School of Elemental Fire
Any spell involving the manifestation of flame or heat is a spell of elemental fire. Not all fire spells are attack spells; Fire Charm and Affect Normal Fires are examples of fire spells that don’t cause direct and immediate damage to the wizard’s enemies.
The elemental wizard is a new variety of specialist mage beginning to appear throughout the lands. These wizards scorn the "accepted" theories of magical classification (the rigid school structure) in favor of a holistic, natural understanding of magic. The result is elementalism.
Elementalism is not a school in itself; it is an area of specialization focusing on spells involving the four prime elements of air, earth, fire, and water. These spells may be from any of the nine schools of magic. The fireball spell, for example, belongs to the evocation school, but according to elementalists, it is also a spell of elemental fire.
Unlike other specialists, an elementalist does not specialize in a single school of magic, but may learn and cast spells belonging to any school. Although this may seem to be a great advantage, elementalists suffer considerable penalties when learning and casting spells that do not relate directly to the elements. The exception to this penalty is the spells of the school of lesser divination, which every wizard may learn.
Each element has a diametrical opposite: air opposes earth, fire opposes water, and vice versa. Every elementalist must choose one element as his specialty. He may learn and cast any spells relating to his chosen element and gains advantages when doing so. He may also cast spells of the two elements which do not oppose his specialty, for which he receives no bonuses or penalties. Consequently, he may not learn or cast any spells associated with the element that opposes his element of specialty. For example, a fire elementalist may cast spells relating to fire, air, or earth, but may not cast spells of elemental water. A specialist is also prohibited from using magical items that duplicate spell effects of his oppositional element.
Elementalists are wizards who specialize in spells dealing with one of the four elements - air, earth, fire, or water. Elementalists ignore the “normal” structure of the philosophical school. Instead, all spells are designated as either elemental spells or non-elemental spells.
Elementalists can be used to portray magicians of unusual cultures or origin. After all, the standard philosophical arrangement of schools implies a scholarly, Western approach to magic, but not every culture or nation may have the same beliefs or practices regarding sorcery. Many elementalists are much closer to nature, or more attuned to their surroundings, than philosophical specialists.
Fire | Air — opposes — Earth | WaterElementalists gain a +25% bonus to learn spells of their specialty, and a +15% bonus for other elemental spells that don’t actually oppose their specialty. For example, a fire mage has a +25% bonus to learn fire spells, and a +15% bonus to learn air and earth spells; he can’t learn water spells at all. Elementalists suffer a –25% penalty to learn all other nonelemental spells. Last but not least, elementalists research spells of their specialty as if the spells were one level lower than their actual level.
Note that elementalists do not automatically add a spell to their spell book when they gain a level, as other specialists do. However, an elemental specialist has the ability to cast one memorized spell of his specialty per day as if he were 1d4 levels higher. This affects range, duration, area of effect, and damage. When an elementalist reaches 11th level, he does not need to concentrate to control an elemental of his specialty that was summoned through conjure elemental. At 14th level, there is no chance for a summoned elemental to turn on the elementalist. Elementalists enjoy most of the standard benefits and restrictions of specialist wizards, but there are some minor differences. They gain the benefit of memorizing an extra spell of each level, as long as it is taken from their preferred element.
At 20th level, there is no chance of a summoned elemental turning upon an elementalist if the creature is of the wizard's specialty element.
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