What icon best represents magic?
 

For a gui, what do you think would best represent magic? For example, hearts represent health, shield represents defense... so on and so forth. But what can make the player see it and think "that must be my MP?"

This will be fairly large for an icon(32x32), and it is my belief that the icon should be full(aka no sticks or random sprinkles). Door suggested a star, and I like that idea... but at the same time I imagine a star seems childish or fairy-tale like instead of fitting for an RPG. There is also a crystal shard, but I dunno... seems too specific instead of general.

I already have the heart icon, so there is a style to adhere to... I don't think this matters for ideas, but if anyone needs to see it I will post it.

A wizards hat usually represents the concept of 'magic' in some rpgs...

But i'm not sure if thats what you were asking for. XD

Because a wizards hat for MP might be a bit...strange...

Edit: Or perhaps a vial or bottle of green liquid. lol
MP is usually green in Graal...

Magic/MP in general tends to be green, so whatever it is will most likely be that color. And ya, having a hat as a representation of magic would be weird :P

Perhaps some type of glowing orb.. ? Harry Potter's face? A lightning bolt? Really, anything that's green or blue represents magic, so Green Apples or Blueberries = great magic representation. ^^

http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u107/Psi.jpg maybe

http://i40.tinypic.com/35i121e.png
Well that's the heart image that's going to be used on the GUI for health. It won't be like Zelda(display a heart per point), but probably numbers next to it. I'm not entirely sure... but I need an icon to go on the other side of the screen to represent MP that matches the style, and doesn't feel disjointed.

Maybe a blue fire representing the soul?

Heart is representing physical strength

Have you ever thought about making a homebrew DS game perhaps? Just wondered.

But yeah usually for generic representations of magic you'll see a wand or hat or fireball or something of that matter. Maybe try a runic pattern kinda like Elk's suggestion but more detailed.

Not to agree with Door or anything, but I figure a star is not any more childish than the stylised heart.

What about an orb? Kind of like this:
http://www.iconarchive.com/icons/rai...Magic-icon.png

It doesn't show :(

Hand glowing with magical power, or an eye "steaming" with magical power?

it's a tough one.

http://www.iconarchive.com/icons/rai...Magic-icon.png
I think this is the one Luda was trying to show, but black.

An elf tear.

Err it tends to be blue most of time, but I prefer green too.

To represent magic, you could make a little icon of the most famous spell: fireball

or maybe...a sparkle ? An orb is nice too