Alternative Elemetal Systems

[Sanctaphrax]

Normal Evocation doesn't care about your personality or your methods. Normal Thaumaturgy is...difficult to define.

Sponsored Magic allows you to make the associations of the elements relevant in a more comprehensive way.

[Roskey]

Heh, makes sense. Yeah thaumaturgy is weird. You can take ritual for crafting but taking channeling also gives you focus item slots?

[Silverblaze]

I'm of two minds on this matter.

#1: more elements helps define magic a little better; I think I like that.  More options is good.

#2: In a long enough time table (which I'll grant I should hope never comes up in a game/campaign) expanding the pyramid could create for a very powerful spellcaster, diminishing returns or no.  It certainly makes a plausible way to create a truly spectacular NPC caster.

Overall I think it's fine...I however would worry that players would try to ignore the common elements just to be different, but again personal peeve, nothing actually wrong with it.

[SunlessNick]

Chiming in with a love of that physics one.

While modern renditions of the four elements usually lump metal in with earth, back in the day, it was considered to be an even mix of all four (gold of course being completely and perfectly even).  I'm tempted to say that if someone gets enough evocation refinements to be good at all four physical elements, they can take another refinement to have metal as a fifth - representing the channeling of all four - with a purview of perfecting and strengthening things (and allowing the use of the elusive healing magic).

I believe the djinn from the Quran were create from smoke and fire, so that would make thematic sense as an ancient 'element'.  -  Masurao

They were made from smokeless fire* - although you could justify the same idea from that - normal familiar fire being a mix of elemental fire and smoke, with djinn being made from the elemental fire.  Angels in the same scheme were made from light, which would be good for veils, illusions, and mind magic.

* Which I'm tempted (though not for a Dresden setting) to make electricity, with the City of Brass as a high tech realm, and the Baghdad Batteries a way of summoning djinn onto Earth.