[Warwraith]

Does the acid keep eating away at the target for the duration of the PP? Same with fire, does that set the target on fire? If so, once the duration of the power has ended do the flames go out and the acid get neutralized?

[Ryo]

I do not believe the Acid keeps eating at them, however Fire would have a chance of setting them on fire. My source of this is that Acid Stream / Toxic Wave do not do damage over time, but Flamethrower / Fireball do have a chance of igniting flammables.

[Kincaid]

I'd actually go in the other direction because Acid Stream/Toxic Wave specify that the acid dissipates, whereas Elemental Strike (and Corrosive Spit, for you evil GMs out there) does not.

[Ryo]

I'd actually go in the other direction because Acid Stream/Toxic Wave specify that the acid dissipates, whereas Elemental Strike (and Corrosive Spit, for you evil GMs out there) does not.

Elemental Strike is generic, wanting you to fill in your own element. It would be out of place for it to specify restrictions on Acid, without also outright stating how each element functions with the power. Of course, there wasn't enough room for it to do that.

The damage over time for Acid damage assumes lingering acid clinging to the surface. Logistically, I don't see Elemental Strike/Weapon/Body replicating that, since you would basically be dripping magic acid just by standing there, which would not be good for your surroundings. Turn on elemental body, accidentally eat a hole through the floor. Seems kind of odd to me.

Of course, none of this is specified in the rules and its a total GM call how it should actually work. I'm leaning towards 'Acid Evaporates' both for logistic reasons and balance reasons. Unlike fire, acid automatically starts dealing its damage over time, rather than having to beat the target's armor to ignite it, which would make Acid massively more useful to the player for dealing damage.

A Strength 6 adept wielding a Katana using Acid Weapon would deal 9P of base acid damage and reduce the target's armor by 1. Next turn, he rolls against 8P acid, now with 2 fewer armor. Turn after that, 7P, with 3 less armor. The adept could hit most targets once, then just stand back and wait for his opponent to melt.

[Mirikon]

I agree with Ryo. It would be horrendously overpowered if it lingered. Armor stripping is sweet enough, especially when dealing with foes that use Hardened Armor.

The only question with Elemental Strike/Elemental Weapon is whether the AP is the same as it is for Elemental Body, or whether it mirrors the critter power of Elemental Attack, and has an AP of -(Magic), or whether it, for some strange reason, doesn't have AP when every other elemental effect does. Think this is a copy/paste error from when all elemental effects did a flat -half AP.

[ZeConster]

Those two aren't the only DV options. I read it as not actually affecting the unarmed attack's Damage Value or AP, but simply adding an elemental effect to it: so Acid will reduce Armor by 1 once, Cold has a chance of breaking armor, Electricity has its usual secondary effect, and Fire may set stuff on fire.

[Ryo]

The copy+pasted restriction of Penetrating Strike not working with Elemental Strike suggests that Elemental is supposed to have some kind of inherent AP, like it did in 4th. Either that, or just absolute laziness on behalf of the developers who copy+pasted the power without thinking about why it had that restriction.

I would personally give all elemental strike attacks -5 AP, which is what every electric attack in the game has, and it is only logical that Electric Weapon would share. The other elements should match, so as to not give Electric Weapon a significant advantage over the other options.

Alternatively, Magic /2, to make it match Elemental Body.

[subgenius]

Yeah, magic/2 AP would make a lot of sense. As of now, the only reason I can seriously see taking elemental strike is that it unlocks body.

[ZeConster]

Magic/2 AP seems overkill, since it would mean 0.5PP gives you both an elemental effect and as much AP as 3 ranks of Penetrating Strike, which would cost 0.75PP, would.

Anyway, I asked Giabralter:

People are curious about whether Elemental Strike affects the base DV and/or AP of an unarmed Killing Hands strike, since it specifies it can't be combined with Penetrating Strike, which gives an AP rating; if not, it would add an elemental effect but would also mean you can't add an AP rating.

at .5 cost per power, it's as described; an elemental effect with no direct change to DV or AP. there are some details to each element however that should have been spelled out for such attacks as it's not entirely clear the effect of each is.

It's not official, but I would include a table listing how each element effects a successful physical attack:

Acid: Reduce armor rating by 1
Cold: Simple armor test. if the armor fails, it's cannot be used as armor
Fire: To determine if something catches fire, Fire AP = –(Magic x 0.5)
Electricity: Secondary Effect only (SR5 p 171)
Water: Add (Magic x 0.5) to the DV of the attack for purposes of determining knockdown
Radiation: Treat every attack that hits as a toxin causing Nausea (see Toxins, p. 408, SR5) with a DV equal to net hits of the attack (before the Damage Resistance roll).
Pollution: Treat every attack that hits as a toxin causing Anaphylactic Shock (see Toxins, p. 408, SR5) with a DV equal to net hits of the attack (before the Damage Resistance roll).

[Warwraith]

Why would anyone take this power when the can just buy shock gloves which are much better than the power? It's truly just a throwaway power just to get Elemental Body. Or at least the electrical one seems to be.

[Sendaz]

Why would anyone take this power when the can just buy shock gloves which are much better than the power? It's truly just a throwaway power just to get Elemental Body. Or at least the electrical one seems to be.

Well, because Magic is Shiny is probably the first reason.

Shock gloves also have 10 charges before you need a recharge, which isn't bad in normal circumstances, but in an isolated area that could be tricky.

[Namikaze]

You can't have Elemental Strike disarmed, for one thing - and Elemental Strike can take many forms, whereas shock gloves cannot.

[Ryo]

You can't have Elemental Strike disarmed, for one thing - and Elemental Strike can take many forms, whereas shock gloves cannot.

You can disarm a shock glove? That'd be a hell of a move, taking someone's glove off in the middle of combat. A glove that electricutes you if you touch it wrong, no less.

[Sendaz]

Fido could.


Think Nami means you could be grappled and have your arm immobilized so you couldn't use the shock glove, or some kind of called shot for similar effect, while you could still charge up the foot for a lightning kick.

[Mirikon]

You can't have Elemental Strike disarmed, for one thing - and Elemental Strike can take many forms, whereas shock gloves cannot.

You can disarm a shock glove? That'd be a hell of a move, taking someone's glove off in the middle of combat. A glove that electricutes you if you touch it wrong, no less.

Demolish Gloves spell.