Vs The Elements: Discussion
 

ok gonna be moving things along in a second, but a few points. First

AB, just to clarify, does your E Tech merely ignite things or generate explosions? Cause I approved it under the assumption it only ignited. On that ability, I know it doesn't really matter but you dont have to actually make like a spark or heat. you can "bring out the element of fire", basically just make it combust. I cant think of any mechanical difference but if you wanted to go that route to make it more magical, you can.

Also you are right on immunity to heat but for future reference it has limits, though your character might not know it. There are things alot hotter then fire. Will come up rarely, only things like plasma or burning thermite are a threat. You are also effectively immune to cold as your power makes heat, though you'd be more prone to fatigue.

Menarker, on your poisons you make, I just ask you show some restraint, I think its abit much to have one technique granting you access to all poisons known to man. Also that you select air-borne or liquid. Beyond that just limit it to a handful of go to toxins like half a dozen, you can decide them as you go if you'd like.

On that note, I dont think he can make a flammable airborne poison. Simply because I dont know of any that exist. If you know of one just let me know.

This last thing is a general question for everyone, I want some opinions.

How do you feel about fighting enemies that are same element as you? What about ones that are different variations of your element (ex ice or steam to a water element)?

edit: I wasn't certain if you were going sneaky sneaky so didn't specify time of day, thats your call

so with no one posting, has everyone just spontaneously decided to quit at the same time? Crap this was a short one

Nah, we have school. Or at least I do. It has only been one day I think since the last post. ^^; Plus, I was more waiting for the others to post since Ox was going to be the one to break in. Grevan is chilling on the sideline. :3

Yeah it's only been a day, no need to worry :P. I should have a post up tomorrow though.

Plan proposal: Since there are sniper towers and open ground I think we should split into two groups. Ox and Grevan will change into dust/gas clouds, stay low to the ground, and sneak up to the wall where they will then sneak inside and try to stop Shwarger from escaping. Meanwhile Alice and Alex will cause a diversion, since their elemental forms would be easily spotted from the towers. Once they have some fun with the guards they can move in and rendezvous with Ox and Grevan.

If everyone is ok with it then I'll incorporate Ox proposing the new plan and everyone's acknowledgments into my next post so we can get to the action quickly.

well concern was also from lack of answering the questions I proposed in that post
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hintity hint

Ignite only ignites. The properties of what's being ignited determines the effects.

Alice already used Ignite once to light the cigarette she gave to Grevan. That's pretty much the gist of how Ignite works and what it can do.

If we're talking about using Ignite in a combat form, it's properties are extremely limited. Trying to kill someone with Ignite would be wildly ineffective, and the best tactic for using Ignite to kill someone that I can think of right now would be lighting the fuse of an old bomb or perhaps a molotov cocktail.

I don't really have any opinions myself on fighting opponents of my element or derived elements from my own. Just gotta figure it out when I encounter enemies like that.

...Just no joke elements, like the element of marshmallows.

Marshmallows are surprisingly effective, though. I died, like, twice in the Ghostbusters game for XBox 360 thanks to Stay Puff's minions.

Heh heh, I might find some amusement in fighting my own element. Though I don't know how much you would find Aero. I'd be digging into my knowledge of electricity to figure out how to trap it.

Also Alex agrees with any plan that involves him beating the hell out of people with electric punches.

A thousand points if you can get the enemy to say "Don't taze me, bro!"

Actually, could you stealth-KO someone like that? Just stroll up to 'em and poke 'em and 'cause them to just...drop? Like you overloaded their brain or something?

depends, if you want true stealth (you dont transform at all) and to simply knock them out rather then kill, then I'd say thats an E. Tech.

I figure I could do that with potential then. Honestly it is all about placement, hit them with a shock in the right place and the overwhelming response of the body could result in a knockout. For example, if Alex ran up on you and grabbed your junk and gave them a heavy shock the immediate pain might send you under.

the stealth part is main reason it would be a E. Tech. You can turn your hand and grab someone no problem, just arcing electricity isn't all that subtle. Now you are probably thinking it doesn't have to arc, well to make electricity at all you have to first convert part of your body. Suckiest part of the immaterial energy elements is they are also the most overt and easy to notice.

