[4e] The Sixth Element

[RukiTanuki]

Still working on my campaign setting. I ran two trial games under it with a pickup group, and they went well. Someone even brought a gentlemanly riverboat gambler goblin with a blue-blooded Southern accent.

At any rate, my current thoughts turn to the elements. I've tied a lot of the ways of the world into the traditional four elements (earth, water, air, and fire).

The seasons themselves are tied to primal elements, and one flows into the other:

Spring is strongly air and moderately water, representing spring breezes, spring rains, growth, and renewal. The spring equinox is the Week of Air.

Summer is strongly fire and moderately air, representing heat and passion, and a carefree manner. The summer solstice is the Week of Fire.

Autumn is strongly earth and moderately fire; representing hard work, industry, and harvest. The autumn equinox is the Week of Earth.

Winter is strongly water and moderately earth, representing cold, snow, family, and tradition. The winter equinox is the Week of Water.

The year is fifty-two weeks long, divided into twelve months of four weeks each. Every three months (i.e. twelve weeks), a special thirteenth week is set aside to commemorate the changing of the season. A standard deck of playing cards represents this calendar, with the solstice/equinox weeks scoring high or low depending on card game and local custom.

Now, ever since 3.x I've been trying to find good ways to plug the types of elemental damage into the primal elements. It's awkward, because there are five elemental damage types and four elements. The best idea I have so far is to set the elements in a square, connecting a line between each of them. Fans of combinatorics or factorials know this leads to 6 connections between the 4 elements.

Earth-1-Fire
  | 5\ /6 |
 4|   X   |2
  |  / \  |
Water-3-Air

For the purposes of this discussion, I'll treat the primal element Fire as a state of matter akin to plasma. Here's how I fill in the connections:

(1) fire: Going off the note above, fire damage is best known for its affects on the solid materials it uses as fuel.
(2) lightning: Definitely airborne, and carries many of the high-energy associations with Fire.
(3) cold: Both air and ice often carry cold connotations.
(4) poison: The union of earth and water represents the lifeblood of all creatures.
(5) thunder: It moves like Air but hits with the impact of Earth.
(6) acid: It flows like Water but burns like Fire.

Here was my previous dilemma:
I'm at a bit of an impasse. The cold damage type fits well at (3) or (4), though admittedly (4) works better, as that's the part of the seasonal cycle (running counterclockwise) that matches winter. But then, (3) represents spring, Water, and Air... so what elemental type matches?

I'm leaving psychic out of the equation deliberately, and there's no sense adding radiant and leaving out necrotic, and vice versa. (None of the above match at all anyway.) This is a cohesive enough system that I would prefer not to throw the whole thing out. My best idea is to consider (3) to be the link of healing, forgoing a damage type. An alternative would be to make it a source of force damage, as both water and air (and spring) are very kinetic.

Thoughts?

[Artanis]

I'd say set Cold to #3 because, regardless of what it's "really" like, it's typically associated with air more than it is with earth. Winter blizzards and all that. I would then put force in #3, since it is both "solid", so to speak (earth), and many force abilities involve smashing stuff, which, if anything, is associated with water.

[AgentPaper]

I would use force. I would put it between air and thunder, and then move thunder to between air and water. sound moves in waves, and is invisible like air. Force is also invisible like air, but is solid and real like earth. This would make air the element of invisibility and intangibility, which fits force, thunder, and lightning.

[RukiTanuki]

I thought about this a bit, and here's my plan:

Water + Air (3) becomes cold damage, which puts it diametrically opposite to fire damage.
Water + Earth (4) becomes the equivalent of the Wood type in traditional five-element structures. It represents the lifeblood of the living. As far as damage goes, it becomes the Poison type (which I'd completely forgotten about). However, it is also channeled for the most common forms of healing.

I'll edit the post above. Does this sound reasonable?

[Artanis]

Sounds reasonable enough. I'd put Force instead of Poison, but Poison works.

[Starsinger]

Sounds reasonable enough. I'd put Force instead of Poison, but Poison works.

I like Poison over Force for nature.

[Artanis]

Yeah, Poison would definitely fit nature better than Force. I just thought that Force fit Water+Earth better.

[Starsinger]

I dunno, I think Force fits nicely in the X spot in the diagram.