Elemental

From Sagataflwiki

Latest revision as of 17:07, 18 May 2011

This article is the general rules for Summoning and Dominating Elementals, and so deals almost exclusively with what Elementals of all types have in common, only touching upon peculiarities of Elementals of specific elements when the risk of a major assumption clash is great.

Also note that this article is currently designing-while-writing, so the content is at present far from set in stone, and may change drastically, until parts or the whole of this article "hits the spot" and is seen as pleasing to the Designer's eye.

Subject

Examples I

Getting more in depth

Examples II

Advice

Include any and all pertinent advice here. The goal is to increase the chance of each player having fun, by giving advice helping the player to decide whether to buy the ability or not (if the article is about one or more abilities) or use the option (if the article is about something that characters can choose to do), and later on how to make use of the ability (e.g. to avoid any pitfalls that aren't extremely obvious).

Please note

Clarify, elaborate, try to predict and answer questions that are somewhat likely to be asked during character creation or during play.

Mini-FAQ

Put in sub-sections (three ='s) each containing multiple Q&As, and insert a blank line between each individual Q&A.

sub-section

Q:
A:

Q:
A:

The world

A section mainly for the GM, or worldbuilder, about the world impact of the phenomenon, e.g. an Item Creation Power, or an attribute or other stat that may sometimes be starkly high or low relative to the Human average.

World impact

Talk about the effect on the world that this phenomenon would realistically have (taking into account such facts of human nature as greed, ambition and sexual impulses).

The Ärth setting

Talk about how this trait appears and functions in the Ärth historical fantasy setting.

Design Notes

Talk briefly about what the purpose of the mechanic is. Omit this section if it is extremely obvious to the target audience.

Quick mini-glossary

Explain terms of great relevance to the subject matter of the article here, but not terms that are of generally great importance (e.g. RD).

See also

Include links here, to other articles that are highly pertinent to the subhject matter of this one. Remember
linebreaks before or after (but not both!). link
link

Table to use

General stats for Elemental spirits

Elemental Sprites can also be Summoned with GSL4 Summon Minor Elemental. more spacing

(GSL4) Summon Minor Elemental can Summon:

• One Elemental Builder
• One Elemental Sprite (Sprites can also be Summoned with SL4 Summon Sprite)
• One Elemental Warrior

(GSL5) Summon Medium Elemental can Summon:

• One Elemental Architech
• One Elemental Knight
• One Elemental Sage

(GSL6) Summon Major Elemental can Summon:

• One Elemental Lord
• One Elemental Prince (Very Strong Magic only)
• 1d6+4 Elemental Sprites (a "Swarm")
• 1d3+2 Elemental Warriors (a "Swarm")

Sprites only really work as scouts, spies and messengers, and perhaps as distractions. Warriors and Knights are for combat and destruction. Builders and Architechts are better suited for non-martial manipulation work (including building work). Sages have something approaching Human-level Intelligence and can do more interesting things (details still hazy...).

An Elemental Lord is a powerful combination of Architech and Knight, with some but not all of the abilities of a Sage. An Elemental Prince is like a more powerful Lord and with all of the abilities of the Sage, and more, and actual average-Human Intelligence.

GSL4, Summon Major Elemental, can also Summon a small Swarm of Warriors or a larger Swarm of Sprites. These function exactly like normal Warriors and Sprites, except that the Warriors have only 1 Power Point each, and the Sprites have none, and that each Elemental owes a single Service.

Each time the GSL4, 5 or 6 Spell is cast, or Activated as an Investment in an Endowed item, the caster or the wielder decides which kind of Elemental is Summoned, but cannot choose a "lesser" type, e.g. someone casting GSL5 Summon Medium Elemental cannot choose to Summon an Elemental Builder. The only case in which an Endowed item can have a pre-determined choice of Elemental is if it is capable of self-Activating, e.g. if a Detect Enchantment is triggered.

For non-Endowed Investments, there can be special rules, for instance such items may be more or less sentient and thus capable of self-activating, or to determine which kind of Elemental is Summoned.

Please note that Elementals are very low Intelligence relative to normal Humans. The smartest, the Prince, is only as intelligent as an average Human and the others are worse. Elementals also have an Ignorance Flaw, represnting their woeful lack of familiarity with the mortal plane, the needs of living beings, and so forth.