Editing Elementalist (section)

====Athasian Priests====
[[Dark Sun]] wanted to stand out from the crowd of other D&D settings, and one of the ways it did this was by removing gods from the setting entirely. There are implied to have been gods in the lost Green Age, as Athas is still home to ''raaigs'' - the ghosts of ancient [[cleric]]s and [[paladin]]s of faiths now lost to modern Athasians - but the Sorcerer-Kings stamped out all religions other than those venerating themselves or the elements.

In AD&D, all elemental clerics were restricted to choosing the appropriate Elemental sub-sphere. Their rules remained remarkably consistent, staying the same throughout the original campaign boxed set, the revised campaign boxed set, and the Athasian priest [[splatbook]] "Earth, Air, Fire and Water". Athasian elemental clerics do not gain followers by levelling up, but they do gain these special powers:
* From 5th level, once per day, a cleric can "ignore their element" for rounds equal to their level. This lets water and earth clerics move through that material as if it weren't there, lets air clerics ignore the effects of strong wings, and makes them immune to damage directly caused by their elements - fire clerics can't be burned, earth clerics ignore hits from stone weapons, etc.
* From 7th level, a cleric can summon elemental matter of their element 1/day, summoning 1 cubic foot of material per level over 6th. 

They also benefited from the fact that Dark Sun introduced a generic clerical "Conjure Elemental" spell as a 5th level spell, whereas vanilla D&D clerics only had access to the higher level and more specific "Conjuer Earth Elemental" and "Conjure Fire Elemental" spells.

''Earth, Air, Fire and Water'' expanded the elemental cleric by presenting the existence of Paraelemental Clerics (which on Athas are regarded as Rain, Sun, Silt and Magma, rather than Ice, Ooze, Magma and Smoke) and allowing elemental clerics to gain access to their connected Paraelemental and Quasielemental Spheres if they achieved levels over 20th - they gained a new Paraelemental Sphere at levels 21 and 25, and a new Quasielemental Sphere at levels 23 and 27. The high-level elemental cleric's Ignore Element and Gate Elemental Matter abilities function for accessed para/quasi-elements as well.

It also expanded the powers of the standard elemental cleric. Whilst their basic abilities remain as described above, at 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, elemental clerics can choose a number of minor powers unique to their elemental sphere. It also presents the optional 5th level class power of "Sacrifice"; this takes the otherwise Earth Cleric exclusive ability to spend hit points to feed a defiler's spell in lieu of it actually draining the life from the land itself, and makes it something that all elemental clerics can potentially do if the DM permits.

Cleric/[[Psion]]icists can instead choose to transform into [[elemental]]s after hitting level 20, in a wimpier analogue to the [[Athasian Dragon]] and [[Avangion]] transformations.

Playing a paraelemental cleric is more or less identical to playing an elemental cleric. They have the same Ignore Element and Gate Elemental Matter abilities, only theirs only apply to their specific paraelement - sun, rain, silt or magma. At levels 21 and 25, they gain access to a "parent" elemental sphere; Magma clerics gain access to Earth and Fire, for example, and so can use their innate abilities to ignore and conjure those materials. The big difference is lore-wise. In short, elemental clerics, and paraelemental clerics of Rain, are all about fighting [[defiler]]s and battling to restore Athas - but paraelemental clerics of sun, silt and magma actually ''benefit'' from Athas' ongoing destruction by defiling magic, and so are usually evil. This despite the fact that a sun cleric was actually one of the heroes in the [[Prism Pentad]], but hey, it is a pulpy desert-themed post-apocalyptic world.

Unlike elemental clerics, who can take different minor powers as they age, all paraelemental clerics have a defined and expanded list of major powers beyond the Ignore Element and Gate Elemental Matter abilities. These abilities are as follows:
* '''Silt Clerics''' can walk on silt at will from 9th level, and control 1 cubic foot of silt per level for rounds equal to the cleric's level from 11th level.
* '''Sun Clerics''' gain immunity to solar dangers (they don't sunburn, can't be blinded, halve their water requirements, suffer no ill effects from sun exposure, and are immune to the spell Blistering Rays) at 3rd level, and at 4th level gain a +2 bonus to saves against spells involving sun, heat or flame, but a -2 penalty to saves vs. spells or conditions revolving around ice, cold or snow.
* '''Magma Clerics''' gain a +2 bonus to saves vs. heat, fire and magma spells, alongside a -2 penalty to saves vs. water and ice spells, at 1st level. At 8th level, they can evaporate 10 gallons of water per level through an act of will 1/day, but it takes 1 hour per 10 gallons targeted for the evaporation to take place.
* '''Rain Clerics''' become completely immune to storm hazards at 3rd level; they can't be struck by lightning, their health remains unaffected by the rain, and the wind doesn't bother them, though magical storms and lightning bolt spells still bother them - they do have a +2 to saves vs. rain or water-based attacks. However, when in direct sunlight, they suffer a -2 penalty to all saving throws. At 8th level, they can cast Call Lightning 1/day.

In 3rd edition, elemental clerics are simply ordinary clerics who took the appropriate elemental domain.

4th Edition would have Elemental Priest return as a Character Theme, giving the option for some extra powers each level and all focused on summoning the spirits of Athas' ravaged lands. These spirits were all separate than the spirits that the [[Shaman]] could summon, and even gave it access to its own unique [[Paragon Path]]s in the Rainbringer and Smoking Crown Initiate. Similar to this is the Primal Guardian theme from the same book, which focused on more of a defensive angle by channeling the elements into their weapons. These would be more akin to the [[Warden]] by nature of their daily attacks transforming them into elemental spirits of their own right.