Not Me Again

Romantic fantasy typically features a strong focus on political worldbuilding – not in the lists-of-kings sense, but in terms of the nitty-gritty details of hierarchies and power relations. What explicit hierarchies are in play? What unspoken hierarchies are in play, and how do they undermine the explicit hierarchies? Who's really in charge, and how does that differ from who's officially in charge? Often there's an emphasis on interrogating gendered divisions within the political sphere. What kinds of political power are typically wielded by men? What kinds of political power are typically wielded by women? How do these spheres interact?

As an extension of the preceding point, romantic fantasy often features lengthy sequences of the protagonist and their allies engaging in complex political discussion and manoeuvres, with the same sort of narrative weight and focus that scenes of battle are given in more conventional fantasy. This isn't to say that romantic fantasy doesn't also feature scenes of battle – it usually does – but they tend to be addressed in a just-the-high-points fashion, rather than the meticulous, blow-by-blow fashion of the politicking leading up to them. (Folks who aren't fans of the genre often report finding this difference in focus dreadfully dull!)

There's often a secret or semi-secret do-gooder organisation – a sort of conspiracy of heroes – which the protagonist either joins early on, or is already part of when the story begins. (This is most common in ongoing serials, and may be absent in stand-alone works.) Valdemar's Herald-Mages and the Forgotten Realms' Harpers are two examples of the type. Contra the expectations of grittier fantasy, the righteousness of this organisation usually is not questioned; stories may concern rooting out corruption or error in individual branches, and members may temporarily fall from grace, but overall they're on the side of the angels.

While specific applications of magic may be secret knowledge, magic in general is something anyone can do. This may be carried to the point of every (adult) person in the setting sporting a unique magical talent, or of people being sortable by their affinities for particular spheres of magic. The protagonist discovering, exploring, and/or mastering their magical affinity is often central to their arc. The lack of such an affinity will usually be framed as a kind of disability, with all the awkwardness and unfortunateness you'd expect of 1980s popular media.

Magical companions aren't necessarily common in the setting overall, but they're common for protagonists, to the extent that being bonded with such a companion is often positioned as a diegetic marker of heroism. Snarky talking cats and wise telepathic horses are both popular choices, though there have been many variations on the basic idea – I recall one example where the protagonist wears a sapient enchanted bracelet which later turns out to be a dragon who's transformed himself into an inanimate object for initially mysterious reasons.