Fantasy with Friends: Magic Systems

Monday’s here again, so we have a new Fantasy with Friends prompt to consider! All the prompts are hosted at Pages Unbound, if you’d like to join in. This week’s prompt is all about magic systems: What are some of your favorite magical systems in fantasy? Do you like magic to be explained in detail or to be a bit vague? Do you think magic should have a “cost” or not? Let’s set the general rules first, I think: for me, it depends a bit on how important the magic is to the plot. If the main character doesn’t have magic, and magic exists in the world but not as something they need to access or understand, to me it’s fine (even better, sometimes) if the magic is a bit vague. It’s there to give flavour, and when magical things happen, in a limited POV narrative it makes sense for the character/s to potentially not know very much about it. Sometimes even when a character does use magic (like using magical items, or using magic on an instinctive level), it makes sense for them to not…