Elemental Powers: Difference between revisions

In the past, it was thought that all of matter could be classified into easily viewable "elements" that one can observe with the naked eye. Thus, all of the world was made up of natural forces such as "earth, air, fire, water" et al. The discovery of the atom mostly disproved that, but the idea was so deeply rooted in mankind's mind, that it's still used in nearly every supernatural fictional setting (note that the classical elements actually correspond to a different scientific concept: the phases of matter, provided you count plasma as a fourth phase & not just as a subset of gas. Alternately, fire corresponds to ''energy,'' particularly the heat energy that moves matter from one state to another).

 

 

May involve the capability to summon [[Elemental Embodiment|Elementals]], the living embodiment of the elements themselves.

* '''Heart/Love:''' The element of emotions and spirit. May involve [[The Empath|empathic abilities]], [[The Power of Friendship]] [[The Power of Love|and/or love]], or [[Healing Hands|healing]]. On the other hand, it may involve focusing that power into a [[Care Bear Stare|coherent beam of destruction]] (in which case it may be conflated with Light or Life). Usually turns out to be either the [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|most powerful element of all]], or the [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|most useless]]. Sometimes [[Informed Ability|they claim it's the former when it's really the latter]].

** Main Article: [[Heart Beat-Down]], [[The Power of Love]]

* '''Metal/Steel:''' Either a subset of Earth (including metals and non-metals) or contrasted against Earth (metal alloys as opposed to non-metal rocks). Metal is used for either ridiculously high defensive capabilities (clang) or offensive capabilities (stabby). It has associations with strength, technology, civilization, rigidity, craftsmanship, and determination. Even though it's like a stronger version of Earth, it's also sterile, inflexible, cold, and can't bear life like Earth can. Often opposed by Nature or Wood. The easiest of the elemental powers to produce [[Magitek]] from. Metal is rarely seen as a classical element or power outside of Asia (and China in particular).

** Main Article: [[Extra Ore Dinary]]

* In ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'', Minto/Mew Mint is a birdgirl that can fly, uses a bow and arrow and can withstand strong winds; Retasu/Mew Lettuce is a fishgirl that can turn into a mermaid, uses bubble attacks and can control nearby water sources; and Bu-ling/Mew Pudding is a monkeygirl that creates trenches when she attacks, can manifest boulders out of nowhere, and once caused vines to grow up around Tokyo Dome. The only reason Zakuro has flames in her Transformation Sequence when she becomes Mew Zakuro appears to be to match the other three. This would, of course, put Ichigo/Mew Ichigo under "heart", which fits pretty strongly, actually.

* ''[[Prétear]]'' has Wind, Sound, Light, Fire/Heat, Ice/Cold, Water and Plants.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'' the Logia Devil Fruits let their users turn into whatever element they're given as well as create huge amounts of them out of nothing and manipulate it. However, this includes more then the basic elements as a result of the Logia's official definition being the loose concept of "Forces of Nature" which means bizarre "elements" such as Smoke, Swamp, and Gas get a pass. Oddly, Fire is the only classical element that has appeared yet.;<ref>And was treated as nothing special, being defeated by Magma with the latter's user claiming his element is superior.</ref> seen so far were:

** Smoke

*** Each element also had an [[Standard Status Effects|energy type]] associated with it. Fire had fire damage (duh), water had cold, air had lightning, and earth had acid. Then, there was poor, lonely sonic damage...

*** The Elemental Savant [[Prestige Class]] selects any one of these four to focus on, creating a truer example than mages with access to all of the above.

** The spin-off game ''[[Pathfinder]]'' has the kineticist, a class all about elemental powers. Not an actual spellcaster, a kineticist uses a wide array of spell-like abilities, most usable at will, or [[Cast From Hit Points|at the cost of his/her health]] for the most powerful ones. A kineticist has access to fire, water (includes ice), earth, air (includes lightning), wood, aether ([[Mind Over Matter]] and [[Pure Energy]]) and void (includes shadow and gravity). Depending on what combination of elements the character decides to learn (up to 3), many different play styles are available, from a destructive damage dealer to a highly defensive protector.

