I was wondering how to make a Fantastic Four type team with Sentinels. A team based on different elemental flavors.
If you wanted to build a Fire/Water/Earth/Air team, who would you take?
Then I realized that the prime wardens kind of fit the bill: Haka is earth, Tempest is water, Fanatic is fire (or radiance), and Argent Adept is air (or sound).
That makes me wonder if the fifth warden will have a "heart" themed power...
If not the prime wardens, who would be your elemental team?
Probably [Redacted] for Earth, Tempest for water (tho would probly also work for Air), Ra is a natural fit for Fire, and I'm not sure about Air (if not Tempest) but since he does sonic damage, Argent Adept does work for Air.
[Redacted] is not Earth, he is not representing an elemental force of nature, too changable.
I'd put The Scholar as Earth, solid, stable and very difficult to divert from his course.
Isn't The Scholar's whole thing being able to take on the forms of all the elements?
Hmmmm, I suppose it depends on how we look at the heroes embodying the properties of elements, Ra would be an excellent choice for Fire, not because he does fire damage but because he is (almost) all consuming, all damage all the time, what I consider to be the primary 'property' of fire.
Just because The Scholar has multiple elemental forms does not mean he cannot embody one of the four classic elements.
I reckon some heroes could fit into multiple elements, while others (like Ra) are very clearly representative of just one. Let me go through the list and see what I think...
Ab'Zero - Fire and Water, for obvious reasons. Okay, the water is frozen, but it's still water.
Bunker - Probably Earth for the strong, tough armour, but Fire for the...well, firepower.
Fanatic - Air because of the wings and ability to use them, but Fire for the holy-righteous-wrath-burn-you-heretics powers :).
Haka - Earth, of course.
Legacy - Probably Earth and Air, because he's physically strong but he can fly. In the alternate timeline, he's probaly fuelled by fire as well (his anger).
Ra - Hmm, I wonder... :P
Tachyon - Possibly Air? She can travel so fast as to be a blur, and if the card names are actually descriptive of the speeds she's travelling then she can actually go at light speed, meaning she'd be invisible. Being hit by an invisible force could be likened to being buffeted by the wind, maybe? Okay, a wind that can punch you in the face, but still...
Tempest - Obviously Water and Air.
Visionary - I'm not really sure where psychic powers could fit. She can change the elements used by other people, though (Twist the Ether), so maybe she has influence over all four, to some extent.
Wraith - Probably Earth, because all her attacks are physically based (seeing how she doesn't have supernatural powers of any kind)...though she does have several thrown weapons so maybe she sort of covers Air as well...
Mr Fixer - Probably either Earth or Air, or some combination of both - he's got the physical element of being a mechanic and knowing how to hit people really hard, but meanwhile he meditates and is internally calm and stuff for all his martial arts styles. I suppose Monkey Fist lets him cover all elements, though.
Expatriette - As another non-powered pwerson, I'd say she fits under Earth for that aspect, but like Bunker her guns would allow her to cover Fire as well. Depending on the Ammo, she can also cover Water. I'm not sure about Air...but bullets fly, right? ;)
Adept - I'd say Air for all the song stuff, so that'd be his primary element, but then he can cover any of the other elements with various songs, eg Counterpoint Bulwark's protection could come under Earth, while Scherzo of Frost and Flame would obviously cover Fire and Water, etc.
Nightmist - Considering the whole mist thing, presumably Air and Water...
Chrono Ranger - Earth for his general physical nature (as he has no powers but gets his abilities from his gear, even if part of said gear is now an interchangeable part of him), maybe Air for the "flying" through time and stuff, and Fire for blasting the crap out of stuff with things like the Masadah.
Omni-10 - Earth for being made of metal, Fire for things like the Plasma Cannon and Rocket Punch (which is sort of Earth powered by Fire), Water for the Innervation Ray (Water generally represents healing), and Air for...erm...well, he seems to be hovering in the air in several of his cards...
Scholar - Earth for his general "Hey, chill, man" attitude, Water for the healing, Fire for blasting the crap out of stuff.
