Elemental bonuses

[Qwandri]

i suppose...

[Qwandri]

yea, it's usually only useful 1 out of 13 times. (i say this because i've never seen a rainbow with darkness creatures.)

[Evil Hamster]

That's a good suggestion too.

But the theme of the game is we are "elementals" battling it out so it would fit better that your special ability matches your element.

Then again I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to change that to characters!

[Scaredgirl]

I like this idea, but only with one change.

Instead of choosing:
Mark + deck of cards..

we would choose:
Mark + "Special Ability" + deck of cards.

This "Special Ability" wouldn't be tied down to our Mark, and would be able to choose any of those abilities you listed there in your original post.

"Special Ability" could be indicated by some kind of icon (Sword, Skull, Sun, etc.) that would be on top of your mark.

This kind of system is actually used in many CCG's. You choose your Character (which has some kind of ability, etc.) and build your deck around that character.

[Scaredgirl]

That's a good suggestion too.

But the theme of the game is we are "elementals" battling it out so it would fit better that your special ability matches your element.

Then again I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to change that to characters!

I didn't say this game needs to adopt a Character card system like other CCG's. I said: "Special Ability" could be indicated by some kind of icon (Sword, Skull, Sun, etc.) that would be on top of your mark.

That means it would be the same system we have right now, only an icon on top of your mark that indicates what kind of special ability you have.

We would still be Elementals.

[Scaredgirl]

love the idea, but some decks would just be too powerful with some of these combos, i like scaredgirl's idea about choosing both the markj and the ability, but perhaps there could be 2 abilities per element, because some decks (like fire) are played completely differently mono and duo, but maybe you could just choose from the majority of the powers, e.g. life or light could not choose death or darkness.

Best way would be to have 24 different abilities. You would then choose your mark and ANY of these 24 abilities.

[Terroking]

love the idea, but some decks would just be too powerful with some of these combos, i like scaredgirl's idea about choosing both the mark and the ability, but perhaps there could be 2 abilities per element, because some decks (like fire) are played completely differently mono and duo, but maybe you could just choose from the majority of the powers, e.g. life or light could not choose death or darkness.

[Choronzon]

Hmm...lesse what I can think of...I like the idea of 24 abilities as something that is somewhat overpowered can be fair in terms of mono decks vs rainbow decks which have a natural advantage. Aka, it is incentive to play a mono deck.

Earth: 1. Ability: stone quantum is drained at a rate of 1 per point of damage (aka defense, what the mark is best at).
2. Passive: All creatures have +1 hp (I R ORIGUNALL *smashes something*). Maybe start at 105 life too?
Air: 1. Ability: pay 2 air quantum to deal 1 damage to a target (Air is good at damage and creature control. Sniping at just the right time is well within its domain.).
2. Passive: 5% miss chance (Air SHOULD be harder to hit. Flight is an advantage all its own...)

Fire: 1. Passive: Gain 1 extra fire a turn (More stunning originality from me, but darnit, it fits the mark like a glove.).
2. Ability: Pay 2 fire quantum to lower a creature's defense by two and raise its attack by two (Fire never did much care for that defense thing)
Water: 1. Passive: Shifts between +1 attack, +0, +1 def, and +0 for all creatures in a 4 turn cycle (Tides essentially. Water in a nutshell.)
2. Ability: Pay two water quantum to remove 1 poison counter (a bit specific, but poison stings, and water is good at making it not sting...somehow.)

Light: 1. Passive: Gain 2 hp a turn (I would be willing to say 3, but it might be a taaad too much unless everything else gets bumped up a touch maybe).
2. Ability: Pay 2 light quantum to create a photon of light (Expending energy to create photons is how light exists. Huzzah knowledge!)
Darkness: 1. Passive: Dark creatures cost 1 less to play (Fits with the speed aspect of Dark).
2. Ability: Pay 2 dark quantum to drain 1 life from a target and add to your life (I admit this is like Air's but a touch better, but to be fair, Dusk Mantle and Fog share a similar relationship.)

