Primary and Secondary Elements (CShaH)

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A sorcerer should nominate one of his chosen elements as the "primary" and one as the "secondary."
The primary element is that which the character most favors and represents an affinity for that particular element. This has a lot to do with the sorcerer's attitude, which is reflected as detailed above. When working out a character's world view, the primary element should take precedence over the secondary. Thus, a sorcerer who studied the realms of sand (primary) and flame (secondary) could be steadfast and easygoing (as befits the school of sand), with a slow to rise yet still dangerous temper (from the school of fire). While these attitudes by element should not become crutches for true role-playing, they can prove interesting when designing a character and are quite handy for use with NPCs. DMS and players alike will have more of an idea of the attitudes of a sorcerer or elemental mage once they know what element(s) that mage studies. And, by watching the manner in which a sorcerer acts, it may be possible to determine his elemental provinces.
The primary and secondary element function also has an effect on the sorts of spells that a sorcerer can learn. Whenever the sorcerer is eligible to learn a new spell, he should take a spell from his primary school if one is available at that level. If a sorcerer chooses to take a spell from his secondary element instead, that sorcerer forfeits the 20 percent bonus sorcerers normally gain when studying spells within their elements. Universal spells may only be learned if there are no other elemental spells available at that time.
This sounds a bit more restrictive than it normally is when you consider that a sorcerer will rarely have several scrolls at his disposal from which to gather spells. The rules above only apply when a sorcerer has access to spells from different elements and is forced to choose one or the other.
For instance, our sorcerer with sand (primary) and flame (secondary) reaches a point where he may add a spell. As luck would have it, the sorcerer has access to the following spells when it comes time to learn a new one: confusion, fire shield, and sandcone. All of these are 4th-level spells, which is just what the sorcerer needs to add. Confusion is a spell of the universal province, fire shield obviously belongs to the province of flame, and sandcone is just as obviously a spell from the sand province.
The sorcerer must choose which spell he will learn. As there are elemental spells of the appropriate provinces available, the universal spell cannot be learned at this time. The sorcerer wisely saves the scroll for a later date when he can learn another 4th-level spell. That leaves fire shield and sandcone. Fire shield is a useful spell, but it belongs to the province of flame, which is this character's secondary province. If the sorcerer chooses to learn that spell, he does so without the 20 percent bonus he normally receives for learning a spell of the appropriate province. Still, the sorcerer could choose this spell as the one to learn, if he so desired. Last, but not least, is sandcone. This spell is of the character's primary province. If the sorcerer chooses to learn sandcone, he does so with the full 20 percent bonus sorcerers receive for learning spells within their provinces.
This rule will not come into play often as sorcerers will rarely have access to a large number of scrolls at the same time. But, it does serve to better define the sort of sorcerer a character is by determining the character's elemental leanings and how these affect the ability of that character to learn spells.
Primary and secondary provinces have no bearing on the sorts of items a character can utilize, nor do they have any effect on the character's ability to attack with or defend against elemental attacks of any sort.
It is possible for a sorcerer to devote himself fully to his elements, thereby making it impossible for him to learn spells found in the universal province. Such sorcerers lose much in the way of spell variety. However, this loss is compensated for by an increase in the power of the spells that they can cast.
Sorcerers who opt to focus strictly on their two elemental provinces gain an extra spell for each level that they are able to cast; that is, they start their adventuring career able to cast not one (as is typical for sorcerers) but two 1st-level spells. When they are able to learn 2nd-level spells, a bonus spell will be gained, and so on.
Those sorcerers who cannot cast spells from the universal province may also increase the power of the spells in their primary province. If such a sorcerer desires, he may do one of the following:
* add one die to the damage of the spell per two levels of the caster
* increase range by 25 percent
* increase duration by 25 percent
* decrease casting time by 
* replace the material components of the spell with the element of the spell's province
* increase the number of targets affected by the spell
* expand the area of effect
If a die is added to the spell's damage, it is always a die of the same type normally used to determine damage for that spell. For example, if the spell causes 1d6 points of damage per level of the caster, the die the sorcerer adds is a d6.
Increases to range and duration are self-explanatory. Determine the final range or duration of the spell and add up to 25 percent, as decided by the casting sorcerer.
A decrease in casting time is made possible because of the sorcerer's familiarity with the elements of the spell. This option is often taken when a mage needs to cast a spell immediately. If the spell being cast has a casting time of 1 round or less, the casting mage will automatically have the initiative, as the spell need only be thought of to take effect.
Material components are an important part of spellcasting, but sorcerers have found ways to get around them. A sorcerer can use some element from the spell's province as opposed to using those listed in the spell's description. The amount of element per level of spell is as follows: 1 pound of sand, 1 quart of water, 1 torch for flame, and a strong gust of wind.
The mage must actually be in contact with the appropriate element for it to replace the material components of the spell. Sand used for this purpose is temporarily drained of its magical potential and may not be used to power another spell for at least 24 hours. Water evaporates when used in this way, and fire is extinguished. Wind is not noticeably affected, but the same gust of wind may only be used to power a single spell, no matter how long the wind actually blows.
Wind is the only element that operates differently when used as a material component. Unlike other elemental provinces, which require larger quantities of element as the power of the spell increases, spells that use wind as a material component require only a single gust of wind. This is because all winds are part of a greater whole, connected more completely than are isolated pockets of other elements. Drawing upon the wind requires only its touch, however brief. The disadvantage is that a gust of wind may not come along when needed, and the sorcerer will be forced to use the standard material components for his spell.
If a sorcerer decides to increase the number of targets affected by the spell, he may add as many targets as he has levels, divide by three, and round down. So, a 12th-level mage who wishes to cast a banish dazzle on his companions may cast it upon a maximum of 5 individuals (1 for the original target of the spell, plus 12 ÷ 3, or 4, for a total of 5).
Area of effect can also be increased by 10 percent per two levels of the caster. Spellcasters who often increase the area of effect of their spells should make the extra effort to figure out their increased areas before play begins so as not to bog down the game with their computations.
Sorcerers of this sort may be limited as to the variety of spells they can learn but are unsurpassed in the power of the spells they know.