Scientific Use of Power?

[Blue Milk]

I am searching for good combinations/combat strategies for the use of the elementalist (fire, water, earth, air, also includes subelements like lightning, metal, etc.) class to create clever battle scenes that aren't just basic.
For example, if another character is holding a metal weapon and the elementalist of this story strikes lightning, that character is quite literally...toast.

Any other ideas of just strategy in general is accepted, since I'm not very good with that in the first place haha.

 

[Orc Knight]

Earth, fire, water: hard clay walls, make an army a terra-cotta army.
Air and fire: Flamethrowers with more distance.
Earth and metal: Armor.
Though if you want even more, I'd look into shows like the Avatar (Last Airbender and Korra, not the Airbender movie though) series and Jim Butchers Codex: Alera for good examples of elemental being used for both the mundane and military applications.

 

[CupofJoe]

For example, if another character is holding a metal weapon and the elementalist of this story strikes lightning, that character is quite literally...toast..

But if they know the other side has people that can hurl lightning bolts at them, they will use metal armour or just a wire from weapon to ground to earth themselves and then the bolt will be painful but very survivable.
It really depends on what limitations you are putting in to the story. How powerful and easy is the magic? How well known is it? What countermeasure have been developed?
I like this bit in BtVS...

I miss Drusilla...

 

[TheKillerBs]

For example, if another character is holding a metal weapon and the elementalist of this story strikes lightning, that character is quite literally...toast.

If you’re looking for science, then no. There is literally no difference what you’re holding, it will not amplify the current the lightning user’s spell is creating. At most, it will make the person electrically closer to the source of the spell.

 

[Horus]

Magic changes the dynamics of warfare by leaps and bounds. For every offensive spell you can think of, a world would inevitably be forced to engage in an arms race to come up with a counter. The most dangerous forms of magic I could think of for warfare would be fire, wind, and water. Water and wind would heavily influence how a navy could operate, both for better and worse. Imagine having to deal with an enemy who could turn the water around your ship to ice? Or who could use wind to affect your sails? It's a big game changer.

If mages are even more powerful or resourceful, they could transform ancient battlefields into near WWI levels of carnage. If you have a mage who can create poisonous gas, or create plagues, they'd kill people without having to do anything flashy. Then there's using magic for things like breaking damns to flood lowland areas, or creating earthquakes, or causing natural disasters like volcano eruptions. The applications are near limitless. You really only have to determine how powerful magic is, and then adjust accordingly.

But if they know the other side has people that can hurl lightning bolts at them, they will use metal armour or just a wire from weapon to ground to earth themselves and then the bolt will be painful but very survivable.

Grounding yourself is the exact opposite of what you want to do with electricity, because electricity having a pathway through your heart is what will kill you. You're better off using rubber or some other insulator to protect yourself thereby increasing resistance. But really... any amount of voltage can/can't kill you, because its actually amps that kill, not volts. Anything above .05 amps can kill you, and your average wall outlet has at least 1 amp worth.

 

[TheKillerBs]

Grounding yourself is the exact opposite of what you want to do with electricity, because electricity having a pathway through your heart is what will kill you. You're better off using rubber or some other insulator to protect yourself thereby increasing resistance. But really... any amount of voltage can/can't kill you, because its actually amps that kill, not volts. Anything above .05 amps can kill you, and your average wall outlet has at least 1 amp worth.

Grounding the weapon is a much better option than attempting to insulate yourself, unless you did so fully, or at least until the metal in the weapon is closer to the ground than you, otherwise the current will just arc into you through the air rather than attempt to bypass your insulation. And of course, metal armour is still the best choice, as not only will it defend you from most physical attacks, it will also act like a Faraday cage. Fire magic would probably doom you in plate armour though, as might a lightning spell that actually has the power output of real lightning

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

You've got such a mixture in there. Personally I would go for creating golems for the physical elements - eg clay and iron golems. And as an added bonus your iron golems could carry an electric charge - static like lightning - and when they touch an enemy soldier assuming he's grounded, he fries. But rubber soled shoes might protect them from that. I say might because if the ground is too muddy, they might not. Likewise if the ground is hot from fire - the rubber melts.

With wind your basic defense is weight and solidity - eg huge metal shields - but that's not good from a lightning point of view and if he's attacked with water drowning would be a problem. And with fire something like an asbestos suit or shield - but again drowning and a lack of weight against wind are issues. Mostly what you've got though is that one perfect defence renders your soldiers susceptible to a different elemental attack.

However if you have force and can create shields you have a better defense. Simply create an area of vacuum around your soldier and he's immune to fire, electricity and wind. Some armour would lend him some protection against the physical elements too.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Corwynn]

There are a lot of options. Fire magic could be used melt weapons and armor or detonate explosives. Earth magic could be used to change terrain, or make materials so rigid and brittle that they shatter on impact. Water can bog enemies down in mire, or soak bowstrings and gunpowder making them useless. Air can suffocate or induce rapid corrosion, etc.

You have to be careful though, too much magic can be a game-breaker and render warfare totally unrecognisable.

In my world, while thaumaturgists (mages) are used in warfare, there are no battlemages who fight on the front lines. Thaumaturgists are normally used in roles like support, logistics, and intelligence gathering, where they are less exposed to danger and where their abilities can make more of a difference. A military thaumaturgist is certainly able to defend themself and their comrades if necessary, but if a thaumaturgist is exposed to direct combat, it usually means something has gone wrong. The reason for this is that thaumaturgists are difficult to replace. To use a historical analogy, thaumaturgists are to longbowmen what longbowmen are to musketeers. They require much training in order to be effective. After a certain point, the risk and consequences of losing an asset outweigh the benefit of using it in an environment where such a loss is highly likely, especially considering that they would be considered high priority targets.

The reason I made the above rule for my world was so that there would still be a role for conventional warfare despite the presence of magic-users. Of course, if you want a world where warfare essentially boils down to an army of mages vs. another army of mages, that's perfectly fine. But if you do not, then you will have to come up with an explanation for why soldiers are still going at each other with swords and bows when a wizard could incinerate an entire company with a wave of his hand.