Fighter Archetype: Elemental Arcane Knight

[djreynolds]

Perhaps not even a new archetype, just really the Eldritch Knight. Just a thought. Genasi Races or any race, but the genasi seems more appropriate

You keep your spell progression, but you add an any spell up to 4th level that has your chosen element attached to it instead. You lose your free spell from other schools of magic, so losing haste and mirror image, but can also replace any to include smites (maybe), of the abjuration or evocation (most will be evocation) spells with a chosen element spell.

Also you gain resistance to your chosen element, but take vulnerability damage from the opposing element.

And if you wanted you could someone who gains all the elements, can only cast spells with an element attached to it up to 4th level.

[MinaBee]

I'm a little confused.

Do you mean that:

1) I choose an element when I take the subclass (say, I select cold) and then any spell I choose from the wizard list that deals any kind of elemental damage instead deals my chosen element? (Continuing the example, my cold-aligned Elemental Arcane Knight learns Burning Hands at 3rd, Scorching Ray at 7th, and Fireball at 13th; those spells would all function as normal, except they'd do cold damage instead of fire damage.)

2) I choose an element when I take the subclass. I can only learn spells that already use my associated element, BUT I am not limited to the wizard spell list. I can learn any spells in the game provided that (a) they are Abjuration or Evocation, (b) if they deal damage, they must deal damage from my element, and (c) they are a level of spell that I have spell slots for.

[djreynolds]

Yes 1) was you would take say fire. All fire spells you could get regardless of school or class but only for your levels and you could still get abjuration or evocation spells. But you would lose access to any other spell, like illusion, transmutation, etc.

The second idea was that you could embrace all the elements and have access to only elemental spells period.

[Human Paragon 3]

What if your element is Air? Does Fly count as an air spell?

[eastmabl]

This isn't something that you can balance as you propose it.

Fire element spells are front-loaded, and you get a ton of them. Comparatively, there aren't many water- or wind-based spells in the 1st to 4th level, and no earth-based spells. It's not going to work.

***

If you wanted to do something like this, you would do the following:

* Strike the reference spells learned at 8th, 14th and 20th level coming from any school.
* Provide a list of spells that the elemental knight already knows which are thematically linked to the element.

You keep the spells known (13 by 20th level), lose the flexibility of going outside of abjuration and evocation, and get some extra spells known.

[djreynolds]

What if your element is Air? Does Fly count as an air spell?

Why not? I mean he could take it anyhow.


This isn't something that you can balance as you propose it.

Fire element spells are front-loaded, and you get a ton of them. Comparatively, there aren't many water- or wind-based spells in the 1st to 4th level, and no earth-based spells. It's not going to work.

***

If you wanted to do something like this, you would do the following:

* Strike the reference spells learned at 8th, 14th and 20th level coming from any school.
* Provide a list of spells that the elemental knight already knows which are thematically linked to the element.

You keep the spells known (13 by 20th level), lose the flexibility of going outside of abjuration and evocation, and get some extra spells known.

That's why I was just thinking perhaps just a totally elemental knight and all he got was elemental spells, nothing else.

I see a lot of guys homebrewing, and they end up being too OP.