Limitations of Magic
Laws of the Universe
The most fundamental aspect of spellcasting is the Astral Link. Astral Links are created through correspondence: A person who repeatedly comes into contact with an object or has significant emotional or spiritual attachment to it will naturally correspond with it and form a Link in the Astral Realm. All creatures form Links with the creatures, objects, and even the environment around them. Someone with control over their Prana can also create artificial Links by pumping their Prana into the Astral Form of their target - if the spellcaster cannot see the target's Astral Form, they can still create a Link with it by using an object that the target is already Linked to in order to "home in" on their Astral Form. The strength of the Link will affect how close the spellcaster needs to be to their target: It is much easier to track someone over a long distance if you use their blood or favorite childhood toy instead of a random scrap of their clothing.
There are five 'rules' of spellcasting that can never be broken under any circumstances:
- Magic cannot resurrect the dead.
One can manipulate corpses to animate them, but once something's soul has left its corpse it can no longer be put back into it, as it has either rejoined The Godhead or been reincarnated into a new form, depending on one's religious beliefs. - Magic is not intelligent.
One can create objects or simple machines with magic, but it is impossible to create something that the caster does not already know how to make, and it cannot create truly autonomous objects. If a spellcaster were to create a magical turret to defend their home, they could give it simple instructions to shoot any intruder not wearing a specific item, but it would be unable to operate outside of those specific parameters. - Magic cannot create complex items.
You can create levers, wheels, pulleys, ramps, wedges, and screws, and even combine them once or twice, but something as advanced as a bicycle would be hopelessly overcomplicated. - Magic cannot see the future.
The future is never predetermined and cannot be predicted with any accurate outcome. Instead, oracles see into previous Kalpas, and the farther they look back, the more different that time appears from our current one. - Prana only exists in the Astral Realm and can never cross over into the Material Realm.
While Elemental energy can travel freely between realms, Prana cannot. However, a person or object's Prana is fundamentally connected to their Astral Form, and affecting their Astral Form will affect them in the Material Realm - this is why Astral Links are necessary for spellcasting.
How Magic Actually Works
When a magic-user manipulates their Prana to cast a spell, they are moving their Prana in the Astral Realm: in order to affect something in the Material Realm, a magic-user must pump their Prana into it and form an Astral Link, connecting to their target's Astral Form. Astral Links occur naturally and are responsible for most magical phenomenon in the Material Realm. Once a target is linked, the magic-user is able to manipulate the target's Astral Form by altering its Prana or Elemental energy - this creates the spell's effect in the Material Realm.
It is possible to create Links with the very air around you. This is how many magic-users and Monsters operate in combat: They form a Link with the air's Astral Form and pump their Prana and Element into it, creating a fireball or bolt of lightning. For those with the capacity of teleportation, they convert their entire body and all Linked objects they touch into pure Psychic energy and travel into the Astral Realm, where they are able to instantly appear in an area they Link themselves to. Phasing works in a similar way, except the traveller moves at the same speed they do in the Material Realm. Despite being unable to move their Prana around, Monsters seem to have greater control over Elemental energy and simply move their chosen Elements from the Astral to the Material Realm.
Shapeshifters operate slightly differently: Shapeshifters are able to create Links that relay information about their target directly to them, and then their Astral Form automatically takes on the same characteristics as their target. This is impossible for most monsters and humans, as it requires malleability of both one's Astral Form and their physical body - the vast majority of monsters lack the former and all known humans lack the latter. Only Ditto and the Koto fit both criteria, and that is because they are more aligned to Origin Energy than any other monster or Kami: their connection is almost as strong as that of a human.
Illusory magic is unlike shapeshifting in that illusions (including invisibility) require constant effort to maintain. Illusions are created through Normal energy forming a shell around the Linked target, whether it be the air or yourself, and then manipulating the image of that shell. Illusions come close to breaking the "magic cannot create complex items" rule, but the shell has so little energy dispersed throughout it that it has no physical form and therefore is not technically "created" - they are closer to echoes of the Astral Realm rather than objects existing in the Material Realm, and exist enough only to be seen. Physical contact shows them for the fakes they are.
Aura Projectors are one of the most bizarre kinds of magic-users: their wills are so strong that they actually have two Astral Forms that are permanently linked to each other, but only one Form is linked to their physical body. The second Form can only exist in the Material Realm when the Aura Projector is actively giving it Prana, and the link between these two Forms is among the strongest in nature, such that each affects the other equally: While projecting their Aura, if their projection is harmed, the projector is harmed as well... unless the user has poured enough Prana into their projection over time to give it enough form to exist in the Material Realm separately. Some projections are inanimate objects beholden to the will of the user, while others have their own wills and personalities that still reflect their projector. This appears to bypass the limitation on intelligent magic by being its own separate Astral Form, and therefore does not need to be "created", only manifested - it is most similar to being able to summon a linked Kami at-will.
I love when you do that. A complex and coherent explanation for game mechanics people would usually tell you "don't think too much about them, it is just a game". Well we are going to think about them and you won't be able to stop us Susan! Actually I'm too sleepy to actually poke holes in it right now. The last part about illusions sounds a bit " I hope I don't tie my hands with the complexity límite". For example, nosepass mini noses grow back too quick to not be a product of magic, although I don't know if they coun as "complex" But it can become limiting. For example, my shinobi class creates narutoesque clones, which are clearly way over the complexity limit. You would have to refluff them as vague shapes. Now that I think of it, what about grass type capabilities? Creating a plant out of nothing must be a challenge for the complexity limit, right?
Nah, plants are towards the limit of what can be made - I've had a plant turret shoot seed bombs at intruders before. Most plants aren't really that complex on the inside in comparison to animals and stuff. And even in that case, the magic was done in two parts: Once to create the plant-turret, and once to tell it to shoot shit. But yeah... illusions are weird. As far as I know, the PTU core rules don't have any illusions that are actually "real", which is what I was trying to stick to. Feel free to change that for your setting if you want, it was limiting on purpose. And I don't even know how mini noses grow back, but it takes 24 hours for them to do so and they're clearly a part of the Pokemon, so I think it gets a pass.