OH GOD THOUGHTS

So, that setting I was mentioning? I'm having /ideas/ with it. God (B) help me.

Rather, once I've gotten some of the actual world built, I want to PUT IT INTO PRACTICE to further improve it. God (A) help me. Of course, in order to DO that without resorting to freeform, I'd need a system that can do high fantasy, where people can have a variety of powers and it has to be of a high power sort. Variety stops...nearly every system, and high fantasy kills almost all the rest. And I'm certainly not wrapping my head around DnD, it's too complicated and doesn't allow the FREEDOM that a certain other system would provide (at least not without 20 more headaches than I want).

FFd6, why.

Of course, in this world, pretty much everyone has some sort of magic. You're pretty much missing out if you don't, even if you're a dwarf, in which case you're better at applying magic to other things and thus need to know what you're applying. Of course, FFd6 makes sure only certain classes can actually USE magic. Also, magic scales in a god-awful way, and some spells are good and some spells are bad and frankly if I just give non-magic classes some magic, mages just won't be quite as good anymore. Also, there's an impossible amount of variety in magic in this world, something the FFd6 book just doesn't cover. SO WHAT I GOTTA DO IS REWORK DA MAGIC.

BUT HOW DO I REWORK DE MAGIC PART WAN: SO WHAT ABOUT MAGIC

Keep the spell list. That spell list is what one would like to call the big example book. People can MAKE THEIR OWN SPELLS TO LEARN and then show it to me. I'll look at it and give it an OK if it's not broken shit for the tier it's supposed to be or nonsensical in the school of magic (Black/White/so on) it's supposed to be in. Now, you too, can use whatever kind of element you want for a Black Mage, unless it's Holy or Shadow in which case you might have to wait a tier or two. Spells you don't want are hastily discarded! You can learn Majinken if you really want!

Of course, even those spells will eventually degrade and never be used again...just kidding.

BUT HOW DO I REWORK DI MAGIC PART TUU: HOW DOES LEVEL 1 SPELL STOP BEING SHIT

Introducing the spell upgrade system! (As inspired by 2020.) This is GM extensive, but shit, games are once a week and I only need to do spells that people are interested in upgrading to begin with. Each level, people get SPELL POINTS, with which to UPGRADE OR LEARN SPELLS! The more levels you have, the more spell points you get. And, naturally, mages get FREE SPELLS and MORE SPELL POINTS WITH WHICH TO UPGRADE THEM. Of course I have no idea how much points things should be worth because I am just that terrible at balancing points like this, so the following example won't have that much detail, but I can get an example of what each level IS. Let's go with Fire first.

Base: It's Fire, yo. 2d6+PWR*3 to a single target, or 2d6+PWR to all. Costs 5 MP.
Level 1: Now costs 4 MP, can do 2d6+PWR*2 to all enemies.
Level 2: Can do 2d6+PWR*4 to a single target.
Level 3: By doubling the cost of the spell (8 MP), can use the spell to instead inflict Burn with an opposed roll. Burn doesn't hurt, but people that hit someone burned get an extra PWR step, and they get one less with pretty much anything that isn't magic.
Level 4: Fire can be cast as a Standard Action instead of a Slow. In addition, you may apply Fire Strike to your own weapon as a free action for 4 MP, just like Fire (though it does not count as Fire).
Level 5 (MAX, this is expensive): When successfully casting a higher level Fire spell (even if it somehow misses), you may also use Fire as a free action (the Burn version is acceptable too), as long as the target was included in the casting of the higher level Fire spell. Do remember to pay the 4 MP required. Also, at this point you can pretty much manipulate fire at will, and succeed much more often than not.

By the way, the higher the level, the more points it costs...even for a spell of it's tier. Levels 4 and 5 are way up there, and the costs for Novice and Intermediate Level 4 and 5 are quite similar (though Intermediate is still higher). Also, each upgrade path is different. Fire is FULL POWER TOTAL DESTRUCTION and burning. But now, let's look at an example of a different sort, high tier BLACK MAGIC. We'll use Flare. As it's pure magical energy thrown at a long range, one can have fun with this...

Base: It's Flare, yo. 2d6+PWR*12 non-elemental to a single enemy, can be cast from Long range. Costs 100 MP.
Level 1: Can be cast on all enemies for 2d6+PWR*7 damage. Targets must be in Medium range.
Level 2: Damage becomes PWR*13. Target All becomes PWR*8.
Level 3: The spell may be of any element the caster wishes, so as long as they have a corresponding level 5 spell of the same element, and the element is not Holy or Shadow. Single Damage becomes PWR*14.
Level 4: The element may now be Holy or Shadow, at the penalty of three damage steps. Target All becomes PWR*9.
Level 5: Targets no longer need to be in Medium range, for you've perfected making the big blasts go far. You can, in fact, use this to nuke an area at long range. Terrifying, but that was a lot of points you pooled in to get this far. In addition, Target All becomes PWR*11, and Single Target becomes PWR*18. The penalty for Holy and Shadow is removed entirely.

Alright, we've seen that. But what about spells that just don't HAVE damage steps? Like some White Magic...Poisona. We'll avoid going detours and making it more general use. This is gonna be about POISON.

Base: It's Poisona, yo. It...cures poison. And hangovers. Costs 3 MP.
Level 1: Poisona can be used to cure more potent poisons. If a check is called for to cure a particularly nasty sort, add the level of this spell to the check.
Level 2: Casting Poisona may now be done as a standard action.
Level 3: You may target all with the spell.
Level 4: Purge the unclean. You may use this spell to make a single target be unable to use poisonous effects by making an opposed roll, where you get +2. Success results in either any poisons they have on them to be nullified or destroyed entirely, or PWR*15/MND*20 damage if they happen to be entirely made of the filth.
Level 5: You've becomes so connected with this spell that you're simply immune to normal poison (and highly resistant to the rest!) and don't need to use MP to cast the spell anymore (you still need to be capable of magic, though). Poison is pretty much a non-issue now. Oh, and the spell may be used to PURGE THE UNCLEAN at +3, or at all enemies for +1. Damage remains the same.

And that's that! I'm probably gonna have to go over the mage feat lists and tinker them a bit.