Raw Elements

[KingGolem]

Ok, so here's how it goes. A few days ago, I was playing World of Warcraft (I love that game), and I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be awesome if raw elements were statted in D&D?" I can recall at least one instance of raw elements being mentioned in an official D&D supplement. In the Tome of Magic, Shadow Magic, page 176, under the second sight of interest in the adventure site "Fark's Road," it describes one thing that can be bought in Bartleby's Curiosities as "Vials containing raw elemental material. . ." So clearly, the game designers at least acknowledge their existence, but I know of no stats for them, official or otherwise. Naturally, they are used in magic somehow, but for what? Has anybody ever thought of/made/found stats for them?

[Khoran]

RAW Element?! Oh god, keep it away from Power Gamers!

On a serious note, the raw essence of an Element is probobly just what the respective plane is made of, and gathered from there. Perhaps it would be plentiful, or perhaps it would need to be harvested, depending on the material and which plane. Might also be usable as a special material to craft. Just some food for thought.

[pyrefiend]

Already done. Raw element of all four types is statted out in the planar handbook.

[KingGolem]

Already done. Raw element of all four types is statted out in the planar handbook.

Ok, I checked in the Planar Handbook, and I don't really like the way they represented the pure elements. I don't think that raw elemental material should be useful to just anybody straight out of a flask (that, and pure fire should NEVER be a liquid...).


On a serious note, the raw essence of an Element is probobly just what the respective plane is made of, and gathered from there. Perhaps it would be plentiful, or perhaps it would need to be harvested, depending on the material and which plane. Might also be usable as a special material to craft. Just some food for thought.

This is more along the lines of what I was thinking. I imagine that most of the four elemental planes are MOSTLY just made up of normal air/water/earth/fire, except for some rare instances in which the native elemental substance is imbued with naturally occuring magic. And yes, I thought that is should be useful somehow in crafting and magic, but I'm not sure how. Anybody have any ideas?

[magic8BALL]

and pure fire should NEVER be a liquid

...why not?

You call it an element. It's a reaction.
Cold is just a comparitave lack of particle movement.
Electricity is the movement of electron.
Sound is just harmonic movement of particles.
Acid is the ability to accept electrons in a chemical reaction.

These are all called elemental forms of damage, and have that close to nothing to do with elements it's not funny... so why should fire not be also a liquid? Shure, a gas makes a little more sense, but bottling 'fire' in the first place is senseless.

Now that the rant is over, why not have flasks of the element work like a flask of alchemists fire on steroids that deals the appropriate damage type.

Flask of Elemental Cold: 6d6 cold damage, 10ft radius, 2d6 cold damage 5ft splash. 500 gp.

(insert other 'elements' here)

[brian c]

I agree with what magic8ball said ^


This is more along the lines of what I was thinking. I imagine that most of the four elemental planes are MOSTLY just made up of normal air/water/earth/fire, except for some rare instances in which the native elemental substance is imbued with naturally occuring magic.

The Elemental Planes are actually not like that, they're entirely dominated by their respective elements. In the SRD, check here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/planes.htm#elementalPlaneOfAir) for more info.

That said, you're always welcome to say that it's different if you're the DM