Unity - Earth because she makes her bots out of metal, but the bots themselves possess stuff like Fire (eg Platform Bot) and Water (Cryo Bot).
Something along those lines, anyway ;).
It is most certainly a possibility.
And when you combine the 5 powers of the Prime Wardens you will get CAPTAIN PLANET!
That's too copyright infringing, Foote, we needs something like Captain Sentinels, or Admiral Multiverse.
How about the "Toxic Avenger"? Wait. Damn. I am bad at this
Regarding AA: If you maintain the standard elemental opposites in fantasy, then Air is a nemesis of Earth.
Although, I still don't know why they are opposites....oh well.
Well air typically represents quick, graceful, and flowing. While earth is slow, brute, and sturdy.
I get that you can take out some opposite characteristics, but there are so many games where the opposites are weak to each other. Do Air damage against Earth types, etc. Fine, Water against Fire makes sense, but none of the others do, not even Fire against Water.
Air is up. Ground is down. Up and down are opposites.
AB is also made of earth and AA is its nemesis.
Heat evaporates water?
It makes more sense if you use the Chinese Elements:
Wood - Fire - Earth - Metal - Water
There's a constructive chain and a destructive chain
The constructive chain goes:
Wood feeds fire, Fire creates earth (ash), Earth bears metal, Metal enriches water, water feeds wood
The destructive chain goes:
Wood parts earth, earth dams water, water extinguishes fire, fire melts metal, metal chops wood
I like your list except for Mr. Fixer - he seems more Earth/Water to me. The water feel comes from his play style - he adapts to the situation, and manipulates the flow of damage. It seems very liquid to me. Still, his mechanical side is very earthy.
I would also describe the Scholar as very water. His elemental forms include Iron and Energy, but his play style is full of healing and his philosophy is a sort "go with the flow and let things work out" sort of deal.
Ahh, I was thinking of water as the "healing" element, rather than interpretations of manipulating "flow". Ah well, either works ;).
Regarding opposites...Fire evaporates water. Water douses fire. If you have Earth (ie solid matter), there is no Air there, because Earth takes up the space. If there is no Earth, it means the space is taken up with Air (unless you're in a vacuum, but funnily enough those never seem to come up in Fantacy settings ;)). You can generally move freely through Air, but not Earth.
Technically, any living creature is made of all four elements - you're made of Earth and Water, you breathe Air, while Fire is the "spark of life", more notable in warm-blooded creatures who produce heat, of course ;). Something like that, anyway.
So you have a fire mage and a water mage in a battle. The fire mage conjurs up a wall of fire. The awter mage covers it in water to put it out. Then the fire mage surrounds the water with fire (it has to be around the water, if it is in the water, it will go out). Then the fire mage says, "I am now evaporating your water. Ha. Just don't counter attack for a few hours, this might take awhile." if you want to say that the fire is so hot that it instantly evaporates the water, the a fire that hot will instantly destroy many other things as well. Water destroys fire. Don't see how fire destroys water.
You can say that about everything. No two things can occupy the same space, whether it is air and earth or water and earth (if they mix, then it isn't solid).
They have different characteristics, but many things do. i can say that I need air every few minutes to survive, but I don't need to eat a rock. They are different, as many thigns are different. I have just found it confusing why it is just assumed that these are inherently opposite. They are different, not opposite.
EDIT: Nothing against you personally, I am just confused by this whole idea in the fantasy genre. I get it that if I am playing a fire mage and have a fire shield that it might not be the best idea to conjur buckets of water. But just because I creted a wall of stone, I can't create a tornado?
This is magic we are talking about. Where the power of their fire or water is solely based on the power of the wielder.
Yes logically speaking a fire hot enough to evaporate water would destroy a lot of stuff, however the power of the mage not only determines how hot the fire is, but what all the fire actually can effect.
Magic can do anything!
Air freezes water, which leads to the breakdown/erosion on the earth. There are places where the rocks have been carved by the winds.