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[Rolan7]

Angband (old roguelike with many clones) represented earth with "shards".  Basically:  Rocks cut, water bashes.
Of course, cutting and bashing are already represented as non-energy attacks...  (Again, my perspective is 3.5e so idk what PF does differently).

[BlackFlyme]

A kineticist is basically a bender from Avatar. You choose one of the four elements, or telekineticism. There is even an archetype that allows bloodbending, and one that is a hybrid of monk/kineticist.

At level one, you choose your element, and only get one of that element's blasts. You also get one infusion that you are eligible for, which is a type of talent that alters your blasts in some form or another. At level two, you get your element's defensive talent. There is only one defensive talent for each element. Also at level two, you can begin taking utility talents, which can vary from being able to fly to being able to heal others.

At level seven, you are able to choose your second element. This can be any element; even the one you chose at level one. If it is the same as your first element, then you get the blast you didn't take at level one, which only applies for aero- and hydro-kineticists. You also gain access to composite blasts automatically. You do not have to choose which ones you want; you can use any of the listed composite blasts so long as you have access to the two simple blasts that the composite is made of. You get to pick a third element at level fifteen. Again, you can choose your primary element, even if you've already chosen it at level seven as well. Choosing the same element at levels one, seven, and fifteen gives you a +1 to hit and damage, and +1 to any DCs if applicable when using your element's abilities. It is stated that you can never choose the same element more than once when you get to expand your elements if it is not the element chosen at level one.

The way the simple blasts work is like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Telekinetic Blasts:
Telekinetic Blast: any physical damage type; you throw random clutter at your target with your mind, with the physical type depending on what is thrown.

Air Blasts:
Air Blast: physical, bludgeoning damage only. Literally a gust of wind.
Electric Blast: zap an enemy, doing electricity damage.

Earth Blasts:
Earth Blast: physical, any type, as you pull rocks or other debris from the ground, then shape and launch them.

Fire Blasts:
Fire Blast: basically throwing a fireball at one person, dealing fire damage.

Water Blasts:
Cold Blast: cold damage, emits a cold beam at a foe.
Water Blast: physical, bludgeoning only, basically slamming a foe with water.

Pathfinder isn't too much different than 3.5, to my knowledge. It shouldn't be too different, as PF was based off of 3.5

[Neonivek]

I disagree with Thunder being a damage type, for the most part

Thunder is sonic damage created through intense damaging vibrations.

In fact Thunder is literally sonic renamed. A more appropriate name all things considered. Sure it COULD be considered blunt damage, but what protects against blunt doesn't effectively protect against sonic. In a similar way that Fire and Cold damage are in fact the same damage (look it up!)

Necrotic damage is actually a vast array of damage types. They reflect a sort of entropic erosion. Anti-matter would outright be necrotic damage.
-Other sources of necrotic damage is: Shrugging off death (Anything that outright kills you without trauma typically does necrotic)

Which come to think of it... Radiant is kind of the same way. It might be a fantasy element but for the most part it is like a fire that can burn anything leaving behind only an odd ash. Think of it like a type of fire that could light water and rocks on fire. (chemically it would be an energy that causes molecules to excite and release their bonds)... all without really being hot (and some things can be lit on fire in less than room temperature)

Please explain the meaningful differences between Water and Earth damage?

Well it would be the difference between getting hit by a rock and being hit by a tidal wave I'd think.

[UXLZ]

Fire is excess energy/releasing it, Cold is energy drain. Necrotic and Radiant are basically pure fantasy elements so they're hard to explain.

I mostly agree with the other stuff, but that's not a meaningful difference. They're both blunt force trauma. There may be minute differences (like comparing getting over the head with a rock and a garden gnome) but not nearly enough to constitute them being classified as different elements in a non-thematic sense.

[Neonivek]

Well scientifically one is a solid and one is a liquid and as such they act dramatically different even when doing similar actions.

