D&D General other possible elements?

[Yaarel]

The Dao elements are more like:

• Water
• Fire
• Tree
• Metal
• Soil

Dao elements are about ways of moving, not what something is made out of. Because "empty space" and "soil" are both motionless, they are the same element. Metal is about contracting inward and separating distinctly. A living Tree is about expanding outward and integrating everything within its branches and roots. This why Tree and Air are the same element, expanding and encompassing.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Heart?

this is my falt I walked into this joke, damn me for watching the Transformers on Rerun instead of captain planet on Rerun

From 1e Oriental Adventures there is a five elemental split if you want to stick to a D&D elemental tradition.

"The spells of a wu jen are divided into five elemental groups—earth/metal, water, fire, wind, and wood/nature."

metal is not earth, water is wind and metal is somewhere between light and electromagnetism(it seems to be metal, lightning and light) from my pseudo grasp of Chinese five elemental system.

I cannot be the first one to think of this can I?
View attachment 348855

stop making me hear multi-pass.

does anyone know what the sever systems fifth option even is in more practical language as, void, space, aether, quintessence might as well mean hear be dragons to me?

The Dao elements are more like:

• Water
• Fire
• Tree
• Metal
• Soil

Dao elements are about ways of moving, not what something is made out of. Because "empty space" and "soil" are both motionless, they are the same element. Metal is about contracting inward and separating distinctly. A living Tree is about expanding outward and integrating everything within its branches and roots. This why Tree and Air are the same element, expanding and encompassing.

I heard they consider the air and water the same as both have currents and such?

 

[Tonguez]

Hot Dry = Fire
Hot Moist = Air
Cold Dry = Earth
Cold Moist = Water
Hot Hot = Aether
Cold Cold = Null/Void
Water Earth = Ooze (Life)
Aether Fire = Light/Energy
Void Air = Space/Time

Or use the Energy types as base Elements

 

[Shardstone]

Maybe replace flying with air though. Fighting is a little weird too, but you could equate it to something like Qi.

Fighting works well as a mashup of Ki, Discipline, and War-flavored domains, probably with some overlap from Steel.

 

[Staffan]

Some ideas:

One of the earlier editions of Dragonbane added light, darkness, heat, and cold to the classical elements.

The Codex Alera book series adds wood and metal. It also has some broader views of what each element can do – for example, water is used for healing and for sending secret messages along waterways, and fire can enrage people.

Exalted adds Wood, and also has alternate elements in some of its sub-settings. Notably, the machine realm of Autochthon has steam, crystal, lightning, oil, and metal (and smoke representing the sickness of the Machine God), and the Underworld has ash, bone, pyre flame, blood, and void.

In the Legend of Zelda: the Ocarina of Time video game, there are sages of wood, fire, water, shadow, spirit, and light.

In the Olden Days, some Internet folks were making an RPG called DragonNet, with two parallel magic systems. One was based on the classical elements, but the other was based on celestial phenomena. The celestial magic types were: Aurora (charm/entrancement), Comet (movement), Firmament (planes/reality), Light (energy), Moon (illusions), Stars (knowledge), and Sun (life). I always thought those were an interesting set of "elements".

Gloomhaven and its associated games use earth, air, fire, ice, light, and darkness. Ice sort of replaces water, but there's at least one water-themed class that mainly uses light and darkness (representing the cycle of tides).

 

[Shardstone]

My desire to fight Uranium elementals has been depleted.

Ok but what about the Court of Noble Gasses?!

 

[Yaarel]

I heard they consider the air and water the same as both have currents and such?

There are at least two traditions that blend Hellenistic and Dao views together, in Tibet and in Japan (Godai). They arrange them similarly.

Hellenistic ≈ Doaist
• Fire ≈ Fire
• Water ≈ Water/Clouds
• Air ≈ Tree/Wind
• Earth ≈ Metal
• Ether ≈ Soil/Space/Void


It is a bit confusing because what is motionless "soil" is often inaccurately presented as Hellenistic "earth".

In Hellenism, the Ether has soul-like qualities, associating with spirit and heavens. But in Daoism, the Void has nirvana-like qualities of emptiness. Both are eternal and transcendent.

 

[MarkB]

Nobody's mentioned the most important yet unexpected one. The element of surprise.

 

[Tonguez]

Ok but what about the Court of Noble Gasses?!

pfft they hardly react to anything!

 

[Yaarel]

does anyone know what the sever systems fifth option even is in more practical language as, void, space, aether, quintessence might as well mean hear be dragons to me?

About year 1200, Rambam clearly identifies "ether" as the "force" of gravity. Gravity is an "element" that has physical influence, but it lacks matter.

In the systems that equate ether with "void", it is simple emptiness of space, like outer space.