Disambiguating Elementals

[tdenmark]

Reading through the descriptions of Elementals in Monsters & Treasures is a bit of a chore to parse it all. Here is my attempt to clarify and disambiguate them:

Elemental
No. Enc.: 1
Hit Dice: See below
Armor Class: 2
Attacks: See below
Damage: See below
Movement: See below
Alignment: Neutrality
Save: See below
% in Lair: Nil
Treasure Type: Nil

Elementals are powerful entities that come in four distinct types: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Each type has its unique characteristics and abilities. They vary in strength, measured in hit dice, and can be summoned through various means. However, only one elemental of each type can be summoned in a day. They are immune to regular attacks and can only be harmed by magical weapons or spells.

Strength Variations:
Conjured Elementals: 16 Hit Dice, save as 16th level Fighter
Device Elementals (from medallions, stones, gems, or bracelets): 12 Hit Dice, save as 12th level Fighter
Staff Elementals: 8 Hit Dice, save as 8th level Fighter

Air Elementals:
Movement: Exclusively by flying, up to 36" per turn.
Combat: +1 damage bonus in air combat. Typically deals one die roll of damage.
Special Ability: Can transform into a whirlwind, sweeping away creatures with less than two hit dice. The whirlwind formation takes one full turn to create and another to dissolve.

Earth Elementals:
Movement: 6" per turn; cannot traverse water.
Combat: Deals 3 dice of damage to opponents on the ground and 2 dice to others. Acts as a powerful battering ram against walls.

Fire Elementals:
Movement: Up to 12" per turn.
Combat: Inflicts 2 dice of damage on non-fire-using opponents and 1 die minus 1 on fire-using ones.
Special Ability: Ignites flammable materials upon contact. Must be summoned from intense heat sources like large fires or lava pools.

Water Elementals:
Movement: 18" per turn in water, 6" outside of it. Generally stays within 6" of a water source.
Combat: Deals 2 dice of damage in water and 1 die outside of it.
Special Ability: Must be summoned from a significant water source like a pond, stream, or larger.

Control and Behavior: Summoners must maintain constant control over the elementals they call forth. Losing control results in the elemental attacking its summoner. Once control is lost, it cannot be regained. Maintaining control requires the summoner's undivided attention. Any distraction, including movement or being attacked, can break this concentration. Elementals cannot be harmed by regular individuals unless they are equipped with magical weapons.

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I'm not sure about their Armor Class, the table says 2. B/X says they have different AC depending on how they were brought forth, which also determines their HD and Saves:
Staff: AC 2, Save F8
Device: AC 0, Save F12
Conjured: AC -2, Save F16

But I'm trying to keep strictly to OD&D and not pull in later variants.

What do you think? Did I miss anything? Get anything wrong?

[Desparil]

I think important clarifications to make would be:

1. Does the 24" range only apply to the initial conjuration, or must the elemental remain within that distance afterward as well?
2. Is there any limit to the duration of control? How does a summoner dismiss the elemental when it is no longer needed?
3. When control is lost but the summoner has an active Protection from Evil spell, thereby preventing all attacks by the elemental, how does the elemental behave?

As far as I know, none of these are actually covered in OD&D, but if you want to make a disambiguating writeup then you should probably include whatever house rules or back-ports from later editions that you're using.

[waysoftheearth]

Hmm, we have:
"They are immune to regular attacks and can only be harmed by magical weapons or spells."
and
"Elementals cannot be harmed by regular individuals unless they are equipped with magical weapons."

Prolly don't need to say the same thing twice.

Also, prolly don't need to introduce the new term "regular". There's more than enough technical language in OD&D as it is, and it's ambiguous how "regular" maps to that vocabulary.

BTB, M&T says that only magical weapons affect Elementals.

This means Elementals are impervious to normal attacks (attacks by normal men with normal weapons) as well as supernormal attacks (attacks by heroes with normal weapons). Only magical weapons (and magical spells) can harm them--regardless of who wields such weapons.

[tdenmark]

Sept 17, 2023 1:15:59 GMT -6 Desparil said:

I think important clarifications to make would be:

1. Does the 24" range only apply to the initial conjuration, or must the elemental remain within that distance afterward as well?
2. Is there any limit to the duration of control? How does a summoner dismiss the elemental when it is no longer needed?
3. When control is lost but the summoner has an active Protection from Evil spell, thereby preventing all attacks by the elemental, how does the elemental behave?

As far as I know, none of these are actually covered in OD&D, but if you want to make a disambiguating writeup then you should probably include whatever house rules or back-ports from later editions that you're using.

Could, but then would it still by M&T OD&D? If we go down this path eventually we end up with D&D 3.5 or worse.

I'm trying to keep it as close to what OD&D actually says, just more clearly, succinctly, and better organized.

I mentioned in another thread I'm making a deck of OD&D monster cards as a resource to use at the table. I have to keep each creature's description at <90 words.

Sept 17, 2023 1:15:59 GMT -6 Desparil said:

you should probably include whatever house rules or back-ports from later editions that you're using.

I'm preparing a pure woodgrain box D&D campaign. I've always added stuff, I want to see how far we can get with just the original.