Elemental, Air/Earth

Air Elemental

Air elementals can be conjured in any area of open air where gusts of wind are present. The common air elemental appears as an amorphous, shifting cloud when it answers its summons to the Prime Material plane. They rarely speak, but their language can be heard in the high-pitched shriek of a tornado or the low moan of a midnight storm.

Combat: While air elementals are not readily tangible to the inhabitants of planes other than its own, they can strike an opponent with a strong, focused blast of air that, like a giant, invisible fist, does 2-20 points of damage. The extremely rapid rate at which these creatures can move make them very useful on vast battlefields or in extended aerial combat. In fact, the air elemental's mastery of its natural element gives it a strong advantage in combat above the ground. In aerial battles, they gain a +1 to hit and a +4 to the damage they inflict.

The most feared power of an air elemental is its ability to form a whirlwind upon command. Using this form, the air elemental appears as a truncated, reversed cone with a 10 foot bottom diameter and 30 foot top diameter. The height of the whirlwind depends on the Hit Dice of the elemental. An air elemental of 8 Hit Dice will produce a whirlwind standing 40 feet tall; a 12 Hit Dice elemental produces a whirlwind standing 60 feet tall; and a 16 Hit Dice elemental produces a whirlwind standing 80 feet tall. It takes one full turn to form and dissipate this cone.

This whirlwind lasts for one melee round, sweeps away and kills all creatures under 3 Hit Dice in the area of its cone, and does 2-16 points of damage to all creatures it fails to kill outright. If, because of overhead obstructions, the whirlwind fails to reach its full height, it can only sweep up creatures under 2 Hit Dice and do 1-8 points of damage to all others in its cone.

Earth Elemental

Earth elementals can be conjured in any area of earth or stone. This type of common elemental appears on the Prime Material plane as a very large humanoid made of whatever types of dirt, stones, precious metals, and gems it was conjured from. It has a cold, expressionless face, and its two eyes sparkle like brilliant, multifaceted gems. Though it has a mouth-like opening in its face, an earth elemental will rarely speak. Their voices can be heard in the silence of deep tunnels, the rumblings of earthquakes, and the grinding of stone on stone.

Though earth elementals travel very slowly, they are relentless in the fulfillment of their appointed tasks. An earth elemental can travel through solid ground or stone with no penalty to movement or dexterity. However, these elementals cannot travel through water: they must either go around the body of water in their path or go under it, traveling in the ground. Earth elementals prefer the latter as it keeps them moving, more or less, in a straight line toward their goal.

Combat: Earth elementals will always try to fight on the ground and will only rarely be tricked into giving up that advantage. Because of their close alliance to the rock and earth, these elementals do 4-32 points of damage (4d8) whenever they strike a creature that rests on the ground.

Against constructions with foundations in earth or stone, earth elementals do great damage, making them extremely useful for armies sieging a fortification. For example, a reinforced door, which might require a few rounds to shatter using conventional methods, can be smashed with ease by an earth elemental. They can even level a small cottage in a few rounds.

An earth elemental's effectiveness against creatures in the air or water is limited; the damage done by the elemental's fists on airborne or waterborne targets is lessened by 2 points per die (to a minimum of 1 point of damage per die).