prokopetz:

Concept: a magic system where the power of an enchantment is directly proportionate with how clever its counterspell or escape clause is.
This is why curses have ironic limitations and magical wards typically take the form of puzzles that can – in principle – be solved by anyone, among other things. Being a great wizard is less a matter of innate power or technical skill and more a matter of being able to convince the universe to buy your bullshit riddles.