Can Air Elementals attack ten times a round in whirlwind form?

[Noumenon]

If I was playing in a game where the DM had an air elemental move back and forth 20 times in a round, and then had the audacity to try and point to the RAW, that would be the last game I ever played with that DM.

Let me explain where I'm coming from. This is my first time DMing, and I'm coming at this from the perspective of Magic: the Gathering. With Magic, you sometimes find cards that seem completely broken by the RAW. But there are three different things that happen:

1) The card isn't broken; your RAW reading is wrong. You can only discard one card to Sonic Burst, not five cards to deal twenty damage and win on turn two.

This is the kind of answer I was hoping for in this thread -- something along the lines of "the rules prohibit the air elemental from entering another player's space unless they're two size categories smaller."

2) Your RAW reading is right, but the card is not broken. I once couldn't believe Fireball could actually target a player and do ten damage right out of your hand, but it turns out with that much mana you should have already won the game.

I thought maybe people could convince me that this ability was perfectly normal for creatures of this CR.

3) The card actually is that broken. You really can animate Worldgorger Dragon, get all your lands back untapped, and get infinite mana. When this is the case, people who insist on playing the card as written in casual play are jerks.

But I couldn't believe this was the case because it wasn't some obscure combo I found, it's the immediate implication of reading the ability -- it's the obvious way to use it. After all these editions, I don't understand why this ability hasn't been nerfed. But I guess it's up to me to nerf it.

 

[Jhaelen]

Let me explain where I'm coming from. This is my first time DMing, and I'm coming at this from the perspective of Magic: the Gathering.

I can see where you're coming from and you're not alone. Arguing by RAW has become a trend or was at least growing in popularity when 3E came out. Being impressed with the most comprehensive set of rules D&D had ever seen, I joined in the excitement.

But I've come to realize that in D&D rules don't exist in a vacuum. There's a DM. That's the decisive difference to MtG. There may be errata, there may be a FAQ, there may be replies from Customer Service or even the developer's themselves but in the end interpreting rules is always the job of the DM.

Luckily 4E seems to be trying to reverse the trend and bring the power back where it belongs: to the DM.

If you haven't already done so, talk it over with your players and come to an agreement how to rule on the air elementals' abilities. As StreamOfTheSky has pointed out your decision will eventually have consequences for the power of the player characters, as well.

 

[Runestar]

Has anyone had the elemental engulf someone, then fly 100ft into the air before forcefully ejecting him? This is clearly quite viable, and not subject to rules ambiguity unlike the 10xwhirlwind trick. But it certainly seems no less damaging (even if falling damage is capped at 20d6).