So the majority of the direct damage spells in my campaign have been retyped as Evocation. "Direct Damage" as in, if it does HP damage or is a Fort save vs some form of massive damage (exploding organs and that sorta thing) then it is "direct damage". In addition these types of Evocation DD spells have for the most part been retyped not only as evocation but as elemental.
That said, i'm looking for ways to make the various elements stand out from each other.
Specifically Earth manifests physical attacks (such as a magic missile spell that fires solid metal ball bearings). Where as the others are pretty self explanatory. Fire = fire, cold = cold, electrical = electrical. Poison, Acid, Sound and Force are not considered "elemental attacks" and thus not allows in the DD Evocation catagory (and for the most part have been dropped from the campaign setting as a whole).
So, some of the 2ndary effects i'm looking for might knock back effect from explosions (such as Fireball), or a stun effect from cold or electrical, etc.
I'd like to see each element bring a specific 2nd effect or condition to make them feel different from each other during game play.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Stun's pretty hefty, I'd consider staggered instead if it's a secondary effect. Maybe staggered for electricity, a penalty like entangled for cold - not actually entangled by the cold, but a like penalty caused by temporary clumsiness. That's the explanation in my head for how rime spell works.
Catching on fire is a natural effect for fire spells. Knockback seems like more an earth/physical effect to me?
Anyone else?
Yeah, my vision of this type of change is that it will pretty dramatically change the way that Evocation (specifically Elemental attacks) are handled. This is further complicated by the fact that I run an E12 campaign and all spells that do direct HP damage, or require a save vs physical damage, have been retyped as Evocation (aka "destruction"). This brings back earlier edition feels that Evocation was a dangerous force to be dealt with vs one that you could merely laugh off.
(NOTE: yes, I've already addressed other factors such as Evasion in the campaign setting, however that is outside the scope of this article and I'm requesting we stay focused on the secondary effects of elemental magics for this discussion.)
So far things I know for certain that I'm going for are Fire effects can set things on fire. How often this occurs I'm not 100% certain yet, but I'm thinking something along the lines of 1d6 per spell level, lasting 1 round per spell level.
As for explosions (Fireball being the most obvious) I'm definitely looking at the the Explosion metamagic from 3.5 becoming default for the spell. It adds a significant knock back effect which works well for the effect I'm looking for.
Thus a Fireball would not only get the knock back from its explosive force, but would see a + 3d6 / for 3 rounds due to being set on fire, unless the fire was somehow put out obviously. NOTE: the lingering burning effects would be mundane effects and thus could be put out by normal means. So far this concept is still fairly rough but should give an idea of the sorta thing I'm going for.
As for the other elements I'm looking for a type of stun effect for electrical damage. For cold effects, perhaps with cold slowing the victim for 1/2 movement for 1rd per spell level and adding fatigue.
YES this changes the power level and dynamic of how these spells will be used in the campaign, no this is not an over sight. I'm looking for creative effects to add a much more dynamic feel to elemental evocation spells. With these changes an Elemental Fire Mage would definitely have a much different feel from an Elemental Earth Mage, or etc.
Cold (especially in a humid atmosphere) can also cover things with condensation or slippery ice, create fog, extinguish fires, freeze potions and other liquids, and make things brittle.
Electricity might make things buzz and spark for a couple of rounds in a rather unscientific show of static. Also, electricity = magnetism...do with that what you will. It ought to have special effects on Numerian technology.
Yeah, I definitely like the idea that an Ice Ball (reverse of Fireball) would leave the area frozen and slippery.