#undertale magic

So what does this say about Clover?

With zero training, Clover can fire magic bullets of varying intensity, enter people's memories, dash at superspeeds while phasing through enemy attacks, perform healing magic on himself, and possibly even more in the future.

Clover isn't just a powerful mage. He's a powerful mage in an era where no mage should exist.

To explain Klezmer's magic is a bit hard but I figured this one is the best one to give you a general idea as to how they work and how they are made.

Unlike Error, Klezmer spent many years training endlessly to have full control of his glitching magic. He is not a very lazy person in the sense of his lethality. He doesn't rest when it comes to wanting make sure he can kill something. But his Ribbon Spears is one of his favorite and most versatile creations.

Yes. Creations.

He can in fact create things to a certain small degree. It was rather simple for him in concept but it wasn't exactly easy to do.

His strings cannot be cut by anyone other than another error, which makes his Ribbon Spears far more lethal and dangerous. His Ribbon Spears are his strings woven together in a giant ribbon that can turn into a spear by weaving and curling in on itself in an almost eldritch way.

They are masterful creations of hyper-concentrated Blue Magic into a lethal near invisible point. If hit by one, depending on the tension, momentum, and spin they are given it can range from a shotgun to a nuke with the precision of a neurosurgeon.

If Error is one of those weird crackheads on 14th Street, Klezmer is a college graduate with a PhD.

Here's what I have so far:

Those with Power as a main trait have the skill to bend the rules. They can do things in and outside of battle that they technically shouldn't be able to do. (Asgore breaking the Mercy button, Frisk moving the battle box to attack sans, Frisk's soul re-fusing as well as resisting Asriel’s one attack) Due to this, they can learn the trait magic of any trait they possess, but with boosted effects (True reset wipes all memories for example) Their battle magic can lower their opponent's max HP. I haven't come up with an idea for their soul effect. (Possibly being able to flee even in instances where a monster is unwilling to end the encounter?) Monsters are limited in how much they can do outside of normal means, and are unable to perform the skills of other traits.

Those with Determination as their main trait have the skill to save, load, and reset. It is not dependent on whomever is the most determined, rather anyone with a Determination soul can use this skill. (I have a different reason why Flowey becomes unable to) Before humans lost their magic, Saving and Loading were common, but Resetting was extremely rare, as a Reset would return someone to the point their trait presented itself, meaning that it would take someone back to when they were first born. Only those with Determination as their main trait could remember what happened before a Load, while those with other main traits would have varying degrees of Dejavu, depending on how much Determination they have. Their battle magic takes a certain amount of HP from someone else and grants it to them, or can be used on themselves to give someone else some of their HP. Their soul effect is to be invulnerable for a period of time after being harmed. Monsters don't have strong enough souls to save or reload, nor to properly remember loads. Instead they only vaugely remember what happened, as if remembering a dream.

Those with Patience as their main trait have battle magic that can be passed through if someone or something is stationary. It can be used to limit how someone's opponent can move, or as a sheild against moving attacks or objects. It's stronger as a sheild than regular magic, due to the inherent mechanic of the magic. I haven't come up with the soul magic or skill for Patience.

Those with Bravery as their main trait have battle magic that can be passed through if someone or something is moving. It can be used to keep an opponent on the move or having too much time to come up with a strategy. I haven't come up with the soul magic or skill for Bravery, or a way their battle magic could be useful defensively. (Possibly a dash mechanic for the soul effect)

Those with Perseverance as their main trait have the skill to take less damage when low on HP. Their battle magic causes rolling damage instead of full damage. It's commonly used on oneself, but can be used against someone else as sort of a warning. Their soul effect is to confine the soul and attacks to a set path, either making it harder for their opponent to dodge, or easier to predict where the attacks will come from.

Those with Kindness as their main trait have the skill to heal over time, even without using spells or items. Their battle magic is healing magic. It can be used to heal themselves, or someone else. Their soul effect confines the soul to a set point and gives them way to sheild oneself. It can be used on someone else to keep them trapped either to peacefully subdue them or make them easier to attack, or on oneself in order to defend from oncoming attacks.

