Progression Fantasy lives or dies by how rewarding it feels to watch the MC climb the power ladder. Whether it's a clear-cut madra advancement, a soul-building architecture, a pathway of sequences, or something totally unique—what power/progression system has given you the biggest "hell yeah" moments as the character levels up?
Share the series, explain what makes the system click for you (e.g., the milestones, the creativity, the payoffs in fights), and feel free to spoiler-tag major details. Bonus points for why it beats out the classics!
I like cultivation systems where you do something other than suck energy and spin it.
For example I'm a big fan of The Weirkey Chronicles where you build a house in your soul. Or something as simple as Millennial Mage where you have to reforge your body and deepen your understanding of yourself and your place in the world.
Agreed on Weirkey. I'm not sure if it's the most satisfying but it's definitely up there as one of the most interesting progression systems.
Do you have any other examples?
Painting the Mists by Patrick Laplante. They do start with sucking energy, but thd internal process is like filling a lake, and becomes more elaborate as the story continues.
Very good series imo, 18 books but is on hiatus atm.
I think for me it’s mage errant. Not because of how the magic works but because to progress you essentially are just trying to find novel and unique ways of using your magic. Very based in real life physics and science and it causes the characters to be smart and show their work.
I’m less interested in system where people grow through pain and suffering.
Another system I’ve recently started to enjoy is from Infinite realm. They have skill, cultivation and classes and they all interweave in interesting ways. It starts out somewhat simple but as the series goes on gets more fleshed out in a very satisfying way.
(I'm on mobile and don't know spoiler tags, but roundabout spoilers for Mage Errant)
I have my quibbles with parts of Mage Errant, but the end of Book 4 and all of Book 5 when the main cast had made certain developments had me kicking my heels like a school girl. The "coming into their own" of it all was very satisfying, especially since the progression was all still based on their own unique talents and limitations.
Also siege magic is cool, sue me
Yes exactly how I feel. Some of the progression moments in the series is my favourite in the genre bar none. Book 5. The big thing that happens in book 6 between the main 4 is the most hype I’ve ever been. And it’s all earned and grown from the previous knowledge we’ve learned in the earlier books.
It’s just so well put together.
Totally agreed and thanks for the correction on the book numbers. Here I was thinking it was 5 books instead of 6 lol
What I particularly enjoyed is that the main 4 aren't just doing the classic glass-cannon mage tactic of "blast anything that moves before they can fight back", because they know that there's always someone quicker, and with more firepower, so they invest in making armor for themselves under the tutelage of Alustin using their specific affinities.
Even Talia, whose entire family has (intentionally!) cultivated such a reputation, has some magic armor in the form of spellforms literally inscribed onto her skeleton.
Spoiler tags is greater than sign exclamation point words exclamation point less than sign.
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I like how it describes certain scientific concepts in a way that you don't immediately catch on to, but once you really think about them, you're like "Aha!"
Like how people with the rare "yellowstone" affinity are immediately executed because "yellowstone" is basically raw uranium, or how one powerful dragon has "blindlight" affinities literally the electromagnetic spectrum, including radio waves and microwaves
My answer too! Mage Errant has such a great magic system, and I love how the progression is completely skill based with endless, thoughtful depth put into how characters get stronger. Especially love the thought and world-building that went into hyper-specialized attunements.
I liked infinite realm, but DNF’d after book 5. With ability descriptions being basically a chapter themselves and Zack being such a bore I gave up
That’s funny to me because I much prefer zack over Ryan and find him infinitely more interesting. But I know I’m in the minority.
I think the last one I read was 5 or 6 and I only decided to keep going because I found out that book 7 was going to be the last.
Zack was interesting for a while, but he was super one dimensional with his ‘holier than thou’ attitude about everything.
I didn’t know book 7 was the last. I might have to pick it back up just for some closure
I’ve said recently that Pale is my #1 ProgFan. The magic system is one of its high points. I could do a dissertation on why it’s just phenomenal.
You have many different types of magics that exist, and people typically like to specialize in certain Fields. The Goblins like the crude and raw approach- so the Humans who specialize in goblin magic adopt those traits. Conversely the Faerie (their opposites) are about refined approaches. Some people pick up more abstract magic, like understanding metaphysical law, or even tracking the histories of families to see how incest can cause magical mutations.
