This odd version of Sorcery is new - so new, in fact,
that neither Heaven nor Hell has noticed it yet. Note
the use of the word 'yet'. After the smoke clears,
most researchers on both sides are going to find the
entire nature of Elementalism to be highly confusing.
It's clear that the below skills and rituals are
Sorcerous: the requirements for users are the same as
for regular Sorcerers, and the disciplines seem to
draw upon the intersection of human will and the
Symphony in roughly the same way.
It's just that nobody will be quite ready to believe
that comic books can be a legitimate route to
apotheosis...
Becoming an Elementalist
As near as anyone can tell, the minimum requirements
are a Will of 6 and at least the potential for 6
Forces. Possession of the Sorcery Attunement (or
Symphonic Awareness) is not required, at least at
first: the potential Elementalist will be picking
those up along the way, provided that he or she is
worthy.
The triggering mechanism seems to be, terrifyingly,
comic books. Lots and lots of comic books. Entire
shelves - nay, rooms - of comic books, read over and
over and over again. Sometimes, when conditions are
correct, the potential Sorcerer will begin to see an
underlying pattern to the myriad graphics and story
lines. If these patterns are obsessively mapped out
and analyzed there is a good chance that a qualified
researcher will be able to make the conceptual leap to
seizing the power that lies just beneath their
quivering fingertips. This conceptual leap, among
other things, will provide the researcher with the
Sorcery Attunement, one Skill/1 and one Ritual/1. If
the Elementalist doesn't have 12 points available to
pay for this (the Symphonic Awareness comes free), he
or she will also gain one or more of the Disadvantages
found below...
In general, it takes roughly twenty uninterrupted
hours of research to allow the use of an experience
point for learning or developing an Elementalist
skill/ritual. Once a particular issue of a comic has
been 'research', it cannot be used to gain further
points. Also, note that the research does not give
free points: PC Elementalists will have to pay for
their new insights with earned experience, or else
take one of the Elementalist disadvantages.
Skills
Air (Will)
This skill governs movement; it is the least
understood of the four Elemental Skills (or possibly
just the most ritualized).
Earth (Will)
This skill deals with various defensive disciplines;
most Elementalists will have it at respectable levels.
Fire (Will)
This skill permits various forms of Sorcerous attack;
it is usually the first one learned by Elementalists,
and mastery of it is pursued with zeal. It is also
the least indirect.
Water (Will)
Oddly, this skill explores the negation of other types
of Sorcery. Elementalist rituals are merely the most
vulnerable.
SCIENCE! (No default)
This is knowledge of the true physics of the universe:
not the puny science of those fools back at the
University, but the way things really are. Armed with
this superior knowledge, the character can create
wondrous devices that duplicate the awesome powers
demonstrated by the below rituals: also, this skill is
a prerequisite for Gadgetry.
Incidentally, regular Sorcerers would call this skill
Enchantment, for good reason: it is.
Gadgetry (Intelligence)
This skill is used to create temporary devices that
utilize the principles of SCIENCE! In game terms, it
is treated as an exact duplicate of the Alchemy skill,
mostly because it actually is the Alchemy skill.
Rituals
It should be noted that the below Rituals are generic:
each Elementalist learns on his or her own, and
routinely develop variants. Unless specifically
noted, each variant Ritual is to be treated as a
distinct entity, and must be learned separately.
Air Rituals
Faster Than... (Air/1)
A success at this ritual allows the Elementalist to
drastically increase the CD of a successful Running or
Swimming roll (chosen at the time that the Ritual is
learned): double the CD for every level of the ritual.
Duration: CD minutes
Time: 15 seconds
Essence: 1 per 2 levels
Able To... (Air/3)
This ritual is essentially equivalent to Numinous
Corpus: Wings, except that there does not necessarily
have to be actual wings involved, and speed is a base
100 yards per round for every 2 Essence spent.
Duration: CD hours
Time: 1 minute
Essence: 2 to 6
Jumpy Flippy Guy (Air/6)
Use of this ritual allows an Elementalist to
essentially ignore gravity and inertia. He will be
able to run up walls, fall from the top of a
skyscraper and land safely, sneer at relative velocity
and generally act as if he had a permanent target
number of 12 on his Acrobatics rolls. In combat, add
the CD of the ritual to all of the Elementalist's
Dodge rolls, and subtract the same from the Dodge
rolls of his opponents (attacking from odd directions,
and all that).
Duration: CD minutes
Time: 5 minutes
Essence: 6
Earth Rituals
Costume (Earth/1)
This ritual will make one's clothing (and up to 5
pounds of items) more or less immune to the side
effects of using one's other powers. This can be
handy for individuals that (for example) routinely
burst into fire...
