certain distances.
Ex. The OC at canon start is unable to switch with anything beyond 100m, even IF he can see it.
Magic Cost: A new user of this magic could end up draining themselves after a single switch, while an expert in the magic could be far more efficient, taking thousands of switches to drain themselves.
Number of objects switched: Other than just switching the position of the caster themselves and an object, the caster could actually switch multiple objects at once.
Ex. A user could switch himself behind the enemy for a flank while simultaneously switching his team mates with another object to get them out of harm.
Knowing these limits, we know have to establish the upper limits of this magic. This could be done by writing in previous users of this magic, or even having the OC speculate on what he would be able to do (although this might be inaccurate).
Let's say the greatest practitioner of this magic was some guy named Oni'kas. Instead of direct specifics, his feats could be told through legends or even as stories with truth in it.
For the first one, let's say Oni'kas was able to travel from one side of Ishgar to the other after breakfast, and be back before lunch. Now, you might be thinking, WAIT, you can't teleport past the horizon, even with a legendary mage!
Well, despite the story, what if Oni'Kas was indeed able to teleport distances close to the horizon, but was able to do it at such speeds, that Oni'Kas could basically clear 5-10 kilometers every second. If Ishgar was comparable to the size of Europe, being anywhere from 2,000km to 4,000km, then he would be able to clear 18,000km - 36,000km at MAX speed in one hour. If this was already on his upper limits, Oni'Kas could have made a few dozen jumps, took a few minutes to rest, and repeat it, achieving the feat that went into legend.
This little bit of world building could establish the known passable limits of this magic, meaning this would be something the OC would strive to overcome, and is unlikely to achieve until the very end of the story - such as in Alvarez.
Other than Oni'Kas, let's say we have another person that used the magic (doesn't have to be related to the OC with the powerful family trope or whatever the fuck kids like to use), and this was someone named Vaisa.
Let's say instead of being able to switch long distances in quick succession, Vaisa went a different direction. What if Vaisa was able to switch between so many different objects, it earned her the name 'Shuffler.' Basically, she would be so adept at switching in a certain area, that in battle, she would be popping up in all directions, and have rocks or other debris constantly hindering her opponents.
So, in terms of frequency and quantity, Vaisa would be superior to Oni'Kas. However, Oni'Kas would be superior in distance and endurance.
While creating legendary mages or even just previous practitioners isn't necessary, doing so could allow you to weave in the upper limits of your OC's magic WITHOUT just information dumping. What I mean by information dumping is have your OC go into Fairy Tail on Chapter 1, then have the entire Fairy Tail cast listen to an exposition of what the OC can or cannot do - only for the OC's Sue-ness basically completely contradict the original limits which defeats the purpose of even having it in the first place.
Excerpt go!
'I can switch up to 100 meters, and it takes me about 2-3 seconds to perform a single switch at that distance. I can switch faster if its closer, but I can't switch something that is heavier than I am. Also, my dream is to surpass Oni'Kas who was capable of traversing great distances within a short amount of time.'
Now, imagine that being an ACTUAL paragraph of dialogue in the story. I can understand why you might do this, because it removes the need to weave in the world building, which regrettably, takes WAY more work. My advice? Do try to not be lazy alright? If you're going to write a story, give everything you got.
For some final mechanics, let us imagine the OC falling to his death, and he needed to switch with something to get to safety. Once he does, does he splatter anyway from the previous momentum? Or does the kinetic energy completely reset? Since the magic is basically teleporting from place to place, the kinetic energy effectively 'switches' as well. Which means the rock will be falling at the same speed he was, and the OC would be stationary where the rock (or other object) is.
It is important for you to iron out details such as this in certain situations, so readers don't get confused on the mechanics of magic.
Enchantment Magic - Female OC
Enchantment magic is far more versatile compared to shift magic, which means that the limits of what it can or cannot do is blurred. Most of this would likely be reliant on the user - as Irene was strong enough to enchant a shuffler spell on a country the size of France basically.
Unpassable Limits: 1) The user has to be in direct contact of whatever they are enchanting to perform a spell.
I did think of limits, but most of them would be in the 'passable' category. The only thing I can think of that would make sense for enchantment magic is having to be in some form of direct contact with the object. Otherwise, a mage could technically enchant from tens of kilometers away. While it COULD work if it had the same sight limits, but being able to enchant at such a distance would make expert practitioners of magic extremely broken.