I thought potential allowed me to do something like that without transforming. If not, then please tell me what it does do.

so anything I can do to get things moving along? it has been a few days now

Arc said Ox was going to do some oxy planning. So I was waiting up on that, prod him and we are golden.

Sorry been busy with homework and friends insisting I go out drinking with them. I might have a post up tonight, but if not then I'll finish it tomorrow.

Somebody on this forum has friends?! Blasphemy!

Alex is a helpful fella.

I can't help but think this is somehow my fault.

They may or may not be stuffed animals, and it may or may not have been a tea party.

wait? where are you getting dust? I mean I guess I get metalic dust, but figured you'd be more of a liquid metal thing. Remember you are the element of metal, if you want it to be metalic dust you cant later decide you want a solid elemental form.

Likewise, our toxic terror chose more of a sludge form, not a smoke one.

Doesn't really affect anything at the moment, just wanted it cleared up.

As for the distractions, missile will track you, even if purely human you are still targetable of course. Direct hit will really mess you up. On the opposite side, machine guns, only a threat if you got five guns unloading into you at once. Long as you employ basic survival instincts you are fine.

PS they are extras, fodder, feel free to kill off these NPCs like the red shirts they are

I was under the impression that we would have some control over the shape of our elemental form. For example as a Metal Elemental Ox would have a solid metal form, or he could reduce himself to a cloud of small metal particles (so he would resemble a dust cloud of sorts).

The same thing with Grevan, that he could turn into a poisonous cloud as well as his main "solid" sludge form.

In fact you said that Grevan already had the ability to turn into a gas cloud, so I assumed it could also be applied to Ox. Here's the quote:

Missiles have sensitive electronics, ignitable fuel, and inert charges often set off by electric shock. So if Alex gives off some serious shock he should disable and destroy most of them right?

Also, when they start setting off automatic fire could Alex ride the conductive materials back to the source?

you can change your shape, but not what it is. If your element manifests as liquid metal. Now you can shape that liquid into blades, giant claw, whatever, but it stays the same. Well metal is abit odd actually. More accurate to say its super maliable solid. Its not a huge deal if you go with that as you can move as a flow as stealthly as a cloud of dust

As for the quote, its because that was before he went with sludge. He could have gone with smoke, and I mostly wanted to point out that effective invulnerability was inherent skill for all of you

oh yea, could rather easily destroy a missile.

yes and no, its just about pure air so not really a path. However lightning can move through air. To keep it from being overpowered there would be a moment of inactivity immediately before and after, less then a second. Would be easy to follow and require line of sight, though if you wanted to be at the gate you could do so almost instantly.

I forget if I said this before, but if not for elemental metamorph and having to avoid collateral damage, one of you could handle this. A few dozen soldiers caught off guard wouldn't be too hard if you were smart. You guys are really freakin powerful

I was imagining machinegun fire, so the wall of bullets makes a reasonable path, though I may be underpowering myself for imagining I couldn't ionize the air between myself and a sniper then thunderf*ck the guy.

Trust me, there are explosive airborne poison. I don't recall one that stayed on fire in midair, but I'm aware that there are several gases that ignite violently on contact with fire. Hell, I think some of them react violently with water.

As for restricting poisons, your suggested nerfs seems really restrictive since poison doesn't actually do anything without a catalyst or physical contact (except for perhaps noxious fumes, but that is kinda dealt with via gas masks). It doesn't spread uncontrollable or serve as a catalyst for various substances like fire, it doesn't bypass technology or metal barriers like electricity could or anything unique like that that like most elements can. While it can be useful in killing things or breaking things down, just about any element can do that and it's less of a difference of actual power and rather a difference in style. One of the few thing that makes poison stand apart from the rest IS variety.

Ultimately, my main suggestion/request is to have unlimited NATURAL poisons and have a half a dozen or so of manufactured poison if there even needs to be a restriction.

(I was just waiting for your response to the other question that was asked since I was wondering about that too. Smoke/Smog is nice to have as a secondary ability, but I certainly would not want to be at the mercy of a gust of wind or a fan or vaccum.)


On a side-note, what is the terrain of the ground like outside the fortress? I was thinking of slithering somewhat underneath the sand until I get extremely close to the walls if there was something like that. Or otherwise, acid burn my way underneath solid ground, essentially tunneling my way through.

