Notes on Geomancy and Other Earthen Magic

I've been leafing through some old moleskine entries I'd written about a class of earth-based magic users. That is to say the focus is on actual earth material (e.g., rock, soil, sand, mud, pyroclastic flows, molten crust, etc.) not organic, per se. I expect that there's already plenty of other material out there covering this territory, but it was a fun little exercise.

Following are some thoughts I had on possible directions for this sub-class, which I'd liken to being an elementalist. I found an entry on Wikipedia on Geomancy and that set me off running. I'd tied some of the spells to constitution as I pictured the strain under which the caster would be to rile, rip, or rend geologic matter into doing her or his bidding. These are just rough notes so no lengthy descriptions or stats.

Geomancy (divination)
Geomancy is a form of divination and shamanism using earthen substances.

• Detect Earth (allows caster to scan or sense what type of rock, soil, sand, etc. is present. Consequently, this would also allow user to detect water or at least where pockets may be)
• Geomortis/Fossilspeak (commune with the dead and buried--even fossils from millions of years ago--to see the long past)
• Sensestep (detect and determine the maker of any footstep, their direction, relative size and physicality, and state-of-mind when the step was made)
• Dunewhishper (hear the plotting of enemies from moderate distances through sand grains blown in highly arid or dusty conditions)

Quartz Caller
A quartz caller is able to summon the energies in crystals, which act as conduits and even amplifiers for ley line energy. The practice takes enormous discipline and physical constitution to pull the energy from the crystals.Most of these have more of a psychic quality to them.

• Crystal to Crystal Clairvoyance (live transmission of sight and sound)
• Teleportation (from one embedded crystal to another, the further away the higher the constitution required)
• Life leech (sap hit points to charge crystals which can be used to give bonuses to other spells)
  
• Animate Dead (using the crystals to broadcast a re-animation spell or to act as puppeteer over the dead--there is no turning of these undead as their state is not derived from a cursed magic; each dead must have a crystal jammed into the corpse in order to be activated) 
• Mindblindness (the crystals can be activated to act as a massive psionic energy generator that "overloads" any targets that fail an intelligence check similar to an EMP, victims rendered mentally blind (as in no sight or psionic connection) though their eyes will be unharmed)
• Vibrobomb (crystals can be made to vibrate a high, ringing tone similar to wine glass rim that will render victims in blast area temporarily deaf)
• Seems like there should also be a light source spell also for this subspecialty

Magnetrobe
These shapers of electromagnetic energies are masters of all that's magnetic--or that which can be magnetized made so.

• Detect Magnetism  (self explanatory)
• Magnetokinesis (move metal objects through magnetic fields, similar to telekinesis)
• Coilbolt (by using copper coiled bracers, user can amplify fields to create a bolt of electricity that can be hurled at a target or contained between both hands for a stun-touch effect; full coil armor would allow the wearer to levitate
• Ferrodominus (summon, pulverize, heat, bend, and shape raw ore)

Volcanny
Practitioners of volcanny are deadly, near-forces of nature. The toll on constitution is high and requires complete dedication (minus charisma for every constitution score above 11)

• Detect Magma (sense the nearness of subterranean rivers of molten earth and their relative speed, temperature, and general consistency)
• Porous Earth (ability to call magma--soon to be lava--to burst forth in weak spots in the ground, size of geyser is relative to constitution)
• Shape Lava (rough to fine control over lava flow, from hot rivers of fire to thread-thin searing glass)
• Pyroclasty (rough to fine control over pyroclastic clouds (hot volcanic ash and mud) to incinerate, suffocate, or encase targets
• Seismic Shudder (give enemies a good scare by initiating a rumbler underfoot)

Geomason

• Diamond Finger (drill or carve any stone, dexterity would play a part in how fine a touch or complex the design)
• Stone Rolling (roll, slide, tumble, and stack large boulders and monoliths into place; quite loud so no bonuses on initiative)
• Dynalithicate (explode boulders into a fine powder)
• Pebblecross (weave a temporary but sturdy bridge of fieldstone to ford a river or other barrier, can be made permanent if mortarfy is known)
• Mortarfy (liquefy harder earth matter into a mortar substance that can be controlled telekinetically and shaped and quickly hardened)
• Abrasia (create a cone of sandblasting to smooth or erode any surface, or rend flesh from bone)
• Castlecasting (telekinetic construction of a stone structure, requiring massive concentration in order to piece together each part of the "puzzle"; constitution and intelligence can be no lower than 14; all previous Geomason spells must be level 3 or higher before this can be attempted)

Some thoughts anyway...