Martial ELEMENTAL Arts
A downloadable Elemental Add-On
Martial ELEMENTAL Arts was created as an add-on for SLEDGEHAMMER - but you can use it with other games as well.
Martial ELEMENTAL Arts takes inspiration from Martial Arts Fists associated with the 5 ELements of East-Asian Philosophy and is an expansion of the evergrowing Element Collection! As part of the collections, it uses the Element Dice, but you can substitute a regular D6 - or even make your own with stickers or a blank die and some markers.
What you get:
- Simple rules to add in some Elemental Flavor into your game
- Narrative prompts based on the 5 Elements
- The chance to do some real damage!
But why an add-on about Martial Arts, when the Element Dice System mostly ignores combat? Well, the world is not just Rainbows and Butterflies!
This video here (initially for the WuDe - Quick Guide) gives a 2 minute silent guide on crafting this little 1 Page Booklet yourself!
Martial ELEMENTAL Arts is a submission to SLEDGEJAMMER: A Sledgehammer Jam.
*We want to encourage you to purchase through Paypal because this leaves more for the creators than credit card purchases.*
Purchase
In order to download this Elemental Add-On you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $3.33 USD. You will get access to the following files:
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Comments
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Martial Elemental Arts is a plug-in for Sledgehammer that adds personal elements, elementally-flavored attacks, and weapon degradation.
The PDF is a single page and it mirrors the format and aesthetics of Sledgehammer really well. The font is very slightly difficult to read, but there's also helpful graphics and everything in the text is explained clearly.
You *do* need to roll additional element dice (which are used by WuDe) as part of this supplement, but you can easily sub in a d6 and just assign each facing its own element.
Mechanically, there's nothing in Elemental Arts that really shifts the balance of Sledgehammer towards the PCs.
Elements add description to attacks, but rolling 6s on your element die gives you corruption and can eventually destroy your weapon.
Overall, I think if you want to play an elemental warrior in Sledgehammer, this gives you the tools you need to do that. And if you want a resource of prompts that will help you flavor your melee attacks, I think Martial Elemental Arts is just as useful for DnD or any other fantasy melee combat game.
Using it *will* make your Sledgehammer gameplay slightly tougher, and taking a moment to describe how your attack is drilling or crushing after every attack may cause your language resources to start to run a little bit dry, but I think Martial Elemental Arts can be tweaked a little bit to resolve both of those issues. Making whether or not you attack with elemental energy a player choice, and having those attacks deal +1 damage if you roll your element could keep the game balance more neutral and let players opt in and out of their elemental powers.
Thanks for the great review!
Yes, this supplement will make your game a bit tougher - but for a great reward.
The narrative suggestions for combat are optional and I have played them as a tool for retelling of a fight: I noted down the individual rolls and at the end of the fight for the final hit, I summarized the fight leading up to this moment using these prompts.