While this seems insanely convoluted, the way it’s presented is superb. The 3 teenaged MCs were chosen by a group of magical beings who tried to create a haven from the Human dominated society to be their representatives/ police (and also to solve the murder of a being that was more or less a God), and have a basic introduction to magic from these magical beings. They then attend a magical school where they see how the way they were taught differs from how the standardized curriculum at the school is taught. The MCs each specialize in an area of their interest, and try to utilize the core principles of the ways that others used magic to create their own techniques.
The magic system is just great because it matches what the users put in, and when you have a very smart, creative, and driven characters (which a lot of them are), you see some some magic abilities that speak to their character as a whole
Is pale the second one in the pact world. It seems interesting but I have tried pact 4 times and it’s so bleak and stressful that I just decided it wasn’t for me.
I don’t think that’s a good way of putting in. Pact and Pale might take place in the same universe, but they are pretty much entirely disconnected. Hell, they are night and day different.
While Pact is a frenetic story with the fastest pacing you have ever seen, Pale has spectacular pacing. Events take time to build up to a climax over several arcs, and after a major event happens, there is usually an arc whether the MCs process what happened before moving on to the next multi arc plot thread. Where Pact was someone trying to make the best of a situation where enemies out for blood are rapidly closing in, Pale is an investigation into a small town that has magic beings to determine who was and wasn’t involved with a murder with a timeframe of 4 months to do the investigation.
There are some stories that have a good system, but it doesn’t get explored well due to things like pacing, and Pact is a good example of that
Thanks for the detailed response. I think I will give pale a go then. The actual magic is very interesting to me but pact was unsatisfying.
This is interesting. Is pale short for something?
Nope. That’s the full name.
here is the link to the story
DCC achivements because they are hilarious. Amazing for world building when they are combined with loot boxes and sponsors.
Undying Immortal System. Not the actual power system. That's just a different take on cultivation stuff. What I loved about the series was the MC's soul storage space. How he acquired it, how he began to enlarge it, and what he was able to turn it into eventually. It felt really really really good to read about that lol. I was often way more excited about the storage space than about his cultivation.
DOTF gets a lot of deserved flak for how drawn out it is. But, for me, seeing how his core design came together to bring his seperate halves and multiple paths into a working whole was almost beautiful. Something that every elder of various empires told him was impossible was a great moment, I thought the solution was elegant and brilliant as it came together.
Of course, being Zac then the other shoe dropped, but it was still an oh wow moment for me that few books matched.
I think DOFT had good progression in the earlier books but around the time he completed his core it switched to esoteric dao nonsense with no concrete sense of progression. It is up there with HWFWM for completely abandoning everything interesting about the progression in favor of uninteresting, ruleless nonsense.
Lots of spoilers in here. I agree, but some actual spoilers. You should leave a warning after your first sentence
Is he a monarch yet in the patreon?
Peak hegemon. But likely before the end of the current arc.
What book would that be?
Is it on hiatus for the holidays? I was thinking of resubbing for a month but I’m otherwise waiting until after new years
Ya, break till new year.
Thanks. You don’t happen to know about 1% lifesteal and System Universe, too, so you? Both newish series for me but I’m recently caught up, and craving more
Sorry, don't sub to those.
Cradle. I like the simplified Cultivation system.
I really enjoy the attunement system in Arcane Ascension
Shadow slave. Each level gives you "1 new skill, plus everything else is stronger". No skill choices, it's all about your aspect which you get the minute you gain your power. So each time you grow, it's very clean and easy to understand...and the author doesn't forget what abilities he crammed into the characters because they each just have the 4 or 5 connected abilities that all make sense together.
Like Sunny never forgets he has a teleportation ability. He got it when he awakened and it's the only new power he got at the time and he spent ages using it in smart ways. Then when he went up a level, he could manifest shadows into tangible things. So at that level he explored all the ways he could do that. And on and on. It's the cleanest system I've read, and my favorite by far.
Immortal great souls easily. Imo one of the most unique power progression systems ever. To reach a higher ranking you got to achieve something physical like shaping your mana, psychological like accepting oneself. Then you get transported to a "Trial" where you relive one of your past-self memories. Whatever you do that in that memory (e.g starting a rebellion or accepting the status quo) will determine what unique powers you get in addition to the standard powers (i.g dreadblaze rank will always gives you an energy shield, blood baron rank will always gives you a staff that can shoot energy beams) you'll always get for your next rank.
So there's actually depth in that system instead of just training -> numbers go up. And you get to learn about the character's past life.
Don't know if Coiling Dragon( A classic xuanhuan novel counts) counts (just found this /r/), but that has among the best intro to the concepts of power progression, etc.
