Warriors, in "The Adapts Way", get the shortest section on their discipline, and no "specialist classes", despite being one of the most commonly practiced disciplines. It seems odd that all warriors would practice their discipline identically (excepting personal visions), or else follow a "related" discipline like scout, airmaster, etc. Warriors come from all races and parts of Barsaive and beyond, and there is bound to be more than one way to practice a discipline whose followers are so diverse.

In response to this, I developed an idea of warrior "schools" based on the elements. These are schools in the sense that they are not new disciplines or even lifelong devotions, but you can not become a member or leave at will, because they require devotion to learn well. Instead, joining a school is part of normal warrior training, and each gives focus to particular talents.

If using these rules in a normal campaign, I would say 5-10% of all warrior adepts (or groups thereof) follow any given elemental specialty (so 1/4 to 1/2 of all warriors follow some specialty). The proportion will drop for specific elements in areas where such elements are rare, or overwhelmed by an opposing elements presence- you will find few wood warrior schools in the Twilight Peaks, for example, and few wood or water warrior schools on the shores of Deaths Sea.

The elements in ED are Air, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Water. These elements are related to the warrior’s way through their karma ritual: the Warrior practices an air and fire attack, and an earth and water defense. Wood is not mentioned- I took it to be symbolized in the ritual by the adept. The warrior composes his individual magic from aspects of all the elements, just as wood draws in aspects of all elements while being its own.

These elements correspond generally to the Chinese elements, which exist in a cycle of creation, consumption, and opposition. In ED, this cycle is mentioned in "The Litany of the Elements":

Certain talents draw much more heavily on the nature of some elements than others. In each "bracket" of advancement, I found three talents related to each element. They are not evenly distributed within the brackets- some schools develop more slowly than others do.

A warrior who specializes in an elemental school gains +2 steps when using talents of that element. S/he also gains +1 step when using the talents of the element destroyed by their specialty element. They loose -2 steps when using talents of the element that destroys their specialty, and -1 step from talents related to the other 2 elements. Actual Rank is not affected. For example, an air specialist gains +2 steps when using "Air dance", and one step when using "Anticipate blow". S/he would loose -2 steps when using "Down Strike", and loose -1 step when rolling for "wood skin" or "Swift kick". A successful "anticipate blow" still add only actual rank to defense and attack, and rank is normal for purposes of advancement.

In addition, because each school focuses less on victory through determination and more on victory through alignment with an element, a warrior of a school does not get the fourth circle ability of spending karma on willpower tests. Instead, each school can spend karma on one of the other attributes.

The effects of elemental specialization are as below:

A Warrior is usually initiated into a specialty. This is often racially or environment related. In fact, certain races can only follow certain specialties. While not an issue to Elementalists, a race's physical make-up can make it impossible to use that element's training as physical abilities. T’skrang love the water, and will not follow Fire, its destroyer. Windlings can not follow earth. Obsidimen can’t follow air, water, or wood. Blood elves, being bound to wood, do not follow any other specialty. Other races may have preferences (similar to that race's Elementalists), but can follow any warrior school of elemental teaching.

If a Warrior was not initiated into a school, s/he can join that school by training with them as for circle advancement. Any of that schools "elemental talents" the character could have must be at the same level as the adept’s new circle (or higher). This is in addition to any needed for circle advancement, but can count towards that total. Such training takes twice the time normal training does, and must be done under somebody who has reached the next "order" (wardens for journeymen, etc.); hence it is usually costly, and often no teacher can be found. Wardens thus can not switch to a new school.

A specialist Warrior also can choose to leave a school and train as a non-specialist, but has the same training restrictions a non-specialist becoming a specialist does (the teacher must be a normal warrior of the next order). A Warrior who leaves a specialist school can never re-join it or any other without performing a major deed in service to that element, as per an Elementalist atoning to an element.

Advancement:

Ideally, circle advancement is performed under the training of a teacher of your elemental school, incorporating rituals and trials related to that element. If it is not (as when a specialist trains under a normal warrior) it takes twice as long, which makes teachers more expensive, if not rarer. You can not train for circle advancement under a specialist of another school. A specialist can train a normal warrior for circle advancement, with no problems or extra time required.

Elemental schools almost always teach knacks for discipline talents that the school grants a bonus in (even if such a knack is not listed in the book, they will likely have one), and almost never for those it penalizes.

A specialist warrior’s Karma ritual also changes. They practice all the forms, but their specialty is obvious to any observing warrior. They must also find some way to incorporate their element into the ritual- the preferred method is to perform the ritual in an area with exposure to that element. The Gm may decide in some cases that the ritual is at half effectiveness (i.e. the karma ritual rank is cut in half) if the element’s presence is not strong enough, or even that it can not be performed.

An elemental specialist’s vision incorporates some aspects of that element. In addition, they must pay that element respect, as would an elementalist. A fire specialist who tries to put out a fire (even on that endangers him) would suffer a talent crisis. One who actively abused that element would even suffer a heinous talent crisis.