[quote=HazmatMedic]
Alright, how about an element system?Fire is countered by water, which in turn is stopped by earth, which is vulnerable to fire.Or perhaps a more school-based system, where mages must train in a respective field first, and can't work other types of magic until they've had training.Or, we could have a Warp-based system, like in Warhammer 40k. Mages need to put themselves through intense psychological training before they can perform even basic spells, as they must reach into a dark, vicious world, where monsters claw at ones mind in an attempt to send them crazy.Or, a dust-based system. Magic in its purest form is a substance, which is harvested, refined and used for combat, but said substance is somewhat rare, so you don't have a lot of power with it.
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Or we combine all four,

Nearly all mages would have to learn their skills at a school, some have magic in them that allow them to learn like healing magic while some can only wield magic items. Elemental magic would work in the water beats fire, earth beats air way but is rare so you can't have a massive elemental army and there is a dark vicious world filled with magic but very few people can enter it to train, many go insane but the 1% would lead armies and command nature itself (or whatever it would command)