Hey dndbeyond community. I've been wondering about this as I've been trying to revise the Way of the Four Elements. Why is it, among many other odd decisions made with that subclass, why did the earth abilities seem to be so odd.
Firstly, every other element got a unique damaging ability. Every one but earth. Fire got the Fangs of the Fire Snake, water got Water Whip, and air got First of Unbroken Air. Earth not only didn't get one of those, but it also got what leads into my second question-
Why did the earth element get allocated with abilities like thunderwave and shatter? Their later level abilities make more sense, being stoneskin and wall of stone, but their early abilities don't make much sense to me. Now, I understand that other unique spells to earth weren't in the o.g. players handbook and were introduced later in EE, but I still feel like some more unique abilities could have been made that accomplish the fantasy of controlling earth better.
Does anyone have any idea why thunderwave and shatter were chosen as the abilities for the earth disciplines? And heck, if you wanna start some conversations about the subclass and what you'd change, feel free to discuss.
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Hey y'all, I'm Okashido and I'm super into D&D. I like making characters(to the point where I have a doc about 100 pages long filled with character ideas.), am an aspiring actor in college, and also consider myself a storyteller and actor at the table. I enjoy making characters with backstories and watching them play off of other people. I roll with the punches and am a great Improviser. I can DM, but think my strengths lay in being a Player most. Hope we can all have fun and maybe play some games.
Could it be that Fist of Four Thunders (thunderwave) and Gong of the Summit (shatter) are in someway affiliated with events triggered by an earthquake? That's my initial thought.
As far as I know, earthquakes aren't really associated with really loud noises. Like, the fantasy of controlling earth I imagine would be hurling boulders, making constructs of stone to block attacks, or other types of things that Toph or Bumi did in A.T.L.A.
And I'll grant you that some of the other abilities could be flavored in such a way. Like flavoring Fist of Unbroken Air to be you hurling a boulder instead of compact air. Or Ride the Wind to you controlling and flying around on a big boulder or using fire to Ironman your way around. I just think that they deserve a little more akin to the fantasy of that. Even if they have to be custom abilities to this class, like fire, air, and water have.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hey y'all, I'm Okashido and I'm super into D&D. I like making characters(to the point where I have a doc about 100 pages long filled with character ideas.), am an aspiring actor in college, and also consider myself a storyteller and actor at the table. I enjoy making characters with backstories and watching them play off of other people. I roll with the punches and am a great Improviser. I can DM, but think my strengths lay in being a Player most. Hope we can all have fun and maybe play some games.
True, but then if we assume that the thunder damage based abilities are meant to be air, then what did earth get for the first two levels of their disciplines?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hey y'all, I'm Okashido and I'm super into D&D. I like making characters(to the point where I have a doc about 100 pages long filled with character ideas.), am an aspiring actor in college, and also consider myself a storyteller and actor at the table. I enjoy making characters with backstories and watching them play off of other people. I roll with the punches and am a great Improviser. I can DM, but think my strengths lay in being a Player most. Hope we can all have fun and maybe play some games.
Even though they advertise the subclass as being able to do so.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hey y'all, I'm Okashido and I'm super into D&D. I like making characters(to the point where I have a doc about 100 pages long filled with character ideas.), am an aspiring actor in college, and also consider myself a storyteller and actor at the table. I enjoy making characters with backstories and watching them play off of other people. I roll with the punches and am a great Improviser. I can DM, but think my strengths lay in being a Player most. Hope we can all have fun and maybe play some games.
Even though they advertise the subclass as being able to do so.
Not really, no. In the fluff, it is mentioned that some members decide to dedicate themselves to a single element. But there is no mention of those members being particularly effective in combat, nor is it mentioned that all elements are equally viable for that purpose. So, sure, some members decide to dedicate themselves to only air, or only fire, but maybe no members decide to dedicate themselves to only earth. Or maybe they do, and become less combat-effective. *shrug*
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Hey dndbeyond community. I've been wondering about this as I've been trying to revise the Way of the Four Elements. Why is it, among many other odd decisions made with that subclass, why did the earth abilities seem to be so odd.
