For those of you who know I have a staffbit, I must stress that these are my opinions as a player and do not represent the opinions of staff.
"If it can be created at range, then a mage knowing just ARC-FI ARC-CR ARC-BM can attack with it."
*Note you don't need BM to fight with it, BM gives you an advantage because you're trained how to fight with it…but you can fight without it. You're just not as fast or adept. (This was vital clarification made for mages that fought before the BM & BA were created)
"My opinion is that since Pathi is supposed to represent "high magic", and its wizards renowned and perhaps feared, that being limited to only the effects mentioned are not in-theme. "
*Wholeheartedly agree.
*Arm's length: Would make that "an additional arm's length" to avoid confusion that the Term has to be able to be touched by the mage. (Meaning within range of being touched without moving, not HAS to be touched.) I am assuming the Terms can be affected outside of touching range, even if it's only an extra arm's length. (This actually flies in the face of past scenes, especially the Bug Invasion, where it seemed to be line-of-sight. I cannot confirm if this is in the rules as they currently stand, as I am typing this up from work.)
*I should point out I'm predjudiced against EM, because I feel that's micromanaging the "big powerful feared wizards" aspect into a point of dimishing returns. Someone who's good at water should be able to create fog without this…direct it, no, not without Air and control/SM, but they shouldn't need to spend the points to get this as well. They're not hybrids, they're states. Mud is earth with water in it, but you're not joining the water to the earth. Lava is a state of earth. Steam is water that's very hot and has vaporized, not a hybrid of fire & water. Rather, I'd prefer to see Elementalist refer to being able to affect two terms at he same time…one can multitask terms, with SM being for multitasking commands.
"It seems a bit incongruous that Create is used to create wind, which seems more like forming an elemental stream, and thus would be an effect of Control." Agreed!
"Again, stopping a wind seems more like an effect of Control. "
*I believe both could be applied here.
"The inability to maintain a bubble of air against an unfavorable environment was a ruling given as the result of a +submit. However, compared with the ability to control a globe of water or fire, I might request this be reconsidered as it is somewhat inconsistent."
*Again, agree
Fire: " They might be able to toss a book into a fire, and know it as if they had read it, but from ashes the wizard would only know that a book had been burned, its title, and general subject matter."
When did this change? We used to joke about Brand tossing books in the fire to read them. I love the idea of burning papers and books being a bad idea if you want to destroy them, if a Pathi's at hand.