The Iron Toa

If you guys want to, you can go ahead and come up with a system for attacks and damage and defense and resistance. I just ask that you keep the resistances I came up with, and keep blocking and dodging as forms of defense.

I realize I've been going about the racial stats the wrong way - I was thinking of taking the average stats and then finding a way to make a random difference from them. Instead, I think I need players to roll for their stats and then add or subtract the values they get based on their race. Does that sound right? Also, I think I made the Strength and Toughness of Matoran too high - and maybe their Dex too low. I need to redo the scale of the stats. How about if average physical values for Toa and Toa-sized beings like Skakdi and the Barraki's species were around 10? In that case, I think Matoran would have an average of about 5 or 6 Str and Thn. I believe that is quite low in D&D terms, but we'll need to redefine those values.

But I think biomechanical beings shouldn't have much of a difference in physical stats among one race. Also, Will seems to rely much upon race. So maybe we should roll 1d6 to determine Dex, Str, Thn, and Wil. Chr and Int could just use the 3d6 system. After these rolls we can add racial bonuses and penalties. Let's take stat rolls for a Ga-Matoran for an example. I've decided average values for a Ga-Matoran's 1d6 stats should be:

Dexterity - 5

Strength - 6

Toughness - 5

Will - 10

And she should get a +6 bonus to Charisma and a +4 bonus to Int. If we use 3 as an average value for 1d6, her other modifiers should be:

+2 Dex (for a range of 3 to 8)

+3 Str (for a range of 4 to 9)

+2 Thn (for a range of 3 to 8)

+7 Wil (for a range of 8 to 13)

Now I use a virtual roller (soon I will find one that I can link or distribute to other players) to determine the unmodified values

3d6 stats:

3d6 Chr -> 9 (I'm not sure but I think this is average, maybe a little low.)

3d6 Int -> 8 (Not particularly bright)

1d6 stats:

1d6 Dex -> 1 (As clumsly as a Ga-Matoran can get)

1d6 Str -> 2 (A little weaker than average)

1d6 Thn -> 5 (But remarkably tough for her race)

1d6 Wil -> 3 (Average strength of Will)

Then we add the modifiers:

9 Chr + 6 = 15 Chr

8 Int + 4 = 12 Int

1 Dex + 2 = 3 Dex

2 Str + 3 = 5 Str

5 Thn + 2 = 7 Tgh

3 Wil + 7 = 10 Wil

Does that all make sense and seem reasonable?

Sorry, I realized too late that I didn't read all of what you posted about expertise dice. I've given Matoran some bonuses to skills, we can give them further bonuses if you think it's appropriate. And your suggestion of a category of weapons that use Dexterity to hit... well, if your enemy attempts to dodge, shouldn't it matter how dextrous you are and not how strong you are, no matter what weapon you're using?

Edit: I like the Expertise dice idea, but I'm not sure if I want it to be a racial trait. Perhaps we can incorporate it into a feat once we get to that point.

You're right, it is pretty high. But I was thinking they would all have an average of 18 for those 3 physical stats, and you'll see it works out that way for average Matoran scores of 14 Str and 12 Thn. Maybe we need to lower some of the scores?

Anyway, I came up with stats for Steltians and Skakdi, as well as a few edits to the above. I will post it a little later.

Edit: This is a really long list, and it's going to get much longer. What do you think about me making a new post in my blog for it? On one hand, it would be handy to split the project into parts, on the other hand I don't want the other topics to be forgotten.

Well if you want go ahead and work on the non-Matoran races. Skakdi, Vortixx... even unnamed species like Poison's species. But if you don't mind, there are other things that need to be done. Most importantly, I want help making sure the stats I post are reasonable and balanced. I'd like people to choose their race based on what would be fun and interesting instead of what's best, but if one is too good or too bad it will always/never be used.

De-Matoran, for example - I just realized they should take automatic Endurance damage in combat and other loud situations. That's a serious disadvantage. But there should be equal advantages: if two bad guys are whispering their plans to each other inside a sealed chamber, a Matoran/Toa/Turaga of Sonics could listen in by putting his ear to the door, while someone else would have to enter and stand right next to the bad guys.

