Let's talk about magic...
Origins of the Elementalist Sorcerer
The main "mage" types in AQ were the Sha'ir of course, and the Elemental Mage (an elemental monogamist) and the Sorcerer (in an affair with two elements). All of these posed design challenges, but I want to focus on the Elemental Mage and the Sorcerer here, since they interact most with province magic.
We were able to translate both into the
Elementalist sorcerous origin, which is really 4 origins in 1 (flame, sand, sea, and wind), so each class feature presents a choice. What's cool about the
Elementalist is that whether you choose to specialize or branch out is baked into, and rewarded, all in the subclass. [MENTION=6789613]MessiahMushroom[/MENTION] really knocked it out of the park with his design here.
For example, if you focus on the Province of Sand for your 1st and 6th level features, then you begin an Elemental Covenant granting you access to non-sorcerer spells in the Province of Sand (e.g.
pass without trace,
meld into stone, and
conjure sand cat). If you further pursue the Province of Sand for your 14th level feature, you gain advantage on saving throws against spells from the Province of Sand and sand-themed magic in general. If you break your Elemental Covenant by casting spells from other elemental provinces, however, you lose this benefit for a year and a day. Then, at 18th level, you gain an Elemental Covenant feature allowing you to counterspell and manipulate the Province of Sand spells cast by
others.
But what if you want to pick spells with a bunch of different elemental themes? You can totally do that! We dubbed it the "Elemental Chaos" track. There are no restrictions here, but you don't get access to non-sorcerer spells on the various province spell lists. And your 18th level feature has to do with invoking the Elemental Chaos to change the damage your spells deal and create small changes to the surrounding terrain as the Elemental Chaos bleeds into Zakhara through you.
Not Just for Sorcerers
But the elemental provinces are a big deal in AQ, so much so that the standard eight spell schools and the arcane traditions associated with them are considered
ajami (foreign) among Zakharan mages. Never fear, there are two other ways to get your elemental magic on without being a Sorcerer.
Wizards can take a new arcane tradition called the Alsáher (think "secret society cabalist" and you've got the idea) inspired by the secret societies of
The Complete Sha'ir's Handbook, and select the Secret of the Elements feature to gain access to all non-wizard spells from one elemental province of their choice.
Druids can take a new druid circle called the Circle of Aged Masters and choose to bond to an elemental idol granting them access to all non-druid spells from one elemental province of their choice.
This embodies perhaps our most fundamental design criteria: we want to provide multiple ways you can realize your AQ character concepts and campaign ideas, to be descriptive rather than proscriptive.
Spell Conversions
This conversion is going to be chock full of spells!
I just finished a first draft of spells from the provinces of sand and sea, and it's awesome how imaginative Jeff Grubb and Andria Hayday were with the magic in AQ.
Here's the first draft of one of my favorites:
River of Sand.
