i like the damage on movement and i think it should be severe and punishing. the current mechanic provides to much incentive to standing in one spot. i think you should be punished MORE for standing in it then moving. however the movement aspect still needs to be punishing enough that its not worth moving through said surface to attack an enemy. ie: lower the moving damage to much and it makes it to easy to just rush right through the surface and attack a mob making elemental surfaces trivial in the combat dynamic.
Ok, I have a problem with this. Short of using a spell specifically designed with that intention (like an ice wall), elemental surfaces should not be physical barriers, only deterrents. When you make an elemental surface
"not worth moving through .. to attack an enemy", you have essentially created a physical barrier.
And damage done from quickly moving across these surfaces should not be a particularly strong deterrent. Instead it should be time spent within the element that results in heavy damage that creates the deterrent. Now, if you can enter an element surface, kill a target, and move out of it in one turn before taking serious damage, that is not a problem with the elemental surface, that is a problem with NPC difficulty and/or character balance.
Now, I realize this isn't a huge problem later on when everyone is packing heavy elemental resistances (in fact, my understanding is that with enough resistance you can use these elemental fields as healing fields, which may explain why some people are reluctant to see this problem fixed), but in the early game where resistances are light, elemental damage is heavy, and party health is on the low side, this situation sucks. Especially with the undead, who are healing with
every step taken as they move around all the poisonous patches on the battlefield.