Secondly, while I like to stick to the canon as much as we can, we'll need to come up with our own ideas for some racial traits (among other things). What are Matoran of Plasma like? Is Guardian's species male only? If not, what are the females like? Stuff like that.

Finally, we should come up with names for these unnamed races. I'm fine for saving that for last. Actually, if we do come up with fanon names for them, I'd like to denote them as fanon and remind people that makers of RPG scenarios using these rules are free to come up with their own names. In fact, we should probably so denote everything we come up with that's not based on canon.

Update: Okay, I've made a list of my ideas for Matoran, Toa, and Turaga. I will go ahead and work on other species next.

Races:

Matoran/Toa/Turaga (not including use of elemental powers yet):

Characteristics: Matoran are short, stocky, and usually not particularly agile. They are slightly tougher and much stronger than they look, however, and tend to have at least average intelligence. Their willpower is average to slightly below average. Matoran are social beings and therefore have higher than average charisma.

Average height: 0.8 bio (3.6 feet) - Small Size

Average weight: 30 kilograms (66 lb)

Average Attributes:

Charisma - 14

Dexterity - 8

Intelligence - 12

Strength - 14

Toughness - 12

Will - 10

Av-Matoran - Av-Matoran aren't commonly encountered unless we do a Karda Nui story, and they're different from other Matoran, so I'd like to skip them for now.

Ba-Matoran - No official description, so we'll need to come up with fanon characteristics for them. In my opinion, they would typically have a dour demeanor which means a lower Charisma, but tend to be more stubborn, granting a slight increase to Will. Also, they would have an enhanced sense of balance and are resistant to being knocked down. Ba-Matoran officially have no preferred environment, and are rarer than other Matoran types. Here's my estimate of their racial penalties and abilities:

-2 Charisma

+2 Will

Enhanced balance - maybe a bonus to climb checks, and other things? Also, a resistance to knockdown effects. We can determine how to actually represent this.

Ce-Matoran - Affiliaton with an element pertaining to the mind means Ce-Matoran can get a racial bonus to Charisma, Intelligence, or Will. In addition, they are resistant to psychic effects. Ce-Matoran have no preferred environment. Here's my estimate of their modifiers:

+2 Int, Chr, OR Will - perhaps determined by player choice.

+25% resistance to Mental damage, immunity to mind reading and hypnosis, maybe a 50% resistance to effects like Fear and Sleep

De-Matoran - Matoran of Sonics have increadibly sharp hearing that is both a strength and a weakness:

Suffer triple Endurance damage from sonic attacks

Very high bonus to Listen checks, can determine things others cannot just by listening. I'm not sure how it works yet, so I can't assign hard numbers.

Take automatic endurance damage over time (mitigated by Will) from combat and other loud situations.

Fe-Matoran - Fe-Matoran have increased Toughness and a bonus to metalsmithing abilities:

+4 Toughness

Bonus to smithing skills to be determined

Ga-Matoran - Matoran of Water tend to get along better with others and be intelligent. Also, they are excellent swimmers:

+2 Charisma

+2 Int

Bonus to swimming and holding breath to be determined

Natural affinity for nautical skills and aquatic survival skills like fishing

Ko-Matoran - Ko-Matoran tend to be very intelligent but have low charisma. In addition, they are resistant to cold damage and blend in with snow:

-4 Chr

+4 Int

+25% resistance to Cold damage (both to Vitality and Endurance)

Bonus to camoflage/hide in snowy/icy environments to be determined

Natural affinity to surviving in the cold

Le-Matoran - Le-Matoran are agile in high places, but clumsy on the ground. They also are prone to be cheeky and mischievious, which can impact their charisma either positively or negatively (perhaps I'll make a racial feat/skill for that). They also tend to move quickly:

