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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 9797724" data-attributes="member: 907">The problems with para-elemental clerics are two-fold.1. Lore-wise, they intrude on things previously established, like this passage from Terrors of the Desert: "The four elementals represent the forces that shape the everyday lives of the inhabitants of the beleaguered planet. Air represents the act of living, as a child gulps it when first entering the world, and a dying man exhales it is as his last act before death. Water is life itself, always in need and never taken for granted. Earth represents the world, always changing, always harsh, but dependably always there. Fire represents the heat of the sun, the burning desert, and all that was lost." Now all of a sudden Sun and Fire are distinct from one another for no good reason. It also messes somewhat with the options for druids, who often picked guarded lands that would give them access to two elemental spheres (e.g. a volcano to get major access to fire and minor to earth). With para-elements in play, that makes less sense.2. They introduce a dichotomy where we have Good elemental clerics (or at least ones who are charged with restoring the land) and Evil para-elemental ones. To me, elements work best when they are disinterested in mortal affairs. Some clerics use the powers granted by the elements to help others, and others for selfish purposes. The elements don't give a bleep. Sure, some Earth elementals represent things like soil growth, and they would like to see the world flourish again... but others are more about naked rock, and couldn't care less about it. And then trying to fit fire into this paradigm, where they want to encourage the growth of both cities and vegetation because that gives them something to burn, instead of associating them with the Sun, felt really weird. As does treating Rain as something separate from Water.</blockquote>

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