D&D 5E (2024) The Multiverse in the 2024 Players Handbook

[LuisCarlos17f]

Sulfur is "earth" but also "acid damage".

Mineral acid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mind of tempest]

Colorless Wildfire would be a great villainous high level spell

damn radioactive wild fire now there is a evil wizard option.

Sulfur is "earth" but also "acid damage".

Mineral acid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

sulfur is brimstone as is to hell adjacent for marketing.

 

[Maxperson]

The last one for this edition did, at least the gods.

3e and 4e did as well. 5.5e is the only PHB put out by WotC that doesn't have at a minimum, a list of gods and their portfolios in it.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

It claims to be but really really isn't. The magic is far too specific for most settings, the martials are far too grounded for e.g. anime or Celtic myth, and the combat is far too consequence free for anything with more than sprayed on grit.

I don't think D&D is necessarily good for other IPs with different physics and magic systems, but it is good for any kind of D&D world you want to make within the multiverse.

 

[Maxperson]

Why, what deities the world has is decided by the DM.

Like a player deciding that Lathander sounds like a good god for them, doesn't really work out if the DM's game is in a world that does not feature Lathander.

I've run into this several times over the decades.

Player: "I'm going to be a cleric. I've chosen Lathander as my god."

DM: "Lathander isn't in my game since it's set in Greyhawk. Pelor is the sun god here."

Player: "That sounds great. I'll be a cleric of Pelor then."

Unless the player has chosen an obscure god or the DM has an unusual religious system, my experience is that it's generally easy to find a corresponding god to the one the player has chosen. There have of course been a few exceptions that I have seen, but for the most part it's really easy.

 

[Yaarel]

but earth is rock, soil and sand it does not feel acid which is the grinding down of solid by liquid/
water is cold but so is the wind, cold is this deep absence to the world not a thing you touch, water Being acid goes well with its mutability and it grinds down the world, like all chaos does.

Earth is "solid". But it is also minerals and chemistry. Whence Acid.

earth having some horrible and toxic at its depths feels more in line with the idea of what Earth is.

Horrible Earth? Are you referring to lava that is in the "depths" of earth? Fire? Or the grave? Spirit, ether? Or acids and other polluting chemicals?

Chemicals can also be a "toxic" Poison. Poison is often part of the "primordial" "elemental" spells. In this context, the poison reminds me of the alchemical toxins like the metals of lead and mercury.

But generally, I associate the Poison damage type with snake venom and poisonous plants. When I think of what poison is − something that interrupts the metabolism of a living organism − only living organisms can even be "poisoned". The Poison damage type is inherently an aspect of the natural lifeforms of the Material Plane, thus it organizes thematically with the creature types Plant and Beast of the Material Plane. One can use the Medicine skill to create poisons and antitoxins.


I strongly view the Earth element − including the Beast and Plant creature types − with the "Transmutation" spell school. The alchemist "transmutes" lead into gold, for example. The alchemist also experiments with chemicals from various organic and inorganic sources to produce elixirs of immortality and healing medicines. Likewise Transmutation involves shapeshifting of creatures and objects, including Plant and Beast, including Werewolf, as well as spells like Barkskin and properly Stoneskin. Spells that "Fabricate" products made out of animal products and plant products, as well as forged from metal and stone, are Transmutation. The Abjuration spell school is more like a specialized subschool of Transmutation, dedicated to healing, restoring, and protecting. D&D seems to entangle all of these themes with element of Earth. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it feels like a useful entanglement of themes.

Evocation spells handle the rest of the four the Elements. Evocation can include Earth, but mainly primordial and insubstantial forms, such as Acid and Poison. Otherwise the evoked elemental "energies" are Air Lightning-Thunder, Water Cold, Bludgeon, Pierce, plus Fire Radiant. The fire of a candle is literally, hot air, an incandescent gas. By contrast the fire of the sun is plasma, a distinct state of matter, whence the Radiant damage type. Fire as an element is actually Radiant. But the combination of Fire and Air can include themes like Fire and Radiant sunlight, daylight.

 

[Yaarel]

To represent the damage from nuclear radiation, D&D can combine the Radiant-Necrotic damage types. If I remember correctly, some noncore spells do this. The combo damage seems spot on, with both burns and internal dead organic tissue.

 

[Baron Opal II]

those are not foes in fiction.

Not sure what you mean.

secondly, you do not want evil wizards with the give cancer spell or colourless fireball?

Not the first really, but I'm fine with the second.

