"Elemental powers, which do you prefer?" Topic

The classics of course…Fire, Earth, Air, and Water…as well as the more Eastern…Metal.

Your choice, be it for a character or just a preference because it sounds cool.

But that said…just one.

If your choice is a combined such as Steam, fire + water, then the assumed abilities would focus on the combined elements and not the parts…no fire or air related abilities, just as steam would relate.

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The idea is focused around the TV version of Avatar the Last Air Bender link link not to be confused with the absolute travesty movie version…the "twist" from Shamalamadingdong on the movie version is that he took every single good aspect of the TV show and threw it away, took the name, and made everything else up…his elemental aspect would be sewage or poo.

Anyway the show related benders could generate and manipulate the given element of their connection be it fire, earth, water, or air…and the main title character being able to use all four.

Thee were some odd, unusual, and interesting aspects of the elemental bending:

water benders could learn advanced healing by manipulating the water within the body

earth benders of rare talent could work with metal (a known weakness with the majority 99.9% of earth benders)

etc.

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There is a spirit realm to consider, and depending on your thought processes your could consider the energy of life to be an element.

Imagination and creative process could come up with some clever considerations to be true, but off the cuff, a gut instinct answer…what would your go to element be for a game…be it RPG or miniature based?

I like a metal Bender
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If you throw in Metal, Wood deserves consideration as well. Metal can be looked at as a hybrid of Fire and Earth, Wood as Water and Earth. You could extend that to other hybrids I suppose – Air and Water as Cloud, Air and Earth as Sand – but some are hard to visualize in a fantasy context. Air and Fire as Plasma? Or maybe Sunlight? Water and Fire as Steam?

Touche' puits – fait mon ami avec l'âne brillant en métal

:)

Indeed there are many ways to look at it…absolutely wood should be one :)

Sand is a fun one, there were sand benders in the arid zones (earth)

In another show there was a sand user who carried a big jar of sand with him picture as it is his element the seemingly heavy jar is light for him…takes his element with him.

I am a bit of a easy mark for this sort of thing…I can honestly say that elemental power/ability would be welcome, appreciated, and find a happy place with me…but I do tend to favor the Earth aspect.

Most times this element's benders or users adopt strong stances and hard movements like those found with hard style gung fu like low horse stances picture (not the best position, admittedly if someone is below you :) and other movements that focus on a stable foundation with hard strikes and limited excess movements of some of the more fluid styles like those found with air, water, and even fire.

As an artist, I can fully appreciate the sculpture aspect of this elemental manipulation…can you imagine the fine detailed work that could be possible.

Those retired users could sculpt vast gardens…great stuff right?

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Yes yes…sculpt your own miniatures and terrain :)

Yikes…I was just thinking about those that focus on one mineral per say…like calcium.

Bone altering could be quite useful and helpful in the hands of a doctor or healer, but the flip side is a gruesome thought.

Better to stick with the larger scope of things or this idea could go downhill quickly :(

Air

I like to rise above it all!

If you're going to have Elementals, why should you restrict yourself to an ancient and incorrect elemental theory?

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Or you could just be weird; China Miéville's The Iron Council has water and brine elementals, lightning, lava, flesh and moonlight "elementals".

In Order of Preference:

Earth (a Taurus thing I guess)

Earthquakes, stone shaping, Wall of Stone

Water

The healing thing is interesting, water walking

Air

Flight

Fire ("…the Devil's friend…")

not so much…

Gracias,

Glenn

I don't know the show but …

There were some odd, unusual, and interesting aspects of the elemental bending:

water benders could learn advanced healing by manipulating the water within the body

Personally, this strikes me as a stretch, certainly deviating from the purist idea your post started with. We've gone from manipulating the element to manipulating something that contains the element. If we allow that, then, well fire is just the energy released by a chemical reaction, so we should allow fire benders to manipulate any chemical reaction, and cellular growth is just a chemical reaction, so they can heal too. And since oxygen is part of air, air benders should be able to increase the oxygen a cell gets, and that should promote healing too … for that matter most fire is the energy that comes from an oxidizing chemical reaction, so we ought to let air benders control fire and other chemical reactions. And loam is a kind of earth comprised of decayed / decaying organic elements, so earth benders should be able to control rates of decay, including running decay in reverse, which means they can ultimately turn dead tissue into living tissue, which is essentially healing, is it not?

earth benders of rare talent could work with metal (a known weakness with the majority 99.9% of earth benders

That makes a little more sense as it's just specialization within their sphere of influence. Perhaps the earth bender readily manipulates silicon or a similar (chemical) element much more prevalent in the earth, and more advanced earth benders require less silicon to work their stuff, ultimately requiring none. Would there be other specializations? Earth stone benders? Earth clay benders?