Those with Integrity as their main trait have a soul effect that enacts gravity on a soul. It can be used to limit how their opponent moves, or as a way to quickly drop out of range of an attack. I haven't come up with battle magic or a skill for Integrity yet.

Those with Justice as their main trait have the skill to tell if another person has previously done harm. Their soul effect allows them to fire shots of concentrated Justice magic, which can be used to destroy oncoming attacks or to attack an opponent. Their projectiles deal damage depending on if their opponent has harmed another. It doesn't do any damage to someone who hasn't done any harm, but will deal great amounts of damage to someone who has hurt many. I haven't come up with battle magic for Justice yet.

I want to come up with ideas for a few other traits and their magic as well, but have no clue where to even begin other than there being a pink soul trait due to Mettaton. (Though Dedication seems to be a common idea for that, so I may end up using that)

My idea is that soul color shows someone's main trait, but secondary trait battle magic and soul effect can be learned. Skills are limited to what someone's main trait is (aside from Power, which is an extremely rare trait)

Everyone has multiple traits in addition to their primary and secondary, but they can only be brought out through a soul effect cast on them by someone else. Though if a certain soul effect is cast on someone who doesn't hold that specific trait, nothing will happen.

Monsters are limited in how they can use trait abilities, due to their souls being weaker. I'm not sure how that would function with most traits other than Power and Determination.

I'm considering having Mad Mew's mechanic being unrelated to traits, and instead, it somehow has Frisk and Chara each control half of the soul.

Though trait and magic ideas for that wouldn't be unwelcome, either.

Starstruck, as a monster, has magic and attacks like any other! They will all be explained in this info dump! :D The information will be under the cut!

Check out other Starstruck posts: Meet Starstruck! Starstruck's Design 1.0! Starstruck Fear Info Dump!

Some headcanons I had about how elementals work. Open to adjusting this, and obviously not every elemental will fit in such neat boxes. There will always be variations or unique monsters or even groups of monsters that do not conform to these things.

Introduction

There are many different types and subtypes of elementals, the main categories of which change depending on the local cultures and mythologies. The four basic categories most will be familiar with, known as the classical elements, are fire, earth, air, and water. Some cultures added void or aether to this list. Some classified air instead as wind. Some cultures did not have this sort of concept at all.

China's Five Phases system, for example, had a generative cycle and a destructive cycle using wood, fire, earth, metal, and water that they used to explain how various interactions and other things occurred instead of as a means to describe the makeup of various substances.

For the sake of simplicity, I will be confining myself to the four commonly agreed upon classical elements.

These laws have absolutely been broken, though the penalty varied depending on what the item in question is.

For a weapon, like the one Dust semi-made for Reader, the penalty would be pretty steep with prison time, probation upon release, and a blanket ban on possession of any magical item, including food, healing items, and light sources. (glowing mushrooms are very popular for nightlights/bathroom lights). It's assumed if you have a weapon like that, you're planning to use a weapon like that, and you will be punished as though you have already used that weapon. And if you've actually used the weapon, you face the King's Judgement.

After that, the penalties downgrade pretty fast. For example, confiscation and probation await anyone found with high-grade healing supplies and magical clothing (like a jacket or blanket that is always warm) without a permit for compassionate use.

All magic requires some sort of energy source. This is pretty much a given in any sort of setting where magic happens to be a thing. In some cases, the source of magic is external: calling on the aid of spirits, drawing from ambient magic from the world around the caster, tapping into some sort of extra-dimensional pocket of energy... but in these cases, there are limitations. 

Sometimes the spirits just don’t want to help you, or can’t hear you, or just simply need to recharge themselves. Sometimes an area can become magically depleted from too many spells being cast in the area. That extra-planar pocket? Well, it can only hold so much itself before its drained, like a pocket of oil that’s been fully tapped out.

Then you have the other option, which fits more into my actual headcanon. Most beings, whether or not they’re actually capable of using magic, can at least generate and store a certain amount of it in their own being. Now, with monsters, their entire being is pretty much made of magic, so it’s a little more obvious that they store it away. In humans who are not mages, a small amount is typically stored away in the SOUL, but otherwise doesn’t much affect the rest of the body.

