Elementalism

You have an intimate connection to a particular phenomenon - an element. You can bend this element to a shape, or dismiss it as if it were a servant. Most elementalists can affect earth, water, wood, or air. Rarer elementalists can affect fire, lightning, metal, stone, sand, coral, bone, paper, or cloth.¹⁾

Physical Contact
To perform any of these abilities you must be in direct physical contact with at least a handful of your chosen element. Because of this, many elementalists choose to go barefoot. Carrying a cup of water doesn't count - plunging your hand into it does. Note that some elements cannot remain in contact with your body for long, either due to the hazard they present to your body or spoilage of their purity when in contact with a body.²⁾

Concentration
To maintain an Elementalism spell, you must maintain concentration on it. Each spell requires its own stream of concentration.

Gesture
The gestures involved in manipulating an element are dramatic and conspicuous, though artfully beautiful and not particularly strenuous. That said, attempting to disguise or hide the performance of these necessary gestures will spoil an attempt to cast a spell.

Purity
The element being manipulated must meet some level of purity or similarity - it is reasonable for a water elementalist to be able to shape both seawater as well as fresh water, but it may not be reasonable for an elementalist of earth to shape a refined metal such as iron bars - a conversation with your GM should be had if your chosen element has cases like these.

Shape Element
You can cause an element to grow beyond its natural scope or be extinguished. Causing a cupped handful of water to become an ocean, or a castle to become a grain of sand. To use this spell, you must be in physical contact with the element. At rank one, this spell grows, diminishes, or reshapes an element by 1 handful (25 ccs) per round, and you can affect any portion of the volume that you're in contact with up to 1 meter away. The shape can be as ornate as you like but it cannot be more complex than a simple machine (door, pulley, lever, etc.). The shape is maintained while you maintain concentration on this spell, violent forces notwithstanding. When you end concentration, the shape is subject to structural forces - a bridge of sand will hold weight during concentration, but will fall without concentration. This spell's power grows exponentially as you gain ranks in Elementalism.³⁾

• Rank 1 = 25 cubic centimeters (1 handful) per action, up to 1 m (3 ft) away. 90 liters (human adult) per hour.⁴⁾
• Rank 2 = 250 cubic centimeters (½ pint) per action, up to 10 m (30 ft) away. 900 liters per hour.
• Rank 3 = 2.5 liters (5 pints) per action, up to 100 m (300 ft) away. 9000 liters (enough bricks for the walls of a small house) per hour.
• Rank 4 = 25 liters (7 gallons) per action, up to 1 km (0.6 mi) away.
• Rank 5 = 250 liters (9 cu ft) per action, up to 10 km (6 mi) away.

Each time you gain ranks in Elementalism, you may also gain your choice of one of the following perks:

Bearer
As long as you are not dead, your hands (or what passes for hands for your species) are immune to any harm caused by contact with your chosen element. For example: For a fire-elementalist, fire no longer burns your hands; For an earth-elementalist, your hands cannot be crushed by stone; and so on.

Commune (Spell, Action)
You can speak to instances of your chosen element as if it were a close friend. When asked, such instances will give advice and tell you news that they know, and may, if convinced, tell you secrets. To use the commune spell, you must be in contact with at least a handful of your chosen element and use an action to active this spell. Note: the knowledge, memory, and experience of an instance of an element is limited to what occurred while it existed, and it would only know what occurred in the vicinity of its existence.⁵⁾

Transmute Element (Spell, Action)
You can transmute an element similar to your chosen element into your chosen element. For example, if your chosen element is earth, you could transmute Stone into Earth. This process is similar to that of the Shape spell, but slower, proceeding at 1/100th the rate (~1 liter per hour at rank 1). At higher ranks, the allowed difference between your chosen element and the element you are trying to transmute grows, and you can begin to transmute other creatures. For example, an elementalist who could transmute stone into earth may be able to transmute iron into earth. The transmutation is permanent, and if the elementalist is interrupted in the middle of the process, the transmuted object remains partially transmuted.

Dowse
You can supernaturally sense the presence of your element when it is nearby. While concentrating on this spell, you know the presence and location of any portion of your element within a distance equal to the range at which your Shape spell can affect.

