Damage and Effect Tags
I haven’t seen any clear indication on how damage or effects are classified, but if this is still in development, may I suggest a tag system. The way it works is that every ability and game effect has a list of tags that represent things like damage type, class archetype, power source, etcetera. By design, most abilities and effects would have one tag per category, such as one damage type and one power source. Some tags may fit into multiple categories; for example, “Fire” may be a damage type and an element type. Abilities and game effects could use these tags for things like resistances, immunities, and weaknesses. Effects with certain tags may have their duration augmented or a rider effect may be applied. For example, effects with a condition tag would have a standard rider effect for the duration. Also, certain passive abilities could impose a rider effect when the creature that has the ability is affected by an effect with a certain tag. For example, a fire elemental might have its movement and attack slowed when it is affected by an ability with the “Cold” or “Water” tags. Abilities could be easily augmented to interact with other effects. For example, a healing effect could be augmented to also cure effects with the “Disease” tag.
Tag categories can include the following:
Damage Types: Acid, Bludgeoning, Cold, Fire, Force, Lightning, Necrotic, Piercing, Poison, Psychic, Radiant, Slashing, Thunder
Range: Melee, Ranged, Self
Ailments: Curse, Disease, Madness, Poison
Conditions: Bleeding, Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Fatigued, Frightened, Grappled, Invisible, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained, Stunned, Unconscious
Boons: Blessing, Potion
Power Source: Arcane, Elemental, Divine, Martial, Natural, Psionic
Power sources could have a sub category.
Arcane (School of Magic): Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy
Elemental: Aether, Air, Earth, Fire, Water (you could include Metal and Wood to accommodate oriental themes)
Divine: various deities
Martial: Attack, Exploit, Guard
Natural: Beast, Plant
Psionic: Apportation, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Telesthesia
