Elemental Specialty question

[Aurio]

I recently purchased complete arcane and became kinda fond of the elemental savant PtC, but i have a question.
Does the Elemental Savant's Elemental Specialty imply that he cannot cast using any other element? I guess that's the case, so i wonder, could the achmage's "elemental mastery" high arcana get an elemental savant out of this "unpleasant" condition? Moreover i think i've heard smth of a feat in frostburn that'll make ice spells overcome resistance and immunity to cold (which'd be just as cool for a elemental savant specialized in cold). Could anyone give me some feedback on it?

Edit: i meant the mastery of elements high arcana:
Mastery of Elements: The archmage can alter an arcane spell when cast so that it utilizes a different element from the one it normally uses. This ability can only alter a spell with the acid, cold, fire, electricity, or sonic descriptor. The spell’s casting time is unaffected. The caster decides whether to alter the spell’s energy type and chooses the new energy type when he begins casting. This ability costs one 8th-level spell slot.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

IMO, it is still possible for a Fire Savant to cast Water or Cold spells. I say this because in the description of the Elemental Specialty ability, it states that a Fire Savant can still cast Meld Into Stone, an [Earth] spell.

Edit: A Fire Savant can still cast Cone of Cold, but the spell will do Fire damage instead of Cold damage. It won't be possible for the Fire Savant to cast an energy-damage spell that doesn't deal Fire damage...

AR

 

[Aurio]

Yes, but as it says that's just because it doesn't include elemental *damage*. So a savant specialized in cold would have to cast i.e. cold fireballs. My main query regards elemental mastery and the feat from frostburn (if there is such a feat, as the person from whom i heard of it isn't what i'd call a relliable source).

Edit: your edit said it all , but still, what about elemental mastery?

 

[Liquidsabre]

Yea, it kinda of stymies the Elemental Savant being only able to cast [Energy] descriptor spells of a specific energy type. Though, there are still the [Force] descriptor spells at least to make use of there.

The Elemental Specialty states: "When the savant casts a spell that normally deals energy damage, it's energy descriptor changes to the savant's chosen energy type, and it deals damage of that energy type instead of its normal energy type."

While the the Elemental Mastery states: "The archmage can alter an arcane spell when cast so that it utilizes a different element from the one it normally uses...The caster decides whether to alter the spell's energy type and chooses the new energy type when he begins casting."

As you can see it's kind of a tough call but the Elemental Specialty will ultimately override the EM special ability. Once the EM has altered the energy type the ES ability automatically changes the energy type to that of the Savant's chosen energy type. This makes EM a poor choice for an Elemental Savant character.

The feat from Frostburn that you are looking for is a metamagic feat called Piercing Cold (+1 spell level). Creatures normally immune to cold take 50% damage (still no effect on creatures of the cold subtype though) and creatures with cold resistance take full damage as normal. A nice feat to have for an Elemental Savant (Cold). Using Piercing Cold as a guideline, there's no reason we couldn't see a metamagic feat for each of the four elements (cold, fire, acid, electricity) here.