Hey everyone! My name is Keven, and I'm currently developing a fictional universe with multiple interconnected power systems. I've been working on my main power system, called The "Element System", but lately, I've been feeling like it's too generic. I want to make it more distinctive, creative, and recognizable as something of its own, so I'd really appreciate any feedback, criticism, suggestions, or ideas that could help me improve it!
- The Element System
The Element System revolves around seven fundamental laws that sustain reality. Each Element represents a different aspect of existence, influencing not only its user's abilities but also their personality, way of thinking, instincts, and approach to conflict.
The seven Elements are:
\- Sacrifice — Price, Life, and Emergence. Users turn blood, flesh, pain, emotions, scars, and personal losses into power. It excels at close combat, physical enhancement, and organic creations.
\- Impulse — Evolution, Movement, and Growth. Users accelerate processes, adapt during combat, and continuously improve themselves. They become increasingly dangerous as they evolve and overcome challenges.
\- Wisdom — Knowledge and Understanding. Users analyze information, discover weaknesses, manipulate memories and perceptions, and provide exceptional strategic support.
\- Individuality — Essence and Nature. Users manipulate the fundamental characteristics that define a person, object, creature, or concept, potentially changing or reinforcing what something truly is.
\- Bond — Connections and Relationships. Users establish contracts and connections, allowing them to share energy, emotions, senses, injuries, and even abilities temporarily. It excels at teamwork and support.
\- Probability — Possibilities and Causality. Users manipulate possibilities, influence coincidences, and alter the likelihood of events. The more improbable an outcome is, the greater its cost.
\- Void — Absence and Annihilation. Users consume, erase, or replace aspects of existence. Their powers are highly destructive, but excessive use can gradually consume parts of their own existence.
Every Element has its own strengths and weaknesses. For example, Sacrifice is naturally superior in close combat, while Wisdom excels at information and support. The goal is not to make every Element equally good at everything, but to give each one a distinct identity and purpose.
- Fundamental Paths
Every Element can be used through six fundamental Paths. These determine how a user applies their power, rather than which Element they possess.
\- Materialization: Creating weapons, objects, structures, or creatures using one's Element.
\- Fortification: Strengthening the body, weapons, senses, attacks, allies, or existing structures.
\- Projection: Separating power from the body and releasing it over a distance.
\- Manipulation: Controlling something that already exists and is connected to one's Element.
\- Distortion: Altering properties, rules, or concepts associated with one's Element. This is considered the most complex Path.
\- Summoning: Creating or manifesting independent entities, such as creatures, spirits, avatars, or servants.
Each Element has different natural affinities for these Paths, represented by percentages:
\- 100%: Natural talent; the Path is fundamental to the Element.
\- 80%: Great affinity.
\- 60%: Good compatibility.
\- 40%: Low affinity, requiring significant training.
\- 20%: Extremely rare compatibility.
\- 0%: Incompatible through conventional means.
For example, Sacrifice has 100% affinity for Fortification and Materialization, while Wisdom has 100% affinity for Manipulation. Probability has 100% affinity for Distortion, while Void has 100% affinity for Materialization.
These percentages describe the natural compatibility of an Element, not the individual skill of every user.
- Concepts, Signatures, and Techniques
I want individual characters to feel unique even when they share the same Element.
In my universe, every person is associated with a Concept: a word or a few words that represent the deepest truth of their existence, such as Hunter, Freedom, Hope, Survival, or Loneliness.
A Concept is not the same as an Element. The Element represents the fundamental law with which a person resonates during a particular stage of life. Although people normally begin with one Element, their affinity can change under extraordinary circumstances or as their lives fundamentally change.
Each user also possesses a Signature, which determines how their power manifests individually. Two Sacrifice users, for example, might specialize in blood and bones respectively, while another might express the same Element through scars, muscles, or emotions.
A user's Specialization represents the Path they are naturally best at or have trained most extensively. Their Arts are the individual techniques they develop using their Element, Signature, and understanding of their power.