Perks in development:

Rank 2 - '(element)-bearer': As long as you are not dead, your hands (or what passes for hands for your species) are immune to any harm caused by contact with your chosen element. For instance: Fire or acid no longer burn your hands; your hands cannot be crushed by stone; and so on.

Rank 4 - '(element)-soul': Your body becomes completely immune to any harm caused by contact with your chosen element. For instance: Fire or acid no longer burn you; water no longer drowns you; you cannot be crushed by stone; and so forth.

Rank 5 - 'True-Namer of the (element)': You can command an element to completely obey your whim. All requirements are removed for all elementalist spells for your chosen element. If you can make your intent known to your chosen element (usually by voicing your wish, or physically touching the element with an explicit wish in mind), it obeys you as if it were a loyal servant.

Battlemage: You gain one rank in Combat, and can use the following Spells: Elemental Bolt, Elemental Nova, Elemental Strike. Elemental Bolt deals damage one degree less than Elemental Strike, but is a ranged attack that has a range of 20 meters. Elemental Nova deals damage two degrees less than Elemental Strike, but is an area attack that deals damage to all enemies within 3 meters of you. ALSO CONSIDER: Your ranks in combat are 2 less than your ranks in Elementalism. You also gain the 'Magic' fighting style.

Elemental Servant: Counts as a companion equivalent to Rank 1 Companion. Jealous - PC not allowed to shape or evoke from sources other than the Servant

Rank 3 - Imbue: In a ritual that takes eight hours, you can enchant an object to contain a portion of your element. Only one such object can be enchanted by you at a time. An object so enchanted and held by you satisfies the 'Physical Contact' requirement for Elementalism. If the object is broken while enchanted, it releases a burst of elemental energy equal to your ranks in elementalism. (imagine a necromancer who chooses to imbue a raised corpse)

Elementalism Feats:

Secondary Effect (Rank 2): Lightning - Disarm, Chain. Cold - Slow movement, Freeze (grapple). Heat - Burning (additional damage next turn).

Minor Telekinesis (Rank 2): The 'Physical Contact' prerequisite is changed. You may manipulate an element if it is within 30 feet of you.

Elementalism, page 2 <notes> On the permanence of Shape: Some elements are more permanent than others. While it takes years for a stone to erode, it takes mere moments for a fire to burn itself out. While concentrating on Shape, an element is for the most part immune to forces of entropy, though active resistance may extinguish or disrupt the manifestation of an element. Once concentration ends, then an element brought into being by Shape will be subject to entropy as normal.

Prohibition of Elements: Many GM's will limit or outlaw certain elements. For instance, Earth might be considered too broad for your GM, and she might limit your element to a particular metal such as iron, silver or gold, or to a type of earth such as sand, mud, clay, or humus. An element such as blood might be limited such that you can only shape whomever's blood you possess, but more likely she will prohibit players from building an elementalist that can shape blood. The element 'Magic' is only appropriate for deity-level characters. Recommended elements to prohibit from players: Blood, Bone, Flesh. Warning! When NPCs use these banned elements from players, realize that you are implicitly promising to players playing elementalist characters that these elements are learnable!

Clever trick - gain sight using commune: A blind earth-elementalist can gain the semblance of sight if she Communes with the earth around her.

Some choose to ingest their element, or have it surgically implanted subdermally.

I feel like going a slightly different direction here, where you cannot simply create your element out of thin air. Instead, you have to find some way of carrying and preserving your element with you to grow it.

It make fire and lightning REALLY DIFFICULT to learn.

Lifehack for fire Elementalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomes_fomentarius

Swarms: Swarms of vermin and insects could be considered an 'element' too! Consider: Bats, bees, songbirds and rats as safe choices. Consider limiting the 'element' to a particular genus.

Hitting a target with a Lightning bolt is difficult. The path that lightning will travel is often unpredictable, and will often hit unintended targets. There are ways around this issue, however.

• Super critical failures: the generation of an elemental, becoming an elemental
• Certain elements are difficult to control (even when they are treated as mundane as possible). Fire spreads into wildfires, lightning may arc to unintended targets, earth causes avalanches, etc.
• Choosing blood, bone, or flesh as an element and then failing to control one's element may cause one to fatally injure oneself by mangling one's body