Duration: 24 hours
Time: 15 seconds
Essence: 1
Tough as Nails (Earth/2)
This ritual increases the toughness of the performer,
giving him a protection equal to the level of the
ritual times the amount of Essence spent.
Duration: CD minutes
Time: 1 minute
Essence: 1 to 3
It's Just a Flesh Wound (Earth/3)
This ritual regenerates Body Hits at the rate of 2 per
round.
Duration: 2 minutes
Time: 3 minutes
Essence: 3
Cat-Like Reflexes (Earth/4)
This ritual makes it harder for others to hit the
performer: subtract a successful ritual's CD from
all corporeal attacks made against the Elementalist.
Duration: CD minutes
Time: 1 minute
Essence: 4
Rhino Hide (Earth/4)
There are many distinct Rhino Hide Rituals: each one
will allow the performer to utterly ignore one type of
attack (chosen at the time that the Ritual was
learned; it may not be changed later). Some common
types are hand to hand combat; lasers; fire-based
attacks; cold-based attacks; guns; and so on.
Duration: CD minutes
Time: 1 minute
Essence: 5
Sponge (Earth/6)
Like Rhino Hide, only more so: the performer is
effectively immune to all corporeal damage while the
ritual is in effect. If the Corporeal Song of Shields
could have blocked it, so will Sponge.
Duration: CD minutes
Time: 1 hour
Essence: 6
Fire Rituals
Stronger Than (Fire/1)
A successful use of this ritual increases the
performer's Strength by the (the level of the ritual +
the CD). This will not increase Body Hits, but will
affect Fighting and Large Weapons rolls.
Blast (Fire/2)
There are - or will be - literally hundreds of
versions; the idiosyncratic nature of Elementalism is
nowhere more obvious than in the Blast ritual. No
matter the variant, they all have the following
statistics:
Power (level of Blast + CD + Essence spent), Accuracy
0, Range 75. This attack may be Dodged.
Duration: Instantaneous
Time: 1 round
Essence: 1 to 6
Flame On! (Fire/3)
Despite the name, flame is not necessarily involved:
essentially, the Elementalist will become covered with
some sort of dangerous substance (chosen at the
time that the ritual is learned). Some examples of
this would be fire, ice, acid, electricity or
poisonous smoke. The performer will be immune to the
effects, but anyone in the same hex will suffer CD/2
(round up) Body Hits per round, and anyone who comes
in actual contact with the substance will suffer CD
hits per round.
Duration: CD hours
Time: 5 minutes
Essence: 4
Jet (Fire/4)
The ritual allows the performer to project some sort
of damaging substance (chosen at the time that the
ritual is learned): this substance causes CDx2 Body
Hits per round of contact. As for Blast, the attack may
be Dodged.
Duration: 1 minute
Time: 2 minutes
Essence: 4
Zap! (Fire/5)
Much like the Blast ritual, except that the Accuracy
is +2 and armor only protects at only half value.
Duration: Instantaneous
Time: 2 rounds
Essence: 6
There is currently no Fire/6 ritual, but not for lack
of looking...
Water Rituals
Drain (Special)
This Ritual is the Banish of Elementalism: a
successful use of it will negate any Sorcerous Ritual.
However, there are restrictions. First off, a
variant of it must be learned for each specific type
of Ritual. For example, a Drain Blast will work
against any Blast, but will do nothing for Zap! Also,
if the Ritual to be Drained is known at a higher level
then the effects of that Ritual are mitigated, instead
of cancelled. To continue the example, a Drain
Blast/2 will stop any Blast/1 or Blast/2, but only
reduce the effective level of any higher Blast Ritual
by 2. Finally, a Drain may never be learned at a
higher level than the Elementalist's Water skill.
It is possible to learn a Drain ritual that will let
one Drain someone else's Drain, but any Elementalist
who goes down that path too far will find himself in
deadly danger of succumbing to a nasty case of
infinite regression...
Appropriate Disadvantages
Most Elementalists will have at least one of these, at
varying levels.
Metahuman (Corporeal) (3pt/level)
This represents an obvious alteration in body type
(such as turning into a living-metal statue, becoming
a glowing field of anthropomorphic energy, etc, etc).
Elementals with this Disadvantage must make a Will
Roll (plus the level of the Disadvantage) to assume
their Metahuman form before they can perform their
Rituals: unfortunately, it takes a Will Roll (minus
the Disadvantage level) to turn the Metahuman form
off. The higher the level of the Disadvantage, the
more obvious the changes; also, many celestials
generally react at -2 per level to Elementals in their
Metahuman form (as will some humans).