The hybrid elements already mentioned could be their own elements, or you could say they are the result of a bender who manipulates two elements: lava (or fire + earth), steam (or fire + water), plasma (or fire + air), mist (or air + water), dust (or air + earth), and mud (or earth + water).

If you were say, trying to grow your game by releasing additional supplements, you could identify additional elements that have their own benders. You've identified metal, and wood. There's also electricity (or energy generally), magnetism, and chi / spirit force (allowing either necromancy or healing).

Combining those with the earlier elements would make an interesting exercise. Metal + fire gives molten benders, metal + water gives rust benders, electricity + air gives lightning benders, etc.

I suppose the Void element would be spirit force? I'd have to go with Void.

I choose Kosmos, or the mystical power of the Universe, represented by the dodecahedron in Pythagoras's belief system of the elements. Of course, Kosmos held sway over all other elements. Yeah, I wanna be top dog.

Fire

I like its cleansing power.

From the show…and only fire benders could generated their element from the body's energies;

Water: Associated power of healing. Advanced power; Blood Bending (usually only during a full moon): Origin of Bending- Taught/granted by the Spirits of the Moon and Sea. Needs the presence of water to bend; exception is blood bending which bends the water in the blood, controlling the body.

Fire: Advanced power; Lightening. Perverted to use anger (welcome to the dark side); Origin of Bending- Taught by dragons. Creates own fire from the chi.

Earth: Advanced power; Metal Bending. Origin of Bending- Taught by Badger Moles. Needs the presence of earth to bend.

Air: Associated power of flight (with glider) and speed. Advanced power; Spirit bending.(highly risky in that one can be bent themselves if not absolute in their beliefs). Taught by- Unknown. Spirit bending taught by Dragon Turtle. Needs the presence of air to bend.

(yeah…I've watched the series a few times. Thought the movie stank too.)

But which would you choose go0gle?

As to the insights of other elements, reactionaries, etc. well sure you ca take it out to the Nth degree :(

Fire benders do not manipulate heat or radiant energies, but rather the actual generation and control of a flame.

Good thoughts though everyone :)

I always liked the Darkness elementals in Confrontation. A very spooky bunch.

I'd choose water.

In the series, firebenders were able to "create" fire at will.

All other benders needed some of their element nearby to "bend" it.

But I really believe that in a "real" magical world of this nature, firebender MUST have a fire source nearby too to be able to "bend" the element (they're benders, not creators, right?).

In that order of thought, AIRBENDERS are the most powerful of all, because, as long as they're breathing, thay have their element around.

Maybe that's why, in the animated series, they have very firm cultural-religious believes, that made them pacifists.

Anyhow, if you're looking for wargaming scenarios and-or background, you need to create some "balance", or the gaming experience will be one sided.

Not to mention that, even if in the series this is rarely seen, I suppose that "bending an element" requires YEARS of study and practice, plus an INMENSE psiquic-physical effort.

And for that matter, commoners with bows may be more useful than a bender.

But that's only my opinion.

Best wishes.

I'd probably go Air. The least combative of the four…and the travel arrangements are pretty sweet to!

I could even see benders being consumed by the element due to excessive misuse…the show had a few incidents of the element getting away from the user/bender.

It would be interesting to see an overly aggressive user that exceeded his or her ability and focus consumed and absorbed by the element like a back blast.

Given my personality, fire. Inspiration, creation, and destruction. I also preferred the Fire-aspected Dragonblooded from White Wolf's Exalted setting.

Go0gle – Airbending was taught by the Sky Bisons. I can't recall the exact episode, but it is the same as the one where Toph reveals that the first Earthbenders were the badgermoles.

I'd pick Earth, as it is the farthest removed from my natural personality. Therefore it holds the most interest to my self.

Agreed Glenn. I am watching the TV series right now, a mini marathon.

I like them all and would be happy with any but I am more aligned with the Earth…and as I have been a coastal type all my life I suspect loose wet soil or sand would be the most akin to my internal vibe :)

Yep…Earth bending with the focus of sand.

I would have to choose earth, I don't like lighting a stove so fire is right out, I haven't been swimming in like 6 years so water is out, and I don't like rollercoasters so I doubt wiping around in the sky is for me.

So give me the solid earth to shape and mold, and I am happy!