New Ranger Archetype: The Elemental Rover

The next installment in my Sailor builds series needed a specially made archetype. I needed a very strong warrior using an unarmed strike style, with powers on both electricity and plants. An Elemental Ascetic kineticist would not be able to cast lightnings at a distance, a bloodrager has not the right flavor, and the Elemental Envoy ranger was... disappointing. So I made this, and next time you will see the build. This archetype could soon see the light in the next volume of The Book of Many Things!

Elemental Rover

An elemental rover travels on the elemental planes and specializes in tracking and negotiating with creatures from those realms.
Class Skills: An elemental rover gains Knowledge (planes) as a class skill instead of Knowledge (geography). This modifies the ranger’s class skills.
Favored Elemental Plane (Ex): The elemental rover must choose one element at 1st level (air, earth, fire, or water). He gains the corresponding elemental plane as his first favored terrain. He must improve his favored terrain bonus for his selected elemental plane every time he gains a new favored terrain. This ability modifies favored terrain.
Elemental Detection (Sp): At will, the elemental rover is able to detect masses of a specific element or the presence of elementals in a 60 ft. range. This functions as detect metal or detect animals or plants, but it detects presence, quantity and type of an element or the presence and strength of outsiders with that elemental subtype. The elemental rover can only detect his chosen element and creatures with the corresponding subtype. At 8th level, the detection range increases to 400 ft. + 40 ft./level.
This ability replaces track and swift tracking.
Elemental Empathy (Ex): An elemental rover can improve the attitude of a creature of the elemental subtype. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The elemental rover rolls 1d20 and adds her ranger level and her Charisma modifier to determine the elemental empathy check result.
To use elemental empathy, the elemental rover and the elemental must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an elemental in this way takes 1 minute, but as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
An elemental rover can also use this ability to influence a non-elemental outsider with the air, earth, fire, or water subtype, but she takes a –4 penalty on the check.
This ability replaces wild empathy. It counts as wild empathy for the purpose of qualifying for the Greater Wild Empathy feat.
Elemental Bond (Su): At 4th level, the elemental rover forms a bond with elemental forces. This bond can take one of two forms.
First, the ranger may gain gain one of the following domains: Air, Earth, Fire, Plane of Air, Plane of Earth, Plane of Fire, Plane of Water, Water, or Weather, or one of their subdomains. The selected domain must correspond to the ranger’s chosen element.
The elemental rover gains domain powers from his domain as a cleric with a level equal to his ranger level -3. He also adds the 1st- to 4th-level spells from his selected domain to his list of spells known. The elemental rover does not gain extra domain spell slots from this ability.
The second type of bond allows an elemental rover to gain an elemental creature as a companion. This functions as summon monster I, except the duration is permanent and the ranger can only gain the service of a single creature and that creature must either have the air, earth, fire, or water subtype or it must be an animal with the aerial, aqueous, chthonic, or fiery template. The creature’s subtype or template must correspond to the elemental rover’s chosen element. The elemental companion may be changed whenever the ranger gains a level. Upon reaching 7th level, and every two levels thereafter, the level of the summon monster spell increases by one, to a maximum of summon monster VII at 17th level.
Should the elemental rover’s elemental companion die or be banished, the ranger may not summon another servant for 30 days or until he gains a level, whichever comes first. During this 30-day period, the elemental rover takes a –1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.
This ability replaces hunter’s bond.
Energetic Retribution (Su): At 11th level, an elemental rover does not gain a bonus to follow the tracks of his quarry, but his attacks against his quarry inflict 1d6 additional points of energy damage corresponding to the ranger’s chosen element. At 19th level, these attacks ignore any resistance to that element that the opponent could have. This ability modifies and otherwise functions as quarry and improved quarry.
Elemental Resistance (Ex): At 12th level, the elemental rover gains resistance 10 to the energy type corresponding to his chosen element and 5 to the other three energy types. At 17th level, this resistance increases of 5. The elemental rover’s energy resistance stacks with any one he may already possess because of his race, up to a maximum of resistance 30 to each element. This replaces camouflage and hide in plain sight.
Elemental Hunter (Ex): At 20th level, an elemental rover doesn’t gain bonus on following tracks, but becomes immune to his chosen element. This modifies and otherwise functions as master hunter.