Elemental Crystal

In short

Elemental Crystals are Crystal that have powerful Fire, Cold, Lightning, Radiant, Necrotic, or Force magic inside them. The Crystals grow in special places and can be harvested. They can be used as material components for certain spells and can be used in crafting recipes.

Creation Process

Elemental Crystals are Crystals formed by or imbued with magical influences relating to a specific damage type. The elemental magic from which the Crystals are created usually comes from elemental "springs". These springs are either formed naturally or created through intricate magical rituals.

Harvesting

Harvesting the crystals requires an arcana or nature and a sleight of hand check, DC depends on the value of the crystal and other conditions. If both checks fail the harvester or its harvesting gear takes damage and the crystal shrinks to a size that has a DC lower than the highest of both checks (so a 17 and a 15 on a magnificent crystal will make it shrink to medium). If only 1 check fails the crystal still shrinks 1 size but you take no damage. If both checks succeed the harvesting gear takes negligible damage.
When touched directly while harvesting, the crystal deals damage of its elemental type depending on its size. Wearing a protective layer like leather gloves prevent this damage but the layer might get damaged in the process, as described above.
After harvesting most of the crystals become safe to touch but are at risk of slowly losing their potency. More powerful crystals might remain dangerous to touch and require specialized transportation tools.

Storage and transportation

The Crystals are fragile and need to be transported with soft padding. If they were to break they would release a burst of powerful elemental energy, dealing damage to nearby items and creatures. The magic inside the Crystals is essentially trapped and wants to break free. If the Crystals are not handled properly they may lose their magic. The more powerful a Crystal the more careful it needs to be handled.
Crystals of size medium and up require a Crystal Stabilizer to prevent degradation.

Uses (revised)

Elemental Crystals can sometimes be used as alternative to the material components of certain spells. See Changes to spells or ask the DM if it is allowed.

Elemental Crystals can also be used as a basis for enchantments or as an individual resource.

Elemental Crystals can be crushed or smashed by a creature to grant them certain powers. When crushed by a creature they grant resistance to the damage type for a duration and allows the creature to use their reaction to return 1d6 damage to the attacker, up to a damage cap. Alternatively it can be smashed by a weapon granting attacks with that weapon an additional of its damage dice of the crystal's type for a duration, up to a damage cap.
Crushing or smashing the crystal costs a bonus action or action, your choice.

A tiny crystal grants resistance for 3 rounds and allows for up to 5 damage in reflection or 15 bonus damage to a weapon.
A small crystal grants resistance for 5 rounds and allows for up to 10 damage in reflection or 30 bonus damage to a weapon.
A medium crystal grants resistance for 10 rounds and allows for up to 20 damage in reflection or 60 bonus damage to a weapon.
A large crystal grants resistance for 20 rounds and allows for up to 40 damage in reflection or 120 bonus damage to a weapon.
A magnificent crystal grants resistance for 40 rounds and allows for up to 80 damage in reflection or 240 bonus damage to a weapon.

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Uses (old)

Elemental Crystals can sometimes be used as alternative to the material components of certain spells. See Changes to spells or ask the DM if it is allowed.

Elemental Crystals can also be used as a basis for magical infusions and enchantments. Items can be infused with magic from the Crystal using a Crystalline Infuser.

There are 5 sizes of crystals:

• Tiny
• Small
• Medium
• Large
• Magnificent

The intensity of the effects of the crystals are usually presented in 5 tiers that correspond to the crystal size. For example, when you use an elemental crystal as ammunition in a sling (super wasteful) it deals an additional 1d4/1d8+1/2d8+2/4d8+4/8d8+8 of its elemental type in a 5 foot radius.

DM stuff for Elemental Crystals