Telekinesis is a totally different kind of superpower. TK is a psionic power. Elemental manipulation is a magical power. It's a metaphysical difference that totally changes the implications. A telekinetic character can move anything. An elementalist has different strengths, needs and strategic considerations. Totally different.
Don't wuss out and just treat it as TK.
Magic without the spells...
Not neccessarily, you could use Magic and have it behave like PSI-TK. For example, the traditional Earth Air Water Fire, those are dumb, forget them. Use the oriental version: Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal.
So, for five elements, the magician in question has to master these elements individually to be able to take grasp of them, and it mixes it up for the player figuring out how to make use of these elements. Consider the "Regulating Cycle" for Chi:
Water controls fire. Water puts fire out.
Wood controls earth. Tree roots hold clods of earth.
Fire controls metal. Fire can melt metal.
Earth controls water. A pond holds water.
Metal controls wood. An ax cuts wood.
Thats PLENTY to work off of.
So, for five elements, the magician in question has to master these elements individually to be able to take grasp of them, and it mixes it up for the player figuring out how to make use of these elements. Consider the "Regulating Cycle" for Chi:
Water controls fire. Water puts fire out.
Wood controls earth. Tree roots hold clods of earth.
Fire controls metal. Fire can melt metal.
Earth controls water. A pond holds water.
Metal controls wood. An ax cuts wood.
Thats PLENTY to work off of.
This might make things slightly more complicated, but seeing that elements are being manipulated, there's the issue of quantity/volume.
So, say you're only carrying a gallon of water. No matter how you manipulate it, its always going to be one gallon of water. As you throw it at your opponent or use it as a shield, you really do run the risk of reducing the quantity that you have. Also, one gallon of water can only effectively create a shield of a certain size. Anything larger it might just be too thin.
Other elements like fire should follow physical limitations as well. Things like the fire will only burn for as long as the source allows. Different sources can then create different types of flame. So, say you use a candle. If you try to inflate the flame the candle will burn faster. So, at some point, you might get a large fireball, but then that would be it, and it probably won't last very long.
As for levelling, I think levelling up would just simply be the degree of control, accuracy and speed of your control. At first, you might not be very accurate, so, the element may spread to a larger area than you want. Then later, as accuracy increases, it will start doing what you really want it to do. The amount of element (quantity) that you can control should also increase as you level up. So, at low levels, you might be able to control a jug of water, but as you level up, you can start utilizing larger bodies and larger quantities of water.
Its a nice little system, just feel that some physical grounding may actually make it more realistic, though probably more complex.
So, say you're only carrying a gallon of water. No matter how you manipulate it, its always going to be one gallon of water. As you throw it at your opponent or use it as a shield, you really do run the risk of reducing the quantity that you have. Also, one gallon of water can only effectively create a shield of a certain size. Anything larger it might just be too thin.
Other elements like fire should follow physical limitations as well. Things like the fire will only burn for as long as the source allows. Different sources can then create different types of flame. So, say you use a candle. If you try to inflate the flame the candle will burn faster. So, at some point, you might get a large fireball, but then that would be it, and it probably won't last very long.
As for levelling, I think levelling up would just simply be the degree of control, accuracy and speed of your control. At first, you might not be very accurate, so, the element may spread to a larger area than you want. Then later, as accuracy increases, it will start doing what you really want it to do. The amount of element (quantity) that you can control should also increase as you level up. So, at low levels, you might be able to control a jug of water, but as you level up, you can start utilizing larger bodies and larger quantities of water.
Its a nice little system, just feel that some physical grounding may actually make it more realistic, though probably more complex.
You should do away with the mouse and use some kind of motion-glove device, then you could also use finger postures and hand gestures ;)
I like the mouse gestures method, the F-Keys setup seems alot like normal spellcasting, since your selecting the "spells" but from hotkeys. With a gesture method, the accuracy and speed of the gesture can be used as factors for damage and other variables.
Sounds fun anyway
I like the mouse gestures method, the F-Keys setup seems alot like normal spellcasting, since your selecting the "spells" but from hotkeys. With a gesture method, the accuracy and speed of the gesture can be used as factors for damage and other variables.
Sounds fun anyway
How about a gesture system that uses more direct, intuitive gestures rather than cryptic sigils?
You "hover up" about a basketball-sized ball of water. As you drag it around, it "trails" behind your cursor. If you hold it still, it'll form a sphere, but mouse gestures can turn it into a line or an arc or, with enough water, a complete circle of varying size.
A ball could be "activated" to freeze it into a form based on how much you have (icicle, ice arrox, ice spear, ice lance), a line could form into a wall (with the ratio of volume to length determining its thickness) and a circle could form either armor or an iron maiden, depending on the friend or foe status of the critter inside.
You could even use a right-click toggle to start "drawing" the effect. Get your blob up, right click to "anchor" it, and then drag it around the area you want to cover. Then right-click to activate it, and it's off. Maybe you could click the wheel to cancel it or something.
You "hover up" about a basketball-sized ball of water. As you drag it around, it "trails" behind your cursor. If you hold it still, it'll form a sphere, but mouse gestures can turn it into a line or an arc or, with enough water, a complete circle of varying size.
A ball could be "activated" to freeze it into a form based on how much you have (icicle, ice arrox, ice spear, ice lance), a line could form into a wall (with the ratio of volume to length determining its thickness) and a circle could form either armor or an iron maiden, depending on the friend or foe status of the critter inside.
You could even use a right-click toggle to start "drawing" the effect. Get your blob up, right click to "anchor" it, and then drag it around the area you want to cover. Then right-click to activate it, and it's off. Maybe you could click the wheel to cancel it or something.
How about the abilty to chain together elements. Eg. Fire + water for steam, fire + earth for brimstone, water + earth for quicksand etc.
Also these are nor element as such but you also use light, electricity and ice as sources for magic.
Also these are nor element as such but you also use light, electricity and ice as sources for magic.
Being able to use multiple elements brings us back to straight TK powers. It could work, though, if youdid it in stages. Say you take the flame from a candle, drag it to a bale of hay to magnify it into a huge furnace of heat, and then throw it into a bucket of water. That gets you a big cloud of steam, which can be used as a specialized form of air. I don't know what good steam would be except maybe as a smokescreen--it would cool too rapidly to serve as fire, and its density makes it ineffective as water, except maybe to inhibit burning.
Combo skills are tempting, but the exponential increase of sophistication, combined with the muddling of the contol scheme, might make it uneconomical to include in the design. I still think straight single-element skills are best. Even if one character can use all the elements, the skills are best kept separate.
Combo skills are tempting, but the exponential increase of sophistication, combined with the muddling of the contol scheme, might make it uneconomical to include in the design. I still think straight single-element skills are best. Even if one character can use all the elements, the skills are best kept separate.
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