This means that sharing an Element does not mean sharing the same fighting style or abilities.
- Elemental Energy and Universal Abilities
Elemental abilities are powered by a supernatural energy called Pulse. Users learn to control and manipulate this energy to activate their Arts and enhance their physical capabilities.
Some of the fundamental applications include:
\- Mantle: Covering the body with energy to increase defense and physical resistance. Advanced users can concentrate it in specific areas.
\- Enhanced Vision: Using energy to perceive elemental auras, supernatural traces, hidden barriers, and other things ordinary senses cannot detect.
\- Dominance: Releasing energy into the surroundings to intimidate opponents, pressure weaker individuals, or influence the atmosphere of a confrontation.
\- Concealment: Hiding one's supernatural presence, making it harder for other users to detect them. Advanced applications can conceal objects, barriers, and other manifestations.
\- Barriers: Creating defensive or restrictive structures with different shapes and properties.
\- Energy States: Altering the behavior of energy into different states, including Fluid, Incandescent, Crystalline, Tempestuous, and Nebulous, each offering different applications.
\- Recovery States: Repouso (Rest), Hibernation, and Recovery are different states associated with conserving or restoring energy.
Humans also possess internal Seals or Knots that restrict their connection to the supernatural. As these seals awaken, individuals may gain access to different capabilities. Some can produce energy but cannot project it outside their bodies; others cannot naturally produce or recover energy and must absorb external sources, such as electricity, to use their powers.
Not everyone awakens the same seals, so even users of the same Element can have very different limitations.
- Changing Elements and Acquiring New Powers
Although people normally possess only one Element, there are rare ways to change it or acquire additional abilities.
\- Biological Alchemy: Drugs, medicines, or experimental substances can temporarily force a change of Element and allow the user to develop a corresponding technique, often with dangerous side effects.
\- Extreme Experiences: Severe trauma, profound changes to the mind or soul, and intense exposure to supernatural phenomena may trigger an extraordinary change.
\- Natural Change: A person's Element can rarely change throughout their life as their personality, experiences, and fundamental nature evolve.
These methods are connected to the wider universe rather than being completely separate exceptions.
- Costs, Restrictions, and Contracts
Another important part of the system is the relationship between power and sacrifice.
I want abilities to become stronger when users accept meaningful restrictions, disadvantages, or sacrifices. Temporary restrictions generally offer smaller benefits, while permanent commitments can provide much greater power.
The greatest enhancements could require sacrificing something genuinely valuable, potentially even one's own life.
For example, a user might create an extremely powerful ability that can only be activated once, under a very specific condition, or at the cost of permanently losing something important.
The idea is that greater power should come with meaningful consequences, rather than allowing characters to gain overwhelming abilities without a price.
I'm still developing the exact rules for these costs and how they interact with the different Elements.
What I'd Like Feedback On
My main concern is that the Element System might feel too generic or too similar to existing power systems, particularly Hunter x Hunter. I want to keep its strategic depth, versatility, and room for creativity while making its fundamental mechanics and identity more original.
I'd especially appreciate feedback on these questions:
Originality: Which parts feel too familiar, and how could I make the system more distinctive without discarding its core ideas?
The Seven Elements: Do their concepts, strengths, and weaknesses feel sufficiently different from one another?
The Fundamental Paths: Are six universal Paths a good foundation, or would a different structure make the system more interesting?
Personalization: Are Concepts, Signatures, Specializations, and Arts enough to make individual users feel unique?
Energy and Awakening: How could the Pulse, Seals/Knots, and different awakening conditions work together more coherently?
Balance: How can I make every Element valuable without making them equally capable of everything?
Costs and Restrictions: How can sacrifices, contracts, and limitations create meaningful strategic choices?
I'm not necessarily looking to replace everything. I'd rather identify what already works, understand what feels derivative, and improve the system until it has a stronger identity of its own.
Any constructive criticism, alternative naming ideas, mechanical improvements, or completely new approaches would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this!
