Summoning Elementals - magical gameplay mechanic

[Kurgan]

Summon the Elementals! So I'm not the first one to try this, obviously... but I never really spent any time until now modifying the ideas of others to come up with something I'd actually want to use in game play.

To me this is one of those "higher level" magic feats that should come after the heroes have really been through a lot, and pulling this sort of thing out should be rare, and marvelous (but hopefully not completely game breaking).

So here is my proposal and how I plan to handle it:

Four New "Elemental" cards.

Each card is for an element, and yes, it's the big monster you see on the front of the Spell Cards that is the general idea of that figure (using Reaper Bones miniatures of "Large" Elementals for these).

The ability to summon an Elemental is open only to a Magic type character (in my case, Wizard, Alchemist or Mystic) who has completed a certain number of Quests (my basic ranking system). I didn't leave it open to the Elf, because I feel he already has enough advantages over the Wizard, and have given him other upgrades to make him unique at that level.

They must sacrifice 3 unused Element cards (here I am counting Spells, Skills, and even Spell Scrolls) of the same type in order to do the Summoning.

Here lets say a character has only two Earth spells but has used up the third already in the quest. Another character could "give" their Earth spell scroll to the would-be caster to allow them to accomplish the feat, just like exchanging any other item between characters. I didn't plan to allow two Magic users to combine spells (on separate turns) to accomplish the same feat, however.

Roll 1 Red Die. Add 1 to the Total. This determines the number of turns (interpreted as rounds of turns) the figure will last. Instead of Body Points, they last for turns, and certain things can diminish the total number of turns. So the max any Elemental could be on the board would be 7 rounds of turns, but it could be as little as 2.

The Elemental figure is placed near the Summoner, on an unoccupied square (or two, in the case of the larger figures) within their line of sight. In this case, they won't be able to appear until there is enough "room" to place them.

The Elemental moves on the board after the one who summoned it, under their exclusive control. They all roll 2 Red Dice, except the Earth Elemental, which rolls 1.

Basically the thing is invincible... except if it passes through another Elemental, OR if certain spells are used on them. I haven't hammered this out fully, but the obvious one comes to mind is that the Fire Elemental could be damaged by a Water spell. IF two Elementals pass through one another, both are instantly removed from the board.

The Elementals do their thing by passing through other figures. Water, Air and Fire are obvious. The "Earth" Elemental steamrolls over somebody similar to the Rolling Boulder in Kellar's Keep. Notice I said figures, so it would do the same to Heroes as it would do to Monsters or Mercenaries. I think I will have it so that the Elemental has to end their turn in an unoccupied square, rather than stopping on a figure to potentially do more damage if they don't immediately move (which they may not be able to anyway).

What I won't allow, is for the figure to "double back" while moving, otherwise they could in theory "run over" the same bad guy multiple times, ensuring his destruction which would really be cheap.

When the Fire Elemental passes through a figure, that figure rolls 3 Combat Dice, taking 1 Body Point of Damage per Skull rolled. No defense. Similar to the Wall of Fire spell.
This elemental can use "Ball of Flame" but that uses up another "turn" from its life.

When the Water Elemental passes through a figure, it has the same effect as the Fire (based on the Wall of Water spell). It can use "Sleep" spell but this diminishes the turns by an addition one each time.

When the Air Elemental passes through a figure, that figure loses a turn (Tempest effect). It can attack adjacent or diagonal figures on a turn with 5 Combat Dice (like a Genie). It can also attack with 5 Dice at a distance but this extinguishes another turn.

When the Earth Elemental passes through a figure, the victim rolls 5 Combat Dice. When the Earth Elemental is not moving, it basically turns into a blocked square. The miniatures I am using take up about 2 squares each, so call it a double blocked square. Someone could "pass through rock" on it in safety. Unlike the other Elementals, the Earth type only rolls 1 Red Die to move. Actually he CAN roll two Red Dice, but this act reduces his lifetime by 1 additional turn.

The whole "passing through" mechanic for the other elementals implies that a figure trying to pass through them would get the same effects if they were acted upon. I guess in that case, a figure trying to pass through the Air Elemental would stop one square after them and that is the end of their turn (skip the next one).

The Elementals are under the control of the Summoner, but otherwise they are big dumb brutes. They are not affected by traps, can't open doors, and do not search for anything.

So these Elementals to me, barring any unforeseen effects, give the Heroes a chance to wreck havoc on the bad guys for a short time, which would be only fair when making such a sacrifice in terms of spell usage in a single quest. Now what might complicate things are artifacts or searches that let you regain used spells, but even these I would think would be limited under the circumstances.

Can the bad guys summon their own Elementals? I haven't really thought that far ahead on it.

[mitchiemasha]

I'm all for ideas that involve Elementals, utilising the image on the front of the card. Especially "to wreck havoc on the bad guys". Using the Fire Elemental and the Giant from Dragon Strike make good miniatures.

[DullandRusty]

if you search ebay you can find figures that look just like the elementals from the cards.

[Kurgan]

Really? Cool. I already have the Reaper Bones series of "Large" Elementals, but if anyone has better matches, please post pics or links!
(that's not my paint job on the Earth Elemental by the way)

Edit: These are made of plastic. They're much larger than the regular HQ figures which is fine!

[Kurgan]

Here are some photos of the cards I created:

[Stig]

This looks brilliant, thanks! Love the idea of a big sacrifice to get it in play. I always look for an opportunity to use mind points, so potentially in addition to giving up elemental cards you could spend mind points as an alternative?