Though game wise the actual differences could never really be brought to the foreground because it would bog the game down.

It isn't as simple a difference as fire damage and cold damage. They would actually have real differences that would have to be explored outside just raw damage.

(By the by Fire and Cold deal damage via temperature differences, suddenly accelerating or decelerating. They both burn)

[highmax28]

I;m about to do a large scale war with my 5e group I'm DMing. This is interesting because at the end of the battle, I add the successes as a set DC for certain events to occur. If the party succeeds this percentile DC by 100% or more (as successes in the battles they are given increase the bonus to the roll, and some failures give a negative to the roll) the party gets minimal casualties (including people they know). For each failure, the same people will die, and more negative events happen.

On an 55% or more, the party succeeds but the fight had some hiccups keeping from a flawless victory. The old and inexperienced died in this one

On a 30%-54% the war ends in a stalemate, both sides taking heavy losses.

On a 15-29% the hobgoblins win but many escape. Many archers and healers are cut down in a flank attack, causing the battle to make a turn towards the hobgoblins winning. The party will only get this low if the party failed to defeat the hobgoblin warlord

On a 14% or less, the hobgoblins decimate the field and all is lost. Many are cut down and slain upon retreating, and trolls, dire boars and ettins take joy in slaughtering people by the dozen.

But what influences this battle is several things: the party succeeding their battles, every NPC they keep alive, and the speed of which they defeat the enemy, and of course, if the leader of the army survives or not.

The leader will prove too strong for the party when they face him, and he will absolutely decimate them in one round, especially on his dire boar mount. But a DM character I introduced who flirts with the party bard often and tries over and over to woo her over, comes in and manages to take him out, but is slain by the warlord as his mount charges away in panic (pulling a part out of Megaman X here sort of). The party will hopefully defeat him and then the results of the fight will happen.

HOWEVER. There is the option to ignore the battle, walk off the battle map and do a "retreat" action where you ignore the fight and you get a big negative to the DC as you doom everyone who is fighting with you in that part (so casualty negatives, failure negatives, and morale negatives).

Since one of my players is running as a leader in this fight, she is running support. I am having her make differnet checks depending on how she wants to boost the morale of her allies. This also adds into the DC of success with her succeeding and picking the right skill check.

There are three main waves and the cavalry lines, as well as medics and support fire (aka archers/mages). The first wave is for the main force, fighting a lot of regular footmen (using numbers more than strength). Wave two will be fighting mostly big brutes and heavy fighters. The third wave, as I call the cleanup crew, will be fighting charging cavalry, brutes AND large numbers. The cavalry for wave 3 will run past and try to hit the players and NPCs, giving them a reflex save to dodge them. If players kill them before they hit the edge of the map, there are more positives added to the roll. Cavalry makes several attack rolls, handle animal checks and a few other checks for hitting their enemy, staying on their mount, keeping grip on their weapon, and if they fail staying on their mount, being able to get back up without getting finished off. Support fire should NOT have to fight, but if there are any players who choose to do that, there will be either a lot of checks to aid in firing constantly, taking out targets, or if you're like me, have a raid come and try to kill them, where they get a combat session. The healers should be making medicine checks up the wazzoo, with maybe one small combat thing happening if things turn for the worse.

I'm also told Tyson-chan will be riding her minotaur buddy as a combat ally/mount to fight off the enemy. This is going to be VERY messy folks, expect a big update on the results of the fight tomorrow

[GiglameshDespair]

The leader will prove too strong for the party when they face him, and he will absolutely decimate them in one round, especially on his dire boar mount. But a DM character I introduced who flirts with the party bard often and tries over and over to woo her over, comes in and manages to take him out, but is slain by the warlord as his mount charges away in panic (pulling a part out of Megaman X here sort of). The party will hopefully defeat him and then the results of the fight will happen.

Nothing quite like NPCs strolling in and defeating the enemy boss for you. :I

[scriver]

Relevant.