Punster (Corporeal) (1pt/level)
Self-explanatory: Elementals with this Disadvantage
just won't stop, and thus get a -1 reaction per level
from roughly 95% of the population.
Angst (Ethereal) (3pt/level)
Individuals with this Disadvantage tend to act in a
fairly morose and depressed manner. They also have a
bit of a problem with pulling their punches (Will roll
to make any attack at less than full level), which
gives them lots more to be depressed about. They also
like to wear dark-colored clothing. Anybody that has
to deal with their sudden mood swings will usually
react at -2 per level.
Compartmentalized Life (Ethereal) (2pt/level)
Elementalists with this Disadvantage go to exceedingly
long lengths to keep their 'secret identities' secret:
this preoccupation with secrecy and deceit is worth
-2/level for anybody close to them who doesn't know of
their extracurricular activities. You can only miss
so many dinners before you start hurting the ones you
love.
Evil Overlord (Ethereal) (3pt/level)
A favorite of those Elementalists out there that
decided to use their powers to Rule the World (or a
portion thereof), this Disadvantage keeps things
somewhat balanced. Those with this Disadvantage,
whenever they develop a nefarious plan (or just make a
Tactics roll), must also roll against Intelligence,
minus the level of Evil Overlord. If they fail, the
plan or tactic will look fine, but will have a flaw in
it that an ordinary five-year-old could see through.
No reaction modifiers on this one: it's bad enough as
it is.
Fashion Victim (Ethereal) (1/pt level)
Wearing colored underwear outside long johns is just
the tip of the iceberg for Elementalists with this
Disadvantage. It just gets worse from there. It's
worth a -1 reaction per level from people with any
sense of style.
Four-colored Glasses (Ethereal) (3pt/level)
Elementalists with this Disadvantage have a real
difficulty in not dividing the universe into simple
dichotomies (the two most common ones are Good vs.
Evil and Us vs. Them). Moral absolutes are the order
of the day: this should be role-played. In tricky
situations, the Elementalist may make a Will Roll to
properly deal with ambiguity... but they should still
be portrayed as disliking it exceedingly. Generally,
the higher the Disadvantage, the sharper the dividing
line: this is usually good for a -2 per level reaction
from those on the other side of it.
Glory Hound (Celestial) (4pt/level)
This Disadvantage doesn't interfere with Essence
gathering: quite the contrary. It allows the
Elementalist to better draw Essence from crowds.
Normally, a group of 10 people can provide about 1
Essence to a particular ritual by acting in an
appropriate manner. For Elementalist purposes, 'an
appropriate manner' is equivalent to 'looking up in
the air and pointing' ... and the number of people
needed per point of Essence drops by 1 for every level
of this Disadvantage. The Essence may only be used to
fuel Elemental Rituals going on at that exact moment
in time. Still, this is hardly a flaw: indeed, the
only reason why Glory Hound is considered a
Disadvantage at all is due to the base -6 to reaction
rolls per level that the Host will show to anyone with
it, once Heaven works out what's going on...
Elementalism in a Campaign
There are two things that have to be remembered, here.
First off, Elementals are Sorcerers, with all the
advantages and disadvantages that the state entails:
they can learn regular Sorcerous rituals without
difficulty (provided that they have the right teaching
materials), have Symphonic Awareness, can engage in
Will Wars... and are exceptionally willful
individuals. They simply filter everything through
their own unique viewpoint. This can cause headaches
for celestials, as even the humblest Elemental is
willful nearly beyond human ken.
The second (and related problem) is that Elementals
are possibly the one set of Symphonically Aware
entities with no real interest (or reason) to keep the
War quiet. They may very well identify themselves
with one side or another - demons and angels are
staples of superhero comics, after all - but they
generally see no reason to keep things quiet. Indeed,
with their ability to tap a crowd for Essence
(something probably best left unrevealed, at first),
they have a vested interest in as much publicity as
possible.
Neither the Host nor the Horde is going to go along
with this, of course - too many necessary things would
become too difficult to do - but there's the minor
problem that, physically at least, Elementals are
formidable entities indeed. The perceptive reader
will note that this particular flavor of Sorcery
doesn't seem to deal much with mental abilities,
whether offensive or defensive: this is deliberate, in
order to allow celestials some sort of potential
controlling mechanism on the entire thing. Still, the
raw power of Elementals can be troublesome, both in
the short and long term. This particular phenomenon
could have deleterious effects on attempts to keep the
secret of the War.
You have been warned.
Back to the INC Mainpage.
Back to the Skills page.
Send mail to the Curator