Evoking Para-Elements

[Primitive Screwhead]

[MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION]; if you are working up the Elements of Magic Re-Revised for 5th edition I would recommend you include the below recommendations in that as well!

So,

Working on developing my BBEG for the close of the current game arc and delving into the caster side of things a bit more. I am concerned about the elemental side effects for the Para-Element of Lightning {and Mist, Ooze, and Lava}

In the case of Lightning the side effect is Stun, which in 3d edition wasn't too harsh as most PC's could handle a number of hits before going down.. so I didn't think about it much then. With OLDs dynamics, multi-round Stun can be lethal.

In addition, a one round -Stun is also an enhancement of a 4MP Charm {Daze} spell. It seems wrong that a 1 point Evoke Lightning not only deals damage but also can emulate a 5 point Charm spell.

Mist doesn't have side effect, and Oozes side effect {Slimed!} seems to fit better as a 'Create Ooze' spell.

The fourth Para-Elemental Lava has a pretty decent side effect, essentially the 'Heat Metal' spell, which is nicely evocative.

IMHO this means of the four options we have one overpowered, one balanced, and two underpowered.
Additionally, the Earth Side effect states 'deals bonus damage, see the Nature entry'.. which mentions that Earth damage is 'crushing' damage but there isn't any bonus damage involved...


My recommendation are:

• move the Lava's Bake effect to Fire as an alternate set of effects
• Move Ooze's 'Slimed' effect to Create Ooze
• Drop Lightnings 'Stun' effect
• Add to Earth, Crystal, Metal, and Nature that at the start of their turn the target must pass an END check against the side-effects DC or take 1D6 damage* that bypasses SOAK. If they do not pass the check, the DC drops one category and they must make another check in the following round.
• Add an enhancement for Evoke lists with multiple sets of side effects; for 1 MP the spell can have the side-effects from another side-effect listing
• Add that Para-Elemental Evokes can choose either of their 'parent' elements side-effects listings, with Parent being the two adjacent Cardinal Elements on the Wheel.

* or 1 point for each Dice of Evoke damage

With these changes the Evoke Lighting spell could include both KnockBack {Air} and Ignite {Fire} for the extra cost of that 1MP enhancement. Or even go with Bake {Fire} just to change things up.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Still working on some BBEG effects, this time working on the treasure trove and I realized that EoM spells miss a capability that is pretty iconic... chained lightning.

At first I thought to model that with an immediate contingency spell, but basically that doubles the MP cost. Which brings me to the Lightning side effects.

While I still think the orginal post has good ideas, I am also thinking of adding the following to Lightning:

1MP: Chaining. If there is another target within 30' of your primary target wearing metal armor, the attack chains to that target. Select the target with the most metal within range, and if there are multiple wearing similar levels of armor select the closest or randomly choose.

3MP: Dual Chain. Select two primary targets within 30', the spell Chains from each target to a secondary target. This can hit a total of 4 targets. The spell cannot hit the same target twice.

5MP: Multi-Chain. Select two primary targets within 30', the spell Dual Chains from each target to a secondary target and then chains to a tertiary target. This can hit a total of 10 targets. The spell cannot hit the same target twice.

8 MP: Mass Chain. Select two primary targets within 30', the spell Dual Chains to secondary targets, Dual Chains to tertiary targets, and then Chains to quaternary targets. This spell can hit a total of 22 targets. The spell cannot hit the same target twice.

 

[osarusan]

[MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION]; if you are working up the Elements of Magic Re-Revised for 5th edition I would recommend you include the below recommendations in that as well!.

My god... a 5th edition version of Elements of Magic would make my head explode.

I and my players adore EOM. It is the best magic system I have ever seen for any RPG, and we still used variant cobbled-together versions of it in 5th edition and most other games that we play.

An updated version of the rules... I would be first in to buy it!

 

[Morrus]

Yikes, that's an old thread! There are no current plans for a 5E EoM, but that magic system does power the magic in WOIN.

 

[osarusan]

Great, well I will definitely check out the magic in Whats Old is New then!