Edit: Should've gone with this instead, it is even relevanter.

[Twinwolf]

The leader will prove too strong for the party when they face him, and he will absolutely decimate them in one round, especially on his dire boar mount. But a DM character I introduced who flirts with the party bard often and tries over and over to woo her over, comes in and manages to take him out, but is slain by the warlord as his mount charges away in panic (pulling a part out of Megaman X here sort of). The party will hopefully defeat him and then the results of the fight will happen.

Nothing quite like NPCs strolling in and defeating the enemy boss for you. :I

I think highmax meant the NPC takes out the boss' mount, not the boss, making him beatable.

[Neonivek]

The leader will prove too strong for the party when they face him, and he will absolutely decimate them in one round, especially on his dire boar mount. But a DM character I introduced who flirts with the party bard often and tries over and over to woo her over, comes in and manages to take him out, but is slain by the warlord as his mount charges away in panic (pulling a part out of Megaman X here sort of). The party will hopefully defeat him and then the results of the fight will happen.

Nothing quite like NPCs strolling in and defeating the enemy boss for you. :I

I am used to it frankly. But usually it only happens within the first few sessions as a sort of "introduction to the big players" before you, yourself become a big player.

Or when a boss monster is "defeated" but somehow doesn't go down.

Or when the NPC is mostly a "This boss is hard" character meant to save the party if they prove incapable of winning. (Which in the game this happened, it was rather fair. Since winning usually provided a nice reward, while being saved minimized it)

[Twinwolf]

I think highmax meant the NPC takes out the boss' mount, not the boss, making him beatable.

[highmax28]

With the mount, the warlord would have been impossible to handle. Dire Boars are tanky monsters and the warlord gets three attacks on the party and his mount gores others as well.

Him alone is a CR of 6. With the dire boar, it becomes a CR of 8. All the DM character is doing is dismounting him, and the dire boar charges away as the warlord stabs him in the chest. Its supposed to be more cinematic than anything.

Once again, megaman X where Zero comes in, destroys Vile's ride armor and X has to fight him on foot when he's vulnerable. He will actually play no part in making it any easier; just making it possible.

Throw in the fact that the party members will have to deal with wounds from previous battles, as there will be no short rests here.

[Bohandas]

There's a scene like this at the end of Temple of Elemental Evil where an evil demigod is summoned, and several rounds later another deity appears to deal with him, leacing the party to deal with the high priest and his goons

[Neonivek]

Goodness sometimes books need to be a bit more clear on rulings

5e actually lists magic ammunition and then uses a singular term to indicate that "yes you only get one bolt, arrow, and bullet"...

But what the writers seemed to misplace is that a group can be singular. You can have a single group of ammunition and refer to a piece of it in singular as ammunition.

---

Still don't like that I feel like I need an entire armory book for the items to be fleshed out.

The other aspect is that there is no weapon rolls so far... So "Any Sword" is not fleshed out and of that it can still be a "Monk Weapon"

Time for me to work a bit to "fix" this.

[NullForceOmega]

I think that highmax has the right idea about using this plot device in his game, as long as it is handled well, with a focus on descriptive instead of mechanical.  Having 'divine aid' to even things out can actually be very good storytelling.

I've used the same kind of thing a few times, as long as it isn't overused and it doesn't marginalize the players, it is very good at increasing immersion.

My favorite was in a Rifts campaign years ago, where after a grueling battle with a demon, a group of shifters managed to open a rift and summon a much more powerful demon.  The players were completely exhausted, their armor was trashed and they were very low on ammo, so they sent out a general distress call (their idea, not mine).  So I rolled (mostly for effect, I don't like plot armor and I won't hesitate to kill characters, but only when they can actually do something about it), and the party received their aid, in the form of a hundred meter high giant robot called Odin that used an equally large ferrous plasma cannon to obliterate the beast (immune to conventional weapons does not include this kind of destructive force in my games).