Not even Irene looked like she was able to enchant things from massive distance (correct me if I'm wrong). With the Universe one spell, she was touching the ground, despite having such a powerful spell, she would not break the unpassable limit in the headcanon.
Passable Limits: 1) The first passable limit I can think of it the area of effect. Where perhaps a novice user would only able to effect a bubble not too much larger than their own body. The absolute highest tier caster (such as Irene) would be able to effect entire countries.
There are many ways you could go towards the AOE, but I think area would be the easiest method of measure. Instead of going volume, which might involve more calculation than it's worth, having the surface area of whatever they are enchanting decide their limits is good enough here.
The next limit would be the number of enchantments the user can cast at the same time. Now, this is not the number of enchantments that the caster can have active. With enchantment magic, I'm making it so once the enchantment magic is cast, the enchantment will remain as long as there is enough magic supporting it. Which means, if the caster were to create some sort of self-regenerating matrix, then the enchantment would last indefinitely.
Let's say, at the beginning of canon, the OC would only be able to cast one enchantment at a time, and the upper tier enchantments might even take far longer, which brings us to the next limit.
Speed of enchantment: For enchantment magic, I have think of it as a more intuitive form of seal magic (like Freed's Jutsu Shiki). While some enchantments may require the usages of seals, the main part of enchantment magic would be similar to maker magic - imagining the effects, having a clear focus, and channeling the magic in the correct way.
For a novice, it might take seconds just to do a simple reinforcing enchantment (make an object more durable), but for someone like Irene, most if not all enchantments can be done in an instant.
Now, I have already given an example on how to world build upper limits. Irene is already a good example on what an enchanter could do at the ABSOLUTE HIGHEST. By following the examples I have given above, you can easily make something similar with enchantment magic.
Ex. An enchanter who managed to enchant an entire city and made it nearly indestructible to an invading force - starting some story called 'the city of steel' or whatever the fuck.
Since the female OC would be a nerd-type mage, you could actually expand a lot into the mechanics of magic, as it would fit her character to actually know about those stuff. This would allow world building of mechanics to be weaved in.
Anyways, to conclude this particular part, there are millions of different things you could add in for mechanics. What I listed above is what I recommend you to do so you have a good idea of what your OC would be able to do. Having such notes available can prevent your OC doing something that they should not be able to do at a certain time - or even have your OC not do what would have been logical and within their capabilities.
The more world building you do for your magic, the easier it is to gauge your OC(s) power level. This means, you won't have your OC defeat a wizard-saint class opponent, but still somehow be weaker than Natsu at canon (believe me, I've seen this happen A LOT).
My advice? Make as many notes as possible. While it is not required (if it was required there would be maybe 100 fics in total on Fairy Tail Fanfiction), doing so will set apart your story. It will also avoid the plot holes and inconsistencies that tend to plague OC fics.
Assumptions of Skill: This section will be a lot shorter compared to the previous one. What I mean by 'assumptions of skill' is basically what you, as the reader, would be able to assume a what a character is capable of by looking at comparable feats.
Note: This might be difficult as some people seemingly aren't capable of doing this, but I will explain how to do it.
Let's have a look at Gray for example. Mashima didn't do any training scene of him trying to do Ice-Make. A lot of the spells (such as his Ice-Make Unlimited spell), was basically pulled out from nowhere. Now, I know Mashima loves doing that, but I am going to use what he is shown to be able to do, to speculate on what he SHOULD be able to do.
Remember when Gray made Ice-Make Hammer? It is a simple spell that he uses often. By looking at the size and complexity of a hammer, we should be able to assume that, Gray would be able to create objects such as: Bats, swords, sticks, poles, bricks, doors, tables, chairs, or even just other simple objects.
At that point, we can assume that Gray would have the skill and strength to create objects of similar size and complexity, even if he has never created that specific object before.
Gray is definitely the easiest to have an example of. Other character such as Natsu have such weird scaling in terms of comparable feats that it's difficult to assume what else they are capable of doing.
But anyways, let's use the OC's as the next example.
Somewhere down the line (maybe near canon), the male OC was able to shift between objects inside the guild hall before people could even blink. Let's say, for the sake of argument, the OC also reacts well under pressure, which means he can easily dodge of switch within seconds of reacting to a potential threat.