I find the para elemental planes boring as the options suck rather than having more cool elements

I've started moving towards more para-elementals as I feel the classical elements are over-done for me. But, I absolutely agree that they need some jazz. 2000 years of tradition and lore is hard to replace.

I've gone with:
Mist - Air/Water (Infiltration, Moist, Cold, Ephemeral)
Clay - Water/Earth (Mutable, Foison, Fertile, Potential)
Magma - Earth/Fire (Sporadic, Explosive, Metal, Hot)
Radiance - Fire/Air (Rapid, Warm, Color, Expansive)
Salt - Water/Fire (Dross, Preservation, Lingering, Dry)
Dust - Earth/Air (Entropic, Spreading, Abrasive, Clinging)

"Acid" is a salt, whence Earth.

Salts are the products of acids, but that's pedantic.

 

[Yaarel]

Salts are the products of acids, but that's pedantic.

Heh, fair.

I've started moving towards more para-elementals as I feel the classical elements are over-done for me. But, I absolutely agree that they need some jazz. 2000 years of tradition and lore is hard to replace.

I've gone with:
Mist - Air/Water (Infiltration, Moist, Cold, Ephemeral)
Clay - Water/Earth (Mutable, Foison, Fertile, Potential)
Magma - Earth/Fire (Sporadic, Explosive, Metal, Hot)
Radiance - Fire/Air (Rapid, Warm, Color, Expansive)
Salt - Water/Fire (Dross, Preservation, Lingering, Dry)
Dust - Earth/Air (Entropic, Spreading, Abrasive, Clinging)

It is easy to contrast hot dry fire versus cold wet water. Where rain comes from, so does does snow.

But both earth and water are "cold". This is why I like associating the Cold damage type with both elemental Water and Earth.

With regard to atmospheric snow storms, it is the watery aspect that produces the Cold, not the airy aspect.

The airy aspect, I associate with luminous daylight, and Radiant sunlight. While mundane fire is hot Air, it is especially the sunlight that is the element Fire (the state of matter). The entire sky glows with daylight. Daylight and sunlight are often distinct concepts, since twilight has a luminous sky apparently without the sun. I associate the Radiant-Fire damage types with both Air and Fire.


Regarding "clay" and "dust" as paraelements, heh, it is difficult for me to find these "exciting", or even meaningfully distinct from each other, since clay actually is dust particles.

For this reason too, I prefer the Water-Earth paraelemental be Cold (and darkness) itself.


Magma ≈ metal. I also associate the Fire-Earth combo with "forging" metal items. So the correlation of metallurgy here makes some sense. This would also relate to the alchemical aspects of Earth generally. For the sake of picking a D&D damage type, I end up with Acid making most sense for Fire-Earth. Relatedly salt is a "fiery" tasting "crystal", whence salt is also Fire-Earth. But I also like the connotation of Fire-Earth being "metal".

Note, water can also deal Bludgeoning damage, as well as pierce and slash thru rock erosion. So the Weapon damage types (Bludgeon, Pierce, Slash) associate with both Water-Earth. It is even possible to make high pressure water jet into a kind of blade that can cut thru metal.

For the Air-Earth paraelemental, this can be the Tree itself as an element, whose branches and roots unite sky and land.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Magma ≈ metal. I also associate the Fire-Earth combo with "forging" metal items. So the correlation of metallurgy here makes some sense.

I vacillate between the potency of volcanoes (magma) or the vast utility and cultural weight of metalworking and the forge (metal).

For the Air-Earth paraelemental, this can be the Tree itself as an element, whose branches and roots unite sky and land.

Interesting idea! I've leaned into clay as a "source" of wood, flesh, and growing things, however. This comes from ooze being useless to me, clay having cultural weight, and the stories of people being made from clay. Northern stories of people being fashioned from trees is only a step further removed. (Clay --> Growing things --> People)

And that's the thing, if I'm going to have some "para-elements" what would have cultural weight? Clay I mentioned. Dust from "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" - so Dust as a para-element contains connotations of endings. Mist is the most physically weak of them, as it fades so quickly after the sun rises. But, it's pervasive, and the chill of it seeps everywhere, through clothes, walls, &c.

I'm also thinking of Crystal, Ice, and Shadow. But, I don't have a place for them in my scheme. If I'm going to go through the trouble it seems a bit like cheating to explain the others but have one be just hanging out. But, for a while there we had some particles that physicist's couldn't fit into their schemes, either.