If you want to make the movement a bit more random (who can control an elemental after all?) you could move them like a goblin fanatic in blood bowl:

Choose 3 adjacent squares next to the elemental (ie 3 squares NSE or W of the elemental) then roll a D6 to determine which one the elemental moves to. Then pick 3 more squares and repeat until it runs out of movement or hits a wall or something. It’s so hard to move back over the original square. See the template attached, but imagine the ball is the elemental

It’s a lot easier than it sounds! Also runs the risk of running over your own heroes, but they do say if you’re magically summoning a giant raging fire elemental deep in haunted catacombs, it’s best to give it a wide berth.

I like the semi random nature of the movement, super idea with elementals, thanks!

I have seen rules for summoning by Zargon somewhere, they required a group of chaos cultists to all spend a turn alone in a room and one would be sacrificed or something. Looked awesome.

[mitchiemasha]

So you can control it, just minimally. I think that fits perfectly.

[Kurgan]

I added more details on how I plan to use Elementals in my house rules.

[dragon5145]

This looks brilliant, thanks! Love the idea of a big sacrifice to get it in play. I always look for an opportunity to use mind points, so potentially in addition to giving up elemental cards you could spend mind points as an alternative?

If you want to make the movement a bit more random (who can control an elemental after all?) you could move them like a goblin fanatic in blood bowl:

Choose 3 adjacent squares next to the elemental (ie 3 squares NSE or W of the elemental) then roll a D6 to determine which one the elemental moves to. Then pick 3 more squares and repeat until it runs out of movement or hits a wall or something. It’s so hard to move back over the original square. See the template attached, but imagine the ball is the elemental

It’s a lot easier than it sounds! Also runs the risk of running over your own heroes, but they do say if you’re magically summoning a giant raging fire elemental deep in haunted catacombs, it’s best to give it a wide berth.

I like the semi random nature of the movement, super idea with elementals, thanks!

I have seen rules for summoning by Zargon somewhere, they required a group of chaos cultists to all spend a turn alone in a room and one would be sacrificed or something. Looked awesome.

A fantastic expansion for spellcasters. This definitely opens up the ability too make mind points more important, say sacrificing an MP to make up for not having enough spell available at the time of summon (1 spell = 1 MP). Say the wizard has already used both pure offensive fire spells he could sacrifice courage and 2 MP to summon a fire elemental. I would suggest caution using this rule lest the wizard just decides to sacrifice 3 MP to avoid discarding spells. You can use the commonly accepted idea that a spellcaster get one spell group for each MP above three to combat this by ruling that if a player sacrifices enough MP to reduce spell groups by more than one other spell groups while not discarded are unusable until the mind points are restored due to mental exhaustion.

Example:
Wizard hasn't used any spells yet decided to summon elemental, decides to sacrifice 3 MP to avoid discarding spells. His mind points are now ruduced to 3 below the level heroes can normally cast spells, while the spells haven't been lost he cannot cast them until the MP used in the summon has been restored. If restore 1 MP they pick one spell group to regain casting ability for it, a second group for a second restored MP and so on. This restriction on access to used spells due to MP loss should only apply to the summoning of elementals as this loss of MP is caused by the hero trying to mitigate the cost of the summon. In other words, reduced MP from other sources such as Chaos/Dread spells, special traps other homebrew rules (unless said rules due something similar) do not cause loss of access to memorized spells.

Edit: On further thought disabling other spells until the mind points are restored ma be a little stiff depending on how available MP restoring items are. Maybe instead make it time based similar to the summon itself, either for the duration of the summon or maybe no other spells for 1 to 2 turns for each MP sacrificed for the summon.

I like the random movement idea as well, it also opens up a way to make MP more important. Consider a mind test at the start of when the wizard or elf try and control the elemental to move in a designated, roll one and if the result is less than and only less not equal to the character's [url]current[/url] MP then the hero successfully controls the summon and can move as desired. If this mind test fails, the elemental moves randomly for this turn and the controller takes one MP of damage.

For the random movement I would suggest expanding the possibilities. Set the direction the summoner wanted the summon to go as north, then make the possible directions for movement be W,NW,N,NE,E no "southern" options since elementals aren't allowed to backtrack. Now roll and move according to directions below rember the moving to a diagonal uses 2 movement points just like heros and monsters.
Results
W = 2-3
NW = 4-5
N = 6-8
NE = 9-10
E = 11-12

This adds an increased range of randomness to movement after the summoner fails to fully control the elemental while still giving a higher chance to go where the summoner wanted. If the summon cannot move in the direction indicated by the roll due to walls or furniture. For diagonal directions if there is more than one way to get to the square in the direction let the summoner player decide the path. Example below
From the elemental's proposed movement direction ie N:

W,NW Blocked by wall or furniture
N. Empty space
NE. Orc
E. Hero or another Orc
Now say the roll is 10 NE direction
Now if E is the hero let the summoner dictate the move be N then E to arrive the indicated direction avoiding friendly fire.
If E is an orc let him decide to move E then N in order to hit both orcs maximizing the use of the summon. If the only way to move in then rolled direction hits allies too bad that's part of the risk. Once the elemental has arrived at the space indicated by the die roll, roll again and continue until all movement is used. Remember summons cannot end movement on an occupied square.