This would mean that the shifting speed for THAT particular distance, would be a fraction of a second at the lowest, and maybe half a second at the most.
So, if the OC were to get pushed off the cliff, then he SHOULD be able to get himself to safety relatively quickly. Something that might change this is him being hit by some sort of drug that makes him barely conscious.
For the female OC, if there was a scene showing her enchanting a building the size of the guild hall (with some effort), then the OC SHOULD be able to enchant something of similar or smaller size as well, UNLESS, you have established that she was in a low-magic state and did not have enough reserves.
If this is indeed the case, don't just have your OC SAY she has low magic reserves, provide a scene or two showing them using up their magic.
On another note, if the OC takes 5 seconds to enchant a building the size of the guild hall, it should not take her 10 seconds to enchant something the size of herself. If this IS the case, then you have to weave in world building to establish there are certain factors that make enchantments take longer - such as the complexity of the enchantment.
Ex. Simple reinforcement enchantment vs multi-layered elemental resistance enchantment.
While there are many reasons on what could change the performance of the OC, it is important to have all these notes ready before you write certain scenes. If you forgot to add in a mechanic or factor, then someone points it out in a review, do not, and I mean DO NOT, just reply to the review after the fact to justify what happened.
Am I saying to not reply to reviews? If you somehow got that from the paragraph above then I'm afraid you have autism of the highest degree.
Instead of justifying, EDIT the scene so that someone reading it WON'T have to ask the same question. Have all the mechanics and assumptions established in the story. And again, WEAVE it through world building, don't just have the OC spit out paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition that is basically a copy paste of the world building notes.
Here is an excerpt for a possible scene:
'"How come that enchantment took so long?" Lucy questioned.
The struggling enchantment mage huffed, quickening the flow of sweat on her cheeks. "It's multi-layered! No where as easy as a simple reinforcing spell…"'
With that short scene, readers like you would be able to assume - okay, that enchantment took longer because multi-layered enchantments are more complex than a reinforcing spell, therefore it will take longer proportionally to actually perform the enchantment.
If there are readers that are unable to assume this, then I would suggest putting an encyclopedia at the bottom of the chapter as an author's note because there will likely be more idiot readers that can't figure it out unless you actually pull an info dump.
Advancing Skill: For this section, advancing skill is what you can expect your OC to be capable of doing as the story progresses.
Ex. Your OC would be stronger during Tenrou than at start of canon, they would be even stronger at the GMG and more so after the 1-year time skip.
So what would be some of the spells that they work towards in these increments? Many OC authors like to simply scale the shit up of their spells and make up some edgelord name like 'Rising Dragon Demon Fang' or whatever the fuck and simply call world building done. While not story breaking, I would suggest actually world building levels that your character will reach as the story advances.
Take what I said about mechanics and passable limits, then have your character near the previously established upper limits of the particular magic. Then, used what I said about assumption of skill to create comparable spells from one you plan on showing after the strength increase.
Let's say after the one-year time skip, the male OC's expertise in switch magic is now comparable to Oni'Kai, which means you could have a scene where he goes from one end of Fiore to the other and back within maybe ten minutes.
This feat alone would put him on Oni'Kai's level, and all his combat abilities would be elevated to fit this new level of skill.
For the female OC, let's say during the Phantom Lord Arc, she was able to cast an enchantment that prevented the guild hall from being destroyed the first time by Gajeel due to heavy reinforcement enchantments placed over a period of time, THEN, at GMG, she could place the same level of reinforcement against the dragons, showing her progression.
If you want to get more specific and technical, you could even make notes regarding their magical power. Such as them being able to generate enough power to score 500 on the MPF, but after a scale-up period, they would be able to 1,000. This would effectively double their magical strength by itself.
This does not account for the increase in skill and efficiency. All in all, the mage's combat potential could have increased tenfold due to new spells, new tactics, more magic, and more efficient casting.
The reason why I recommend you to world build all these increases, is so your story doesn't suffer from what is known as Dragon Ball Syndrome. What that is, is basically when characters and enemies just get strong and stronger with no comparable methods of scaling, and the actual power creep becomes so unnecessary and immeasurable that the weight of their strength increase is basically null.
Again, not story breaking if you don't do this, but writing your story in a way where it allows comparable power scaling is something that will set your story apart from the sixty-thousand something Fanfiction in the Fairy Tail section.
