PDA

View Full Version : elemental control pairings



King of Nowhere
2020-01-12, 08:45 AM
putting together a few artifacts each tied to an element. among other abilities, each one would give the caopacity to rebuke creatures of its kind, and turn creatures of the opposite kind.

some pairings are abvious. fire gives the ability to rebuke fire creatures and turn col creatures, ice does the opposite. positive and negative energy are also paired.

but there are acid, electricity and force. what do you think those amulets should allow to turn or rebuke? is there some established pairing?

Khedrac
2020-01-12, 10:31 AM
The short answer is "no".

The most common match up is the main D&D one - Air and Earth are opposites and so are Fire and Water, but it is not universal, even within D&D.

The D&D takes on "oriental" magic use 4 or 5 elements, but they usually come from fire, earth, nature, metal and water (note, no "air").

The D&D Companion rules have the original 4, but with a different arrangement:
Air opposes fire and is dominant over water, water opposes earth and is dominant over fire etc.

So, first you need to define what the elements are and how they relate in your universe/game system, and then you can work out how your artifacts interact.

Force is pretty much never an "element" even in D&D 3.5 where is can be an energy type.

redwizard007
2020-01-12, 08:23 PM
putting together a few artifacts each tied to an element. among other abilities, each one would give the caopacity to rebuke creatures of its kind, and turn creatures of the opposite kind.

some pairings are abvious. fire gives the ability to rebuke fire creatures and turn col creatures, ice does the opposite. positive and negative energy are also paired.

but there are acid, electricity and force. what do you think those amulets should allow to turn or rebuke? is there some established pairing?

Pulling unfo about the inner planes from wikipedia...

The four Elemental Planes are the planes of Air, Fire, Water and Earth.

2nd edition also included the Para-Elemental and Quasi-Elemental Planes. The Para-Elemental Planes are produced where the Elemental Planes come into contact with each other: Smoke (Air and Fire), Ice (Air and Water), Ooze (Earth and Water), and Magma (Fire and Earth). The Quasi-Elemental Planes are produced where the Elemental Planes touch the Energy Planes: At the intersection of the Positive Energy Plane and the planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water are Lightning, Minerals, Radiance, and Steam respectively. Around the Negative Energy Planes are Vacuum, Dust,[1] Ash,[2] and Salt.[3]

Which gives you opposing planes of:
Earth vs Air
Fire vs Water
Smoke vs Ooze
Ice vs Magma

the following paraelemental planes could be ignored for simplicity or reordered to oppose based on other criteria:
Lightning vs Dust
Minerals vs Vacuum
Radiance vs Salt
Steam vs Ash

I'd use that as a guideline and go from there.