Elementalist

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Elementalism is, to put it simply, basically the belief that the universe is comprised of a number of elemental forces that interact in various ways. The two most iconic forms recognized today are "Western" Elementalism (Earth, Air, Water and Fire, sometimes remembering Aether/Ether/Spirit) from Greek mythology and "Eastern" Elementalism (Earth, Water, Fire, Wood, Metal) from Chinese mythology. Naturally, the idea of a spellcaster who focuses on manipulating one or more elemental properties is a very old one, particularly on /tg/ and /vg/. This creates what is known as an Elementalist.

In D&D and Pathfinder

Dungeons & Dragons has touched on elemental-focused spellcasters throughout its life.

The first time an elementalist appeared was during the days of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition. Here, in the Elementalist first appeared as a Specialist Wizard in the "Tome of Magic" splatbook, alongside its more famous sibling, the Wild Mage.

This AD&D specialist functioned much like its kin. The four elements of AD&D - Earth, Fire, Water and Air - were each treated as a distinctive sub-schools within an Elementalist school. As such, the first thing you did was pick which sub-school you specialized in; spells classified as belonging to the "rival" sub-school (Earth/Air, Water/Fire) were your prohibited spells, but otherwise you could learn any arcane spell. That said, you paid for this versatility with greater difficulties learning spells outside of your school; whilst you had a +25% chance to learn sub-school spells and a +15% chance to learn spells from the "adjacent" sub-schools, you suffered a -25% chance when trying to learn a spell that wasn't a member of the elemental school.

Other bonuses you gained from this specialization consisted of:

• +2 bonus to saving throws against elemental spells from your sub-school.
• Enemies take a -2 penalty to saving throws against elemental spells you cast that belong to your sub-school.
• You gain 1 bonus spell memorization slot per level, although these bonus spell-slots must be filled with elemental spells from your sub-school.
• Once per day, when casting a spell from your elemental sub-school, you can overcharge it, casting it with a level boost of +1d4.
• When creating spells, if the spell is from your elemental sub-school, treat its level as being 1 level lower to determine the difficulty of its creation (for example, a Water Elementalist trying to create an ice or water version of Fireball finds it only as hard as trying to invent a new 2nd level spell, rather than its actual 3rd level status).
• At 15th level, you don't need to concentrate in order to maintain control over summoned elementals from your sub-school.
• At 20th level, you no longer need to fear summoned elementals from your sub-school turning on you when you conjure them.

This specialization was later reprinted in "Domains of Dread", the first attempt at making a proper campaign setting out of Ravenloft. Here, they picked up one new unique bonus: if an elementalist provokes a Dark Powers Check by casting a spell from their sub-school, then that check's percentage is halved (rounding down) - however, the same mechanics that allow them to use their elemental magic to shield themselves from the gaze of the Dark Powers makes them especially vulnerable to attracting their attention through other forms of magic, meaning all other spells cast by an elementalist that provoke a Dark Powers Check increase that check's percentage by half (rounding up). This means that a fire elementalist who casts a spell to perform a deed that would normally provoke a 14% Dark Powers check drops it to a 7% check if they use a fire spell and raises it to a 21% check if they use any other kind of spell.

Perhaps not the most impressive class, but certainly better designed than the crock of steaming shit that was the Arcanist.

The next official D&D Elementalist appeared in Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition, in the sourcebook "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos". Whilst this sourcebook provided new elemental-themed powers for many classes, as well as elementalism character themes, it also featured the Elementalist: an Essentials sub-class for the Sorcerer.

Running on Essentials'... unique approach to 4e classes, the 4e Elementalist had a unique spell source (elemental magic), and also has no daily or encounter powers; they cast a range of metamagic enhanced at-will powers using their own Elemental Escalation ability. Elementalists pick a specific element and run with it, gaining a specific set of abilities depending on whether you favour earth, fire, air, water or heart.

Considering when Heroes of Elemental Chaos was released, any similarity to any characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender is almost certainly intentional. But that's OK.

A water elementalist, demonstrating dem hips.

In Pathfinder, elementalists are some of the earliest wizard archetypes added to the game. Advanced Player's Guide adding all four Western Elementalist archetypes, whilst Ultimate Magic allowed Eastern Elementalists by adding Wood and Metal archetypes.

In Mage: The Awakening

In Mage: The Awakening, any mage can style themselves as an elementalist by using the Matter and Forces spheres. There are also several Elementalist-themed Legacies in the various splats.