#fire may be an element of chaos but those who world lightning need the principle of discipline to harness its volatility

[assmaster-8000]

if firebenders learnt to go beyond lightning, which is static electricity, to electricity itself they'd be unstoppable. during a sozins comet, they could prolly manipulate the electrical impulses in one's body and finally harness an ability on par with the water benders deadly blood bending

[theworldbrewery]

an evil scheme for every arcane tradition

AKA Making a Menacing Mage

Abjurer:

The abjurer is a specialist in wards, shields, bonds, and dispelling/counterspelling. While usually thought of as ‘good’ magic, an abjurer can dispel protections on their enemies, bind extraplanar beings to their service, nullify enemy magic, and even permanently (or semi-permanently) bind a creature to an inescapable prison.

The Evil Abjurer’s Goal: to imprison enemies; to nullify wards against misery; or to fabricate danger that they then “protect” against (like mafia protection rackets).

Spells: dispel magic, glyph of warding, planar binding, guards and wards, symbol, and imprisonment.

Conjurer:

The conjurer can summon elementals and demons to serve their will and create magical weaponry from thin air. They can conceal items in metaphysical chests and planes and create doors--between places in this plane, or between planes. 

The Evil Conjurer’s Goal: to sow chaos among those who wronged them; to seize control over ‘lesser beings’ such as demons; or live in obscene luxury at the exploitation of ordinary people.

Spells: summon greater demon, conjure elemental, cloudkill, planeshift, demiplane, maze, and wish.

Diviner: 

A diviner knows all manner of strange truths and lies. Such a mage is likely to serve a greater being, such as a conqueror, lich, or fiend. They can identify and locate objects of immense power, contact beings from other planes for information, watch their enemies’ movements, and predict the outcome of future events.

The Evil Diviner’s Goal: counsel an overlord in ways that serve their own ends; to identify and track items of value or power; or to make others dependent on their foresight for answers and guidance.

Spells: detect thoughts, clairvoyance, legend lore, scrying, true seeing, and foresight.

Enchanter: 

The enchanter’s specialty is in bending other creatures to their will. Whether it be forcing servitude, compelling a creature to turn on its allies, or simply using someone to get what they want, the enchanter’s abilities leave plenty of room to turn horribly evil.

The Evil Enchanter’s Goals: to control a locus of power (such as a ruler or an archpriest); to force enemies to bend the knee; or to take from others with them none the wiser of it. 

Spells: crown of madness, confusion, dominate person, geas, modify memory, power word pain, dominate monster, feeblemind, and power word kill.

Evoker:

An evoker is a destroyer of worlds, a caster with so much firepower they’re apt to simply annihilate rather than negotiate. Evokers can take what they want on pain of death--and if you think they’re bluffing...

The Evil Evoker’s Goals: to destroy enemies/their strongholds; to obliterate the objects of their hatred; or to command a war of attrition.

Spells: magic missile, witch bolt, scorching ray, fireball, lightning bolt, fire shield, vitriolic sphere, immolation, sunbeam, prismatic spray, maddening darkness, and meteor swarm.

Illusionist:

An illusionist is able to influence a target’s experience of reality, change the appearance of an area’s surroundings, and create various doubles and illusory duplicates to mask their own whereabouts.

The Evil Illusionist’s Goals: to instill fear either to subjugate civilians or torment their enemies; to misguide and mislead those who would resist them; or to use your own mind against you.

Spells: illusory script, arcanist’s magic aura, fear, greater invisibility, hallucinatory terrain, phantasmal killer, dream, mental prison, mirage arcane, project image, and weird.

Necromancer:

A necromancer need not waste time with tricks and misdirection. Instead, they can raise the dead to fight on their behalf, weaken opponents, or simply remove them from the playing field--temporarily or for good. 

The Evil Necromancer’s Goals: to command an unyielding army; to cheat death; or to hold the life or death of the living in the palm of their hand.

Spells: ray of enfeeblement, animate dead, bestow curse, vampiric touch, danse macabre, circle of death, eyebite, finger of death, and clone.

Transmuter:

The transmuter seems humble, influencing their own characteristics or merely manipulating existing objects. But these low-level wonders may simply be practice for destroying and remaking matter and even affecting time itself.

The Evil Transmuter’s Goals: to reshape reality or a part of it; to control the laws of physics themselves; or to change the world into whatever form pleases them.

Spells: alter self, erupting earth, slow, control water, elemental bane, animate objects, telekinesis, disintegrate, flesh to stone, reverse gravity, control weather, mass polymorph, and time stop.

War Mage: 

The war mage is tactical and practical, with perhaps less flair for the dramatic but nonetheless a powerful combatant. They take on the principles of evocation and abjuration to serve the higher goal of winning the battle--and the war.

The Evil War Mage’s Goals: to defeat the enemy at whatever cost; to control the battlefield; or to bolster the stronghold of their own forces.

Spells: witch bolt, shatter, warding wind, fireball, wall of water, hallucinatory terrain, resilient sphere, sickening radiance, wall of force, guards and wards, antimagic field, invulnerability, and magic wall.