The Elementalist - LotFP Custom Class

The Elementalist

          The four elements make up the world around them; Air, Earth, Fire & Water are the building blocks of the planes themselves. Most have to weather their various manifestations, and while some can access their power indirectly through the means of summoning elementals or through the usage of particular spells, they are at best exerting a clumsy and incomplete control of them. There are those who have a greater connection; shamans who can whisper to the land, psychics who have trained in various arts, those with the blood of genies or elementals flowing in their veins or who have struck a pact with a such a creature.

          Whatever the form their connection takes, these folk gain a mastery over a particular element which allows them to manipulate it as if they were born to it, shaping and twisting it around with their wills like a potter does with clay. They can call their bound element to them, banish it, command it to move, attack, shield them, or whatever else their imagination allows. Most Elementalists do not consider themselves to be using magic at all, since they are not bound by the crude strictures of ritual and observance and are able to use their powers as often as they'd like, provided that the elements are willing. The scourging that they suffer from drawing upon their abilities too often is merely a result of them being imperfect vessels, and the changes that are wrought to the most potent of them are only seen as further proof of their puissance.

Level	Experience	HP	Paralyze	Poison	Breath	Device	Magic	Backlash	Control Points
1	0	1d6	14	16	15	14	14	12	4
2	2,250	1d4	14	16	15	14	14	12	+1
3	4,500	1d4	14	16	15	14	14	12	+1
4	9,000	1d4	14	16	15	14	14	11	+1
5	18,000	1d4	11	12	14	13	12	11	+1
6	36,000	1d4	11	12	14	13	12	11	+1
7	72,000	1d4	11	12	14	13	12	10	+1
8	144,000	1d4	11	12	14	13	12	10	+1
9	288,000	1d4	9	10	12	11	10	10	+1
10	432,000	+1*	9	10	12	11	10	9	+1
11	576,000	+1*	9	10	12	11	10	9	+1
12	720,000	+1*	7	8	10	9	8	9	+1
13	864,000	+1*	7	8	10	9	8	8	+1
14	1,008,000	+1*	7	8	10	9	8	8	+1
15+	+144,000/lvl	+1*	5	6	8	7	6	8	+1

*: Constitution modifiers no longer apply.

B/X & OSE Rules

Requirements	None
Prime Requisite	INT
Hit Dice	d6
Thac0 Table	As Magic-User
Maximum Level	14
Armor	Leather, no shields
Weapons	Any
Languages	Alignment, Common

       
          Unlike other forms of spellcasters, Elementalists do not have spells per day, nor do they have any sort of spellbook or have to memorize a set of particular effects. Instead the Elementalist gains points to distribute to different skills similar to the Specialist, which represent their talent influencing a particular aspect of their element. 

        The Elementalist's skill checks function in the same way as a Specialist, with the exception that the Elementalist can choose to increase the strength of their skill's effects by risking a greater chance of failure by rolling additional d6's. Each additional die rolled increases the magnitude of the skill roll by a step (i.e. a 1d6 becomes 2d6), each additional die rolled must also succeed or the entire effect fails. An Elementalist may choose to risk additional dice equal to 1/3 of their HD, with a minimum of 1.

          Elementalists need to have their element present to use their abilities. While this is obviously not usually a problem for those bound to Air or Earth, adherents to Fire or Water must either have a good amount of their element present, or they must use the Beckon skill to bring some into being.

The skills which the Elementalist (and only the Elementalist) has access to are:

• Attack is used to directly strike an opponent, whether that be through the means of lashing them with razor sharp winds, or hunks of rock torn from the ground. Attacks deal 1d6 damage per die successfully risked.
• Defend can be used to reduce incoming damage by crafting a temporary shield out of an element. The exact effects of Defend are governed by which element it is drawn from, Earth and Water defend against melee attacks, while Air and Fire help reduce the severity of ranged attacks. Each successfully risked die reduces the incoming damage by 1 point.
• Beckon can twist the element into whatever configuration that the Elementalist is imaginative enough to achieve, as well as to bring the element into being from nothing. Each risked die allows the elementalist to bring in a cubic foot of their element, or shape the same amount to their desire. While this may have little effect in the case of air, it is possible to tear through or craft walls this way with Earth, start and direct fires with beckoned flames, or pull pure water from muddy soil. Summoned material, especially fire or water may dissipate into the environment within a few rounds unless fed or put into a vessel.
• Resist is used to guard against the excesses of the particular element that the caster is bonded to, in essence any time that the Elementalist may suffer as a result of their element (such as suffocating from being buried alive for an Earth Elementalist) they may roll their Resist in an attempt to negate the effect. Every successfully risked die allows the Elementalist a minute of protection.

          The only limit to an Elementalist's powers is known as Scourging. Backlash points are gained whenever an Elementalist chooses to enhance the magnitude of their effect beyond a single die. Each die in addition to the first adds a point to the character's current backlash pool. These points do nothing to an Elementalist until they fail an elemental skill check. Upon failure. the Elementalist must test against their backlash, and if they fail they suffer the scourging as detailed in the table below. Backlash points reset after a scourging is suffered or the Elementalist rests.

Points  accumulated	Scourging effect
1-5	Indifference: The next elemental skill check made by the character is at a -1, cumulative for the next 24 hours.
6-10	Enervation: The character is stunned for 1 round.
11-15	Lashing: The Elementalist takes 1d10 damage.
16-20	Impairment: The character cannot use elemental skills for 1d4+2 rounds.
21-29	Transmogrification: A part of the Elementalist's body permanently changes in some way represent their element. Eyes are replaced by flames, teeth with gemstones, etc. This marks them out as unmistakably supernatural.
30+	Eruption: Save again. Upon a failure, the character explodes and everyone within 20ft takes 1d6 points of damage.