Human Mages, however, have had their magic permeate through their body, so the body itself becomes able to store additional generated mana, much like a monster’s body would. This is part of the reason for the often extended lifespans of human mages; their entire bodies are constantly being affected by the presence of said magic. It is also why a mage will feel exhausted, lethargic, and sometimes even ill if they should entirely tap themselves out. Their body becomes used to the presence of magic supporting it, and doesn’t like it when that support gets cut off.

With most monsters, Health is Mana, and Mana is Health. There isn’t much of a separation between a monster’s mana stores and their health. This is largely because Monsters need magic for their bodies to even run. This is why it is extremely dangerous for a monster to use up too much magic, and would be fatal for one to tap themselves out of mana entirely. Because of this, when looking at a monster’s stats, you won’t typically see a separate MP stat, because HP and MP are one in the same.

With human mages, however, they technically can survive without magic. Their body wouldn’t like it if their magic was entirely cut off permanently, but eventually (assuming the mage in question wasn’t entirely too old, sick, or otherwise feeble) they’d learn to function just like a regular non-magical human again. Because of this, human mages typically have an additional stat showing when CHECKed.

“ALEXANDRIA FISCHER”

LV 1 HP 49 / 49- (500) MP 12960/12960

AT 10    EXP 0 MAT 20 DEF 50    NEXT 10 MDEF 90

For example, I used Alex’s stats above. Because of the circumstances of Alex refusing to actually use magic for over a decade, and in fact trying to hold it in from even accidentally releasing, her potential mana pool, or MP,  became somewhat inflated. Even for a mage, magic permeates her body in a way that it wouldn’t with most other mages. This has a few unintended side effects that will be listed in a different headcanon later.

As far as magical regeneration goes, it can vary from monster to monster and mage to mage. While monsters often appear to regenerate magic slower, it’s actually usually about the same rate as a human, it’s simply that a portion of that freshly regenerated mana goes towards maintaining the monster’s body. So if you had a human mage and a monster that both had about 500 MP/HP respectively, the human mage would seemingly regain their MP about a third to about twice as fast as the Monster would regain HP.

I should note that I believe monsters are capable of using their own magic far more efficiently than a human ever would. For a monster casting a ‘spell’ that might cost a human mage say 50 MP, might only cost a monster less than even 1 HP. Which is why using magic isn’t typically a problem for monsters unless they majorly overdo it. It’s about the same equivalent of a human making themselves worn out by lifting something heavy all day. Do it too much and you might hurt yourself, but if you’re careful, then you’d be fine.

The rate of regeneration also varies from person to person, though typically falls around the range of 1-2 points a minute for low stat-ed monsters, to about 5-10 points a minute for higher stat-ed monsters and humans. This number can also be altered by a plethora of different things.

Emotional states are a major player in mana regeneration, even with humans. While human mages aren’t as physically affected by drastic emotional states like monsters are, their magic can be. Worry, stress, fear, pain... all these things can cause what amounts to a negative debuff, causing mana to regenerate slower, and occasionally even cease altogether in both monsters and humans. Likewise, positive emotions such as safety, joy, trust, and love can cause a sort of buffing effect, making the rate go up much faster than before.

Note that anger actually acts more like a positive effect, but can cause a bit of a crash once the anger has let up, acting as a temporary buff, followed by a debuff after the effect wears off.

Other things that tend to effect regeneration are acts such as sleeping and eating, though that tends to be less of a regeneration boost and more of a stat dump, gaining a set amount after eating certain types of things. Healthier foods and foods made with magic tend to give better stat increases, and likewise better rest will tend to do more for magic regain than fitful or uneasy rest.

Using Alex as an example again, her base MP stat is 12,960. Her personal base regeneration rate tends to fall around .15 MP/second, or 9 MP/minute. Assuming nothing is affecting her emotionally, she’d regain about 540 MP/hour, and take about 12 full hours to go from tapped out to fully charged. However, should she feel afraid or worried, that number could tank to about 3-4 MP/minute, which would cause her to only regain about 180-240 MP/hour, and take 72-54 hours to fully recharge.

Likewise, with positive emotions Alex’s regeneration rate could potentially soar as high as a full 1 MP/second, or 60 MP/minute, which would make for a whopping 3,600 MP/hour. At this rate, it’d only take her about 3.6 hours to fully recharge.