xiphumor
Legend
The fact that there’s no neat correspondence between the elements and the damage types has long been an awkward point in D&D, and I’ve been thinking about the best way to arrange it.
As much as things like Water being resistant to something like Acid or Earth being resistant to Lightning makes sense, I think there’s something cleaner about having each element be resistant to what it’s most similar to. This is a fantasy game, after all, and planar energies might protect someone in non-scientific, more symbolic ways. What’s more, several items A5e (such as the Elemental Quiver and Rings of Elemental Command) already use this system, so I propose keeping things as follows:
Fire - Fire
Water - Cold
Earth - Acid
Air - Lightning
But what of the other four planes? Death - Necrotic is obvious, but I think I need to defend my choices for the other options.
Life - Poison. Radiant wouldn’t be horrible, but Poison is the closest thing we have to organic damage. Life is a distinctly corporeal phenomenon, and radiant can be reserved for the Upper Planes
Space - Force. Force is the most non-descript damage type we have, and you can flavor space as blunting the impact. There’s also a vague gravitational connotation to both.
Time - Psychic. Okay, hear me out. We tend to think of time as a physical phenomenon, but pre-Einstein, time was chiefly considered a thing observed and experienced by the mind. Memories are what allow the past to have continued existence, and rationality is what gives us access to a future that does not exist yet. The only thing I can think of that would be more fitting would be Dexterity saving throws, and that breaks the theme a bit.
What do you think?
As much as things like Water being resistant to something like Acid or Earth being resistant to Lightning makes sense, I think there’s something cleaner about having each element be resistant to what it’s most similar to. This is a fantasy game, after all, and planar energies might protect someone in non-scientific, more symbolic ways. What’s more, several items A5e (such as the Elemental Quiver and Rings of Elemental Command) already use this system, so I propose keeping things as follows:
Fire - Fire
Water - Cold
Earth - Acid
Air - Lightning
But what of the other four planes? Death - Necrotic is obvious, but I think I need to defend my choices for the other options.
Life - Poison. Radiant wouldn’t be horrible, but Poison is the closest thing we have to organic damage. Life is a distinctly corporeal phenomenon, and radiant can be reserved for the Upper Planes
Space - Force. Force is the most non-descript damage type we have, and you can flavor space as blunting the impact. There’s also a vague gravitational connotation to both.
Time - Psychic. Okay, hear me out. We tend to think of time as a physical phenomenon, but pre-Einstein, time was chiefly considered a thing observed and experienced by the mind. Memories are what allow the past to have continued existence, and rationality is what gives us access to a future that does not exist yet. The only thing I can think of that would be more fitting would be Dexterity saving throws, and that breaks the theme a bit.
What do you think?