-1 Dex on the ground

+4 Dex in trees, elevated platforms, and similar environments

High bonus to Climb, Tumble, and similar skills

Slightly increased movement speed

Onu-Matoran - Onu-Matoran tend to be even stockier than other Matoran. Some Onu-Matoran have a height closer to 0.7 bio than 0.8 bio, but some are the same height as other Matoran. Onu-Matoran are less dexterous than other Matoran, and tend to be more intelligent. They tend to be miners, archivists, and engineers, allowing them a further Int bonus or a Str bonus. They can see in the dark very well, but are vulnerable to being blinded by bright lights. Onu-Matoran are less easily tired out but tend to move slowly:

-2 Dex

+2 Int

+2 Str or +2 Int (for a total of +4)

Bonus to seeing in the dark/darkvision ability to be determined

Vulnerable to being blinded or dazzled from Light-based attacks and natural bright lights

Natural affinity for underground skills/survival/lore such as tunneling and avoiding pits in the dark

Slightly slower movement speed

Lower Endurance cost for extended travel, combat, or other strenous activity

Po-Matoran - Matoran of Stone are the strongest Matoran, but have a repuation for being less intelligent. Almost all Po-Matoran have at least a little knowledge of stone-based crafting:

+4 Str

-4 Int

Bonus to stone-based crafting skills

Bonus to rock-climbing

Natural affinity for desert survival - for example, finding water, and keeping cool in the day and warm at night

Ta-Matoran - Matoran of Fire tend to have strong personalities. This can manifest itself as a talent for leadership or raw mental strength and stubbornness. They are also resistant to heat and have a natural talent for metalsmithing. In general, their metalsmithing skills are inferior to those of Fe-Matoran, but they tend to be superior mask-makers:

+2 Charisma OR Will

+25% resistance to Heat damage

Affinity for survival in hot places - keep cool, avoid lava and dangerous volcanos

Bonus to metalsmithing skills (less than Fe-Matoran's)

Bonus to maskmaking skill

Matoran of the Green - I imagine Matoran of the Green as having an affinity for gardening and forest survival, as well as bonuses to tree-climbing and dexterity. A caring nature would give them a bonus to charisma:

+2 Charisma

+2 Dexterity

Bonus to tree-climbing

Bonus to camoflage/hiding in forest and jungle environments

Natural affinity for gardening, farming, foraging, use of medicinal herbs, and otherwise using plants to survive

Matoran of Lightning - Matoran of Lightning are naturally resistant to electricity. I see them as being quick, energetic and agile:

+2 Dexterity

+25% resistant to electric damage

Increased movement speed

Less Endurance cost for sprinting and other brief, quick movements

Matoran of Magnetism - I imagine Matoran of Magnetism as having high charisma and an innate sense of direction:

+4 Charisma

Natural sense of direction, high bonus to navigation skill(s)

Matoran of Plasma - I envision Matoran of Plasma as having a lot of energy, but neither quick nor slow - in between Onu-Matoran and Matoran of Lightning in that regard. Also, I would give them a small bonus to Heat resistance and resistance to being blinded/dazzled:

Moderately/slightly reduced Endurance costs for both quick and strenous movements

Require less rest

+10% heat resistance

Resistance to being blinded/dazzled

Matoran cannot access Kanohi powers, but must wear Kanohi of some sort. A maskless Matoran's Strength, Dexterity, and Will scores are reduced to 1/3 of their normal value, rounded down, and he or she will soon pass out. We could either force a save against unconsciousness every round, or have the Matoran roll to find how long he/she can remain conscious.

Toa are known for being strong, agile, tough, and having the mental strength to use their Kanohi and elemental powers. Therefore, upon transformation into a Toa a Matoran's stats change like so:

+10 Dexterity

+4 Strength

+6 Toughness

+8 Will

+60 Toa Energy

+A max EE pool to be determined

Ability to use Great and Noble Kanohi once the technique is unlocked. Characters that have never used masks before will need to make a Will-based roll to successfully activate their Kanohi for the first time.

