LEW Feats: Elementalist

This is a work in progress as all proposal's are. this post will be updated with the current proposal for this flavor of casting I'm going for.

First Feat:

Energy Specialization

This arcane spellcaster seems to radiate with a specific energy as he casts...
Requirements: Arcane spellcaster, 1st level
The spellcaster aligns themselves with an energy type (acid, cold, electricity, or fire). When casting a spell that has an energy descriptor, this spell casts and damages as a mix of their specified energy type and of the original (half/half, round down on specialized energy if ever there's a need to). The spell otherwise acts exactly as it is written.


Second Feat:

Elemental Familiar

Through arcane meditation, and infusing your familiar with elemental magic, you focus your already magical animal into an elemental form.

Requirements: Already have a familiar, spellcaster level 5+

Choose one of Small Air Elemental, Small Earth Elemental, Small Fire Elemental, Small Water Elemental. Through an arcane ritual taking 24 hours and costing at least 100g, your familiar becomes bathed in this elemental energy, while keeping their form (although adjusted to "small" size) they assume all the statistics of said elemental in place of their own. A flying familiar has such a focus already to air that it cannot be changed to anything but an air elemental.

I'm not sure that working up a whole new base class is required for the concept. I think that it might be easier to work with/propose one of the UA variants like:

Domain Wizard or Evoker Variant

Hm. I honestly didn't take a good look at them. Those are very nice for the flavor of the class I was shooting for. Leave it up to me to try and reinvent the wheel ^_~ Alright, how do I change the proposal to one/both? just change the initial title/post?

Also, of note, we've rejected allowing any more base classes into LEW. Otherwise, I'd have proposed one I wrote that's gone over well.

You're better off making something like that a PrC.

Aside from the UA variants, you could also create two feats and cover most of the differences from a wizard.
One first level feat, which allows for the spont. casting of elemental spells at the cost of some spell lots and another feath which allows the creation of an elemental familiar.

Improved Familiar already covers the Elemental Familiar. That's in the DMG, so it's fair game.

I think Domain Wizard with a couple feats might do it, but would that be considered a "new base class" or a feat taken at first level to change the class slightly? The problem is a Domain Wizard loses nothing for being a Domain Wizard as far as I can tell...they just get additional domain spells per spell level, which is imbalanced imo.

With that in mind, let's talk that over but I'd like to actually propose a couple feats then; Here's one modified from my initial proposal and the evoker variant previously linked:

[smallcaps]
Energy Specialization

This arcane spellcaster seems to radiate with a specific energy as he casts...
Requirements: Arcane spellcaster, 1st level
The spellcaster aligns themselves with an energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic). When casting a spell that has an energy descriptor, this spell casts and damages as a mix of their specified energy type and of the original (half/half, round down on specialized energy if ever there's a need to). The spell otherwise acts exactly as it is written.
[/smallcaps]

What do you guys think?


And this feat based somewhat from the improved familiar may have more of the direction I'd like to go with a spellcaster:
[smallcaps]
Elemental Familiar

Through arcane meditation, and infusing your familiar with elemental magic, you focus your already magical animal into an elemental form.

Requirements: Already have a familiar, spellcaster level 5+

Choose one of Small Air Elemental, Small Earth Elemental, Small Fire Elemental, Small Water Elemental. Through an arcane ritual taking 24 hours and costing at least 100g, your familiar becomes bathed in this elemental energy, while keeping their form (although adjusted to "small" size) they assume all the statistics of said elemental in place of their own. A flying familiar has such a focus already to air that it cannot be changed to anything but an air elemental.
[/smallcaps]

All this does that "Improved Familiar" does not is change the familiar you have without the loss to an already gained familiar. It does cost the same time and money as though you were summoning it outright. This could be adjusted if it is seen as a need to modify it further.

Thoughts:

Domain Wizard is significantly better than the base options for the Wizard, in my opinion. If we allow it, we ought to give all existing Wizards the opportunity to retroactively modify there characters.

I, like Bront, recall a rule against new base classes.

I don't think Sonic should be allowed for the proposed feat.

As written, the caster cannot turn off the ability granted by the proposed feat. A significant disadvantage. Perhaps it would be better at 3/day?

Patlin said:

Thoughts:

Domain Wizard is significantly better than the base options for the Wizard, in my opinion. If we allow it, we ought to give all existing Wizards the opportunity to retroactively modify there characters.

I, like Bront, recall a rule against new base classes.

I don't think Sonic should be allowed for the proposed feat.

As written, the caster cannot turn off the ability granted by the proposed feat. A significant disadvantage. Perhaps it would be better at 3/day?

Click to expand...

Or make it a metamagic feat at +0. And agreed that sonic shouldn't be allowed--there is no tower for it anyway (though there are towers for negative and positive energy...hmm....)

Patlin said:

Thoughts:

Domain Wizard is significantly better than the base options for the Wizard, in my opinion. If we allow it, we ought to give all existing Wizards the opportunity to retroactively modify there characters.

I, like Bront, recall a rule against new base classes.

I don't think Sonic should be allowed for the proposed feat.

As written, the caster cannot turn off the ability granted by the proposed feat. A significant disadvantage. Perhaps it would be better at 3/day?

Click to expand...

What makes sonic too powerful but ice/fire ok? does this damage do something I'm not familiar?