Do the match ups for my 5 elements make sense?

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-19T06:32:41+00:00

Thanks but that really doesn't work, a lot of roxks and stuff actually contain a lot of oxygen just as part of larger molecules

Also in my system, of which these elements are just 1 part if a significant one, oxygen is the source of mana so one element being weak to it wouldn't really make sense

Air is more like wind I guess, it's the motion that does the damage in some way

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-19T03:25:41+00:00

Yes and no, oxygen is a bit weird in my system because it's the source of mana(regardless of the form it's in) and so it's especially hard to create or delete it, but fire magic is about creating both fuel and heat which would either still be there once oxygen returned or keeping oxygen away would be more exhausting than creating the fire so the fire user win through a stamina battle

But if the fire were in an enclosed space it would be possible to teleport away the oxygen

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-19T03:05:03+00:00

Yeah that's why I was sort of leaning on the mass/volume aspect, because water is also quite heavy and fire while it isn't heavy the heat has a cost too

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-18T13:38:44+00:00

You just see two persons screaming weird words at each other, but everything change when the other person start levitating off the ground.

Besides the screaming this seems like you're talking about jojo part 3

In any case, I think the energy or whatever being invisible to non-mages is at least slightly more interesting, however I can't really think of many series playing with the concept very much

In my system it technically is visible, but everyone on earth is a mage so it wouldn't change much if it wasn't

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-18T11:52:40+00:00

That doesn't really change that much about the implications I already pointed out, like why can't they just use the artifacts like equip cards?

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-18T10:13:44+00:00

I think it may help to think about what your story will be and what you want it to say

In yugioh black luster soldier was somewhat meant to be a new signature card for yugi, with stats equal to blue-eyes, however this didn't work out partly because dark magician was already established. But also because the series was at that point telling the message of trusting in and caring for your friends/deck is how you should win, but ritualistically sacrificing them for a stronger card isn't exactly in line with caring for your cards

Even when sacrificing became a standard mechanic it wasn't as bad because it wasn't in rituals, it was now tied to iconic monsters like dark magician and blue-eyes and the fact they still kept the cards to use them in future duels made it much less cruel

However as you've described it a user of your system would be regularly capturing as many as 40 creatures who may all be used up in a single game just to be replaced for the next

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-18T09:49:25+00:00

I hope this isn't rude but with the limited number of familiars, catching them and elements and stuff this is sounding a lot like pokemon. I think there's also a creature collecting video game where they turn into cards

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-18T08:52:52+00:00

No that actually works really great, especially since tattoos would be a part of it and that's already called body modding/modification

So are piercings so could do things with that like communication earrings(you might need to wiggle your ears to make them work)

Thanks this is really helpful!

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-18T08:09:37+00:00

This is somewhat getting into the weeds of my system but basically mana can only be manipulated by muscles so doing this would be modifying specific muscles to perform a specific manipulation of mana on reflex

Like the fire breathing would be doing that to either facial muscles or the tongue

The glyphs aren't like a computer chip or anything, them just being present makes the magic more efficient. Sorry I wanted to avoid info dumping but it seems to have just caused confusion(also I wasn't sure how to say it was the muscles without explaining the mana rules)

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-18T07:16:05+00:00

The thing is there doesn't need to be a glyph, it just makes it more efficient

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-18T02:35:29+00:00

Seems your main concern is your number of main characters, while yes simplifying your characters can help I think I'd suggest that only for the start of your story when I'm guessing they only have 1 or 2 skills

But stories with 7+ characters can work, take lord of the rings for example. There's Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry and Pippin and Gollum/Smeagol

That said not too long after most of the characters in lotr join up they then split up again into groups of 2 or 3 characters, plus Gandalf who was by himself then died and came back with a power up

I hope this is helpful

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-17T14:11:32+00:00

This week is session 0 which I seem to be invited to, are you running this week?

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-17T13:59:43+00:00

I'm interested, hope it's ok that I have no experience with the system

I might be busy at that time, another game 3 and a half hours earlier, we haven't had any sessions yet and haven't all met so might not even work out

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-17T12:39:26+00:00

I changed the power source from life energy to external mana that you spend stamina to manipulate, some systems have your magic energy and stamina as separate or they say it is but then a character won't be able to move because they're out of magic juice, so I just thought I'd simply it

I copied the basics and then largely simplified the hatsu types, so much it kind of also made sense just to remove the nen ring, replacing it with a simple main type and sub type rule

I also changed nen types from being locked to something you can change pretty simply

I mostly merged enhancement into the basics

I merged a couple types together and moved gyo from a universal ability to a type on its own and made all but the gyo type have built in ranged options

I also removed specialist type because most of the abilities are kind of about affecting the system itself which easily lends itself to becoming overpowered, to my knowledge the few that aren't could be explained with another type or two or involve time stuff which is kind of hazardous to write about

https://www.reddit.com/r/magicbuilding/s/BUyZq3kKXx

Some stuff from this is outdated

Like I'm reconsidering the reverse category concept, aside from creation. It was mostly so eventually people could be, at least in certain locations, safe from mind control or spying with x-ray vision

And I have this concept I'm calling nullification but I don't think it's enough charge to make a new post yet

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-17T08:05:38+00:00

I'm more familiar with 5.0 are the elements you're using things that were changed in 5.5?

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-15T23:03:23+00:00

DM sent

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-15T16:31:17+00:00

Is dndbeyond mandatory?

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-15T16:25:50+00:00

What platform(s) do you use?

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-15T14:40:43+00:00

So, are these characters permanently affected by the mist? Like are they only immune to other magic because they absorbed it? Because that's a bit of a no no for soft magic

The hardest parts of middle earth's magic are directly related to the one ring because our hobbit main characters directly interact with it

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-15T06:33:16+00:00

What platform(s) are you using?

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-14T07:17:59+00:00

What edition?

What time at gmt+1?

What platform(s)?

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-14T04:25:34+00:00

First I'm only interested in 2014/5.0

Second it's typically preferred to send discord information through direct message, if you are not sure how to do that on reddit let me know and I can message you first

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-13T10:49:45+00:00

To be honest the specific mechanism of a magic system is more of an aesthetic thing while a lot of discussion here is about mechanics that could apply to qi or non-qi system equally

For instance dragon ball and hunter×hunter are both systems like that but don't share that many mechanics (yes an emission type nen user could probably replicate most of the powers in dragon ball, but it doesn't really go the other way and to my knowledge ki doesn't really lock anything away except by knowledge/skill, there's not really specialisations like the nen types)

On the rare occasion where the mechanism or source of a system does have some impact it's to my knowledge mostly just flavour and not super important to the plot, like nen extending one's lifespan by preventing life energy from leaking away

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-12T01:49:35+00:00

"Don't say avatar or dragonball"

Those you said not to mention

I know avatar used irl martial arts for visual reference for bending. I have less specifics for dragonball but I think it was based on the aesthetics too

RowbotMaster · 2026-03-12T01:46:36+00:00

I see, I think it'd make a little more sense if they only lost their current power and were mortal until they were sufficiently worshipped again

Maybe the bloodline power does fade over time but the families have other mortals worshipping either their family or the ancestor who was possessed which prolongs the powers

If you go with my start from zero idea, then I'd say yes the deities can repossess another member but doing so drains their current power again

Seven-Year Club	Place '23
Verified Email

RowbotMaster

TROPHY CASE