Height increase to 1.6 bio (7.2 feet) (with some exceptions, like some Toa of Earth will be hunched) - Medium size

Weight increase to roughly 120 kg (264 lb)

Increased movement speed befitting their increased stature

A maskless Toa will not pass out, but will suffer severe physical and mental weakness. A maskless Toa's Strength, Dexterity, and Will are reduced to 1/2 their normal value, rounded down. Perhaps further penalties will be added.

Upon transforming into a Turaga, a Toa loses much of his/her stature and physical and mental strength. In addition, the hard life as a Toa catching up to him/her makes a Turaga's physical attributes suffer further. Here is how a Turaga's stats differ from a Toa's:

-(8 + 1d4) Dexterity

-(2 + 1d4) Strength

-(6 - 1d4) Toughness

-4 Will

Max EE divided by... say, 10? Final value to be determined.

Ability to use Great Kanohi lost

Height decrease to roughly 1 bio (4.5 feet) - right at the boundary between Small and Medium, for convenience call them Small-sized

Weight decrease to roughly 45 kg (99 lb)

Significantly slower movement speed than Matoran

A maskless Turaga is weakened as much as a maskless Matoran (1/3 Dex, Str, Wil) but will not pass out.

Vortixx:

Characteristics: Vortixx are tall and lean, with black armor. They are known for being intelligent and manipulative, and have average strength for their stature - that is, quite high, but not extremely. They cannot wear Kanohi. Female Vortixx are known for being skilled and manipulative leaders, as such, they receive a bonus to Charisma. Male Vortixx are more commonly laborers forced to endure dangerous conditions, and therefore they receive a bonus to Toughness. For most of their history, Vortixx endured terrible pollution of their home island, and as such have a natural resistance to acid and toxins. Vortixx are known as makers of advanced technology, but not so much inventors as assemblers. Here's my estimate of their average stats:

12 Charisma (+2 female)

12 Dexterity

14 Intelligence

16 Strength

12 Toughness (+2 male)

12 Will

+25% resistance to Poison

+10% resistance to Acid

Affinity for crafting items en masse and reproducing existing designs (represented by a bonus to crafting when taught, and quicker crafting times perhaps?)

Average height - 2.2 bio (9.9 feet) - Large size

Average weight - 180 kg (396 lb)

Edit: Added weight values to Toa and Turaga, and added Vortixx.

I'm working on a list of races and their traits now. It's going to be a long list, but it's fun! So far I've only gotten up to De-Matoran. I will keep working it on, but here is what I have so far:

Matoran:

Characteristics: Matoran are short, stocky, and usually not particularly agile. They are slightly tougher and much stronger than they look, however, and tend to have at least average intelligence. Their willpower is average to slightly below average. Matoran are social beings and therefore have higher than average charisma.

Average height: 0.8 bio (3.6 feet) - Small Size

Average weight: 50 kilograms (110 lb)

Average Attributes:

Charisma - 14

Dexterity - 8

Intelligence - 12

Strength - 14

Toughness - 12

Will - 10

Av-Matoran - Av-Matoran aren't commonly encountered unless we do a Karda Nui story, and they're different from other Matoran, so I'd like to skip them for now.

Ba-Matoran - No official description, so we'll need to come up with fanon characteristics for them. In my opinion, they would typically have a dour demeanor which means a lower Charisma, but tend to be more stubborn, granting a slight increase to Will. Also, they would have an enhanced sense of balance and are resistant to being knocked down. Ba-Matoran officially have no preferred environment, and are rarer than other Matoran types. Here's my estimate of their racial penalties and abilities:

-2 Charisma

+1 Will

Enhanced balance - maybe a bonus to climb checks, and other things? Also, a resistance to knockdown effects. We can determine how to actually represent this.

Ce-Matoran - Affiliaton with an element pertaining to the mind means Ce-Matoran can get a racial bonus to Charisma, Intelligence, or Will. In addition, they are resistant to psychic effects. Ce-Matoran have no preferred environment. Here's my estimate of their modifiers:

+2 Int, Chr, OR Will - perhaps determined by player choice.

