Note: This Trope Pad is in response of Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors' inconsistent status as a sub-trope to Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors, as many example don't have their set formed into a cycle. If this trope is launched, then Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors would require the RPS within elements to be a proper example, and hopefully, there won't be any more misuse or confusion in the future.

Past discussions: Mine, Inquiry in 2015

Note 2: Now Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors is defined as how one element is effective towards another. As the result, this proposal will be about how one element is effective against, say, one monster while is not necessarily aligned to another element.

TLP page: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=1p66ltooh01s3ny789l8gemm

Unabridged description

In many video games, characters can attack, such as through casting spells, that have Elemental Powers. These powers from attacks are based on varying forces of nature or energy, and thus subject to differing strengths and weaknesses.

The name of this trope comes from how well an element does against an enemy, whether by its elemental affinity, monster class or individual basis. Many times, it takes general knowledge to guess correctly, but individual universe may have lores explaining why an element works against an enemy in a particular way. Usually, these effectiveness manifest in a form of a damage multiplier. For example, a plant-based minion, being Weak to Fire, would receive twice the usual amount of damage if hit by a fire ball.

This trope is not necessarily limited to game mechanics. It can be expressed as a narrative, especially in anime set in a Role-Playing Game 'Verse. Using the above example, while the fire ball would simply knock back a common foe, plants would roll on the ground, screaming in terror as it continues to be burned. It can be set up as a challenge for a protagonist to overcome, or a solution for the protagonist to defeat an otherwise more powerful foe.

Often on the developer's part, their interpretation of an element's properties can vary its effectiveness between works. For example, water is generally a real-life strong conductor of electricity; this can mean that water is "good for" the electricity (electricity easily "fills up" the water and destroys the watery creature) or "bad for" it (the electricity doesn't want to be conducted by water, and the electrical creature is sapped or short-circuited). The complexity of the system gets really fun when you come up with how various elements interact with one another.

Elements are almost always immune or resistant to themselves; and can sometimes even heal the entity in question. Fighting fire with fire, for example, rarely works. Any Non-Elemental powers, as their name implies, will merely sit out in the corner of left field wondering why nobody else wants to interact with them.

Subtropes of Elemental Effectiveness include:

Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: A chain of elements, one strong against another, so that they form into a cycle.
Elemental Tiers: Hierarchical arrangement of an element's overall effectiveness.
Infinity +1 Element: An element strong against more than one, particularly those in a set that forms a cycle.

Elemental Effectiveness can be played with such as the following: Kryptonite-Proof Suit (to cover-up one's elemental weakness), Poor, Predictable Rock (when a Genre Blind person fail to oversee the implications of the whole system), and Scissors Cuts Rock (the disadvantageous element ends up being victorious instead).

A Sub-Trope of Situational Damage Attack. See also Field Power Effect for terrain and conditions that help one or more elements and hinder others. Contrast Inverse Law of Complexity to Power, where this trope is applied between fundamental and abstract elements.

Examples

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TRS: Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors

Page: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1562254886004510700&page=1

Trope Talk: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15642442120A46747000&page=1

ATT: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/query.php?parent_id=78775&type=att

TLP: Rock-Paper-Scissors Cycle

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Analyzing: Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors

TLP: Elemental Effectiveness

Unabridged description

Examples

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TLP: Rock-Paper-Scissors Cycle

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