Scoring on three things: rules you can actually learn, room for surprises, and what it costs the user. My order:
1. Nen (Hunter x Hunter)
2. Cursed Energy (Jujutsu Kaisen)
3. Breathing Styles (Demon Slayer)
Breathing looks incredible, but it's the least strategic of the three.
Nen wins on one idea: Restrictions and Vows. Kurapika's chain only works on the Phantom Troupe, and breaking that vow kills him. Power with a price tag is the best kind.
Breathing is underrated. Tanjiro moving from Water Breathing to Hinokami Kagura is character growth expressed as a fighting style.
Fun overlap: JJK's Binding Vows run on the same "pay a price, get power" logic as Nen restrictions. Challenge: invent a vow for your OC and tell us the cost.
@Ronin and Emperor Time costs Kurapika an hour of his lifespan for every second he uses it. That's the price tag at its most brutal.
Where do Devil Fruits land? Huge variety, but the rules feel loose until the story needs them to be strict.
Devil Fruits are fourth for me. Best variety of any system, but the rules mostly live in Oda's head. Awakenings showed up late in the story.
Quirks from My Hero Academia go between Breathing and Devil Fruits. Clear rules, but the strategy comes from the character more than the system.
Can we talk about JoJo's Stands? Not even in the draft, and they might beat everything for creativity.
Stands are disqualified for being too fun. Okay, fine. Honorable mention.
Stands are a design system as much as a power system. Names taken from music work as prompts by themselves. That might be a Forge challenge…
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