Halfway done...whew. Time to take a breather...

*breathes*

...aaaaaaand back! With another fun idea I think would be neat if this mark ability system is implemented. In short, it is the idea of resonance. If two elements of the same mark face each other, their effects are doubled. Fire1 would gain 2 extra quantum, Water1 would cycle with +2, Entropy would have a 20% chance of mutation (I just love the thought of a truly chaotic battle. I almost want to make a special exception in Entropy's case as it is so chaotic setting the resonance at 100% for maximum chaotic fun) etc. Nothing too spectacular, but it would add another level of fun perhaps.

Entropy: 1. Passive: 10% chance of a random mutation of any creature on the playing field (5% felt too low, hell, 10% feels low, but I suppose we can't break the game with toooo much chaos. Shame. I love chaos.)
2. Ability: Pay 2 entropy quantum to cause a random effect on one of your creatures (Did I mention I love chaos?)
Gravity: 1. Passive: Enemy creatures have 1 less hp with a minimum of 1 (Sorta represents higher gravity and makes things a touch easier on them otyughs. No one to zero though, that would be a bit much I think.).
2. Passive: 5% chance an enemy creature will be 'pulled' to your side. (Maybe a bit of a stretch, but Gravity is a hard mark to do with much fairness..)

Time: 1. Passive: 5% chance to nullify damage received the previous turn. (I'll be damned if I include a card draw effect, mono time has that covered enough as is.)
2. Active: Pay 10 time quantum to copy the last spell played (Too much perhaps, but time is grand like that.).
Aether: 1. Passive: Nullifies opponent's mark ability (How much more Aether can you get?)
2. Passive: 5% chance of a creature you control becomming immaterial (Could hurt in some cases though...but a deck with this in mind could be arranged)

Life: 1. Passive: 10% chance a creature will survive a death effect (Wanted to make this so that a creature had a second life of sorts, but that would be broken in a rainbow deck...).
2. 2. Passive: Player survives death once with 1 hp (I have seen a number of games where one more turn would have made a difference. Life deserves life I'd say.).
Death: Active: Pay 5 bone quantum to combine 5 skeletons into one bone dragon (*insert Voltron transformation sequence*).
2. Passive: 10% chance a random opponent creature will die (I figure this balances nicely with Life1.).

Phew...that took a good couple of hours...

While I did try and keep some semblance of balance in mind, I probably overdid it on a few things. I did try to make ability 1 more for a mono deck and ability 2 more for a rainbow deck, though this wasn't an ironclad rule. I am especially fond of my tide concept, and I am absolutely smitten with the idea of a super chaotic entropy battle...

I think we could make this work....now I'll be sad if it doesn't happen in some form. I don't want to be sad...anymore...*lets a single tear fall*

*decides to post before he gets too melodramatic*

[ElementalGod]

Abilities independent of marks would be sweet, but harder to balance. However I fear that abilities tied to mark could be far more unattractive, monotonous and boring. Either way the idea is really good and could offer an extra layer of strategy and add more depth to the whole system.

[Evil Hamster]

I like some of those!

Especially the "tide", life surviving one extra turn and Aether neutralizing other ability!

2 specials per element might be a bit much though- I'm hoping to see at least one

[Evil Hamster]

Abilities independent of marks would be sweet, but harder to balance. However I fear that abilities tied to mark could be far more unattractive, monotonous and boring. Either way the idea is really good and could offer an extra layer of strategy and add more depth to the whole system.

More boring than just one specific quanta a turn? 

The whole point was to add a slight differentiation to each element.

[Terroking]

that is what i meant by the 2 abilities per element, if i was unclear, you would not get both, simply to choose, choosing any of these may work, but it would require a lot of coding, also every last one of the AI's decks would have to be re-fitted.