Power Schedules and Elemental/Alignment Schools

[Judging__Eagle]

I'm currently working on a system where creatures have a single pool of 'health'; and all attacks simply do 1 type of damage (stamina; from a fire bolt, to a sword, to an axe, to a mental shock, it's all stamina). Special attacks can deal the alternate types of damage (in the case of this system, body and life damage).

Character options being divided into Tiers; where Stamina attacks are usable 24hrs a day (Contiunal Powers); Body attacks are usable a set amount (based on character level) per encounter (Encounter Powers); and Life attacks are usuable a set amount of times per day (24hr period; thusly named Daily Powers).

My current "element" wheel is looking to be like an 8-pointed star of

Left/Right

Heat/Null
Chaos/Law
Life/Death
Dark/Light

but, that's a whole other thing to tackle.


Are people willing to accept an 'element' wheel where things aren't on fire, or made of wind, or water or earth? Right now, the idea is that a player picks an element that they want; they get three things that give them a bonus, three that give them a penalty; and get the same sort of bonus for their selected type, and it's opposite.

I'm seriously considering these 8-elements to be choices that a PC has to make in order to help them determine their character personality; with the mechanical bonuses being things like "All creatures with the 'Heat' type, or affinity get along with you if you don't attack them first" and "All creatures with the 'Null' type see you as a threat, and will attack you unless you can persuade them not to." Where 'Null' type creatures are anything that doesn't observe conservation of energy (such as undead and golems), or things which outright are trying to create a state of 0 Kelvin across the Multiverse.

I've tried to split commonly associated types, so that a character who say, picks Heat, Chaos, Life or Dark, has to pick some of the other 3 as their aligned, and Null, Law, Death and Light are in some way opposed.

Or is creating a flavour system where players can pick their one true desired type; and are potentially saddled with one or two 'flavours' that make their character a bit conflicted, a bad thing?

Potentially, I could have multiple types of "wheels"; and have them be described as "schools of philosophy"; where some people subscribe to one school of mental or moral alignment, or an other; and people within, and without, different philosophical structures are either allies b/c one is a Heat (chaos/life/dark) Warrior; and the other is a Lighting Mechanic.


note, this idea of multiple 'elements' or 'alignments' is for flavour purposes.

Right now, the game system that I'm working on can support any amount of "flavours" of power; since it is "Tiers" not 'flavor' that differentiates whether an attack is effective or not.

Someone wanting to use a moral alignment system can interact with people using 5-colour systems, or 15 element systems. Their powers having all sorts of re-skinned names and flavours; but all working with the same underpinning mechanics.

A rusty wrench flung by a Lighting Mechanic is just as dangerous as an Acid blob fired by a Dark/Chaos/Life Mage or a Poisoned Arrow fired by a Lawful Evil Techniquist.