+25% resistance to Mental damage, immunity to mind reading and hypnosis, maybe a 50% resistance to effects like Fear and Sleep

De-Matoran - Matoran of Sonics have increadibly sharp hearing that is both a strength and a weakness:

Triple Endurance damage from sonic attacks

Very high bonus to Listen checks, can determine things others cannot just by listening. I'm not sure how it works yet, so I can't assign hard numbers.

Please tell me what you think so far! I will post more when I think I've added a satisfactory amount of information.

I think we were doing both an attack roll and a defense roll. While that makes most sense to me, I can see how that would be complicated, so we could come up with a way to use only one roll instead. I am now working on a list of races with their stats and descriptions, I will post what I have so far soon.

Thanks for making a spreadsheet! We'll need your help with those, I couldn't figure out how to do much with them.

But some things I don't understand or don't think I like. First, I don't understand "A Toa's Max EE is equal to their ability score for their elemental ability". I don't know what ability score means, and all Toa should have the same amount of max EE. It's the amount of control they have over their EE that makes the difference. I don't understand why the Element Blast ability doesn't cost any EE. I like the idea of recharging EE from the environment, but what we have so far is too simple.

I'm not sure I like the idea of giving Matoran an arbitrary bonus. I'm trying to stick to lore more than balance, and there's a reason not many of them are warriors. And I think half damage is too big a step for resistances.

I don't mean to complain too much, though! A lot of what you came up with is just what I was looking for. The 1d6 + elemental modifier for damage looks good to me. The 1 EE per KG of material created... well maybe it should be a little different for elements like fire and air that are practically weightless. Perhaps that could be 1 EE per cubic bio or something. I'm not sure if the cost for water should be based on area or weight.

I didn't see anything for chance to hit. I came up with a way to do elemental attack penalties, so do you think something like 2d6 - attack penalty would work? I think elemental attacks shouldn't be blockable by most weapons, but if the enemy attempts to dodge or block with a shield it would be your Will against their Dexterity or Strength respectively.

Okay, this is getting kind of complicated. I'd better stop to think about how it could all work.

Actually, could we get back to attributes? Like how much each character and each race should have? Hey -- we need a list of races. Perhaps we can come up with fanon names for them, but I guess for now we'll stick to calling most of them things like 'Nocturn's species' and 'Pridak's species'. I'll start working on the list and my estimate of what their stats should be.

Ah, attributes increase with level too, don't they? Well, how about attributes instead increase slowly over time from using them? Practice like study and exercise that characters can do in their off-time can also help increase attributes and skills. (With some exceptions, like your Toughness might go down eventually because a life of adventuring wears you out.)

But on the other hand, some beings just aren't capable of ever being as strong, smart, charismatic, willful, etc as others. So how about each character has his actual attributes which he rolls for, then a potential value for each one, the maximum a particular attribute could reach? For simplicity, we could make the potential attributes based on race instead of unique for each character. So a Po-Matoran might be able to get his strength up to 18 but other Matoran can only get theirs to 16, for example.

Oh, and I know Caster Level is important for D&D spells - we can just use your Will, Power Control Skill, or the Finesse value I mentioned earlier instead.

I considered how different the values of Finesse can be between a character that has low Will and is less skilled and one with high Will and a lot of skill. I think that's too much difference, so I'm thinking a sum would be better. The degree of control you have over your power can be represented by a sum of your Will and your level in the Power Control skill... okay, we need a better name for that skill. Maybe a different term for Finesse, too.

How about you just gain an XP point each time you use a skill? Then it could take more points to level up each time.

And I say we keep the 3 different physical resistances, but for simplicity the values can be equal for most beings. There would be exceptions -- a gelatinous creature, for example, might be immune to crushing and resistant to piercing damage because it has to be sliced apart to be killed, while something made of ice (a structure or a creature) would be most vulnerable to crushing damage.

