I am thinking particularly the other elements like water, air,earth. Has anyone actually done this in their games yet? and if so what have you added?
after all the powers and qualities are only effectively descriptors for play.
Yup. Tried all three. It all depends if you count them as elements/energy or as materials. Depends on how your hero uses them more or less. I also used Hallmark Power for them sometimes. As you said, they are mostly used as descriptors.
I changed Cold to Water for one hero. She still deals cold damage when attacking with the power, just to interact properly with other mechanics, but Principle of Water has a very different application than Principle of Cold would.
Well, Earth already pretty much exists in the Stone (Materials) Power, so that oneâs covered.
Weather (Element/Energy) can easily be used for Air, and perhaps Water.
Plants and Metal (both Materials) can be used for the Asian Elements Wood and Metal, respectively. Though @deanjday didnât ask about those, I always hate to see them go ignored.
As for making completely new ones, I would respectfully disagree with @JoeSteeloak; I think that, seeing as all the existing Element/Energy Powers are more Energy-like (i.e. theyâre mostly just forces, not actual physical objects, e.g. Fire, Cold, Cosmic, etc.), Air, Earth, and Water should be used as Materials Powers. Now, of course, if one needs to use one of them as an Element/Energy for mechanical reasons, by all means do so. I (literally) canât stop you.* Iâm merely saying what I think makes the most logical sense.
*Well, I guess I could detonate that bomb I hid in your house . . .
Haha well you are not disagreeing with me as I said it depends if you count them as elements or materials 
Not sure I would count Air as either Elemental or Material though.
so as a sort of exercise, I went through all the characters Iâve built and compiled the custom powers (look in the second tab). didnât end up with much in the way of âother elementsâ like youâre looking for.
I did expect a higher percentage to be Signature Weapons/Vehicles (as those are the ones you rename anyway), but it turns out several of the things that really should have been Sig Weapons flavor-wise work better mechanically as whatever energy/materials theyâre emulating.
the two I really couldnât categorize both boil down to Time Control, which⌠feels mostly like a Psychic power, but with a little Mobility/Self Control/Materials/Energy mixed in.
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I took Necromantic as a sort of off flavour âDarknessâ.
I have used a bone material power for a necromancer character i made and a luck manipulation hallmark power, thought i could also see it being psychic
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Iâve added a few. For the nameless one from the video game Planescape-Torment I added the self-control power âWithout Mortality.â When starting up Dr Medico I made the âLife Energyâ energy power. Also âHakaâ as an energy type when starting up Haka, and the Hallmark power âExtreme Luck,â for Setback.
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If I remember correctly, I just gave my Necromancer Robotics and renamed it Necromancy. The difference is totally narrative, so she gets all the Minion Maker abilities.
Also used Cold for Water for another hero, and marked it as such on the sheet so she has normal damage-type interactions with other characters. Changing the principle from Cold to Water is actually much more interesting.
Iâve done (and seen done) similar things with Gadgets. People have renamed it things like âmini-artifactsâ or âArtificeâ to turn gadgets from a tech-based power to a series of magical trinkets.
Generally, when builing Heroes, I find it helpful to think in Power classes rather than individual Powers.
This also helps to realize that sometimes, the Power you have in mind is maybe a bit to broad, and should in fact be several Powers.
Example:
I made a reality shaper type scientist Hero, who would generate macroscopic quantum effects to bend the laws of spacetime around himself. There is no Power for âSpacetime meddlingâ, obviously. Adding that as a hallmark power (or even shoehorning it into the âenergyâ class, as some sort of a natural force) seems the straightforward route, but I realized that would basically create a catch-all megapower.
So I split it up into its self-control aspect (Intangibility, renamed superposition), the tech-equipment part (Inventions) and the spatial uncertainty (Teleportation) as well as the slight temporal advantage (Awareness).
I realize that this is âusing upâ a lot of powers, but feels so much more rounded, and in the spirit of how the game works.
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Yes. One character described the ability to redirect kinetic energy, sort of a physical Absorption, so I have created a new energy power called Kinetic. It can be used like other energy powers, to defend, attack etc.