Earth elemental blind in earth: oversight?

[frankthedm]

Elementals IIRC are usually the lower end of the food chain on thier respective planes until they grow large enough to ring the necks of those same predators. A predator's ability like tremorsence is for those that feed on the elementals, not the prey.

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.

 

[darthkilmor]

Elementals IIRC are usually the lower end of the food chain on thier respective planes until they grow large enough to ring the necks of those same predators. A predator's ability like tremorsence is for those that feed on the elementals, not the prey.

I have never heard of this, do you remember where you saw this ?

 

[Mistwell]

Why is this an oversight? Just because PCs want a summon to do something it can't?

The question goes to a MM entry, not a summon spell. So for you to focus on the summonning aspect rather than the actual question being posed is, well, not helpful.

If a player came here kvetching about a DM killing their character because an elemental chased them down while the character was burrowing, there would be posters jumping on that DM’s case for that.

Thanks for the hypothetical, but 1) nobody asked that question, 2) I doubt it would be an issue as everyone would assuming the elemental could see them while they were in the ground anyway, just as everyone here automatically assumed it was the case.

Heck even incorporeal only get sensory input from the adjacent square when in solid objects.

Because incorporeal creatures do not come from a plane of a solid object where they would need to see through such solid objects. They instead come from planes where their visual ability still functions. So, I am not sure why you feel this is an analogous situation.

Speaking of which, I suspect there is a reason earth elementals with odd skill point allotments, place the last point in “listen”…

I suspect the skill point alloment was not in fact done with the forethought of placing it in listen. If they had actually thought about it, they would have written about it in the description, and maybe given them eyes

Are you ready for the TPKs that would be created by giving earth elementals tremorsence?

There would not be any more than without I suspect, as most people all along assumed they could see while inside earth, and we have not heard about a rash of total party kills because an earth elemental can see while in the thing they are native to, with the darkvision they were born with but without any eyes.

Frank, do you really think giving them tremorsence would cause TPKs, or was that just a bit of hyperbole for some fun?

 

[heirodule]

If you're blind, you have a penalty to movement.

EEs don't have a penalty to movement when in the earth.

Therefore, EEs are not blind.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

EEs don't have a penalty to movement when in the earth.

Circular argument.

 

[Bad Paper]

I give EEs "scent" of a sort, basically the ability to smell minerals, metals, etc through the earth and guide them that way. Only works for buried materials, not that suit of mail walking down the hallway.

The group I DM summoned an EE to deal with an EE that was using hit-and-run tactics against them. The fight happened entirely within the earth; the party merely heard the thunk-thunk thunk of the fight and hoped for the best. IIRC, I did not give any concealment penalty to either combatant. I think maybe partial concealment may be in order; perhaps gliding EEs appear blurry to each other.

 

[Zimbel16]

I think this is obviously an oversight, as the alternative makes no sense - what do you guys think?

I don't think that this is an oversight; as far as I recall (certaintatly back through 2nd ed AD&D), they've never explicitly been able to see in earth.

I've always given them the ability to see at least some distance through earth anyway.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Circular argument.

Perhaps. Are the true Burrowing speeds, in general, half what the listed Burrowing speeds are? So if I give one of these beasties Tremorsense do I keep their speed the same or double it?