* ''[[Exalted]]'' divvies up the Dragon-Blooded by the five elemental Aspects of Creation (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Wood). The Aspect of a particular Dragon-Blooded determines their favored attributes (such as Craft for Earth, Sail for Water, Thrown for Air, etc.), and one Charm (Elemental Bolt) lets them produce a blast attack of their particular element.

** Various planes of reality in Exalted all possess certain elements that dominate the makeup of that place. [[Eternal Engine|Autochthonia]] has the peculiar elements of Crystal, Lightning, Metal, Oil, Steam and Smoke, all with corresponding elementals and mechanical dragons (The Lesser Elemental Dragon of Smoke is lovingly titled [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|The Shogun of Genocide]]). The [[Dark World|Underworld]] has the ghostly elements of Blood, Bone, Prayer, Pyreflame and Void.<ref>In-character, these are only theoretical as the Underworld doesn't actually have a physical substance...</ref> [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Malfeas]] has Vitriol—and that's it. {{spoiler|It kind of sucks to live there.}}

* [[The Dark Eye]] has six elements: Water, Fire, Air, Ore, Humus, and Ice. Ore is the "dead" part of the more common element Earth: Anything from sand to gemstones and refined metals, and one aspect is gravity; the opposite of air. Humus is the "living" part, from fertile topsoil to plants and animals, and associated with growth. Its opposite Ice includes cold and darkness, and is also associated with logic. The magic system is not limited to elemental spells, but any magic user specialising in elemental magic must chose one element as their main one, which makes spells based on it easier to learn, gives a slight bonus in negotiations with elementals, etc. There are corresponding penalties when dealing with the opposite element.

 

** Don't forget the [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0802.html Semi-Elemental Plane of Ranch Dressing.]

* In ''[[Angel Moxie]]'', Alex's magical ability is centered around the magical elements. The 6 magical elements are Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Pearl, and Shadow. Every lesser demon is aligned with a particular element, and as Alex slays demons of an element, she gains more power to cast spells of that element.

* A webcomic example: Magic in the world of [[Fetch Quest: Saga of the Twelve Artifacts|Bideogamu]] is divided into eight elements, each with a patron Seraph: Light, Shadow, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth/Nature, Ice, and Lightning. Furthermore, each person in Bideogamu has an affinity for one of the eight, although Light and Shadow are very rare.

* In the Web comic ''[[Harkovast]]'' there are fourteen (count em) magical elements! They are Fire, Ice, Water, Earth, Metal, Mind, Nature, Technology, Dark, Light, Life, Death, Thunder and Water. Every race that appears is gifted with the magic of two of these elements, each race receiving a different combination. The combination they get determines both the special powers and often aspects of the culture of that race.

** Actually, Homestuck is all about this. There's not much of an [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]], but there are Heroes of Time, Breath, Doom, Blood, Heart, Space, Mind, Light, Void, Rage, Hope, Life, and gog knows what else.

* An antagonist in ''[[Sarab]]'' also averts air users lacking raw power. He [https://web.archive.org/web/20120720142618/http://sarab.co/pages/chapter-01-changes/page-13-distress/index.html seems] to have the ''most'' raw power of anyone shown so far.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* ''[[Chaos Fighters]]'' is rife with this. Without counting the [[Power Levels]], there are around ''23'' elements including [[Non-Elemental]], which is counted as one. Their weakness depends on the nature of the elemental attacks/spells and the caster. This is not even count the sub-elements under non-elemental, such as [[I Love Nuclear Power|subatomic particles and their antimatter counterparts]] and photons.

* In the web novels of ''[[Trinton Chronicles]]'' it seems like everyone has one form of elemental based powers.

** Lightning-Powerful, yet fast fading.

** Water-Versatility.

 

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[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]

[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]

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