Swallowed Star (up to book 8 or so) is similar has some of the best power progression (the author has a problem of using exponential power curve after book 9 or so, in most things they write, so it gets out of hand, but early its amazing)
World of Cultivation is among my favorite for the comedy it has in it (would need to read the pinyin translation that was done, the full English translation loses a LOT of flavor)
Did you finish Coiling Dragon yet?
LotM takes the cake since each power up feels both earned and interesting
Honestly, I’m a big fan of cultivation progression systems. Although some of them are confusing, or aren’t explained very well, they give me a sense of achievement when the MC finally manages to ‘breakthrough’ a major realm and now he’s completely different from before.
My favorite power system, from a power progression standpoint, is Regressors tale of cultivation's. Each of the power ups is earned, as well as foreshadowed by way of other characters beforehand. This ties in with the novel's theme of connections, you can see the mc's fighting style evolve as he learn from different masters
Additionally, the fashion in which you advance through the cultivation system, with each realm requiring the cultivator to do/achieve various objectives or enlighments. Which drives conflict and explains away why you can't just sit in a cave and become god.
A Practical Guide to Sorcery's for how it combines the sheer breadth of its magic system with an easy to understand, satisfying power scale. For the power scale, Thaum capacity measures how much energy a mage's spells can affect in a given amount of time, and is increased by time spent casting spells close to capacity. So every mage starts at a low capacity, and powerful mages in the setting have earned their ability with rigorous work.
The different uses for each branch of magic are what lend the system its depth. Like alchemy (making potions) being the best way to prepare powerful on-demand magical effects at the cost of efficiency, by having the alchemist spend hours brewing at their thaum capacity, putting much more energy into one effect than can be achieved with that same capacity put to casting spells directly or put into an artifact. Every branch of magic being useful in some capacity or another and the MC actually using her knowledge in each of them to the best of her ability is what makes it satisfying.
I loved Mark of the Fool. Ingenuity played a huge role in the MCs journey and that just pulled me in
Stubborn Skill-Grinder is my pick. I don't like cultivation systems and the author found a way to make litrpg progression not feel hollow nor overcomplicated. I think it has the perfect balance of hard/softness. I need to re-read it to better understand how the author did it. I'd describe it as "grand but somehow still tangible".
Cradle is great because ranks provide different benefits and the power level and progression is just roght. I wish soulfire got explored a bit more and that the different lord realms were more different as you are supposed to be on each for dozens of years.
The New World : MC is far far above normal people. But so are his enemies. The first villain was genuinely so good.
Weirkey Chronicles : I love building up their power is like building a house. Especially how intricate it gets.
Immortal Great Souls : Great system and satisfying progression. Unfortunately I won’t be picking up that series again.
Why? I am thinking of reading it
If you’re reading for the first time, I would heavily recommend it. There are already 4 books out and from the reviews so far, the story is going really well.
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I read the first book back when it was released and it was a slog to get through. The story started out with dark, mature and heavy themes and turned to YA midway through. I couldn’t really relate to Scorio. He came off as a whiny man child with anger issues. (I know there were valid reasons for it but it was still annoying)
The plot only went back to proper pace after first half of the story. It wasn’t all bad though. The background lore was pretty good and the descriptions were well done. The power system was interesting and fight scenes were good.
Overall, I liked the first book. But by the time the second book was released, I had already forgotten the details and didn’t want to go through it again.
Oddly the wandering inn. It has some interesting takes on leveling and skills that make them feel earned but still mysterious. You never question that the characters earn their levels but never know what they'll get either.
Why I love it is by its nature it not something easily "min-maxed" and gamed which is a pet peeve of mine in a lot of prog fantasy.
The Wandering inn does levels the way Lord of the Rings does magic and I like it for that.
Mana in Ar'Kendrithyst.
A regressor's tale of cultivation. Straight up the best cultivation system with enormous thought put into it. It's actually cinema. The lower levels are preparations for higher levels where cultivators take up cosmic duties. Every stage gets explained. There's no amount of pill popping you can do to breakthrough in this system.
Shoutout to Weirkey chronicles.
I love the variety the He Who Fights with Monsters has for every character. I would love to play a game with that system. I wish they added something reach upgrade though, instead of being locked in.
How about a system where you receive cosmic light from your assigned celestial.
You then draw patterns with the light and the air you have breathed and create arts.
Each art has a diff pattern. Its like painting using both hands.
Azarinth Healer!