Looking back over the rules for rolls you posted, I just realized something. Strength shouldn't determine your chance to hit. It makes more sense for that to rely on dexterity instead. I don't want to make dexterity overshadow strength, though, and hopefully this can be avoided by Strength's importance in blocking. I imagine Block will be the most common form of melee defense, and we could determine if a block succeeds by having the attacker and defender make a roll based on their strength. And of course, melee damage would be based on strength. Usually, at least -- I think there's a finesse feat that lets you substitute dexterity.

We could keep track of XP for each skill. I'll try to come up with how much XP is gained from use of skills and how much it takes to gain levels.

Just calling use of powers 'attacks' is easier, but not completely accurate, as there are also powers that can help and buff your allies.

For Area, in some cases it would be the number of targets, in others, like forming a wall of an element, we'd need to keep track of how big the manifestation of it is. As for Ranged, I meant Range - it should cost more power to extend your supernatural reach 100 bio than 1 bio.

Thanks for doing the physical combat equations. Speaking of physical combat, do you think we should have resistances for piercing, crushing, and slashing? Someone said just 'physical' would do, but I think we should keep different physical damage types if it's not too complicated.

I just read that Toa can pass out from stressful use of their elemental powers. The case I read of was when Vakama absorbed all the heat of an Elemental Fire entity. Maybe Toa can sometimes pull off feats they don't usually have the finesse for, but it drains their Endurance.

I realized I'm not sure how skills should increase if we don't have levels. Should you get XP for each skill for using it? That sounds complicated...

Anyway, let me review the equations from the old topic:

Finesse = Will * Skill or Will + Skill

In which Skill is your Power Control skill. I think Will * Skill would work, or maybe a fraction of it like your Will * Skill / 2.

Accuracy Penalty = W * Power^2 / (X * Channel Time * Finesse)

I've decided Channel Time will only come up for very powerful attacks - regular use of power will be instantaneous. I don't want to do away with it completely, because it should take several rounds to charge up for a Nova Blast, for example. W and X denote where we can set a constant. Basically, this is saying that the penalty to your Attack Roll increases exponentially when more Power (EE or Endurance) is put into the attack, and is inversely proportional to how much time you take to focus on the attack and your Finesse.

If Accuracy Penalty > Finesse * Y, the power channeled will be released as an instantaneous AoE of random Area and Intensity.

Instead of the above equation, let's say if an elemental or similar type of attack ends up with an attack roll of 1 or less, then the character will lose control of his gathered power and release it randomly. Maybe if you get a natural 1, too.

Power = Intensity * Duration * Area * Ranged * Z

All the things that contribute to power cost. I think this makes sense as it is.

But let's type up the equations for physical combat now.

I was hoping someone with more experience as to how much is an average amount for numbers like hitpoints and damage and stuff would help us set the baseline. Otherwise, I'd say we should come up with something that's simple, but allows enough flexibility. I'll do a little thinking about it.

I have OpenOffice, I should be able to figure out its spreadsheet program. First I'll try to figure out what the numbers should be in the first place. Did you take a look at the equations I posted on the old topic? Toa Alaka thought they made it too complicated, but I think if we used a chart to list common values it would help. But I might have changed my mind about some of them - I should take another look.

I'm pretty sure there's some way out there to do artificial dice rolls, but we need to keep in mind the rules for using other websites. Hopefully that won't be a problem though.

Ah, how about the degree to which an effect that only affects organic or mechanical parts harms or heals a being depends on how much of them are biological or mechanical? For example, a virus that eats organic tissue would be devastating against an Agori, useless against a robot, and moderately effective against a Matoran? As for the Mask of Healing, maybe it can only restore a biomechanical being's health to a certain extent, like up to half their full health or something.

I don't think I want to use the FATE system, sorry The Mask of Ice. Once we get the rules down, however, I would like it to be easy to make new settings for campaigns.

