Salt Quasi-Elemental Original Stats
Quasielemental, Negative - Salt
Climate/Terrain: Quasiplane of Salt
Frequency: Uncommon
Organization: Band
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Water
Intelligence: Low to high (5–14)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Neutral
No. Appearing: 1d6
Armor Class: 1
Movement: 3
Hit Dice: 6, 9, 12
THAC0:
6 HD: 15
9 HD: 11
12 HD: 9
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 1d8 + 1hp/HD
Special Attacks: Absorb moisture
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: L (9′–12′ tall)
Morale: Champion (15–16)
XP Value:
6 HD: 2,000
9 HD: 5,000
12 HD: 8,000
SALT QUASIELEMENTAL
Like the crystalline facets, other natives of the Quasiplane of Salt, the salt quasielementals absorb moisture of any sort. They’re not as numerous as the constantly multiplying facets, though, especially in the border areas between Salt and the Elemental Plane of Water. They can take on other appearances (as can certain other quasielementals), but these salt being most often resemble large, white, rime-encrusted lizards.
Combat: Using their large, dense fists, salt quasielementals can smack their foes and cause 1d8 points of damage plus 1 additional point per Hit Die (6, 9, or 12). But they pose an even greater danger to any beings that contain water — which includes most animal and plant life, creatures of elemental water, and so on. The quasielementals automatically leech moisture from anything within 80 feet, and this draining inflicts 2d6 points of damage per round on susceptible creatures.
‘Course, a body knows what’s said about too much of a good thing. If a salt quasielemental encounters so much water that it’s entirely immersed, it dies, exploding with great force. Everything within 30 feet of the creature is subjected to an attack (as if the quasielemental itself had made it). Those struck suffer 1d8 points of damage from flying salt shrapnel.
Salt quasielementals can be struck only by weapons of +1 or greater enchantment. They’re also immune to fire.
Habitat/Society: The salt quasielementals stick mostly to their own plane. Fact is, they’ll never join the facets’ crusade against the Elemental Plane of Water, due to the dangers they’d face from being near such large volumes of liquid. More or less solitary creatures, salt quasielementals’re content to wander their plane, absorbing water in small amounts.
It’s interesting to note that while a salt quasielemental can drain the moisture from a facet, the process doesn’t work in reverse — a facet can’t absorb anything from a salt quasielementyal. This just goes to show that the quasielemental is truly the embodiment of salt (and dryness), while the fact is simply a creature of salt.
Ecology: Chant is that a few high-up wizards have figured out a way to imprison salt quasielementals in their laboratories to keep their spellbooks and delicate experiments dry.
Planescape Monstrous Compendium III (1998)
SALT QUASI-ELEMENTAL
FREQUENCY: Very rare (Common)
NO. APPEARING: 1-2 (1-6)
ARMOR CLASS: 1
MOVE: 3”
HIT DICE: 6, 9, or 12
% IN LAIR: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8 + 1 hp/HD
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Neutral (chaotic)
SIZE: L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Level/X.P. Value: VII/ 1,000 + 15 per hp
Salt quasi-elementals appear in a variety of forms, but their most common form is that of a long, huge, white lizard, like a wingless, rime-encrusted white dragon. They are found only rarely on the Prime Material plane, and then only in places of extreme dryness, like the floor of an evaporated lake or the salt flats bordering a dead sea.
Salt quasi-elementals absorb all available moisture in an area 80’ in radius around the creature. This inflicts 2-12 hp damage per round to all creatures which are made primarily of water (including most creatures of the elemental plane of Water, as well as humans and similar animal life).
It is possible to overload the amount of water a Salt quasi-elemental can take in. Full immersion in water (dumping it into a large lake) causes the creature to save vs. death magic or explode. Such an explosion causes all within 30’ to suffer an attack equal to the level of the monster’s hit dice. Those struck in this attack take 1-8 hp damage from shards of salt. Water-based magics have a similar effect only if the magic-user or cleric casting the spell is of higher level than the total hit dice of the quasi-elemental. When this is not the case, or when small amounts of water (such as natural rain or fog) are present, the effects are merely absorbed by the creature.
Salt quasi-elementals are unaffected by fire spells and weapons of less than +1 magical enchantment. These creatures are often prized by researchers, who use them to reduce the effects of water damage in underground libraries.
Originally appeared in Dragon #128 (Dec 1987).
I mean, I live with cats, so there's lots of cat hair. I guess I was just comparing to ash, which I also don't feel is that heavy. 10x air vs 1/2 water isn't a big difference at small sizes but is at the large size categories (odd, elementals of different sizes must not be the same density). Honestly, the best fit would probably be a whole other progression, but I don't think we should be that fiddly. Let's say 20x air and move on.
