I have a suggestion. What if we can craft a item that has the ability to effect those around it? I've called this The Elemental Gem which requires 3 glass blocks, 2 redstone dust, 2 diamonds, a ender pearl and a block of obsidian. The Elemental gem will create a buffer zone 16 blocks high and 8 blocks around it (weather will not effect it). You can increase it's range by sacrificing redstone dust (Up to 12 Redstone dust can be given and the gem must be deactivated to give it redstone dust) by one block away, does not effect it's height. When interacted a menu will show what elements you can select, only one may be activated at a time. To use the elements a certain item must be sacrificed. Like Beacons it will take effect as soon as the item is selected but unlike beacons it has 5 second delay before it can activate the power, also the element will always be available after unlocking it so you do not need to use another item to change back to it again. List of elements are below and what item is needed, there will be 6 elements to choose from, a colored aura depending which element will surround the gem. Please note that this will also work indoors and in The End but it will not work in the nether or underwater.
Nature (Emerald): When activated this will cause nearby dirt blocks to grow grass at a increased pace, this allows the breeding of sheep indoors since grass cannot grow in caves and sheep eats grass to regrow wool. It will also highlight any plants in green color, when highlighted it will slightly speed up the growing process of plants, saplings, cacti and allows mushrooms to spread more often
Water (Lapis Luzuli): As soon as it activates a endless deluge of rain soaks the area. works like a fire suppression system even in houses plus keeps farmland moist without water buckets
Ice (Iron Ingot): A neverending snow storm coats the ground in snow and freezes any nearby water, perfect for making igloos or cold related structures in warm biomes without melting
Light (Glowstone Dust): This creates a field of light at a luminance of 16, however unlike other light sources the radius does effect the light, it will also not give off light outside the buffer zone
Fire (Redstone Dust): Instead of creating a field of fire, the gem gets a red laser which tags mobs for 3 seconds before the mob itself is coated in hot flames, the attack can tag 6 mobs at once but does no damage except mobs burn over time and has a slight delay before it can tag another. It only works on hostile mobs only, iron golems are inmune to this.
Dark (Obsidian): This creates a field of dark particles on the ground, if any hostile mobs steps into the field of particles they will slightly move slower and their attack power drops by 1 point (cannot drop any lower if the attack power is 1), it has a lasting effect of 10 seconds after they exit the field, creepers instead take a little long to explode and they do not destroy blocks when effected. Also if the mobs are killed while under the effects from the particles the player gets 2 points of health back if injured
Diamonds will not work because The Elemental Gem uses mystic energy from the ender pearl to create element effects in a small area, besides that, the ender pearl is encased in a sphere of glass on a block of obsidian infused with redstone dust and no the obsidian does not glow, only the ender pearl has a color change and a aura surrounds the sphere when a element is chosen.
Diamonds will not work because The Elemental Gem uses mystic energy from the ender pearl to create element effects in a small area, besides that, the ender pearl is encased in a sphere of glass on a block of obsidian infused with redstone dust and no the obsidian does not glow, only the ender pearl has a color change and a aura surrounds the sphere when a element is chosen.
Then we could all it an Elemental Pearl I guess? Still not a gem.
No it can not be called the elemental pearl, it has to be small to properly name it something like that. Anyway what you said about diamonds becoming the core of the item can actually work but it requires a catalyst to channel the power into the diamonds itself (actually combining them with the ender pearl). Think like this: the ender pearl will absorb the diamonds (two needed in crafting) causing the ender pearl to crystallize (now half diamond & half ender pearl), the ender pearl will also infuse the redstone dust into the orb itself creating a faint glow on it's surface. With the orb encased in glass and sitting on top of a block of obsidian (the three glass blocks and the obsidian block itself used in crafting) a invisible field of energy is created around the orb, after a brief moment the orb is ready to use when a specific item is given at least once.
It actually needs 2 diamonds for crafting along with everything else needed to craft it. Note that elemental effects will not stack, for example the light element cannot make the light glow brighter in sunlight or with another gem with the same element and the fire element also cannot make burning mobs burn faster with two beams focused on it but it refreshes the burn timer if tagged again. Also it would require a pickaxe (any pickaxe will do) to pick up the elemental gem otherwise it will destroy the gem permanently if mined without a pickaxe
Nature (Emerald): When activated this will cause nearby dirt blocks to grow grass at a increased pace, this allows the breeding of sheep indoors since grass cannot grow in caves and sheep eats grass to regrow wool. It will also highlight any plants in green color, when highlighted it will slightly speed up the growing process of plants, saplings, cacti and allows mushrooms to spread more often
Water (Lapis Luzuli): As soon as it activates a endless deluge of rain soaks the area. works like a fire suppression system even in houses plus keeps farmland moist without water buckets
Ice (Iron Ingot): A neverending snow storm coats the ground in snow and freezes any nearby water, perfect for making igloos or cold related structures in warm biomes without melting
Light (Glowstone Dust): This creates a field of light at a luminance of 16, however unlike other light sources the radius does effect the light, it will also not give off light outside the buffer zone
Fire (Redstone Dust): Instead of creating a field of fire, the gem gets a red laser which tags mobs for 3 seconds before the mob itself is coated in hot flames, the attack can tag 6 mobs at once but does no damage except mobs burn over time and has a slight delay before it can tag another. It only works on hostile mobs only, iron golems are inmune to this.
Dark (Obsidian): This creates a field of dark particles on the ground, if any hostile mobs steps into the field of particles they will slightly move slower and their attack power drops by 1 point (cannot drop any lower if the attack power is 1), it has a lasting effect of 10 seconds after they exit the field, creepers instead take a little long to explode and they do not destroy blocks when effected. Also if the mobs are killed while under the effects from the particles the player gets 2 points of health back if injured
That is ten materials all in all. The crafting table only has room for 9.