HELP: Need help working out this Pokemon-type based magic system

[Tarasque the Scribe]

Hello, everyone. I am currently working on planning out a story which is basically a fantasy, but with Pokemon. So there will be things like elves and goblins, along with Bulbasaurs and other Pokemon who often accompany adventurers and act as Familiars.

As part of this story, I am trying to develop a magic system that complements concepts in Pokemon. Basically, people are born with Aura, and through training can learn to harness that Aura to perform magic. Everyone has an Aura Affinity (basically a Type) that serves as not only their medium but also affects how well they can utilize certain kinds of magic. A person can have one or two Affinities (i.e. either Normal, or Fire/Ground), which makes spells that have attributes that line up with that affinity more effective and less costly. Meanwhile, the further one strays from their Affinity's attribute, the less effective it becomes at the same Aura cost. For instance, Dragon-based magic would be best at doing destruction, but would be all but impossible to utilize illusion effectively.

So what I need help with is fleshing out and coming up with attributes for some types. I've already come up with some, so that you can see for examples, but would also love to hear feedback on those to see if you think they fit.

| Aura Affinities |

• Normal - Jack-of-all-Trades (No specialty, with no real discount on Aura cost, but being able to use all Affinities without them increasing in cost)
• Fire - ?
• Fighting - Physical Enhancement
• Water - ?
• Flying - ?
• Grass - Growth
• Poison - Corruption
• Electric - ?
• Ground - ?
• Psychic - Manipulation
• Rock - Protection
• Ice - ?
• Bug - ?
• Dragon - Destruction
• Ghost - Life/Animation
• Dark - ?
• Steel - Hardening
• Fairy - Illusion

 

[LightningTopaz]

When I tend to write fantasy with Pokemon, I tend to cut the eighteen type type chart down to ten or eleven elementals--since a lot of types can be grouped under typical fantasy elements. If you can find a way to do this for your system, it will mean a whole lot less work for you.

But based on what you have here, I can think of these to fill in some of the blanks::

Dark=Shadow/Moon (as not all Dark types are evil)
Electric=Imagination (as an old Disney song goes, "one little spark, imagination, is at the heart of all creation")
Water-Rejuvenation (as water both helps and harms)

 

[Welkamo]

You seem to be going for type inspired abilities rather than explicit type related abilities (i.e. water abilities being things like enhanced swimming), so my suggestions will follow that pattern:

Water - Might overlap a bit too much with Ghost, but maybe healing? Water is essential to all living things
Electric - Figment reference based idk maybe Energy?
Dark - Obscuring (emotions, appearance, intentions, etc.)

 

[Dubious Disc]

For Electric, what about Disruption? Like interfering with others' magic. It'd connect well with the effects of paralysis. Alternatively, Electric could be something that powers up other magic, and then disruption could go to something like Ice or Dark or Bug instead.
Something like Evasion or Transportation could work for Flying, or possibly even Water. Water could also involve restoration or healing.
I like how Ghost's attribute is Life and Animation, it appears counterintuitive at first glance but actually works suprisingly well with the theme. Interesting take

Also, a thought on Dragon: I feel like destruction is a bit too broad to be a single attribute - after all, you can cause destruction using any element, so destruction is more of a result than an action. (Unless it's a Chat Noir situation and the ability is just straight-up deleting things from existence lol) Maybe Dragon's attribute could be related to magical enhancement, greatly increasing the user's magical strength, as a parallel to Fighting's physical enhancement. Then it'd also be an interesting subversion of the typical idea that Fighting parallels Psychic.

 

[Tarasque the Scribe]

Thanks for the help everyone, with your suggestion, I managed to fill in the blanks for these missing pieces in a way that I'm happy with.

Water-Rejuvenation (as water both helps and harms)

Water - Might overlap a bit too much with Ghost, but maybe healing? Water is essential to all living things

The concept of restoration is perfect for Water! I can't believe that slipped my mind.

For Electric, what about Disruption? Like interfering with others' magic. It'd connect well with the effects of paralysis.

This works out so well considering that Electric is also associated with technology, which is often perceived as the polar opposite of magic.

Something like Evasion or Transportation could work for Flying

I can't believe I almost forgot about transportation. That will do nicely for Flying.

Maybe Dragon's attribute could be related to magical enhancement, greatly increasing the user's magical strength, as a parallel to Fighting's physical enhancement.

Thank you for this idea. I'd chosen destruction to parallel how dragons are usual seen as destructive beasts, but I like this take much better. After all, dragons are often seen as beings of incredible magic in many stories.

And with that, I've got my complete list of attributes. I decided on "conversion" for Fire, because thermal energy is often needed or created when one substance changes to another (my paltry knowledge of thermochemistry is finally good for something). I went with "creation" for Ground, as the association between the two concepts has always been strong. For Ice, I went with "binding," because of stuff often getting trapped in ice along with its association with immobility. With Bug, I eventually decided to settle on "propagation", to parallel Grass's growth--Growth being a change in size while propagation is a change in number--and bugs are quick to multiply. And with Dark, I settled on "absorption" since a quality of black (or dark) colors is that they absorb more light.