Elementa

The greatest success of King's Bay is their Elemental Bowl arena. A stage fitting to host the greatest game on Alturis.

• Striker Turrak who plays for the Senna 7's.

Elementa was first conceived when a group of mages played chess and asked the age old question 'Why don't we make it bigger, more violent and add magic?' and thus the most successful sport in all of Alturis was born.
The goal of the game is simple. It is a game with 2 teams of 3-6 players. They are given a 'Strawman', a magi-tek dummy, that they move across a chessboard style grid with the goal of knocking it off of the opponents side of the board whilst protecting their own side.
The Elementaball arena is generally shared in the same space as the Spell Clash arenas and so the terrain can sometimes be manipulated and changing and strange though it is always designed like a large chess board with each square measuring 5x5ft. The grids on the squares are black and white at amateur level but can be changed to match the colour of professional teams at more lucrative and popular games.
The dummy can be hit to move across the field in straight lines, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

There are many tactics and ideas around Elementa but generally teams want a mixture of 'casters' to affect the field, a single strong 'keeper' to protect their team from conceding goals and then the 'strikers' who can actually hit the dummy with force to move it around the field. Every Elementaball team must have at least one player in each position but can add more as they please (with the exception of the keeper who must always be one person). Each competitor must clearly state their position before the match starts and they cannot change unless they are coming in to replace an unconscious or knocked keeper. This ensures that everyone follows the rules for their roles.
Elementa is a successful commercial sport that is at the point of big industry in entertainment.
Stadiums and arenas throughout Namarie host Elementa requiring proof of licensing to take part.
Local and cross city competitions are hosted annually in the largest stadiums across Alturis and the winning team receive the Elementa trophy and 25,000gp.
Rules of Elementa: The goal of Elementa is very simple, move the other teams Magical mannequin (or 'strawman' for short) off of the arena through their side. Games generally run as a 'best of three' system where the one that reaches two victories first wins.
Each individual to join a team has their spells available determined by the tier they play in generally, higher tiers offer higher rewards due to attracting more interested audiences:

• Tier 1:Only up to 1st level spell slots can be used.
• Tier 2:Only up to 2nd level spell slots can be used.
• Tier 3: Only up to 3rd level spell slots can be used.
• Tier 4: Only up to 4th level spell slots can be used.
• Tier 5: Only up to 5th level spell slots can be used.

Games are played with 3-6 players that fill the following positions, to play a game, you must have at least one person per position:

• Keeper- There can only be 1 keeper on a team, their role is to play defensively by intercepting shots targeting the strawman and ensuring the strawman is not knocked off the field, a keeper generally is a hardy warrior capable of withstanding significant damage but generally lacking in magical or striking skills. Recommended Classes: Tough monks, barbarians, fighters. A keepers role is only interception and they are only allowed to hit the strawman if they are 'parrying' it. Explained below.
• Striker- The striker is the only position allowed to offensively attack the dummy itself and move it around the field. Typically a striker needs to have a heavy hit and be able to withstand the traps and effects strewn throughout the field. Recommended Classes: Paladin, Monk, Ranger, Rogue
• Caster- The caster's role is to use their spellcasting to affect the terrain of the arena by firing spells at the grids that store them as traps, these grids then contain the spell the caster put in, adding a degree of chess-like tactics to the games. Typically casters act as the more intelligent and reactive members of the team and are not allowed to directly attack the dummy. Recommended Classes: Cleric, Druid, Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock

Rules of the game: The game opens with a short 'preliminary' in which each member of the team takes up their position on the field and the casters of each team can lay three traps down on the grid that only their team are aware of.
The game is started with a team initiative roll (the modifier used is the highest initiative score in the party), after that point each character can take one turn on their team initiative (the equivalent of working together in a fluid motion as a team), after which point the dummy will start to be manipulated.
To hit the dummy, a striker must make a (DC10+2+your tier of play) attack roll to strike the dummy. The dummy moves one square for every 5 damage. The dummy can only be stopped in it's movement by a keeper or if it hits a trapped grid.
Magic cannot be used directly against players (either on your team or the opponents) and must always be used on a chosen grid which stores the spell effect and limits it to the one 5x5 grid square (for example, a fireball loses it's AOE property). Additionally, only strikers can directly use spellcasting on dummy's to make them move. Casting a spell directly against a player will result in the caster being sent off for the game.
If a dummy hits a trap grid, then it will immediately stop it's movement and the trap grid spell will be cast on all squares adjacent to the dummy.
The arena distances get longer and longer depending on the tier of play and the amount of players.
This makes Elementa a tactical game based on resource management and cooperation, often leading teams to build tactics before the match or, as they are colloquially called in the Elementa community, Wombo Combos.
The first team to knock the dummy off their opponents side of the arena win the round.
If an opponent attacks the dummy and it would fall off the elementagrid, the keeper gains a reaction to 'parry'. The keeper can immediately react with their movement speed to move to intercept the dummy, if they can reach it with their reaction they can parry, if they cannot reach it they can make a DC10+the grid movement of the dummy+the amount of squares they are away from the dummy athletics or acrobatics check to dive and save the shot.
If the keeper successfully saves, they take 1d10 bludgeoning damage for every square the dummy travelled that round and they can then attempt to 'parry' by taking a single strike against the dummy to clear it away from their lines. This is treated like an opportunity attack.
A player is unable to change positions unless it is to act as an emergency replacement for a position that have no members left if they have been knocked unconscious during the match. If a team can't fill one of the positions they immediately lose that round.
Between rounds, teams will take a 15-30 minutes sports break that acts as a short rest for them to speak, plan and recover. Due to these long gaps of time, 2 or 3 elementa games will run concurrently at any one time.
Lastly, if the dummy falls off one of the sides of the chess board, the team that knocked it must take a 'penalty' as they return to their positions and the opposing team wins a free shot, starting the game again from where the dummy fell from their initiative.