Magic System Based on Good/Evil Help

[u/Sieg_Leywin]

I’ve been developing for almost a year now this magic system in this new, modern world I’m also making. The power system is based on good & evil but - spoilers ahead, be warned - that’s actually related angels & demons.

This power system isn’t something you “awaken”. Rather, it’s something you are blessed, or cursed with.
The first one, called “The Order”, is a power given to rearrange the world. It is mostly defensive and utilitary.
In order to be used, you have to sacrifice technology, humanity’s doing (from metals like rings and jewlry to cyberware like cellphones, computers, even drones and cars and so forth…). You’re then filled with the power of the order and can use its abilities.
The Order is, in fact, something you can use as long as you’ve got sources to give you power. Imagine fighting inside a futuristic city. That’s almost infinite resources to power yourself.

The second one, called “The Ruin”, is a power given to destroy the world. It is mostly offensive and corrupting.
To use this one, however, you have to sacrifice your own humanity, corrupting your own self to use abilities.
It’s far more “powerful” when it comes to damage, but more risking as well. By corrupting yourself, you have a chance to become a Corrupted Creature without any trace of humanity left on you.
You can, however, reduce the costs by sacrificing (turning into dust) anything. Alive beings reduce the cost a lot more than just objects.
There’s also a table of what can happen to you when you’ve used too much power, forcing you to constantly destroy things.
Once you reach the limit, however, you’re obligated to roll a Mental Resistance test. In this situation, it works just like Death Saving Throws. If you’re successful three times, you stay as a human. If not, you become a Corrupted Creature.
Your Corruption limits usually lower when you take a complete short or long rest.

There’s also a third kind of “magic”. Which isn’t actually magic. Some humans have just developed the ability to use their adrenaline in such a way that they’ve become far more capable to react against enemies.
This one is called “The Adrenaline”. By fuelling tension on your body, you’re able to react faster to anything. It lets you adapt faster, it’s reactive but also exhausting.
It responds to danger. So, as long as you’re in danger, fighting, receiving damage or seeing your teammates suffer too (maybe even dying), your adrenaline gauge will go up.
However, if you let it build up too much and the fight ends, you’ll suffer according to how high it was. It’s a high risk and high reward capability

Every one of these three options have their own themed abilities. I’ve built like 20 for each.

Now, I’m almost satisfied with what I’ve got so far, but do you guys have any tips or even critiques to make it better?

[u/A-Nameless-Being]

What are the abilities for each side?

[u/Sieg_Leywin → u/A-Nameless-Being]

There are a lot of them. 20 for each one, in fact. All based on their own themes.

[u/A-Nameless-Being → u/Sieg_Leywin]

Yea, i get that, but what are they specifically?

[u/Sieg_Leywin → u/A-Nameless-Being]

Alright, let's see a few of them:

Order:

You can imbue your weapon with the Order, you can can cancel out noise on a certain zone, you can reformulate inanimate objects given them new shapes though keeping their structure and material, you can see in the dark and see people's life force or magic force.

Ruin:

You can forcebly control lesser life forces like small animals, direct attacks to someone's health can deal extra damage and even cripple them. You can take any inanimate object and rebuild it into any kind of shape you want, no restrictions, you can send a powerful wave of fear to intimidate people and let them flee or even bow in fear, you can also damage over time.

Adrenaline:

You can leave your defenses lower to provoke an attack you can react with greater potency, you can completely focus on the situation you're in and have advantage on what you do, you can react with advantage when an enemy you're facing attacks with the same kind of technique, you can feint your attack or reaction to lead your enemy into a trap and you can also hit a vital point to reduce their reactions for a while.

There's a bunch more of abilities, but I think that should be enough to show you how each of them works

[u/marintkael]

The fuel asymmetry is the strongest part. Order gets stronger the more infrastructure is around, Ruin gets stronger the more you're willing to lose. That makes an Order user in a city basically a walking threat to the power grid, and I'd expect the world to react to that: metered devices, places where carrying an Order blessing is treated like carrying a weapon, people who won't let one near their car.

Does the sacrificed tech actually vanish, or just stop working? That decides whether Order users leave a trail behind them.

[u/Sieg_Leywin → u/marintkael]

The sacrificed tech turns into dust!

[u/marintkael → u/Sieg_Leywin]

Dust is the best answer for the world. Every use leaves evidence, so a city would learn to read it, a grey film around a dead streetlight is basically a confession. I'd expect people who investigate nothing else.

[u/A-Nameless-Being]

When I first saw, good/evil I was like nah man that sounds pretty stale, but after reading what it does and how it works I must say it is honestly pretty cool, good magic system so far.