Firstly, every other element got a unique damaging ability. Every one but earth. Fire got the Fangs of the Fire Snake, water got Water Whip, and air got First of Unbroken Air. Earth not only didn't get one of those, but it also got what leads into my second question-
Why did the earth element get allocated with abilities like thunderwave and shatter? Their later level abilities make more sense, being stoneskin and wall of stone, but their early abilities don't make much sense to me. Now, I understand that other unique spells to earth weren't in the o.g. players handbook and were introduced later in EE, but I still feel like some more unique abilities could have been made that accomplish the fantasy of controlling earth better.
Does anyone have any idea why thunderwave and shatter were chosen as the abilities for the earth disciplines? And heck, if you wanna start some conversations about the subclass and what you'd change, feel free to discuss.
Hey y'all, I'm Okashido and I'm super into D&D. I like making characters(to the point where I have a doc about 100 pages long filled with character ideas.), am an aspiring actor in college, and also consider myself a storyteller and actor at the table. I enjoy making characters with backstories and watching them play off of other people. I roll with the punches and am a great Improviser. I can DM, but think my strengths lay in being a Player most. Hope we can all have fun and maybe play some games.
Could it be that Fist of Four Thunders (thunderwave) and Gong of the Summit (shatter) are in someway affiliated with events triggered by an earthquake? That's my initial thought.
As far as I know, earthquakes aren't really associated with really loud noises. Like, the fantasy of controlling earth I imagine would be hurling boulders, making constructs of stone to block attacks, or other types of things that Toph or Bumi did in A.T.L.A.
And I'll grant you that some of the other abilities could be flavored in such a way. Like flavoring Fist of Unbroken Air to be you hurling a boulder instead of compact air. Or Ride the Wind to you controlling and flying around on a big boulder or using fire to Ironman your way around. I just think that they deserve a little more akin to the fantasy of that. Even if they have to be custom abilities to this class, like fire, air, and water have.
Hey y'all, I'm Okashido and I'm super into D&D. I like making characters(to the point where I have a doc about 100 pages long filled with character ideas.), am an aspiring actor in college, and also consider myself a storyteller and actor at the table. I enjoy making characters with backstories and watching them play off of other people. I roll with the punches and am a great Improviser. I can DM, but think my strengths lay in being a Player most. Hope we can all have fun and maybe play some games.
You're assuming those are intended to represent earth. Thunder damage is air-based (in fact, Silence prevents thunder damage).
True, but then if we assume that the thunder damage based abilities are meant to be air, then what did earth get for the first two levels of their disciplines?
Hey y'all, I'm Okashido and I'm super into D&D. I like making characters(to the point where I have a doc about 100 pages long filled with character ideas.), am an aspiring actor in college, and also consider myself a storyteller and actor at the table. I enjoy making characters with backstories and watching them play off of other people. I roll with the punches and am a great Improviser. I can DM, but think my strengths lay in being a Player most. Hope we can all have fun and maybe play some games.
Nothing other than elemental attunement. Way of the Four Elements really doesn't lend itself to effective single-element builds with every element.
Even though they advertise the subclass as being able to do so.
Hey y'all, I'm Okashido and I'm super into D&D. I like making characters(to the point where I have a doc about 100 pages long filled with character ideas.), am an aspiring actor in college, and also consider myself a storyteller and actor at the table. I enjoy making characters with backstories and watching them play off of other people. I roll with the punches and am a great Improviser. I can DM, but think my strengths lay in being a Player most. Hope we can all have fun and maybe play some games.
Not really, no. In the fluff, it is mentioned that some members decide to dedicate themselves to a single element. But there is no mention of those members being particularly effective in combat, nor is it mentioned that all elements are equally viable for that purpose. So, sure, some members decide to dedicate themselves to only air, or only fire, but maybe no members decide to dedicate themselves to only earth. Or maybe they do, and become less combat-effective. *shrug*