Thread:Outhra/@comment-5609796-20130208003921/@comment-1855774-20130209045433

Oooh. I'd recommend rethinking that. Like I said earlier, having a massive amount of powers given to one aspect just throws off the balance, and giving one player five distinct elemental powers and one oppositional archetype isn't being fair to the rest of the session, who would have to cope with one power set. If any one of those elements is represented in the same session with a player that controls it, its diametric opposite, and all of the powers of some of their friends besides, the second guy would probably be able to solo the session by himself.

If you want to give your trolls all of those powers, you should 1) come up with a thematic way to tie together specific and distinct powers, rather than letting the player have free rein over the full scope of elemental potential and 2) limit it in some way so that he's on the same level with everyone else instead of trumping them at every turn. These players won't exist in a vacuum; they will have to work together to fill holes in their skills, which is implied in canon to be one of the main points in the game. Even Lord, which as Caliborn informs us is the most offensively powerful class in the game, is burdened by also being the most active class, which means it has little defensive ability coupled with enormous probability for disruption and loss of control.

I'm not immune to creating the "OMG most beste aspect evar" myself. In my earlier days, I made one called World, which was basically an entire aspect of reality warpers. Of course, I gave up on it, because when I started writing I realized that if my character's problems could be solved easily by just breaking reality to make them manageable, they were never problems in the first place. Eventually, World turned into Code and Rite, both of which have significant limitations, Rite's being in the gaining and retention of abilities, and Code's being in the use of its abilities.

Learn from mistakes like my World aspect. If you want multiple powers, fine, but link them in some way. For example, fire opposes ice, and thus removing heat could make ice, but to control both would be different from commanding one or the other separately. I'd give more examples, but in the end, this is your creation, and I've stepped on you toes with it enough already.

If you really don't want to change anything, I suppose I can try to help you with the existing Elements aspect, but I think it'd be better if the aspect itself could be changed. I've looked at your characters, and a lot of them have more potential than I usually see here. I'd hate for them to waste that potential with an aspect that could be dismissed as a writer's easy mode button.