So, we all know magic needs to come at a cost. I don't really find the 'extended use makes you tired' thing to be very interesting, but I'm having some trouble finding an appropriate cost for the magic system I'm developing.
Without going into too much detail, in this system the magic comes from a plane of existence outside where the story happens. Special people have an innate ability to tap into it and use it to alter the fabric of reality in their world. Some of those people can change physical properties (like turn wood to stone for example), some people can influence living things to grow/heal (and the inverse), and so on.
Now, if the magic itself is power/energy, it doesn't make a ton of sense (to me) for it to tire someone out. I mean, it powers itself. The person is just the conduit. So, I was thinking that maybe there was some kind of mental cost to it then, but having the magic drive you crazy is a bit overboard for my intention as this will be a high magic use story. So the cost needs to be manageable, but not negligible. Maybe there's a bit of an idea in the physics of real world energy transfer that I could adapt.
Also: in this world magic users are enslaved by the non-users. So I could go with some kind of consumable as cost, with it being provided by the non-magic users. Which might mean it becomes more difficult to use when the slaves revolt and no longer have access to it.
Anyhow, I'm bouncing stuff around in my brain and any ideas are greatly appreciated.
Without going into too much detail, in this system the magic comes from a plane of existence outside where the story happens. Special people have an innate ability to tap into it and use it to alter the fabric of reality in their world. Some of those people can change physical properties (like turn wood to stone for example), some people can influence living things to grow/heal (and the inverse), and so on.
Now, if the magic itself is power/energy, it doesn't make a ton of sense (to me) for it to tire someone out. I mean, it powers itself. The person is just the conduit. So, I was thinking that maybe there was some kind of mental cost to it then, but having the magic drive you crazy is a bit overboard for my intention as this will be a high magic use story. So the cost needs to be manageable, but not negligible. Maybe there's a bit of an idea in the physics of real world energy transfer that I could adapt.
Also: in this world magic users are enslaved by the non-users. So I could go with some kind of consumable as cost, with it being provided by the non-magic users. Which might mean it becomes more difficult to use when the slaves revolt and no longer have access to it.
Anyhow, I'm bouncing stuff around in my brain and any ideas are greatly appreciated.