Secondary, Tertiary Magics, and onwards: For those of you wondering, not all mages have to use only ONE magic. Many mages have slight knowledge of other magics that will help them in their journey, and some might even be masters of multiple subcategories of their main magic to bolster their own strength.
Ex. Makarov uses light magic, titan magic (which I assume is a light-based transformation magic), Light-based seal magic, and Fairy Light Magic (requirement to cast Fairy Law).
While I believe those four magics are his main magics, the Fairy Tail wiki says he is capable of other magics (although I believe to a lesser extent to his main magics).
Here is a list of other magics that Makarov was shown to use:
Fire Magic: At the beginning of Fairy Tail, Makarov was able to burn the documents with his magic and throw them to Natsu to eat, which means he was able to use fire magic (although to what extent is unknown).
Dispel Magic: He was capable of dispel Macao's transformation magic when he took Natsu's place.
Requip: After being attacked by Hades, Makarov was able to requip his robe and boots nearly instantaneously.
Ice and Wind Magic: While not particularly shown in the manga/anime, the wiki says Makarov is capable of using wind and ice magic. It is unknown to what extent, but I will assume is it comparable to his knowledge of Fire Magic.
Telepathy: I don't remember where he used telepathy, but the wiki mentions he has used this magic to communicate with others before.
Okay, so just from what he shown in the series, as well as what people said he is known to use, that makes Makarov a master of four minimum magics, and have some level of skill in six more, giving him ten magics in his repertoire. Of course, despite magic being inherently hard to use, it is not unreasonable to believe because Makarov is eighty-eight at the beginning of canon, giving him ample time to learn/master so many magics. Not only that, his main magics are still the four I mentioned earlier, which means he is not a complete master of every magic in that list.
What should NOT happen, is a 10-year-old OC sharing the same repertoire of magics as Makarov, and then the author explaining a bunch of limitations to justify the usage of ten magics - yes people fucking do this, if you are one of them, search up 'It's time to stop by Filthy Frank' on Google.
This is why I focused on secondary and tertiary magics. As a child, your OC should not be adept in two or even three main magics. For example, in my headcanon, Erza uses Requip, Telekinesis, Smith, and Martial Magic. Instead of having one magic of Requip, she combines three other magics together to allow her to fight and create so many sets of armour. She is a master of Requip, but uses a decent level of skill in the other three to allow her to fight the way she does.
So, for the secondary magics, I would suggest focusing on a single, primary magic, then selecting lesser magics that would aid the OC in some way of form - allowing them to use their primary magic better.
Let's say for the male OC, he uses slight requip, and eye-enhancement magic. This allows him to use his requip to pop objects in the air, switching with them. The eye-enhancement magic allows him to extend his range of switching.
Both of these magics by themselves wouldn't really do anything for him. However, when working in tandem with his primary, he is able to boost his combat potential by a significant margin.
For the female OC, we will need something to go with her enchantment magic. It is unlikely she will learn a magic that has nothing to do with enchantment or a magic that does nothing to help her enchantment out.
Considering she is a nerd-type character, I can imagine her being able to use archive magic to expand her knowledge on her enchantments, while also storing the knowledge that she learns from books and expeditions.
Now, you don't actually have to think of secondary/tertiary magics for every single OC you create. I personally think it is something common for mages to learn magics that would benefit their primary. In fact, you could say that Natsu knows more than one magic too. What if Natsu grabbing the train tracks was also a result of learning a secondary magic from Macao - instead of just randomly gaining the ability to grab things with basically combusted gas because of Nakama power.
If you are planning to add more magics, try to keep it at a lower amount. If the OC is a master of more than one magic, than is would be likely that those magics are related to one another - such as Laxus with lightning dragon slayer magic and regular lightning magic. If they have multiple magics, it is good to keep one as primary, with the other as lesser magics that the OC uses to bolster their abilities.
Conclusion: If you had the patience to read all the way here, then I want to reiterate, it is NOT required for you to do anything. If you want to write that elemental dragon slayer magic story with an OC that can beat Gildarts but is afraid of Erza, do go ahead, you can write whatever you want.
However, if you decide that you want to follow my advice, then world build! Find your balance somewhere, and remember too much mechanics is just as bad as too little.
Anyways, have fun creating your magic!
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Chapter 2 Done! Next Chapter: Weapons and Companions!
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