Elemental Hero' Handbook

webrunner · May 25, 2011

Dice4Hire · May 25, 2011

At least the title is not Heroe of those elemental thingys

generalchaos34 · May 25, 2011

its a good chance to do a runepriest build, since they have already mentioned an elemental version of it in an earlier article! plus it could also be something that leaks into other classes, which would make stuff like primal classes a nice target, hey isnt there already an elemental themed druid out there?

Aegeri · May 25, 2011

Neverfate said:
What's the worst that could happen? One terrible elemental class and then support for the wizard and cleric?

An all too accurate sounding prediction with the current "direction".

generalchaos34 said:
its a good chance to do a runepriest build, since they have already mentioned an elemental version of it in an earlier article! plus it could also be something that leaks into other classes, which would make stuff like primal classes a nice target, hey isnt there already an elemental themed druid out there?

What? Support a previous non-essentials class that actually needs it and that ISN'T a Warlock/Wizard/Cleric? Are you talking madness? MADNESS? Didn't you know nothing pre-essentials no longer exists to wizards?

Best we could hope for there is a elemental cleric. If we're lucky.

Edit: It just dawned on me that if they do a gloomwrought like book for THIS, then.. could we get The City of Brass and Beyond? God damn, that would be the first thing wizards would have announced in a LONG time to make me genuinely excited about 4E again.

Hawke · May 26, 2011

As I said elsewhere, color me disinterested if it's simply the same class powers except with keywords. I think you can do that easily enough now with magical items or careful power choice for magic classes. I'd love to see a mechanic unique to elemental classes similar to power points for psionics - something truly unique and changes how the class is played.

I've always thought elemental classes that were forced to manage elements-as-a-resource would be pretty awesome. Utilize the fire you find/create as the source of your power, but the more you rely on it the more counters (water/cold) can hinder your options... I don't know exactly how it might work, but in any event in things like Avatar (The Last Air Bender) availability and amount of elements proved useful in combat.

Sort of like taking terrain powers to the next level, opens up some DM options and some more complex play w/o requiring epic levels to do so. Of course, I think how I'd envision it would be an entirely standalone game... but I do have faith that there are smart enough folks at WotC that could do some truly cool things within their system and make it different and better than just the same powers with new keywords. Will the right people be involved and unhindered? That remains to be seen.

Mummolus · May 26, 2011

I'd hazard a guess that we see a few more genasi variants in this one.

Maybe some support for the githzerai, if the book is to the Elemental Chaos what HoS was to the Shadowfell. Hopefully better though.

Aegeri · May 26, 2011

You know, it's sad that a year ago I would have been out of my boots excited at the mere hint of this book. Now I just hope it's worth actually buying and not just leaving it to end up with the content in DDI.

That's kind of sad for me

generalchaos34 · May 26, 2011

Hawke said:
As I said elsewhere, color me disinterested if it's simply the same class powers except with keywords. I think you can do that easily enough now with magical items or careful power choice for magic classes. I'd love to see a mechanic unique to elemental classes similar to power points for psionics - something truly unique and changes how the class is played.

I've always thought elemental classes that were forced to manage elements-as-a-resource would be pretty awesome. Utilize the fire you find/create as the source of your power, but the more you rely on it the more counters (water/cold) can hinder your options... I don't know exactly how it might work, but in any event in things like Avatar (The Last Air Bender) availability and amount of elements proved useful in combat.

Sort of like taking terrain powers to the next level, opens up some DM options and some more complex play w/o requiring epic levels to do so. Of course, I think how I'd envision it would be an entirely standalone game... but I do have faith that there are smart enough folks at WotC that could do some truly cool things within their system and make it different and better than just the same powers with new keywords. Will the right people be involved and unhindered? That remains to be seen.

Actually a new class with a new type of play would be rocking. Id like to see something where you use a minor action to change your elemental state in order to alter how powers work. I.E. Cold/Water adds slow, Earth gives you DR, fire does a DoT, etc. Something like the stances for slayers or Hunters, but with At-wills and encounters, maybe not dailies.

Plus like yous aid with terrain typer powers, it could be a controller, and alot of powers could create zones that mirror their surroundings or their elemental states, so earth pillars, fire gouts, mud, ice slicks, etc.

Jhaelen · May 26, 2011

Mummolus said:
I'd hazard a guess that we see a few more genasi variants in this one.

Aren't there already, like, a dozen?

Considering the naming of the book changed a bit, I'd suppose the content is also going to be slightly different from what we got in 'Heroes of Shadow'.

I somehow doubt we'll see an actual 'Elemental' power source. I'm also somewhat skeptical if it will actually include a new class.

So, yeah, a bunch of new mage builds is the most likely content, along with a selection of 'elemental-themed' powers and paragon paths for other Essentials classes.