I don't know about ability scores yet. I've been getting some good info from the d20srd online, but haven't read all of it. If you could explain it to me, that would be great. I like the idea of having a table for how much more EE/Endurance it costs to enhance your powers. Once we get an idea of what the numbers for these should be, I or someone else could get working on that. Anyone know spreadsheets? I took a class on it a couple years ago, but I got bored and ended up failing. I could give it a try again, though. Perhaps we ought to work on powers later, but charts and tables would come in handy for a lot of other things.

I don't care that much what weight system we use, but either way we should come up with a good estimate of how much Matoran and Toa would weigh. My first guess is around 100 pounds for Matoran and 250 for Toa.

I just had a couple other concerns. First, how will we do dice rolls on the internet? Is there some website we can use that allows both rolls others in your game can see and ones that are hidden? Secondly, and I'm loathe to make things more complicated but... we might need to distinguish between organic and mechanical damage. After all, there are powers that only affect one or the other (like the Mask of Healing). What would be the best way to solve that problem?

Would it be too complicated for each combatant to keep track of the distance to his target? A relative positioning system?

I also realized we'll need to keep track of weight, especially with Gravity-related powers. The only reference to weight I know of, however, is in The Many Deaths of Toa Tuyet when Devastator is referred to as 'a big boy, probably close to a ton of mechanical muscle'. Guardian I mean Devastator is pretty darn big, I'd expect an organic creature of his size to weigh at least a ton. Do you think we could measure weight in kilograms?

Update: I did a little thinking and studying of Devastator's picture. For him to weigh only a ton, Matoran Universe beings can't be any heavier than an organic equivalent. So we can probably keep the original weight charts for size categories. We could change it to metric, though, or come up with our own Bionicle weight system.

Cool. So let's talk about combat. Distance and size of the target should affect chance to hit, so how will we include that?

Edit: Okay, it looks like in D&D smaller sizes give a bonus to your attack and defense. We're not using AC, so instead of it providing a bonus to that, we could just add a penalty to an attacker's roll if he's attacking a smaller or a bonus if he's attacking a larger target. And how about for ranged attacks, there's a penalty proportional to the distance to the target?

I believe we have enough elements for now - my opinion is that we have to explore them first before new ones get added. We never really got to know Toa with the elements of Plasma, Magnetism (although we know Jovan, he never really appeared anywhere), Psionics, Iron, Gravity (except Hewkii with his Kanohi Garai) and even Lightning, because Nikila didn't have any real appearances, just one in a Karzahni-made illusion. Before any new elements are introduced, I think they should be explored further, which means we need colours, prefixes, abilities, characters and, most of all, uses of these elements in story. And I see no reason not to do that in story from 2010 on, since there are no longer sets tied to the six "core elements". Of course, if the story moves to Bota Magna, that will not be possible there, but maybe a RoS-like serial for the MU could still be done.

 

On the top of my head, counting all MU and Spherus Magna elements and also legendary elements, I get a total number of 19 existing elements. Take away Time and Life and we're left with 17. And since Sand is SM-only, we still have 16 MU elements, of which only a few - Fire, Water, Ice, Air, Stone, Earth, Light and Shadow - got major attention in story, with some others making minor (Sonics and Gravity, in particular) or very minor appearances (Lightning or Plantlife). Note that I only count uses by Toa, not by Bohrok-Kal etc.

 

So, not counting those with major appearances, there are still eight elements to explore in the Matoran Universe: Gravity, Sonics, Iron, Plasma, Psionics, Lightning, Magnetism and Jungle/Plantlife/The Green. You could argue that some of them (Psionics, Sonics and Iron) already have prefixes, but except Krakua, we never really got to know those who wield these elements. What is their elements' effect on their character (you know, stuff like hot-headedness, cold reason, lightweight attitude tec.), what are their strengths and weaknesses? Before anything else gets added, I'd like to know more about that. And remember: Although the Matoran Universe is huge, there is only so much room for different Matoran tribes.

 

NtM

Yes, I've been very, very eager to learn more about the elements. But I'm not that interested in having new ones added.

Thanks for doing all you've been doing to answer our questions, Greg. Seeing as some of us are so eager about these elements (myself included) how about starting some polls?