Mud Sorcerers, et al

[Olgar Shiverstone]

So if mud sorcerers draw their power from the harmonious combination of elemental water and earth, what do the other combinations get us?

earth + fire = lava?

Earth + air = ?

water + air = fog?

water + fire = ?

air + fire = smoke?

Air + fire + earth = ?

Fire + earth + water = ?

Air + fire + water = ?

I forget my demi-elemental and para-elemental lore, obviously.

 

[the Jester]

Air + Fire = Smoke.
Earth + Fire = Magma.
Air + Water = Ice.

Air + Earth and Fire + Water, as opposites*, don't combine harmoniously in typical D&D lore. However, if you follow the Planescape cosmology and subscribe to the idea that the elemental planes once shifted around, the wavefire, from the MC Compendium Appendix... 2? or 3?... was an example of water + fire.

Then again, water + positive = steam, which is pretty near to what the wavefire represents- a bubble of boiling water.

For the record, then, the quasielements:

Air + Positive = Lightning.
Air + Negative = Vacuum

Earth + Positive = Minerals
Earth + Negative = Dust

Fire + Positive = Radiance
Fire + Negative = Ash

Water + Positive = Steam
Water + Negative = Salt

Now, this leaves open the question that I've always pondered- what is at the border of, say, the paraelemental plane of ooze and the positive energy plane? (Clay?) What do you get when you mix magma and the negative energy plane? (Basalt?) There's room for some pretty obscure planar lore to be written yet...


*Note that in the Aristotelian view, that's not how it worked. Fire was hot and dry, water hot and wet, earth cold and wet, and air cold and dry- IIRC- so that earth opposed fire, and air opposed water.

 

[SkidAce]

Are these the same mud sorcerers that were in that great Dungeon magazine from way back?

 

[the Jester]

Are these the same mud sorcerers that were in that great Dungeon magazine from way back?

I haven't looked at that part yet, but the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb is the new adventure in the playtest packet.

 

[Unwise]

In an old Rolemaster game I had: "Air + Earth = Gravity" I guess that makes sense.

In true Rolemaster fashion, they went overboard with their elementalists, they had: Time; Gravity; Inertia; Aether; Nexus; Chaos; Void; Spirit; Dark; Vibration; etc etc. It was really over the top.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Now, this leaves open the question that I've always pondered- what is at the border of, say, the paraelemental plane of ooze and the positive energy plane? (Clay?) What do you get when you mix magma and the negative energy plane? (Basalt?) There's room for some pretty obscure planar lore to be written yet...

Interestingly, the 2e Planescape book on the inner planes has "border regions" for each plane. So this question kind of has an answer: when you go towards the positive and negative, you kind of get a mixture of the paraelemental plane and the two neighboring regions.

So, for Ice, going toward Negative Energy gives you either the Frigid Void (Ice + Vacuum = A place of cold and darkness) or the Stinging Storm (Ice + Salt = a place of hail and salt-water ice). Going toward the Positive Energy plane gives you either the Fog of Unyielding Frost (Ice + Steam = Fog that freezes your lungs) or the Shimmering Drifts (Ice + Lightning = a place of sparkling snow that causes madness).

For Magma, going toward Negative gives you either Chalk Islands (Magma + Ash = A place of chalky islands covered in frigid ash with rivers of magma churning between them) or the Sands (Mamga + Dust = A desert where the sand corrodes and erodes all things). Going toward Positive gives you either the Glowing Dunes (Magma + Radiance = A desert of metallic ash where...I think you get radiation sickness) or the Obsidian Forest (Magma + Mineral = an obsidian plane with spires of glass and crystal where outcasts of Earth live).

For Ooze + Negative you get the Oasis of Filth (Ooze + Dust = a "half-congealed" place of thick ooze that is overrun with diseases) or the Stagnant Sea (Ooze + Salt = Corrosive brine swamp). For Ooze + Positive you get the Slag Marshes (Ooze + Mineral = A metallic swamp where a poisonous plant grows) and the Choking Gale (Ooze + Steam, a place of toxic vapor that might be the Elemental Plane of Horrible Smells).

For Smoke + Negative, there's the Embers (Smoke + Ash = A place of burning cinders) and the Gray Way (Smoke + Vacuum = A place of air that poisons the mind, causing violence and hallucinations). For Smoke + Positive, there's the Sea of Stars (Smoke + Radiance = Flakes of light like fireflies in the darkness) and the Aurora (Smoke + Lightning = Basically an eternal aurora!).

This only goes to show you that during 2e, far too many words were written.

 

[the Jester]

Awesome. Where was all this info? The Inner Planes boxed set or something?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Was just a softcover, but yeah! I'd say it's a pretty under-rated book as far as Planescape books go, but it's been one of my favorites!