Maybe have Menarker find "poison ammunition"?

Take Alice for instance. If Alice couldn't metamorphose but needed to turn one enemy into a crispy critter, she would need something flammable to put on the enemy and her Ignite E. Tech. So she goes and finds some gasoline, a glass bottle, and then soaks a rag in oil and hits the enemy with a molotov cocktail.

Couldn't Menarker kinda...I dunno, maybe vampirize the toxins out of poisonous animals and then he uses that to attack his enemies? Not that he can make more or it himself, more like he uses animal toxins to fuel his attacks the way someone with a handgun would use a clip to reload his gun.

well yea gasses, but not poisons. Methane, hydrogen, ect isn't toxic. I do think I once heard of an insecticide that was notoriously flammable, but not sure.
your elemental form is highly toxic, and you can produce an infinite amount of it. You lack destructive power of some of the others, but your element is much more persistent. While are things to protect against it, same can be said of fire, and neither is common use. Most people you hit with it are simply dead, including these guards.

Still I do see your point. Really I just didn't want to risk you finding something broken. So long as you understand I might reign it in later, ok, I wont restrict it.

on the gas thing. Well if you make poison gas with your E. Tech it behaves as such once expelled. Your element body is different, that toxic sludge you turn into? Two forms. Like what Alice is doing is the first, you can shoot out your element as much as you want and once out it is out of your control. Alternatively it can be can actual extension of your body, you could for example turn your arm to sludge and extend it, having it move however you like. Downside is its actually part of you, thus meaning you have to regenerate it if damaged.

this is the Mojave, its more of a dried plain then sand and dunes. Land is completely leveled around there, inside its grassy with trees. I assume your sludge is a dark color, so with it being night you should be able to just slip in, especially with the distraction going on.

However, for the last time, you are not an acid. you are poison, you are destructive to organic matter. Organic matter is made of acids. Besides, its an oasis, ie fed from a spring, ie, ground water. Contaminating that would kill much of the city.

Yeah the super malleable solid was how I first imagined him, I just figured we could change the physical composition of ourselves as well. Though I guess that amount of precise control would qualify as an advanced E. Tech.

Also,

It's night time? I thought with your description of the heat that it was day time.

I figured with my approved Aggressive Rot E.Tech that I'd have the ability to burrow underground much like as if I had acid.

And yeah, I thought it was daytime too.

actually time was never specified, but figured you guys would want it to be night, feel free to have it day if you prefer

[edit] and decided it would be best to wait for you two to post before getting my GM on

yay finally some element vs element combat, come on guys dont let the fire girl fight the water creature all alone

I wonder how evenly matched her and I are?

I'm not sure if I've got this right, but I imagine I'm gaining some power from the sun hammering down on the arid desert floor while she is gaining power from the massive volume of water in the facility.

Either way, I think this is about when I start getting tuckered out. Can't just chuck fireballs willy-nilly and then do some flamethrowin' while running like that and expect to not need a moment to catch a breather.

Whatever. She's still fresh for the fight while I've already brought my milkshake to the yard. Could use a little reinforcement.

you are effectively correct, but some pointless thematics for you (feel free to ignore, I am just compulsive about explaining this stuff). To use some arbitrary numbers, the hot weather doesn't give you a +1, it gives everyone else a -1. The heat fatigues and dehydrates people faster, but you are completely immune to these effects.

Your enemy is suffering opposite, and the same issue you'd have in cold weather. She never needs to drink and could keep herself cool because she has an infinite supply of water. But doing this constantly taxes her powers abit and makes her more prone to fatigue, having a ready water supply and drinking it like a normal human would offset this.

As for her power level, taking away elemental advantages and disadvantages, one on one she is more powerful then you guys. She simply has more experience fighting and developed more E. Tech. If you guys are smart two of you could take her. With elemental advantages, Alice + someone would be about even, and Alex alone would be a match for her.
actually, yes you can. you have an infinite supply of fire to throw at her. Though running would tire you as it would any human, so depends on how good a shape she is in, but it wouldn't limit your ability to produce fire. Only regenerating with your power fatigues you.

Now I might limit it abit later, but you guys aren't using your powers anywhere near where I'd feel that was nessicary